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Yesterday Apple announced new gadgets… while the iPod Touch and iPod shuffle upgrades are pretty obvious the new iPod nano with multi-touch is really cool!

Nevertheless for me the new Apple TV has been the highlight of yesterdays announcement. I think the new $99 price tag will attract a lot of buyers… well done! I’m just wondering if this also means that finally movie rental will be available in Austria? Something I complained about a while ago… and it does not look that good – Apple Austria does not even list the Apple TV right now

However – what will be available is AirPlay streaming – something I missed in the initial iPad version. Let’s see when the other open features are implemented…. iPad version 2, where are you?

(Image (c) Apple)

Der/Die/Das Apple TV ist ja an sich eine gute Sache. Da kann man Videos, Fotos etc. am großen Fernseher ansehen anstatt sich vor den kleinen Laptop setzen zu müssen. Und man kommt auch relativ zeitnah zu den US-Ausstrahlungen an Serien ran. z.B. an die letzte Staffel von Lost.

Theoretisch.

Praktisch nämlich nur wenn man in Deutschland wohnt und nicht im Entwicklungsland Österreich. Weil hierzulande wird im iTunes-Store kein einziges (!!!) Video angeboten. Aber die Apple TV Box wird weiterhin verkauft.

Ob die Käufer das vor dem Kauf wissen? Dass das Gerät in Österreich zum großen Teil nutzlos ist? Und ob den Filmstudios bewusst ist, dass sie so sicher nicht mehr verkaufen? Besonders wenn man die Filme auch kostenlos bekommt?

On Wednesday the mysterious Apple iPad has been announced. Phase 2. And because a lot of people know that I’m an Apple fanboy and feel the urge to discuss “what does not work on the iPad and why it is crap” with me I’d like to finally outline a few thoughts about this device….

What the iPad is and what it is not

• The iPad is not a computer replacement. It is not meant to be your only computer in a household. Yes, it might work out for some special cases (my mum, my dad) but the average geek will still need a separate computer for development, hacking etc.
• The iPad does support multi-tasking. You can listen to music while browsing the Web. All well-coded applications will remember the application state, so going to a link while reading a mail will open up the very same mail once you open up the mail application again. IM has proven to work very well using Push notifications and I bet there will be better support for Push in the next release of the iPad OS (list all notifications etc.).
• The iPad cannot make phone calls and therefore is also no cell phone replacement. Well, you can make calls using i.e. Skype and a Bluetooth headset. Who wants such a large cell phone anyway? I never really understood that kind of comment…. it’s no phone at all! The iPad is a iPod Touch on steroids and targets unusable, slow Netbooks with Windows on it. So it is also no cell phone replacement.
• The iPad has three (3!) different keyboards. You can use the onscreen keyboard, which (according to my experience with the iPhone) will work very well in most cases. As alternatives you can use a Bluetooth keyboard or use the keyboard-dock. Plenty of options for faster typing.
• The pricing is quite ok – yes, you can get laptops for the same price, but take into account the quality of these low-end devices. Apple stuff is always a bit more expensive (no need to complain!), but on the other hand you get a device that just works. No fiddling with Firewalls, no RegEdit, all stuff that you don’t really need.

What I miss on the iPad
These features would make the iPad of real use to me and I think they are missing in the current version of the device:

• Wireless sync. I don’t see any reason for plugging the iPad to my computer to sync music and videos. Why can’t it sync over the air (when it is plugged to a power source)?
• Multi-User support. No need for two iPads in our household, but two separated user accounts would be great.
• Airtunes support to stream music directly to the speakers, instead of just remote-controlling the MacBook.
• A front-mounted camera would be great for Skype or iChat video conferencing. Eventually also to detect who is using the iPad (see multi-user support above).
• Cheaper e-Books. I don’t understand why I should pay the same price for an e-Book as for a paper book. The publisher saves money on printing, I have to buy a reader… so get cheaper!
• Tethering through an iPhone. I have an iPhone, so why do I need an additional 3G contract? Let me tether through the iPhone, because contract in Austria allow me to use my 3GB monthly volume how I want to use it. Could also use the iPhone GPS location…

Will I buy it?
Let me quote someone here:

To hell with it! It’s not something I need. It doesn’t solve any problems I have. I can resist. I am strong. I may be “Mr. Mac,” but I am also “Mr. Practical.”
Which is exactly what I said when the iPhone came out. 3 days later I was in the Apple Store eagerly holding out my credit card to anyone who would take it. (source)

So: I don’t know yet. Most probably I’ll skip the first generation and wait for an upgrade. It is also depending on the iPhone 4 which is to be released this summer (yes, my contract is finally over!) and what features it offers. And of course what features Apple will add to the iPad over time…

Well, everyone is talking about “the cloud” and cloud computing.. After SOA and Web 2.0 the cloud is the buzzword of the year 2009.

But what is it really, this “cloud”?

Well, Apple very well described in in a recent news announcement:

That’s it basically – it’s servers + virtualization with a new marketing name attached to it….

Wow, I don’t know which one to choose:

• Over 60 Apple Wallpapers
• 101 Gorgeous Wallpapers

As a bonus check out the most funny 404 error pages ever seen! Highly recommended!

Almost every Apple-fanboy would agree that during the last few releases (i.e. iPod nano, new MacBooks) something was missing. The (positive) shock of something that no-one had imagined – not like for the new Nanos, the iPhone 3G or the new MacBooks, where images and almost all specs leaked before the official event took place.
So what is Apple planning in the near future? Why are there so little great announcements?

One more thing, please!

So I’m gonna tell you what Apple is working on and what the strategy of their MacBooks is – and it is relatively simple and obvious to everyone who follows the news. It is:

Multi-Touch.

Yeah, right! Or why do you think Microsoft is focusing on MultiTouch in Windows 7? They already announced it, but I’m sure Apple already has it already ready for production. Or why do you think there are only “performance increasements” in Snow Leopard? They will have it ready long time before Microsoft will be able to react and it will work perfectly because of the iPhone experience. Or why do you think all of the new MacBooks have a full glass front? Glossy screens suck but on the other hand it is the only option to implement a large touch screen that also can be cleaned easily.

Enough reasons, let’s see what happens in January, if Apple will have “one more thing” and there will be another big bang when they release Snow Leopard and new MacBooks with a full multi touch enabled screen. I would hope so, otherwise their releases this year have not been that impressive…

PS: Please note that I’m not working for Apple nor am I affiliated with them in any way!

Yesterday Apple announced a new MacBook and a new MacBook Pro. While the overall design and the attention to detail is again amazing and sets Apple apart from its competition, the event itself and the amount of buzz was… missing? different? wrong?

I remember a while ago when Apple announced the iPhone – speculations around the Blogsphere, lots of self-drawn images, buzz everywhere. Will they? Or won’t they? What will be included? And finally Apple delivered an amazing phone, that still beats all of its competitors in terms of usability and design. But since then – a mess with MobileMe, unresolved security bugs and missing features. Apple seems to loose its buzz?

Murphy Mac writes:

If you were looking for the blockbuster announcement you were at the wrong event. If there is one, we’ll know about it some time in December, when the Macworld rumors start leaking. Personally, Murphy hopes Apple has something big, and that they manage to keep it under wraps until the keynote. It’s more fun that way.

I could not agree more – let’s hope Apple finds back to its roots, keeps it promises and “shocks” us positively with new, amazing gadgets!

(Image from apple.com)

Apple pays around 70 cents in every dollar to the record labels, who then hand across nine cents to the music publishers who control the copyrights to the music.

No wonder that music is so expensive and that most people still try to download it for free… 60% of the money is paid to the big four! Music could be so much cheaper and lots more people would actually by it if it would be only around 40 cent per song….

Read the full story.

Ja, laut Apple zumindest, ist SSL völlig unnötig. Warum und wie ich darauf komme, dies zu behaupten? Nun, ich maile schon seit einiger Zeit mit dem Apple-Support betreffend des Sicherheitsproblems von MobileMe. Und irgendwie kommt mir vor sie verstehen das Problem nicht – dass die Daten wie z.B. E-Mails, das Addressbuch oder Kalendereinträge unverschlüsselt zwischen meinem Rechner und den MobileMe-Servern übertragen werden. Was man nicht nur an der URL erkennen kann sondern sich auch sehr leicht mit z.B. Firebug, Fiddler oder Wireshark nachvollziehen lässt.
Nun schreibt mir aber der Apple-Support folgendes:

…die SSL-Verschluesselung stellt sicher, dass Sie mit dem richtigen Server verbunden werden und dass Ihr Benutzername und Passwort verschluesselt uebertragen werden.
Ein Aufzeichnen von Netzwerkverkehr ist nur moeglich, wenn das Netzwerk unsicher ist, d.h. das Passwort oder die Verschluesselungsart zu schwach ist bei WLAN-Netzen o.a..

Und genau darum geht es. Unsichere Netzwerke wie z.B. Hotspots. Oder einfach nur die Sicherheit, dass meine Kontakt-(Kunden?)-Daten nicht abgefangen werden können! Auf meine Bitte zur Klärung mit Technikern habe ich die folgende Antwort erhalten:

…es tut mir leid, dass ich nicht genauer auf die Sicherheit von MobileMe eingegangen bin. Tatsächlich basiert MobileMe auf Javascript und CSS, beides ist mit der neuesten Verschlüsselungstechnologie gesichert. Da alle Vorgänge auf unseren Servern ablaufen, ist kein SSL notwendig. SSL ist lediglich für den Loginvorgang notwendig, da dieser Clientseitig, also auf Ihrem Rechner passiert.

Aha. CSS ist also verschlüsselt. Genau. Und das Login passiert im Browser. Genau. SSL ist also wirklich völlig unnötig!

Wow, finally Apple has launched MobileMe together with the iPhone 2.0 software. So time for a first test.

But wait – the so called “launch” itself was a fiasco. Apple had so much time to prepare everything and then users of the old .mac service have not been able to access their Mail and data for over a day! Wow.
After so much preparation and with so much media attention this must not happen. Not to Apple, no way.

Anyways, it happened. And there are other issues as well…. despite the fact that Apple integrated MobileMe with the iPhone 2.0 software (which is buggy and needs to be fixed as well) and it is super simple to use there are some issues:

• Missing encryption – only the authentication pieces are encrypted using SSL, everything else runs unencrypted. I don’t want to transfer my mails, my contacts (!!!) or my calendar information unencrypted, so unless they use https for all of their tools this is a no-go.
• Announced features like file sharing are missing; Apple definitely has to deliver these promised features and has to continue improving the service.
• Buggy like hell - after working with the (smart and beautiful) Web interface for a while I already discovered a lot of display bugs where data is not rendered or settings are not persistent.
• I’m forced to buy iLife 08 as the gallery is not supported using iLife 06. Another 80 bucks to pay.

So… right now MobileMe is does a great job when syncing data between the iPhone and various Macs, as I don’t need to sync manually, but the Web interface is insecure to use. A no-go. For now. Let’s see how it evolves.