Wed 27 Jan 2010: Latest Apple Event!

Hold onto your horses.... Apple's officially preparing for a big event next week! All eyes, ears and salivating mouths are anxiously awaiting the mythical Apple Tablet, as well as further iPhone/iPod Touch evolutions.

(Invitation card design viewable here at Appleinsider.com: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._creation.html)

The biggest thrill that I'm getting is the rumour that an Apple employee said that even Steve Jobs likes it. And that guy is a damn perfectionist. He almost canned the iPhone because afew months from the announcement, he said "We still don't have a product". I don't know how, but I reckon he could still wring blood from a stone, given how he gets his staff to do the impossible: Take existing ideas and make them drool-worthy.

I mean, Tablet PCs have been around since 1990s! Back then, Bill Gates envisioned a time when everyone would be toting one, from students through to business leaders doodling the next enterprise workflow or scientific invention. But it never happened. Why? My understanding is that no one really saw much point in paying a premium for a laptop that is lower-powered than a standard one, and you're supposed to interact with a stylus pointing at small things designed for a quick and accurate mouse. One look at how the iPhone differentiates itself from Windows Mobile shows a clear schism in UI doctrine: WM tries to emulate the same Windows UI of windows, menus and sub-menus; iPhone tries to give everything a easy-to-tap interface that is pretty much obvious and intuitive. One coaxes you into doing something you're familiar with (start bar, menus), while the other tries a different approach. That same categorical difference looks set to be repeated on the Tablet scene very soon.

I'm really damn excited about this!!! I'm practically telling my wife that part of my bonus is going towards this new toy. (Haven't really... still scared, hahaha) But its going to be so awesome.

On a related note, the iPhone 4.0 demonstration expected is also rumoured to have a 'simulator' that will show how apps would look on a higher resolution screen! Now that could mean that iPhone OS is basically portable to the iTablet, or it could mean we're due for a new iPhone hardware revision, with a sharper screen to match those of the latest Android devices. That would be very interesting to see how that pans out. As it is, Android developers already have - in the space of afew months - to accommodate three different screen resolutions somehow! Apple's been smart to keep the same resolution across its mobile devices while the App Store gained traction. I would hate to see it lose its momentum like that.

Do you guys and girls have any thoughts on this? Or don't really care all that much?

Macnewsworld: The iPhone's Not the Cause of Apple's Success - It's the Effect

"There's a reason why Apple is doing well right now, and it's not the iPhone. It's quality. Attention to detail. Simple, elegant, durable design. More people than ever are starting to notice because they understand value. All a person has to do is walk into an Apple retail tore and pick up an iPhone. They can feel the value. It's solid. It has nice lines. Everything fits together perfectly. That's Apple, and that's why the company is kicking butt and taking names these days."

http://www.macnewsworld.com/rsstory/67677.html

Last Macworld for Apple: Jan 2009

Lots of noise has been made about Apple's decision to withdraw from Macworld after Jan 2009.
I personally think that there are several reasons behind this, the biggest being that Apple would rather announce products on its own schedule and venues rather than be forced to wait until January every year to build up the hype. It has already done this several times on its own Special Events, with invites to the press sent out literally days beforehand. The speed of this tactic means that Apple can still keep every detail under wraps until it is really ready, rather than make pre-announcements for products that will not ship until several months later, which disappoints everyone. Worst still, they had to pump up the hype by announcing products such as MobileMe and iPhone 2.0 which caused such a shock to everyone who expected better from Apple. I think they've learnt their lesson and are refraining from over-hyping their products now.
It would also save Apple a ton of money on the venue and logistics of setting up a large booth there.
As a fan, I'm a little hurt by this news, and that I'll never be able to attend one now, but there are two facts here to deal with: 1) It's really too far for me to make a quick trip to San Francisco just to attend and then return, not to mention the cost. 2) Macworld seems to have lost its momentum and buzz after the big iPhone announcement in 2007. It's a shame to lose the big event that everyone gets so excited about, and looking forward to seeing new products, but if there's nothing to announce, then it all ends up rather anti-climatic, and probably even worse than not having one.

Slim Aluminum wireless keyboard even works on Windows!

Ever since it was debuted on the Apple online store, I've been lusting for this.
I already have the original white bluetooth wireless keyboard, which has served me very well.
However, on my frequent trips to the local Apple retailers, and while in the UK Apple store testing the Macbook Air, I fell in love with the tactile feel of these keyboards. Its small, tiny footprint means it hardly takes up any desk space. In fact, it looks as if its been embedded into the desk! I no longer need any of those soft gel wrist rests now.... the desk now becomes one giant rest! Its that low!
Hooking up to my Mac Mini was no problem at all, once you load up the Bluetooth Connection Manager.
And just out of curiosity, I tried pairing it with a USB Bluetooth dongle on Windows XP SP2. It worked!!!!

Well, upto a point. I took it to work and just loved how it saved so much more space on my desk. Then something struck me as I tried to lock the keyboard - Where's the CTRL-ALT-DEL??? Yep, Macs have no need for that (well, they do... its CTRL-ALT-ESC i think, to Force Quit unresponsive apps). But the Delete key Macs recognise is the equivalent of Backspace, on Windows keyboards. After much researching via Google, it turns out the problem is solved by running this little application called SHARPKEYS.EXE. Its a small app that makes a tiny change to the registry, mapping one keystroke to an action. In this case, I mapped the left Command key (defaulting to be a Windows key) to now be the Delete key. After a quick reboot, it works just fine!

I still can't get the Fn key to be recognised, but I suspect thats because its a special key for Apple, and as such requires specific keyboard drivers usually only acquired through Boot Camp, and its resultant driver disc. It's not a deal-breaker, so I'll keep it at this for now.

FYI, if you fancy going down the same route, download SharpKeys from here: http://www.randyrants.com/2006/07/sharpkeys_211.html
Alternatively, you can try AutoHotKeys, which apparently does the same: http://www.autohotkey.com/