My Macworld WAGs
After a cursory glance at the Mac rumor sites, I have the following WAGs (Wild Ass Guesses) to make about what’s coming to Macworld this week. The hype from Apple suggests it could be good, so we’ll see.
- iTV (100%) Obviously since it’s already been announced then Jobs will at least talk about it more, if not roll it out as available. Again, if it downloads and stores video directly from the iTunes Store, it’s a killer product. If it just streams existing media from your Mac, then it’s a niche product. (If it’s also DVR, I’ll once again wonder why I never bought Apple stock back when I used to have some money.)
- iWork ‘07 (100%) And it’ll have a spreadsheet. Is it odd that, to this day, I still use Microsoft Office exclusively? Apple may have to overcome that in more loyal Mac users than just me — they could start by not making Pages seem more like a Microsoft Publisher competitor. I even use PowerPoint instead of Keynote. Weird, huh? (Of course, as I mentioned, I’m typing this on a PC laptop, so maybe I’ve been slipping to the dark side for years.)
- iPhone (90%) I think the hype is about Apple’s phone. Smartphone/PDA/portable media center. I see people on planes watching iPods and I’m thinking that Apple could take the “ha ha, we made people care hard disks in their pockets” brilliance of the iPod two or three steps forward by giving us something that we don’t even quite know to ask for yet. It’ll have to browse the Internet, get e-mail, access the iTunes store and have enough storage for all that media…but if it does, it’ll be the Next Small Thing.
- Server Mini (25%) I might be the lone holdout for this — frankly, if Apple would do what I’m asking with the iTV, then it’s basically already a home server. (Make it also an AirPort base station and let it act as a file server as well as a multimedia repository and you’ve got a Server Mini.) For the small office, a Server Mini with a fast hard disk, wireless base station capability and perhaps a built-in printer server would be a very nice option. (I’ve just installed a Lacie Ethernet Mini Disk in my office this weekend and still can’t get the damn thing to work. Apple?!)
- Mac Tablet (10%) Maybe not even that likely. I’ve seen a few rumors and it’d be an interesting thought, but unless they’ve gone somewhere with handwriting recognition that no one (but Apple, really) has ever been before then I’ll believe it when I see it.
I’ll post more WAGs if I hear anything interesting.
Stranger in a Strange World, Part 0
I plan to blog over the next few months about the fact that I’m currently doing a fair bit of my freelance work on a Windows PC. It’s a short story — my PowerBook G4 ran into a little snag a few days ago, forcing me to transfer the drive from my PowerBook to a Mac Mini in my office. That’s what I’m using now for newspaper business.
Unfortunately, that left me without a laptop, and I need something to work from in the house, particular when I’m trying to write a book. So, I borrowed an HP Pavillion zt3000 from a friend of mine. I’m typing on it now. What I’m finding so far is that Windows is usable; I’m able to get some work done and, once I’d set the display preferences to my liking, the OS doesn’t look too bad. And I’m slowly learning some of the short-cuts to move around in the OS, although it’s surprising how many things look like they’re from about 1997 — I guess that’s one difference between the constant march of updates to Mac OS X vs. the every-five-years-or-so updates by Microsoft.
I’ll get deeper into my experiences a little later on, but let me just ask this one question…why is it that PC people don’t take the stickers off their computers? What does it mean that this computer, after two years, still has the Intel and Windows stickers on it?
Can you imagine a MacBook with little Intel stickers on it? 
I Dub It: ‘The Calls’
Those of us who watch a little too much football between teams that don’t matter to us personally are probably doing it so that we can witness a game like the Frito-Lay Cool Ranch Tostito Dippers Fiesta Bowl that I just watched between Boise State and OU. OK, so I hate OU from my childhood in Dallas and for them having foisted, indirectly, Barry Switzer on my once-beloved Cowboys.
If you didn’t see it, you’ll see it again anyway…on YouTube, on highlight reels. I’ve finally gotten to see my “The Play” or “The Drive” moment in living color as it happened. If it doesn’t end up dubbed “The Call” (or “The Calls”?) then I’ll eat my New Orlean’s Saints ballcap. Amazing…
… Who calls for a 15-yard pass and a designed hook-and-ladder lateral on a 4th-and-18 with the season on the line?
… Who sends the quarterback in motion on a 4th-and-Goal play in overtime with the season on the line?
… Who goes for 2 points in overtime instead of getting the certain 1 point and relying on your defense to hold the other guys…with the season on the line?
… Who calls a modified “Statue of Liberty” — after the other team has taken a time out in order to line up everyone they need to stop you — to get those 2 points and end a perfect season with a BCS bowl game victory?
I’ll be telling my grandkids about it. Heck…anybody’s grandkids.
Product Placement 101 and the Sidekick III
We watched “The Devil Wears Prada” a few nights ago (another Hollywood video pickup at the behest of Ms. D. because I’d failed to get it into my NetFlix queue in time for the weekend) and I couldn’t help but notice that our heroine, throughout the story, is carrying what looks to be a Sidekick III. I, of course, immediately upon seeing the film decided that it’d been too long since I’d obsessed over the possiblity of trading in my Blackberry and proceeded to spend ACTUAL TIME this weekend looking again the T-Mobile pricing plans for the Sidekick III, including the rather appealing prepaid plan (appealing if only because that seems like the easiest way to get rid of it after a few months).
I KNOW that the Sidekick III is too heavy. I feel fairly strongly that it isn’t really Mac-friendly enough, although I haven’t played with the online tools scheduling tools much. I know it’s a toy.
I got a chance to evaluate a Sidekick II a year or so ago when I was working on a book (I think it was the Leo Laporte Mac Gadget Guide) and enjoyed playing with it. I used to tell people that the coolest thing about it’s always-on access for AIM messaging was the fact that I could literally tell if co-workers at the JFP were at their desks by glancing at my Sidekick to see if their messaging was up and running. It also let me “peek in” over their shoulders and drop a quick message from home or lunch or the post office if I had something to mention to them.
Of course, a Treo or Blackberry or pretty much anything could probably do that. The camera is nice but not completely necessary and seeing as how my PRIMARY requirement of any smartphone is that it fits comfortable in the front pocket of my chinos — not weighing the pocket down unnecessary and not fitting into a Bat-holster, since I refuse to wear a utlity belt so as not to reveal my secret identity — then it’s utterly fatuous that I’m looking at the Sidekick III at all.
So what’ the verdict? Prepaid Sim cards are running about $40 on eBay with the phones themselves hovering around $250. The service is $1 a day flat for all online services and $0.15 per call prepaid. There’s something I love about the straightforward pricing. Or, maybe a Sidekick II…cheaper at around $100 on eBay…
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