How about the MacTablet. Their first product using Intel Chips allows you to input information on the screen. It has OCR capabilities, and no need for a keyboard. It even does wireless.

(One can dream...)

Well ThinkSecret has stepped up it again with the more news pointing towards updated PowerBooks, PowerMacs... and iPods. That's all folks. Nothing to see here, please move along...

Okay... once and for all... THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT THIS IS GOING TO BE JUST COMPUTER UPDATES... OR EVEN 'JUST' AN IPOD REVISION!

Apple goes to great lengths to be theatrical... and Jobs is a great showman. I'll eat an Atari 2600, videotape it and show you all, if there is NOT more than just updates.

THERE WILL BE A NEW PRODUCT! Pure and simple... They would NEVER... EVER... risk people looking at them as the company that cried wolf!... that incredible buz they create is simply too important...

I said the same exact thing when people were saying that the RoKR phone was going to be the only annoucement from the last event... but the promise of their invitation.. "We changed everything with 1000 songs in your pocket, now we're going to change everything again" SIMPLY COULDN'T BE JUST THE PHONE... and what they released in the phone wasn't such a big deal as it could have been... BUT THE NANO IS WORTHY OF THE HYPE! (and we didn't know the first thing about it...)

So.. I knew nothing of the nano... expected an upgraded shuffle instead... I knew nothing of the last G4 imac... the really nice screen on an arm version.. (which to this day is still the greatest imac design ever... and I STILL want one... hey, the screen turns!!! and moves up and down! look at that crappy G5 imac... it just isn't as cool as the G4! (comparitively... but the G5 imac still kicks ass when you don't compare it..)

So folks... there is NO CHANCE AT ALL WHATSOEVER that this event is to release updated powerbooks, powermacs, and ipods... Apple is going to shock and thrill us.... and we're all going to want to run out and get whatever potentially useless item it is... because the way they explain it will be impossible to resist. Hell... I want it already and don't know what it is...

and finally.... Jobs is KNOWN for shocking and shaking us with his trademark 'oh.. and one more thing' that is far more important than the whole event you just watched... he's not going to give up that wonderful anticipation for anything...

so... Expect something wonderful.. and hopefully we'll be able to play arcade games on it... Just think about a great video ipod with the scroll wheel.... a linyx distribution, a mame port... and TEMPEST!!!

(BTW, some inside information also comes in handy...)

Hey... if anyone is interested, I've been doing a PodCast with a Director friend of mine... (I'm adding to this thread because I usually don't get on my soapbox on messageboards...)

But...

Go to itunes and search the podcasts for '2 Live Fools'...

If you like/love it, please tell everyone... if you hate/loath it... don't tell anyone...

If you don't have itunes, there is always:

www.2livefools.com

I think you'll enjoy it...

Best!

David

Dave, you and I think quite alike... I'm just trying to offset my out-of-control excitement, with a little bit o' glass-half-empty.

And it's not like Jobs and Apple have "never" disappointed in the past... I just hope this ain't one of those times.

I have two questions...

1. "If" they just update the PBs, PMs and iPods... how bad will the media fall out be, after some reliable media outlets have already announced the vPod?

2. If it ain't a vPod... then what is it?

BTW, thanks for the link, I'll have to check out your Podcast one of these days.

Oh, and one more thing... care to expand on that little tidbit any?

Whoa there, MAMEDave. You need to cut back a little on the caffeine.

No need for yelling. After all, this isn't about Star Wars.

Now don't go all crazy on us. After all, that would be a waste of a perfectly good 2600.

An Intellivision, on the other hand...

Have to disagree there. I own a G5 iMac at home, and have the G4 one at work.

The G4's moveable arm is a "use it once and never again" feature. I've found no reason to have to adjust my G5 iMac, once I had tilted it to the right angle for me. The height it's at is fine, and if I really needed to move it around, I could simply buy a VESA mount for it.

The G4 design has real drawbacks, too. It takes up way more desk-space than even the 20" iMac G5. If the screen is set too low, you can't access the CD tray. Also, the CD tray doesn't clear the top of the keyboard. Plus the thing is heavy and awkward to move around (especially the 20" model). All of the ports are on the back of the base and much harder to access than the G5 iMac's (which should be on the side anyway, but they're still easier to get to). The G4 requires external speakers (no built-ins) to hear any audio at all. The G5 has hidden, built-in ones. (They don't sound great, but they're there.)

The G4 iMac just wasn't a very practical design. It looked interesting, but I think it was just an interim design that Apple used until they could get the current configuration working.

I agree about the iMac G5 > iMac G4. I too have an iMac G5 at home and a few iMac G4s at work. The G4, all though different and unique, is pretty impractical and already looks dated to me.

The G5 on the other hand... is the greatest computer I have ever owned! It's simple, it's elegant, it's functional... it's perfect. JMHO.

BTW, I listened to a bit of your podcast Dave... and I have to ask, tell me how you REALLY feel about the Simpson's Season 6 packaging?

Part of the launch is (apparently) taking place at the BBC Centre in london, and there's some speculation it'll involve downloadable BBC TV content.

There's related links at http://benmetcalfe.com/blog/index.php/2005/10/03/review-of-the-bbc-imp-beta/ and http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/co...ndon-next-week/

Simon

And don't think that this is just a coincidence.

Something's goin' on, and I think there will be a big announcement from Pixar and Disney soon, too.