I could be putting random coincidence together, but I have a sneaky feeling Woz is fiddling around at Apple again. A few years ago he started a company that was doing just this sort of thing. Then at the iPod event the other week, Jobs takes the time to point him out to everybody, while everybody knows he always shows up at those things. Now this. It could be he's put together an idea for the company and they're playing with it now.
Hmmm, maybe I am just an optimist here, but this could easily be related to the new Apple TV. No one knows for sure yet if the new Apple TV has a new iOS foundation, or if it is still OS X/Front Row...but if they haven't rewritten it with iOS yet, the smart money says that they will at some point.
And, I don't see any good reason why they would make the jump to iOS on the ATV if they didn't plan to give it widget/app functionality. This seems like the logical path. Personally I think the new ATV already has iOS inside, and just a skin of the old front row until they are ready to unleash the full transition.
I think iOS is on the ATV, mainly for apps...
During the Closing preso, of GoogleTV, this week, the presenter added, almost as an afterthought. that you'll be able to run Android apps on GTV.
Either Steve missed a great opportunity at the ATV announce or he was laying a trap-- we shall see!
There is actually something to that. Checking movie times and using a calculator, as well as other tasks, are much easier for me to complete by grabbing my iPhone even whilst in front of my Mac.
i?ve been using MobileMe Notes sync for that task. It?s pretty much instant.
PS: I wish Apple would fix that damn bug in Notes that makes some notes randomly disappear from all locations with no discernible pattern. It?s basically an email draft in nature so it shouldn?t be that hard. In fact, on my Mac I?ve been copying them in Mail as email drafts to protect against this very annoying and stupid bug.
I could be putting random coincidence together, but I have a sneaky feeling Woz is fiddling around at Apple again. A few years ago he started a company that was doing just this sort of thing. Then at the iPod event the other week, Jobs takes the time to point him out to everybody, while everybody knows he always shows up at those things. Now this. It could be he's put together an idea for the company and they're playing with it now.
That would be unbelievably cool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
What would he consult on...? Laser pointers?
I think, though he left Apple, and gets no salary, that WOZ is still carried as Apple employee #1.
As to consulting-- how about intelligent, programmable IR remote controls like:
This was a hand-held Apple ][c, circa 1988.
It had a modem, timers, LCD display, wake-ups, an SDK on the Mac...
AIR, it cost $79. I think I still have a couple in storage...
You people are seriously confused about what a widget is and what iOS is. Almost every app on iOS qualifies as a "widget" when you use the functional definition, and *all* web apps on iOS qualify no matter what definition you use. Web OS could easily be described as a widget OS.
A widget is just a small custom (usually) web-based app that does one thing and one thing only and has a simple unique interface for that purpose.
Talking about whether Android has widgets, or iOS does, or who had them first is just plain silly and kind of misses the point entirely.
Well, Apple definitely had them first, but not on iOS. Think DAs.
There are better ways to do most things (like quick calculations in spotlight), but for some simple tasks, I find it indispensable, such as fetching lyrics for songs automatically, displaying countdown timers and iStat. Does anybody use webclip? I personally have a few BBC radio stations and a couple of top ten article lists from my favourite news sites. Saves time checking the site if there's nothing I'm interested in... I find I hop around between safari, chrome and the fox a lot, spending a little time in each until one crashes under a specific load, or I require the features of another, then swith to another (eg. DivX streaming). Dashboard and web clips give me the constant connection I desire, especially when I'm concerned about stability.
During the Closing preso, of GoogleTV, this week, the presenter added, almost as an afterthought. that you'll be able to run Android apps on GTV.
Either Steve missed a great opportunity at the ATV announce or he was laying a trap-- we shall see!
.
What kind of trap would he be setting by not mentioning apps in his presentation after Google had already showed their cards? Not saying you're wrong, I just want to see where you're coming from on this.
What kind of trap would he be setting by not mentioning apps in his presentation after Google had already showed their cards? Not saying you're wrong, I just want to see where you're coming from on this.
1) Steve's preso was days before the scheduled google preso...
2) Most rumors, correctly, expected an ATV announcement.
3) Many of these, expected that apps and a SDK would be part of the ATV announcement
So, maybe. Steve, knowing that a GTV preso was coming, decided not to open his kimono, before he saw what GTV was going to reveal about apps and games,
If, GTV made played, the app card, Steve could play the trump card (demo a high profile game app on ATV).
The Epic Citadel part of Apple's preso had the distinctive sound of one shoe dropping...
Google didn't really play their app card... they just bluffed that they were holding it.
By not playing his trump card, Steve saves it for when it can be more effective-- a second round of ATV PR when he does.
Edid: Add to this, the odd 4-week lead time for ATV availability... Sure, it could be that Apple wants to measure early demand to accuratelt schedule production-- but they had to commit to an initial production run.
So:
1) the Hardware wasn't ready
2) the software wasn't ready
3) the hardware/software examination will reveal something that Apple doesn't want to reveal yet
When ATV ships, in late Sept or early Oct, Apple could announce availability of apps, and a minor minor (4.1.x) iOS upgrade to support them-- the ATV SDK is the iOS SDK with new APIs for ATV.
They could be using the 4 weeks to finish "priming the pump" with selected developers implementing ATV versions of their "showcase" iOS apps.
1) Steve's preso was days before the scheduled google preso...
2) Most rumors, correctly, expected an ATV announcement.
3) Many of these, expected that apps and a SDK would be part of the ATV announcement
So, maybe. Steve, knowing that a GTV preso was coming, decided not to open his kimono, before he saw what GTV was going to reveal about apps and games,
If, GTV made played, the app card, Steve could play the trump card (demo a high profile game app on ATV).
The Epic Citadel part of Apple's preso had the distinctive sound of one shoe dropping...
Google didn't really play their app card... they just bluffed that they were holding it.
By not playing his trump card, Steve saves it for when it can be more effective-- a second round of ATV PR when he does.
Edid: Add to this, the odd 4-week lead time for ATV availability... Sure, it could be that Apple wants to measure early demand to accuratelt schedule production-- but they had to commit to an initial production run.
So:
1) the Hardware wasn't ready
2) the software wasn't ready
3) the hardware/software examination will reveal something that Apple doesn't want to reveal yet
When ATV ships, in late Sept or early Oct, Apple could announce availability of apps, and a minor minor (4.1.x) iOS upgrade to support them-- the ATV SDK is the iOS SDK with new APIs for ATV.
They could be using the 4 weeks to finish "priming the pump" with selected developers implementing ATV versions of their "showcase" iOS apps.
Or, maybe I am just waaaay out there, on this one
.
I have to say, I really like the way you think my friend, and I hope you are completely correct. I already want a new AppleTV even without any more functionality at launch, but some last minute icing on the cake would be awesome.
I doubt that Apple is simply talking about extending the Dashboard paradigm here. "Widgets" are generally understood to be small, easily invoked, single purpose applications.
One of the selling points of Android is the ability to deploy widgets on the home screen, something similar for iOS would be welcome. Making it cross-platform might enable some interesting bits of integration, although nothing really springs to mind.
I realize it's a tad old of a thread, but here it is.
I don't know of anything cross-platform for mobile, but Konfabulator (now Yahoo Widgets) is a cross-platform widget system for Mac and Windows, the same widgets work for both platforms. Operationally, the OS X dashboard was very similar, the most notable change to the concept was Apple added the overlay pane to show and hide them.
I realize it's a tad old of a thread, but here it is.
I don't know of anything cross-platform for mobile, but Konfabulator (now Yahoo Widgets) is a cross-platform widget system for Mac and Windows, the same widgets work for both platforms. Operationally, the OS X dashboard was very similar, the most notable change to the concept was Apple added the overlay pane to show and hide them.
Well that and the fact Konfabulator has historically been a nasty resource hog. Is it any better, or still same-old same-old inefficiently coded Java?
Comments
I could be putting random coincidence together, but I have a sneaky feeling Woz is fiddling around at Apple again. A few years ago he started a company that was doing just this sort of thing. Then at the iPod event the other week, Jobs takes the time to point him out to everybody, while everybody knows he always shows up at those things. Now this. It could be he's put together an idea for the company and they're playing with it now.
That would be unbelievably cool.
What would he consult on...? Laser pointers?
Hmmm, maybe I am just an optimist here, but this could easily be related to the new Apple TV. No one knows for sure yet if the new Apple TV has a new iOS foundation, or if it is still OS X/Front Row...but if they haven't rewritten it with iOS yet, the smart money says that they will at some point.
And, I don't see any good reason why they would make the jump to iOS on the ATV if they didn't plan to give it widget/app functionality. This seems like the logical path. Personally I think the new ATV already has iOS inside, and just a skin of the old front row until they are ready to unleash the full transition.
I think iOS is on the ATV, mainly for apps...
During the Closing preso, of GoogleTV, this week, the presenter added, almost as an afterthought. that you'll be able to run Android apps on GTV.
Either Steve missed a great opportunity at the ATV announce or he was laying a trap-- we shall see!
.
Yeah, but you need WiFi copy paste.
.
Yeah, but you need WiFi copy paste.
.
i?ve been using MobileMe Notes sync for that task. It?s pretty much instant.
PS: I wish Apple would fix that damn bug in Notes that makes some notes randomly disappear from all locations with no discernible pattern. It?s basically an email draft in nature so it shouldn?t be that hard. In fact, on my Mac I?ve been copying them in Mail as email drafts to protect against this very annoying and stupid bug.
I could be putting random coincidence together, but I have a sneaky feeling Woz is fiddling around at Apple again. A few years ago he started a company that was doing just this sort of thing. Then at the iPod event the other week, Jobs takes the time to point him out to everybody, while everybody knows he always shows up at those things. Now this. It could be he's put together an idea for the company and they're playing with it now.
That would be unbelievably cool.
What would he consult on...? Laser pointers?
I think, though he left Apple, and gets no salary, that WOZ is still carried as Apple employee #1.
As to consulting-- how about intelligent, programmable IR remote controls like:
This was a hand-held Apple ][c, circa 1988.
It had a modem, timers, LCD display, wake-ups, an SDK on the Mac...
AIR, it cost $79. I think I still have a couple in storage...
http://www.ktronicslc.com/core.html
.
You people are seriously confused about what a widget is and what iOS is. Almost every app on iOS qualifies as a "widget" when you use the functional definition, and *all* web apps on iOS qualify no matter what definition you use. Web OS could easily be described as a widget OS.
A widget is just a small custom (usually) web-based app that does one thing and one thing only and has a simple unique interface for that purpose.
Talking about whether Android has widgets, or iOS does, or who had them first is just plain silly and kind of misses the point entirely.
Well, Apple definitely had them first, but not on iOS. Think DAs.
Does anybody use Widgets?
There are better ways to do most things (like quick calculations in spotlight), but for some simple tasks, I find it indispensable, such as fetching lyrics for songs automatically, displaying countdown timers and iStat. Does anybody use webclip? I personally have a few BBC radio stations and a couple of top ten article lists from my favourite news sites. Saves time checking the site if there's nothing I'm interested in... I find I hop around between safari, chrome and the fox a lot, spending a little time in each until one crashes under a specific load, or I require the features of another, then swith to another (eg. DivX streaming). Dashboard and web clips give me the constant connection I desire, especially when I'm concerned about stability.
Does anybody use webclip? I personally have a few BBC radio stations and a couple of top ten article lists from my favourite news sites. Saves time.
I find this dedicated widget better in every way than using WebClip Widgets for the Flash-based BBB Radio website.
I think iOS is on the ATV, mainly for apps...
During the Closing preso, of GoogleTV, this week, the presenter added, almost as an afterthought. that you'll be able to run Android apps on GTV.
Either Steve missed a great opportunity at the ATV announce or he was laying a trap-- we shall see!
.
What kind of trap would he be setting by not mentioning apps in his presentation after Google had already showed their cards? Not saying you're wrong, I just want to see where you're coming from on this.
What kind of trap would he be setting by not mentioning apps in his presentation after Google had already showed their cards? Not saying you're wrong, I just want to see where you're coming from on this.
1) Steve's preso was days before the scheduled google preso...
2) Most rumors, correctly, expected an ATV announcement.
3) Many of these, expected that apps and a SDK would be part of the ATV announcement
So, maybe. Steve, knowing that a GTV preso was coming, decided not to open his kimono, before he saw what GTV was going to reveal about apps and games,
If, GTV made played, the app card, Steve could play the trump card (demo a high profile game app on ATV).
The Epic Citadel part of Apple's preso had the distinctive sound of one shoe dropping...
Google didn't really play their app card... they just bluffed that they were holding it.
By not playing his trump card, Steve saves it for when it can be more effective-- a second round of ATV PR when he does.
Edid: Add to this, the odd 4-week lead time for ATV availability... Sure, it could be that Apple wants to measure early demand to accuratelt schedule production-- but they had to commit to an initial production run.
So:
1) the Hardware wasn't ready
2) the software wasn't ready
3) the hardware/software examination will reveal something that Apple doesn't want to reveal yet
When ATV ships, in late Sept or early Oct, Apple could announce availability of apps, and a minor minor (4.1.x) iOS upgrade to support them-- the ATV SDK is the iOS SDK with new APIs for ATV.
They could be using the 4 weeks to finish "priming the pump" with selected developers implementing ATV versions of their "showcase" iOS apps.
Or, maybe I am just waaaay out there, on this one
.
1) Steve's preso was days before the scheduled google preso...
2) Most rumors, correctly, expected an ATV announcement.
3) Many of these, expected that apps and a SDK would be part of the ATV announcement
So, maybe. Steve, knowing that a GTV preso was coming, decided not to open his kimono, before he saw what GTV was going to reveal about apps and games,
If, GTV made played, the app card, Steve could play the trump card (demo a high profile game app on ATV).
The Epic Citadel part of Apple's preso had the distinctive sound of one shoe dropping...
Google didn't really play their app card... they just bluffed that they were holding it.
By not playing his trump card, Steve saves it for when it can be more effective-- a second round of ATV PR when he does.
Edid: Add to this, the odd 4-week lead time for ATV availability... Sure, it could be that Apple wants to measure early demand to accuratelt schedule production-- but they had to commit to an initial production run.
So:
1) the Hardware wasn't ready
2) the software wasn't ready
3) the hardware/software examination will reveal something that Apple doesn't want to reveal yet
When ATV ships, in late Sept or early Oct, Apple could announce availability of apps, and a minor minor (4.1.x) iOS upgrade to support them-- the ATV SDK is the iOS SDK with new APIs for ATV.
They could be using the 4 weeks to finish "priming the pump" with selected developers implementing ATV versions of their "showcase" iOS apps.
Or, maybe I am just waaaay out there, on this one
.
I have to say, I really like the way you think my friend, and I hope you are completely correct. I already want a new AppleTV even without any more functionality at launch, but some last minute icing on the cake would be awesome.
I doubt that Apple is simply talking about extending the Dashboard paradigm here. "Widgets" are generally understood to be small, easily invoked, single purpose applications.
One of the selling points of Android is the ability to deploy widgets on the home screen, something similar for iOS would be welcome. Making it cross-platform might enable some interesting bits of integration, although nothing really springs to mind.
I realize it's a tad old of a thread, but here it is.
I don't know of anything cross-platform for mobile, but Konfabulator (now Yahoo Widgets) is a cross-platform widget system for Mac and Windows, the same widgets work for both platforms. Operationally, the OS X dashboard was very similar, the most notable change to the concept was Apple added the overlay pane to show and hide them.
I realize it's a tad old of a thread, but here it is.
I don't know of anything cross-platform for mobile, but Konfabulator (now Yahoo Widgets) is a cross-platform widget system for Mac and Windows, the same widgets work for both platforms. Operationally, the OS X dashboard was very similar, the most notable change to the concept was Apple added the overlay pane to show and hide them.
Well that and the fact Konfabulator has historically been a nasty resource hog. Is it any better, or still same-old same-old inefficiently coded Java?