Newton Poetry

It takes some strong willpower not to give in to temptation and grab a new 20-inch iMac for $999.

Apple’s refurb site is an endless source of lust for me. I’ve grabbed a few iPods as gifts off the refurbished list, and the deals are great.

What stops me from grabbing my tax rebate check and ordering a new Leopard-powered beauty? For one, I don’t have enough room in my apartment for a dedicated desktop machine. My iBook gets me by just fine, and I have a Bondi iMac G3 that gets me by as a “gaming machine” and Newton hub.

After seeing one of the new iMacs in person (the monstrous 24-inch model), however, I can’t help but yearn for one. My plan is to purchase an iMac after I purchase my own home, which may be a year or two into the future – or when I get my own apartment (I have a roommate, who has his own computer).

In the meantime, I’m hoping some angel stops by Apple’s site and surprises me on my birthday this weekend. Hope springs eternal!

Time for some links:

• Download iPhone apps to iPod Touch for free [via Simplehelp]
• iTunes now #1 music retailer [Ars Technica]
• Celebrity Mac/iPhone/iPod sightings [Macenstein – they have a whole series going, but this one was one of my favs]

Okay, we can all relax now. Apple just dropped the price on refurbished iPod Shuffles to $39.

It only took them a few days, thankfully, and now order has been restored to the universe.

In other news, these make great gifts for those one or two people on Earth who don’t have an iPod yet.

With my talk yesterday of the refurbished iPod Shuffle’s price, folks over at Macenstein wondered whether or not the lowly Shuffle even counted as a true “iPod.” Is it, but in name only?

Dr. Macenstein says:

Granted, at $49, the shuffle might be the most affordable “iPod” Apple makes, but it delivers a fraction of the features and costs nearly 3 times less than the closest “real” iPod Apple makes – the iPod nano. The shuffle is not the iPod students put on their Christmas lists, the kind of iPod you see commercials for, the kind of iPod that accessory manufacturers cater to, or the kind muggers kill over.

He then goes on to list the many differences between “screened,” full multimedia iPods and the clip-on version. “Sit 10 random people down ask them to draw an iPod,” the Doctor says, “and I would wager not one would draw a shuffle.”

True enough. But it is a classy, snazzy-looking little flash player, isn’t it? And it sure delivers enough music-playing power to its audience – namely, on-the-goers and runners and such.

Good breakdown, and a heckuv an argument.

Apple dropped the price of its mini-sexy iPod Shuffle yesterday to $49, and announced a 2 GB version that’s coming soon

Which is cool. It’s a competition thing: other manufacturers are releasing similar products for much less (some in the conference swag industry give these things away, like thumb drives). So it only makes sense that Apple would practically give away a USB drive that plays music.

What doesn’t make sense is why Apple’s refurbished models are still at the same price:

What gives? The point of refurbished models is the lower price, especially when someone else has already had their grubby hands on it.

Refurbished models are iPods that someone has already owned but turned back in. Apple then cleans them up, wipes the memory, repackages them, and sells them to you and me.

I bought a refurbed iPod Shuffle for my sister for Christmas, one of the brighter, more vibrant models that came out before this last batch. That little magenta gem was a great gift, and very affordable, and my sister never knew about its former life.

But now if you buy a refurbished Shuffle, you get no deal.

Hopefully, in the days to come, Apple will drop the price and make these little beauties ever more affordable. Let’s hope.

I was hoping that, after Tuesday’s Macworld keynote, I would be rushing to Ann Arbor’s Apple store to pick up my iPhone. But no such luck.

Why not? I’m one of those guys waiting for the 3G.

It didn’t come yesterday. What did come, however, were some pretty cool features: the where-the-heck-am-I feature, the new homescreen capabilities, the multiple-person text messaging. It all sounds great.

It just doesn’t sound great enough. iTWire.com feels me – saying that Apple isn’t listening to its fans like it should be. And if it wants to hit that magic 10 million number…:

According to Apple, the company has sold 4 million iPhones in its first 200 days. For any other company, this would be a phenomenal figure. However, at Macworld 2007 Jobs envisioned sales of 10 million units in the first year, so Apple has some work to do over the next 165 days. It is beginning to look as though Apple has to release a 3G iPhone very soon in order to move 10 million units [by the end of 2008].

Right. Even if Cupertino wants to sell just one, to me, it better make the speed bump.

I have a cellphone, and a good cellphone carrier, that I like. I have my Newton. I have plenty of Macs. In reality, I don’t need an iPhone. But boy… I’ve already been in situations where, standing in the grocery line or waiting for someone, I can imagine whipping out the Jesus Phone and wasting a bit of time.

At work, we had an annual goal, and I reached it, and got a hefty bonus. I was going to use that money toward the purchase of an iPhone, pending the 3G announcement. But no 3G came.

Salon.com’s Farhad at the Machinist says that past and current iPhones are all created equal because they keep getting updates via free iTunes software. The phone is evolving, and it doesn’t cost any extra. But the actual hardware I’m waiting for can’t be downloaded via Software Update. I need a whole new phone.

So the wait continues. I’m thinking of putting a time limit on the 3G iPhone announcement – say, this spring. Maybe April, or before I head out on my New England driving tour at the end of May.

So there you go, Apple. You’ve got $400 sitting in the credit union with your name on it. All you have to do is deliver.

by Robert Frost

Ft takes all sorts of in and outdoor schuoting
To get adapted to my kind of fooling

[Read the original. You have to get used to Steve Jobs’s fooling: no Newton, but a MacBook Air, iPod Touch and iPhone features, and tons of iTunes updates – like movie rentals. Plenty of coverage over at Cult of Mac, but I caught the whole thing thanks to live blogcasting.]

Turns out the playa-hatas over at Amazon have launched an e-book reader, named “Kindle.”

Only $399 (the price of an iPhone), high-res (“just like real paper!”), no syncing required, cheaper prices for books ($9.99), no service plans to worry about – the thing seems like a mixed blessing.

The no-syncing part is really interesting, since you don’t need to be at home with your computer to buy a book – kind of like what Apple is doing with the iPod Touch. That’s cool. So is the fact that you don’t have to carry around a shit-ton of books to read them – just this…thing.

So, again, the Newton delivers first. PDAs, portable computers, and now eBooks.

Fake Steve Jobs has an interesting take:

I know what you’re thinking. Wouldn’t it be just kick-ass super duper if, say, Apple came along and finally delivered the ultimate product in this category? Because you just know if we did it the thing would look gorgeous and have a beautiful feature set and would just kick everyone’s ass.

And there’s already a comparison with the iPhone.

But seriously, lots of luck Amazon. You don’t have a beautiful machine, but any way to promote reading is a good thing.