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Meanwhile, Apple stock tanked nearly $15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad I brought the Porsche instead of stock.

Jan 04, 08 - 05:30 pm Comment from: deepdish

time to buy more apple stock?

Jan 04, 08 - 05:30 pm Comment from: MaLvado

That just means it's on sale.

Get on board now... .$180 is a bargain!

Jan 04, 08 - 05:31 pm Comment from: Ampar

"It’s almost as if the resources that are plainly available in the SDK would have spilled the beans on the device Steve intends to unveil during his Macworld Expo keynote in January."


It's all about timing.

Jan 04, 08 - 05:33 pm Comment from: Madmax

One thing is for sure. It won't be a butt ugly Modbook that has a MacBook guts and a screen laid flat. When SJ unveils it the whole tortured Modbook design will be seen for what it is a reverse engineered heap.

Jan 04, 08 - 05:42 pm Comment from: Ampar

So, it's a small ass table?

(j/k)

Jan 04, 08 - 05:49 pm Comment from: jjjj

Just about every stock took a beating today, mostly on job data.

I've dreamed about a HalfBook (mac book cut in half) for sometime now.

Jan 04, 08 - 05:49 pm Comment from: shen

"So, it's a small ass table?"

ok, one of the rare times i actually really did laugh out loud....

Look at it this way... The stock is down nearly $15 in a single day but Macworld Expo is coming in less than two weeks...
Could this be a buying opp? No, I am no analyst, just a thought...

Or is Ihnatko speaking in another language of some sort using English words?

Huh?

Jan 04, 08 - 06:05 pm Comment from: AmericanJoe

@Ampar

Comedic timing is everything_ROTFLOL!!!! Well said...

The Dow is off over $256 and the Nasdaq is off over $98 on poor American employment data and the threat of a recession .... this has nothing to do with Apple as a company ...

Grrrr. Overhyped stuff like this is really annoying.

I'm looking forward to the device that Apple will likely introduce, and I'm sure it will be truly exciting. But it is NOT a new 'platform'. Maybe you want to refer to it as a new product line, but not a new platform. The platform is OS X.

Apple is being very smart in leveraging the OS X platform across as many product lines as they possibly can. Creating a whole new platform would be a huge disaster. Growing the OS X platform across new product lines is brilliant.

Jan 04, 08 - 06:17 pm Comment from: Macromancer

Where do I get one? (waving fistful of cash furiously)

I liked the article they had last year from these same people. In it John Moltz predicted that Apple would release the iPhone and it would only have one button. I'm sure at the time he thought of the most ridiculous thing he could thing of for a phone and just said that... then he turned out to be the only one to get it right. Classic.

That SteveJack article really is scary!

He got it basically right SIX YEARS AGO!

Jan 04, 08 - 06:41 pm Comment from: ken1w

It makes sense to me. The timing of the SDK release for February also makes some sense, if there is to be a big related announcement at MacWorld, although why wouldn't Apple make the SDK available at MacWorld for more impact. I totally agree that any new type of computing device (that does not use a keyboard and mouse equivalent for input) will NOT be marketed as a Mac. The name "iPod" was always broader than a device that plays music and other media. So my amazing guess is that the new "iDevice" will be called an iPod, unless it has mobile phone parts, in which case it will be called an iPhone.

Jan 04, 08 - 06:49 pm Comment from: Jim - TIV

@Ampar...

seriously bro, it's WAY too early in the year for you to be getting a spit take on my computer screen. Holy crap man, you got three last year.

NEWTON LIVES!!

Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, in an e-mail (dated July 23, 2001) that I sent to the head honcho at another forum. Here is a selection of what I had to say back then:

***

The most valid point is that a lot of us need the functionality of our mobile phones and our laptops, and we will continue to carry at least those two devices (maybe in addition to a PDA) until somebody makes a single device that can replace the 2 or 3 that we are currently using.

Put together a list of the things that you really need and use on a daily and weekly basis. Now consider how the PDH (personal digital hub) of tomorrow might be configured to meet the needs that you will have. I see the guts of a TiBook (everything except the optical drive, keyboard, mega-wide screen and second speaker) built around a small nearly rimless touchscreen. Yes, it is a tablet, but it has all of the I/O ports that one might need, runs the latest version of OS X, and by using VPC for OS X it runs just about anything else that you might want it to as well.

The combination of voice recognition and handwriting recognition along with a full-sized touchscreen would make such a device at least as easy to use as the PDA's of today. Add a wireless LAN, keyboard, Wacom tablet and just about any screen that you happen to run across and you have a full-fledged workstation.

There should be a choice of snap-on FireWire optical drive modules, each of which contains its own battery. Any USB keyboard, mouse or pointing device will work, but portable folding Bluetooth keyboards (also with their own batteries) will make on-the-fly data entry a lot easier.

The aforementioned Bluetooth technology allows the user to make voice activated calls using a cordless headset that interfaces with a wafer-thin mobile phone module. Sure, the whole package is not as small as your Ericsson phone, but since you almost always have your PDH in your briefcase, backpack or immediate vicinity anyway it works out pretty well. You can always use the headset with any other Bluetooth phone if you do happen to be traveling light.

Battery life is still a toughie. Ditch the big screen and optical drive and you save a bit. Switch to a lithium polymer battery integrated with the casing and you get a bit more. Start plugging in Microdrives and USB and FireWire devices and using the Bluetooth stuff like crazy and your battery life goes down the drain. All of the external modules having self-contained batteries helps, but it will probably need to handle 8-10 hours of normal use on a single charge to achieve world domination. (Oops, wrong company!)

Can the basic device be built and sold profitably for less than 4 figures (including the folding keyboard)? I don't know. Would tons of people want one? I don't know that either, but making it pretty useful at a low price point and building in such a large degree of expandability and compatibility from the very beginning could make the potential market very large indeed.

What if there was a portable VGA 15.2" TiBook sized screen with a VGA connector, protective cover/stand and its own battery? With the screen on the tray table, the cordless keyboard on the lap and some Bluetooth cordless headphones Apple could make one heck of a follow-up to the middle seat commercial. No sir, that is not my Walkman, it's the DVD-burning, conference-call making, wireless networking, voice and handwriting recognizing digital extension of my brain. More useful than any laptop, more powerful than any PDA, it is my digital creative enabler, the node through which all of my electronic communication, relaxation and creativity flows.

I want it now.

***

Remember, this was written a year and a half before SteveJack's piece, almost 2 years before the first G5 Power Macs and 4 and a half years before the move to Intel processors. I was coming from the WallStreet/Lombard/Pismo series and my first TiBook was a few months away, so modularity was still a good thing. Nobody had anything close to HSDPA, 3G, or even EDGE throughput, and 801.11b was as fast as wireless got.

Bring it on!

Jan 04, 08 - 07:02 pm Comment from: Jim - TIV

holy crap man, you have emails from 5 years ago?

Oh yeah, it was also 2 months before the first iPod, years before "Centrino", and way before anybody was using USB memory sticks or SSHD's.

@Jim:
I've got just about everything from my personal accounts since January 1999. (Before that I ran webmail, so I don't have anything from the early 90's.) It has been simple to import everything from Outlook for Mac to Entourage and on to Mail. Comes in handy sometimes, as you can see.

My work accounts don't let me keep that much, but I do glean out the keepers, partly to cover my ass, and partly to help with research before meetings. Being able to detail a chain of somebody else's mistakes over a period of years as documented in mail messages may put me on the wrong side of certain coworkers, but it helps me to convince management to pay attention to new thinking from time to time.

Ihnatko has hit on one of two items to debut this year.

The other is still the smaller, thinner Mac notebook.

blowhard

Jan 04, 08 - 07:45 pm Comment from: Me In LA

@iDon't,

Problem is, you gotta buy the stock when it's low.
I'll put my $34 AAPL purchase up against your Poorsha purchase any day!

Vrrrrrrroooom

Jan 04, 08 - 08:26 pm Comment from: snapshot67

@iDon't
Glad I brought the Porsche instead of stock.

Let's do an analysis on your investment of your $100,000.00 Porsche. Five years ago, you paid $100K in your two seaters sportcar . That investment is estimated at around 40K if you can sell it in today's market.

AAPL five years ago $100,000.00 can buy 3000 shares.
Today that 3000 shares = half a million $$$$

So, your investment strategy is not a sound one.

Just a thought

There is some interesting speculation on how an Portable Internet Device could work in connection to such a dock at http://huibert-aalbers.com/blog/archives/161. That could be the device Andy is predicting, neither an iPhone nor a Mac.

Ain't it funny that most pundits' prognostications about unknown Apple products are based on modifications of known Apple products.

I remember the ApplePhone predictions - Apple blew them all away.

---------
Oh yes - 'Daner':
Who the heck quotes **themselves** in a forum???

"Here is a selection of what I had to say back then..."

Oh good grief.

@Funny:

Both Go2Mac.com and the article that resulted from that mail have disappeared. I would have linked to it if I could have. The entire message contained other stuff that had nothing to do with the device in question, so I edited it out and noted that fact.

MDN referred back to a SteveJack piece from December 2002, which reminded me that I had similar stuff from July 2001. Both of us envisioned things that are similar to what Inhatko describes, and I'm sure that we are both looking forward to the announcements from Apple later this month.

PS - The last time I read the phrase "Good grief" was when Charles Schulz was still playing hockey regularly at his ice rink in Santa Rosa and I still had a full head of hair. Thanks for helping bring back some pleasant memories!

@ Dutch

Thanks for the link...was thinking just those same thoughts and wanted to share them. Thanks.


mw 'yet' as in 'yet to come'

Wrong Andy Ihnatko, And by-the-way, what is it that you actually predicted there. A Macbook sliced in half. Lame.

Let me tell you what real predicting for Apple is like. And what Apple will actually present...

Presenting the excitingly new "iJesture".
To described it in a few words: it is an over sized iPhone and digital keyboard in one. And it needs a little explanation.

The "iJesture" is a rectangular item which is roughly the size of todays current wired Mac Aluminum keyboard. At the same time it is about as thick as the iPhone. And the capabilities which fit the category of a sub-notebook. There is no lid to close. And similar to the iPod Touch it consists of a glossy surface ( est. 13" wide by 3 " high ) LASTLY, there is only one button on the side. Similar to the wireless keyboard to power-on / toggle off the device. "iJesture" shall come with two USB ports, built-in WIFI, and by order to have 32 or 64 Gb of NanFlash memory internal.

Now this is important to understand - so please listen ANDY.
This groovy little thing is more then a prediction since it is so close to Jan 14th and reality is near. It goes something like this.

When you come near a Mac ( which ever - an iMac to MacPro ) with your "iJesture" it AUTOMATICALLY senses with WIFI to become a digital keyboard and finger gesturing mouse.

That's right a virtual keyboard appears on the glossy surface at the same time this occurs a mounted 32 Gb drive appear on the MAC screen. The keyboard is similar in fashion to the iPhone keyboard yet it has full size keys displayed. More detail on the keyboard and finger gestured mouse in a moment.

That's right - three products no longer needed. A keyboard, a mouse and a docking station. Just by coming up close to your Mac with this device. As I said this product needs some explaining but it makes wonderful sense when you see how easy all this is. Backup and file transfer is a breeze... finger touch "iJesture" to drag n drop files from "the 32/64 Gb mounted to the internal iMac. Easy. Painless.

Now, when you walk away from your computer with the "iJesture" -- it magically dissolves the virtual keyboard displayed on the the glossy screen. And the "iJesture" goes into sub-notebook mode. Once again Wifi detects you are further away from the computer and goes into this laptop mode. It becomes a self contained functional device like a glorified iPod Touch. It can play videos, music, browse the web, draw pictures, and even manipulate or set type. Out doing the Touch with as it has enough power and software, because this device lets you install extras stuff useful when on the road.

We all have seen the iPhone and iPod Touch. The functionality is pretty much that of those but done on a surface that is around two or three iPhones in size. Just remember that more software is coming... and that Multi-Touch is an important goal for Apple. So soon we will be seeing demonstrations of new finger input methods - like the double click... "two finger together - one click.
All the software extras for "iJesture" are Muti-Touch apps... so although they run completely in OSX 10.5.2 the design for these applications required different approaches and different space layout for ergonomics. UE or User Experience; also know as User Ergonomics. Another Apple patent to read up on. So, since the basic understanding and function of iPhone and iPod Touch is fairly well understood.

Just recapping... the "iJesture" is a Keyboard, Mouse, docking station and a complete functional sub-notebook. Interestingly, the code-name for that part of the project was "MacSlate". Once you see the device and it's slim lines reminiscent of iPhone it is very much a "MacSlate". However, being a cross-over product something to bridge Mac with iPods the chosen name became, "iJesture" taking in the unique and fun input method which we shall know as, "letting the fingers do the mousing".

Now back to the topic of the on the keyboard mode for the "iJesture".

Multi-touch is the most distinctively differentiating technology in Apple's eyes to make a such a huge impact on the computing industry. And multi-touch can be so extremely complicated. But with some innovation the factors pointed to the old keyboard and mouse. We saw the invention of the tack pad come and live comfortably on the mac laptops for years... it still has a cool factor to it... but not the keyboard. The keyboard is clunky, old and not customizable... the iPhone expressed this notion well. Adding another key to be tooled costs money... do it digitally and it's ever changing. So there, Apple decided to delete the keyboard and mouse in one quick swoop, killing two turds with one slate.

With "iJesturre" you can change the language keys, make them glow, hint for spelling as you type, colour code keys for different applications. Better yet, it can be changed on the fly for right handed or left handed. If you don't like the number pad on the right - slide it over to the left. Or just pop / hide the number pad off the screen and there is plenty of room for the finger to navigate your computers arrow. Ink2 lets you draw perfect squares and circles long since the Newton times.

Please note that OS 10.5.2 adds multi-touch to any Mac only when used in unison with the "iJesture". Ink2 has been completely updated to further use Core Graphics and Core Animation and achieved by finger gesturing. The entire surface of "iJesture" can be used as input from finger gesturing,

thx for reading

enjoy the future Apple will bring,


sincerely,


Dougless

I have a feeling that Andy knows something that we don't. You just listen to him on Macbreak Weekly and he goes on and on about this new thing......We'll see.

I'd be more impressed if "Gesture" was spelled properly...

Is this it? http://greenrabbits.blogspot.com/

Jan 05, 08 - 04:44 pm Comment from: Hg Wells

Those who aren't buying AAPL after its recent drop may want to quickly reconsider.

Jan 05, 08 - 07:44 pm Comment from: Me In LA

Yeah, I actually believe that $180 isn't a bad deal...
Some think it might get to Google levels, so trade in the Poorsha and buy some AAPL!

BORING!!
HOWS AMERICA These days.

Bored bored bored here in NZ.

Over

Hey there Dougless,
It sounds like you know a ton about this new "iJesture" device. Jut curious, do you work at Apple or have someone on the inside with intel on Apple's next awesome device? So this thing will run a FULL blown Mac OS 10.5, right? Complete with iLife and all of that jazz? If it is as cool as it sounds, I will DEFINITELY buy it!!! I am very excited for Steve to unveil this cool new "iJesture" thingy!!! Also to "D" who posted a link to the photo, this look soo real! If this is the exact same device as Dougless described, then this is fantastic!!! I can't wait for Steve's keynote to find out!!

We'll soon see.

Keep in mind that if Apple intros anything (even remotely like what's been postulated) it's still going to be a first generation device that will likely leave a lot of people less than enthused about. An old saying about not being able to please everyone comes to mind.

Personally, I think predictions about this sort of thing are waaay off base.

We all know the original designer of the Macintosh spelt Apples competing computer to the Lisa incorrectly. Rather then, "McIntosh", commonly known as the rich red skinned dessert apple, Jef Raskin, made an slight spelling error. His spelling of "Macintosh" was an honest mistake.

As for, "iJesture", the J was intentionally inserted in place of a G. In a different post I mentioned the "J" was induced for a sense of fun; playing on the word "Jester"; yet not to overplay the goal for Apple in 2008 -- that being Multi-Touch. Where by the word "Gesture" reflects naturally to hands and fingers expressions with multi-touch in mind.

The deliberate word and chosen word for this product is, "iJesture".

------

The links provided by, "D". are honestly off base - in fact, it resembles as I described before. The form is taken from the current keyboard, between the width of the wired and wireless. And, the glossy screen sits approximate one quarter inch in from the aluminum frame.

I tired not to be negative about this product where ever I could.
And I purposely avoided this question of software as it most-likely could be considered the downside as software usually is.
To answer your question on the OS. It is OSX scaled down. Not the full-fledge operating system. But that of the iPhone.

It shall run custom apps as the iPod Touch and iPhone will. Hence broadening the need for new development with the line of post-computing. These products use software requiring finger input and require different layouts and application designs. By this I mean, Photoshop will not run on it stock. It is not intended in Apples opinion yet that isn't to say it will never happen. It just means, Adobe would require to assess the requirements for this device. Remembering this multi-function device fits in between the Macbook and iPhone. It is a sub-notebook with extended reason and use. To obliterate the mouse, keyboard and docking needs, yet also to port data and use and manipulate the stored data while on the road. Be that browsing the internet without a true terminal such as the iMac, writing up a report with style in iWorks for "iJesture", or making presentations in the office. It has enough power to preform well.

http://www.macrumors.com/2006/03/10/apple-refining-the-touch-screen-interface-evidence-for-a-tablet-mac/

http://www.fingerworks.com/igesture_tech.html

http://www.fingerworks.com/downloads.html

iGesture <---- already was a reality

-----

Take the iGesture combine it with the iPod Touch interface of OSX, increase the screen size, base the dimesions on the keyboard on a rectangle the size of a keyboard and mix it all into the conceptualized and commission project from Art Lebedev.

AND APPLE has the "iJesture"

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

Art Lebedev + FingerWorks + iPod Touch = iJesture

Apples NEXT big thing. That is how one INNOVATES!

-----

@John Goode McLatte

I am sorry to say that I do not work at Apple. Which allows me with my situation; to postulate. Besides, anyone would be in breach of contract and soon in serious legal action by exposing such secrets.


Though I am TOTALLY guessing, yet, the patents point to specific technologies. And, with the demands from customers expressing the desire for such a Sub-NoteBook - one which includes Multi-Touch ability -- this special virtual keyboard/mouse/iPod Touch will be the sub-notebook that BRIDGES multi-touch to the DESKTOP for us all.

d

Dutch,

I for one would not buy into something like they have illustrated.

Though I believe that is a nice docking setup there isn't need for physical connectivity anymore. WIFI can provide this.

Secondly, has been also depicted by enlarged photoshop imagery of a iPhone style device. This also makes sense to that post-computer branding but I AM BEATING all my Apple stock that this new sub-notetbook DOES NOT include phone communications.

The iPhone is on identity, the iPod Touch is the Ultimate iPod, the Sub-Notebook will be something that is SUITABLE in between a DESKTOP and a LAPTOP - yet rather run on full blown OSX it too will be scaled down to something faster then the iPhone.


@ Dougless,

Back in the Vic20 days Commodore had a complete computer that was basically a keyboard. It is very possible that the keyboard is the form factor for the sub-notebook. And it sure would be nice not to see hinges and monitors - as most people carry their laptops in a soft case. And though, Dougless makes a pretty good attempt at envisioning a new Apple product; I for one am not entirely convinced on his vision. It's fun to imagine and inspiring to hear. Even a picture would be cool.

Yeah, Dougless, get a picture and post it!!!!
Maybe I will buy into your dream.

RON TURNER

SteveJacks vision is reality all ready !!!
The iPhone COMPLETELY fits his article of 2002.
Right down to pricing.

Andy Ihnatko, basically adds nothing new. Perhaps Andy is SteveJacks. OR perhaps he is the Fake Steve Jobs. Oh, yeah that is old news too. Ha ha ha. So I must be right.

Now maybe he is playing the secret identity of "Dougless".

Mind you, I think I actually like this iJesture device better. Not the FingerWorks Pad but Doug's. If Apple DOESN'T make this then they've missed a pretty sweet opportunity.

Imagining a keyboard device; I see it easily tucking under my arm as I walk around in the Subway. That's a nice landscape proportion for movies and presentations. Damn portable size. No hinges, latches, just a glossy screen. And to be able to hide the number pad in place for space to finger my mouse with my existing hardware, this sounds extremely useful. I'd by two of those things.

I am and excited about that

The Fake Steve Jobs, aka Daniel Lyons, is a writer for Forbes.
Not Andy. I think you are confused.