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Jan 2010

MacInquirer | Feb 2010 | Dec 2009

iPad Keynote: The Lost Slides

01/30/10 21:55

Thanks to the MacInquirer’s top-secret mole deep inside the Mothership, we’re proud to present a rare treat: iPhone pix from a Tuesday rehearsal before the iPad launch party, featuring ten slides that were actually dropped from the show for various reasons.

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Dotcomic: Say hello to iPad

01/30/10 13:28

dotcomic-helloipad

Say Hello to...iPad?

01/27/10 13:46

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Photo: Gizmodo

LIVE: MacInquirer at tablet event

01/27/10 12:24

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LIVEBLOG PROVIDED BY FACETUBE
PAGE WILL AUTOREFRESH.
BUT FEEL FREE TO RELOAD ANYWAY -- WE NEED THE HITS.

9: 28 PST
NO CONNECTION

9:27 PST
TECH PRESS SUX!! YOU GUYS ARE JUST A BUNCH OF SELF IMPORTANT SONOFABI

9:26 PST
REALLY? NOBODY HERE HAS A SPARE IPHONE CHARGER?? REALLY??

9:25 PST
Probably shouldn’t have given my Mophie Juice Pack to that hottie at the Hilton last night...

9:24 PST
Okay, we’re back. 2 bars. Not great, but -- hey! “Low Battery?? 10% of battery remaining??” What the frack??

9:22 PST
NO CONNECTION

9:22PST:
About to reboot iPhone to refresh 3G connection. Standyby.

9:21 PST:
One bar? ATT sucks.

9:21 PST:
Could Andy Ihnatko have a BIGGER hat? What’s under there -- a satellite uplink?

9:20 PST:
Something smells like Oreos. Oh -- there’s Rob Enderle.

9:20 PST:
We’re at Yerba Buena, and we’re in. Press credential wasn’t even questioned. This is why we still love PrintShop Pro.

Tablet Day: Colbert nails it

01/27/10 09:53

All-Tablet's Eve: Former insider spills beans

01/26/10 22:02

Ed Eigerman, a former Apple senior systems engineer, tells Bloomberg News what it’s like to be on the inside of a big Apple product launch, in this case, the original iPod:

All-Tablet's Eve: Bad Pundit Flashback

01/26/10 21:03

A few vocal contrarians have been poo-poohing the idea of an Apple tablet for months. But veteran observers (and by that we mean, us) notice a certain...sameness about the comments of these skeptics. These are the guys who cut & paste the “too expensive, functionally crippled tech toy” boilerplate every time The Steveness pulls another game-changer out of his hat.

Think we’re exaggerating? How bout this: In the same way they scoffed before the iPhone, the infidels we’ll call Embracers of the Conventional Wisdom were also quite confident that Apple had pulled a major boner in 2001 by introducing a little thang we like to call...the iPod.

Thanks to Apple user and amateur tech historian “sleevesend,” here’s a medley of delightfully misguided instant reviews of the original iPod from the Apple Yahoo Stock message boards on launch day, September 23, 2001 . Replace ”iPod” with “tablet” and see if any of these sound familiar:

Nah, this would be stupid. Limited market.

It seems a bit of a waste to devote a Firewire disk device to loading MP3 documents. Isn't that a bit of a conflict with the iTunes disk burning application, and the ready availability of dozens of wearable CD music devices?

WAAAAYYYYYY overpriced for what it is and for the niche it is trying to find a home in.

Will Apple phanatics ever get a gut-full of handing over their wallet ?

Geez...Compaq's award-winning PDA is within a few bucks of this overpriced, overhyped iDud device.

Guess that's why the stock is tankin - and i ain't kiddin.

$399??!?! Sheesh...I can get an Xbox (or PS2) for that much.

I was definitely hoping for something more "revolutionary" given all the hype.

That's literally a down payment on a brand new car these days....half the price of an imac....half the price of a decent iBook on eBay...for a tiny piece of electronic that's essentially $150 by any other brand on a bad day at eBay or half.com ?

Is CEO Jobs insane in the middle of a full-blown recession or what is his basic problem

What Apple marketing idiot sets these price points ?

This is sooo lame...

Right-I’m going to give my kid one of these. NOT!

You've been tricked.

PRICE!! look up MP3 players in Cnet, not much over $200, the best buy (rio) is only $165.

I was really hoping for something that appealed to everyone, not just mac people, IMHO, this is a cool bummer.

what a joke....hahahahahahahahahahha....thanks jobs.

once again the faithful get screwed.

tock price, I sense, is already factoring in this dud. Apple thinks they can over-price their product line no matter what device they hype and trot out to us...they are screwing themselves by not only DESIGNING the product as Mac only, but then crowing about it.

This is the CUBE2 - no doubt.

the apple sheep have talked about nothing for the last week other than the new product release. they talked about how revolutionary, sleek, slick, dell killing, and, microsoft killing it would be. they talked about taking the wind out of the windows xp sails.......YOU ALL HAVE EGG ON YOUR FACE. HAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH.

bend over and prepare for innovation.

(Fun Fact: “Bend over and prepare for innovation” was later used by Microsoft in a Windows Vista TV ad featuring Dan Aykroyd as Beldar the Conehead.)

Pop culture insta-homage

01/26/10 11:26

Perfect sportswear for the Apple fanboi/Conan O’Brien fanatic:

imwithcocoa

imwithcocoa

Also available in poster-style. Get yours here.

"Behold his mighty hand!"

01/26/10 11:10

Analogies between the eagerly-awaited Apple Tablet and the original portable device from on high have been everywhere lately. And while there have been several Jobs-as-Moses Photochops that get the point across well, we think there’s nothing like the power of a well-rendered portrait, like this one from illustrator Dale Stephanos:

mosesjobs

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Even better: iPhone Savior reports that Dale’s offering 8x10 and 11x14 prints of the art here.

Tablet games revealed!

01/25/10 18:45

An analytics company known as Flurry claims Apple (or somebody) has been testing the mythical iTab/iSlate/MagicSlate/MrSlate/TabSlate/whatever in an area near the Cupertino campus since last October. The Flurrians claim to have a breakdown of different app types being used, and suggest that the device will definitely have a consumer focus, with the number one category being “Games.” Fascinated, the MacInquirer emailed out contact deep in the bowels of Flurry (wasn’t that a Black Sabbath album title?) and pressed them for further details.

Consumer focus? Without a doubt. In fact, the beta test group appears to be composed entirely of the staff at Break.com. Here’s the breakdown graph on the Games category:

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For some reason, we doubt Steve will be sharing that slide onstage at Yerba Buena on Wednsday.

Oh yeah -- it's on! (But...what is it?)

01/18/10 12:53

Apple had finally made it official -- they’ve sent select members of the Mac media elite email invites to a special event on January 27th. The relevant graphic looks like this:

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The tagline implies a brand new product, not just a speed-bump of MacBook Pros or a preview of iPhone OS v4.0. But there are no clear clues to what the latest creation might be, unless you count the rounded-rectangle shape in the background. (Look -- it’s the same shape as a tablet! And the splotches spilling out over the borders of the rectangle suggest communicatio and sharing capabilities -- which means both Wi-Fi and multiple carriers for 3G!! Suck it, AT&T!!!)

Actually, the rectangle tells us nothing. At this point, neither do the multicolor paint splotches. You could make an argument that the clean white logo over the drippy blobs implies that the tablet market is a splotchy, disorganized, multicolor fustercluck, and that Apple sees itself eventually coming out on top of the whole mess with a clean, iconic design. Yeah -- we’ll go with that. Makes as much sense as anything else we’ve seen lately.

Extra-bendy tablet revealed

01/09/10 14:19

While we’re all eagerly awaiting the rumored arrival of Apple’s tablet computer later this month, there are a handful of other intriguing products in the pipeline, like the Skiff --a large-format touchscreen tab co-developed with Hearst Publishing. Hey Steve -- can your tablet do this?

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Still a tad vapor-warey for our tastes, but an interesting idea nonetheless. Here’s hoping the Skiff people can bend the cost curve as much as the product itself.

iFart launches social network. Yes, really.

01/05/10 23:30

iFart Mobile, the king of the hill of iPhone fart apps (and we can’t believe we just typed that either) has stayed on the -- ahem -- cutting edge of technology by providing frequent updates to their chucklehead product. The developers recently added in-app purchasing of downloadable fart upgrade packages. Available are such classy collections as the Rock Bands pack (featuring Aerosniff, Fartwood Mac, and Hubastink) and the Gassy Celebrities collection (with Methane McConnaghey, Gaston Kutcher, and Colon O’Brien).

Okay, we’re not talking Algonquin Roundtable here. But we love the campfire scene in “Blazing Saddles” as much as the next guy.

Now the iFart gang is introducing a social network for fartophiles. We’l let you discover the ridiculous details for yourself at the company’s blog. Basically, once one of your “Fart Budz™” has “friended” you, the iPhone’s -- ahem -- push technology allows you to send them a quick trouser cough anytime, anywhere. (No matter what you’re doing. And you’re stuck like that. Forever. It’s like a mobile phone version of getting an ill-advised tattoo.)

Can a fart app create a social network? Why not? Call it...Fartbook. Or if they add video uploading capabilities, they could launch You Toot. Or you could share a quick 140-character message on your latest blast via...something that rhymes with Twitter.

Stupid? You betcha. But it’s not the dumbest idea that ever brought a diverse group of bent-arrows together. (That would be this.) So high-five to the shameless capitalists of iFart, and here’s hoping they continue to -- ahem -- leave their mark on society.

Gear Review: The Blue Yeti

01/04/10 23:05

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The Yeti
USB microphone
Blue Microphones
$149.95
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4.5 out of 5 (We couldn’t figure out how to type a half-@.)

PROS: Great design. Four pickup patterns. Good balanced sound.
CONS: USB audio just shy of pro quality. Control knobs a tad jiggly.

Blue has become famous for its striking microphone designs, and the retro-modern USB Yeti is a worthy addition to the company’s product lineup.

The first thing you'll notice is what a beautiful, well-designed object this is. The Yeti has a solid custom desk stand that provides built-in cable management for headphone and USB cords. Despite its outdoorsy name, this Yeti is not the ideal choice for recording in the wild -- it’s really big and really heavy. But the swivel-stand arrangement allows you to rotate the body of the mic upside down into the base if you do need portability.

On the front: a mic mute button and headphone volume dial. On the rear, mic level control and a pickup pattern selector. The dials strike us as just a tad jiggly and plasticky for such an otherwise elegant design. On the bottom are the zero-latency headphone jack and mini-USB connector. The swiveling body makes accessing the USB and headphone ports a snap. Another thoughtful addition is a 5/8 inch threaded hole that allows you to remove the base and mount the Yeti on a standard microphone floor stand.

The Yeti houses a trio of mic elements to offer stereo, omni, cardioid, and figure-eight pickup patterns. The selections give the mic a versatile bag of sound tricks, whether you're recording a solo podcast, taping an interview or meeting, or laying down some vocals in GarageBand. The headphone amp doesn't exactly go to 11, but the mic delivers a pretty respectable output level. We're talking 16-bit USB audio, so the Yeti doesn't have quite the full warmth and sonic detail of a "real" large-diaphragm condenser like Blue's pro studio models. But the sound is surprisingly good for a USB mic, with much less noise than similarly-featured competitors like the Samson G-Track.

No drivers needed -- just plug in the included USB cable. On a Mac, select "Yeti Stereo Microphone" for both input and output in the Sound control panel of System Preferences. Configuring audio in/out in GarageBand's Audio preferences is a snap, too.

The Yeti displays minimal “boominess” on the low end when worked close, what audio pros call “the proximity effect.” To avoid P-pops and breath sounds, you might want to invest in a pop screen of some kind, though it seems a shame to put a big foam hat on top of such a beautiful head.

Did we mention how cool The Yeti looks sitting on your desk? The streamlined aluminum styling matches the finish of Apple's current product lineup quite well.

The Yeti's sound quality and multiple pickup patterns raise the bar a bit for USB mics, and leave even Blue's much-beloved Snowball playing catch-up. For the price, a product that looks and sounds this good is going to be pretty hard to beat. Highly recommended.

Dotcomic: Big Bang Theory

01/02/10 16:52

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Apple tablet specs mystically revealed

01/02/10 15:03

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Greetings, infidel technophiles. The aroma of your collective fanboi dreams of a new Apple gizmo has permeated my high-tech North African citadel. The MacSwami is here to clear the air with some early details about the upcoming Apple tablet computer.

It’s true: the Cupertino Skunkworks has finally come up with something Steve Jobs can enjoy while sitting on the toilet. MacSwami sees an official Apple tablet announcement at the end of January, with limited availability in late March. The main bullets:

-Oleophobic glass multitouch screen will be a larger version of the one in the iPhone 3GS. Screen size just north of ten inches. Will run a customized operating system somewhere between the iPhone OS and the full desktop/laptop version of OS X. Onscreen widgets will be slightly larger finger-targets than iPhone versions. For a preview, examine the revised horizontal scrollers in iTunes 9.

- Will be tied to the iTunes App Store like the iPhone. Jailbreakers will quickly figure out how to install their own apps. Among the first gray market add-ons: a hack that enables the use of Apple’s wireless keyboard. Speaking of which...

- No physical keyboard. Onscreen KB like iPhone, though its bigger keys will make it a bit easier for the bifocals crowd to use.

- Most iPhone apps will run, though they’ll need to be modified slightly to fill the full screen. (Leading fart-app developers are working overtime on this right now.)

-Communication capabilities will be similar to iPod Touch: Wireless networking, but no built-in phone capabilities. AT&T will announce an iPhone tethering plan for the tablet, but never deliver. Apple and AT&T will each drop hints suggesting the other is the problem. Full tethering will only arrive in mid-2011, when the tablet and iPhone become available from carriers that are not named AT&T.

- No memory card expansion slot. SD card support will make an anticlimactic appearance about 3 years down the road.

- 128 GB SSD for storage. 256 GB will be a ridiculously expensive option whose price will drop dramatically before the end of the year, generating an idiotic class-action lawsuit that will go nowhere.

- Single 3 megapixel camera with video capability, similar to current iPhone unit. Several key tech writers have already written the section of their reviews that whine girlishly about the lack of a second camera for iChat.

-Standard 1/8-inch headphone jack. Tiny, underwhelming stereo speakers. Port for charging and sync that appears to be identical to the dock connector on the iPod/iPhone, but will give you a scary “this accessory could blow up your tablet” warning if you try to use existing cables/docks. Tablet will necessitate an all-new dock/cradle ecosystem, most of which will be utter horsecrap. Only products from Griffin and one or two other companies will be worth even looking at.

- Full large-screen iPod functionality will goose sales of iTunes TV/movie downloads. Books will also be available. ala Kindle. “Enhanced” versions of the New York Times, Wired, Sports Illustrated, and various other dead-tree publications will be available at launch, at prices distressingly similar to newsstand copies. This will do little to stop the bleeding, and Old Media companies will continue to struggle.

- Kindle and Nook will both announce lower prices. It won’t help. Nook will bite the dust first, with Kindle hanging on a bit longer.

- Predictable humbuggery about the new device being “too expensive to succeed” will be accompanied by lengthy Apple Store lines at product launch and backorders of several weeks.

There is much more, but you are not ready to receive it now. MacSwami will reveal additional details soon.

Stay classy. But mostly, thanks for stopping by.

Video: Welcome to the Future!

01/01/10 14:54

New Year’s Day is a time to reflect on the past, and ponder the future. And while most films predicting “the world to come” are laughably inaccurate, this rare black and white chestnut from the 1950s has turned out to be amazingly on-the-nose:

Pop! Fizzzzzzz.....Glug Glug...

01/01/10 00:02

happy2010