32 posts tagged “gadgets”
Gizmodo has helpfully gathered all of the available information on Apple's upcoming laptop announcement (14th Oct). Here's what they have to say:
The facts
• There's an Apple event on October 14 and we will be there to liveblog the pants out of it.
• Long overdue, a new MacBook line will be unveiled, with newly-designed MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
• Remember that Apple told resellers not to stock MacBooks or iPods (this was just before the Let's Rock announcement).
The logical and probable rumors
• The MacBook Air, being a recent design, will probably get a features bump, but not a redesign. This could to be supported by price cuts during the summer.
• Despite the pretty mock ups, the MacBook and the MacBook Pro will probably look like the MacBook Air, but on a different scale. In previous generations, there was always a new model that introduced a new look, then the rest followed up.
• Several images of the base top, the base bottom and the display frame of the MacBook Pro have surfaced. It is still not clear if these images are real or not, even while they do look real indeed.
• Some people alleged that these images show a shell carved out of a single piece of aluminum, using a new and revolutionary manufacturing process code-named "Brick".
• However, there are several reasons to believe this may not be the case, starting with an Apple patent detailing a new welding process. However, both manufacturing techniques may have been combined for this product.
• The MacBook in the teaser invitation may be the 13-inch model. Assuming the Apple logo is the same size as before, that is. They have changed its size before.
• Following Apple's commitment for greener computers, all displays in the upcoming MacBook line may be LED-based.
Crazy rumors and wishful thinking
• The usual blurry MacBook spyshots have appeared, some of which, like this one, have been proven to be fake.
• The glass iPhone trackpads are most probably just that, fake.
• Some crazy people really wish to see a touch notebook.
• There's even more crazy people that think that a semi-transparent MacBook Pro may appear, based on an Apple patent.
• Some really really crazy people have been dreaming about tablet Macs since 2007 and before.
I'm still hoping for a 9 or 10 inch netbook. I know, I know. But hope springs eternal and all that. Annoyingly, I'll probably miss the announcement as I'll be battling my way home from a meeting in central London at the time. Or, I could simply stay behind and read the multiple live-blogging opportunities.... who needs dinner anyway?
If there is a new netbook, Apple will be getting even more of my cash - I've already decided to buy an iMac for home if the netbook gives me access to Mac OS X on the go (and required Mobile Me syncing etc).
I was just out for a walk in the sun, and I came across this new monument on Wapping High Street.
It's dedicated to the civilian dead of the WWII Blitz on London's East End. Quite striking and tasteful, I thought.
As the sun was shining, it gave me the perfect opportunity to take a couple of snaps with the iPhone to guage the quality.
Not too bad for a camera on a mobile, I think.
Using the Blogit tool to access Vox from my iPhone.
Don't think I'll be posting massive opinion pieces (ie rants) with this, but it's useful to be able to access my blog while on the move.
Are you going to be amongst the first people to buy the iPhone 3G? If so, when do you plan on picking yours up and which one will you be purchasing?
Yes! I just picked mine up. It's a black, 16GB model. I had a nightmare dealing with the chimps at Carphone Warehouse this morning (who to be fair were quite overwhelmed by the demand) when my iPhone failed to show up as promised. Nine hours later, I popped back and there it was, waiting for me.
I had to feel sorry for the the various punters in the shop with me, wandering in on the off chance that there were any iPhones left. There were not.
I'm pleased with it so far... but that's not saying much as I haven't been able to set it up yet. I like the size and weight, while the overall build quality seems good. I've promised to take my other half out to dinner tonight, so serious playing around with the newest gadget will have to wait until later. Or tomorrow morning.
The best bit? I cancelled my T-Mobile contract, incurring a cancellation penalty (of course). However, I sold my iPod touch which almost covers that, and a nice cashback from Quidco (you really should register) covered the cost of the new handset (£59).
This is probably my least wallet-injuring Apple purchase ever.
What's your favorite magazine? Least favorite?
My favourite is the most excellent Wired. I can't wait for it each month and read the great wired.com blogs in between each issue.
Great technology analysis and comment, plenty of humour and beee-utiful layout and design. And their top tips are quite useful.
And the best news I've heard all week is that they're going to launch a UK edition of the mag in early 2009. I can finally get a subscription without paying way over the odds to have it imported from the US.
My least favourite?
Anything that follows the sex lives of celebrities and wannabies. And costs less than a pound... you know the type of crap.
That is all.
(Cue several days of hand-wringing giddiness and all-round nerdery).
Will you buy the iPhone 3G? Why or why not?
Why yes... yes I will.
And why? It offers solutions to a number of problems I face with my Palm Centro, specifically around syncing and web access.
Aside from that, I'm just a massive Apple geek.
Yes, I know... you were possibly expecting a post-WWDC post on Monday, but it was late by the time I'd finished frothing at the mouth, and I still hadn't cooked dinner.
In a word, it was superb. Not the iPhone (though that looks fantastic), I'm talking about the new MobileMe service that's replacing .Mac. I've been a .Mac subscriber since the service started and I've never felt it's lived up to its enormous potential. I think MobileMe (despite the fact that the name sucks) is what .Mac should always have been.
My service will be automatically upgraded next month and I can't wait. To have the same iCal entires (and categories!!) appear on my Macbook, iPhone and any other computer with an connection to the net...to have the changes appear almost instantly... simply superb. And this is all topped off by a complete re-working of the web-based interface, something I use on daily basis. Thank you Apple, this is the happiest you've made me in a long time.
In other news, I am now definitely going to buy an iPhone. Admit it - you saw that one coming. The price reduction and the O2 tarrifs suit me fine, the App Store is incredibly exciting, and... dammit, I think I deserve it!
...and I'm ashamed to say I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. I've basically decided to get an iPhone 2.0 (or whatever it's going to be called) subject to it being 3G and having a couple of other improvements I've blogged about before.
This decision has been made all the more straightforward by the fact that my Centro is behaving like an uncooperative infant and shutting down of its own accord. It's also crashing when I got to accept a call, crashing when I check email and shutting down in the middle of calls. Frustrating doesn't begin to describe it. It's also my business phone, so I'm concerned about missing client calls.
I've therefore made the cognitive leap to accepting the iPhone as my saviour.
This morning's Guardian, however, dented my enthusiasm a little with their prediction that:
The second-generation iPhone will go on sale immediately in the US, with British customers due to get their hands on it next month.
But I wanted it... now? ;-)
Even I can wait a month. I think. Actually, it's the wait between now and the keynote that is frustrating. I (due to living in London) have an entire working day to get through before his Steveness takes to the stage. It will be 6pm in London before we get any announcements. Luckily, I have a pile of work to do between now and then which might just take my mind off things.
Once the keynote starts, I'll be completely unreachable. Should anyone call me, I can always blame my unreliable Centro for the dropped calls...
