Results tagged “apple” from theInput.net

If you've ever watched a keynote by Steve Jobs, you know he's got charisma, and that his speeches always deliver that bit of "Wow!" and extra special sauce that has led some people to term the effect he has on audiences the "Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field."

Business Week had their communications coach watch the latest keynote by Steve Jobs at Macworld 2008, and came up with 10 tips we can all use when making our own presentations so that we too can have some of that Steve magic:

2. Demonstrate enthusiasm. Jobs shows his passion for computer design. During his presentation he used words like "extraordinary," "amazing," and "cool." When demonstrating a new location feature for the iPhone, Jobs said, "It works pretty doggone well." Most speakers have room to add some flair to their presentations. Remember, your audience wants to be wowed, not put to sleep. Next time you're crafting or delivering a presentation, think about injecting your own personality into it. If you think a particular feature of your product is "awesome," say it. Most speakers get into presentation mode and feel as though they have to strip the talk of any fun. If you are not enthusiastic about your own products or services, how do you expect your audience to be?

I have written a four part series of articles entitled "The State of the Mac Nation 2008" over on Homotron.net where I reviewed everything Apple related that happened in 2007, complete with my insights and conjectures on how some of the new stuff (like the iPhone) came about. I worked pretty hard on this series of articles and I think they turned out pretty good. A lot of people who've read them have given me kudos for them. Here's the links:

The State of the Mac Nation 2008, Part 1: Desktops, Laptops, & Professional Hardware
The State of the Mac Nation 2008, Part 2: iPod + iPhone
The State of the Mac Nation 2008, Part 3: iTunes + Other Apple Software
The State of the Mac Nation 2008, Part 4: Macworld Keynote Rumours and Predictions

And tomorrow (Tuesday, January 15) I'll be doing a live post with updates and commentary during Steve Jobs's keynote starting at 12PM. Stay tuned at Homotron.net if you want to read my commentary!

I'm so excited!

(Coincidentally, this series of articles is precisely why I've been absent from theInput during the last few days)

For those that have iPhones, the new software update v1.1.2 is out; bringing international keyboard support with it. I've acquired and installed the update on my iPhone in order to report what's new.

You can find a detailed break down of the changes on my post at Homotron.net.

Ars Technica has posted their review of Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X.

They give it their usual thorough review, with both geeky and non-geeky sections of the review to appeal to everyone. Their conclusions:

I started this review talking about expectations. As I've learned more about Leopard, it's become increasingly clear where, exactly, those two-and-a-half years of development time went. Leopard is absolutely packed with improvements. It seems that not a corner of the OS has gone untouched.

Perhaps that's not as clear to the casual user who just sees the surface changes and the major new features in Leopard. But even in that case, there's more than enough to recommend it. if you're wondering whether you should upgrade to Leopard, the answer, as it's been for every major revision of Mac OS X, is yes.

The result is a 17 page long review that points to some of the great under the hood improvements to Leopard casual users will miss, but developers will love (and eventually users will greatly benefit from.) Ars Technica's comprehensive reviews are pieces of writing I always enjoy reading.

Following Apple's record setting quarterly financial results, Apple's market cap has exceeded those of IBM and Intel, now making it the fourth largest computer company behind Microsoft, Google, and Cisco.

This has set off another round of "is Apple becoming the new Microsoft?" discussions on the Internet. I myself fear all this success may go to Apple's head and lead to a breakdown of its excellent customer service.

David Pogue of The New York Times has posted his review of Apple's new Leopard operating system.

In more Apple news today, Steve Jobs wrote on the Hot News page at the Apple website that Apple will be releasing a true SDK for the iPhone/iPod Touch to allow 3rd party developers to make native applications starting February of next year.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Seems they'll go with a certification process like most of the rumour sites have been predicting, in which 3rd party developers will submit their apps to Apple for approval before they'll be able to install on the iPhone/iPod Touch.

In case you missed it, Apple has lowered the price of their DRM free iTunes Plus songs to match their normal DRM'd song price - $.99. From their press release:

Apple® today announced that it has expanded its iTunes® Plus offering to over two million tracks and lowered the price of all iTunes Plus tracks to just 99 cents. All iTunes Plus tracks feature DRM-free music with high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings (www.itunes.com). The iTunes Plus catalog is now the largest DRM-free catalog in the world, and includes artists from Sub Pop, Nettwerk, Beggars Group, IODA, The Orchard and many others, along with EMI’s digital catalog.

No doubt the move was fueled due to competition from Amazon's recently launched and popular DRM free music store, which also offers songs at less than $1 each.