“Apple is looking for iPhone 5 testers! The first 1000 users that go to http://(spamers website).com and enter code 0214 will get to test & keep a new iPhone 5″
I really doubt that apple will be looking for “outside” testers for any of their products. Nice try spammer!
The new Apple iBooks Textbooks truly are a revolution in what kids will very probably be caring around with them in the next 5 or 10 years. The idea of cramming all those thick books into a single iPad is really great.
I only see one problem in the very near future. The file size of these new textbooks are way too big. How many books do your kids carry around with them per semester? 6? 7? I looked at the file sizes of these textbooks, and some are downright huge. One was 2.77GB’s!
Now, I suspect, that if schools buy iPads for their students, they are going to be getting the lowest end iPad’s they can. So, the 16GB WiFi model. That’s only 7 textbooks the size of the Pearson Biology textbook. To be fair, not all the text books are 2.77GB’s. Most seem to be about 1.25GB’s and a couple were under 1GB. Still, these are just the first few textbooks to come out. How crazy are the publishers going to get putting videos and other space consuming data into these textbooks?
It’s possible that this whole problem will be moot when the iPad 3 is released. Maybe Apple will get rid of the 16GB version and have a 32GB, 64GB and 128GB version, and the size of the textbooks won’t be a problem. Unless they get even bigger. Plus, there are still the college textbooks to consider. Surely, those books will be much larger than the K-12 textbooks.
Am I being silly here?
I recently purchased the second-gen AppleTV and I have to say that I couldn’t be happier with my decision!
I knew that I wanted to get some kind of streaming device this year to start the process of “cutting the cord” and dropping Cable TV entirely. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting closer.
There are plenty of choices out there when it comes to streaming devices. Roku has a strong product, Boxee also a string product, and I am sure that there are quite a few others.
My decision to choose Apple over the others was pretty simple. I have quite a few Apple products currently and wanted to take full advantage of them. Roku and Boxee won’t let me stream a video to it from my iPad or iPhone. I have my reasons for wanting to be able to stream video content from my iPad which I will talk about in just a bit.
So, I got the AppleTV just a couple of days after my birthday (8/16) since I used birthday money to get it. Installing it was easy as pie. Plug a couple of cables in (wish it came with an HDMI cable, but I ordered one from MonoPrice for $4.50 and was in business) and turned on my TV and away it went.
The hardest part of the setup was typing in my WiFi pass phrase. I keep it pretty long to make sure no one can break in and “typing” in text on the AppleTV is a bit absurd with the Apple Remote that comes with it. You log into your WiFi and iTunes Home Sharing account and your ready to go.
The services it supports out of the box are pretty good. No Hulu support, but to be fair, with Hulu in all the turmoil it’s in these days, I don’t really mind that. What is supported is Netflix($), YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, MLB and NBA($), and of course, the iTunes Store with all it’s content.
What first convinced me that I had made a great choice was that when I started playing video content stored on my Mac Pro in the basement, I could see the video data being buffered into the AppleTV. Not just a few seconds ahead, but the entire video into memory. The fact that the AppleTV has 8GB’s of memory for just this purpose means that even if you have 802.11g or possibly even ‘b’, you can watch your show without ever seeing the dreaded “buffering…” symbol.
When attempting to stream video to my PS3, I would see all kinds of issues with the video stuttering, or just plain waiting to buffer the content. Even over my MacBook. Not at all with the AppleTV. The only time I see the buffering issue at all is with Netflix, and that is very rarely.
Netflix doesn’t buffer the entire movie into the AppleTV. It just streams it realtime. So if there is a hiccup on the WiFi connection or even Internet connection, you will see the buffering text. I have only seen it a couple of times, and I have watched about 20 or so hours of video from Netflix so far on the AppleTV.
My latest epiphany with the AppleTV came when I wanted to watch MacBreak Weekly on TWiT.TV. I used to use my MacBook, but it’s not currently connected to my TV since the AppleTV took it’s place.
So I started up my iPad and ran the app TWiTPad by Craig Mullaney. I started watching the stream with uStream and used AirPlay to stream the video content to my TV and amazingly, not only did it show up (as one would expect) on my TV, but it was streaming in 16×9 resolution and pretty darn decent quality. I watched the entire 1 1/2 hours via AirPlay.
Thanks to my AppleTV, I really feel that my poor 2006 era MacBook has seen it’s last days of string usage. It’s going to get relegated to the corner for use when… Well, to be honest, I really don’t know. Its battery is pretty much useless and at $160, it’s hard to justify getting a new battery for it. It works just fine if plugged in so, I suppose it could be an OK system for the kitchen for recipes or something like that.
My only complaints with the AppleTV are that there isn’t a quicker way to scroll through hundreds if not thousands of titles. My music collection is 21,000+ songs, so I really don’t want to select “Songs” on the AppleTV. My movie collection is just under 200 titles (on the computer downstairs), so scrolling through that can be tough.
Fortunately, the Remote app from Apple allows you to use the keyboard on either the iPhone or iPad to type in text, so navigating is a little easier with that connection. However, that app really drains the batteries on those devices so you will want to make sure they are plugged in when using them with the AppleTV.
For some reason, when I restart iTunes downstairs, I have to reboot the AppleTV for it to be able to see content. I really don’t understand why that is, but I haven’t done any research to see if there is an easier work-around to getting the AppleTV to see content after iTunes has restarted.
One other thing that bugs me is that I can’t pair my Apple Bluetooth keyboard to the AppleTV. AppleTV could really use an external keyboard for YouTube, Netflix, etc…
Even though the AppleTV is sporting an A4 processor (same as the iPhone 4) and is running iOS as it’s operating system, it doesn’t have the ability to run iOS apps. I would really like to see the ability to run iOS apps. Maybe not Angry Birds, but HBO GO, ABC Player, etc… Give it the ability to stream more than just Netflix, YouTube, etc… content.
My dream AppleTV would be one with an A5 processor, iOS 5, 16/32GB RAM and the ability to not only run special apps that would fall into the “Internet” column on the menus, but have a Games menu that sported AppleTV specific games. Roku now supports games and has Angry Birds to start with. I could easily see games that used the iPhone/iPad as control surfaces, or just have a Bluetooth device that was a gamepad like the PS3 gamepad. I might even be willing to pay $199 for such a beast.
All that said, I give the AppleTV 5 stars for getting a lot of stuff right and having the ability to fix the things they didn’t. It can be updated via the Internet just like iPhones and iPad can, and you don’t even have to physically connect it to a computer!
Cult of Mac has an article rumoring that Apple’s Magic Mouse has been slated for the scrap heap. Mind you, they later updated the article to say that the mouse received a new part number. Still, if the rumor of the Magic Mouse demise were true, I would really have to wonder what was running through Apple’s mind there.
There are a lot of issues with a computer that only has a trackpad for a pointing device. Think of gaming here. There are hundreds of games available for the Mac that rely on a Keyboard/Mouse combo. Portal and Portal 2 and all other “First Person Shooters” are reliant on a mouse as part of the Keyboard/Mouse combo. Trying to play an FPS with a trackpad would be brutal if it’s even possible.
I think Cult of Mac should have though that report out a bit more and wrote the article to state that “There is a rumor floating around that Apple is removing the Magic Mouse for sale, but this can’t possibly be true considering the need for mice with computers.” Maybe they just wanted that sensational headline that all blogs seem to want.
Other blogs have picked up the story and ran with it before doing any kind of research or common sense thinking for that matter. (Those links were just from the first 10 Google search results!) Only, one of those linked sites actually thought out the story and wrote about it as I am. However, they still wrote their headline to make out that Apple was removing the mouse. The rest wrote the story like the mouse was being removed, then at the end of the story decided to say either that it was unlikely or that Cult of Mac updated their story. One didn’t even bother to do that. There are probably a bunch more that did pretty much the same as the other blogs I linked to.
This is becoming a standard in the blogging world, and sometimes in the mainstream media. It’s not unheard of to hear a story on television that was picked up on a blog that was totally wrong, and the news show had to later correct the story. I believe a story of Steve Jobs death was picked up by a mainstream media source.
News is a very profitable business. Blogs make money be getting eyeballs on their site so that all those annoying Flash based and HTML5 based ads can be seen by those eyeballs. There are plenty of blogs that post 20-50 articles a day just so that one or two might get seen by someone who would otherwise not have bothered to go to their site.
Sadly, this kind of sensational writing will never change. So I suppose we should get used to it. Even our favorite blogs that we feel would never do such things, if they put ads on their site, trust me, they will.
These guys are just gods when it comes to hitting the nail on the head with Apple humor. Once again, they show pretty much exactly what goes on at Apple blogging sites to keep the buzz up and the hits up on their blogs.
The Joy of Tech comic is the only comic I have read for what seems like forever. I have read a bunch of web comics over the years, but I have stuck with Joy of Tech while others have come and gone.
Today’s:
is the absolute epitome of rumor mongering for pretty much all the Apple blogs out there. I know that now that Apple has announced the new iPad, every Apple blog out there will have to tell us about it. In glorious, magical detail!
Thanks GeekCulture.com for such a great comic!
Apple product and software rumors and hearsay seems to be out of control thanks to Apple centered blogs and pundits.
To be fair, Apple Blogs/Pundits have been doing this for years, but there were only a few blogs that posted rumors of new products and OS upgrades.
Lately, it seems that just about every blog has to report every little rumor it hears/reads about. It’s getting so that I don’t even want to read my RSS feeds anymore.
I am subscribed to about 30+ Apple related blogs and when Apple released FaceTime for Mac in the Mac App Store, I saw 30 or so blog posts about Apple releasing FaceTime for Mac in the Mac App Store! The ones that haven’t reported the news yet will undoubtedly report about it very soon.
The same can be said about the latest refresh of the MacBook Pro line of notebook computers. When just about every blog was posting about the specs for the new machines being posted somewhere, they pretty much all posted the info.
Whats worse, even “Tip/Hint” blogs are getting into the act. No, I really don’t need many tips/hints about the Mac or iOS these days, but I still like to follow them incase they surprise me. Yet, now they are starting to report rumors as well.
Some blogs even go as far as to make up rumors just in the slight chance that they are right and can claim to have had an exclusive beat into inside information about Apple! One site claims that March 2nd’s iPad announcement might also announce iOS 5.0 information.
I switched to Mac back in 2006 to go to an OS and manufacturer that really cares about it’s users and supports them better than any other manufacturer out there. I started following Apple blogs so that I could keep up with all the latest info on my newly favorite computer.
These days, its getting so that I just want to unsubscribe to all those blogs and just read Daring Fireball and “maybe” MacRumors. It would certainly save me a bunch of time getting through all my subscriptions.
Once again, The Joy Of Tech has “hit the nail on the head” when it comes to Apple zealots. I don’t consider myself one of these zealots because I don’t read every little rumor piece and try to speculate what it all means.
In the run up to the iPad’s announcement. Everyone and their brother was speculating that there would be a “true” Mac Tablet. Boy were they ever wrong. However, they still feel a Mac Tablet is in Apple’s future.
So now all this noise about Jobs and Schmidt talking… So sad really.
Still, here is the comic panel for [Today's The Joy Of Tech](http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1372.html):
Enjoy!
I must say that I am pretty impressed with Apple’s Magic Mouse. It’s sleek, with a good 3/5 of it’s surface being available for multiple-touch functions. Being made from aluminum, it’s sturdy, solid feeling, and clicks like you would expect a mouse with real buttons.
Unlike the “Mighty Mouse”, when you click and drag with the Magic Mouse, it doesn’t feel like you are trying to hold the mouse so that the ‘whole mouse button’ doesn’t release.
Also a great feature of this mouse is that when you scroll windows by sliding you finger down or up the center of the mouse, you can tell the Mouse Preference Pane to glide just like you were flicking your finger across the iPhone/iPod touch’s screen.
There is also a great $5 shareware program called MouseWizard that adds all kinds of great functionality to the multi-touch abilities of the Magic Mouse.
MouseWizard is a great supplement to the System Preference Mouse Pane. It’s a program that can reside in the MenuBar, Dock, or both, not in System Preferences, so it won’t conflict with Apple’s Mouse Preference Pane.
The Menubar items include battery status, 3 settings entries as well as the standard application menu items.
MouseWizard lets you set tapping instead on clicking the mouse for both the right and left clicks. Two finger gestures include: Middle Click, Fourth Click, Scroll Up, Scroll Down, Swipe Left, Swipe Right, Zoom / Shrink. Three finger Click and Whole Hand Click. All can be configured to do one of many functions:
I’m currently waiting for a D-Link DBT-120 Wireless Bluetooth 2.0 USB Adapter from Amazon to hook it up to my Mac Pro. When I purchased the beast 3 1/2 years ago, I didn’t see the need to have Bluetooth and WiFi in the box. I now realize that I should have configured the order with both. A hindsight… Apple has tested their wireless keyboards and mice with the D-Link adapter which is why I ordered it rather than the many others to choose from.
Back in the days of the Mighty Mouse, I would never have suggested to anyone to use it. With the Magic Mouse, I have to say that so far, I have to problems suggesting the mouse. Mind you, I have only just started to use it, and there might still be some issues with both left and right buttons down in games. However, what I have seen so far is darn amazing and I’m very pleased I got one.
Today’s “The Joy Of Tech” hit the whole rumor/speculation/hype thing perfectly on the head! I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Thanks ‘Joy of Tech‘ guys, your humor always makes my day!
No sooner than the iPad news is released than rumors of yet another “real” Mac Tablet computer are floating around again!
Don’t get me wrong here, I consider myself to be a pretty faithful Apple Fanboy. I have quite a few iPods (3G, 4G, 5G and an iPod touch), two iPhones (myself and my wife), and two Macs (MacBook and Mac Pro). I lust for the new Unibody MacBook’s, I would love to have that new trackpad. I would also love to get the new iPad when it comes out and I am pretty much planning on getting the next-gen iPhone when it comes out.
However, I think all this speculation and rumor business is totally over the top and ridiculous. For probably a year, there has been nothing but rumor, speculation, and lust over a nonexistent Mac Tablet that finally turned out to be the iPad. We still haven’t heard the end of that damn thing. Why does the 3G cost so much more than the hardware ($500 vrs. $630), will it be able to make phone calls?, will it be able to record movies?, etc… Not to mention all the humor that has arisen from the whole feminine product name: iPad.
Will Apple come out with a real Tablet computer? Who the F**K cares! Oh My God people? You all are worse than stalkers! Unbelievable! You monitor web log files for browser types that could mean that a new device from Apple is coming. You even figure out that there were 50 iPad devices in Apple with various types of applications on them before the announcement.
Do you people have lives? I used to work for a company that makes MMORPG’s. In one of the games, the GM’s created a vine that started growing outside the main cities gates. Once someone noticed it (about 10 minutes after it was put into the game), players started watching the vine to see what would happen next to it. They organized watch schedules so that there was at least a couple of people watching that vine ever minute of every day. We’re not talking a graphical MMORPG either here. We are talking text based, so they had to “Look” at the room and the vine repetitively over and over again. That went on for over a month!
With Apple, it seems that I am seeing that behavior all over again. When the store closes for 5 seconds, blogs post about the closure as if something wonderful is going to happen. If a store that sells Apple products make a mistake, the blogs post an image of the mistake within seconds, if Steve Jobs blinks out of pattern, he’s either going to announce something or he’s dying! Just look at the over analysis of the invitation to the iPad announcement. Every paint splotch was analyzed trying to make heads or tails of what the announcement was going to have in it. Because they all knew that one of the announcements was going to be an Apple Tablet. (Which it wasn’t)
TUAW, even scored themselves over the predictions they made and way over scored themselves. They pretty much had all the predictions wrong, yet the worst they did was 5 out of 12 or something like that.
My God people, get over it. Get on with your lives. As William Shatner once said: “Get a life!”
If Apple comes out with new hardware, you will hear about it when Apple announces/leaks it, not a moment sooner. You can speculate all you want, but that is not going to make Apple/Jobs create a device that you folks have been having wet dreams about for over a year.
Just be happy that your favoriate computer company is making money and doing pretty darn well for itself. They are not likely to die anytime soon, and a real Tablet will not put them over the edge and become the new Dell/HP.
Sheesh!
Dave M.