Why the MacBook Air should not be counted out yet (Part II)

A few days ago, Patently Apple revealed a design for laptop computers that Apple had patented:

There have been rumors that Apple is going to come out with a thinner, smaller, perhaps cheaper MacBook Air. With yesterday's release of the Magic Trackpad, I am convinced more than ever that the figures above and the rumors on the Air can actually happen, perhaps within the year.

With the thinness of the Magic Trackpad and its affordability, what could possibly stop Apple now from making a touch keyboard (as opposed to a screen keyboard like that of the iPad's) for a thinner, lighter, more forward-looking MacBook Air that may or may not have the ability to fold unto itself to transform into a tablet (perhaps capable of running iOS as well)? I still believe that we might hear something very exciting about the Air very soon, a groundbreaking device that could become Apple's flagship portable computer, and a showcase of features that will clue as in to where Apple will take us next.

Make Jonathan Ive weep with these bling-y iPhone 4 cases

You mean the new iPhone 4 isn't fabulous enough? The bumpers too tacky and un-Apple for your taste? Here's an iPhone 4 case that even P. Diddy might approve of (while Apple designer Jonathan Ive cringes in the corner). Hard Candy's Bubble Slider Chrome iPhone 4 cases will turn heads with their in-your-face design. Why choose the black one? The silver looks hot, while the gold one is very B-Boy- (as well as Kardashian-) friendly. These chrome cases will set you back $34.95 a pop. Good thing Apple is refunding you of the money you wasted for that bumper, just add 5 bucks!

Cool Iris is an ultra-cool way to search and browse media

This has been around for quite some time, but Cool Iris is an über-cool plug-in for Safari (and the other browsers) that lets you browse images and videos from sites such as Google, Bing, Flickr, and YouTube in a whole new way. What's so impressive about Cool Iris is the speed by which it searches: upon hitting enter you are immediately presented with this wall of media, which you can zoom into and browse through as they fly across your face! This is potentially mind-blowing if you have those giant desktop screens. Cool Iris also works on Facebook: when in the Photo Albums page, just click on the Cool Iris icon over each album and instantaneously glide -- no, fly -- through your friend's 200 photos from spring break.

What's cooler? It's free! Download Cool Iris here.

Why the MacBook Air should not be counted out yet

I'm quite amused by some Apple fans as well as tech blogs who say that the MacBook Air is on its way out. I find this a bit naïve, though I'd find it really disappointing if what they're saying turns out to be true since the MacBook Air is such a great-looking product. Like Apple TV, MacBook Air I think is an Apple product that is ahead of its time, that might receive a much-needed update very soon. I even have a hunch that the Air might become the flagship Apple laptop in the near future, that is, should Apple decide to keep the Macintosh line and not become exclusively a hand-held device company like many Mac fans are fearing.

Let's take a look at some of the ideas floating around:

Rumor 1: Apple will start to concentrate on cloud storage, even for iTunes.

The main complaint with MacBook Air is its lack of storage. That's a valid complaint...last year. The first generation iPad, currently selling like crazy, has only 64GB max. If Apple can come up with a new generation MacBook Air, make it even more irresistible than the current design and with a cheaper price, then I don't think this lack of storage would matter. Certainly, there are now third-party services, both free and paid, that allow users to store gigabytes of data in the clouds. And certainly there are apps for that.

Rumor 2: A hybrid?

Speaking of apps, a persistent (perhaps far-fetched) rumor is that Apple is coming up with a hybrid computer that combines Mac OS and iOS's touch capability. What other Apple computer can be a more ideal one to have such features than the MacBook Air, powerful enough for Mac OS yet light enough to be carried around like an iPad.

Also:

A bit tacky, but can't you imagine MacBook Air as two tablet screens folded together, with one screen capable of pulling up a virtual keyboard to give you...a touch MacBook Air?

And finally, way into the future:

Introducing the Apple Air.

Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Pimp your Safari

Apple's Safari 5 internet browser enables customization through the installation of extensions. Through these extensions, you can change the way web content looks, or add new capabilities to Safari to make browsing suit your preferences.

Anytime now, Apple is coming out with a Safari Extensions Gallery from which you can download said extensions (presumably for free). However, to tide us over until Apple comes out with the Gallery, tons of extensions may already be downloaded from this blog.

I love many of the extensions available from the site; I never thought I needed certain browsing capabilities until I installed these extensions in my Safari 5. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Facebook Share - adds a Facebook button to the toolbar, enabling sharing of any web page to your Facebook friends

2. FBPhotoZoom - another Facebook-related extension. Enables you to zoom into each photo in a photo album just by hovering the cursor over the thumbnail. No more individual clicking of each photo!

3. Lucidica Reader - Google Reader can be quite a cluttered mess. This extension cleans up the layout to make reading all those blog updates less stressful.

4. No More iTunes - disables the script that tries to start iTunes when you visit a link to the iTunes Store

5. Google Lightboxer - creates a Lightbox slideshow on Google Images which loads then full resolution images. Meaning, you don't have to click on each image result one by one just to see how it looks like in full. Very useful!

6. Tabs - automatically saves all the open tabs prior to closing Safari, and can reopen said tabs when you restart the browser. Very useful when you need to quit Safari or when it accidentally crashes

Happy pimping!

Ostrich, the perfect Twitter extension for Safari

The splash page says:

A Twitter Client for Safari.

Making Twitter available from every website while you browse it.

Tweet. Retweet.
Share links.
Get notified of new tweets.
Enjoy Twitter more.

'Nuff said. No more no less. I've started using Ostrich today and it's probably the simplest, most elegant Twitter extension Safari could have. Download Ostrich here and install it in Safari 5 by carefully following the instructions.

Update: Ok, maybe not that perfect. Ostrich is still having issues, which is understandable because this is a one-man operation. I'm keeping it though.

The "iWatch"

These guys must be very pleased with themselves. It seems that an Italian design firm, ADR Studio, has already come up with not only a design, but also packaging, and even a mock advertisement and an unboxing video for a device they call the iWatch.

As you can judge from these photos (more here), everything was done very tastefully and very Apple-like that frankly all Steve Jobs ought to do is give these guys a call and give the green-light for the iWatch's mass-production.



ADR Studio lists down the iWatch's "features":

- Aluminium body
- WiFi and Bluetooth
- Integrated RSS Reader
- 16GB;
- Weather forecast system;
- Possibility to connect to the Bluetooth or WiFi to iPhone / iPad
- LCD projector to show everywhere pictures by your iPhone / iPad
- Available in various colors

As this was designed prior to the introduction of iPhone 4, there's no FaceTime yet in the features. That wouldn't be difficult, would it? I'm not a watch person, but if I see these babies in my favorite Apple reseller's shelves, I might buy two.

Consumer Reports: "we can't recommend the iPhone 4"

In what could be the last word on the iPhone 4 reception issue, Consumer Reports has released the results of its tests and concluded that "there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone's lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you're in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can't recommend the iPhone 4."

The report confirms that this is a hardware issue, and not a software issue as Apple claimed.

However, the report maintains that the iPhone 4 "sports the sharpest display and best video camera we've seen on any phone, and even outshines its high-scoring predecessors with improved battery life and such new features as a front-facing camera for video chats and a built-in gyroscope that turns the phone into a super-responsive game controller." Which means that the iPhone 4 is perhaps the best hand-held device out there for doing the other stuff, except making calls.

How about you? Would you be willing to pay a hefty amount for such a great-looking phone (with the Retina Display, FaceTime, two cameras, multitasking and a new handsome industrial design) even if it, you know, drops your calls because you're holding it the "wrong way?"

Could it be??

Tw.apple.pro has the cult of Apple buzzing when it posted last week photos of a 3cm x 3cm touch screen bearing an Apple copyright stamp. It would be easy to dismiss such postings as a hoax if not for the fact that the same site had posted photos of spare parts before that turned out to be components for actual Apple products. The photos are intriguing because nobody knows exactly what product in Apple's current line-up could make use of said spare part. A new iPod? A new peripheral for the iPad when using a physical keyboard?

However, what really sparked my interest was this rendering by Apple.pro in the same post, causing me to gasp a little:


Gasp. Could it be??

In last month's keynote by Steve Jobs to introduce the iPhone 4, I admit my eyes moistened (a bit) when he picked up that phone and called Jonathan Ive using FaceTime. "It's real now," he said. Of course, what he's talking about was the ability to make video calls using hand-held devices, the stuff of our childhood sci-fi and comic book fantasies.

Let me backtrack a bit. When we say hand-held devices, we actually mean this:


It certainly wouldn't be the first phone wristwatch. LG released a similar device last year. However, we're talking video here. And if Apple could make possible FaceTime calls over 3G, then Steve Jobs' promise of shipping "tens of millions of FaceTime devices this year" would be a possibility. Anticipating!

Apple's new iPhone 4 FaceTime ads

Apple's Golden Age

Amazing. According to this article, Apple is 50% bigger this year than in 2009 in terms of value. The article painstakingly details this in financial terms that may be difficult to follow. Never mind. What I really like about this achievement by Apple is, here's a company that is arguably this generation's Ford, but it's a company that people love, that people are devoted to. It doesn't spill oil in the sea, it doesn't inspire hatred from detractors (umm, at least not much), and it's this corporate entity that is anything but boring and square, routinely coming up with innovations that thrill consumers and push technology forward. Apple is just going to get bigger, and I hope it doesn't lose its way.

A new landmark in Shanghai

Apple opens its first store in Shanghai this coming Saturday, and by the looks of it, Cult of Mac should expand its list of Apple stores to visit before you die. It's similar to their flagship store in New York City, but instead of a glass cube, Apple's Shanghai store has a glass cylinder rising from the ground (and is it true that this round area will be covered with water, like a moat?). Inside, the Shanghai store will also feature a "Briefing Room," sort of a VIP room for trying out Apple products.

More coverage here.

Wow

A retro Apple decal for the iPad. Who needs a diamond-encrusted iPad, when this gorgeous little thing makes it just as irresistible, for less than $5. Get it here.

Three more stunning decals from CoolDecal by Etsy. Check out their site for more.

Futurama parodies Apple

The Futurama gang catches the "eyePhone" fever in this clip posted by Engadget. Enjoy!

Slayer rocks the iPad

Does your iPad rock? Now it can with the Slayer Pinball Rocks HD ($2.99 at the App Store). Backed by music from Slayer's new album. Devil horns not included.

Moleskine's Kindle case

Talk about envy. Moleskine recently came out with its own Kindle cover, and I couldn't help but think, that would be THE perfect case for the iPad. What a thing of beauty.

The specs:

Exterior: Moleskine® signature hardcover board/oilcloth material Reinforced elastic band closure

Interior: 2 Moleskine Volant Reporter plain notebooks Four double stitched wide elastics to hold the Kindle device Lightly padded plush suede microfiber lining

Pricing: Kindle (6" device) $39.99
Kindle DX (9.7" device) $59.99

Pad & Quill's iPad case

As I wait to get my hands on an iPad, I've been scouring the internet for that perfect case, preferably made of leather, faux or genuine. I may have already found it (at least until Moleskine comes out with one). Pad & Quill's The Case Vol. 1 retails for $54.99. It's also available for the iPhone.

Cuddly as a cat

In April, this cat person was convinced further that I just have to have an iPad with the appearance of this YouTube video of a cat playing with an iPad, as well as this Flickr photo of a cat being used as an iPad "stand" (!). iPad + cats = love, if you ask me.

Steve's glasses

Ever wondered what kind of glasses Steve Jobs wears? It's called the Ideal I 380 from German luxury eyeglass makers Lunor. Fancy a pair? You may have to forego that white iPhone you've been seeing in your dreams lately. It may not even be available in your city.

This time I know it's forever

This is not a tech blog. I'm not even going to pretend that I'm an Apple expert.

I have exactly one Apple gadget -- a MacBook white (mid-2009 model) whose top case I recently had replaced because it started to crack. No I don't have an iPad yet, not only because it hasn't been officially made available yet in the Philippines, but also because I believe the 2nd generation iPad, due in January if Apple follows its usual product cycles, will be the better buy. I don't have an iPhone (I'm a Blackberry), and not even iPhone 4's retina display is going to make me switch. And later this year I might finally get an iPod. An iPod classic.

So why am I starting an Apple blog?

What I am is not an expert, or a card-holding member of the Cult of Mac, but a new convert. I got my Mac last August. It was love at first sight. I've always aspired to have a Mac, but nothing prepared me for a personal encounter, a personal experience, with Steve Jobs' lily white creation. After using PCs since when I was a kid, I never thought it's possible to love a computer, with its less than desirable speed, clunky hardware, the beige-ness of it all, the countless anti-virus updates. Might sound silly to most PC users, but perhaps they haven't used a Mac.

Why do people become die-hard Apple geeks? Perhaps it's because of Apple's emphasis on design and performance, not one over the other. Macs and iPhones and iPods are not only beautiful products to look at, but they're also some of the most powerful and state-of-the-art gadgets available. Yes, state-of-the-art. Let's not forget the fact that most (all?) innovations with regard personal computing were done by Apple first. The user interface. The mouse. The diskette. Elimination of the diskette. Built-in wi-fi. A tablet that works. Groundbreaking software. And now, Apple is bringing touch computing to the fore. Already, information has leaked that Microsoft is on to the same thing. And then there's Apple's secrecy about what it's up to next, that just makes people become more excited and obsessive.

And then there's Steve Jobs. The Apple CEO is the brain, the soul, the machine that powers Apple. Steve is Apple. What he says, happens. What other multi-billion dollar tech company concentrates on perfecting a small set of products while moving technology forward? Some companies want to make everything (hello Sony!), while Apple makes about five, but makes them really really great. And it's all because of Steve. He is the tyrant of Apple. The conductor of the orchestra. The director of this movie. The temperamental artist who insists on getting what he wants.

And we wait with awe what he and Apple come up with next.

So this is a blog of a fan. I might not have the money to buy all that Apple has to offer, but in keeping with Steve Jobs' idea that Apple products should be things that people aspire to have, well, I will keep on aspiring, and reading about Apple.

The best or latest of them I share here with you. Join me.

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