So, my thoughts on the new app in descending order of likelihood.
1) iBooks - A new desktop application that will allow you to read and buy books from the iBookstore, or even your own imported epub books. This will be especially geared toward students, with options such as highlighting, notes, bookmarks, multiple books open simultaneously, and integrated dictionary and thesaurus. You might even be able to write your own ebook within the app, and publish it right to the iBookstore.
2) iPaint - The paint and drawing app you've always wanted for the Mac. etc. etc. etc.
3) FaceTime - A long-shot because iChat is already integrated in the OS, not iLife; but including this in iLife will allow them to update/add it without having to wait for an OS revision.
It is very possible that iChat could leave the core OS to become part of iLife and include FaceTime. This would actually be good news as it would give people running on older Macs an upgrade path that doesn't include a new computer. You are probably right though, probably a long shot.
I don't think I buy into iMovie becoming a stand alone, Apple already sells a standalone video editing app.
Again, the only thing I can find missing there is books. It may not make sense, but it's the only logical answer I can fill in those blanks.
iBooks would be a great addition; but, let's say Apple wants us to be able to publish our own books, what app do they now make that is the most logical place to begin? Pages. Seems to me that they could add a few ePub templates to Pages and they would be there....maybe a conversion function that would convert a current Pages doc to an ePub doc...a little tricky because the ePub format doesn't support much formatting. Still, it seems that Pages would be the place to add ePub creation to.
I"m kind of thinking that it will be some sort of social networking App. I can't really say why other than it's the only thing ilife is missing. I guess they could do html 5 or an app builder, but I think that is probably beyond the consumer and could be integrated into an improved iweb.
On that note, I hope the iweb update is solid, because the template thing is BS. I know enough (and most users do) to build their own "look" we really want to use iweb as though it were the "backend" "CMS" (ie wordpress, joombla like features). Personally I don't have the time to fiddle around with the code for every text and picture update and I hate to bug my designers for every little thing on my personal portfolio page. For the business, I don't care so much, but they get annoyed and it takes forever because they have other jobs. LOL Reminds me of contractors who don't want to be bothered installing one electrical line or one new bit of plumbing. It's understandable though since they don't really make any money on an update.
Publish your own book or magazine? Sounds very 1990's DTP; kind of boring. Do consumers really want to make ebooks? Maybe a feature for an improved iweb if it's part of iLife. If it's part of iWork, then it would be pages. I don't see the need for a new app here. My guess is still social networking. iLife kind of defines social networking as in "my digital life". Just a guess.
I"m kind of thinking that it will be some sort of social networking App. I can't really say why other than it's the only thing ilife is missing. I guess they could do html 5 or an app builder, but I think that is probably beyond the consumer and could be integrated into an improved iweb.
On that note, I hope the iweb update is solid, because the template thing is BS. I know enough (and most users do) to build their own "look" we really want to use iweb as though it were the "backend" "CMS" (ie wordpress, joombla like features). Personally I don't have the time to fiddle around with the code for every text and picture update and I hate to bug my designers for every little thing on my personal portfolio page. For the business, I don't care so much, but they get annoyed and it takes forever because they have other jobs. LOL Reminds me of contractors who don't want to be bothered installing one electrical line or one new bit of plumbing. It's understandable though since they don't really make any money on an update.
That's another good guess. Perhaps Apple bought a social networking app/company recently that we are not aware of?
That's another good guess. Perhaps Apple bought a social networking app/company recently that we are not aware of?
Not that I can find, but then there's the "digital personal assistant" thing with SIRI, but that sounds like an add on to iWork too. and it's an iphone app Dammit. Weren't there some rumors about social networking for itunes a while back?
An integrated artificial intelligence agent that can carry out many simple repetitive tasks, basically anything that can be managed online, over the phone, or on your computer and integrated across all platforms.
This would be integration of the Siri acquisition into all products.
Example: You decide you need to tell the kids you'll pick them up 10 minutes later because you have to pick up a pizza first, on your way home. So you call up your iGuide? and simply tell it what needs to be done. It calls the kids (until it gets ahold of each one) and relays the message, and in the meantime it calls your pizza place with your order and gets an estimated time for pickup, with confirmation number. At the same time, iGuide? knows you'll be home soon based on your geo-location data, so it turns on the front porch light and cues up your favorite TV show on your AppleTV. iGuide? also knows you'll be out of town next month with the family and it has been scouring the web for low plane fare and interesting things to do in your destination city, with specials and coupons served up straight to your iPhone.
Apple iGuide?
Managing your digital life.
Just don't let that thing get a hold of your credit card.
That's another good guess. Perhaps Apple bought a social networking app/company recently that we are not aware of?
Found this though...
"Apple?s iGroup Initiative
Apple recently submitted a patent application for a social networking application called iGroups.
To be fair, this is really more than an application, but rather a social networking ecosystem. Oh boy, do we really need another one?
The basic idea is for users who are in close proximity to one another ? geographically speaking, to be able to connect in a somewhat ad-hoc manner.
Once a group of users are ?aware? of one another, a series of hand-shaking or token-passing takes place, enabling members of this newly formed network to communicate in a private and secure manner."
iPhoto: Manage your life photos, make book albums, cards, calendars, slideshows.
iMovie: Create home movies easily and share them on dvds or youtube.
Garageband: Create your music, learn how to play piano or guitar, add music to your iMovie.
iWeb: Gather all your content, publish on the web for all to see.
Mystery app: ______?
What do all apps have in common? How do apps benefit and integrate with each other? It has to be something simple and useful. It must not be something that can be included in the System OS (iChat). It must something that some OSX users do not have to require(Garageband vs. Logic Pro). Finally, it must something that already exist (as a pro app) that normal people would like to use. That would be the mystery app.
I like the surface idea for GarageBand, but when Google came up with its modular way for people to create their own apps, I thought, "That's what Apple would do."
In the tradition of Automator and creating your own widgets from webpages, I think Apple should come up with programming for the rest of us. Can iApps be put together like puzzle pieces? It seems that Apple has been doing that with developer environments for a while and while WebOS and Android have been able to evolve more efficient ways of coding programs, and Apple has been moving to the post-OS world via iOS, I would think this could be a compelling addition.
iWeb is going to change, hopefully to be more intuitive and modular, so why not open things up even more. If you can make movie editing easy with iMovie, I bet Apple could make iOS programming easy with iDev!!
It's a good idea, but making an iDev would leave many developers upset who have learned and use XCode and pay for a yearly developers license...
Anyway, Appomator already exists, its free to download, requires no programming knowledge and you can create an iphone app in a visual way very very easily.
Some good apps already created on the app store and I'm working on one for my company using it.
iPaint or iBrush would have an instant market. Imagine the power of Core Graphics properly used in a 64-bit graphics editor. wow! Photoshop for the rest of us and wouldnt Apple love to put one over on Adobe
To be fair, this is really more than an application, but rather a social networking ecosystem. Oh boy, do we really need another one?
The basic idea is for users who are in close proximity to one another ? geographically speaking, to be able to connect in a somewhat ad-hoc manner.
I think to be part of iLife, it needs to be something the whole family can use without an account. Iphoto can be linked to a mobileme account but doesn't have to be in order to still be useful. A social networking app would be something that would require a log in to be used. Not that it isn't a nice idea for an app, just doesn't seem like part of iLife.
-Finance App?... No way! That's not "fun" and iLife is supposed to be fun. Remember those commercials about how PCs were used to do math and boring work, and Mac's were used to have fun!!!
-iBooks?... No way! iBooks is more an Apple store like iTunes. iTunes is not a part of iLife and needs to be available to both Mac and PC to make enough sales.
-FaceTime?... No way! iChat already exists and will simply be upgraded (maybe rebranded) to include FaceTime on all web-cam equipped Macs. (sorry Mac Minis & Pros) It doesn't belong in iLife either.
-Hypercard? (whatever that is) or iApps?... No way! iLife is not for programmers and wanna-be developers. It's for Mom and Dad, Little Sis and Bro. iLife has no room for the geek factor. :P
-iPaint?... Possible but not likely. Even though MOST users would never touch it, a "paint" program could be viewed as the visual arts equivalent of GarageBand (also rarely touched by most). But Apple (and SJ himself) always prefer music over everything else, so that's the main reason GarageBand was even included anyways. (also note that GarageBand is an exception to the whole "i"name thing - so our new iLife app doesn't have to begin with "i" either)
-iDVD going "away" - yet another signal that Apple is leading us all towards Cloud storage/access to all our media. Perhaps the new App will relate to that somehow.(thinking of a free version of MobileMe and Apple's mystery data center...)
I'm leaning towards the mystery app being something "social" (sick of that word already...) and/or related to accessing all your media in the Cloud. Apple would be most likely targeting the needs of the younger generation in iLife; Looking to where the "social puck" is headed.
I think to be part of iLife, it needs to be something the whole family can use without an account. Iphoto can be linked to a mobileme account but doesn't have to be in order to still be useful. A social networking app would be something that would require a log in to be used. Not that it isn't a nice idea for an app, just doesn't seem like part of iLife.
True, but wouldn't you just have separate users at the system level if you are on the same computer? "iGroup" does sound like a good idea though. Like I said iLife does kind of bring to mind "my digital life". What's the point of the content if you can't share it? I don't know. Apple always proves me wrong anyway.
PaBut iLife? The only thing I see that they could do is something with Mobile Me, as to what I can't imagine as it's a service, not some software. Perhaps they could tighten the integration of the existing apps to MobileMe and have webapps/iphone apps etc for iPhoto and such that can be accessed from other than the Mac they are stored on?
Maybe iGame if that hasn't been suggested already. It is a game platform that can play iPad/iPhone games on a Mac. Sort of like the simulator but only one function, game apps. Some games would be better suited than others since there is no gyroscope or accelerometer. Maybe a new "Magical" mouse could have that built in.
Maybe they could make iPhoto more transparent. You know, maybe where you could see your pictures in a folder in finder under the name you save them as rather than some mystical number.
I would assume that if the user could muck with the photos in the finder then iPhoto might not be able to keep track of everything, including: faces, maps, mobileme galleries, non-destructive edits, etc.
If I need to edit a photo in something like Photoshop, I just drag the photo to the desktop, edit in PS, and if desired, drag it back into iPhoto.
Comments
Hypercard 4.0?
Although, iHypercard is a little awkward to pronounce.
not any harder than iGarageBand!
Seriously, HyperCard would be a good choice with a companion app on the iPad.
.
So, my thoughts on the new app in descending order of likelihood.
1) iBooks - A new desktop application that will allow you to read and buy books from the iBookstore, or even your own imported epub books. This will be especially geared toward students, with options such as highlighting, notes, bookmarks, multiple books open simultaneously, and integrated dictionary and thesaurus. You might even be able to write your own ebook within the app, and publish it right to the iBookstore.
2) iPaint - The paint and drawing app you've always wanted for the Mac. etc. etc. etc.
3) FaceTime - A long-shot because iChat is already integrated in the OS, not iLife; but including this in iLife will allow them to update/add it without having to wait for an OS revision.
It is very possible that iChat could leave the core OS to become part of iLife and include FaceTime. This would actually be good news as it would give people running on older Macs an upgrade path that doesn't include a new computer. You are probably right though, probably a long shot.
I don't think I buy into iMovie becoming a stand alone, Apple already sells a standalone video editing app.
Again, the only thing I can find missing there is books. It may not make sense, but it's the only logical answer I can fill in those blanks.
iBooks would be a great addition; but, let's say Apple wants us to be able to publish our own books, what app do they now make that is the most logical place to begin? Pages. Seems to me that they could add a few ePub templates to Pages and they would be there....maybe a conversion function that would convert a current Pages doc to an ePub doc...a little tricky because the ePub format doesn't support much formatting. Still, it seems that Pages would be the place to add ePub creation to.
On that note, I hope the iweb update is solid, because the template thing is BS. I know enough (and most users do) to build their own "look" we really want to use iweb as though it were the "backend" "CMS" (ie wordpress, joombla like features). Personally I don't have the time to fiddle around with the code for every text and picture update and I hate to bug my designers for every little thing on my personal portfolio page. For the business, I don't care so much, but they get annoyed and it takes forever because they have other jobs. LOL Reminds me of contractors who don't want to be bothered installing one electrical line or one new bit of plumbing. It's understandable though since they don't really make any money on an update.
iBooks would be a great addition; ...
Publish your own book or magazine? Sounds very 1990's DTP; kind of boring. Do consumers really want to make ebooks? Maybe a feature for an improved iweb if it's part of iLife. If it's part of iWork, then it would be pages. I don't see the need for a new app here. My guess is still social networking. iLife kind of defines social networking as in "my digital life". Just a guess.
I"m kind of thinking that it will be some sort of social networking App. I can't really say why other than it's the only thing ilife is missing. I guess they could do html 5 or an app builder, but I think that is probably beyond the consumer and could be integrated into an improved iweb.
On that note, I hope the iweb update is solid, because the template thing is BS. I know enough (and most users do) to build their own "look" we really want to use iweb as though it were the "backend" "CMS" (ie wordpress, joombla like features). Personally I don't have the time to fiddle around with the code for every text and picture update and I hate to bug my designers for every little thing on my personal portfolio page. For the business, I don't care so much, but they get annoyed and it takes forever because they have other jobs. LOL Reminds me of contractors who don't want to be bothered installing one electrical line or one new bit of plumbing. It's understandable though since they don't really make any money on an update.
That's another good guess. Perhaps Apple bought a social networking app/company recently that we are not aware of?
That's another good guess. Perhaps Apple bought a social networking app/company recently that we are not aware of?
Not that I can find, but then there's the "digital personal assistant" thing with SIRI, but that sounds like an add on to iWork too. and it's an iphone app Dammit. Weren't there some rumors about social networking for itunes a while back?
How about "iGuide"?
An integrated artificial intelligence agent that can carry out many simple repetitive tasks, basically anything that can be managed online, over the phone, or on your computer and integrated across all platforms.
This would be integration of the Siri acquisition into all products.
Example: You decide you need to tell the kids you'll pick them up 10 minutes later because you have to pick up a pizza first, on your way home. So you call up your iGuide? and simply tell it what needs to be done. It calls the kids (until it gets ahold of each one) and relays the message, and in the meantime it calls your pizza place with your order and gets an estimated time for pickup, with confirmation number. At the same time, iGuide? knows you'll be home soon based on your geo-location data, so it turns on the front porch light and cues up your favorite TV show on your AppleTV. iGuide? also knows you'll be out of town next month with the family and it has been scouring the web for low plane fare and interesting things to do in your destination city, with specials and coupons served up straight to your iPhone.
Apple iGuide?
Managing your digital life.
Just don't let that thing get a hold of your credit card.
That's another good guess. Perhaps Apple bought a social networking app/company recently that we are not aware of?
Found this though...
"Apple?s iGroup Initiative
Apple recently submitted a patent application for a social networking application called iGroups.
To be fair, this is really more than an application, but rather a social networking ecosystem. Oh boy, do we really need another one?
The basic idea is for users who are in close proximity to one another ? geographically speaking, to be able to connect in a somewhat ad-hoc manner.
Once a group of users are ?aware? of one another, a series of hand-shaking or token-passing takes place, enabling members of this newly formed network to communicate in a private and secure manner."
Full article here...
Linux Mag
Fill in the blanks:
iLife = Photos, Movies, Music, Web, ______
iPhoto: Manage your life photos, make book albums, cards, calendars, slideshows.
iMovie: Create home movies easily and share them on dvds or youtube.
Garageband: Create your music, learn how to play piano or guitar, add music to your iMovie.
iWeb: Gather all your content, publish on the web for all to see.
Mystery app: ______?
What do all apps have in common? How do apps benefit and integrate with each other? It has to be something simple and useful. It must not be something that can be included in the System OS (iChat). It must something that some OSX users do not have to require(Garageband vs. Logic Pro). Finally, it must something that already exist (as a pro app) that normal people would like to use. That would be the mystery app.
What? Compressor? Motion? Color? LiveType? SoundTrackPro?
1) I rather like the HyperCard Idea -- but it fits more into iWork.
2) an enhanced Photo Booth app
3) iMobile -- the ability to rune your iOS apps on the desktop
4) iMaps -- the ability to create and integrate maps with other apps (more iWork)
5) Bento -- simple database to keep track of things
.
I like the surface idea for GarageBand, but when Google came up with its modular way for people to create their own apps, I thought, "That's what Apple would do."
In the tradition of Automator and creating your own widgets from webpages, I think Apple should come up with programming for the rest of us. Can iApps be put together like puzzle pieces? It seems that Apple has been doing that with developer environments for a while and while WebOS and Android have been able to evolve more efficient ways of coding programs, and Apple has been moving to the post-OS world via iOS, I would think this could be a compelling addition.
iWeb is going to change, hopefully to be more intuitive and modular, so why not open things up even more. If you can make movie editing easy with iMovie, I bet Apple could make iOS programming easy with iDev!!
It's a good idea, but making an iDev would leave many developers upset who have learned and use XCode and pay for a yearly developers license...
Anyway, Appomator already exists, its free to download, requires no programming knowledge and you can create an iphone app in a visual way very very easily.
http://www.appomator.com/
Some good apps already created on the app store and I'm working on one for my company using it.
iPaint or iBrush would have an instant market. Imagine the power of Core Graphics properly used in a 64-bit graphics editor. wow! Photoshop for the rest of us and wouldnt Apple love to put one over on Adobe
Just don't let that thing get a hold of your credit card.
Blast it! That was the first thing they wanted!
To be fair, this is really more than an application, but rather a social networking ecosystem. Oh boy, do we really need another one?
The basic idea is for users who are in close proximity to one another ? geographically speaking, to be able to connect in a somewhat ad-hoc manner.
I think to be part of iLife, it needs to be something the whole family can use without an account. Iphoto can be linked to a mobileme account but doesn't have to be in order to still be useful. A social networking app would be something that would require a log in to be used. Not that it isn't a nice idea for an app, just doesn't seem like part of iLife.
-iBooks?... No way! iBooks is more an Apple store like iTunes. iTunes is not a part of iLife and needs to be available to both Mac and PC to make enough sales.
-FaceTime?... No way! iChat already exists and will simply be upgraded (maybe rebranded) to include FaceTime on all web-cam equipped Macs. (sorry Mac Minis & Pros) It doesn't belong in iLife either.
-Hypercard? (whatever that is) or iApps?... No way! iLife is not for programmers and wanna-be developers. It's for Mom and Dad, Little Sis and Bro. iLife has no room for the geek factor. :P
-iPaint?... Possible but not likely. Even though MOST users would never touch it, a "paint" program could be viewed as the visual arts equivalent of GarageBand (also rarely touched by most). But Apple (and SJ himself) always prefer music over everything else, so that's the main reason GarageBand was even included anyways. (also note that GarageBand is an exception to the whole "i"name thing - so our new iLife app doesn't have to begin with "i" either)
-iDVD going "away" - yet another signal that Apple is leading us all towards Cloud storage/access to all our media. Perhaps the new App will relate to that somehow.(thinking of a free version of MobileMe and Apple's mystery data center...)
I'm leaning towards the mystery app being something "social" (sick of that word already...) and/or related to accessing all your media in the Cloud. Apple would be most likely targeting the needs of the younger generation in iLife; Looking to where the "social puck" is headed.
Should be fun!
I think to be part of iLife, it needs to be something the whole family can use without an account. Iphoto can be linked to a mobileme account but doesn't have to be in order to still be useful. A social networking app would be something that would require a log in to be used. Not that it isn't a nice idea for an app, just doesn't seem like part of iLife.
True, but wouldn't you just have separate users at the system level if you are on the same computer? "iGroup" does sound like a good idea though.
PaBut iLife? The only thing I see that they could do is something with Mobile Me, as to what I can't imagine as it's a service, not some software. Perhaps they could tighten the integration of the existing apps to MobileMe and have webapps/iphone apps etc for iPhoto and such that can be accessed from other than the Mac they are stored on?
That's a good idea!
--iLife xx comes with each Mac purchase
--iLife comes with 1 year MobileMe
--Existing Mobile get free iLife upgrade
--New iLife purchases get 1 year MobileMe
.
An animation application fits this...
Well, Motion is a pretty cool standalone app within FC Studio.
It could be simplified and delivered as part of iLife xx.
Actually, it would integrate quite nicely with iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand.
.
Maybe they could make iPhoto more transparent. You know, maybe where you could see your pictures in a folder in finder under the name you save them as rather than some mystical number.
I would assume that if the user could muck with the photos in the finder then iPhoto might not be able to keep track of everything, including: faces, maps, mobileme galleries, non-destructive edits, etc.
If I need to edit a photo in something like Photoshop, I just drag the photo to the desktop, edit in PS, and if desired, drag it back into iPhoto.