Apple WWDC in 24 Hours
And so, the day is finally at hand. The day is finally at hand. In about 24 hours, it will be time for the 2008 Apple Wordwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco. I, for one, would love to be there - being both a computer geek both by hobby and by profession and an avid Apple user. The big excitement for me is the expected announcement of the second generation iPhone. I've been wanting to replace my aging Motorola RAZR for a while now - having bought it when they first came out. I originally thought about the Blackberry, but the Apple approach to cellphones is far more elegant, in my opinion. However, I simply couldn't justify the expense of the first generation iPhone when it lacked so many features that should be standard on a $500 smartphone (voice recognition, GPS, Exchange support, and 3G connectivity). I'm hoping that will change tomorrow as the new iPhone is expected to have all that and more. If they have everything the rumors are indicating - one of them will so be mine. :D
Additionally, changes to the Macbook lines are supposed to be announced, and it is speculated that we might hear about a (official) tablet version of the Mac. It is widely rumored that we might hear about a new version of Mac OS - 10.6.
This, I must say, rather grinds my gears a tad as 10.6 is expected to finally kill off the PPC platform by being an Intel only build. I sit here typing this on a G4 PowerBook, and use a G5 PowerMac at church for my video and audio editing. Thus, both of those systems are precluded from upgrades to 10.6. Of course, this was to be expected eventually, I suppose.
Still, Apple is developing a bad habit of very short product lifetimes. I suppose this is ok for the consumer who is either content to continue using depreciated software and for the consumer who is content to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of everything for the sake of having the latest technology (which, is generally where I fall). However, I also get to see this from the enterprise side of the fence. With Mac OS 10.6 released - 10.4 will be no longer be supported. At work - I have one year old iMacs running 10.4. iMacs that would no longer be supported by Apple. Short software lifespans are the one thing that to me, make Apple systems less than appealing in an enterprise environment. A problem that Apple should somehow address with something other than purchasing a maintenance plan. Still, I love Apple products despite the many ways in which Apple annoys me. Here's to hoping for a new version of the iPhone tomorrow. And no, I'm not interested in waiting for Google's Android - which I doubt will ever be as good as the iPhone. Speaking of Google, I spent a while earlier going back through memory lane with Google's "April Fools Day" hoaxes. One thing I love about Google is their ability to have a sense of humour.
Note the British spelling of humour. Not the American spelling of "humor" which is almost always tied in some way to a bodily function, but the British spelling - "humour." More along the lines of intelligent wit - something that has become lost in the American comedic world of flatulence jokes and f-bombs. Humour - humor with wit... end rant.
Back on topic, Chris... Google's "April Fools Day" jokes have always been a favorite feature of the Internet. Among my favorites are 2002's Pigeon Rank and 2005's Google Gulp (of which my favorite flavor was the Sugar-free Radical). 2007's Google Paper and Google TiSP get honorable mentions. Google TiSP, while still funny, loses points with me for its bathroom humor (see above rant). Google Romance, also gets an honorable mention as Google's answer to eHarmony. Particularly funny is the option to create multiple profiles. I'm giving Google Romance an honorable mention primarily because I'm miffed they didn't actually do it. Just think - if Google could do what they've done with search engines - couldn't they make dating much easier?
Check them all out yourself. There's a list of Google jokes on Wikipedia.
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