My consistently late review of MacWorld 2014

It's not quite a month yet, so I still have some time.

As usual, I'm finally getting around to writing this late, starting a week after MacWorld 2014 started in San Francisco. So, after a four year absence, I finally returned to see how it was faring without the presence of Apple, itself.

When I first visited MacWorld, back in 2010, the iPad had just been announced, but not released, and Apple had previously announced that they would not attend MacWorld that year, or in any subsequent years. Much was made of how it would transition to a fan based expo of celebrating the community.

So, is it working? For the most part, the expo hall, which is what most people who visit see, is just a collection of iPhone cases, charging solutions, and iPad stands. Fewer actual device and peripheral makers seemed to be present. Only Drobo and Western Digital had any real presence, along with another company selling their Cube solution to add PCIex cards to your 2013 MacPro over Thunderbolt 2. These are all great products, which I wish a) I had a need for, and b) I could afford. (In fairness, I bought a Transporter Sync from Drobo's sister company, and I wish I could afford a Drobo. And I really do want to get WD's big announcement, MyPassport Pro Thunderbolt RAID 2.5 inch portable hdd.)

In terms of the conference, I was less than impressed. Iain US$75 to go to the MacWorld conference track, only to discover that all the interesting talks were on the MacIT track which, even with the early bird discount, was ten times more. The one session I did attend was, to me, underwhelming. Less a how to, than a "here's my expensive rig that I control with my iPad". Yes, technically, you can master multitrack recording with an iPad, but you have to use top line equipment to preserve the sound quality. And I didn't particularly like the song he used as a demo.

So, what is the benefit of MacWorld? Without the really big names to pull people in, why bother? I mean floorspace was given to two electronic massage companies, and a windows installation company. As in a company that installs glass panes in the holes in your house.

There are some interesting small companies there. One company that makes hardware to control guitar effects boxes and amplifiers through your iOS device. Blue showing off their microphone range (although, tellingly, the Lightning version of their Mikey device still isn't available). A number of publishers selling or giving away their (physical) books on Apple hardware and software.

But, really, the value, if there is any, is in "Appapalooza" (proving that the 90s still lives on in the minds of IDG's event planning people). This is where the small software developers, and one or two of the big ones, show off their iOS and MacOS software. Where you can see an ios app that scans in a musical score, and converts it to a midi file that plays on the device. All the processing done on your iPhone, or so they tell me (not yet available for download, so you have to take their word for it - it can certainly play Clare de Lune). Obviously, these are the people the expo is still relevant for, people who don't otherwise get to promote their app outside the App Store itself.

So, whither MacWorld? Trade shows in general seem to be on the way out. As the big tech companies (Apple, Google, Samsung, even Microsoft, and anyone else) move away from the regimented timetable of the next public conference, and towards their own curated events, where they control the message, and particularly the media coverage. This has the effect of cooling some of the enthusiasm, not just of the public or even the press, but of the other technology companies.

By contrast, it also opens up the conference to smaller players. Sadly, while the App focused area of the show floor was certainly worth a look, a lot of the rest of the space is taken up with people selling cases and wraps. (Reports from CES suggest they, too, are being overrun by iPhone cases and iPad stands.)

But it's not just what happens on the show floor, or in the conference halls. MacWorld was also the hub for a number of social gatherings. The problem being that they were somewhat exclusive. Much is made of the big, invite only soirée, but if you don't know the right people, you won't get an invite. Other events are organised by specific interests, leaving some of us out, while others are presumably forced to pick between them.

So, as a poorly socialised outsider in the tech community, will I go again? Maybe. It's a convenient excuse to visit SF at a niceish time of year. You can pick up some swag. I'm not sure about the conference, though. Unless I pay for the technical track, I might not bother. Who knows, maybe next year some of the big players will be back. Not Apple, of course.

2013 - a forgetful review

So, 2014 has gotten off to not much of a start. I was going to write about all the things that happened in 2013, but it occurred to me I didn't really have a clue what actually happened. I know that the leader of one of the world's biggest religious organisations announced his resignation last year. As well as Steve Ballmer, the pope also resigned. The search for a new pope is a lot easier, though. They've had a lot more experience, and Benedict didn't get rid of anybody who might be able to take over from him.

Google Glass came out, and wowed everyone who knew someone with $1500 and an invitation for about ten minutes, before moving on to the next big thing.

Samsung brought out a watch, in the hope to preempt the next nonexistent, unannounced product from Apple, and no one really cared about that, either.

Microsoft had to write down almost a billion on the Surface, before announcing the Surface 2. This may have been linked to Ballmer's resignation. Or not.

The profitable wing of Microsoft had some success with the release of the XBox One, while Sony brought out the PlayStation 4. I still have no idea which one is better, although initially, MS was ridiculed for restrictive game reselling and sharing policies, and requiring an always on Internet connection. They did back down eventually, and the responsible executive was taken out back and shot. Or something. Then Ballmer resigned.

Apple, in addition to spec-bumping its entire line between June and October, announce the first major update to the MacPro in years. Immediately ridiculed for not being exactly the same as previous MacPros, only better, many announced the end of Apple as a serious contender in the personal computer market, making it the 36th consecutive year in which this has occurred. After an extremely delayed release, it turns out that the sealed-in, completely un-upgradable design is completely modular and should be easily upgradable.

Apple, of course, continues it's dominance in product lines it hasn't announced. The Apple branded TV set has still not been seen, and the alleged iWatch caused Samsung to rush to be first to market, while still not actually appearing. Oh, and analysts predicted that Apple needed to do some particular thing, or hit some particular goal. Apple refused to do this, and so presumably is mere moments from the company collapsing into bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Apple's cash reserves, and stock valuation continued to rise.

The main thing Apple failed to do was release a new, cheap iPhone. It released the iPhone 5c, which seems to have been designed to avoid manufacturing problems with the iPhone 5, and replaced it in the "previous generation" slot in the iPhone lineup. This's, of course, means that Apple is mere moments from bankruptcy.

Research In Motion, or RIM as it was better known, became better known as Blackberry, which is what everyone called it anyway. They also seemed to finally realise that their biggest asset was their back end infrastructure, rather than their front end phones.

And, of course, the big news of the year was that the National Security Agency has been spying on everyone, and had been developing back doors into all kinds of IT equipment, services, software, and anything else they could think of. Now it was out in the open, everyone had to stop pretending it wasn't going on and make a fuss. No one is particularly happy it was going on, but also no one really wanted to talk about it until Edward Snowden put it out in public and forced them to pay attention.

I'm sure I've forgotten some really important tech news from last year, but I can't remember anything. I should really take notes, or keep a diary, or something.

Back to the Mac

So Apple had their big announcement yesterday, and I caught bits of it sitting in a Starbucks in Oxford Street, London. (I should have stayed in the hotel, I would have had better connectivity.)

 I haven’t really had time to go over everything, since I couldn’t watch the whole presentation yet, and have mostly been going from the commentary, but here are some thoughts about the whole thing.

 The key piece of “Back to the Mac” seems to have been that they were taking things learned from the development of iOS and implementing them in MacOS. This has led to (further) speculation that MacOS is on the way out, to be replaced with iOS on all the desktop platforms as well as portable devices, but such an idea seems ridiculous.

 Essentially, iOS and MacOS are designed to do quite different things. As such, while there are opportunities to replicate features from one platform to another, there will always be a need for a desktop OS to be more full featured, and for a phone OS to be simpler and more efficient. (This has been Microsoft’s historic problem with Windows CE/Pocket PC/Windows Mobile/Windows Phone Mobile Series. They tried to make it look exactly like the full Windows OS, assuming people wanted familiarity over ease of use. I haven’t seen Windows Phone 7 etc, so I don’t know if they’ve fixed this problem.)

 The different requirements and constraints of desktop and mobile platforms are also good arguments against a touchscreen desktop or notebook. There are some very niche uses for such a device, but these are outweighed by the problems. “Gorilla arm” has been recognised as a problem since the first attempts at touchscreen computers. On a small, portable device, however, it’s an extremely good solution to a set of problems. Basically, touch is really useful in a situation where you can’t have a keyboard or pointing device. The situations in which this arises with an actual PC are limited. Those touchscreen information booths in shopping malls and the like are the main one, but those have a very limited usage requirement. Some have suggested that a “kitchen PC” (IE a computer used in the kitchen or somewhere else where counter space and free hands are at a premium) would be a good use of touch. This may be, but despite some tech journalists I don’t see this being a big market.

 Of course, Steve mentioned, at least in passing, that they weren’t going to do a touchscreen computer, and yet that hasn’t stopped speculation that they will do it at some point. I don’t see why they would, myself, nor do I feel a great need for it.

 Since the presentation, I have managed to get hands on a MacBook Air at the Apple Store in Regent Street. Apart from being confused by the keyboard configuration, which turned out to be standard for UK keyboards, they are neat little machines. I’m not sure I’ll buy one, I’ll probably upgrade to a 13 inch MacBook Pro if/when they upgrade the processors to i3, but they are tempting.

 I haven’t had a chance to look at iLife or iWork 11 yet. Buying a copy of iLife while in the UK may lead to licensing problems, and it would be yet more stuff I’d have to get home somehow. I have had a chance to look at the beta of Facetime for the Mac, but haven’t been able to use it at all. The security problem seems typical of a beta release, and has allegedly been fixed already, but I tend not to leave my computer unattended in cafes.

 Finally, let me just make a couple of comments about the release of Windows Phone 7. I haven’t seen it myself, nor did I see the apparently awkward early morning release party. I have to say that I’m still surprised that Microsoft have released a phone OS that doesn’t do Flash, or have Copy and Paste (unless they fixed that) and not get the same level of bollocking that Apple did. Maybe it’s just happening on forums that I don’t frequent, or podcasts I don’t listen to. There has been some criticism, but not the same extent. 

Anyway, as I have mentioned earlier, I hope they succeed in some way. Preferably in a way that results in them having a decent product, as opposed to previous versions of Windows Mobile.

Apple, Microsoft in Mobile Phone scandal. Film at 11.

I don’t really see why people are so surprised that Apple approved Opera for the App Store. Various tech pundits were convinced that, since it duplicates functionality in Safari, by being a web browser, it would be rejected. And yet, if one looks in the App Store, and searches for “Web Browser”, there are actually a number already available. Including iCab, a browser I used for some years on the Mac, and a variety of others promising “Full Browsing” or “Private Browsing”. (After all, the web experience is nothing if you can’t watch porn.) One wonders why not one pundit or journalist reporting on the story noticed this. Did none of them look? (Maybe it’s a self-selecting thing. The only people who thought it worth remarking on were the ones who couldn’t be bothered checking their facts before publishing.)

So it seems that Opera really had nothing to worry about. In fact, it’s probably a bit of a let down in marketing terms. They can’t claim to be a champion of the people oppressed by the almighty Jobs.

Of course, the question remains, which browsers have been rejected, and why? I suspect there was a reason other than “duplication of core functionality”. (Security, perhaps? Or it was just crap?)

In other news, you have no doubt heard about the big mobile phone announcement in the last week. Sure the critics have had a lot to say, but I’m sure the lack of features will be made up for by the ease of use and smooth interface.

I am, of course, referring to the finally announced, long anticipated “Pink” project from Microsoft. Microsoft announced this week that they were releasing a “social” phone platform, with two MS branded handsets, the compact Kin 1, and the Sidekick-reminiscent Kin 2.

No doubt, the blogosphere, and the pundit-verse, are full of the hate already. After all, neither device runs Flash, or even MS’s own Silverlight, there’s no e-mail, and 3rd party apps aren’t supported. Also, as I can’t find reliable technical specs online, the battery life must suck, and it must be really slow. We know from experience, that these are the things people care about in a mobile phone.

Or maybe it’s just what people expect from an Apple branded mobile phone. Still, it’s interesting that less than a week after the much anticipated announcement of multitasking on the iPhone, MS have announced two “feature phones” (ie phones with very few features). It’s an interesting move from Redmond. While not a direct competitor to Windows Mobile Phone Seven Series Phone Series 7, it does compete against products made by companies that manufacture Windows Mobile handsets.

Perhaps more intelligently, it’s also not a direct competitor to the iPhone. Apple make one handset with one set of features. The iPhone is a smartphone, and is designed to do many things. It seems that “Pink” or “Kin” or whatever, is aimed at the sort of people who used to have a Sidekick (before the...unpleasantness), who aren’t necessarily after the functionality of an iPhone or a Blackberry.

Of course, the lack of features will be the kiss of death. Plus tying it to one carrier in the US, and not even one that uses the same network as the rest of the world (thus requiring two sets of hardware, a CDMA one for the domestic market, and GSM/3G for the rest of the world).

I look forward to further developments in these stories. Just not very enthusiastically.

iPad to about 1500 words

I don’t have an iPad.

Let me clarify, for those of you who have no real idea who I am, if there is anyone out there reading this who doesn’t know me personally. (There must be, otherwise who’s leaving those weird comments about penis enlargements and smuggling money out of Nigeria?)

I live in a small, inland city in Australia called Canberra. It happens to be the nation’s capital, but that’s not strictly relevant. I suppose neither is the name, but I just wanted to provide some context. Unlike those of you in the US (assuming you exist), the iPad hasn’t been released in Australia as yet.

The Apple Australia page lists it as being available in late April, which is not only vague, it’s also at least 3 weeks away. To date, no pricing has been announced, even for the WiFi version, which is presumably the version that will be available in late April. So I don’t know when it will be available, or how much I will have to fork over for it as yet.

The upshot of all this is that I am currently being bombarded with tech reports from the US about the pros and cons of the iPad, but can’t really verify any of them for myself. For instance, I was listening to one person complain about how heavy the device is (700 grams? Heavy?), while a friend has said it’s no heavier than a hardcover book.

In fact, the commentary, which is the only part of the iPad experience I’ve been able to share in, has been fascinating. Admittedly, it shares a lot with the commentary on the iPhone before its release, but it’s worthy of independent assessment.

Firstly, everyone is complaining again about Apple’s “walled garden”. I have to admit the App Store worried me when they recently got rid of all the content deemed “Adult” in nature. (Although, Wobble iBoobs doesn’t strike me as a very “Adult” concept.) I don’t want Apple telling me I can’t download porn on my iPhone any more than I want the Minister for Communications telling me I can’t download it on my computer. (Whether I actually do so or not is irrelevant.) Still, it’s their product, and their distribution system. In a capitalist society, that enables them to do what they like, and if people don’t like it, then they won’t buy the product. This isn’t a monopoly, there are other phones available. In any case, despite claims of vague criteria, and petty vindictiveness, it seems that in most cases, Apple has only stopped apps that either didn’t follow the developer guidelines, or would cause a problem for their US telecoms partner - AT&T.

Consider, for example, the news last week that the mobile version of the Opera browser had been submitted to the iTunes App Store. The general mood of the blogosphere and, more specifically, the punditsphere was that it would be rejected out of hand for “duplicating core iPhone functionality”. This is allegedly the excuse for banning Google Voice, and a few other apps. However, if Apple is so against other web browsers, why is iCab available in the App Store? In fact, do a search on “Web Browser” in the App Store, and you’ll notice a dozen or so browsers available, some of them for free. (There’s also some other apps that include browsing functionality while not actually being web browsers themselves.) Does this mean Apple will approve Opera? Not necessarily. They may actually find some other reasons for stopping it. Maybe it’s buggy, or leaks memory like Windows on a rainy day. In any event, it sounds more like people are assuming that Apple is being capricious because it suits their world view, rather than for any real reason.

This is possibly related to the surprise many expressed on discovering that the Kindle app was available on the iPad. I don’t see what the surprise is. Apple wants to sell iPads. Amazon wants to sell books. These two objectives are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they each stand a better chance of succeeding if Kindle is available on the iPad. What you may not see any time soon is iPad books on a Kindle. At least not without a lot of fiddling.

Finally, there have been a lot of complaints, as per usual, about the perceived lack of features of the iPad. The iPad doesn’t run Flash. Personally, I could care less. Flash is overused, and, despite claims to the contrary, is a processor hog. However, a lot of people seem to think that Flash is vital for the device to be worthwhile. Meanwhile, content providers who previously used Flash to deliver their content, are moving towards HTML 5, and other alternatives. Including native Apps made available in iTunes. Personally, I see anything that moves us away from so-called “de-facto standards” which are actually proprietary formats (I’m looking at you, Microsoft Office) is a good thing. Having such a large amount of the internet dependent on the whims of a single company (yes, I appreciate that some of you see the way Apple is behaving as being exactly that) is a bad thing. Of course, Adobe still has a stranglehold on document formats with the widespread use of the Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf), but there are alternatives that will read and even create PDFs. With Flash, it’s a closed Adobe shop. (Remember how upset people were with Apple for that sort of thing?) I could be wrong, but I don’t know of an alternative to Adobe’s products for creating Flash content, or of alternative Flash runtime environments.

And then there are the perceived hardware deficiencies, like the lack of camera, USB ports, user-changeable battery, and even a kick stand. I’m not entirely sure why a device like an iPad needs any of these things, but there are people out there who seem to think it’s their God-given right to demand these things on Apple’s new device. I suspect, however, most of them haven’t given any real thought as to what they need them for, other than just because they “need” them. And they’re all rather self-defeating inclusions, anyway. A good camera would have driven the cost up. A cheap camera would be criticised for being a cheap camera. Anyway, people would no doubt complain that it was in the wrong place. Put it on the front of the device, and people will complain they can’t take pictures with it easily, put it on the back, and they’ll complain they can’t video conference with it. Put two in, and your nice, simple device just got a lot more complicated.

USB ports? Why? To connect peripherals that will drain the battery faster? The iPad, in many ways *is* a peripheral. You transfer files to and from it via iTunes on your computer. The Kindle doesn’t have a USB-out port, and no-one seems to mind. Admittedly the iPad is a bit more than a Kindle, but still, you have options.

Removable battery? Apple haven’t been putting removable batteries in anything for years. As has been pointed out elsewhere, a non-removable battery means a longer battery life, since there’s more space for actual battery. It also means the case can be slimmer, and stronger, since a large opening in the case would be a weakness in the structure. Also, the battery itself would need to be more rugged so that it wasn’t damaged when being removed or inserted.

Last of all, there’s the kickstand. Leaving aside why anyone needs a stand (there are legitimate reasons for it, I accept), why is $40 for a case that doubles as a stand such a big deal. Also, wouldn’t including one make it harder for case and accessory manufacturers? Trying to make a cover that fits over the stand, or even lets you use it without removing the cover would be awkward. Plus it’s preventing the accessory manufacturers from making money by supplying the stand for the people that feel they need it, and it would annoy the people who don’t want one. Again, I note no-one complains about the absence of a stand on the Kindle.

Anyway, the iPad is here. Well, not *here*, but over there. And it is what it is. There is no doubt that it will change the IT market in ways we don’t fully understand yet, just as the Macintosh did for computers, the iPod did for music players, and the iPhone did for phones. (Not to mention the Newton and the PDA market it created.) If there’s anything about the iPad you don’t like, then maybe you should wait for something else to come along. The great thing about IT is that it accommodates a wide range of people with different tastes. If one manufacturer doesn’t make what you want, someone else will. Complaining that the iPad isn’t exactly what you want just means you shouldn’t buy one. You should buy the one from Dell that comes out next year. Or the Chrome-based Google pad. Or maybe something else entirely. Meanwhile spare a thought for those of us who do want one, and are willing to live with its “shortcomings” but can’t get it yet. (If Apple Australia are looking for people to review it prior to release, I’m available. Although I would like to test the 64GB 3G version, if at all possible.)