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Apple Businesses

iPod Shuffle, Mac Mini, iLife '05, iWork 2465

A number of announcements from the Mac World keynote this afternoon. The iPod Shuffle is pack-of-gum sized, no screen, weighs less than an ounce. Ships today, $99 for the half gig, $149 for a gig. The Mac Mini is the headless iMac... 6x6x2.5 with all the expected plugs, starting at $499. Lot's of tiger bits, spotlight, virtual folders in Mail.app. iLife '05 will ship Jan 22. iPhoto gets folders and video support. iMovie supports HD. GarageBand gets 8 channel recording. iWork includes Keynote 2, and 'Pages' the new word processor and ships the same day as iLife.
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iPod Shuffle, Mac Mini, iLife '05, iWork

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  • by rwurth ( 639926 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:01PM (#11323733)
    wait, cheap Mac, cheap iPod. Nevermind
    • by ThousandStars ( 556222 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:18PM (#11324078) Homepage
      What will the Apple trolls carp about now?

      Ah yes, that's right. The one mouse button. It is at least getting harder to bash Apple products.

      • by sydsavage ( 453743 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:26PM (#11324216)
        Quote from the Mac Mini webpage [apple.com]:

        And yes, Mac mini will take advantage of your two-button USB mouse with scroll-wheel and your favorite USB keyboard. Just plug them in.

        Since you supply the mouse and keyboard, they've essentially nipped that perennial argument in the bud.

        • by b1t r0t ( 216468 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:36PM (#11324409)
          It shouldn't be any problem. In fact, that's how I got my most recent Mac, a Blue & White G3 for $110. Except in that case, someone would have had to pay me to take that stupid hockey puck of a mouse off their hands.

          I like how Apple suggests on their Macmini page that programmers should get one and a KVM switch, and put it on top of their PC.

        • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:49PM (#11324684)
          There are two reasons that Apple doesn't ship two-button mice - one is simplicity for beginning users, the other is that it forces lazy developers to expose functionality in the UI and NOT just bury it in a contextual menu. Windows drives me batty because features are commonly implemented that way.
      • by javaxman ( 705658 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:29PM (#11324303) Journal
        Nope. No mouse in the box. No keyboard, either.

        The box is - get this - smaller than the standard iPod box.

        That's what they'll complain about. No mouse sold with the computer. Cheap-ass Apple, expecting me to already have a USB mouse... oh, wait...

    • by beef curtains ( 792692 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:19PM (#11324084)
      Yep. In fact, here they are:

      http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ [apple.com]

      http://www.apple.com/macmini/ [apple.com]
    • by TheViffer ( 128272 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:26PM (#11324226)
      Depends ... could be hidden costs. On the specifications page it clearly states the following.

      "Memory upgrade must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider."

      So does that void the warrenty if you crack the case open to swap out say the memory or drives?

      • by Infamous Coward ( 642174 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:07PM (#11325023)
        Hidden costs indeed. If you upgrade the Mac mini to 1GB of memory through the Apple store, the additional cost is $425! So that $500 marvel is now $925. And for OS X to really sing, mucho memory is required.

        Sadly, the math is starting to break down...
        • by kzinti ( 9651 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:30PM (#11325495) Homepage Journal
          Who in their right mind buys memory from an OEM? Don't get on Apple's case about expensive memory, because it's true in the PC world too! Whether it's Dell, Sony, IBM, whoever - you're almost always better off dollarwise to buy your system with the least available memory, then buy the upgrade from someone else. With the exception of the occasional special deal, this has been true for as long as I can remember.

          Of course, this begs the question: does the mini allow user upgrades? Can't check because the Apple site isn't responding at the moment, but that little box looks to be shut tighter than a virgin's iPod.
  • Mac Mini (Score:5, Insightful)

    by deviator ( 92787 ) <bdp AT amnesia DOT org> on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:02PM (#11323746) Homepage
    Nice. These types of things at these pricepoints are the types of things that can change the world - every kid & teenager could end up with one, using their Mom & Dad's hand-me-down Keyboard/Video/Mouse.

    • Re:Mac Mini (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rayde ( 738949 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:05PM (#11323812) Homepage
      i agree. most people have always agreed that mac os x is superior, but price has always been the sticky issue. with price becoming more realistic, perhaps apple can start winning back its market share.

      i think this is just the beginning. if apple stays in this market, we'll see more powerful iterations of the mac mini in a similar price point with more powerful features down the road.

      kudos apple!

    • Re:Mac Mini (Score:5, Interesting)

      by BWJones ( 18351 ) * on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:39PM (#11324481) Homepage Journal
      The other item that makes these particularly interesting that everyone is missing is that they could be great little servers. I have been using a G3 based iMac for a page that routinely serves up 45k hits/day and a served up a recent Slashdotting with 450k hits/day without a hiccup. That was a 400Mhz G3, so I wonder what two or three of these Mac Mini's with a KVM switch could do for very little money.

      I've got my order in.

    • Re:Mac Mini (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Jhan ( 542783 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:55PM (#11324792) Homepage

      What I can't quite make out is if the MiniMac is fanless? I'm running my own domain (DNS/Mail/Web/etc.) on a noise-ish computer in my bedroom and have been checking out silent machines for a couple of years. My next buy was going to be - grudgingly - a pay-through-your-nose HushPC.

      The new MiniMac looks like it could be fanless. The front and sides seems to be hermetically sealed, but there are these ridges on the back that look suspisciously like air intakes/outlets. ...or are they just radiator fins?

      If this is a sub-BTX 1.5ish MHz PPC $600 machine w. FireWire that is <blink><yell><explode part="head"> utterly silent</explode></yell></blink> there is nothing, repeat nothing on the market that can compete with this. I'm getting five.

      • Re:Mac Mini (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Trurl's Machine ( 651488 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:11PM (#11325102) Journal
        What I can't quite make out is if the MiniMac is fanless?

        I'm typing this right from the showroom in mini-MWSF in Paris. Silent work is also quite important for me. What can I say is that Mini Mac is totally silent when it works (I literally did press my ear to it). Maybe it has a fan that kicks in once in a while, like in iBooks, but when it just runs - it runs with no fan.
  • by the_mighty_$ ( 726261 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:03PM (#11323755)
    iHope iCan get one!
  • Redundant? (Score:5, Funny)

    by timster ( 32400 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:04PM (#11323788)
    no wireless. Slower than a dell. Lame.
  • by m_dob ( 639585 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:04PM (#11323795) Homepage
    2. Do not eat

    http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/
  • $499 Mac? Damn (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:05PM (#11323805)
    Well now that's it's true...damn, even I might buy one!

    I'm begining to get the feeling that Steve Jobs might be trying to reposition Apple. Hardware is a mugs game, after all. We all know what happened the last time Apple tried to licence the Mac to clone builders..but what if they tried it now?

    It seems to me that over the last two or three years Apple has been working to reposition itself from a hardware company to a more diverse place, where the OS and the services it offers (E.g. iTunes) are what matters more than the hardware. The $499 Mac would seem to enforce that point. The idea is obviously to try and penetrate into the mid range market; make the Mac an everymans computer. If they can do it, and if they can increase their market share, they would certainly seem to have enough room to manovour and licence the Mac to clone builders again..
    • Re:$499 Mac? Damn (Score:5, Insightful)

      by spencerogden ( 49254 ) <spencer@spencerogden.com> on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:41PM (#11324508) Homepage
      After selling 10 million iPods (jesus christmas!) I don't think they are moving away from hardware.

      What I see more focus on hardware design, the exact opposite of the clone fiasco. They are getting, and supporting, higher margins on their hardware because of their design engineering. No other MP3 player looks or feels as good as the iPod. The Mini looks looks like another homerun, their first small form factor PC and its uniquely Apple and great looking.

      Apple's focus has shifted to perfecting the Human-Computer interface. This is what it was all about originally. They are focusing on the look and feel of products, both hardware and software.

      Get the details right, and they will come.

  • Cheap mac? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cyn ( 50070 ) <`gro.nyc' `ta' `nyc'> on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:06PM (#11323833) Homepage
    Head exploding.
  • Perfect Terminal (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hbuschme ( 751015 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:07PM (#11323852)
    The Mac Mini will be a perfect X-Terminal to use with a Linux box in another room. You'll have a silent and small box on your desk and the fat and loud server is down in the basement. Great.
  • by WIAKywbfatw ( 307557 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:09PM (#11323877) Journal
    The Mac Mini looks like it's the thing for me. I've never owned a Mac in my life - I've used a few in my time and I've been to a few Mac Expos with Mac-owning friends - but I think that's about to change.

    This is the Mac for all of us who said Macs were too expensive. For around £400 (yeah, Apple just like the rest of them loves screwing non-Americans when it comes to exchange rates) I'll have a nice little toy that'll give me some first-hand experience of MacOS 10.4 plus my girlfriend will have a easy-to-use machine that she can play with when I'm hogging my PC.

    Hopefully, it'll work with the PS/2 keyboards and mice that I've got lying around, if not then I suppose that I'll be shelling out for USB ones but that's no great loss.

    Mark my words: these babies are going to sell like hot cakes.
  • by moofdaddy ( 570503 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:11PM (#11323913) Homepage
    There will be a lot of bitching about the new iPod not having a screen. However I say that apple has done it once again. You have to understand the market for the new iPod, it is not meant to hold your entire music folder, its not meant to go with you on long drives.

    The new iPod is for the runners, for the people who take it with them to the gym, etc. These are people who wouldn't be navigating songs anyway, they just toss on a playlist, hit shuffle and go. This is exactly what the new ipod does, with only 200 songs, you don't really need to select your songs.

    If you want a display, if you want to hold other stuff, this iPod isn't for you, get the other ones. If you just want to listen to music while you work out, then this is exactly what you want.
  • by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:12PM (#11323942)
    One solution to dealing with the iPod Shuffle's lack of a screen is build them small enough that they can only hold 2 songs. This way you only need an On/Off button and an Other Song button. And that will save case space as well.
  • No Spreadsheet? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by NardofDoom ( 821951 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:12PM (#11323947)
    I'm suprised there's no spreadsheet app in iWork. I'd imagine that a lot of people need an Excel compatible spreadsheet.

    Oh well, I guess I'm sticking with NeoOffice/J for a little while longer.

    • by jmelloy ( 460671 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:26PM (#11324217) Homepage
      Steve Jobs said it was coming "soon" ... must not've made the deadline.
    • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) * on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:29PM (#11325473)
      The great thing about Pages is that it sounds like InDesign for the rest of us - that is, something that can serve as a simple page layout program.

      Word is not well suited to exact placement of anything really, and if the UI is really good it could win over a lot of people that traditionally have bought things like Print Shop Pro.
    • by mblase ( 200735 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @06:15PM (#11327104)
      The thing that struck me while reading about iWork Pages was that they're really emphasizing the "great design, real easy" aspect of it, same as iLife always has. MS Word is about making great business documents; Pages is about making great-looking newsletters.

      Additionally, Apple's got a long way to go before they can overtake MS in the business environment. Spreadsheets are mainly a business tool. Not much room in an Excel document for photos or sophisticated one-click text wrapping. (Yes, I know some people abuse Excel for documents it was never meant to process.) Home users who aren't bring their work home with them don't have much use for spreadsheets. Some, sure, but not much.

      I don't think Apple is marketing iWork as an MS Office replacement--yet. There's too much functionality there for Apple to try and match it, and much of it is business-only. What they can do is take Office, pick out the multimedia-heavy apps, and make them prettier and easier to use.
  • iMac mini (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Chief Typist ( 110285 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:14PM (#11323987) Homepage
    So it's true...

    Wow!

    Now I'm wondering if you can shave 0.25" off of the thing and mount it in a 1U rack. The specs seem good for a cheap & simple web server.

    Also, I predict that there will be some kind of add-on in the next 6 months that allows you to control this Mac with a infra-red remote -- something to run the CD & DVD without a display attached.

    The after-market is going to have a field day with this device!

    -ch

  • by Altima(BoB) ( 602987 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:15PM (#11323994)
    Judging the crawl at which the normally bulletproof Apple website is moving, it seems the allure of cheap Apple goodies is what it took to bring the weight of the internet to bear on one of the strongest servers out there.

    Raise your glasses, this is a day to remember.
  • Mac Mini (Score:4, Informative)

    by sometwo ( 53041 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:15PM (#11323996)
    Engadget has some pictures of the mac mini http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000590026982/ [engadget.com] It's about 1/3 the size of the cube- looks smaller than most external cd drives. They're going to cell millions.
  • by Aetrix ( 258562 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:15PM (#11324003) Homepage

    http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ [apple.com] The caption under the "gum" picture reads, "iPod Shuffle: Smaller than a pack of gum and much more fun.(2)"

    (2) "Do not eat iPod shuffle."

    • by SPYvSPY ( 166790 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:31PM (#11324324) Homepage
      * Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to iPod Shuffle.

      * Caution: iPod Shuffle may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

      * iPod Shuffle contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

      * Do not use iPod Shuffle on concrete.



      Discontinue use of iPod Shuffle if any of the following occurs:

      * Itching

      * Vertigo

      * Dizziness

      * Tingling in extremities

      * Loss of balance or coordination

      * Slurred speech

      * Temporary blindness

      * Profuse sweating

      * Heart palpitations


      If iPod Shuffle begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.

      iPod Shuffle may stick to certain types of skin.

      When not in use, iPod Shuffle should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration...

      Failure to do so relieves the makers of iPod Shuffle, Apple Computer Corp. and its iCEO Steven P. Jobs, of any and all liability.

      Ingredients of iPod Shuffle include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.

      iPod Shuffle has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

      Do not taunt iPod Shuffle.

      iPod Shuffle comes with a lifetime guarantee.

      iPod Shuffle

      ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!

  • by krbvroc1 ( 725200 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:16PM (#11324028)
    I can just see Evil Steve Jobs at the marketing table. He raises his pinky to the corner of his mouth and says, "I'll think I'll call it mini Mac".

    Bhwahahaha.
  • by slapout ( 93640 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:17PM (#11324034)
    http://www.macmerc.com blogged the thing live. I hope they don't made me posting it here.

    01:59 PM - The speech is wrapping up. Please stay tuned to MacMerc for coverage. I'll be moblogging photos from the Apple booth in a few minutes. And if you haven't already, please PayPal us a buck or two (button left column). Thanks!

    01:54 PM - Shipping starting today. Accessories rolling out in the next four weeks.

    01:54 PM - 2 models: 512MB for $99 and 1GB for $149.99.

    01:53 PM - Autofill: button in iTunes to make a playlist sized for the iPod shuffle. You can also manually fill it. You can also use the iPod Shuffle as a USB flash drive (choose how much for songs how much for data).

    01:50 PM - iPod Shuffle: really tiny (smaller than most packs of gum), no screen, weighs under 1 ounce. Cap on the bottom, USB 2. 12 hour rechargeable battery. PC/Mac. Looks about the size of a flash key drive.

    01:46 PM - There is one more thing: iPod marketshare is 65% over double last year. But Apple is going after the remaining flash player market.

    01:45 PM - Motorola: iTunes client on Motorola phones. Showing Motorola e398. Phones shipping this spring.

    01:43 PM - iPods on cars: BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Volvo, Scion.

    01:40 PM - We have the iPod and the iPod mini (something else coming???). Holiday 2004 quarter iPod sales: 4.5 million vs. 730K a year ago. Cross 10 million iPods sold, 8 million in 2004.

    01:39 PM - Moving onto iPod...

    01:37 PM - iTMS sold 230 million songs so far. On pace for 1.25 billion.

    01:36 PM - Mac mini is in stores January 22nd.

    01:34 PM - The Mac mini fits in the palm of your hand. Hook it into your own keyboard and mouse, or Apple's. Comes with Panther and iLife 05. Price point:$499 $599.

    01:34 PM - The Mac mini looks like a 3" tall CD drive. A short cube. All the connections, DVI and VGA.

    01:33 PM - Introducing the Mac mini -- ThinkSecret was right!

    01:32 PM - "Why doesn't Apple provide a stripped down lower cost Mac?"

    01:32 PM - iWork available January 22 for $79

    01:27 PM - Phil is out to do a demo of Pages. Start with a blank page or a template. Import photos in pages through iPhoto library (iLife is integrated). Designed by the Keynote team. Word processing with a sense of style.

    01:21 PM - iWork announced, to replace AppleWorks. Built from the ground up for OS X. Includes major update to Keynote: 10 new themes, animated text, powerful animated builds, presenter display, interactive slideshows, self playing kiosk slideshows.
    PagesOther part of iWork, advanced word processor. 40 Apple designed templates.

    01:21 PM - iLife 2005 will be priced at $79. Goes on sale a week from this Friday. Free on all new Macs.

    01:18 PM - Traffic update: about 100,000 pages an hour. Please donate if you have found this useful--the webhost enjoys being paid. (PayPal button sidebar left). Update: Thanks guys, keep em coming. We sprung for a dedicated server for our coverage.

    01:15 PM - John Mayer is on stage showing the new GarageBand (he helped introduce the first version). Notes, "I didn't win any grammy's for playing the piano."

    01:14 PM - GarageBand '05: Up to 8 track recording. Real time music notation (taken from Logic), pitch and timing fixing, recorded tracks now can act as loops, create loops, vocal transformer. Also a new Jampack (#4)

    01:09 PM - iDVD '05: 15 new animated themes, OneStep DVD creation (video to DVD in one step), All DVD formats(+R/W).

    01:05 PM - Spotted on stage, small metallic box with Apple logo...

    01:04 PM - The president of Sony is on stage talking about HD. Steve is a fan of Sony's prosumer HD video camera (just $3499).

    12:58 PM - iMovie 05: Faster, non destructive trimming, more transitions and effects, mpeg 4 video, Magic iMovie (auto movie). Biggest feature: HD.

    12:45 PM - iPhoto '05: Better searching, More formats, far more powerful editing, more book designs, better organization (folders, c
  • by Mad_Rain ( 674268 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:19PM (#11324094) Journal
    I was thinking about getting a little Small-form factor [mini-itx.com] box to run something like MythTv [mythtv.org], something along the lines of a AMD64. But checking out the Mac mini [apple.com] just makes me wonder about how I could get that going. Anyone think that this box could be a useful solution to that kind of project? I think the fairly standardized hardware would make that pretty simple to do, but being a non-mac person, I have no idea.

    And damn - just in time to consider when upgrading my parents old machines. ;)
    • by Johnathon_Dough ( 719310 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:38PM (#11324449)
      Not free, but elgato software makes the eyeTV [elgato.com] for macs

      EyeTV is a feature-rich digital TV recorder with realtime MPEG-2 video encoding that allows you to watch, record and edit your favorite TV shows and movies directly on your Mac. Automatically schedule when to record shows, edit out the unwanted content, and then burn your recording to DVD. You can even pause and replay live TV, letting you watch what you want, when you want it. The combination of EyeTV and an Electronic Program Guide means you'll never miss a show.

      I have not actually tried it myself, but apparently it has/will soon have HD support as well.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:52PM (#11324742)
      Another thing to note. A DIN slot (car radio standard size) is 2"x7", the mini mac is 2"x6.5".

      If it had a radio faceplate and a laptop drive, this would be the best car stereo ever.
      • by jmenon ( 576558 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @06:36PM (#11327383) Homepage

        "Another thing to note. A DIN slot (car radio standard size) is 2"x7", the mini mac is 2"x6.5"."

        Combine that with the integration of the iPod with additional car models--Volvo, Nissan, and Mercedes Benz were mentioned today--and you reach an inescapable conclusion: Apple is set to blow away the market for in-car computing.

        I was just in a taxi the other day here in Como, Italy, where I live, and the driver had a brand new navigation computer, complete with TV and DVD capabilities. Of course, car navigation computers are not new in Europe, providing GPS and all kinds of other in-car services. I have a friend living in Switzerland who had to drive to Luxembourg for work once a week, and he is so dependent on his in-car navigation system that once when it crashed, he couldn't find his way back home.

        Think about it. It would take Apple only a baby step or two with the new Mac Mini to completely take over this market. Installing a car navigation system can cost you thousands of dollars, but Apple's core component would only cost you $499.

        Imagine not only being able to plan a trip, but to have your kids do it on your desktop Mac, and then beam the instructions through AirPort to your car in the driveway. Car media centre? No problem, with a Bluetooth keyboard and a screen attached to your stereo slot. Or what about a snap-on interface connected to the USB and video-out ports on the back of the Mac Mini? But the greatest potential lies in the business uses of a car that is fitted as a fully-capable mobile office for less than a thousand bucks: the term "working remotely" takes on a whole new meaning.

        Now you can be serious about taking your work to the beach.

    • by WaKall ( 461142 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:53PM (#11324753) Homepage
      MythFrontend is already a first-class Mac application. You could set your minimac to autologin a user, start MythFrontend at login automatically for that user, and now you just need some form of remote control.

      You'll still need a MythBackend around, with the TV capture card in it and running Linux. AFAIK, Myth recording is still Linux-only.

      Myth Frontend for OSX is really slick. I run it on my G5 and it just usurps the position of wallpaper while I have AIM windows on top of it.
  • by musikit ( 716987 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:25PM (#11324195)
    "2. Do not eat iPod shuffle."
  • by danigiri ( 310827 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:26PM (#11324234)
    (1) add a RAM stick BTO - cheapo
    (2) add bluetooth BTO - cheapo
    (3) add Wifi card BTO - cheapo
    (4) sit unobtrusively to my way-cool existing TV and hook up A/V - nothin'
    (5) hook to already existing wifi ADSL-powered network - nothin'
    (6) bring in my already existing Sony-Ericsson Z600 - nothin'
    (7) ...?
    (8) Profit!

    Lemme see what I get from this:

    (A) iTunes playback
    (B) VLC playback
    (C) DVD playback
    (D) UNIX development
    (E) Surf web
    (F) Check mail
    (7) Photo slideshow
    (8) Remote control via Z600 (see 2,6,A,B,C,E)
    All in the living room sitting comfortably on the sofa (see D)! Yay!
  • by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:43PM (#11324556)
    An interesting note from MacWorld is something Jobs said about the iPod Mini.

    Before the iPod Mini was released, the flash player market was double what it is today. That means the iPod Mini did NOT canibalize hard drive player/iPod sales but instead got Flash player buyers to spend more money on buying a Mini and claimed the upper end of the Flash Player market.

    This means the iPod Shuffle is being sent in to sweep up the low end market where people are buying $49 128 MB players.

  • by saddino ( 183491 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:49PM (#11324687)
    As Jobs noted, the iPod Mini took a nice chunk out of the Flash MP3 player market and thus the Shuffle is meant to take the remainder (low end). However, if the Shuffle were to have a screen (and thus be fully functional) it would almost certainly eat into Mini sales. Thus, the lack of screen is not only a design (elegant) and engineering (fewer parts) triumph, but also a marketing coup (increase marketshare without cannabalizing sales). Impressive.
  • iWant iWant iWant! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Yaztromo ( 655250 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @03:50PM (#11324710) Homepage Journal

    It's all so beautiful...[sniff].

    Okay, the new Mac Mini is going to be perfect for my mother. It's certainly going onto the "iWant List".

    iLife 05 and iWork I'm going to put on order today (if I can get through to the Apple Store -- that's for /.'ing Apple everyone ;) ).

    Damn. I had prepared myself this morning to find out that maybe one of the rumours was true, but all of the major rumours turned out to be true. Joy oh joy! It's like having another Christmas all over again :).

    Please allow me to point one last thing out: to all of those here (and elsewhere) who complained that Macs were too expensive, it's now time to put up or shut up. Buy the new Mac Mini, or never speak of the purported high cost of Apple hardware again.

    Yaz.

  • by Heisenbug ( 122836 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:05PM (#11324982)
    OK, all you folks who are about to get your first Mac -- yes, do it, it's worth it. But listen, OS X just won't be happy with 256MB of RAM. Throw in another $75 and get 512.

    Apple loves overcharging for ram. I don't know why, and it bugs me, so normally I upgrade from a third party right after I get a new computer. That isn't an option here, so just bite the bullet and do it. Otherwise, we're all going to be back here in a month complaining about how slow the mini is, and no one wants that.
  • Hats off to Cringely (Score:5, Interesting)

    by HishamMuhammad ( 553916 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:19PM (#11325280) Homepage Journal
    Well, so the rumors in Bob Cringely's Predictions for 2005 [slashdot.org] were confirmed... From his article:

    3) Apple will take a big risk in 2005. This could be in the form of a major acquisition. With almost $6 billion in cash, Steve Jobs hinted to a group of employees not long ago that he might want to buy something big, though I am at a loss right now for what that might be. Or Apple might decide to throw some of that cash into the box along with new computers by deliberately losing some money on each unit in order to buy market share.

    We might see that as early as next week with the rumored introduction of an el-cheapo Mac without a display. The price for that box is supposed to be $499, which would give customers a box with processor, disk, memory, and OS into which you plug your current display, keyboard, and mouse. Given that this sounds a lot like AMD's new Personal Internet Communicator, which will sell for $185, there is probably plenty of profit left for Apple in a $499 price. But what if they priced it at $399 or even $349? Now make it $249, where I calculate they'd be losing $100 per unit. At $100 per unit, how many little Macs could they sell if Jobs is willing to spend $1 billion? TEN MILLION and Apple suddenly becomes the world's number one PC company. Think of it as a non-mobile iPod with computing capability. Think of the music sales it could spawn. Think of the iPod sales it would hurt (zero, because of the lack of mobility). Think of the more expensive Mac sales it would hurt (zero, because a Mac loyalist would only be interested in using this box as an EXTRA computer they would otherwise not have bought). Think of the extra application sales it would generate and especially the OS upgrade sales, which alone could pay back that $100. Think of the impact it would have on Windows sales (minus 10 million units). And if it doesn't work, Steve will still have $5 billion in cash with no measurable negative impact on the company. I think he'll do it.

    So, $249 was a bit of wishful thinking in Bob's part... ;)

  • Mac Mini Mod (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lsmeg ( 529105 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @04:33PM (#11325536)
    OK, so how long till someone mods the Mac Mini to fit in one or two PC drive bays? :) Maybe route the usb through to the PC's usb headers, a custom bracket in the back of the PC for DVI... Hmm, that could actually work...
  • On the Mac Mini (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Tuesday January 11, 2005 @08:52PM (#11329195)
    Steve Jobs hits often and rarely misses. This new stunt is so right on. Since the days he came back to apple and rescued the lot with his candy flavoured who-the-fuck-still-lets-his-users-adjust-a-screen macs he's been on the road to king of the common appliance computer. Everything a half-way tech savy computer user would think of as "gee, this would be nice to have", he comes up with it 2 years later and at least 5 years ahead of everybody else. OS X has fully matured, is solidly welded onto a 100% percent predictable hardware base, is based on 30 years of Unix OS experience with 10 years in the OSS training camp, is practically virus and exploit free and comes with all the goodies anybody would want with a computer an the ability to upgrade the one or other OSS speciality needed in 5 minutes flat.
    Bottom line:
    I couldn't have done any better, and probably wouldn't have (the meager 128 Megs are probably a teeth gritting compromise they had to swallow, to hone costs and margin-leak).
    As of today, I bet all my money on Apple and my pocket cash on OSS. This is the first industry strength 20 inch stainless steel nail in a long series of nails in the coffin of Microsoft and the weedy mess of proprietary x86 crappiness and it's shortcomings. Mark my word.
  • by cwg_at_opc ( 762602 ) on Wednesday January 12, 2005 @12:46AM (#11331307) Journal
    i decided to build up a shuttle with similar capabilities(using newegg):

    Shuttle XPC Model SN41G2V3 - Item#N82E16856101460 $269.00

    AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ - Item#N82E16819103401 $88.00

    Geil 512MB(256MBx2) - Item#N82E16820144309 $80.00

    Western Digital 80GB - Item#N82E16822144122 $60.33

    NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW - Item#N82E16827152037 $67.99

    Logitech diNovo Cordless - Item#N82E16823126166 $125.00

    NETGEAR Dual Band Wireless PCI - Item#N82E16833122126 $71.99

    Innocom V.92/56KData/Fax/voice Modem - Item#N82E16825100103 $21.50

    ATI RADEON 9200 128MB DDR - Item#N82E16814102287 $93.50

    Windows XP Media Center 2005 - Item#N82E16832102311 $131.00

    Office Small Business 2003 - Item#N82E16837116148 $331.00

    Intuit Quicken 2005 Basic - Item#N82E16832109137 $36.00
    total: $1,374.81

    the mac is a BTO, added BT, AP, BT-keyboard and mouse

    Mac mini 1.42GHz Accessory kit
    Internal Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
    80GB Ultra ATA drive
    SuperDrive
    56K v.92 Modem
    512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
    Mac OS X - U.S. English - P/N: Z0B8 $903.00

    Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Set - P/N: B9396LL/A $99.00

    Office 2004 for Mac - P/N: T9189LL/A $399.95
    total: $1,401.95

    differences for the shuttle:
    DVD burner(the only silver ones were 16x).
    Modem(has to be external if you want PCI-802.11a/b/g)

    summary:
    shuttle pluses
    - you can build it yourself
    - you can upgrade it yourself
    - games(!)
    shuttle minuses
    - you can build it yourself
    - you can upgrade it yourself
    - Windows
    - finding drivers, updating patches
    - fan noise

    mac mini pluses
    - its very small
    - its very quiet
    - it looks nicer(subjective)
    - the software is preinstalled
    - there's more software included(appleworks, iLife, garage band, iMovie, iDVD)
    mac mini minuses
    - you can't upgrade it
    - you can't make it faster(see previous)
    - it's easy to steal(not showing up in any offices anytime soon)
    - games :-( (that would be a LACK of games, although that's changing, slowly)

    so once you've added up all the stuff you need to match the mini, you end up darn near close;
    a $27.14 difference in favor of the Shuttle.

  • by wdebruij ( 239038 ) * on Wednesday January 12, 2005 @05:07AM (#11332653)
    with more than 2100 posts already chances are noone is going to read this. Who cares, I'll just listen to myself then.

    The presentation app, keynote, appears to be a godsend. It has a number of features that I always wanted (but was too lazy to code):

    - a dual-monitor setup so that you can have a presentation on the beamer and an overview on your laptop. Do modern laptops carry dual-out, by the way?

    - a timer to go with your overview page. The days that I have skipped content just to fit the deadline are nearly over. Finally.

    however, there is one feature that I'm still missing. This one is especially useful for technical design, etc: construct individual slides from `master' images that are possibly larger than the slides. In a CAD environment it means flying into a detail of your design.

    In general this technique should lead to a more natural progression from slide to slide. Perhaps it can be generalized even. I'm thinking along the lines of first creating a story and only afterwards chopping it up into bytesize chunks. The aforementioned design-issue is just an example. Read "presenting to win" by Weissman (yeah, horrible title) for more useful comments on holding presentations.

"You tweachewous miscweant!" -- Elmer Fudd

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