MacWorld 2008 Predictions

[Shpigford]

I'm not "predicting" anything, per se, but more than anything I want the iTunes store to carry rentals...which then gives me an excuse to get an Apple TV.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by philbowell

iPhone anyone?

I've heard several people say how we haven't had an amazing Keynote at Macworld for a while. Do people not remember being blown away by the iPhone this time last year?!!?!?!

Blown away? By an overpriced cell phone? I think not. I do, however, remember thinking 'that's it? That's all we get?'

[lonnie]

I'm predicting a portable robot dog named "air" - he'll be one heck of a basketball player and come in 300GB and 500GB sizes. Obviously he'll be touch screen interactive and not only play MP3s but be your best friend. I'm gonna call my "Bud"

[Yuiichi]

Originally Posted by Raven

Blown away? By an overpriced cell phone? I think not. I do, however, remember thinking 'that's it? That's all we get?'

Haha, that shows how cynical we've (or you've) grown as consumers. Personally, I got spoiled on what it was, by my mother no less, before I could watch the keynote and see it myself. Sort of a huge letdown because of that. The iPhone is really exciting tech nonetheless, if not only for the device itself but for other devices we can use the same tech with!

[houltmac]

The iMac, MacBook Air, Leopard, iPhone, Time Capsule... I am starting to see the future come true... finally.

[baseballboy828]

The $20 upgrade fee for the iTocuh is the biggest load of bs I've ever seen. I can have Mail on my jailbroken iTouch. Plus new owners get the apps for free. If you bought an iPod Touch in the past 14 days, you can just head over to the Apple Store and trade it in for a new one and get the apps. Unfortunately I'll have to pay this fee soon. When the firmware update comes out for 3rd party apps, I may want to switch once some of my favorite apps get written. I find the 1.1.3 update to be much more compelling for iPhone users. The faux-GPS is much more useful with the cell towers on the go. I find that I mostly use the iTouch to grab directions before leaving the house. I know addresses for both locations.

[Yuiichi]

Does anyone else think that Time Capsule is a really great value? You get an "external" HDD and a Wireless Base station for a really great price. I actually broke down the prices (in Canadian monies) just to show what kind of value it is:

500 GB Model:
Time Capsule: $329.00
Airport Extreme Wireless Base Station: $199.00

HDD Costs: $130

Comparable HDD (LaCie 500GB Porsche): $274.99 (Regular), $139.99 (Sale*)

1TB Model
Time Capsule: $529.00
Airport Extreme Wireless Base Station: $199.00

HDD Costs: $330.00

Comparable HDD (LaCie D2 Big Disk Extreme+): $349.99

*Sale and Comparable HDD prices from Future Shop.

In both cases, the Time Capsule is cheaper than buying both an external HDD and an Airport Extreme Base Station but at least $10. The only drawback is that the HDD is eternally tethered to the Time Capsule, which makes it less portable. But if I'm just using it for backups, it doesn't really matter anyways.

I also checked the US prices and the results are nearly the same.

I think I'll be buying one of these!

[houltmac]

I think I will be getting one also. I am of course worried about backups being consolidated to a single drive incase it fails, but I think the benefits outweigh that worry. The prices seem good to me here in the UK too (although I haven't compared properly yet) and I would say it's unlikely that you would want to take a 500GB/1TB drive with you, so portability isn't such an issue.

[philbowell]

Originally Posted by Raven

Blown away? By an overpriced cell phone? I think not. I do, however, remember thinking 'that's it? That's all we get?'

Yes blown away! The interface (not phone specs!) was like nothing anyone had seen! You weren't blown away by something so innovative and unique? I'd like to see what could!?!

[Raven]

I love the Time Capsule - now that's a clean, innovative, cheap solution to a very compelling problem: namely, how to manage multiple Time Machine backups constantly, wirelessly, to a single drive. And it even supports my printer!
Never again will a cable beside the power cable clutter up my MBP while I'm at home, and never again will I be chained to my desk if I want to use my external hard drive! (And, of course, there's the nice sleek look of it, right at home on my desk with my other shiny white hardware.)

...the only question now is how soon I can manage to afford one. 'Cuz, man, do I ever want one!