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Leaked Macworld keynote reveals boring reality

Jordan Golson · 01/14/08 04:28PM

A document claiming to be a "rough outline" of Steve Jobs's Macworld keynote was leaked on Wikipedia last week and is now making the rounds. Paul Boutin and I disagree: He thinks it's unquestionably fake. I think it's plausibly real. But we both think so for the same reason: It's more than a bit boring, lacking the big-boom announcements that typically open and close a Macworld keynote. I think that adds to its verisimilitude. For one thing, the really secret stuff would never make it into a circulated draft — and the truth is that Macworld keynotes contain vast stretches of mundane material, sustained only by Steve Jobs's force of personality and the audience's eagerness to hear the big news. If it's a fake, I say it's a well-crafted one. Here's an analysis that shows why.

"MacBook Air" screenshot debunked

Jordan Golson · 01/14/08 01:59PM

There's not even a product yet, but already the rumored "MacBook Air" has a blog. Its authors claim to have taken a screenshot of a page from the Apple Store website with customization options for a new "MacBook Air." We think it's bogus, because the tech specs make no sense. Here's why.

Can Apple save WiMax?

Jordan Golson · 01/11/08 04:23PM

Click to viewOur sources tell us that Apple may include WiMax, the high-speed, long-range wireless broadband technology, in an ultraportable 13" notebook computer, and possibly across the entire MacBook Pro line. Just part of the rumor mill flying in preparation for Steve Jobs's Macworld keynote next week in San Francisco, of course, but our source gives it a "60 percent chance." AppleInsider has pictures of Apple's banners inside the Moscone center with "There's something in the air" as a slogan. If true, this could be a risky move for Apple.

The real untold story of the iPhone

Owen Thomas · 01/10/08 01:03AM

In its February issue, Wired promises "The Untold Story" of the iPhone. But as typical for the magazine, they instead deliver a rehash of things you mostly already know, spread over 3,336 lavish words. Here, instead, are 378 words, in bullet points, containing the truly juicy tidbits Wired writer Fred Vogelstein was able to turn up. My favorite? That when Steve Jobs gets really mad, he doesn't scream. He stares.

Kiss your stereo goodbye

Tim Faulkner · 01/08/08 07:01PM

Apple's iPod doesn't just dominate our pockets. It's reshaping how we listen to music in the home. The Consumer Electronics Association forecasts that speaker systems with iPod docks — everything from clock radios to fancy Bose players — will exceed sales of traditional compact shelf systems and home-theater-in-a-box systems (those fancy surround-sound stereos the Best Buy salespeoople keep pushing on you). The iPod speaker system market will grow an estimated 23 percent in 2008 to $1.07 billion, while the market for non-iPod stereo systems will slide to $1.04 billion. Since most stereos have built-in CD players, this sounds another death knell for the once-ubiquitous music disc. (Photo by Señor Codo)

Jay-Z, HP's star endorser, uses a Mac

Jordan Golson · 01/07/08 08:00PM

Jay-Z and girlfriend Beyonce seem to be Apple fans. No surprise there: Plenty of musicians use Macs. What is surprising? Jay-Z was in one of those Hewlett-Packard "hand" ads last year touting HP laptops. At least Tiger Woods actually wears Nike. Catch the ad after the jump.

New Apple board member the right woman for job

Tim Faulkner · 01/07/08 05:33PM

Steve Jobs has quieted one long-running concern of unhappy Apple shareholders by naming Avon CEO Andrea Jung to the male-dominated board of the Cupertino-based computer maker. Jung will be the board's first female member in nearly 11 years. The addition likely has nothing to do with appeasing feminists, however, and everything to do with Jung's business connections. She also serves on the board of GE, the parent of NBC Universal. Apple's media strategy has been hindered by a feud between NBC's Jeff Zucker and Jobs over selling TV shows online. Jung will likely have to recuse herself from any direct dealings. But as a behind-the-scenes peacemaker? She's perfectly made up. (Photo by Avon)

How Google controls Apple

Owen Thomas · 01/07/08 03:26PM

Buried deep in Ken Auletta's magnum opus on Google in the New Yorker: Half of Apple's board of directors are either Google board members or senior advisors to the company. Is there a better example of Silicon Valley's inbred power circles? The overlappers: Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Genentech CEO Art Levinson, both on Google's and Apple's board; and Google advisors Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, and Al Gore, the former VP turned venture capitalist, both of whom serve on Apple's board. One wonders how Apple manages to have a board meeting these days, given Google's broad reach into markets of interest to Apple, like cell phones, online video, and Web applications.

Sony wins Blu-ray, loses online-video war

Owen Thomas · 01/07/08 01:19PM

I'm as ready as anyone to declare Sony the victor in the epic high-definition disc battle. Its Blu-ray, now supported by Warner Bros., looks set to best Toshiba's HD-DVD. In Hollywood, where they still care about the industrial process of shipping plastic discs by the millions to retail stores, this matters. In the Valley, we've long since moved on. Sony executives still dream of formats, hardware, and an empire of lock-in. To them, "software" means the creative content screened in theaters, dropped into CD players, or played on a videogame console. That's why they're doomed to lose the real war.

Mac vs. PC in the CES press lounge

Jordan Golson · 01/06/08 05:20PM

Having plenty of time on my hands while my compatriots at Gizmodo blog blog blog it all at CES 2008, I took a walk around the press lounge to check the ratio of Macs to PCs. The latest numbers peg Apple with a 7.3 percent market share in the world at large. Will the the press lounge be full of fanboys or stodgy old corporate types?

Idiot jumps onto subway tracks to save iPhone

Mary Jane Irwin · 01/04/08 04:20PM

Bijan Rezvani dropped his iPhone on the subway tracks in New York City. Instead of contacting the transit authorities like a sane person, he braved oncoming trains, the electric third rail, and plague rats to jump down and snatch it. His exuse? "I needed my phone, so... I got it." Even though we call it the Jesusphone, people, it's not going to save your life.

Jordan Golson · 01/04/08 03:14PM

Orange, Apple's French iPhone partner, announced that it sold 70,000 iPhones during its first month of sales. This is "right in line" with the public target of 50,000-100,000 units sold. [Thomson Financial] (Photo by mukluk)

Jordan Golson · 01/03/08 02:44PM

On December 30 and 31, Mac OS X accounted for 8 percent of computers browsing websites monitored by Net Applications, up 6.8 percent from November. Windows Vista? 10.5 percent. [Computerworld]

Disney signs up for iTunes digital movie rentals

Jordan Golson · 12/31/07 11:10AM

As expected, Disney has signed a deal with Apple to provide digital movie rentals over iTunes. The terms are similar to last week's deal with Fox. While this isn't particularly surprising — Steve Jobs owns a huge chunk of Disney from when the company bought his Pixar animation studio — it is good news for Apple. Can you name any Fox movies off the top of your head? Neither can I. But I know a ton of Disney flicks that are worth watching. Among them, Pixar's small but universally brilliant library of family movies, which will help iTunes appeal to moms and dads. OK, so that's two studios down. What about the rest? Variety reports that Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. are unlikely to sign on for "various competitive reasons."

Apple to make ordering at Starbucks less embarrassing

Nicholas Carlson · 12/28/07 01:00PM

On December 20, Apple filed a patent on wireless technology for ordering coffee from an iPhone or iPod. The goal, according to a copy of the patent filing obtained by Forbes, is to help customers avoid the "annoying wait in a long queue before completion of the order." Whatever. I just know I'd finally buy an iPhone if it means I never have to take an extra 20 seconds to say, "halfcaf soymilk chai latte with an extra shot of espresso and only two pumps, please." (Photo by idogcow)