Sep 01
In case you missed Apple’s Fall Event today, here’s a quick recap of what Apple is bringing to the media-hungry consumer market:
- iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch coming next week (including bug fixes, HD YouTube uploads, TV rentals and Game Center), and iOS 4.2 for iPad coming in November with goodies like wireless printing (yay!) and AirPlay (replaces airtunes and adds pictures and streaming video).
- A new multi-touch iPod nano available in different colors for $149 (8GB) and $179 (16GB).
- Revamped iPod touch that’s thinner and sports a Retina display like the iPhone 4, HD video recording, FaceTime video calling, 3-axis gyro, and iOS 4.1 with Game Center.
- New iTunes 10 with a better UI, new icon, and Ping social networking.
- New Apple TV that’s a lot smaller, incorporates Netflix, $4.99 HD Hollywood movies, TV shows from ABC and FOX for 99-cents, and a $99 price tag for the whole kit and kaboodle.
What do you think about Apple’s new product announcements today? What about having to wait until November for iOS 4.2 for iPad?? And with the new iOS 4.1 coming next week, will you be tempted to lose your jailbreak if your iPhone 4 is jailbroken?
I feel as if I’m sleeping with Apple. They are taking all my money! I think I might have to seriously look into Apple TV…
Brian, how about your impressions about iTunes 10. I just installed it; the look and feel seems more juvenile, cartoonish. The new sans serif font is much more difficult to read than before. Why is the “traffic light” in the upper left corner now vertical when it’s horizontal in every other application? It looks to me like it’s trying to appeal more and more to appeal to look/feel for kids. Not a bad thing, per se, but for those of us who just want the program to work and give us information, manage our music files, etc, it just doesn’t feel right. Not yet at least.
And Ping? Ping?? Ping??? Like we need another way to “connect” with people? At least the default is to have Ping OFF. Thanks for that, Apple.
Your impressions, please…
Hey there, Jules. It’s been a crazy busy day today and I’m just now catching my breath and getting a chance to respond. I appreciate your interest in my impressions and I think it would be more than appropriate for me to write a few blog entries about my thoughts on iTunes 10 and Ping. Stay tuned!
[...] emptor. Let the buyer beware. Along with announcements of a new Apple TV and new iPods, Apple has unveiled their new music-based social network, Ping, [...]
Hi again, Jules. I’ve had a little time to spend with the new and “improved” iTunes 10 and I’m not exactly thrilled. I agree with you that the “stoplight” turned vertical in the upper left is just plain weird. I don’t like it and I’m a littler perturbed that I’ll have to get used to it. I would prefer that Apple stick with the same theme and continuity throughtout their ecosystem. Changing the orientation of the stoplight reminds me of the most recent curiosity I experienced with Apple — buying a new Shuffle (sans buttons) only to return it once the new re-buttoned Shuffle was announced (which arrived today).
We seem to live in a world where the general consensus is to change something just for the sake of changing it and keeping it “fresh” — other than adding some functionality, I don’t see the need for wholesale changes in iTunes, particularly with regard to appearance. Also, with respect to Ping — I can’t comment yet because I’ve intentionally avoided activating it. Like you, I don’t really need yet another social connection to add to my already burdensome LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, ad nauseum. I often welcome the sweet oblivion of being “disconnected.”
Thanks for your comments Bryan. As I searched around the web, I see a lot of other Mac Users are unhappy with the vertical traffic light. So a fix is now available that will get the traffic light happily horizontal again. It’s mentioned on several blogs, and even an YouTube video.
Open “Terminal” and paste in the following:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -1
Hit “return” and then restart iTunes. Voilá!
See the following links for info:
http://www.macgasm.net/2010/09/02/itunes-10s-traffic-lights-horizontal/
http://tehloft.com/2010/09/03/hate-the-new-vertical-traffic-light-icons-in-itunes-10/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVlSOUVv-Bw&feature=related
You can also replace the goofy iTunes icon as well. See:
http://dribbble.com/shots/51446-iTunes-10-Replacement-Icon#comment-130488
Phew!