Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009
Refresh this page to follow all the announcements from this morning's Macworld Philnote. (Schillnote? Steve-less note?)
It starts promptly at 11 Central U.S. Time.
Also live on Twitter as long as Twitter can handle it @iptib.
UPDATES FROM TOP DOWN FROM NEWEST TO OLDEST:
12:40: And that it, folks. It's over. I'll be doing analysis as soon as time allows - more likely later tonight so I can really gather the specifics. In the meantime, you know the drill -- please leave me plenty of comments and feel free to comment as well on Twitter. Thanks for tuning in for this. I hope you found this liveblog and the livetweet to be helpful.
12:37: Tony then sings "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" -- clearly because this is the last Macworld for Apple. Interesting, appropriate and sad all at once.
12:36: Just turned Wi-Fi off and put EDGE on. iTunes store works. No software upgrade needed, although assuming iTunes upgrade for DRM coming.
12:33: We'll see if there's a one-more thing moment. Tony Bennett singing "The Best is Yet to Come"
12:32: iPhone changes available today. No need for software update, I guess. No mention. Also no mention of size cap on file size like with games.
12:31 iTunes on iPhone now not just Wi-Fi. Cellular network too. Pricing from record labels was sticking point for that happening.
12:28: New pricing structure for iTunes. .69, .99, 1.29. DRM free. ALL OF THEM. That's huge. Can upgrade in iTunes if you want. Big, big news.
12:25: So what to do? 15 plus LCD display or just 17? What do you think? That's a tough call!
12:24 Nice that base model price still $2,799 and you build it up from there. plus, battery recycling program. Impressive.
12:22: Battery greener than ever. And it really sounds like you'll get the battery life advertised. Phil is saying that integrated graphics you'll get 8 hours and discreet 7 hours. I'll need to dig more on this later tonight in the analysis.
12:20: More on this later, but the technology behind the battery is super advanced. It does a lot of things and there's less wear and tear on the battery. I'm very excited. I was all ready to buy a 15-inch and declare 17 way too big, but I love what I'm seeing here. Hopefully, battery tech reaches all the pro line at some point, but for now, this is nice.
12:18: We'll see price. Definitely differentiates this machine from 15 inch. It's hugely powerful. But if price is $1,000 more, well, that's not gonna fly.
12:16: Wow, though. Takes 8GB memory, 256GB solid state option for hard drive, 2.93 GHz and battery is ... 8 hours! 8-hour battery! 1,000 charges. 8 hours, huh? We'll see if that's 8 hours on Apple's watch or for real. Usually that would translate to about 4 hours, 30 minutes.
12:14: Ha! $50 for no glare screen on 17-inch. So we pay for the ability to have a less-annoying screen. Wow. That takes chutzpah. Phil says it's the best screen ever (sounds like Donald Trump) but that $50 thing irks me. Why $50?
12:11: Time for the unibody 17-inch MacBook pro we've all been hearing so much about. World's thinnest and lightest and 1920x1200 backlit LCD.
12:10: Will eventually be a fee-based service (iwork.com) but free in beta now.
12:09: If you don't have Leopard, there's a set that includes it, iLife and iWork for $169. If you haven't upgraded, that's the best reason to do it. Very fair price.
12:08: Incredible. You send messages to people via email to look at documents and when you accept they open in a browser. That is sweet.
12:06: iWork in the cloud!! iwork.com is in beta. Work on your documents anywhere, download. I think iWork just beat Microsoft office with this.
12:04: iWork is $79 single, $99 multi and $49 when buying a new Mac. That last bit is a nice touch and definitely overdue
12:02: Am I the only one who can't find a single thing that's exciting about Numbers? I guess Excel isn't really exciting either.
11:59: Clearly, iWork is becoming a player in the Microsoft realm -- it just keeps getting better. And still waiting, but if there is a cloud component and an iPhone component, well, that's just going to be the icing on the cake.
11:58: Love the cool factor of a great program like Keynote and the ability to control via an iPhone. Makes powerpoint look so clinical and unfriendly. I want to see someone control powerpoint with a Zune. HA!
11:56: iPTIB NICE!! Keynote remote: New app for iPhone and touch that lets your remotely control presentations. VERY NICE! 99 cents.
11:52: Now we talk about Keynote and iWork 09. Right now showing the bells and whistles and transitions that make Keynote great. I'm ready for the cloud interaction. Hoping. hoping!!
11:49: Check this out -- new section in Garageband for your lessons and after you are done with the free ones, you can buy more for $4.99. I can think of worse ways to learn how to play an instrument!!
11:47: Trying to get more information on a new section in Garageband for iPhone ringtones. I'll work on figuring that out. The music lessons are videos and feature big name people like Fall Out Boy, Sting, etc. Impressed by what's in iLife, that's for sure. Overall, anyway.
11:46: Wow. Music lessons from famous musicians built into Garageband. Piano and guitar. Very, very cool idea.
11:43: Next up Garageband. Tell you what ... the one app that always gets the shaft is iWeb. If Apple isn't going to be serious about it, they need to drop it. Unless that's the one more thing and it's going to be this great way to create Web sites on your iPhone, it's time to just end it. I would really think that iWeb is due for an update and a major overhaul. But that's just me (and all the other users, I'm sure).
11:38: Incredible effects in iMovie. Oh why can't we have video on our iPhone to work in tandem with this? And why can't there be a true mobile version of iPhoto? I think those are loose ends that really need to be put together. The interaction is there, it's just not done in the most Apple-like way.
11:34: iMovie has some really cool features. The engineer behind the program is up there demoing it. Can you imagine even for a second being the person in charge of something so big and getting to show it to the world in this kind of atmosphere? You talk about a dream come true. Wow.
11:32: Currently promoing iMovie. Here's the typical slowdown and just lost my iPhone connection from the person I was talking to. Working to re-establish. Ahhh, how I love AT&T.
11:28: End of iPhoto demonstration. Can't wait to see what's next.
11:26: Still promoing iPhoto. Can't wait to see if the rest of the keynote measures up to the great start.
11:21: Overall, stunning upgrade to iPhoto, from organization to interaction to technology to accessories (you can print on the hardcovers of the books, Phil says).
11:20: iPTIB Huge! iPhoto slideshows can be saved in iTunes and synced to your iPhone. There are different themes. Wish it was cloud and not sync, but ok
11:18: Loving the strong start. Loving the power of iPhoto and the way it works with other services that we use a lot on our iPhones. Facebook and Flickr both on my front iPhone screen. I can see a lot of practicality here.
11:16: New iPhoto works with Google maps and now support for Facebook and Flickr. Loving this update. Stands to make iPhone camera use better and stronger with so much tie-in elsewhere.
11:12: So you can organize photos by events, faces and now places. Uses GPS. Nice. And if you don't have the GPS location, just type in where it is and organize that way. Phil mentions coolness of iPhone and other devices that use auto-location to automatically tag photos. I might use this more now with this capability.
11:11: iPTIB New iPhoto uses face detection to help organize and tag photos. That's just sick. Finds faces it thinks are the same. Again, sick!
11:09: Talking about iPhoto -- new way to manage photos via "Faces"
11:07: Focus is on the Mac, Phil Schiller says. Now that doesn't mean there won't be iPhone news, but we all kind of knew that this day wasn't really about the iPhone. Still, fingers crossed for one more thing.
11:06: He's starting off talking about Apple stores around the world.
11:04: Phil Schiller on stage. Here ... we ... go!
10:59: Let's get this party started
10:25: I know some of you have been having some weird problems this morning ... AT&T data outage on East Coast and your calendars acting all wonky with some showing that it's Wednesday and not Tuesday. Usually, toggling auto date and time fixes that problem, but I hear it's not for everyone, so hang tight and let's see what's going on with that. Strange behavior, indeed.
10:11: Morning, all. Apple Store online is down, of course. And iWork 09 mentioned on Apple's site, meaning we're getting something today. Whether or not it's your usual deal or an online component, we'll see. Appleinsider has a little more.
4 Comments
Liz said:
We HATE the current version of iMovie, as the first couple of editions were much better (had timeline editing and much more audio and special effect features that the "new" version eliminated). Apple tried to make iMovie users buy Final Cut Express for these features, and that program is not only much harder to use, it is much more expensive. I hope this newest iMovie has the timeline feature and others added back, as it is worthless without them.
SCOTT's REPLY: It looks like at first glance that Apple listened to consumers like you when it comes to the complaints and the pricing difference. We'll see.
Pat said:
I'm severely disappointed. No new iMacs, no bumping up of iMac specs, same prices as yesterday. And as nice as the new laptop sounds, I'm not going to pay £2000 sterling for it. No wonder Steve stayed at home.
SCOTT'S REPLY: Yeah, it was surprising. I really expected more -- specifically new iMacs. I think a lot of folks did.
iSquirrel said:
Not a terribly impressive update from Apple on all counts. The price point for laptops really keep the average consumer out of the loop, making it still somewhat elitist to own one. Does the stability and life of a Mac laptop warrant the higher price? I don't think so.
I appreciate being able to download podcasts now via the 3G, but the 10 meg cap will keep the majority of 30-60 minute podcasts from being downloaded. I just tried to get the latest NPR "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" from Saturday, and it's too big.
PROTIP for those who get locked up when the network keeps telling you the podcast is over AT&T's 10 meg limit and prevents the next download from trying-- flick your finger to the left or right over the prohibited podcast to bring up a delete button. You'll have to connect to your comp's iTunes to download it from there, but at least then you can get those Onion podcasts to start downloading instead via wi-fi.
SCOTT's REPLY: That's an absolutely fantastic tip. Thanks for offering it up.
Glenn said:
All in all I am disappointed. No news on the low end products in down economic times. The only new hardware is a $3000 laptop while netbooks are flying off shelves everywhere, indicating a total disregard for lower-priced products. If they can't update the Mini after this length of time, then I must assume they don't care about that segment of the market any longer. The new features in iLife and iWork don't thrill me much. DRM-free songs in iTunes is good going forward but I am not going to pay a 30% extra charge to convert my purchases to DRM-free. Buying songs on my iPhone won't be a factor because 3G service is only available in three towns in my state. AT&T hasn't expanded 3G at all here in the past year.
SCOTT'S REPLY: Yeah, put in that light you are absolutely right. I can see myself upgrading some songs that I really like and as I said earlier I'm happy it was 30% and not full price because that's what I really expected.
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