Rumor Watch... So... What's Next?

[MacRumors]

Apple's Music Event brought conclusions to many outstanding rumors:

- New iPods and New Apple Music Service? - February 26, 2003
- Apple's Music Service - April 28th? - April 17, 2003
- Apple iPod/Music Service Commercial? - April 12, 2003
- iPods - This Month - April 10, 2003

What's Next?

Apple's next computer to see an update appears to be the eMac line. Rumors of an impending iMac update appeared a few weeks ago on ThinkSecret. The eMac is expected to see small speed bumps in the near future.

Apple's Keyboard and Mouse are also expected to see minor revisions in the near future... though not as dramatic as Apple's Rotary mouse patent might suggest.

Just today, word of minor iSync updates was revealed, while iChat has been expected to gain Videoconferencing as its next major capability.

The most exciting rumors -- those of the PowerPC 970 -- will come due in the next two months, at the World Wide Developers Conference. WWDC was delayed until late June, which spawned both rumors and speculation that the PPC970 was responsible.

And, as always... what would rumors be without an upcoming mystery device. Unfortunately, no further details are available on this nondescript device

 

[pyrotoaster]

Come on! Give us some hints about the mystery device!

 

[Hawthorne]

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
Come on! Give us some hints about the mystery device!

There's been hints on this and other sites of a plastic enclosure about the same size as 2 stacked DVD boxes being used for some nefarious purpose at One Infinite Loop.

When I see it, I'll believe it.

What I want is a 15" Powerbook update. Where's the AE, bluetooth and keyboard?

 

[FredAkbar]

Don't forget about the 15" PowerBook. That hasn't been updated in a while. The MR Buyer's Guide even thinks that we should hold off on a 15" PB purchase, as they may be updated soon.

[edit: okay, Hawthorne just beat me to the 15" PowerBook updates]

--Fred

 

[pyrotoaster]

Originally posted by Hawthorne
There's been hints on this and other sites of a plastic enclosure about the same size as 2 stacked DVD boxes being used for some nefarious purpose at One Infinite Loop.

I know of those rumors from such "reliable" sources as LoopRumors and MOSR (really reliable ).

Macwhispers little 8-inch enclosure is interesting, but they're now expressing doubt in the source that brought them that info.

 

[Ambrose Chapel]

15" pb

I'm also eager for some 15" PowerBook news, as my gf is eager for one. Should I tell her to stop waiting and just buy now? Any info you can share, Arn, would be appreciated.

RAILHead today said rumors are floating that it'll be out by the end of May, or June....not too helpful

 

[Sun Baked]

Re: 15" pb

Originally posted by Ambrose Chapel
I'm also eager for some 15" PowerBook news, as my gf is eager for one. Should I tell her to stop waiting and just buy now? Any info you can share, Arn, would be appreciated.

RAILHead today said rumors are floating that it'll be out by the end of May, or June....not too helpful

Remember Steve's marketing decision/delay on the death of OS 9 -- coming next month now.

This should mean an EOL for the legacy PowerMac, SDR iMac, TiBook is coming real soon.

The only decision is will he ship the things before WWDC, or wait to announce them at WWDC.

Though several people are hoping for a lot more than clearing house on the last OS 9 bootable machines.

 

[copperpipe]

All Apple has to do now is...

Give us the new Powermacs, with the 1.8 Power 970's, and we'll all be in la-la land. That's when we can say that Apple has really "arrived".

 

[mactastic]

re: What's next?

I'm thinking 15"pb needs to be introduced soon. However, the longer it gets, the more i suspect there is something more than an oversupply of 15"Ti books keeping the new aluminums from hitting the stores. Not sure what it is, just one of those hunchs. Rumors were that the Ti would be updated soon after the new al books were rolled out, and it makes sense to even out the product line. 15" seems to be the sweet spot for laptops, more functional than the 12", more portable than the 17". This is an important spot in apples lineup, and should be top-o-the-line, which makes me think something else is causing the delay. Of course, I could be reading way to much in to the extended delay. I guess thats why rumors are so much fun! Just my $.02

 

[BaghdadBob]

What's next?

A Quad 970 1.8 GHz beast running a 64-bit OS with a dial mouse, 30" HD flatscreen, and a new tablet-style universal remote for all your electronics and bluetooth equipped devices, including the new home stereos that will tie into your mac so all those iTunes playlists running off your secondary HD can be transmitted to recievers all over the house.

Plus Jobs is going to buy out the music radio channels off of DirecTV and do basically the same thing they do now, except that they will have iTunes visual interpolation on the channels instead of just the track info and an animation of raindrops. Each channel will be manned by two top-of-the-line 970 systems for unparalleled framerate and color depth to go along with the updates to the screen effects in iTunes that will come with Panther. It will play only songs available at iTMS, and the digital request system they will build in will go to the iTunes people to help them direct their music acquisition efforts. The Apple logo will stil pop up occasionally just to remind everyone who's boss, just like on your computer.

The remote tablet will give them a profitable front to R&D a new generation of draw tablets that have a built-in-display so you can see what you're drawing on like you were drawing on paper.

iTunes will soon offer stramed music videos, lyrics, and folios, plus catalogue numbers for advanced searchers and an easier way to reference specific tracks.

And then Jobs will hire me full time for an upper-mid five figure salary to test just how well video games work on each successive model of mac.

Yeah, we got it goin' on...

 

[pgwalsh]

Re: What's next?

Originally posted by BaghdadBob


Yeah, we got it goin' on...

You nut!

 

[Mudbug]

Re: What's next?

Originally posted by BaghdadBob
A Quad 970 1.8 GHz beast...

Um... don't forget that wireless power supply thing that will be incorporated. 400 watts of pure juice direct from the wall the machine, without wires. I can't wait... it'll be sweeeeeet.

 

[macdong]

Re: What's next?

Originally posted by BaghdadBob

And then Jobs will hire me full time for an upper-mid five figure salary to test just how well video games work on each successive model of mac.

It does help to day-dream sometimes

 

[ennerseed]

HHT

All I know is the iPod sure would slide in to something pretty easily now.

 

[BaghdadBob]

Wireless power?

Originally posted by Mudbug
Um... don't forget that wireless power supply thing that will be incorporated. 400 watts of pure juice direct from the wall the machine, without wires. I can't wait... it'll be sweeeeeet.

OK, I have heard this one a few times, and I need to ask...does anyone actually think this is physically possible, or is this just the darling of all outrageous rumors?

 

[Mr Jobs]

Originally posted by pyrotoaster
Come on! Give us some hints about the mystery device!

then it would not be a mystery anymore then would it

 

[jch200]

All I know is the iPod sure would slide in to something pretty easily now.

ooh yeah, and if I remember right, wasn't that empty space in that mystery device casing just a hair too small for the old ipods to fit? Boy that might bring some validity back to that rumor.

wouldn't that be sweet to just slide the ipod into a portable tablet like that and not have to waste all that space by duping your mp3s etc to a new device. And I'm sure it would work on it's own too, and the ipod would just be extra storage and stuff. Well, it's fun to imagine anyway....

 

[mangoman]

Aight. This is gonna sound stupid, and call to mind the sad fact that I'm never really satisfied, but I'd STILL like to see an iPod that I can use Inkwell with (on screen). That's it! That's all I'm askin' for. No bluetooth thisandthat. No ass-wiper blade that folds out automatically when my bowels grumble. Nope. Just a built-in way to enter info on screen.

Or...

(crawls under bomb-proof desk with keyboard in tow...)

... Apple delivers a friggin' PDA/tablet -- finally.

Go ahead. Start laughing. I can't hear you under my desk.

 

[Stella]

970 in powerbooks.

Those hoping for 970 Powerbooks soon...

If indeeed the 15.4" is to be released within a months time and they are G4 based - which they probably will.. then I think we can forget about seeing 970 processors in powerbooks anytime soon.

Apple aren't going to release a G4 15.4" powerbook then two months down the line introduce the based 970 powerbook.

Apple may introduce the 970 Powerbooks in the revision after - *IF* the PowerMacs get the 970 processors this sumer.

There were rumours that 970 aren't going to be introduced in powerbooks until next year...

Anyway, it gives us all interested people time to save up for one

 

[physicsnerd]

Re: Wireless power?

Originally posted by BaghdadBob
OK, I have heard this one a few times, and I need to ask...does anyone actually think this is physically possible, or is this just the darling of all outrageous rumors?

It is physically possible, but it ain’t gonna happen. There are three ways that I can see of doing it.

The first way is produce a large changing magnetic field inside of your house. You then use induction to produce an EMF inside of the power supply on the computer. Tesla came up with this idea in the late 1800’s to provide electricity to homes without the use of transmission wires. However, the draw back is that to produce a magnetic field capable of inducing the 400 watts or so of power to a computer would require basically a very large Tesla coil. Tesla coils run at 100,000+ volts and can be lethal if you get too close. However, a cool trick is to take a fluorescent light bulb and stick it near a Tesla coil. It will light up! Also, the entire computer would have to be electromagnetically sealed so that you don’t induce a current in the boards.

Second and most unrealistic way is to use microwaves. Just stick a highly focused microwave transmitter at the dish on your power supply and your ready to go. However, I wouldn’t recommend walking in front of that beam. But you could cook hotdogs without having to leave your desk!

Third, and the only realistic way of wireless power is to put a fuel cell inside of the computer. This is the most realistic method of doing it, and may wind up in laptops soon. But you’ll have to add hydrogen every so often and I don’t think this would be very cost effective with the plug a few feet away. But if you can figure out how to recharge the fuel cell by plugging into the wall (some form of electrolysis?) it may be realistic in the not too distant future.

physicsnerd

 

[Grimace]

I vote for the iCar. Team up with VW and put iTunes in the radio and iMovie/iDvd with a flip down screen for long car rides with the kids.

 

[neutrino23]

Much as I would love one, I can't imagine Apple would release a 970 based PB till perhaps MWSF.

Going from the G4 to the 970 is a big change. Certainly Apple engineers have been testing this for quite a while. However, nothing beats real world experience. Apple will first release the 970 in the PowerMac. This is the safest way. The 970 is stationary, has the best heat sinks, power supplies and biggest fans of any product Apple makes.

After they have sold a couple hundred thousand of these the engineers will get some real world experience about the kinds of problems to expect with this chip. Then they can tweak the designs they have have for a 970 PB.

 

[mim]

Originally posted by carletonmusic
I vote for the iCar. Team up with VW and put iTunes in the radio and iMovie/iDvd with a flip down screen for long car rides with the kids.

Bu**er me. That's a great idea!

But you forgot to include Sherlock to find road maps. And for those of us not in the US, we can call up Texas road maps and swear alot when they don't take us where we want to go.

 

[bokdol]

Originally posted by Mudbug
Um... don't forget that wireless power supply thing that will be incorporated. 400 watts of pure juice direct from the wall the machine, without wires. I can't wait... it'll be sweeeeeet.

not realizing what kind of energy is flowing through the air we find this wireless energy not only fries every electrical deiveise in your house. but also trunyour brain into mush

 

[Mudbug]

Originally posted by bokdol
not realizing what kind of energy is flowing through the air we find this wireless energy not only fries every electrical deiveise in your house. but also trunyour brain into mush

Ok - couple things - my brain "is" already mush, so what's the big deal? And the rest of the stuff in the house I was wanting to replace anyway, so this is really just a quick step in the right direction.

<runs off to check homeowner's warranty about mass appliance electrocution coverage>

second of all:mangoman, can I have the ass-wiper blade that folds out automatically when my bowels grumble? That'd be great.