All the media attention this week has been on the announcement of the new iPhone 3G during Steve Jobs’s keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. But for Mac users there was another huge story that day, one that took up only a few seconds of the keynote: Snow Leopard, a brand-new version of Mac OS X.
Apple has been working on Mac OS X for more than a decade, and the public has been able to use it for eight years. In that time, the replacement for the classic Mac OS has grown through several stages: it began in an awkward, half-functional state, progressed into a fully functional replacement for OS 9 with increasing levels of speed and stability, and finally became an entrenched system that advanced by acquiring whizzy new features such as Spotlight and Time Machine.
Early in Mac OS X’s history, the operating system sped up with each new version, as Apple engineers tuned the code and got it working better. But those improvements have faded, and the last two releases have certainly been no faster than their predecessors. Instability, too, has returned to Mac OS X.
So how refreshing was it for Apple to announce—albeit out of the spotlight of the keynote, via press release—that Apple is taking a break from rolling out Mac OS X updates with hundreds of new features. Instead, the next major release of Mac OS X will focus on speed and stability.
Last March, the NPD Group reported that Apple’s retail market share — its cut of the computers sold in brick-and-mortar stores — had climbed to 14%, a figure that’s roughly double its overall share of the U.S. market and reflects the power of the Apple Store to draw customers and move product.
What NPD didn’t report at the time was the huge growth in Apple’s share of the so-called “premium” computer market — machines that cost more than USD$1,000.
To some extent, Apple’s (AAPL) share of this market is growing by default. Companies like HP (HPQ), Dell (DELL) and Lenovo ship enormous quantities of PCs at price points between $500 and $750, whereas the only Macintosh that sells for less than $1,000 is the $599 Mini.
Still, Apple’s share of the $1,000-plus retail market was less than 18% in January 2006 according to NPD. By September 2007, it had grown to more than 57%. And in the first quarter of 2008 it hit a record 66%.
Here are some tips for different things you can do with Apple's iTunes.
You can change the visualizations in iTunes using these keys:
- Q and W changes the corridor
- A and S use these keys to change the style of the visualizations
- Z and X changes the color of the visualizations
- F displays the frame rate
Made a Visualization you like? Push shift and a number (1-9) to make it a preset.
M key changes the mode (i.e. random, user config, freeze the current visualization) O turns on overscan mode
During a download, go to the downloads page under “Store” and click on the dash between the filesize and how minutes it has left to display how the download speed.
Say you want to download a song but don’t have time, find the song in the iTunes Store, and drag the 30 second clip into your iTunes Library where you can purchase and download it later in one click.
You can add “Smart Playlists” from the File menu. These playlists are self-updating based on the preferences you choose. Such as how many times a song is played, the year it was released, even the BPM.
You can add web radio stations to your library that come from the iTunes “radio” menu so you can easily stream them without having to go through a lot of lists and menus.
Want to know what’s all free on iTunes? Down near the bottom of the store page, there is a “free on iTunes” box. There is new stuff being added every week.
AT&T announced today that they will be deploying third generation (3G) wireless broadband service to more than 80 additional cities as part of its 2008 wireless network expansion plans.
This will bring 3G services to nearly 350 U.S. markets by the end of 2008, including the Top 100 U.S. cities.
This news is relevant, in that Apple users AT&T as their exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S. and has a multi-year commitment with them. One of the main criticisms of the iPhone when it was launched was a lack of 3G networking, which is typically much faster than the EDGE network that is presently offered with the iPhone.
AT&T's CEO confirmed that the 3G iPhone would become available in 2008, confirming comments by Steve Jobs at the original iPhone launch that Apple planned on making "3G phones and all sorts of other amazing things in the future".
The reason that 3G was not included in the original iPhone was due to concerns about excessive battery usage, "When we looked at 3G, the chipsets were not low-enough power for what we were looking for. They were not integrated enough, so they took up too much physical space. We cared a lot about battery life and we cared a lot about physical size. Down the road, I'm sure some of those tradeoffs will become more favorable towards 3G but as of now we think we made a pretty good doggone decision".
Apple today added new models of the iPhone and iPod Touch which have double the memory. The new 16GB iPhone is available for $499, while the 8GB model remains at $399. The 32GB iPod touch comes in at $499 while 16GB and 8GB models are priced at $399 and $299, respectively.
"For some users, there's never enough memory," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. "Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world."
The new iPhone and iPod touch models are available immediately.
Everyone’s computer is plugged into his or her home power. Not all home power is the same. Some are clean, some are dirty, some are noisy, and all are potentially problematic.
Ever turn on an appliance only to have the lights dim? If you do not have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), you are sending those power fluctuations down to your computer, and all the parts inside it.
There are full blown power outages, where power is abruptly removed from your computer. Probably the worst, is a brown out, where about half the power is supplied to your computer.
A UPS is a small battery. Once plugged into your power outlet, it will charge like any other battery. You then plug your computer into the UPS. From that point forward, your computer will run off of the battery.
You can even pull the plug from the wall, and your computer will still run, albeit for a short time. Long enough to allow you to save your work and gracefully shut down.
In addition, this battery will protect you from any surges and drops in power. In our opinion, this is a mandatory item to have. Data is just too important; computers are too expensive to repair. The chances of power fluctuations are too high to risk not spending a relatively small amount of money to protect yourself.
The nice thing about Apple's OS X, and the USB based UPS units, is they can communicate with each other. No need to install any additional software. Just plug the UPS into your wall, your computer into the UPS, and a USB cable from the computer to the UPS, and you are set. You will have new options in your Energy Saver Preferences that allow you to define what your computer does when there is a power outage.
Amazon has good deals on them, here's one that works well. The unit is small, silent, and just works!
Apple announced a new line of portable computers during Steve Jobs' keynote speech at MacWorld San Fransisco today, the MacBook Air. The new line is a complement to the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.
Features of the new portable include being "the world's thinnest notebook," at 0.16" to 0.76" - thinner than the the thinnest part of a Sony TZ series laptop. Screen size is an LED backlit 13.3" widescreen with a magnetic latch. The MacBook Air keyboard is MacBook-like, but with an ambient light sensor. The new machines feature a multi-touch trackpad, allowing the user to double-tap and move. Rotate a photo by pivoting your index finger around your thumb, as well as pinch & zoom.
Additionally there's a 45 Watt MagSafe power adapter, a Micro-DVI out as well as Audio Out, 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR. There's a 1.8" hard drive for storage - either 80GB standard, or a 64GB SSD as an option. Intel shrunk the size of the Core 2 Duo chip by 60% to fit in the new machine.
Battery life is approximately 5 hours. No optical drive is on the MacBook Air, but a SuperDrive accessory is available for $99. There's also new software being released that allows the portable to "borrow" a Mac or PC's optical drive. All models feature 2GB of memory standard.
The case is fully aluminum (good for recycling), the first fully mercury and lead free display, circuit boards are BFR free, and retail packaging are 56% less volume than a MacBook.
The new MacBook Air starts at $1799 is available for pre-order today, and is expected to be shipping in two weeks.
Apple announced a number of updates to the iPhone platform today. The iPhone has sold over 4 million units since going on sale 200 days ago.
That averages 20,000 iPhones sold per day. In its first quarter shipping, the iPhone garnered 19.5% of the US Smartphone market (2nd, behind only RIM's BlackBerry).
iPhone SDK Release scheduled for February
New Software today
Google Maps with Location
Webclips - website bookmarks on your home screen. Clips will remember where you zoomed/panned to, and you are able to create up to 9 of them.
Chapter Options & Language Capability - now available in iPod mode.
Multiple-Contact SMS
Available today as a free update to all existing iPhone users.
What NPD didn’t report at the time was the huge growth in Apple’s share of the so-called “premium” computer market — machines that cost more than USD$1,000.
