Apple's Last Year at Macworld!

Apple just announced that this would be the companines last showing at the annual Apple conference.  As if the news wasn't disheartening enough the company also states that Steve Jobs isn't delivering the Keynote but the Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller will is.

The reason for the pull out is "Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, Christmas has become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers." After years of loyalty, is this the thanks we get from our beloved company.  My cup of kool-aid has run dry.

We Are Apple!

Ok...just to concrete in our minds Apple is corporate.  Check out this spectacular piece of corporate genius released at the 1984 Macintosh rollout in Manhattan.  I'm not going to lie, the tune is catchy.  How about those leg warmers?

A brief commentary on the 3g.

I was speaking to a coworker this morning about the iPhone 3g, and we discussed some of the missing features of the 3g.  Some of which sure to disappoint many.  One of the most prominent omissions has to be the lack of video with the Phone.  I recall having a phone 4+ years ago, an old Nokia with a radialesque keypad.  That phone had video capabilities.  How could 4 years later, "the most advanced handset on the market" not have this feature.  The first version was ok without this, there were so many other revolutionary features, but the second iteration?  Inexcusable.  

Whether it's a hardware or software limitation is unknown.  My suspicion however is that it is something which can be remedied through software.  There is at least two options available to the jailbreak community, but where is the official app.  For a device this advanced?  What main functions was iPhone 1.0 missing?  GPS, and a faster network.  Both of which are being fixed this time around.  What about some of the other most requested features?(Flash anyone?)  Is Apple getting into the habit of delivering only what they have too to keep the masses content?  One piece at a time in order to make us pay yearly for the next piece of Apple pie.  

Friday the 13th.

It's Friday the 13th.  Friday of WWDC 2008.  Friday without a fresh new Apple product in hand.  I was hoping at least for an update or something.  Oh well.  The fact that I didn't have to purchase anything immediately this year was a nice change.  So it's been a while.  A while without a post.  Here at Eple Sauce, we want to ramp back up and start putting up some new content.  Things have changed quite a bit for us here.  Two of us working at an Apple store, and one actively participating in the iPhone beta program.  We should have some pretty good stuff coming to our readers in the near future (both of them).  We are also going to start the Podcast up again.  Expect a roundtable next week, a recap and opinion driven WWDC podcast.  We are recording on Wednesday, posting shortly after.  I'm going to try and go solo this weekend to give you guys something to do while you wait for the round table.  Anyway look for the come back, bringin' it back old school.  ES fo'life.     

Macbook Nano?

     So I had some hands on time with the Macbook Air today.  One word, thin-lite.(hey I made it up but it's still one word.)  It's everything I expected.  Thin, light, and ultra quick.  I had the fortune of playing with the SSD drive model.  For the first time in recent memory I was able to contain my new product Apple lust and not immediately want to sell off everything I own just to purchase one.  I still have my complaints with the system and holding one in my hands didn't change this.  While holding it and playing with it I had an epiphany. 

 

     As Apple products evolve, they begin to pick up successful features of sister products.  Coverflow in Leopard Finder, iPod Touch and the iPhone, the included iSight camera.  This made me think about the next Macbook revision as well as possibly the Macbook Pro revision.  I expect to see a multi-touch track pad in both of the next Macbook revisions, and if we're lucky, a solid state option for at least the "Pro".  I am also predicting that we will see the Macbook condensed to a smaller size much closer to the Air.  Not too much however as Apple will be very careful not to cannibalize Air sales.  Now the only question which remains is what will it be called, the Macbook Take 2, or the Macbook Nano

iPhonetaculer

Like chocolate and peanut butter. Halo is my chocolate, and Apple is my peanut butter. I know I'm not the only Halo playing, Mac user out there, so I thought I would tell you about the Halo stats iPhone app. A perfect addition to the Halo 3 recently played widget.

Macworld...Our take Part 1.

Welcome to Eple Sauce and welcome to our first post. A mini review on the announcements at Macworld. We won't go over everything, just the things we think had the largest impact. First Let's go over the iPod Touch update. Not all things were great for the kiddies on stevenote day. It seems that for iPod Touch owners there comes a fee to update to all of the same features that come standard with the iPhone. A $19.99 charge for the update is the cost, oh and did I mention it comes standard with all new iPod Touch's. Very Microsoftesque Steve.

Moving on, it seems some of the best things in life are actually free. Making up for their stingy iPod touch move, comes great updates to both the iPhone and the Apple TV. Although nothing really surprised with the iPhone update, it was nice to legitimately see it released.

That was freebie number 1, freebie number 2 comes in the form of an Apple TV update. The ability to download directly to the "TV" will appease many, and the option to rent from iTunes should appease the rest. Oh and did I mention HD movies now available. Finally you can put the HDMI and component inputs on the back of your Apple TV to good use. It was very nice to get something for free on stevenote day. Something's in life are free but the best thing's hardly ever are. That's what we will focus on next time, a small toy with a large impact...Macbook something!