Pre-CES Announcements . . . wherein all of the 'playahs jump the gun

UPDATED 18:25 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010
UPDATED 13:30 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010
UPDATED 13:10 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010
UPDATED 10:10 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010

Digital Imaging

• Canon has a new version of its already excellent 70-200mm f/2.8 pro zoom lens - updated optics with significantly reduced chromatic aberration, the latest image stabilization, and possibly slightly faster autofocus (we'll see about that).
  
• Sony, never one to leave a good thing alone, has released its umpteenth version of its Alpha digital SLR, this one the A450 - another sub-$1000 digital SLR offering little besides feature creep, an tiny bit less power consumption, and the same 14 megapixel sensor found in several other Alphas.
  
• Lexar is showing off a new Professional 32GB 300X CF cards - isn't that great? 32GB - really - fill it up (fast at 300x) and then sit for days in front of your computer sorting through thousands of images.
  

Computers

• Lenovo has got new ThinkPad laptops coming out its ears - of the new T-series models we really like the 15.6" W510 that can be loaded with a Core 2 Extreme i7-920XM CPU (yummy), up to 16GB of RAM (yummier), and an nVidia Quadro FX-880M graphics card (yummiest). The new entry-level ultraportable X100e is the first one of its kind for Lenovo and is designed to go head-to-head with netbooks, while offering optional bluetooth and 3G, plus much more serious processing power from the Athlon Neo.
  
• We're going to keep our eye out for a retail/buyable copy of Samsung's new netbooks - the new N-series looks terrific and the N220 is especially interesting with the ultra low power new Intel Atom "Pinetrail" CPU at 1.6GHz, lovely anti-glare 10" LED backlit screen, up to 12 hours(!?) of battery life, instant-on (via the integrated Phoenix HyperSpace tool), and enough storage space and usability to satisfy a lot of business users and a lot of traveling digital imageers. I want one.
  
• 3M will be showing off its Display M2256PW, 22-inch high-definition, multi-touch LCD display - its capable of responding to 10 different simultaneous inputs (10-finger touch sensitive in other words), and its native resolution is an impressive 1680 x 1050. This will be a really interesting product for designers and other pros in a variety of disciplines who need to physically interact more fully with their work.
  
• USB 3.0 is here now, so get used to it. Western Digital is first out of the gate with its SuperSpeed USB 3.0 My Book® external hard drive, among the first devices certified. Throughput is almost 10 times faster than USB 2.0 hi-speed, and it's all allegedly backward compatible with USB 2.0 (ahem). The drive is supplied with a USB 3.0 card so you'll actually be able to use it with your now-obsolete USB 2.0-equipped computer. Lots more USB 3.0 products coming, so stay tuned.
  
• In Store Solutions launched the Freetalk TALK-7181 HD PRO PLUS webcam for Skype HD - as long as you've got a minimum 800Kbps (up & down) web connection, you can use this thing to chat via high definition video. It uses embedded H.264 encoding to compress the video stream, and at 5 megapixels and an allegedly decent lens, might put competing products to shame. Let's just see how well it works and how often prevailing ISP throttling policies ruin the use of this product.
  

eReaders

• Interead Cool-er - it's an ereader that's almost all screen (6"), making it the smallest form factor on the market (and the e-ink screen is very good too), with 2GB of internal storage, expandability via SD card slot, and a 3G version coming mid-year. This one may make grab my attention away from my excellent Sony PRS-300 and PRS-600.
  
• The Skiff Reader seems to (finally) be a reality - it's a big momma with an 11.5" screen at 1200 x 1600 pixels and 174ppi, but the screen is a metal foil design that is really remarkable by all accounts and combined with the magnesium housing amounts to barely a pound in total weight. The specs boast an active week of battery life, but we'll believe it when we see it. For large form factor magazine and newpaper reading, the Skiff looks like a serious contender.
  

Home Entertainment

• Polk Audio will be showing its single footprint surround-sound wireless speaker system - I know, I know, how can you generate surround sound from only one front-n-center positioned speaker enclosure? It's a conundrum, but several other speaker makers have already released (dreadful) similar products. Polk Audio (back in the early '90s) had a wonderful reputation for producing competitively priced, audiophile quality speakers. Then Polk seemed to have slipped overall for a time. Too many products perhaps? In recent years, Polk has been regaining its quality edge, so let's give this one a chance shall we? The system uses a method of controlled sound dispersion via individual speaker drivers in the enclosure.
  

Wireless

• Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein has told everybody that v1.3.5 of the webOS mobile will be officially launched at CES 2010 - download and store more applications, enhanced program and WiFi performance, improved battery life, and increased device speed and responsiveness are supposed to come together to make great products such as the Palm Pre work even better. Okey-dokey - we'll see - but Palm is a funny place, so many times a world-beater, but lagging far behind the market leaders for quite a few years.
  
• The Google Android pre-CES press conference was a big deal actually. In addition to its existing T-Mobile relationship, Google announced new carrier deals with Verizon in the U.S. and Vodafone in Europe. Nice. Android phones are accelerating quickly in both quality and quantity, the operating system itself is terrific, and Google will outreach Apple very shortly because Google seems to be reeling in new carriers quite quickly.
  
• (added @ 18:15 EST, Jan 5) Google again. This time the search supergiant has unveiled its Nexus One smartphone (or as ZDNet has dubbed it, the Superphone). According to ZDNet the Nexus One is 11.5mm thick (a BlackBerry Curve is 15mm thick), 130 grams in weight (an iPhone 3G weighs 135 grams), every text field is voice accessible (speak to compose an email?), it's fully multimedia enabled and also contains a 3D subsystem for Google Earth. Don't forget the gorgeous, gesture-enabled touch screen. If it actually makes phone calls too, it might actually be a real superphone.
  

Automotive

• (added @ 15:08 EST, Jan 5) Kia Motors has announced its Uvo (powered by Microsoft) in-vehicle infotainment system (really - the pre-CES press release said "infotainment") - it's a voice activated system for controlling and configuring mobile communications and the vehicle's entertainment system (radio, CD, DVD) and turn-by-turn GPS. We promised there'd be plenty of this stuff in the wake of Ford's success with Sync, so here we go.
  

Nothing from Nikon, Panasonic or Sony. Apple will not be at CES, preferring - as usual in recent years - to do its own thing when its new product announcements won't be lost in the massive noise of CES. Apple's successful corporate individualism won't flag as long as Jobs helms the company. Google will not be at CES either, but has lots of products of its own in the pipeline and will be running (Google search, Google Chrome browser, Android) on almost every laptop (and many smartphones) at CES, (added 13:15 EST, Jan 5) and has a major press conference scheduled at its Mountain View, CA headquarters. We think Google probably has the right idea - just like Microsoft all those years ago: be needed and be everywhere.

Nothing pre-CES from an awful lot of companies, but it's a reflection of the times. Retail is off all over the place and manufacturers just aren't rushing new products to market right now. Makes sense. So will CES 2010 be a yawn? We'll see about that too.

More to come . . .

Apple Announce iPod Touch

As expected Apple announced an iPod based upon their iPhone and one which uses many of the features found in that popular mobile phone. Unfortunately they have made the same old errors relating to battery access and have failed to provide decent storage capacity for the units. Coming in 8GB and 16GB versions they fall behind their own older cousins by a couple of generations. I'm personally under-whelmed but I'm sure there will be many who buy one just for the cool user interface and geek factor.

In case you're wondering why I keep bashing Apple on this issue, I think that they are doing a disservice to both their users and themselves by not thinking about the context of the technology they are creating. They've done this well in the past and can do so in future. I personally use an iMac on a day-to-day basis and own a 30GB iPod video (which I won in a competition). I can see how well Apple has addressed a whole bunch of issues, but the failure to add a removable battery and to provide storage which adequately addresses current user expectations (if not future ones) leaves me feeling somewhat perplexed, if not annoyed.

Apple have been very successful at creating an image-conscious product line and one which attracts the more style conscious buyer. Many of their users have a very poor grasp of the history of the technologies Apple features, often claiming that Apple is the creator of these technologies. But as has been seen in recent years, this mythology has been unraveling with many cases of prior art being brought to the fore as Apple announces ground breaking innovations. Even if this is the case and Apple is indeed a plagiarist, it nonetheless remains very good at combining technologies in very user empowering ways.

The issue, for me, is that Apple's style of application often falls too short of perfect because its designers fail to grasp the context and usage of the technology they are creating. Most cell phone manufacturers have grasped that their users have a requirement for a replaceable battery pack. So they manufacture phones which facilitate this by providing easy access, via a removable panel. Apple then introduces a remarkable device which is cool, sexy and innovative in the array of technologies packaged in it. However, Apple does the ridiculous, trying to reinvent the wheel by not allowing users to access the battery via an access hatch or panel. This means that should your battery run out, you need to recharge the damn thing. You can't just replace it with a spare. As a result should the battery ever fail completely, you have no recourse but to return the phone to Apple for an expensive refit. That kind of backward thinking is asinine and greedy and does nothing to endear people to you, not to mention the fact that in this repair you might also lose all your data.

Apple, like other manufacturers, needs to understand that people don't necessarily want to throw away their devices when something fails, many of us hold on to our old tech and often pass it on to others. If I can't simply replace the broken component, the entire device becomes landfill and a technological folly which could perform or fullfil it's designed function were it not for this design flaw. Come on Mr. Jobs — get your team and house in order. Your products are not quite excellent, but close enough to merit the push to pass that final inch and reach the excellence your products truly deserve.

Third Party iPhone Apps?

Several sources are reporting that there will most likely be some support in the iPhone for third party Apps. This will be very welcome amongst users who want more than what Apple have to offer. I'm not too bothered as I'm european and we wont see anything of this interesting but poorly finished device till some time later in the year.

Amazon Prepares to Sell DRM Free Music

According to The Times (UK), Amazon is setting up to challenge Apple with an offering of DRM free music via their online store. Amazon is apparently ready to launch next month, hopefully the content will be really DRM free rather than of a reduced variety. I'm watching, anyone else up for the competition...

Apple Fails Greenpeace Environmental

For the second time, Apple has been ranked last in the Greenpeace quarterly ranking of companies and their environmental impact. The Greenpeace ratings take into a count a company's policies on recycling and the use of toxic content in their products and processes.

Apple may disagree on their rating but I can certainly see how some of their products can be considered as being unfriendly. The report states, “For a company that claims to lead on product design, it is perhaps surprising to find Apple languishing at the bottom of the scorecard. While other laggards have moved upwards in the Guide, Apple has made no changes to its policies or practices since the launch of the Guide in August 2006. The company scores badly on almost all criteria.” Unsurprisingly, Apple has denied the report's findings. You can find more here.

EU Hits Out at Apple Over iTunes DRM

The European Union Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva lashed out at the way Apple locks iTunes users to its iPod music players. When users download music from iTunes, the songs are saved in a proprietary format which will only play on their iPod players.

In an interview published by the Geman magazine Focus, Kuneva was quoted as saying, "Do you think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players, but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don't. Something has to change."

This statement reflect growing consensus amongst consumer advocacy groups in Europe, with many of them joining forces to put pressure on Apple. Groups in Finland, France, Germany and Norway recently agreed to work together in their battle against Apple and iTunes.

Dispelling Myths - Apple & The Newton

Many Apple fans have long been under the impression that their PC company of choice has invented practically every novel concept under the computing sun. This includes, iconic GUI's, mouse driven interfaces, the PDA and a whole lot more. Sorry folks, although Apple are indeed very good at packaging these ideas, this all they are really doing ... Packaging.

Yes they have many patents, and like some patents, they may be worth more than the paper they're written on, however, they only tell part of the Story. Many of the concepts which Apples pundits claim, that Apple invented, actually came out of Xerox's renowned PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) facility.

Founded in 1970 as part of Xerox Research, then incorporated in 2002 as an independent research business, PARC is celebrated for such innovations as laser printing, distributed computing and Ethernet, the graphical user interface (GUI), object-oriented programming, and ubiquitous computing.

I'm not interested in GUI's or mice today, but about the concept of the PDA, which many Apple fans will tell you were created by Apple in the form of the Newton. Although an interesting and innovative product, the Newton is but a single step in a long line of developments, which are still happening in the world of handheld computing devices. The PDA had already existed for several years prior to the introduction of Apple's Newton.

Although not as elegant in their implementation many of these devices were nonetheless quite interesting. Products like Atari's Portfolio, The Tandy ZPDA (Zoomer) and The Linus WriteTop were all predecessors to the PDA concept. The WriteTop was a nice but large TabletPC sized hand writing recognition based computer.

In my research I came across a very interesting site, which has a detailed and extensive timeline and history of the development of the PDA, including fictional inspiration, pre-PDA concepts and more: This site - The Evolution of the PDA, 1975-1995 by Evan Koblentz, editor of Technology Rewind is well worth a read and will teach you lots about how small the world of hardware development really is...

The truth is that many of the concepts and indeed patents are nothing more than links in long and interconnected webs of chains in the development of our favoured technologies. Apple and Microsoft are both very good at claiming innovation but the reality is they are marketing entities that produce products with slightly different mindsets. Microsoft appeals to the mass market where as Apple promote sell to the think different club... it's all just a marketing exercise.

Apple Patches Security Holes In Quicktime

Apple have released updates to their QuickTime software, which fix eight serious security vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities open both Macs and Windows PCs to attack. An attacker could create a malicious file which, when opened with an unpatched version of QuickTime, would possibly allow full control over the computer running the software.

Download QuickTime Version 7.1.5 from Apple

iPhone Fans Launch Sites

With all the hype about Apples future iPhone product sites are starting to appear whcih are centred around the worship and dissemination of information about this convergence device/phone. These sites include:
iPhonic.tv - A new site from Shiny Media who also produce SHINY SHINY, TECH DIGEST, and a few other "cool" tech sites.
http://www.everythingiphone.com/ - A News, Media and Info Site
my-apple-iphone - A Blog based fan site featuring news and info.
myiphone - Another blog which features this overhyped phone.

Although I do agree that the iPhone will appeal to a large number of users, I still think that Apple have messed up an produced an unpolished product. They will no doubt address the issue of 3G and a few other kinks (like email support for Microsoft Exchange and other business email protocols). But lets not forget the biggest functional Faux Pas - the lack of support for Interchangeable Batteries.

Apple TV Due In March

Apple's, Apple TV product, is expected to ship in the middle of March. The device which is only a few weeks late, will be priced at around $299 US. It was first previewed as iTV in September of 2006 and formally announced at Macworld Expo in January along with the iPhone. The set-top box allows TV programmes and films to be downloaded to a Mac or PC and to be played on a television. It is another of Apple's convergence efforts and another product worth watching.

Apple and Cisco Settle iPhone Dispute

This release from Cisco and Apple was released today:

Cisco and Apple Reach Agreement on iPhone Trademark
SAN JOSE & CUPERTINO, Calif. – Cisco® and Apple today announced that they have resolved their dispute involving the "iPhone" trademark. Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the "iPhone" trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

Short and sweet .... I guess all that free publicity did them both some good.

Apple