All hail Apple, king of something or other.
Apple now has a higher market valuation than Google. Apple’s went up because of the success of the iPhone (and iPod and iMac), while Google’s went down because of the downturn in online advertising. Blame the economy for that one.
The actual numbers put Apple at $158.8 billion, and Google at $157.2 billion.
One odd sentence from the Guardian: “The iMac and the iPod continue to be firm favourites among laptop computer buyers and music fans.” Since when was the iMac a laptop computer?
On June 7th, Rockridgesound will roll out a new aluminum-made stand for the iPod Touch on the Japanese market. The MSRP for the so-called iClooly is $48.
Mainly designed to watch movies on an iPod Touch in mini iMac style, it comes with a pivot joint for 90-degree rotation, a tilt function and an extension cable for headphone or external speaker connection.
The Japan-only iClooly is measured at 115×45×100mm and weighs 55g.
“We’ll take the time to get the product right.”
You wanna know why Apple’s designs are so lauded, why they make so many competitor’s products look like junk? It’s because of the mentality expressed in the above quote. Apple cares. More specifically, senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive cares. His works include the iMac and iPhone. You may have heard of those.
So yeah, the Independent’s running a very magazine-y feature on Apple design boss Ive. There’s artful discussion of pencils—awards—and what makes Apple so damn special with its eye-catching designs. For his part, Ive wants only “to try to make products that really are meaningful to people.”
You’ll also run into Ive’s views on how advertising and design play off each other, and why quality ID comes so easily to Apple.
Yesterday we wished happy birthday to the iMac, the personal computer from ten years ago that more or less saved Apple, leading the way to change the computer industry — as well as the music industry — forever.
We posted the video of Steve Jobs introducing the iMac and the nostalgia was palpable. But what were the reactions?
Reader Dan showed me this clip from a MacWorld from ten years ago, giving its first impressions of the new computer.
While the review is generally favorable, there are some parts that are humorous a decade on.
Most dramatically, this new consumer offering has no SCSI port, no standard serial ports, and no ADB ports. Apple has opted to replace these familiar connections with USB, a high-speed serial architecture that has suffered from slow adoption on the Wintel platform despite its technical advantages (see the sidebar “USB: Ready for Prime Time?”). Currently, no USB devices exist for the Mac.
I can’t wait till someone calls out the crap I write on here now ten years from now.
Happy tenth birthday, iMac. It’s been a great ride, and, like me, you’re getting better with age.
I remember when the iMac was released, I was working at a retail big box store that sold Macs. Within a few hours of the story hitting the wires (TV and print, mostly,) we had about a dozen people asking if we had it in. We didn’t of course, but it was telling. It’s arguable that the iMac helped kickstart the second wave of personal computers, the one we’re on the tail-end of now.
As a way of remembering the good times, above is the launch of the first iMac ten years ago today.
Apparently, the processors in the new iMacs released today by apple aren’t anything new. The iMacs are able to reach speeds of 3.06GHz because they are an overclocked version of chips from Intel’s current line. The mainboards are still based on the Santa Rosa chipset found in the previous iMacs. There was some speculation over whether the new iMacs were going to be the first machines to use Intel’s upcoming Centrino 2, Montevina, chips, which doesn’t seem to be the case. This is not the first time Apple has used overclocked chips in their computers.
The new iMacs will have 2 GB of memory standard and the 24-incher is hitting 3.06GHz. Here’s the full press release:
Apple Updates iMac
Now with Faster Processors & Faster Graphics Option
CUPERTINO, Calif., April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today updated its all-in-one iMac(R) line with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. With prices starting at just $1,199, iMac includes faster processors with 6MB L2 cache and a faster 1066 MHz front-side bus across the entire line, and 2GB of memory standard in most models. The 24-inch iMac now offers a 3.06 GHz Intel processor and the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics as options, extending iMac’s lead as the ultimate all-in-one desktop computer for both consumers and professionals.
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GeekSugar predicted there’d be new iMacs next week, and several retailers have confirmed the existence of new model numbers in their inventory. That’s what MacRumors claims, at least.
What should you expect with these new iMacs? Penryn-based processors, for one, and maybe an expanded hard drive or newer video card. A minor update, in other words, not a total re-design.
Our good friend, GeekSugar, has the inside scoop that Apple will announce new iMacs next week. Details are skimp, but the iMacs will more than likely see proc and HDD upgrades. We’re 99 percent sure this is legit based on her previous scoop surrounding the MacBook Pro upgrades a few months back.
Kabateck Brown Keller, a law firm specializing in suing big companies over faulty products and services, is fixing its legal sights on Apple Inc. They say that the 20-in iMac was advertised as having a certain type of LCD monitor capable of displaying “millions of colors” — as the 24-in iMac indeed can. However, the 20-in version sports an inferior type of screen limited to just over 262,000 colors. That’s still more than a Gameboy, but it’s a significant downgrade that was apparently not mentioned at the product’s release. I checked and it doesn’t specify color depth or range on the Apple website now.
Of course, if it were me, I’d just call Apple and say “Come on. The screen sucks, admit it.” But KBK is mounting a full-scale class-action assault and probably expects millions from this. I don’t think there are any good guys in this particular battle.
As someone who’s made my share of flights with tons of computer gear, I know good cases when I see them, and there aren’t many people who do it better than Pelican. Pelican has a new case purpose-built for 24-inch iMacs as part of its Case Cruiser line.
The box is made or reinforced plastic with layers of shock-resistant foam inside, built around a shell made purposely for the iMac.
If you fly and need more than just your laptop — say for demos at a convention — then have a look. Otherwise, well, don’t.
iMCruzer [Pelican]
A man with a stunningly Portuguese name (Nuno Teixeira) has designed an iMac with a curved screen. Called the iMac iView, the concept uses a curved screen because such a screen is better suited to the curvature of the human eye. If the idea sounds familiar, that’s because Alienware demoed a similar display at CES earlier this year. Biggs poo pooed the idea of such a monitor:
No availability or release date, but listen, kid. You have a long life ahead of you. There are girls to meet, beaches to hang out on, things to learn. Don’t be the guy with the big weird three-foot surround monitor. Just don’t do it.
The iView also has an LCD on the back along with two built-in Web cams. Again, she’s just a concept, so don’t get too worked up about it.
Curved iMac has your back… [Yanko Design]
9to5Mac is positing some pie in the sky stuff about multi-touch trackpads and full iMac/MacBook Pro overhauls. He’s pegging this prediction on the March event coming up and not much else, but it’s nice to dream. If anything happens in March it will be the SDK launch and little else.
iMacs to receive processor upgrades along with new Macbook Pros? [9to5mac]
We’ve been loving multitouch since Apple made it splash with the iPhone and now the iPod Touch. And we’re shepherding rumors lately that the new Apple sub-notebooks that are rumored will feature mutlitouch. When the new iMacs were announced a couple months ago, we figured they’d have the technology, but we were foiled.
TrollTouch, however, has hacked the iMac to include touchscreen technology. We haven’t used one yet, but we’re guessing Leopard would be a ton of fun to use this way. Now, it’s not official, so we’re sure it’s buggy, but its perfectly suited to retail and other transactional uses, or for those who are really into hands-on photoshoppery.
iMacs on Troll Touch [Product Page]
Dell’s XPS One is here, and it’s a nice looking machine, to be sure. And for most people it seems to be about the PC you’d expect for the price, and for the form factor, but Computer Shopper thinks it could do more.
Shopper thinks it needs a better GPU, and laments its lack of upgradability. But its main competition is, of course, the iMac, where it no doubt got its market, which is also no-upgradable.
There’s more, and since I’m against re-inventing the wheel, you should hop over and read the write up yourself.
A home run? No. Does it totally suck? Nope. It is what it is, as they say. The Dude abides.
Dell XPS Review [CompShop]
Since Gateway announced the One, everyone and their cousin has known it’s a blatant copy of Apple’s iMac. Even Uncle Walt over at the Wall Street Journal knows damn well what Gateway and Dell are trying to do with their all-in-one computer systems. Unfortunately for Gateway, while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the One doesn’t even come close to the iMac. In fact, the One is such a disappointment, Mossberg can’t even recommend purchasing it.
For one, the iMac can run both Windows and OS X. The One can only do Windows of course. Other factors such as noise, no built-in webcam, lower resolutions and smaller screens are what drive Mossberg to loathe Gateway’s copycat. Not only that, but the One crashed twice on Walt during his testing. Damn that BSOD!
Then there’s the price. The iMac starts at $1199 while the One is $100 higher for the base model. Plus, the iMac has different screen sizes to choose from while the One is bound to 19-inches across the board. So much for the “bang for the buck” angle Gateway could have taken. The final verdict? Don’t even bother messing with Gateway’s hellchild of a computer known as the One. Apple has the all-in-one desktop market done right and if any PC manufacturer is going to overtake them, it’ll need to spend some more time at the drawing board.
New Gateway Desktop Takes on Look of iMac,
But Can’t Match It [WSJ]
Early this morning, I was going through blogs and came across this post on the new Apple keyboards. It seems that Apple has engineered its new keyboard to detect keystrokes. The blogger brings up a point on how he was always hitting the Caps Lock key by accident when he went to hit the shift key. I myself have found myself doing the same thing. But how come when we hit the Caps Lock key, it doesn’t activate?
Enter Apple. If you have one of the new iMac/Apple keyboards, quickly jab your finger at the Caps Lock key and see if it activates. It doesn’t, right? Seems Apple has integrated “anti-jab” protection into this keyboard so that you don’t always go TyPiNG iN CaPS. Talk about a godsend for MMOs…
apple’s antiCAPSLOCK [Rentzsch]
After getting three dodgy iMacs in a row, some guy decided to email the big man himself: Steve Jobs. Obviously the CEO of a multimillion dollar hardware company has nothing better to do than sit in his basement and respond to random guys who feel that they are important enough to contact him, but I digress. He reached one of Steve’s minions who seemed extremely concerned about the issue and even offered him a free iPod in exchange for his soul.
This is pretty cool on Apple’s side considering that lately they haven’t been doing a lot of nice things for their customers. What with locking them out of their own hardware and all.
The office of Steve Jobs called me today…
Oops. Guess I let this one slip out a bit early yesterday, but here it is again.
I present to you the Gateway iMac…errr…I mean the Gateway One. A lustrous and chic all in one PC if you can’t tell by the images. The One is encased in metal at just 3.6-inches deep with a 19-inch widescreen TFT active-matrix LCD with 1440×900 resolution. Its plethora of features isn’t ground breaking, but it’s nice to have seven USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/b/g/n, AV ports and FireWire. It has a slot loading Super-Multi DVDRW drive on the side and a 5-in-1-card reader (SD, MMC, Memorystick, Memorystick Pro, xD Picture Card). Wait. I might be wrong about this not being cool.
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Everyone is taking design cues from Apple and it’s rather apparent when you look at other high-end products. Am I right? Of course I am. If you think I’m wrong then you tell me the Gateway One doesn’t resemble an iMac. The One is encased in metal at just 3.6-inches deep with a 19-inch widescreen LCD. Its plethora of features isn’t ground breaking, but it’s nice to have four USB ports, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, AV ports and FireWire. It has a slot loading DVD drive on the side and a 5-in-1-card reader. Wait. I might be wrong about this not being cool.
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