Apple

My iPhone prediction

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There are lots of predictions about what Apple will announce monday, many of them sparked by mysterious boxes being delivered to dealers around the world.

I suspect there will be some kind of docking station with keyboard & display for the new iPhones. Since Apple is now referring to the operating system as ‘OS X Leopard’ instead of ‘Mac OS X Leopard’, there will most likely be some non-Mac device that will run it (actually it already runs on several non-Mac devices: the Apple TV, iPhone, and iPod Touch).

The iPhone already has a lot of the Mac’s capabilities, so it isn’t much of a stretch for them to have a docking device with a keyboard & display to make it a full-fledged computer. Another alternative would be something similar to target mode or portable home directories, where a Mac can use the iPhone as their home directory when it’s docked, so you can easily take your setup anywhere and use it on any Mac.

Excellent customer service from Apple

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Last week I ordered a new battery for my MacBook Pro, since my current one is losing capacity. It was supposed to be delivered last Thursday, but FedEx didn’t even attempt to deliver it because it was damaged in transit.

My battery won't arrive today
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After FedEx tracking showed that it was delivered to Apple’s warehouse today, I called Apple’s customer service line to see what happened. My first pleasant surprise was that I didn’t have to wait on hold. My call was picked up immediately. The very nice lady I spoke to took care of everything, entering the return request for the old battery and shipping a new one overnight at no charge. I should have it tomorrow or Thursday.

Sneaky Installations

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There’s a major controversy about Apple’s software updater pushing Safari 3.1 for Windows with iTunes & Quicktime updates, even if Safari wasn’t installed previously. Adobe did something much sneakier with their CS3 applications. Adobe Bridge CS3 contains a full copy of Opera embedded inside the application.

The current version of CS3 includes Opera 9.2. The latest non-beta Opera version is 9.2. You can even place an alias to the embedded copy of Opera in your applications folder and use it, if you don’t mind running an older version.

Adobe Bridge CS3 Contents
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Top ten things in the air

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Apple watchers are trying to guess the meaning of “There’s something in the air” on Apple’s tantalizing Macworld banners. Here are some possibilities.

  1. Apple is buying Adobe and adding AIR to the iPhone and building it into OS X
  2. Wireless syncing of iPod & iPhone with Macs
  3. Rent movies wirelessly directly from the Apple TV
  4. Bluetooth headphones for iPod & iPhone
  5. Subnotebook will have built-in 3G or EVDO
  6. All laptops will have built-in cellular modem
  7. Wireless tablet Mac
  8. Wireless charging for iPhone & iPod
  9. Mobile TV on the iPhone
  10. Beam Technology to transfer data, faster than bluetooth

A little bird just tweeted that the macbook nano is coming.

iPhone Update 1.1.1

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I updated my iPhone to firmware 1.1.1. The upgrade took several minutes but was uneventful. I had previously restored it to the original firmware. Before that I had several third-party applications installed, although I never unlocked it since I don’t see any point in switching from AT&T. The only application I really miss is Apollo IM, although BeeJive is pretty good for AIM. I find that m.twitter.com is quite usable and has more features than Mobile Twitterific.