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Cult of Mac
Read Leander Kahney's latest commentary about Apple and Mac News in Wired.com's Cult of Mac Blog, including Mac, Mac Pro, MacBook, iMac, iBook, Mac mini, iPod video, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iTunes, iPhoto, iPhone, Apple TV, OSX, Steve Jobs, and Macworld.
http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/
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WWDC: Apple In Talks For Online Movie Rentals?
Steve Jobs has made a hobby out of letting the world know that people aren't interested in renting their music. We hear you loud and clear, Steve. One thing Steve has never claimed, however, is that people don't like renting...

Steve Jobs has made a hobby out of letting the world know that people aren't interested in renting their music. We hear you loud and clear, Steve. One thing Steve has never claimed, however, is that people don't like renting movies, as Netflix and Blockbuster will attest.
On the eve of his WWDC keynote, the Financial Times claims that Steve is about to put Apple at the forefront of the digital movie rental business:
A film would cost $2.99 for a 30-day rental. Its digital rights-management software would allow films to be moved from a computer to at least one other device such as the video iPod or iPhone. The software would prevent movies being copied.
Interesting notion. After all, Apple has gone through hell trying to sign up movie studios to sell their films through iTunes. A lot more companies than Disney and Paramount will leap in if this is legit.
Via MacRumors.

Technorati Tags: itunes, movies, rentals

Pete Mortensen
Prediction: Multitouch Input Pad at WWDC?
I predict Steve Jobs will introduce a multitouch mousepad at WWDC tomorrow morning -- and that finger input will be one of the "top secret" features of Leopard. The multitouch pad will look like a standard mousepad, but it'll be...

I predict Steve Jobs will introduce a multitouch mousepad at WWDC tomorrow morning -- and that finger input will be one of the "top secret" features of Leopard.
The multitouch pad will look like a standard mousepad, but it'll be finger sensitive, like the touchpads on most notebooks. But instead of one finger, it'll be sensitive to multi-finger gestures and commands, like the iPhone.
The pad will completely replace the mouse, allowing users to control the Mac with their fingers -- moving the cursor, selecting files and double clicking with a quick double tap of the index finger.
The pad will also respond to a whole new vocabulary of gestures, like Mouse Gestures in Firefox, which execute common commands (backwards, forwards, reload) with a sweep of the mouse. Using your fingers, you'll open files by twisting to the left, as though turning an imaginary dial. Twist your fingers to the right to close the file.
The pad will be USB powered, and will have "soft buttons" for common commands like cut and paste, and delete.
Jobs will unveil multitouch at WWDC to give Mac programmers time to incorporate gesture commands into their software before Leopard's release in October.
Of course, this is pure speculation. I've no evidence whatsoever this is going to happen. I've no idea if it's even realistic. Can developers incorporate an entirely new UI into their software in a few months? Will people even want it? Don't forget, the QWERTY keyboard is still around. People don't like whacky new interfaces.
Still, Jobs made a big deal of the multitouch finger interface of the iPhone, proclaiming it the third great "revolutionary" interface after the mouse and the scroll wheel. It seems natural we should be using our fingers to interact with computers.
Others are doing it. Microsoft has it's Surface table, and I saw a new HP TouchSmart PC at the weekend, which is controlled by a large touch screen. A woman was playing Solitaire on the screen with her fingers, and it worked really well. I was quite impressed.

Apple is already making moves towards gesture interfaces. The touchpads on MacBooks support two finger scrolling. And there's the iPhone.
Part of the iPhone's multitouch interface is based on the work of two University of Delaware professors, John Elias and Wayne Westerman. Elias and Westerman owned a company called FingerWorks that sold a multitouch Touchstream keyboard and an iGesture Numeric Keypad, which worked like the multitouch mousepad described above.
Apple bought FingerWorks in early 2005, along with the professors' patents, which look like an entire platform for finger-based interfaces.
For one thing, using your finger seems to help with RSI, according to FingerWorks' testimonials:
"I've been a LP user for about 8 months. It's been the best thing that's ever happened to me in the world of computers. I'm a mechanical engineer and I use it for 2D and 3D CAD drafting, as well as 'normal' office type use. Also, I'm a Linux and Windows user, and I love how it works easily in both environments.

I have RSI in both my left and right forearms and wrists. Since using the Touchstream, I've reduced pain considerably, and I am able to do work with much less pain."

lkahney
Analysis: AppleTV Hits Lower Margins Than iPod, iPhone
BusinessWeek and iSuppli partnered to analyze the costs of the AppleTV. Somewhat surprisingly, the $300 gadget was found to cost nearly $237, which yields a significantly lower margin than the iPod or iPhone. Even more interestingly, the analysis shows that...

BusinessWeek and iSuppli partnered to analyze the costs of the AppleTV. Somewhat surprisingly, the $300 gadget was found to cost nearly $237, which yields a significantly lower margin than the iPod or iPhone.
Even more interestingly, the analysis shows that Apple makes significantly more money on each $400 AppleTV they sell, as the cost to upgrade the drive is much higher than the difference in raw cost to Apple. It is uncharacteristic for Apple to make this little of anything they sell. Anyone think this might be the source of Steve's calling the device "a hobby"?
Thanks, Bill!

Technorati Tags: appleTV, margins, profit

Pete Mortensen
iPhone Map App Pinpoints Infinite Loop.
Looks like Apple dropped an easter egg in its iPhone icons. An eagle-eyed blogger noticed something on the iPhone's Map application: it essentially doubles as a Steve Jobs locator. No, it doesn't pinpoint his house, but his office. Or at...

Looks like Apple dropped an easter egg in its iPhone icons. An eagle-eyed blogger noticed something on the iPhone's Map application: it essentially doubles as a Steve Jobs locator. No, it doesn't pinpoint his house, but his office. Or at least, it seems to show the Apple Campus at Infinite Loop in Cupertino.

Mat Honan
New Versions of Camino and NetNewsWire Roll Out
On Tuesday, while Apple was busy releasing new MacBook Pros, two of my favorite Mac apps received substantial updates. Camino was bumped up to version 1.5 while NetNewsWire went to version 3.0. I'm positively smitten with both apps. Camino, the...

On Tuesday, while Apple was busy releasing new MacBook Pros, two of my favorite Mac apps received substantial updates. Camino was bumped up to version 1.5 while NetNewsWire went to version 3.0. I'm positively smitten with both apps. Camino, the mozilla browser written in Cocoa, is noticeably faster--and it already blazed--sports in-browser spell checking, and allows you to save sessions when you quit (so you can start up again with the same web pages you had open when you closed your browser). NetNewsWire added a bevy of new features as well, chief among them tighter Mac integration with Address Book, Spotlight, Growl, iCal, iPhoto and (unbelievably) Twitterific. I've been using both since yesterday, and am absolutely floored with how much faster each is. Go grab them.

Mat Honan