UKMac.net » Rumours

New Nano A Step Backwards ?

Scott — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:38:58 +0000

Am I the only one to think that the design of the new Nano, purportedly being announced this coming Tuesday 9th September, is a bit of a step backwards ?

It looks to me like a slightly elongated Gen 2 Nano, which I think is really odd. Are they saying that the Gen 3 Nano design was a mistake ? Clearly the form factor of the Nano is constrained to a certain extent by the sceen dimensions, and I suppose if the associated announcement of HD video content from the iTunes Store also materialises then this would probably be a factor in the selection of a wide screen format display for the new Nanos.

Still it just seems odd to me, not that I doubt the authenticity of Kevin Roses’ sources which seem to have been fairly widely acknowledged as genuine.

Will 9th September Event Be A Let Down ?

Scott — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:11:21 +0000

AppleInsider is reporting that analysts are warning to prepare for an “underwhelming” event on the 9th with only minor product enhancements ( new iPod Nano and reduced prices for iPod Touch ) expected. They don’t rule out the potential for a big announcement, but don’t seem too hopeful.

Personally I hope they are wrong. Part of the buzz around all of Jobs keynote speeches is always that “One More Thing” moment right at the end and the events where this doesn’t happen are extremely disappointing.

What do you think ? Big shock or damp squib ?

First Commercial Hackintosh to be available soon ?

Scott — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:39:43 +0000

Psystar ( site down at present ) a small security specialists from Miami has announced that they will be selling a tower based PC capable of running unmodified copies of OS X Leopard for just $399 or $554 with Leopard already installed. The PC, known as OpenMac, will be Core 2 Duo based, come complete with 2Gb of RAM ( the Mini has 1Gb standard ) and is built from components known to be compatible with Apples OS.

At this price it will compare very favourably with the Mac Mini especially as it will probably be more readily expanded, though it is unclear if the device will ever see the light of day. Clearly Apple will not just sit back and let a PC manufacturer produce a machine such as this, especially if they are planning on selling complete with Leopard. A number of commentators have commented that Psystar are doing this to taunt Apple into suing them so they can then counter sue and shout “monopoly!”.

At this stage the outcome of this move is very unclear but it will certainly be interesting to watch this one unfold.

Apples 5th September Special Event

Scott — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:19:11 +0000

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks you can’t fail to have read a significant number of blog and news articles about this weeks Apple special event. Since the release of the iPhone speculation around when we should expect to see the iPhone technology rolled into the latest ipods has been rife. Two schools of thoughts seperate those who believe that Apple would not risk cannibalizing their iPhone sales and those who believe that Apple are really only interested in maintaining their strangle hold on the music player market place.

Personally I am hopeful that the announcement this week will be new iPods incorporating CoverFlow, ideally with full screen touch displays and decent amounts of flash memory, although I accept this may not come to fruition. I certainly hope that the event is not purely to announce the availability of the Beatles back catalog on iTunes music store as many sites have commented. Whilst I accept that this would be a hugely significant advance given Apple Computer and Apple Records past history, I think there would be a huge groan from stockholders and tech followers alike if this was all that was released. The latest generation of iPods are well due an upgrade and the past history of iPod releases has typically been around this time of year, prime for capturing the American back to school rush immediately and the Christmas rush a few short weeks later.

Heres hoping…