s8ist

Apple Geniuses.. we need more of these smug, condescending, product pushing asslords?

This looks stupid. They already dropped the ball on Apple TV, and they're going to drop it again on this. Give people quality products that stand on their own. iPod mostly accomplishes this. I can have whatever computer I want and not be tied down. I can rip my own MP3's LEGALLY and use whatever digital music stores I want. With this, you're just paying them to access your wallet. It's sad because there's so much potential, but they keep wasting it.

I will agree based on the fact that we do not know all the circumstances surrounding his case, we have no idea of knowing whether or not the charges against Microsoft are something dreamt up. Based on the discrimination I've witnessed even in 'tolerant' South Florida, it would not surprise me if those charges were true. Excluding that admitted conjecture, I find that the concept of giving businesses the right to discriminatory practices is objectionable beyond the kneejerk accusation of cognitive dissonance. I fully understand the argument behind government being non-intrusive in the interest of free enterprise, but I also disagree that left on its own, the natural, punitive consequences would take care of the issue of discrimination. The time necessary for those changes to take place through a hands-off approach extend beyond one or two generations, and just is not fair to expect given the disproportionate time those odds were stacked in favor of the majority. There are inherited social advantages for the dominant majority and disadvantages for the minority. The advantages of 'masculinity' and 'whiteness' are consciously and subconsciously experienced by those who can meet the criteria. It is mimicked often by those who do not specifically meet the criteria. The shared privilege of the majority continues to be enabled as a subtext to the seemingly noble diatribes of embracing the 'fairness' of autonomy that never existed in the first place.

I disagree that Mac owners should suddenly excuse the fact that certain features in iLife '09 are inaccessible. It would be one thing if it were a matter of processing power, as is the case with the iMovie program, but watching a video of an artist play an instrument? If it in fact IS a matter of processing power in the case of the Garageband features, simply offering lower-res or a different video codec would enable G4 users to view these demonstrations. As other users have also expressed, the fact that there are even workarounds to this (in Terminal) suggests it could have been done anyway probably with some extra code.

As far as the slideshow transitions, as long as you have some graphics acceleration and a decent amount of vram, it shouldn't be a problem. We're not talking millions of polys here. I think the point that others and myself have to make is that if the computer is perfectly capable of running the feature, why limit it needlessly?

I wouldn't expect my G3 to run iMovie 09, but what most people are asking for here isn't beyond reason. A couple of slideshow features isn't a dealbreaker, but come on, someone's Powermac G5 could reasonably handle it.

Problems with AppleTV:

-Syncs with material only in iTunes, instead of network directory sharing
-this is extremely limiting because it:
a) wastes unneccesary space by duplicating data,
b) limits you to the space available on your ATV unit

-iTunes doesn't play nicely with popular video formats (.avi, .mkv, .wmv)

While Boxee mitigates for some of these problems, it can't provide the perfect solution because it looks to be in alpha phase for a long time, and who knows if they will continue to support ATV in the future?

What Apple needs to do is flex some of its legal muscle and turn ATV+iTunes into what the iPod+iTunes did for music. Pop the disc in, rip+convert, and turn your physical collection into a DD 5.1 browsable Coverflow wet dream for your living room.

If they can't do that, they should just open the damn platform! Then boxee can tap into the resources needed for x264 HD, Netflix, and reliable/quality video streaming.

That being said, I bought an AppleTV a week ago for my father-in-law. I started ripping his library to digital format through Handbrake, and he's loving the Boxee layout of his media, the ability to show family pictures, and stream his iTunes music.

All Apple needs to do is show ATV some love by giving it something amazing to do (open platform so you can load on what you want / or make iTunes do rip/encode work+network streaming) and stop treating it like its red-headed step-child!

I highly doubt this will happen on the basis that Apple predictions and speculation rarely come true. A lot of these rumors catch because there on some level they make sense as strategy (at least on the surface). Yes, the Walmart demographic is considered low income, but that isn't the worst market. Whether or not people live beyond their needs isn't Apple's concern. The concern will be on the credit card companies. Low income purchasers are concerned with the short term costs. The phone being $99 dollars? Great entry-level cost. Apps, movies, and music are priced relatively low enough as single purchases. The only difficult obstacle would be the expensive plan, which is really AT&T's thing.

Although, "bargain" isn't really Apple's game, so I call BS on this one. Apple hasn't really made lower cost alternatives to its product lines before, it probably won't now. The iPod (excluding the featureless and semi-pointless Shuffle) is still an expensive digital music player and it manages to sell well. So if they're going to sell the iPhone at Wal-Mart, they might as well sell the 8GB and 16GB models. People will still buy them even if they can't afford them.

If there were any more indication that Apple deserves parodying, it's the immature comments on this post that beg for validation of their beloved company. They are a corporation. They make hits and misses. Successes and failures. Their 'fanbase' is composed of some overzealous and pretentious technophiles, whose objectivity (and sense of humor) is sorely lacking. Somehow an attack on Apple is a front to them, their values, and constructed social class. Every Apple product I own, I have enjoyed immensely more than Windows-based technology. But that's no reason for me not to be able to laugh at the bourgeouis religion of Apple and it's staunchest defenders. In fact, I think even Wozniack said something about the stupidity of people following their company like a religion, thinking that it can do no wrong.
Some of you guys remind me of the arguments I would get into in my middle school days. Sega and Nintendo were both great and they both sucked in their own way. Now grow up and mellow the %$#^ out.

Apple fundies: So far, you're the most convincing argument against Windows users opting in.

Saudi Arabia is a tyrannical theocratic regime. I wouldn't be happy to be associated with it either. ... and the US isn't that great either. But at least honor killings aren't protected here and our women have basic freedoms. Any true liberal wouldn't defend the oppression of a people, either by our doing or their own, behind the shield of 'culture.' Its sad that so many so-called liberals can't point out the error of another culture because they think it somehow makes them unable to point out the errors of their own.

Apple needs to make switching easier, or allow some kind of 'training-wheels.' Although I love iPhoto, the ability to scroll through photos and auto-generate a slideshow within OS X is a chore for anyone who has just popped in a memory card into their Windows machine and up pops the option "View as Slideshow." That's just one of the many examples that seem to 'just work' out of convenience on the Windows platform, but require more detailed explanation on the Mac. Making things the opposite way on Mac (like minimizing by double-clicking) also creates a challenge. Are specific behaviors patented? Can't they change minimal GUI functions and behaviors to be more Windows-esque?
I love Mac and I think there are so many ways it is better than Windows, but Windows users do have things available to them that make it difficult to explain why they can't enjoy the same level of convenience if they make the switch. Just speaking from the point of view as someone who has watched an ambivalent, doubting switcher regret their purchase.

16 year Windows/DOS user
4 year Mac user

Discs may be going away eventually, and Apple may not include them this go round, but that wouldn't prevent them from putting Blu onto their machines now that the "format war" over high-definition has narrowed itself down to only ONE option, so the barrier that prevented an HD optical drive from going in to their computers is now no longer a problem.
PC vendors are already adopting the technology in their notebooks, and by comparison, the value equation should make Apple question how long they can hold out on implementing technologies that are basically standards before they take the flack for it. As successful as the iTMS/AppleTV model is (and as significant as it is to Apple), I don't think Jobs would risk the growth of the Mac userbase over iTunes. Customers who are truly interested in buying and owning HD movies through Blu-ray can still have an interest in renting "HD" content from Apple.