iPhone Stupidity

Although I suppose we should be happy that sites like Engadget and TUAW are giving iPhone free feeds... The shit they do cover is really pathetic.

Who 

Gives

A 

Rat's

Ass

About...

the stupid crap going on in the lines for the iPhones!!!

Absolute nonsense. Why hype this crap any more than it needs to be? 

I can understand live-blogging a keynote. But live-blogging the lines for the iPhone? WTF?

Give us a break MacSheep blogs and provide some useful news about something else - OK?

iPhone Smarminess

This is very funny - from the Onion. Picked it up from TUAW.

Printer Predicament Over

This is a follow-up I didn't get around to until a couple folks asked me about what I bought. I was trying to choose between the HP5180 and the Canon MP600 multifunction printers.

I chose the MP600, mostly for the reasons I indicated here. My wife picked up the printer for me from Yodobashi Camera, a major electronics retailer in Japan that sells much more than just cameras. They had a 'points' campaign and were giving 20% value in points for various printers. [Usually it is 5-10%. With 20%, I get ¥4000 I can use towards a future purchase or this one.] I was surprised when she called me from the shop and asked if I sure I wanted the Pixus and not the Pixma. This confused me, as I thought I had told her the wrong printer. The sales person told her that the Japanese version is Pixus (export model is Pixma), apparently because they use a different kind of ink. So, I have to buy all my ink from Japanese retailers - no biggie. Apparently there aren't any other differences between the Pixma/Pixus MP-600, at least functionally. The only differences I could see was that they did include the CDROM tray, for printing on CDROM disks, as well as a USB cable. My understanding is that both of these are absent from export models of the MP-600. The other difference is that the bundled OCR software only has Japanese menus (no other install options). Otherwise, the print drivers are in English, and you can use English on the LED menu.

Set up was fairly easy, thought the MP-600 has a rather large footprint. You can put paper in two different feeders: the vertical sheet feeder and the horizontal paper cassette. You can switch between the two with the click of a button on the printer itself. Or you can select from within the print dialog box. This is handy, as we need to print in both US Letter and A4 size paper. However, my guess is that most folks will put some sort of photo paper in the cassette. Scanner function works well, and calls up an app called "MP-Navigator" which saves it to file on your hard drive or opens it, depending on the option you choose.

Print speed is actually so-so. It takes a few seconds to wake up the printer, so if its your first print in a while - this slows the process down. You can choose 'duplex' mode from the print dialog box. I like this, but duplex printing is even slower. Quality of printed pages is good, though I didn't make a lot of comparisons. Although I can easily connect the printer to my AirPort Express, you can only print via airport and cannot use the other functions like scanning to the computer, or downloading photos from a memory card. With an airport connection, you also cannot access the printer utility from your computer. However, these functions can be accessed easily from the printer's LED menu itself.

We had a bit of a scare when printing our first photograph on photo paper. I loaded the cassette with some Epson 4x6 glossy photo paper and gave it a shot. [Loading the cassette was a bitch, so I may try by feeder next time.] The first photo we printed looked.... awful. I began to wonder if ignoring the directions to use only Canon paper broke my printer. My wife noticed that I had printed on the wrong side, and began to berate me. I wondered how this could be, and we discovered that you had to load the cassette with the printing side of your media face down. WTF! That seems bass-ackwards to me. However, once we printed on the correct side of the paper - we were both very impressed with the results. [And Epson paper works just fine...].

Another nicety we noticed is that if the front door from the printer is up, the printer will open the door automatically so that the output has some place to go. Nice touch! We also like that we can close the LED flap to save space, and that the printer puts the LED and other functions into a sleep mode. I'll take the trade-off for warm up time if we can save energy.

I haven't had the chance to try photocopy function, card slots, pict bridge, or even direct download from camera yet. My guess is that we won't use these much - but we will see.

In any case, we are quite happy with the new printer. Having everything networkable would be great, but the slow file transfer speeds via ethernet (or heaven forbid airport) would be a drag. Now I have to figure out if I have an open USB port on my iMac or whether I should just leave it as an Airport printer.

So, the Canon MP-600 gets a MacKenchi "Thumbs Up" for now. Let's see if it stands the test of time.

WWDC 07 Keynote - more detailed comments

Like many, I was very disappointed in Jobs keynote address, and not surprised that Apple's stock prices dropped. The lack of hardware was depressing.

But Jobs did introduce many 'amazing' features for Leopard, and announced a competing browser for Windoze users. I'll briefly comment on what he presented.

Leopard Overall

I have to say that most of what was demo'd was visually appealing, but not particularly practical. It gave me the impression that Leopard will be the OS for people "who don't care about getting things done". I also suspect much of the animations in folders, docks, and file sorting will mean alot of demand on your processor, RAM, and maybe HD space. It wouldn't surprise me at all if you had to have an Intel Mac to use Leopard. Waiting until October makes this more digestible for Mac users. By that time, the number of Intel machines used by consumers may exceed PowerPCs in use. Furthermore, PowerPC Macs may have started to reach their EOL by that time.

New Desktop

Meh. I don't use the dock much. It stays hidden. So all of these tricks and gimmicks on the dock seem like wasted processor cycles. I look forward to minimizing my mouse use in my computer experience, not increasing it. 

And, I actually like brushed metal looks.

Stacks

These are sets of files you make for certain tasks. I like the idea of putting all my image processing apps in one stack, and molecular biology apps in another stack. This seem better than trying to remember the name of little used apps or what you have available. The problem I have with the Stacks concept is the need to use a mouse to browse them. Maybe Quicksilver can be integrated with this. But maybe QS can already do this.

Network View/Back to My Mac

I'm all for making my files available to me everywhere and having fast network browsing. But I have two problems with this idea. First, you need to keep your freaking machines ON all the time to take advantage of this. Maybe you can't even let them sleep. What a waste of electricity! The second problem is that it seems you'll need a .Mac account to make use of it. Is this a way for Apple to push its much maligned internet service? I think we need to get away from .Mac, not become more dependent on it.

Coverflow for File Browsing

Yuck! I don't use coverflow now with iTunes. Seeing an Album's cover doesn't make me want to play a song from it. So why would I want to use coverflow with the finder? Flipping through file icons or previews isn't really an efficient way to get at my files. Sure, their may be times I want to browse stuff, but mostly I know what I want.

Quick Look

Sounds like a nice way to browse the content of files you browse with coverflow. And certainly for images it could be very useful if you don't want to look through a host of thumbnails. But I would bet not all apps will be adequately supported for QuickLook.

64 Bit

So... will this work on all Macs? I somehow think you'll need a fast Intel machine to really take advantage of it. We'll have to see how it actually works.

iChat

C'mon Steve. The rest of the world (>93%) is using either Skype or MSN for chatting, particularly video chats. That's a lot of 'heartwarming' opportunity lost by iChat users. This means despite how nice iChat is, I can't use it to do vid chats with my Mom or most of my family. So, despite the holograms and so forth - the focus needs to be on true interoperability - not features.

WebClip and Dashboard

Again, I rarely use Dashboard. It's a memory hog and doesn't sit on my desktop unless I install some doodad that lets me do so. In fact the most common Widget I use is "Stop Dashboard".

How about fixing the problems with processor load before bloating this feature? The ability to clip part of a web page and have it dynamically update as a widget sounds nice. But I can't imagine it would be useful to me during the work day.

Boot Camp

Wow - having Boot Camp built in sounds nice. But I didn't really understand the part about how Parallels and vmWare are both excellent alternatives. Seems like Apple's move puts them in a spot. What we really need is a BootCamp for Windows laptops so I can use MacOS on them.

Hmmm....

TimeMachine

We saw this the last time, and it looks very useful. I still question the HD and RAM assets you'll need to have available to use it effectively.

Spaces

Also saw this last time - a 'Virtual Desktops' ability for OSX. If you didn't use the shareware/freeware versions of this now, you won't use Spaces later.

Safari on Windows

Ummm... why? Apple can't even make Safari work effectively on a Mac. I mean, I can't blog on Blogger with Safari now, or use our university's online content services (e.g., Moodle, WebTycho). Why would porting this experience to Windows users be a selling point? This kind of pisses me off, as Apple hasn't taken care of its own flock yet. Yes, Safari is great for many things and has fantastic feature. I really like the way it handles RSS feeds. But if it can't handle secure access points now,  I don't want to see Apple waste time on making it available for Windows users. Pointless exercise.

OK - there's my slant. Hopefully I've spurred folks to look differently at Steve's reality distortion event. 

WWDC Wrap Up

Dear Steve Jobs...

BOOO!

Lots of eye candy for Leopard, but no meat.

Thanks for yet another disappointing KeyNote.

WWDC Crystal Ball

This is a bit late, but let's give the old Magic Eight Ball a shake and see what comes up.

What we need

1. iPods - the current full-sized models are horribly out of date with screens not worthy of any movie viewing.

2. Mini - this line needs to be revamped or cancelled. The minis are great machines, but overpriced for what you get.

3. UltraPortable MacBooks - The Japan market is falling through the floor, because Apple can't or won't do what every Windows laptop maker does - sell a small Intel-based portable at 4lbs or under.

4. iLife '07 - Can't understand why this is delayed any further, unless it's Leopard specific.

5. iPhone - for the rest of the world. Apple's focus on the US market is boring to use overseas. And it's shocking that they would release a state of the art phone without 3G.

What I want

1. Ultraportable MacBook - My hip needs to be replaced, and lugging 5lb computers on the train doesn't cut it. And my 12" G4 isn't cutting it very well either these days.

2. Real Video iPod - Frankly, my PSP does video better than any iPod on the market. I don't have to squint at the screen. There's no reason Apple can't come through on this.

What we'll get

1. Previews of Leopard (ho-hum... Xmas now?)

2. iPhone hype - let's hope for more Google stuff and less Yahoo junk.

3. iTV Add-ons - Apple needs to prop up this listing ship soon before the rest of us are bored out of our minds.

In Closing

I don't anticipate much here, but hope that Apple will finally do something to keep me in the fold. Let's hope I can stay awake long enough.

Printer Predicament

My solid Epson Stylus C86 has decided to do what my previous Epsons did - clog up. My experience has been that Epsons print with high quality, but ones I had in the late '90s always crapped out when the inkjets clogged. When I bought my C86  a few years ago, I was under the impression that the "DuraBrite" inks would be clog resistant. Well, two years later, I find that this printer is not much different than my previous Epsons. In fact, many other C86 users have the same opinion. I don't want to waste time dissembling the printer, or injecting archane fluids into the head - like I did with previous Epsons. 

So, I've decided to get a new printer. And it's not gonna be an Epson. 

My father-in-law (Japanese Tech Dude) favors Canon, but I've noticed HP has made inroads into the Japanese market. It also seems that the Canon/HP models available in Japan and the US are using the same naming scheme, making review-scanning pretty easy.

I didn't think I would be interested in an all in one printer - but after checking out models in person at stores, I have to admit they are very sexy. I've narrowed down my choice to the HP-C5180 and the Canon Pixma MP600. Both printers have copier, scanner, color/monochrome/photo printing, card-reader slots, and an LED for photo previews. Both can use English menus on the LED. Neither printer has fax capability, but this is not a big dead for me. Both printers are about ¥20,000 and Yodobashi has a 20% points campaign. 

The HP has ethernet/wireless networking built in, and a slightly smaller footprint. However, it lacks PictBridge (which I probably won't use) and only prints single-sided. 

The Canon has duplex printing (HP doesn't), OCR software, and the scroll wheel menu control is far superior to the HP's sticky 4-way button. The Canon doesn't have networking built in, but I might be able to do it via USB connection to Airport (maybe - I've read different things about this). The networking thing is of dubious usage, as scanning and transfer over a network seems to be arduously slow. The Canon also has the advantage of more menu options, and seems more user friendly. This is important for my wife.

So, I've setted on the Canon MP600 at this point. I hope to get my printer this afternoon.

 

New MacBooks Comin'?

Hmmm.... Think Secret is reporting that Apple will release updates to its Mac Book line tomorrow. The rumor is that the number of models will expand from THREE (13" MacBook, 15" MacBook Pro, & 17" MacBook Pro) to FIVE.

I would note that the Apple Japan refurb page has had no Mac product for a week or more. Maybe now that supplies have dried up, the refresh is coming.

Perhaps it's too much to hope for a freakin' ultraportable yet...

Apple Post Record Sales in Q207*

*except in Japan.

Everywhere around the world, apparently, Apple sales are up for both desktop and laptop computers. But they can't their act together in Japan for like the last 2 years.

According to Apple Insider, "Apple Japan continued to "frustrate" Apple, accounting for just $283 million in revenues, down 8 percent year-over-year. This included the sale of 79,000 Macs, down 4 percent year-over-year."

Why do Apple's sales continue to suck ass here? This is the second largest consumer market in the world!

Part of the problem, according to some Japanese friends, is related to the ease of Windows Japanese text entry system, compared to the Mac's Kotoeri system. I've only used Kotoeri, so I can't compare. However, I'm told the system on Windows is more established and gives you better Kanji choices after typing in the alphabet.

Another issue is the COMPLETE LACK OF AN ACCEPTABLE PORTABLE COMPUTER. You've heard me say it before. I'll say it again until Apple gets it right. The MacBooks are fine machines for performance, but their weight and size are outrageous in comparison to other options. Ultraportable Windoze laptops are coming in with 12" screens, Core 2 Duos, and 1.5 - 2.0 kg - many even lighter. That's not to say that all the Windoze laptops in Japan are microscopic, but the preference for public commuters is SMALL. Even the 13-15" laptops are lighter than Apple's.

And don't give me this nonsense about "it would cost too much", because it's not so. If ASUS can do it, so can Apple.

What makes things worse, is that recent reports suggest Apple has put their ultraportable project on the backburner, perhaps not until next January. WTF!

I can't respect a company that makes a freaking phone a higher priority than its computing systems. 

I'll be looking for a Windows ultraportable in June if Apple can't make one and hope to get OSX running on it to make it useable.

Final Cut? Kiss my #$@@!

Rant mode on.

Yeah, I know it was the NAB show. Yeah, I know that 8 core Duo Mac Pros were announced last week or so. But COME ON Apple. Show us some hardware that "the rest of us" can actually use.

Joe Average doesn't give a nezumi's oshiri about Final Cut. It won't run fast enough on most user's machines, and is priced too highly for most of us to even blink at. I'm glad I didn't stay awake for this 'event' or the neighbors would have heard me yell "BFD"!

Yo Apple! Your iPod line has been obsolete for the last year. Your Mini's are too slow and over-priced, and your laptops are too freaking overweight for most public transport users to to carry around.

Do you really think that Final Cut is going to solve your crashing sales in Japan?!

Delaying Leopard to get the iPhone on-line isn't really an excuse. The iPhone is only going to be available in the the US market, not everywhere else in the world. And the iPhone is going to be using outdated transmission tech (GSM) that most of the rest of the industrialized world has dropped in favor of 3G. The iPhone won't do jack shit for your sales in Europe or Asia this year, or probably even next year. And by the time you do get it into those markets (if you ever do), there will be so many functional clones it won't matter.

And WTF happened to the ultraportables? I dunno about you, but my 12" G4 isn't cutting it these days and is starting to fall apart. Before I go out and buy one of these, and hack it to run OSX, how about you do us the justice of making a laptop that actually keeps up with the current Windoze laptop fare in performance and compactness.

I've said it before - less fluff and more stuff!

iClip - Mini Review

MacZot is having a ReviewZot, where every review of the featured app will decrease the price of the app until it is FREE as in beer. Yes, this means free advertizing for the developers, but it is a fun way to get a free copy of an app. 

I got iClip orginally through MacZot and another copy through the MacHeist bundle. iClip (by Inventive) sits in your menu bar and stores multiple copies of your clipboard. It's keeps a memory of those things you copy or paste, and lets you call up those clippings later on when you need it. The clippings can be for graphics or text, and you can save customized clipping sets that you will use frequently. For example, when grading pdf papers from students, I paste the grade breakdown as a template via the comments function in Preview. iClip lets me keep a set of paper grade templates I can call on easily.

You can call up iClip by either mousing to the menubar icon an clicking, or mousing to the hot area of the screen you assign. The iClip app has a 'pop-up' window with the clippings. The app looks very slick and cool, with these lens-looking clip portals. You can customize these portals' size and shape (round or square). The previous version of iClip used rectangular panels instead, and while visually inferior to the current version, it seemed to be a better use of space, particularly on small screens. The developer should consider an option to return to the simple pop up window interface for those who might prefer lower resource usage.

Although I don't activate the app all the time, when I do use it - it has been very fast and stable in nearly all cases. The only time I had any problems was trying it on an Intel Mini with Parallels Desktop, trying to copy and paste from the Windows virtual machine. My recollection is that iClip quit or crashed - but my memory is a bit hazy. Never-the-less, that particular situation is not very common for me, so it's not a big deal.

The only other complaint I have is that the full price ($29) is a bit steep for iClip, so the only way I've obtained it was at a discount. This is a very slick app, but pricing it at $10 or $15 might be a better marketing ploy. 

I've not compared this app with any other similar utilities, so I can't really contrast iClip with them. However, if you can get a copy of iClip - I recommend it highly.

iTunes Alternative

FreeMacWare.com often picks up some interesting finds for free software, but today's pick really caught my eye. It's an open source iTunes alternative called "Songbird" that is also cross platform (Windoze, Mac, & Linux). I haven't had a chance to try it yet (I will), but the screencast looks very interesting and shows some advanced features.

Songbird will play many kinds of music files (except purchased iTunes AAC files) as well videos (though I'm not sure what formats). The coolest thing about Songbird is that it has a built in browser function that allows you to search the web for music of your likeing, and play right inside songbird. It will find all the media on a particular page, and list them in Songbird just like they were media in your iTunes browser. You can even download media for future use, so that you don't have to go back to the original web page.

The interface is similar to iTunes, but skinable. And the app is still in development, supposedly using the FireFox platform (whatever that means). There are nightly builds you can install. Give it a try, because it looks very cool.

Update: The Developer Preview version may not work correctly after the first start up. The first time you boot the app, disable all the suggested add-on check boxes.

Cool Screensaver Animations

Check out this site and the free Quartz animation files which can be used as screen savers. The Japanese developer, Futurismo Zagakousaku, has had some commercial success too with some of his work. Very cool stuff!

Thanks to TUAW for the tip on this site, though I apparently have seen his stuff before.

(Note: you can find a few more .qtz files on the opening page of the site.)

Is there an Intel Mini in the house? Part I

About a month ago, I decided I would finally get myself an Intel Mac, mostly because I needed a reliable computer in the DNA lab to run some molecular analysis apps via Windoze. But I admit having Intel Mac envy that I couldn't quite satisfy with an overweight MacBook.

I had gone back and forth trying to decide between a 17" Intel iMac and the Mini. I felt the new 17" iMacs were a better deal, given the faster Intel chips and the built in monitor. However, my desk space in the lab is very limited, and there is already a monitor I could switch to the Mini when needed. I also felt better about spending under $1000 US on a Mini, with the idea of getting a truly compact MacBook Pro in the coming months. Now the problem became getting one in Japan for a decent price.

Apple refurbs in Japan are tough to come by. If you check the Apple Japan refurb page often, you'll see jack shit there 99% of the time. They usually have a MacBook or two, but only once int the last 6 months have I seen anything else offered. And those disappeared quickly. I also considered purchasing a used Mini (or even iMac) from the retailer SofMap. But the problem there was the lack of more than a month's warranty on anything bought used.

So, I asked my brother in the US to order a refurb Mini from the US Apple store and send it to me. At that time, they had plenty - but I knew supplies were limited. My brother checked with a MicroCenter near his work place, and found that they had a 1.83Ghz Intel Mini for a comparable price as from the Apple store. Apparently, it was a return, but it came with a full warranty and was supposedly 'complete'. They also gave us a good price on upgrading the RAM (to 1.28 Gb total). He bought the Mini and was able to send it quite quickly to me via my APO address.

When I brought the Mini home and unboxed it, I was amazed at the small size of the CPU, but a little dismayed at the size of the power brick. ('Brick' is appropriate in this case, BTW.) I was also disappointed that the MicroCenter people forgot to include the DVI to VGA adapter - so I couldn't use it out of the box on my spare VGA monitor. Strike one. I wasn't able to get a replacement adapter for another couple of days, due to my work schedule - so I had to wait further. After getting an adapter, I hauled it all to the lab and happily set it up. I really enjoyed the looks from my lab mates when they saw it set up and running next to their boring Epson desktop machines.

Unfortunately, I became aware that something was wrong... namely, that the freaking fan was constantly on. I downloaded all the OSX updates, including a firmware update for Intel Macs.
No change. I followed the instructions to reset the hardware manager (shut down and unplug everything for a few minutes). No change. I then came to the conclusion that something was very wrong - and began to worry I and my brother had been hosed with a lemon Mac.

At home, I found no evidence of a warranty for the Mini in the box, further increasing my stress. And a quick search on the internet for fan problems with the Mini suggested all kinds of horror stories. However, one article on MacWorld's site struck a chord. The venerable Chris Breen had taken apart a Mini and reassembled it, but forgot to connect a cable correctly. He found that reseating it completely solved the fan noise problem that appeared after he had upgraded the RAM. Breen went so far to say that anyone who got their RAM upgraded recently with fan problems should check out this cable, and even shows the location of the plug. A quick peek through the vents of the Mini and poking around with a dissecting probe (I'm a biologist...) showed me that, sure enough, this cable was not connected.

So, these idiots at MicroCenter didn't do their job. They closed the case without connecting the plug. Is this what we should expect from Apple certified techs? Strike two.

Now the problem was opening the case. The Mini is not supposed to be opened by customers, only by Apple service people. So, all RAM upgrades have to be done by service people. In fact there aren't any screws or bolts to open the case. When I started reading about how to crack open a Mini, I saw all sorts of horror stories about dinging up the case with the recommended case opener - a PUTTY KNIFE! This didn't sound good at all. Without a clear warranty, I was reluctant to take the Mini to a Japan Apple store. Yet I didn't want try this procedure myself
and mess up any chance at having any warranty. I had almost decided to pack the thing up and send it back to the US for a refund.

Then, a Pizza cutter changed everything. Continued in part II.

YASNR - Yet Another Sub Notebook Rumor

This one has more oomph, because it came from Apple Insider. 

Apparently Apple is working on something small and delightful, but like Apple Recon claimed - it won't come out until June. Dohh!

Apple Insider also says it's gonna be really small and use NAND flash and NO internal optical drive (ala the PowerBook 2400 and 100). They also echo what I have been saying here - that this is just what Japan needs, and may pick up sagging sales here.

My take: Much too late! There's no need to put new tech into a subnotebook, when there are plenty of Windoze laptops at ideal size/weight ranges already. One wonders if Apple can recover the sales it's lost in Japan. (And when my 12" G4 dies, which could be anyday, I'll freaking go Windoze if there's nothing.) Also - though I look forward to Apple innovating in a subnote book, it's totally unecessary at this time. Plenty of Windoze Core 2 Duo notebooks that are 1.5 kg and under on the market now with existing tech.

I guess I won't hold my breath for this thing....

Woo - colored iPod Shuffles

Big bleeping deal.

AlSoft Laggards

 Wow. I thought Hawai'ian time was bad. 

I ordered the update to DiskWarrior from the maker, Alsoft on Dec 31st (2006). The older version doesn't boot on my G5 iMac, but works still on my (dying) G4 PowerBook.

Recently I began to wonder what happened to that order, but had forgotten when I had placed it. Well today, I got an email from the company telling me my order had shipped.  Had shipped?!

WTF. 

It takes them 4 weeks to put the goddamn CD in the mail? What do they do, hand etch the CDs with lasers under a microscope? I mean this company is in Texas for Chrissakes, not Jamaica or Pakistan. Are they understaffed?

I mean, bless their hearts for shipping to me at an APO address. (Lots of companies won't). And kudos to them for making a well-regarded product (DW ain't too shabby). But 4 weeks? 

I could understand them using surface mail or something, so that it took a while to get here. But this, folks, is ridiculous.

MacBook Mini Rumors Again?

A blog called "Apple Recon" has some supposed info on Apple's supposed ultraportable - called the "MacBook Mini" by some. The stats look pretty good. 3.5lbs weight, 2GHz CoreDuo, 12" Widescreen (1280x800), 1Gb RAM standard, ATI Radeon X1900, some kinda flash assist storage feature, and all the other MacBook standard features. 

The price is supposed to be around $1800 - not bad, IMHO. There were actually people complaining about this price. I guess they forget that the 12" PowerBooks were around $2100. 

Lamers.

The bad news - June '07 at WWDC is when they will be released. That deserves a WTF. 

Really Apple, you are behind all other major (and some minor) PC manufacturers in this regard. 

Thanks to PowerPage for picking up this story from Apple Recon.

Mac Sales Up 28%*

*Except in Japan.

AppleInsider reports for Apple's Q107 report, "Apple Japan accounted for 70,000 Mac sales and $285 million in revenues. These figures are down 14 percent and 20 percent year-over-year. Sequentially, Mac units in Japan were up 13 percent while revenues were flat."

So, they got a bit of a holiday bump in sales, but compared to last year sales are considerably lower. Lower than the already low from a year ago!

WTF. Japan is the second biggest consumer nation after the US. Japanese really like well designed, "cute" products. iPod sales stayed at the same level, but they increased elsewhere. Maybe the shine is off the Apple in Japan, because the current iPods are really not very innovative (and we will not see the phones for a year, if ever) and falling behind. And there's the fact that Japanese like small and compact products - which none of the current laptops are.

Why the hell would anyone buy a 5lb MacBook, when they can get the same speed and size for the same price (or better) in a Windows laptop, but at least a pound lighter? Really, Apple. Without a 12" laptop, most Japanese people aren't going to even blink at your portables. And the rest of the line-up is overweight. Yeah, you got the OS thing down pat. Now get your hardware up to par or start licensing your OS.

AppleTV and iPhone - WOW! But...

Unless you were living in a cave, you know that Apple released details on two products: the AppleTV coming in February and the iPhone, coming to the US in June. 

The Apple TV turns out to be better than I expected, with a hard drive and all sorts of streaming tech for 720p HD video to your TV. At $300, it will be a good value.

The iPhone is... utterly amazing. Simply a work of art and technology. Revolutionary in every way and a dream. Something that, if works as demonstrated, would be great just as an iPod or PDA. Unfortunately the phone network used, GSM isn't available in Japan. It's old tech and frankly should be retired. Furthermore, it's not slated to get to Asia until 2008. I think I've said here before that Apple will have problems getting iPhones into Japan's closed system and through its archaic business negotiation practices. I would guess we'll be lucky to see it in 2 years. Other phone makers will be doing everything they can to block this product. And although Softbank has some promotion with Apple, it's hard to believe they could support these phones better than Docomo or AU. 

So, I've gone from elation to sort of complete deflation. As this amazing device (forget the phone) will likely not be available any time soon.

There was one other announcment, that Apple was changing it's name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to "Apple, Inc.". That was underwhelming.

And there was an unannounced product, a new Airport extreme base station using 802.11n and an AppleTV form factor. $179. Neat! Available in February. Too bad it doesn't have music streaming functions. But you can get that from your AppleTV if you don't have an Airport Extreme.

So - what did this Keynote do for me? Well, I was really impressed by the iPhone, but disappointed in its limited availability. I'm further upset because it's apparent that Apple has no portable computing product that supports my needs. I can't justify hauling around a 5+ lbs laptop. And now that my old G4 is becoming long in the tooth, I'm going to seriously start looking at Windows laptops. WTF is Apple doing with its laptop R&D when unimaginitive companies like ASUS can release small laptops like this. It's really depressing.

Anyway, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on the Apple iPhone this Summer, send us a postcard.