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New, Fun Products Next Week?

BritinNC said:
Looks like this discussion is winding down, but I agree with sartinsauce, if Apple does create a new product category in the near future that is something between a computer and a PDA with a tablet-like interface it will be a first gen product, not the final solution with all the patent application gizmos in it. But just like the original iPod it'll make us all go "You know that's a really cool idea and although I wouldn't have thought I needed one of those I now don't know how I have lived without it". Apple can't do everything in gen 1 because they need to save up something for later, it'll just be enough to make us all go out and buy it, and it'll give developers a platform to create a whole industry in MacPDA software, just like the iPod did for accessories.

Roll on Tuesday!
Click to expand...

Sorry, but no...PDAs are all but DEAD, nobody buys them. It seems like people cannot bury the rotten corpses of Newton and Palm yet...face it, guys, there is some crazy money-losing competition out there in the field...and Apple will not join this ridiculous fray.

I still vote for the iPod Boombox Michael Jackson Edition and, possibly, an Intel Mac Mini with DVR, as Apple is not accepting anymore bulk orders of the old G4 Mac Mini, according to reports...
 
peharri said:
..
The major one, of course, being iTunes, and the Bonjour networking technology it exploits. If we continue to look at the Mac, increasingly, as a multimedia "hub", then Apple has everything it needs to make an Apple 770 a very useful spoke. Music (and now, TV) for an entire household can be stored in one place, and each member of the family can use the device to access it. Wirelessly. As someone who uses the feature with my PowerBook (the Beige G3 in my livingroom is the music hub), I have to say I find the idea very, very, interesting. As in "If it also does full-blown web browsing and a few PDA functions, and isn't absurdly over priced, then I'll probably get one." And for me, that's a major step, because PDAs and tablet computers have no interest for me whatsoever otherwise.
..
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I've been thinking. Ever since the Airport Express was released there has been a glaring gap in the whole digital hub -- a device that allows you to remotely control an iTunes library stored in a central location serving music to the Airport Express satellites. At present you can do this with a laptop, but it makes more sense to have a small (10" screen?) cheap tablet type device with that function as it's primary function and as a bonus be able to surf the web or send e-mails via a stylus and Ink. It doesn't have to run photoshop -- that's what your powerbook / powermac is for -- it just has to be able to remotely control iTunes, surf the web, read e-mail and at a push iCal. Sell them cheaply enough and I imaging they would sell loads of them.
 
I can assure you BRLawyer that PDA's are much alive and well and are heavily used in the health service - not just managers and the like but out in the community with staff like nurse specialists and therapists. There are many uses for a PDA like device, and until the need goes away completely somebody will always make them.

I've got a work PC (Dell - many apologies!) and up until recently I was using my PowerBook as well. A tablet device would be of much more use to me here. A A4 sized screen with gesture and pen input would be ideal in many situations, and if someone came up with process mapping software to be used on a tablet I'd marry them. Seriously*

So I'm hoping for a tablet device. But I want the Media Mac mini :D

*Not seriously
 
My Post from 2002

BritinNC said:
Looks like this discussion is winding down, but I agree with sartinsauce, if Apple does create a new product category in the near future that is something between a computer and a PDA with a tablet-like interface it will be a first gen product, not the final solution with all the patent application gizmos in it. But just like the original iPod it'll make us all go "You know that's a really cool idea and although I wouldn't have thought I needed one of those I now don't know how I have lived without it". Apple can't do everything in gen 1 because they need to save up something for later, it'll just be enough to make us all go out and buy it, and it'll give developers a platform to create a whole industry in MacPDA software, just like the iPod did for accessories.

Roll on Tuesday!
Click to expand...


All, I posted this in 2002:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peeps,

One of my very few posts here. but I figured maybe if we look for what problem a tablet would solve we could be close. Imagine this. A small 5X7 tablet that includes WiFi, Bluetooth and a decent sized Hard Disk. You would pair this tablet with all your computers and cell phones. On it's hard disk would be all your docs and folders. You can use it a standalone device remote control screen, or Home Directory for your paired computers. So picture this. You walk into your office, put this tablet on a charger somewhere and use it as an external disk thorugh WiFi. You're on a train, your powerbook is in your briefcase, but this tablet let's you access it without bringing it out. You're at home watching TV, want to check your mail, this tablet let's you check it through your iMac in the den. In a few words this tablet would hold all your data, act as an extrernal hard disk for your desktop, laptop, digital camera and iTunes. It would also act as a simple browser, MP3 player etc in standalone mode as well as provide remote access for your computing resources at home or the office.. Guess this would be taking this tablet paradigm one step further... Just my 2c worth..

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still holdng out for this masterpiece!!!!

./sherif
 
Been saying it for a while now in hopes it was completely debugged..( mere speculation)
Itunes full length movie downloads onto your new MacMedia center with remote control iPod..
 
fieldy1973 said:
This is exactly what I've been thinking. Ever since the Airport Express was released there has been a glaring gap in the whole digital hub -- a device that allows you to remotely control an iTunes library stored in a central location serving music to the Airport Express satellites. At present you can do this with a laptop, but it makes more sense to have a small (10" screen?) cheap tablet type device with that function as it's primary function and as a bonus be able to surf the web or send e-mails via a stylus and Ink. It doesn't have to run photoshop -- that's what your powerbook / powermac is for -- it just has to be able to remotely control iTunes, surf the web, read e-mail and at a push iCal. Sell them cheaply enough and I imaging they would sell loads of them.
Click to expand...
I should possibly clarify that I see the machine as something that'll access shared iTunes libraries on the network, not simply control them. Each member of the family (or whatever) can have their headphones on, listening or watching different pieces of media, all stored seperately. Or browsing the 'net, etc.
 
BritinNC said:
But just like the original iPod it'll make us all go "You know that's a really cool idea and although I wouldn't have thought I needed one of those I now don't know how I have lived without it".
Roll on Tuesday!
Click to expand...

Actually, as I remember the comments on this board the day of the iPod release were more like: "Just an MP3 player? What was Jobs thinking! Give me the PowerBook G5!"

Seriously, someone should go back and read them, I bet they are very funny in retrospect.
 
BRLawyer said:
Sorry, but no...PDAs are all but DEAD, nobody buys them. It seems like people cannot bury the rotten corpses of Newton and Palm yet...face it, guys, there is some crazy money-losing competition out there in the field...and Apple will not join this ridiculous fray.

I still vote for the iPod Boombox Michael Jackson Edition and, possibly, an Intel Mac Mini with DVR, as Apple is not accepting anymore bulk orders of the old G4 Mac Mini, according to reports...
Click to expand...

I think you may be missing the point that is being made here. What at least I am trying to say is "The PDA is dead, long live the PDA". While this new device may have a lot of the qualities that the old PDAs or the Newton had it will be a fresh new approach based on a different principle that has been described throughout this thread (a kind of extension to a computer, or a computer's digital assistant). Today's PDA is dead because there is no reason to get a new one and many of the qualities of the current ones are covered in an iPod. I personally ditched my PDA when I got the 5th Gen iPod since I primarily used it for looking up contacts and where I was supposed to be next, I never really input anything because I did all that at the desktop. (In this new device inputting stuff will be something the device does, not a primary function - like video on the 5th gen iPod)

This new device is not something I am likely to carry around all the time (like my iPod and a cell phone), but it is something I am likely to carry from meeting to meeting, or take when I am away, or carry around the house and it would be more portable than a laptop which is too much in most cases.

I don't think this type of thing could have been released successfully before now, but the time is ripe now because:

1) PDA innovation is going nowhere
2) Apple needs a new category
3) OSX/iLife would be perfect applications
4) Airport express exists
5) Wi-fi is prolific
6) Broadband is prolific
7) Video on a portable device has viable content
8) VOIP is becoming mainstream
9) Probably other things I can't think of right now...

I think Apple understand this, they seem to have very good timing. (Guess I'm sounding like a groupie now, but given that I have held their stock for well over a year now I have an economic interest in them getting this right!)
 
apologies if this was said several hundred posts ago

but guys, get over the posting thing :eek:

read them all to see if your unique POV has already been expressed

i implore the admin of macrumors to take away all 'rewards' for number of posts, and instead have one where people can vote on the worthiness of your post

so *what* you say is more important than *how many* quickly thought up splurges go online

again, apologies if this has been said a million times before, I simply don't have time to read all of this!

weev
 
I'm calling REAL :)

I reckon this could be it...unless someone is just playing on the fact that the last ones were Japaneese.

i hope i'm right, at least then we can confirm the Apple+Touchscreen rumors to some extent.
 
Peace said:
As a comment on the site says the part number is for OSX Server..And I've seen similar pics like that before that were fake.
Click to expand...

You mean like this one?
http://stationa.net/?p=162 ;)

In fact I think someone said that the "8" is actually a "B" or the other way around and that that part number doesn't exist....yet.
 
hcuar said:
Geebus... 700 posts... It's a PDA people... iCal... now integrates with the new PDA.
Click to expand...

PDA isn't remotely "fun". Nor is a tablet.

As for the new pic...it's possible...but that form factor could be any sort of small screen, or even some other plastic box with the "screen" photoshopped on. Remember the iTV fake?
 
and it wasn't just that one page suspended,
it was the whole website. you can't get
to the base directory at macshrine.com
either. it gives you the same error message.
 
1dterbeest said:
and it wasn't just that one page suspended,
it was the whole website. you can't get
to the base directory at macshrine.com
either. it gives you the same error message.
Click to expand...


Go to MR Page 2, we've got a thread on this rumor...
 
I think something like this or the
Mini/DVR-box would be the feature
"fun product" with some ipod
accessories announced as well.
Maybe they will also use that
forum to annouce some
universal versions of some
software too or something.

I agree that "fun" is probably
more like DVR or iPod stuff
rather than tablet or PDA stuff.
 
Peace said:
As a comment on the site says the part number is for OSX Server..And I've seen similar pics like that before that were fake.
Click to expand...
It looks like MB to me, not M8. The bottom left of the character is B like, not 8 like.

It's an interesting post to be sure.

But why stick the part code to the device? Seems an odd thing to do...
 

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The devil lives in details...

Man... this tiny little "s" at the end of the sentence is what hurts... "Fun new Produtcts...

Just a single letter and everything seems much more intense, much more cool... It makes me think about little things... Well, you see, a single "letter", as a single person, coul make a lot of difference for a lot of people... :rolleyes: :p

Man, I can't wait to see next Tuesday!!!

The good side is that next tuesday it's CARNIVAL here in Brazil!!! So, no work, just fun!!! Yahoooo!!!! Well, I'll expend my hole day in front of the display discovering the

[]'s
Fabio.
 
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