It's the time of year again when not a creature is stirring, not even a... one buttoned mouse. Yes, Macworld San Francisco is coming up, and the rumourmongers are doing their thing, and reporting on anything that sounds vaguely plausible in the mac universe. G5 Powerbooks? G5 eMacs? an iPhone or Flash iPod? Take your pick, there's plenty to choose from.

But it all gets a bit much sometimes, taking it all seriously... weighing up what's likely and what's not, what's technically possible against what isn't, and most of all; Wondering just what Steve thinks is a good idea.

Let's throw that all out, and go wild with unsubstantiated rumours - play mix & match with Apple products & services and essentially, just make crap up.

Personally, I'm sure we'll see PowerBooks with iPod clickwheels. Yes, the trackpad is dead and will be replaced by a square clickwheel (bear with me...) that works the same as the old, but has NO BUTTON!. The entire trackpad clicks.

*click click*

*click*

just like that. Easy hey?

dana

How about a games console (Pippin) with a G5 processor and built-in hard drive, that can stream music from your stand-alone computer (Airport Express/AirPort), that you can insert your personal music player (iPod) into like a cartridge to access it's music, has a wireless keyboard and built-in trackpad (BlueTooth PowerBook layout), media remote, a web browser (Safari), email (Mail.app), camera (iSight) and video/text conferencing (iChat), mobile device synchronisation (iSync), and the ability to show your photos (iPhoto/iPod photo).

Add some USB and FireWire ports and you have Apple's entry into the media centre market. A computer/games console/music system in the lounge room that interacts with other stand-alone computers, music players, mobile phones, PDAs, etc and is expandable.

I believe apple will unveil the powerPod.

Thats right, an iPod that looks like a g5 and looks even better docking ontop of one.

But not only will the powerPod be cosmetically different, it'll have a whole new set of features like a built in FM radio, built in audio recording at a respectable quality and its own version of garage band.

Ew! That reeks of those tap-tap draaaag monstrosities that PC users like. I hate Trackpad controls like that. It's like clicking by tapping a mouse gently on the table. It's silly when there's a better way.

Although if it clicks noticeably, instead of the whole light tap thing, then perhaps I could get used to it.


My announcement? Ladies and gentlemen, the new Pro Mouse. Connected via your USB 2.0 port, it has one gig of Flash memory which can be used to store and transfer files effortlessly between computers (Windows and Macs). It also has a scroll-wheel, and three programmable buttons.

How about an iPod that has AE built in and could play directly to AirPort Express.

Or an iPod with removable disks (similar to a MD player.) On second thought that would be wrong.

A headless Mac with expansion options & VIVO. Perhaps some kind of media machine. Possibly a cube re-launch.

Some kind of phone/PDA combo that will revolutionise phones and PDA's.

Tiger. - the obvious

A physical iDisk. It covers all your personal files the same as your iDisk does to sync, and you can carry it with you and put it in any mac you come to and it's like you're sitting on your own machine. Shaped just like an iPod, only no controls and no screen.

68k will be making a huge comback this year , i heard from the best sources...

Ahhh - hence the renaming of the iPod to the iQuad(ra).

Not that the 040 can decode an mp3 usefully, let alone AAC... but still!

*waits for a performa G5*

dana

I must say Apple aren't the only ones who release new hardware, so I put forward...

1.6 and 1.8GHz (single for now) G5 accelerators for Quicksilver and MDD G4s.

dana

This year I'm sure apple will unleaseh the awsom power of the igeekBeerServerCube and the igeekBeerServerCubePIZZA for home use, the ultimate geek must have... as cute as the old cobolt cube (Disko will love this one!) the quad 2.5 G5 chips are liquid cooled but the cooling has been extended to include the new intergerated beer fridge!!

Stock standard with dual gigabit ethernet and all apples server based software this machine rocks! Can also be expanded to 10 Terabytes of cheep storage!

(NOTE the igeekBeerServerCubePIZZA is a Flat version of the igeekBeerServerCube but designed for keeping Pizza cool and edible for up to 36 weeks!)

Hmmmm!

Ah, just one more thing...

The iPad. Smaller than an iBook, bigger than a PDA. Built-in wireless and Bluetooth. G4 processor, uses a stylus, but can also plug in a keyboard. Has video out for presentations or connection to a monitor. Works as a remote for all of the iApps.

oooh

or this could become real



dana

10Gb ipod mini and drop the 4Gb version down to $300. That way you have a nice low priced option and it fills the gap between the mini and the 20Gb ipod nicely

mpeg123 can, I have done MP3 Playback on a Quadra 950. It's very poor quality though, but it works! And AAC actually takes less CPU power than MP3...

There's also MpegDec. It's no iTunes, but it works, and sure beats the heck out of mpg123, and it still does the job better than your equivilent 486. :P

Anyway, i've heard from an *ULTRA RELIABLE SOURCE* that Apple is finally going to introduce the Quadra 960AV. :P :lol: h34r: