Apple

Everyone is worried about the iPhone’s lack of buttons and how that will make it hard to dial when you aren’t looking at the phone. Typing text messages may be difficult, too. The Nokia Internet Tablets (770 and N800) have a touch keyboard with large buttons that pops up when you are entering text with your fingers instead of your stylus. I have less than perfect accuracy with that interface. What we need is tactile feedback for our touch screens.

It turns out that at least one company makes such a thing. Immersion has a white paper on the topic which includes this description:

Immersion proprietary TouchSense technology causes the touchscreen to vibrate, creating the feeling of pressing mechanical switches, emulating crisp qualities and particular force and release characteristics. TouchSense tactile feedback is controlled by the application software, so touching different onscreen objects produces the optimal, desired, context-sensitive feel.

On the iPhone, what if the buttons will FEEL different than the rest of the screen. What if, additionally, the screen is pressure sensitive and it will require you to put down more pressure so you can touch the buttons without pressing them. Maybe Multi-Touch isn’t the only hardware innovation going on here.

This could be really good.

And if Apple didn’t go in this direction? There is another possibility. What if the screen itself will have ridges or raised surfaces or textures where the buttons are? Note that they don’t want to use a stylus. A stylus could rub against those imperfections and hurt the screen, while your fingers won’t cause any damage. Maybe these ridges and raised surfaces can appear and disappear at runtime in predetermined (like memory wire) or (better) dynamic locations. I guess we’ll ’see’ soon enough.

It seemed inevitable that Cisco would sue Apple for their use of iPhone. It sounds like they actually tried to work out a solution where the name would still be on Apple’s phone, but in the end they couldn’t agree. Very interesting! Having multiple devices with the same name, but very different functionality is a big problem, even for us tech-weenies. It makes it harder to web search for the product you are interested in. It causes a lot of confusion for our non-techie peers and family members. And if a name change does happen because of it, the confusion gets even worse. All of a sudden, you’d have to search for iPhone(ignoring cisco stuff) and applePhone to get a complete picture.

Yes, the iPhone is awesome. Multi-Touch, beautiful interface/apps, landscape/portrait auto flip - ROCK! However, there are lies (damn lies) abounding about the product and I think it’s best if I correct some of those right now.

Lie #1: It’s a closed system. You can’t run your own code on it. Truth #1: Yeah, right. Our people will set that thing free just DAYS after launch. Homebrew code will run. Period.
Lie #2: It will be EDGE at launch, not UMTS or HSDPA. Truth #2: I think Steve and company are pulling our legs. No WAY is that thing going to be released without something faster than EDGE. Imagine the negative experience people would have when they can’t stream video on their $500 (+2yr contract) phone and a guy with a $100 phone in the next seat is streaming CNN. Too risky to release without at least UMTS. Come on Steve, get real. Kam will back me up on this.
Lie #3: You can only use the phone on Cingular. Truth #3: Almost all phones have unlock scripts. I think we’ll see unlocked iPhones on eBay just weeks after the launch. For $1000.

So, there you have it! The truth about the iPhone. Brought to you by the AMAZING Eric Albert (who, coincidentally, also brought you OSX86)!

Oh, and you know how apple says this is first device to have a full size browser on a phone? Well, check out the N800 if you want the first full size browser that fits in your pocket!!!

Scoble put up his take on the iPhone. He complains about no GPS, cingular-only and no replaceable battery. I’m with him on the cingular thing (especially EDGE only), but I can live without GPS. External battery packs are all over the place for the ipod and that kind of solution is fine with me. That being said, I can see why someone who relies on those two features would be put off. Paul’s comments all have merit, too.

What is Origami? Is it a pda? Is it a microPC? Is it a phone? Is it a portable media player? Is it a gaming platform? NetworkWorld says it is definitely an ultra portable lifestyle pc. Maybe it isn’t even a device…. The best discussions on this topic are at scoble’s site and designtastesgood. Not much at wikipedia yet. ARGN doesn’t seem to have declared it an ARG. There is no discussion of it on their forums, so far.

What is Kevin Burton’s new blog idea? His track record is awesome, so far. What’s he got up his sleeve?!

What is Apple introducing on February 28? There’s a humorous idea at timshead and some lively discussion at ThinkSecret.

DailyTech has external and internal photos of the new MiniPC.

Seriously, though, I can’t see Apple switching to Windows. In such a scenario, would they still build the iLife and iWork product lines? Would those pieces of software be locked to a version of Windows that only runs on Mac hardware?

If the only thing separating future Macs from PCs were the pretty cases and the outrageous prices, I think Apple’s computer line would be doomed.

The one big issue that Apple has is that Macs don’t have great compatability with Windows apps, yet. So, Dvorak is suggesting that maybe the MacWindows would be Windows with a prettier look and feel. We know those kinds of changes are possible already on XP with software like WindowBlinds and TopDesk. Still, just because a MacWindows is possible doesn’t mean it will happen.

Wine, Virtual PC and VMWare are all getting better all the time and with Rosetta, Apple demonstrated that they have the technical prowess to make non-native software run well in OSX on intel. Yes, getting Windows apps to run well in OSX is harder than creating an OSX theme for Windows, but they’d still have to port iLife, etc, AND tell a lot of 3rd party developers that they need to port again.
The commentary on this topic is great, including wonderfully named posts: “Apple switch to Windows? Dvorak switch to reality!” and “Dvorak off his meds: claims Apple switching to Windows”.

Update: More conversations out there.

• Dwight thinks Mac OS will be available for generic PC hardware at some point.  That would be very interesting.  Personally, though, I’m not a big fan of dual boot environments and I don’t know if I could ever switch to an OS that doesn’t support the almighty Araxis Merge.
• Dave takes a stab at refuting Dvorak’s points one by one, but I wish he’d do so with fewer comments like ‘’stick it in your ear”.
• Matthew calls our attention to Steve Jobs personality as a reason why this is not likely to happen.  I see his point - Jobs does sometimes seem like a zealot.  BUT I think that if Steve found a way for MacWindows to be a bigger success than OSX, financially, for Apple, he’d do it.

Eric Albert, another face from Homestead’s past recently shipped a product(the intel iMac).  Congrats!

And, he has the funniest observation:

On a semi-related note, Apple’s stock closed at $80.86 today. Somehow that seems appropriate, in a way that, say, $80.85 wouldn’t be.

Ingenico has developed what they claim to be the first payment system based around an iPod…They’re using an iTrip FM transmitter to send the payment information, which is embedded in an MP3, and say that in the future we might be able to download a whole airplane boarding pass on MP3.

In a small interview with Griffin Technology’s CEO, Engadget learned more about the amazing Nano iTrip Hack:

Yeah. Isn’t it sexy? You can do really crazy stuff like Preferences, More Preferences, More Preferences, information screen. Nobody has ever used an iPod screen this way. It bitmaps screens to the iPod through a serial connector from the micro-controller. It’s just crazy.

There are dozens of excellent iPod 5G reviews out there, so I’ll just chime in with some quick comments.

The Good:

1. Portable Video - I’ve watched over 20 hours of video, including Smallville season 1 (transcoded from DVD), in places I don’t usually watch TV (car repair shop, bed(without waking my wife up - yay headphones, while eating lunch, on the porch, etc).
2. The packed-in slip case is very nice. It adds nothing to the weight or dimensions of the unit, but makes it safe to carry the 5G in your pocket with your keys.
3. I can watch channel9.msdn.com videos on the go!!

The Bad:

1. Battery Life is around 2 hours of video playback - Good thing you can play it while it’s plugged in!
2. Easy to scratch screen / no official protectors available, yet.
3. 4G accessories are not worthless with the 5G.
4. No 30 second fwd/backword skip. This is actually a huge problem.
5. No way to insert bookmarks in videos.
6. If you stop a video and play another, sometimes it seems to remember where you stopped that first video and other times it doesn’t.
7. No built in speaker.
8. Almost all video content needs to be transcoded to work on the iPod.

Anyway, I love it.

Stephen Speicher analyzes the $1.99 per episode price at iTunes.

I charged the battery last night and locked it. Today, the battery is empty.

Someone(maybe me) should make a tool that converts plaintext ebooks to a series of QVGA images. The text should be rendered with cleartype.

Scrolling text in the notes section of the iPod video gives me a headache. I’d rather flip pages.

Background:

• iPods are great for carrying around tons of audio(music, audiobooks, podcasts, speeches, etc) to listen to through headphones and computer speakers, but many of us have had trouble finding the right way to listen to iPod audio in our cars.

There are 4 common ways to listen to an iPod in your car:

• FM Transmitter: The audio is low quality, especially when FM is crowded with lots of stations, but you don’t need to worry about cables. Your iPod becomes a low power FM station. The transmitters work with any FM radio, generally. The features of FM transmitters vary widely – more on that later.
• Tape Adapter: If you have a tape deck in your car, this is most likely your preferred option. The sound is much more consistent than the FM transmitter and is usually much higher quality. The iPod is connected to a replica cassette tape. The features of Tape Adapters are pretty standard across brands. Quality of each brand may differ.
• Aux Jack: Some car stereos have a jack meant for mp3 players and walkmans. The sound quality is much better than the previous 2 options, but auxiliary jacks are not standard on most cars.
• “True” iPod Integration: Soon, car and after-market stereo manufacturers will add docks for your iPod and allow you to switch playlists, albums and songs from your steering wheel. BMW started the trend 2 years ago.
• Last week, Griffin Technology release the iTrip LCD FM Transmitter. With all of its bells and whistles, it is the most feature rich FM Transmitter made for the iPod. I purchased mine on Thursday and have been using it in my Saturn(which has no tape deck).

Feature by Feature:

• Sound quality: Ron Hemphill, Keith Kerlan and I compared the iTrip LCD to an Aux Jack in Keith’s car. Both tests used the same iPod and the same song. The Aux Jack resulted in much crisper sound and no static. The iTrip LCD encountered some static and a more muffled sound. Still, we were all surprised at how good the iTrip sounded.
• Tuning: The original iTrip had a very convoluted process for choosing the station your iPod broadcasted on. The iTrip LCD has a simple knob that lets you select any station from 88.1 to 107.9. This is a huge improvement, but some other FM transmitters have this feature, too – it is not an iTrip LCD exclusive.
• DX vs LX: This is one feature unique to the iTrip LCD. It has two transmit modes. The first one, LX is for stereo audio and is what most FM transmitters use. If you are in an area with a lot of stations and need to cut through the interference, you can use DX mode, which broadcasts in mono(left and right signals are merged) and seems to be much more powerful. The iTrip LCD documentation suggests using DX mode for podcasts and audiobooks.
• Portability: Unlike a tape adapter or aux plug, the iTrip LCD can be carried around easily for use in other cars. For instance, I can use it in my Saturn on weekdays and the Minivan on weekends when the whole family is together. Also, this version of the iTrip can be used internationally by switching between tuning modes.
• Lock-In: The iTrip LCD will only work with an iPod. Some FM Transmitters and most Tape Adapters can be used with any portable media device that has a headphone jack.
• Auto-Volume: iTrip LCD has a feature for helping you choose the right volume for the iPod to reduce static. In my tests, this feature didn’t work very well.

Conclusion(7/10):

• I’m happy with the iTrip LCD. Since I like to use my iPod regularly in 2 cars, it’s very convenient – I just leave it connected. The occasional static is minimized by keeping the iPod on a non-slip pad on the dash right over the radio.

By the way:

• If you aren’t using anything now for playing your iPod in the car and you have a tape deck, I suggest waiting until the is released. The SmartDeck is a tape adapter that watches the wheels of the cassette and advances your iPod to the next song when you press the tape player’s fast forward button. Nice.

• Griffin Technology’s iTrip page
• Playlistmag.com’s (much more thorough) review
• iLounge’s 2005 FM Transmitter Shootout