Comments on: Comments on 11574

Post number 11574

toddshot — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:24:20 -0800

Apple Computer will introduce a 'breakthrough device' next week. Will this be the long-rumored Apple PDA that Newton fanatics have been asking for? A device for wirelessly streaming your mp3 collection through your stereo? Your basic portable mp3 player? Or something that hasn't shown up on any of the rumor sites at all? Whatever it ends up being, my curiousity is officially piqued.

By: fuq

fuq — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:27:57 -0800

Voltron.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:30:50 -0800

maybe it'll be iGinger (would they call it iIT?)

By: girlhacker

girlhacker — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:31:04 -0800

A friend who interviewed for that group was not even told what the product was he would be working on until he basically signed up for the job. At least I assume this rumored device is what he's working on. He's basically disappeared off the face of the planet as they've been busting their patooties off getting whatever it is completed.

By: girlhacker

girlhacker — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:34:59 -0800

Incidentally, a PDA wouldn't really be a "breakthrough device" would it? There are plenty of PDAs. What would an Apple PDA have to be to be "breakthrough"? I'm hoping it's something even cooler.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:35:17 -0800

MacOSRumors is saying it's a first in a series of "Digital Hub" devices, this one centered on music. They're not always right about apple-related leaks, though so take it with a grain of salt.

By: riffola

riffola — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:38:11 -0800

How long before some enterprising PC hardware manufacturer clones whatever it is?

By: holycola

holycola — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:47:40 -0800

Maybe they managed to put Steve Jobs' ego into a box. Now that would be an accomplishment.

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:52:57 -0800

Ha, just posted this to my blog. I imagine that it will be a Mac friendly version this device which already graces my living room. I run Samba on OSX in order to use it, so something more mac-like will send me to Ebay rather quickly to unload my Audiotron. Whatever it is, my hunch is that it it will ONLY support OSX to spur the migration of the user base. Steve's ego would have to be put in a cube...

By: darukaru

darukaru — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:54:11 -0800

A Reality Distortion Field generator that runs on AA batteries.

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:58:14 -0800

BTW, for those of you with a mac.com account, check your idisk. In Software:OSX Software: Extras there is now a folder called FreePlay Music with a bunch of sample MP3s. I searched the trademark database for FreePlay, but found nothing. Could this be the rebirth of Kerbango?

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:00:15 -0800

Maybe it's a PDA which can detect Anthrax? i-Something Sorry if this is in bad taste.

By: toddshot

toddshot — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:00:18 -0800

Some of the rumors swirling around about a possible PDA that would make it more 'breakthrough'-ish involve: integrated mp3 playback, digital imaging, Airport networking, or some sort of Quicktime streaming technology. Or any/all of the above. I even saw someone swear it would be a Webpad sort of thing: 10" flat touchscreen running some sort of OS X Lite with built-in Airport. I think it's safe to assume, though, that none of the rumors out there will be 100% accurate. And Machaus: check here for some info on that free music.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:00:55 -0800

I don't think they can top the freaky robot cat.

By: girlhacker

girlhacker — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:07:12 -0800

Hmmm a new consumer PDA might catch on. But an integrated off-the-shelf home audio (even video) solution that you can control with your home computer (ie. your Mac) would get more people hooked on the Apple brand. It's a concept that would work well with the new Apple stores that have been opening up.

By: rushmc

rushmc — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:23:38 -0800

I even saw someone swear it would be a Webpad sort of thing: 10" flat touchscreen running some sort of OS X Lite with built-in Airport. Now that I would buy.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:32:35 -0800

Gotta be the i-brator.

By: kliuless

kliuless — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 18:32:43 -0800

if it is a PDA, maybe it'll include GPS? (more cool designs at the apple collection.)

By: fooljay

fooljay — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:01:56 -0800

It drives me nuts how you have to have a Powerbook to set up an Airport and yet you can use it just fine with Windows. Grrrr. Hopefully I won't have to run out and buy a Mac immediately to go with what's beind door #1...

By: boaz

boaz — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:12:41 -0800

It drives me nuts how you have to have a Powerbook to set up an Airport and yet you can use it just fine with Windows. Grrrr. Farallon supports desktop macs with their 802.11b cards. I think (though I'm not 100%) that Lucent does too. The reason Airport cards don't work is that they don't include the antenna like most 802.11 cards, so you need to buy a mac with a built-in antenna, currently only the TiBook and iBook.

By: robbie01

robbie01 — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:22:53 -0800

No, I've got it! It's a G4... shaped like a sphere!

By: starduck

starduck — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:24:56 -0800

listening to mp3s anywhere isn't groundbreaking. listening to STREAMING mp3s anywhere would get my vote.

By: bcwinters

bcwinters — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:38:54 -0800

fooljay: Now you know what most Mac users feel like every time they salivate over any "pee-cee only" device! By the way, Boaz, don't the iMacs and G4 towers also have built in Airport antennae? Anyway, I just hope this new thing isn't cursed the way the Cube or the Pippin were. They've had such good luck with the Ti and the new iBook; it isn't like Apple to have too long a string of successes!

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:42:42 -0800

I think what fooljay was getting at is that you can't administer an airport base station from a PC. Well you can, but you have to use some homegrown software like this or this.

By: owillis

owillis — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 19:52:48 -0800

How long before some enterprising PC hardware manufacturer clones whatever it is? And for half the price. But not in see-thru green, red, yellow - the horror!!

By: fooljay

fooljay — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 20:05:13 -0800

fooljay: Now you know what most Mac users feel like every time they salivate over any "pee-cee only" device! I was, for years, an ardent Mac user. I gave up my Mac when I left education and started professional work, because it was required... I loathed it then and I loathe it now. Ever wonder why I hate Microsoft so much? :-) Machaus, thanks for the pointers! I didn't know about those.

By: hijinx

hijinx — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 20:10:32 -0800

Part of me is hoping it's an iTiVo. The idea of the Aqua interface on TiVo... droooool In seriousness, I expect it to be a music "hub" as some of you do. Will I buy one? Well, that depends; I already have all of my CDs on my Mac. It may be redundant. machaus: Steve's ego would have to be put in a cube... I've got Steve's ego not eight inches away from me.

By: toddshot

toddshot — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 20:36:33 -0800

How long before some enterprising PC hardware manufacturer clones whatever it is? And for half the price. And half the quality! If it is some sort of musical 'hub', perhaps it will include extra hard drive space? Maybe that might make it more appealing.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 22:40:41 -0800

maybe an MP3 player for a stereo system?

By: anildash

anildash — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 00:03:35 -0800

integrated mp3 playback, digital imaging, Airport networking, or some sort of Quicktime streaming technology Uhh, I have a PocketPC that does all that right now. Well, it streams Windows Media instead of QuickTime, but what's the difference between various proprietary streaming formats anyway. And a stereo component that streams MP3s from your desktop computer? Dell's been selling that for a long while. Of course, I must be lying, Apple is the only innovator. I forgot.

By: toddshot

toddshot — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 00:31:53 -0800

Well, yeah, all of that was speculation. We really can't refute Apple's claims of having a breakthrough device till we actually see what the goldurned thing is.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 05:13:33 -0800

Perhaps a device for breaking through things. A drill or something.

By: mmarcos

mmarcos — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 05:29:08 -0800

fooljay, check here for a Java-based configuration tool that works perfectly on the PC, no Mac needed.

By: mmarcos

mmarcos — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 05:44:10 -0800

One other thing, I have an iBook and a ThinkPad connected to my Airport network. I'm desperately trying to get rid of Win98 in favor of FreeBSD (also supports Orinoco cards eg Airport) but no luck booting off my cdrom yet...

By: jragon

jragon — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 06:50:59 -0800

You've got a PocketPC that uses Airport? Wow. I don't think Apple is going to come up with anything absolutely brand new (heck, ginger probably won't anyway). Instead, they'll come up with something that a couple geeks already have, do it better, and make it more available to the mainstream. Then it will be imitated, thus completing the cycle. Example : the iMac was supposed to fail because it was just another all-in-one, which has been done a dozen times before. I don't have to tell you how that launch panned out.

By: rodii

rodii — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 07:56:08 -0800

You've got a PocketPC that uses Airport? Wow. Airport is just Apple's implementation of 802.11b, right? 802.11b networks are everywhere.

By: D

Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:18:06 -0800

There was a rumor going around about a year ago that Apple would make a set-top/component device using this technology. It would presumably play mp3s and MPEGs, and network via AirPort.

By: schlaager

schlaager — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 10:20:08 -0800

Apple already tried a foray into the set top box ring. They had a prototype all set for something called the Interactive Television Box, but never released it. I think this may be the long-awaited 2nd generation PDA.

By: jragon

jragon — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 10:24:08 -0800

Yes, airport networks are everywhere -- but I still think it's interesting that a person would put it on their Palm device. If you're in an area where you can connect to an airport network, you're in an area with computers, and I'd rather use an actual computer to get on the net than a WinCE device.

By: badstone

badstone — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 10:35:23 -0800

i've been using my iPaq with our airport network for a year now. it's nice at meetings when you may want to bring up a web site or an email, but don't want to plop down a big ole laptop and block everyone's view. i also use it at cafe wi-fi networks, where the only computer is the one you bring. it's nice not to have to haul all that weight around. my iPaq + foldout keyboard fits in two pockets and doesn't weigh much.

By: fooljay

fooljay — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 10:35:57 -0800

Thanks mmarcos!

By: anildash

anildash — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 18:33:13 -0800

badstone hit the nail on the head. i live in manhattan, and there are a number of wi-fi networks around my office. i have a desktop at work and a laptop at home, but my PDA is with me almost all the time, and is super handy for checking subway maps or looking up an address online. And the email thing is cool, too. A nice bonus is being able to read MeFi in a meeting while looking like I'm taking notes.

By: jragon

jragon — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 15:08:45 -0800

I think it'll be a really small MP3 player with a super-long battery life, like over 8 hours. And it'll have firewire. Sweet.