NicholasPyers.com

On Wednesday January 10, 2001 4am Melbourne Daylight Saving Time (9:00am on Tuesday 9 in San Francisco) I joined nearly 40,000 people world wide to listen to Apple Computer, Incorporated’s CEO, Steve Jobs, open the MacWorld Expo 2001 San Francisco with his keynote speech.

The 40,000 “attendees” consisted of over 5,000 people packed in the Moscone Centre, San Francisco where the Expo was held and over 35,000 who viewed it via the live QuickTime webcast, which was the largest number of concurrent viewers for a scheduled, live Webcast.

If you haven’t yet viewed the nearly two-hour long keynote, it still available to view from Apple’s web site. You’ll need QuickTime 4.0 or greater to view it.

I was fortunate to again watch the Keynote via Telstra Advanced Cable and this time the quality was most endurable, particularly considering the number of people viewing the keynote live.

Mac OS X

Jobs started the keynote by covering some of the features of Mac OS X and surprized us with some interesting figures relating to the Public Beta – Over 100,000 copies shipped and Apple has received over 75,000 individual user feedback entries from users world wide. These responses well and truly exceeded Apple’s expectations of ten thousand copies to be sold and 3 or 4 thousand responses.

The nice thing about the feedback is Apple have listened and major changes have been made to Mac OS X including;

• The re-introduction of “Pop-up Windows”, which appear in the Dock
• The Apple Menu is now back in its’ traditional location in the left hand corner (rather than the middle) and many configuration options and often used functions can now be access from here.
• Improved toolbars with smaller icons and the ability to customise them
• Improved font menus
• The ability to open multiple “Finder” windows
• QuickTime 5 will be integrated and full Java 2 support will be included.

Mac OS X will officially ship on Saturday March 24, 2001 for US$129 from Apple dealers and The Apple Store. It will ship as the standard pre-installed Mac OS on new machines by mid year.

According to Apple, over 400 developers, including the big names like Adobe, Macromedia and Microsoft, have committed to delivering over 1200 applications built specifically for MacOS X (known as carbonised applications). A complete listing of applications built for Mac OS X is available at;

http://guide.apple.com/macosxlist.html

Mac OS X will officially ship on Saturday March 24, 2001 for US$129. It will ship as the standard pre-installed Mac OS on new machines by mid year.

New Power Macintosh G4’s

Jobs next set of announcements centred around the “Digital Audio” Power Macintosh G4 systems.

There were five models announced, including four single processor units starting at 466Mhz ranging up to the fastest ever G4 at 733MHz. A single dual processor model was announced as an optional Build To Order (BTO) configuration with the 533MHz model.

A new digital audio sound system featuring built-in amplifier for support of multiple audio output capabilities and Apple Pro Speakers based on powerful Harman Kardon technology providing a frequency range of 70 hertz to 20 kilohertz was also included on the new motherboard, hence the “Digital Audio” designation.

The 466 and 533MHz (including the Dual Processor) models are shipping now and the top two models will ship in February.

All models come standard with

• CD-Rewriteable Drive, except the “Ultimate” 733MHz model which comes with a DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive
• Five slots; one 4x AGP and four 64-bit PCI
• 133Mhz system bus with up to 1GB throughput
• Built-in Digital Audio Output and Amplifier
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 56K internal modem
• AirPort Ready
• Firewire and USB Ports
• Up to 4 internal hard drive bays

Pre-bundled software includes;

• Mac OS 9.1
• iTunes
• iMovie 2
• QuickTime 4
• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Outlook Express
• Netscape Communicator
• Palm Desktop
• FAXstf

Fast – $3,695.00

• 466MHz PowerPC G4
• 1MB L2 cache
• 128MB SDRAM memory
• 30GB Ultra ATA drive
• CD-Read/Write Drive
• RAGE 128 Pro Graphics

Faster – $4,595.00

• 533MHz PowerPC G4
• 1MB L2 cache
• 128MB SDRAM memory
• 40GB Ultra ATA drive
• CD-Read/Write Drive
• nVidia GeForce2 MX

Fastest – $5,849.00

• 667MHz PowerPC G4
• 256K L2 & 1MB L3 cache
• 256MB SDRAM memory
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive
• CD-Read/Write Drive
• nVidia GeForce2 MX

Ultimate – $7,495.00

• 733MHz PowerPC G4
• 256K L2 & 1MB L3 cache
• 256MB SDRAM memory
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive
• nVidia GeForce2 MX
• DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive

CD-Rewriteable Drive & Disc Burner

Apple have finally come to the party and now include a CD-Rewriteable drive as standard in all their Power Macintosh G4 systems (except the 733Mhz system which has a DVD-R drive, see below for more details)

Part of the new CD-R options is CD-Burning software integrated in to the Finder. Basically you insert a blank CDR and Finder recognises this fact and asks you to “prepare” the disk and you drag and drop files on to the CDR icon on the desktop. When you are finished, you eject the disk and the Finder asks if you want to “burn” the disk (write the data to the CD). It’s that simple.

When the audience started applauding after Jobs demonstrated this feature he responded “Why are you clapping? This is the way it should be?”

Disc Burner currently requires an Apple CD-R drive and MacOS 9.1. Support for third party CD Burners are expected within 90 days.

Apple’s Future Vision

After the G4 and CDR announcements, Jobs moved on discussing the future vision of Apple – Jobs believes that we are entering the third stage of the Personal Computer evolution. The first been the productivity era (Word Processing, Spreadsheets and for Apple Desktop Publishing), the second been the Internet Era, with the emerging third been the “Digital Lifestyle” era.

While other PC vendors see the PC market as declining, Jobs sees the Macintosh becoming the “Digital Hub” of households and business controlling smaller specialised digital devices like CD Players, DVD Drives and PDA’s. He also believes that software like iMovie adds ten times the value to a Digital Camcorder and thus that software packages like this for other other devices will increase their value and useability as well.

Jobs believes that we are entering the third stage of the Personal Computer evolution – The Digital Lifestyle

iTunes

In light of Apple’s new “Digital Hub” focus, Jobs announced iTunes, a software “jukebox” and radio tuner, which is based on the popular SoundJam MP application by Casady & Green.

It allows users to “rip” tracks from CD’s (import and convert to MP3). This process is accelerated when using a Power Mac G4 with Velocity Engine and there is no limits on the number of tracks that can be imported.

With iTunes you can organise, sort and listen to MP3s, audio CDs and internet radio stations. If you have one of the new Apple CDR machines, you can also create your custom audio CDs, simply and easily by just drag and dropping. In line with Apple’s new focus on becoming a “digital hub” you can interface to download or delete tracks from popular portable MP3 players like the Rio.

The best news of all – iTunes is a free download from Apple. It requires Mac OS 9.0.4 or Mac OS 9.1 (Currently it does not run under Mac OS X Public Beta) and may be copied from the Software folder on your personal iTools disk (if you have one setup) or from Apple’s web site http://www.apple.com.au/itunes

As Jobs said, “Apple has done what Apple does best – make complex applications easy, and make them even more powerful in the process. iTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution.”

From a personal perspective as one who never previously took a huge interest in the booming MP3 or Internet Radio industries, iTune has certainly sparked an interest in these areas for me.

“Apple has done what Apple does best – make complex applications easy, and make them even more powerful in the process,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

Superdrive, iDVD & DVD Studio Pro

In a single statement that clearly shows the immense influence he now welds at Apple, Jobs introduced another application – iDVD, which allows you to take your iMovie, or other video footage, and burn it to a DVD-R, that can then be viewed on your regular “tabletop” DVD player.

In the past this process was both difficult and expensive with quality hardware solutions costing in excess of $10,000 and software solutions were just too slow. With the use of the G4’s Velocity Engine, Apple have improved the software compression and encodeing process so that it now only takes two hours to get the video footage ready, rather than twenty five hours it would have taken previously. Also the cost has been dropped to an affordable level as both the hardware (CD-RW/DVD-R Superdrive) and software (iDVD) now comes bundled with the 733Mhz G4 all for $7,495.

The Superdrive is new device, developed by Pioneer, which can read and write both CDs and DVDs. On the DVD writing side, it handles industry standard 4.7Gig DVD-R disks, which hold an hour of high quality video.

Also introduced was DVD Studio Pro, which is intended to complement Final Cut Pro and allows more advanced features over iDVD like previewing the end product in real time, work with up to 99 video tracks, multiple language tracks, customise DVDs with slide shows, motion menus from Photoshop layered files and add interactive links to the web. At time of writing, Australian pricing and availability hadn’t been announced, but it will be shipping in the US late January and has a RRP of US$999, so my guess is to expect it to be here in Australia by March for a cost of about $1,995.

iDVD was introduced by Jobs as “the completion of a dream” he has had for several years

PowerBook G4

In typical Jobs fashion he left the best until last and introduced it with his traditional “And one last thing” – The new PowerBook G4.

For notebook lovers the PowerBook G4 now offer the most appeal to all market segments – as Jobs said it now has “Power and Sex”.

The “Power” comes from the inclusion of a G4 processor, the slot loading DVD-ROM drive, and the extra wide 15.2″ screen. The “Sex Appeal” comes from; the size, only 1″ thin; the weight, approx 2.1kgs; and the look, pure titanium case.

Jobs compared the PowerBook G4 with the popular Sony Viao sub-notebook and for the US$50 price difference in the Viao’s favour, the PowerBook beat it hands down. Having played with my flatmates’ Viao, which he only purchased a fortnight ago, I tend to agree with Jobs – The PowerBook G4 is much better value with the processing power (faster and cooler), looks (sexer), size (smaller) and more featured (built-in DVD-ROM – The Viao has NO built-in media and we have already had to re-install Windows ME twice on the Viao, over a network)

I think the PowerBook G4 is going to be a best seller for Apple, as it has the size and weight of a sub-notebook, but truly has the power of a desktop.

Standard Features on all three models

• PowerPC G4 processor
• 1″ thin
• 5.3 pounds (approx 2.1kgs)
• Slot load DVD-ROM w/DVD-Video
• 5 hour battery
• 15.2″ mega-wide TFT XGA display
• 8MB video memory
• 10/100BASE-T Ethernet
• 56K internal modem
• Two USB ports
• One FireWire port
• Pure Titanium case
• Airport ready

Fast – $5,495.00

• 400MHz PowerPC G4
• 1MB L2 cache
• 128MB SDRAM memory
• 10GB Ultra ATA drive

Faster – $7,495.00

• 500MHz PowerPC G4
• 1MB L2 cache
• 256MB SDRAM memory
• 20GB Ultra ATA drive

Fastest – $8,555.00

• 500MHz PowerPC G4
• 1MB L2 cache
• 256MB SDRAM memory
• 30GB Ultra ATA drive
• Extra AC adapter
• Extra battery

Included software on all three models

• Mac OS 9
• iTunes
• iMovie 2
• QuickTime 4
• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Outlook Express
• Netscape Communicator
• Palm Desktop
• FAXstf

I think the PowerBook G4 is going to be a best seller for Apple

MacOS 9.1 Update

While no mention of the Mac OS 9.1 update was made by Jobs during his keynote, Apple posted the last expected up date to the “Classic Mac OS” to its’ web site as 15 separate segments of 4.6megs each, resulting in nearly 70megs of updater to download. Alternatively, the Mac OS 9.1 Update can be purchased by registered users of Mac OS 9.x on CD for only $40, which includes postage and handling. For those who purchased a new Apple system on or after January 9, 2001 and didn’t get MacOS 9.1 pre-installed, check out Apples’ web site for further information on how to get the update for free on CD. A full retail version of Mac OS 9.1 for those upgrading from earlier pre-9.x versions can be purchased for $162 from your dealer or The Apple Store

The Mac OS 9.1 Update download was located at

Just make sure you download the correct version you’re your existing Mac OS 9 version. Most people here in Australia will need to download the International-English version, NOT THE US version.

See Apple at AUSOM

Sean Mitchell from Apple Computer Australia has just returned from San Francisco and will be at the February meeting to tell us all about the various announcements and he hopes to be able to bring a few of the goodies, including a PowerBook G4. The Main Meeting starts at 12:00 noon, so get in early so you grab a seat nice and close to the front to see it up close.

Sean Mitchell from Apple Computer Australia has just returned from San Francisco and will be at the February meeting to tell us all about the various announcements. The Main Meeting starts at 12:00 noon

Credits

Graphics used in the article were supplied courtesy Apple Computer, Inc.

Unless otherwise stated all prices listed in this article are in Australian dollars and include GST. While prices were believed to be correct at time of writing, they are provided as an indication only and we suggest you contact the relevant supplier(s) to confirm current pricing and conditions.

A copy of this article, with colour images, is available from my website, https://www.nicholaspyers.com.

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