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Apple
WWDC 2009 update
It’s just on an hour to go to the opening event of Apple‘s WWDC 2009: the keynote. With many rumours indicating that the iPhone 3.0 software, iPhone 3GS and Snow Leopard will be available only some time after the WWDC conference has been concluded.
As is customary, the online Apple store is unavailable.
That’s an indication that something new is on its way.
First to be unveiled: a new version of the 15″ MacBook Pro in the now-familiar unibody design. The new model incorporates a battery that should last almost 7 hours and the notebook is very thin.
Instead of a PCI Express slot, the MacBook Pro now features an SD card slot, 256GB SSD and up to 8GB of RAM. Pricing starts at USD 1700. The 17″ Pro also receives an update, including the SD card slot and a longer-lasting battery. Finally, there’s also an updated 13″ MacBook and MacBook Air. A backlit keyboard, SD card slot and increased battery life are a new feature across the line, as is a slight reduction in price.
Snow Leopard received some coverage: one of the more notable features of the new OS release is built-in Exchange support for mail, calendar and contacts. From a user interface perspective, there are refinements to the Finder and Dock, which now lets the user zoom a specific application to the desktop and bring it to the foreground. The installation of Snow Leopard is said to be 45% faster than the installation of Leopard and an upgrade is likely to reclaim almost 6GB of disk space from an existing Leopard installation.
Grand Central Dispatch is a new way of efficiently handling threads and increasing overall responsiveness within the OS. OpenCL becomes a new open standard for interacting with the graphics hardware. Snow Leopard will be available in September of this year at a nominal cost of USD 29.
Safari 4 is officially released for both Mac OS X and Windows. A new version of QuickTime is available, featuring many speed improvements. All new and existing Apple applications will be 64-bit enabled and will have access to multiple processor cores. This is great news for users of the pro apps like Aperture in particular.
The Apple Apps Store presently serves up more than 50,000 applications for the 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices that have been sold so far. The new iPhone 3.0 OS provides more than 100 new improvements and features, among them a browser with faster JavaScript execution. Autofill in Mobile Safari assists with data entry. Finally, thethering is supported by cable or Bluetooth.A number of new applications make use of the iPhone‘s newfound ability to connect to external devices. Real, turn-by-turn navigation is available from TomTom, including a cradle and carkit for the iPhone. iPhone 3.0 software will be available with charge for iPhone owners from 17 June. iPod Touch owners will have to pay USD 9.95.
During the presentation of the iPhone 3.0 software features and apps, the Apple Store link for the iPhone was no longer available…
The iPhone 3GS (S for Speed) is the new incarnation of the iPhone. It is much faster than the current 3G model and supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA. The camera is now 3MP and supports autofocus by touch together with automatic white balance settings. Both macro photography and video capture (at 30 fps) is possible. Basic video editing is possible. The new device features voice control and voice dialing. A digital compass aids the GPS in determining the phone’s bearing. Talk and standby times have been improved. The price is set at USD 199 for the 16GB model and USD 299 for the 32GB model and the phone will be on sale in the US from 19 June. The price of the current 8GB phone has been reduced to USD 99.
With the exception of the MacBook improvements, the keynote didn’t reveal too many surprises. It’s likely South Africans will get their hands on the new iPhone GS only once Snow Leopard is released – that’s toward the end of the year. That would make a rather pleasant bundle 
Apple WWDC 2009
This year’s Apple Developer Conference starts today and is expected to showcase a new iPhone and hopefully the release of the new Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Details once the keynote has been presented…
MacBook RAM doubler
A special on 2GB RAM DIMM‘s made the decision to upgrade the MacBook from 2GB to 4GB an easy one. A total of ZAR 440 for two 2GB chips cannot be sniffed at – the only thing to ensure was that I matched the RAM to the MacBook. It requires PC-5300 DDR2 667 MHz DIMM’s and based on my past experience the Super Talent RAM is good enough. Just a check before starting…
Some other things to gather prior to starting: the Apple DIY guide, the two new DIMM‘s, small screwdriver, plastic card and a coin. The pliers appear in the picture just for effect…or in case of an emergency
The upgrade is really very easy to perform. The most complex part is the removal of the oddly-named RAM door, a piece of L-shaped aluminium that is attached to the chassis with three tiny screws and links into the MacBook‘s chassis with a small notch.
Bending this is not a great idea and a bit of dexterity is required to gently remove it without causing it any damage. Removing the existing RAM is easy by simply pulling at the levers that pop out once the RAM door has been lifted out. Pushed the new DIMM‘s in with the notch to the left and that’s all there is to it. The verification after closing everything up and starting the machine:
It makes quite a difference. Boot-up times are slightly shorter and once all startups have been completed, the overall performance of the MacBook is a lot better. Sometime soon, I intend replacing the hard drive with something a bit more spacious and more performant.
New Mac lineup announced
Apple introduced a host of upgrades to their existing line-up today, including updated Mac mini models and a new Mac Pro. The new mini includes NVIDIA graphics, 2GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive in addition to the 5 USB ports on the rear and two video out ports. The Pro has the brand new Intel Nehalem processor (two in the top-of-the-range model), 6GB RAM and obligatory NVIDIA graphics chip.
Of interest to me is the new iMac, which I’ve been waiting for. The chassis hasn’t changed, which is true for the mini and Pro, too. NVIDIA graphics and faster processors are the main improvement, as is a new slim keyboard missing a numeric keypad.
Strange, that. In true Apple fashion, the extended keyboard is available as an option.
I’m planning to make one of the three 24″ models my primary desktop system once the new product family is launched locally. All systems include iLife ’09.
The expected changes to the model ranges were far more drastic, with hopes for new Core i7 processors dashed by the subtle upgrade in specification.
iLife ’09 arrived
I finally got my hands on the new iLife ’09 today. I’m typing one-handed, but am nevertheless excited to check out iPhoto‘s face recognition and geotagging features.
The 1.5GB install also includes a much-needed update to iMovie and an interesting set of lessons in GarageBand.
iWork ’09 in store
Today, I picked up a copy of the new iWork ’09 at the local Apple Store.
I was actually in there looking for iLife ’09, but that is still on its way and should arrive shortly. The new iWork features re-worked versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote. The most notable addition to the application suite is the GoogleDocs-esque online service where documents may be shared with other users.
The software is delivered on a DVD and requires 850MB on the local hard drive. No registration or serial number is included. Apple seems to be relying on the user not to pirate the software…
Tons of templates are provided to create attractive documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Sharing to the, as yet still in beta, iWork.com site is achieved by selecting the Share option in the menu.
To share the document, it is necessary to provide me.com or iTunes account credentials. It is easy to set up a new account, too. Once the account details have been verified, the email details of the participants are required – a notification of the documents presence is sent to each one. The document is uploaded…
and the participant may view, but not edit, the document. Comments may be included, however.
The online component is still in beta, but seemed to work well during my brief tests.
WebiTunes
Apple has made the iTunes Store viewable in a standard browser, which is quite useful when one is interested in browsing through a few applications without having to launch iTunes. The look and feel of the page layout is very similar to that found in iTunes and it is possible to purchase content directly from this interface.
To download and integrate the purchased content or applications, the a target device or computer still has to be connected by way of iTunes. Launching iTunes directly is facilitated by means of a link on the page.
Access the web-based iTunes Store here.
25 years of Macintosh
As a convert to the Apple world, it would be remiss of me not to mention a special anniversary: 25 years ago on 24 January, the first Macintosh was revealed.
The Apple Macintosh was the company’s flagship product and was the first commercially succesful computer to include a mouse and a graphical user interface.
Though not all products Apple manufactured turned into runaway successes, their track record speaks for itself.
Here’s hoping for another 25 years of innovation!
Macworld 2009
The keynote event at Macworld is always highly anticipated due to the expectation of new products ready for launch. At this, the last Macworld Apple is expecting to attend for some time, three major announcements were made. Not that major, to be honest, but significant enough for everyone to be excited to some degree.
First off, new versions of iLife and iWork were presented. iLife ’09 is the creative software package delivered with every Mac and includes iPhoto, iMovie and the like. The brand-new feature in iPhoto is the ability for the software to recognize faces and to tag images based on the information. Furthermore, iPhoto includes a database of locations that enables information of where the photograph was taken to be added. Uploading of photos to popular photo sharing sites is merely a click away. The new iMovie includes dynamic themes to spice up video content and GarageBand will help the user learn how to play a variety of instruments.
iWork ’09 is the new version of Apple‘s productivity suite, and has been suitably improved to contend with Microsoft‘s offering.
There’s only so 
much to be done to make spreadsheets more fun. Numbers ’09 includes an easier method of generating graphs from existing values. All in all, 250 new features have been packed into Numbers. Not bad, though less than 1% of all users will probably use more than ten of those…
The word processor, Pages, has been tweaked with a number of layout options that should improve typing tasks and assist with a better view of the document being prepared. The application to benefit most from the update in the iWork package is the presentation application Keynote. A number of enhancements and additions to transitions and various cinematic effects have been added. Of great value to presenters will be the optional extra iPhone/iPod Touch Keynote Remote application. It enables the presenter to control the presentation without having to hover around the keyboard. At USD 0.99 one would have thought that Apple could simply have provided it as a free application similar to the iTunes Remote.
Of great interest will be the beta release of the online version of iWork that competes head-on with Google‘s online application offering. The online iWork will allow documents to be edited in a web interface.
Secondly, a new 17″ MacBook Pro was announced. The release of this new model closes the gap left by the last year’s announcement of new MacBooks. The new Pro is superlight and superthin with an incredibly claim that it will provide eight hours of battery life. That needs to be confirmed in real-world tests and will more than likely be closer to five or six, in my opinion. The MacBook has a very attractive design with rounded corners and an iPhone-like edging around the screen area.
NVIDIA graphics are standard, as are three USB ports and a Firewire 800 port.
Thirdly, Apple‘s iTunes music store will soon be selling DRM-free tracks. Unless you have wangled an iTunes Store account, that’s of little relevance to those of us living in South Africa.
There were no real surprises in the keynote. The wild predictions made regarding new iPhone software versions and a possible larger iPod Touch device turned out to be wrong. Since Apple will no longer be under pressure to deliver the next big thing every January, we can now sit back and watch the press throughout the year to see when that next big thing will be available. With its market share ever-growing Apple is becoming a bigger player. The mystery and hype of possible new product announcements that Macworld may have ended, but I hope Apple‘s innovation and attention to detail doesn’t.
Awaiting Macworld 2009
About six more hours to go before the keynote event scheduled at this year’s Macworld. As everyone knows already, Steve Jobs will not be attending. He has handed the privilege of saying …and one more thing... to Phil Schiller, the vice president for marketing at Apple. No Stevenote then, but a Schill.
This is also the last time Apple will be present at the Macworld expo. That’s no big deal: it’s important to remember that Macworld is not an Apple event and belongs to the IDG group.
No matter: it’ll be interesting to see what new products, if any, Apple will be announcing during the keynote.
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