Mac & Dan blogbin » Apple

iPod remote is a no-go!

dan — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 22:48:06 +0000

Yesterday I was smitten by an impulsive buying bug while browsing at the Apple store. To go along with my new 5G Video iPod I bought the small remote to work along with the universal dock. I’m not too happy with the usability of the product. It is nothing more than a clone of the iPod shuffle in terms of it’s funcitonality. It only provides volume control, pause play and skip to next song functions. The menu button doesn’t even work with the iPod so you don’t have access to your different playlist or functions.

For a pricetag of $30.00 this has to be the worst product accessory that Apple has produced to date. I took the time to go to the Apple website and leave feedback for the remote. It’s no suprise to me “NOW” that it was given the lowest rating of one star by other users as well. This is a good reminder to myself to make sure I do my homework before making any purchase…Apple or not.

Before I forget – there is just one more thing…

dan — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 02:35:36 +0000

Some day that phrase will be immortalized in the memory of Steve Jobs. How many Apple Keynote shows have we all watched and heard these words? No new surprises other than simultaneous hardware releases of both the MacBook Pro and the iMac Intel. Most analysts felt that Apple absolutely had to get the professional laptop product out the door to accommodate the demand or risk losing their market share. A new pro laptop, Intel iMacs, and new versions of the iLife suite. Personally the release of the new iLife suite is what excited me the most. The only thing that I was surprised by was that Apple had only provided a single 400 firewire port on the MacBook Pro. I would have rather liked to see an 800 firewire port instead. I’m concerned that once Apple kills firewire off for good how are users going to be able to boot externally? They must have something in the pipeline that will accommodate this need. It reminds me of the time between the first release of the original iMac and the third generation iMac when Apple discontinued using SCSI in favor of USB. Unfortunately the only device you could boot off besides the internal HD was the CD rom drive . I suspect that Apple had to make some concessions to Intel by dropping the Firewire preference in their product line (noted first with the USB only version iPods) in favor of Intels USB 2.0. I just hope that the new marriage with Apple and Intel will not deal death to the better product. Hint…hint.

In the spotlight – Jobs.

dan — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:51:00 +0000

As I sit here anxiously awaiting the news from Steve Jobs on the new offerings from Apple, I ponder what new innovation will be coming from Cupertino. Digital media centers, direct download movie content, more wireless gadgets, new iPods, Intel version Macs etc. This fierce competition to stay on top fueled by our insatiable desire to have the latest and greatest is almost overwhelming. In order for me to stay on top of things I have to spend almost 2 hours a day keeping up on all the technical issues dealing with the Mac world. Unfortunately this life-cycle process never seems to end…After the keynote I’ll address the new announcements in a follow up post.