TheAppleBlog

Hello, my name is Martin MC Brown, and I’m addicted to my ‘recently’ playlists in iTunes.

I’ve continued working with 10.4 Server’s blog server since my earlier entry. Since then, Apple’s updated the blog server with some neat features, including the ability to embed podcasts along with individual entries, as shown below in the screenshot. Apple has also updated the admin console with a newer (and much more visually appealing) Blojsom [...]

First there was iPod. Then there was the iPod Photo which could download digital pictures from a camera with an optional accessory. Now there’s a video-capable iPod. What do you suppose the next logical step is here? In a rare mind-bending moment it hit me - download video from a digital [...]

At the beginning of October, DrunkenBatman organized a round-table of the movers-and-shakers of independent Mac software developers. Discussion ranged from the state of Cocoa to weather software patents are a good idea. A video of the discussion has finally been released, and it is certainly worth the wait. See Alcor of QuickSilver pontificate on his [...]

In his latest Business 2.0 article, Om Malik analyzes the “iPod Influence” on the handheld communications device market, comparing the ROKR to the RAZR. What if Apple were to truly enter the communications device market? What do you readers think?

No, we don’t have some inside information that hints at iTunes ever costing a dime…just curious what you think. If Apple ever decided (for whatever reason) to require you to pay for iTunes…would you?

I must confess to gushing rather a lot when I first saw Front Row. The way the normal Mac OS X interface slides out, the enormous icons come flying in, the subtle reflections – it is really quite a beautiful thing.

So the iPod now does video. After weeks, perhaps months, of rumours, Apple have finally delighted fans with an enlarged screen and H.264 decompression at 30fps. Oh, and the colour black.

An artificial limit of 100 songs? What the heck? Motorola CEO, Ed Zander doesn’t think anyone needs more than that…at least according to a rant that he spewed when the ROKR went over like, well, a rock. But was Zander’s frustration directed toward the poor reception his new iTunes-capable phone got - or at Apple?

The iPod has been a force that has brought about the second coming of Apple. Millions sold in each of the past couple of years. New models introduced seemingly every month. White ear buds adorning every other person on the streets. The “Halo Effect”.

What could possibly topple the reign of Apple’s iPod? Microsoft hasn’t been successful in championing any competitive products. Who else could? What else could? While every other person may be sporting white ear buds, just about EVERYone has got a cell phone in their pocket. MP3 capable cell phones aren’t a new idea, but they’ve been around long enough that it seems like high time they really take off. And what then? What happens to Apple’s mighty iPod when everyone’s cell phone is playing music on the go?

Om Malik is telling us about GUBA, one of a “few” Usenet indexing services. It primarily surfaces videos, such as old commercials, music videos, and just about anything … “else” people like to post on Usenet, which may or may not be of questionable legality. But they’re just an indexing service!
Tens of thousands of customers [...]

In a Google-like tribute, Apple.com’s front page pays homage to Rosa Parks, following her passing. Click the image to read about her and the life she led.
While I love the gesture (and really do think it’s well-done), I can’t help but feel that Apple’s inclusion of their “Think Different” branding on the image sours [...]

So I’ve been using Tiger since the day it was released and there are many features that I love and others that I find completely useless or have yet to find a use for. A couple of those things that I’ve yet to really find a use for are Smart Folders and Smart Mailboxes.
I [...]

One of the things that struck me when I was looking at the specs for the new G5s was how well-suited the new G5s are, across the entire line, for plugging into an XSan system. With the extra gigabit port to plug into the private metadata network that XSan requires and the fast bus speeds, [...]

Chris over at PowerMax was kind enough to let us know about some pictures they have of the new Dual-core PowerMac G5. The pics are high quality and they’ve got commentary…can’t beat that.

According to this post Apple have shown strong growth in the last quarter (45%), and have gained a whole point of market share in the PC market compared to this time last year.

For about 2 years I’ve been using a 12×18 Wacom Intuos2 graphics tablet for my mousing needs. It’s been a fantastic mouse (and tablet) but I don’t have as much use for it as I did before. So what I’d like to do now is snag me a new mouse and keep the tablet off [...]

One of the aspects of the migration to Intel hardware for Apple is going to be the support for existing applications that we all know and love. Some applications are only going to be updated when an upgrade takes place. Others are only going to come when real Intel based Macs are in peoples hands.

Just commenting on a small detail that is wicked cool with iTunes 6.
Have you gone into the Videos section? Any videos that you’re storing in iTunes, whether they be downloaded music videos, interviews bundled with albums, or a miscellaneous item you dropped in because you could, they’re all stored in Videos, within iTunes now. [...]

So yesterday was quite a day. I for one am pretty jazzed about the whole Front Row deal. I think that’s gonna be some sweet action as it propagates throughout the Apple hardware line (Steve, please do this soon) in the coming months. And while the announcement of iTunes 6 (wow - [...]

The new iMac doesn’t have a modem port. But a USB modem can be had from Apple for $49.