Apple Tablet News: It’s the New MacBook(s)

I’ve got news regarding the perennial Sasquatch or Loch Ness of tech.  Apple IS releasing a tablet.  But they are releasing more than one.

Apple’s slate/tablet will not be an additional device category for Apple.  It (they) will be replacing MacBook/Pro line.

But what’s even more interesting is that they are moving over for a wider implementation of their application store.

Apparently the company is enamored with how they’ve been able to transition their iTunes system to accommodate applications.  They’ve seen revenue in the form of even the most ridiculous applications.   Now apparently Steve sees an enormous potential behind having a application store for more of their machines.  As a result of their (internally perceived) success they are beginning a program of transitioning all Mac applications to an app store-like system.  They’ll be able to take advantage of more revenues, and perhaps most worryingly, they’ll be able to lock down the consumer experience more.

That’s why the company has recently sped up it’s approval process.  They’re gearing up to transition a lot of existing mac applications over to the App Store.

This also seems to explain why the company has not added BluRay on their systems as of yet.  They are seeking for more ways than one to control what goes on their devices.

It appears apple may be making the same mistakes it made some time ago, closing in their system while the competition is about opening up.  They don’t seem to mind that route though.  The company seems more concerned about controlling everything over market-share.  That could be fine if it was for the sake of a better experience.  But the App Store has got to be, from a consumer/developer perspective, one of the worst creations the company has ever been behind.

1/18/2009 Update:  Reports are circling the web today that the 22 inch iMac will also be getting a touch screen, if not this January, then in May with the next update.  It appears more and more that Apple is heading this route of changing over their entire line.

Apple TV: So close, yet so far

I’ve recently been bitten by the urge to jump on the HDTV bandwagon.  Cable and FiOS are both very expensive options, in the neighborhood of $60/month with a DVR.

One of my friends dumped cable and went 100% AppleTV.  Even if I don’t save money going that route, I’d at least get to keep the shows after watching them.  I wrote down a list of the shows I watch and poked around the iTunes store to see what’s available.  I was pretty disappointed with what I found:

Many shows don’t have a season pass option, meaning you have to pay full price for each episode – and I think that also means you have to seek them out each week; iTunes won’t grab them for you.  Most shows I looked are not available in HD, but I realize this was a recent update so I won’t complain about that too much.  ”NOVA,” an excellent documentary program that I can watch for free on PBS.org is $4.99 an episode on iTunes – and that isn’t even in HD!

On top of all that, I think the iTunes store interface is fairly convoluted, TV series don’t seem to have their own landing pages, and clicking on some of the breadcrumbs doesn’t result in any navigation.

I don’t know who’s dragging their feet here, Apple or the networks, but it’s bad enough that I’m going to stick with cable!

iTunes 5002 Error, can’t Update Your Apps?

If you have a problem updating your apps because iTunes refuses to go to the updated on the App store there’s a little fix that may help.

Got to your applications section of iTunes.  

Then right click on any app and select show in finder.  This will pull up your entire apps directory including prior versions.

Select everything in the directory and drag it into iTunes.

iTunes will warn you for many of your apps that your importing an older version or something to that effect, decline to import the older version.  This may take a bit of clicking.

Once all the apps have been added the links back to iTunes should be established and you’ll be able to click on the regular link to update the apps as you’d expect.