Apple's 2007: That Was the Year That Was
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Summary: It\'s tough to keep in mind a year that may have topped 2007 in terms of the sheer number of new goods Apple rolled out. It began with a bang, as Steve Jobs raised the curtain on the iPhone, which managed to live up to the massive hype that preceded it. Then there was the iPod touch, the new nano, and Leopard. Not all of Apple's 2007 offerings, nonetheless, hit the bullseye.
Key phrases: ipod, nano, shuffle, iphone, apple, mac
Write-up Body: The greatest Apple story for 2007 is the phenomenal number of great goods it released. OK, maybe not each item was great. Even so, they had been all still exciting and generated considerable buzz. What other organization can say that?
Here's my look back at Apple's year. I offer my brief assessment of every single new item -- with the benefit of end-of-year hindsight.
iPhone. The invention of the year. The gadget of the year. The you-name-it of the year. May possibly this item perhaps live up to all this hype? Yes. Surely.
Of course, It\'s not excellent. Where is voice dialing and built-in GPS, for starters? I am already salivating over the expected 3G iPhone 2.0 coming in 2008.
Nevertheless, the 1.0 version is still as close to an out-of-the-park property run as everyone may wish for. For my income, It is the most groundbreaking item Apple has developed because the original Mac in 1984. It is already tough for me to picture how I managed with out one. Whether or not I am searching up a location in Maps, checking movie times in Safari, listening to my voicemail with the extraordinary ease of its visual interface, sending a fast e-mail message, enjoying music (which I do much more frequently now that I usually have an iPod with me), or playing one of the games I added following hacking the device, it appears that I am constantly making use of my iPhone for some thing. Leapin' Leopards
Mac OS X 10.five Leopard. A mixed bag. Yes, it has some intriguing new functions. I am specifically fond of screen sharing and Back to My Mac. Time Machine is also a plus.
Nonetheless, the much more I use Leopard, the a lot more I locate that it truly gives very small in the way of "ought to have" functions. Indeed, if I was forced to revert to Tiger tomorrow, I wouldn't object. In fact, I would welcome a return to the Dock in Tiger (with its hierarchical folder menus) or the firewall in Tiger (with its capacity to turn individual ports on and off). Then there are the too-quite a few startup and login troubles in Leopard (see my recent MacFixIt column for specifically what I mean here). I have the sense that, with all the other stuff Apple had going on in 2007, Leopard was not given the attention it necessary. It may well take until around version 10.five.3 prior to Leopard is in fact a "finished" item.
Much more Required for Apple Television
Apple Television. I own one and I enjoy it. I have it connected to my house theater program in my living room. Even so, my main use of It's for playing music, not video. For streaming music from iTunes, It\'s a far much better option than the AirTunes component of an AirPort Express -- given that Apple Television delivers a video interface and remote control. Even far better, by syncing files to the Apple Television's tough drive, you can play music without having having to be connected to a Mac at all.
For Apple Television to live up to its name and be truly beneficial as a "Television," it wants a substantial upgrade. An obvious beginning point would be some sort of DVR-like capacity. AirPort's Landing
AirPort Extreme. If you are thinking of upgrading to a new AirPort Extreme Base Station for the speed increase of the 802.11n network, you possibly shouldn't bother. In certain, if you use your WiFi network just for connecting to the World wide web, your World wide web speed is a bottleneck that will avoid you from seeing any overall speed gain as compared to 802.11g. Really, the speed result can be even worse than no gain at all (as I detailed in the MacFixIt column months ago), due to difficulties with signal strength specific to "n" networks.
Still, the capacity to add a networked challenging drive to the Extreme is a plus. Of course, if you have no wireless router at all, the AirPort Extreme would make a worthwhile obtain.
iPod touch. I have performed an practically 180 degree turn here given that the 1st release of the iPod touch. My 1st reaction was: Great! Here is the iPhone-less iPhone that users have been clamoring for. Now you can have the iPhone's touchscreen interface with out having to pay for a two-year phone contract.
My far more recent reaction, even so, is closer to "What's the point?" I know I am showing my iPhone bias here but ... the iPod touch does so less than the iPhone that I maintain feeling the touch is just a crippled iPhone. For US$100 much more in 1st price, you can have an iPhone with the exact same 8 GB of memory, all of its added functions and save your self having to carry around a second device as an iPod. If you are willing to go with AT&T (NYSE: T) as your mobile phone carrier, the iPhone is the way to go. New Nano, New Life
iPod nano. The new nano is a worthy successor to the previous generation nano. I was specially glad to see that it now plays video, even although I suspect most users will not be watching considerably video on it. On the downside, I am not a fan of the redesigned "fatter" shape.
iLife '08. I still have mixed feelings about iMovie. It\'s Surely less difficult to make a fast movie now, but I miss the timeline controls that I now ought to upgrade to Final Cut Express to get.
For iPhoto, its greatest new feature is Events. Personally, I don\'t have significantly use for it. Indeed, it at times gets in my way, developing events automatically that I would prefer not be developed.
The improvements in GarageBand are cool. I had fun with Magic GarageBand. The capability to simply make numerous takes of a recording is Undoubtedly beneficial.
Overall, iLife '08, a bit comparable to Leopard, is a worthwhile but not vital upgrade. Still, if you are upgrading to Leopard, you'll possibly want to upgrade here as properly. Of course, if you obtain a new Mac, you get the new iLife included.
iWork '08. Numbers provides iWork a spreadsheet, and It is an fantastic one, with Apple's expected attention to visual appearance and interface details. Pages and Keynote have been properly upgraded as properly. The tracking feature in Pages is an specifically massive plus; animations in Keynote give some fun new possibilities. iWork '08 may possibly not be ready to replace Office for most users, but it keeps finding much better with every new version. If you don\'t completely want Office, iWork '08 is a great option.
Those Mac ads. Lastly, a word about those "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" ads. Some might discover them a bit irritating. Some might claim they overstate the benefits of a Mac. Some may well feel they have begun to wear out their welcome. Not me. I still uncover them to be one of Apple's excellent ever ad campaigns. I enjoy every single new batch. I specially got a kick out of the special one that opened the WWDC this year (you can still see it here).
If absolutely nothing else, the ads are a fun way to feel good about the Mac, and why not? It\'s been a great year for the Mac and all the rest of Apple. As I said at the outset, even if not each and every item was a complete success, you still have to be impressed by the sheer number of worthy items Apple put out. It\'s difficult to picture Apple topping itself in 2008, but we'll soon begin to see. Macworld Expo is just around the corner.
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