...It also kinda sorta matches with Apples previous job opening for a engineer to make a portable video device. Everyone thought that it was the rumored vPod. But it could be a video camera too.
Mobile video? how about isight integrated into laptops
Since this thread is about new products from the "left field", I'd say a 2.5" hard-drive based 100GB Video camera. It records 70 hours of DV or hundreds of hours of MPEG-4. You can immediately edit the video without downloading to the computer first. No rewinding. Faster transfer to the computer and Apples legendary ease of use. It will also play all your of your iTunes music and serve as a storage for digital photos.
This makes sense because of the technical expertise that Apple has in video. Think about it: Which iApps don't have a Apple-brand DLD? iPhoto & iMovie. I can't imagine any Apple digital camera that can compete with giants like Canon and Sony. But a hard drive-based video camera is thinking different enough to maybe change the industry. It has been done before in the professional world. Could Apple make the first consumer hard drive based camera? (I don't think anybody has done it before. But even if someone did, the technology wasn't mature enough... until now.)
It also kinda sorta matches with Apples previous job opening for a engineer to make a portable video device. Everyone thought that it was the rumored vPod. But it could be a video camera too.
The only potential problem: Battery Life.
Battery life? Well, it depends on the form factor of the device. I believe that batteries like those in the iBook or Powerbook may be able to provide decent autonomy to the system, say 1h30 or so...
If it's not enough, just put in a larger battery. After all, DV cams are quite big, so there's room for putting such things as big batteries. Why not fuel cell, too...
Anyway, great idea! If Apple releases such a product, I'll order one immediately!
That thing is not only totally impossible to make because of heat issues + G5 = 9 fans, or 4 fans, + a water cooler, but it's so ridiculous looking I don't think Apple would ever bother to consider it. Needless to say again, but I will - heat issues would end this already.
It also is much less attractive than the cube, and I don;t think that thing broke even. Apple probably took a loss on that product.
I already know the reasons why there is not, and probably never will be a multiple button mouse. Trust me, I'm not holding my breath or even pissed at Apple about it. I'm doing just fine with a third party solution.
This thread is about stuff coming from "left field" and as such is nothing more than whimsical predictions of things that never will be. I should have put a smilie or some such emoticon after my original comment.
The idea of the hard-drive based camcorder is good. Each press of the trigger should result in an iMovie clip file... possibly in a quicktime format?
No tapes, no disks, no NTSC/PAL/SECAM. Just shoot until it's full and then upload to iMovie. Simple and inexpensive. I'd buy it over a camcorder any day.
Later, Apple ports iMovie over to Windows so people can use the instantly-popular iCam with Windows.
Tie-in with WWDC? Quicktime 7 will feature an improved scripting language and API, based on AppleScript.
The idea of the hard-drive based camcorder is good.
I disagree for two reasons. First, a HD-based camcorder is a bad, bad idea. It is no where near as easy to move gigs of data off a HD as it is to pop in a blank DV tape, even with Firewire 800. Tape is cheap, reliable and an infinately better archival medium.
Second, Apple couldn't possibly compete in the camera market. Companies like Sony and Canon are way out in front and Apple won't waste time/money trying to catch up.
Introducing the dPod. An Apple e-book. A svelt 5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches wide by 0.5 inches deep. Utilizes a 7 inch E Ink display, batteries last for 10,000 pages, and 50000 books are available at the iTunes store.
The e-book market is lackluster, devices are horrible, Apple has experienced distribution capabilities from the online iTunes store and iPod sales, and has acceptable DRM. It's a market that they can make a dent in with a good product.
I disagree for two reasons. First, a HD-based camcorder is a bad, bad idea. It is no where near as easy to move gigs of data off a HD as it is to pop in a blank DV tape, even with Firewire 800. Tape is cheap, reliable and an infinately better archival medium.
Second, Apple couldn't possibly compete in the camera market. Companies like Sony and Canon are way out in front and Apple won't waste time/money trying to catch up.
Bad idea or not it's coming. The only limitation is size of the drives and codecs. Once tape is gone you will see a proliferation of recording types. Optical(Sony XDCAM) Secure Digital(Panny P2) and Hard Drive based (Kinetta.com).
MXF is the key What MXF does is gives us a way to capture to different media with rich metadata and then "Ingest" at higher speeds than tape into a new IP based workflow. Right now it takes an expensive deck and time to get everything online. The future will have faster workflows and MXF as the interoperable format. Note Kormac's predictions about MXF it's important.
The second issue you raised is interesting. Check out the kinetta.com site. What you will find is a "Garage Project" where this inventor has created his camera with off the shelf tools. You get a good lens and link it to an output device that can capture uncompressed to a bank of hard drives. The benefit is speed and quality. For space considerations the chroma sampling of tape devices is reduced to 4:1:1 for DV and 4:2:2 for higher end Pro gear(yes I know there are variances). The kinetta does 4:4:4 if you have the horsepower.
What we're seeing is the potential for a very disruptive technology. While Sony, Panasonic, JVC and other protect their megabuck cameras you will see the proliferation of homegrown products come out utilizing todays faster technology. I think it's exciting and democratizing and it's all based on computer technology getting faster and cheaper.
Tape is almost dead..far too many concessions must be made for tape. The industry is moving on.
It is no where near as easy to move gigs of data off a HD as it is to pop in a blank DV tape, even with Firewire 800. Tape is cheap, reliable and an infinately better archival medium.
Transfer speed is actually faster than tape. It's much easier and faster to copy from hard drive-to-hard drive than to copy from tape-to-hard drive. Plus, for simple editing, you probably won't even need to transfer the data to your computer. You can edit directly on the tape in which case transfer times will be zero. I understand that some sort of mass-storage will be needed in the long-run because you can't keep a lifetimes worth of video stored on your hard disk. HD-DVD or Blue-ray will probably fill that gap nicely but in the meantime, DVD-R will do a decent job.
Quote:
Second, Apple couldn't possibly compete in the camera market. Companies like Sony and Canon are way out in front and Apple won't waste time/money trying to catch up. [/B]
Apple doesn't need to catch up. They've been involved in nonlinear video production since the beginning. Software-wise, they are top-notch. The only mechanical part which they don't have extensive experience is the lense/zoom/focus/aperture which they can easily outsource. If don't think that's possible, remember that Sony gets a lot of its lense mechanisms from Carl Zeiss.
I don't know of anybody who takes more than 70 hours when going on a weekend trip/wedding/party.
I would certainly hope not, since there are only 48 hours in a typical weekend. (...and who shoots that much video on a trip? Hell, I usually don't even fill two DV tapes, that's less than two hours... Did you mean 70 minutes?)
One thing that counts against HD camcorders is the fact that you lose your cheap backup. The fact that a miniDV tape costs less than $5 makes it easy to just keep the tape as a backup... at $120 for a 40GB 1.8in hard drive, it's much harder to justify keeping the disk as a backup.
I think the $/GB has to come WAY down before this becomes a reality for consumers, at least. Perhaps it's feasible in the professional space...
Apple should be looking to grow by either developing its existing brands or creating some new ones.
C u r r e n t B r a n d s
1) Server hardware
XServe - This is a new market - let's see what Apple do next.
2) Workstation / Desktop hardware
G5 - Again we have to watch to see if Apple can develop market share here. Likely in specific domains - for instance....
3) Film & TV production
Final Cut
Shake
I think Apple can go further by introducing standards for HD production. The industry needs "digital film" standards. A removable hard drive with a display might be handy. :-)
Should buy Alias (and let Pixar animate in Maya!)
4) Consumer Desktop
iMac
eMac
This is a big market and a bad market. Apple is not doing well by market share. The winners have very low cost products and thin margins. The iMac in particular looks like a poor deal. An ultra low-cost Mac may not make a big profit - but would be a good way of spreading the word.
5) Displays
Cinema Displays
Needs to overhaul the product range. PC users lust after these things, but Apple limits its market share by only offering ADC products. Even Powerbook users can't use these things without a damn adapter.
6) Laptops
iBook
Powerbook
Apple seem to be doing really well - offering good products that are competitively priced.
N e w B r a n d s
The new brands are where Apple can make a big splash with much less competition
7) Music
iPod
iTunes
A completely new market and complete domination for Apple. New markets=good.
8) Consumer videoconferencing / VoIP
iSight
iChat
Could be a massive market if tackled vigorously. Not sure Apple wants this one. Apple should buy Skype now!
9) Utility devices
Airport Express
Digital hub products
Small cheap single purpose devices - like AirportExpress
I reckon this is big market - but not sure if anyone gets it.
Should buy TiVo.
B a d I d e a s
10) Phones, Tablets, PDAs and other "cool ideas"
Apple could certainly design cool items in these fields. But why would it want to? The PDA market is dead. The phone market is saturated and so on. Leave others to bleed.
So in conclusion - what should Apple do:
Launch Cheapest Mac ever.
Offer most powerful mac ever. Multiprocessor uber-G5 Workstation.
Apple could certainly design cool items in these fields. But why would it want to? The PDA market is dead. The phone market is saturated and so on. Leave others to bleed.
GOOD POINT!!! People keep saying apple *should* do this and that... these products don't bring in a large revenue... as you said they are saturated with bleeding hearts... why come into this market late? It will only hurt them.
If apple wants to drive up sales why dont they advertise OSX? it is a cool os and a lot of people pay for the cool factor (see nike, Harley Davidson, and hell, even Apple iPod)
beond that, Apple isnt phased by all of these stupid attacs and viruses, that in itsself is huge.
and iLife included? thats a topper.
not to mention all fo the non-ilife-iapps
they would sell themselves if apple would but buy the time.
If apple wants to drive up sales why dont they advertise OSX? it is a cool os and a lot of people pay for the cool factor (see nike, Harley Davidson, and hell, even Apple iPod)
beond that, Apple isnt phased by all of these stupid attacs and viruses, that in itsself is huge.
and iLife included? thats a topper.
not to mention all fo the non-ilife-iapps
they would sell themselves if apple would but buy the time.
I have said repeatedly that the OS alone is worth $1k. OS X has made my life in developing so much easier. I no longer have to boot between windows and linux. I no longer have to deal with stupid kernel setups in Linux, no longer have to screw with security issues with Windows (ahem spyware).
The only thing I really can't do in OS X is C# Winform development. Which is fine with me because I hate that language any ways .
Everything that comes with OS X is worth so much... time and money. It has seriously saved me huge headaches. Once end-users see how fancy, cool, and stable it is... I'm sure they would understand. Many don't know the difference between Mac OS and Windows... apple could shed some light on it and perhaps many would see why apple charges so much more.
Comments
Originally posted by hmurchison
Yes Apple should come out and announce that the iMac is dead. And then announce the new Powermac Mini.
Plastic casing Single Proc
AGP/2 PCI slots
Matching 17" monitor optional
Price is $1199 to 1599
God i hopr you are right...
Originally posted by BeigeUser
...It also kinda sorta matches with Apples previous job opening for a engineer to make a portable video device. Everyone thought that it was the rumored vPod. But it could be a video camera too.
Mobile video? how about isight integrated into laptops
That might work on the PB models.
Originally posted by BeigeUser
Since this thread is about new products from the "left field", I'd say a 2.5" hard-drive based 100GB Video camera. It records 70 hours of DV or hundreds of hours of MPEG-4. You can immediately edit the video without downloading to the computer first. No rewinding. Faster transfer to the computer and Apples legendary ease of use. It will also play all your of your iTunes music and serve as a storage for digital photos.
This makes sense because of the technical expertise that Apple has in video. Think about it: Which iApps don't have a Apple-brand DLD? iPhoto & iMovie. I can't imagine any Apple digital camera that can compete with giants like Canon and Sony. But a hard drive-based video camera is thinking different enough to maybe change the industry. It has been done before in the professional world. Could Apple make the first consumer hard drive based camera? (I don't think anybody has done it before. But even if someone did, the technology wasn't mature enough... until now.)
It also kinda sorta matches with Apples previous job opening for a engineer to make a portable video device. Everyone thought that it was the rumored vPod. But it could be a video camera too.
The only potential problem: Battery Life.
Battery life? Well, it depends on the form factor of the device. I believe that batteries like those in the iBook or Powerbook may be able to provide decent autonomy to the system, say 1h30 or so...
If it's not enough, just put in a larger battery. After all, DV cams are quite big, so there's room for putting such things as big batteries. Why not fuel cell, too...
Anyway, great idea! If Apple releases such a product, I'll order one immediately!
Originally posted by windowsblowsass
i hope for a g5 mini like this one www.realitydistortionfield.com
That thing is not only totally impossible to make because of heat issues + G5 = 9 fans, or 4 fans, + a water cooler, but it's so ridiculous looking I don't think Apple would ever bother to consider it. Needless to say again, but I will - heat issues would end this already.
It also is much less attractive than the cube, and I don;t think that thing broke even. Apple probably took a loss on that product.
http://www.x3d.com/broadcastlicensing/index.html
EDIT-
Intel just pulled out! It would give apple an edge in CAD and other fields
http://news.com.com/Intel%27s+3D+div...?tag=nefd.lede
Originally posted by Kickaha
Yup, definitely needs to be a FAQ item.
Here's why not a two or three button mouse.
I already know the reasons why there is not, and probably never will be a multiple button mouse. Trust me, I'm not holding my breath or even pissed at Apple about it. I'm doing just fine with a third party solution.
This thread is about stuff coming from "left field" and as such is nothing more than whimsical predictions of things that never will be. I should have put a smilie or some such emoticon after my original comment.
-Gator
No tapes, no disks, no NTSC/PAL/SECAM. Just shoot until it's full and then upload to iMovie. Simple and inexpensive. I'd buy it over a camcorder any day.
Later, Apple ports iMovie over to Windows so people can use the instantly-popular iCam with Windows.
Tie-in with WWDC? Quicktime 7 will feature an improved scripting language and API, based on AppleScript.
Originally posted by cubist
The idea of the hard-drive based camcorder is good.
I disagree for two reasons. First, a HD-based camcorder is a bad, bad idea. It is no where near as easy to move gigs of data off a HD as it is to pop in a blank DV tape, even with Firewire 800. Tape is cheap, reliable and an infinately better archival medium.
Second, Apple couldn't possibly compete in the camera market. Companies like Sony and Canon are way out in front and Apple won't waste time/money trying to catch up.
Introducing the dPod. An Apple e-book. A svelt 5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches wide by 0.5 inches deep. Utilizes a 7 inch E Ink display, batteries last for 10,000 pages, and 50000 books are available at the iTunes store.
The e-book market is lackluster, devices are horrible, Apple has experienced distribution capabilities from the online iTunes store and iPod sales, and has acceptable DRM. It's a market that they can make a dent in with a good product.
I disagree for two reasons. First, a HD-based camcorder is a bad, bad idea. It is no where near as easy to move gigs of data off a HD as it is to pop in a blank DV tape, even with Firewire 800. Tape is cheap, reliable and an infinately better archival medium.
Second, Apple couldn't possibly compete in the camera market. Companies like Sony and Canon are way out in front and Apple won't waste time/money trying to catch up.
Bad idea or not it's coming. The only limitation is size of the drives and codecs. Once tape is gone you will see a proliferation of recording types. Optical(Sony XDCAM) Secure Digital(Panny P2) and Hard Drive based (Kinetta.com).
MXF is the key What MXF does is gives us a way to capture to different media with rich metadata and then "Ingest" at higher speeds than tape into a new IP based workflow. Right now it takes an expensive deck and time to get everything online. The future will have faster workflows and MXF as the interoperable format. Note Kormac's predictions about MXF it's important.
The second issue you raised is interesting. Check out the kinetta.com site. What you will find is a "Garage Project" where this inventor has created his camera with off the shelf tools. You get a good lens and link it to an output device that can capture uncompressed to a bank of hard drives. The benefit is speed and quality. For space considerations the chroma sampling of tape devices is reduced to 4:1:1 for DV and 4:2:2 for higher end Pro gear(yes I know there are variances). The kinetta does 4:4:4 if you have the horsepower.
What we're seeing is the potential for a very disruptive technology. While Sony, Panasonic, JVC and other protect their megabuck cameras you will see the proliferation of homegrown products come out utilizing todays faster technology. I think it's exciting and democratizing and it's all based on computer technology getting faster and cheaper.
Tape is almost dead..far too many concessions must be made for tape. The industry is moving on.
Originally posted by Michael Grey
It is no where near as easy to move gigs of data off a HD as it is to pop in a blank DV tape, even with Firewire 800. Tape is cheap, reliable and an infinately better archival medium.
Transfer speed is actually faster than tape. It's much easier and faster to copy from hard drive-to-hard drive than to copy from tape-to-hard drive. Plus, for simple editing, you probably won't even need to transfer the data to your computer. You can edit directly on the tape in which case transfer times will be zero. I understand that some sort of mass-storage will be needed in the long-run because you can't keep a lifetimes worth of video stored on your hard disk. HD-DVD or Blue-ray will probably fill that gap nicely but in the meantime, DVD-R will do a decent job.
Second, Apple couldn't possibly compete in the camera market. Companies like Sony and Canon are way out in front and Apple won't waste time/money trying to catch up. [/B]
Apple doesn't need to catch up. They've been involved in nonlinear video production since the beginning. Software-wise, they are top-notch. The only mechanical part which they don't have extensive experience is the lense/zoom/focus/aperture which they can easily outsource. If don't think that's possible, remember that Sony gets a lot of its lense mechanisms from Carl Zeiss.
I don't know of anybody who takes more than 70 hours when going on a weekend trip/wedding/party.
I would certainly hope not, since there are only 48 hours in a typical weekend.
One thing that counts against HD camcorders is the fact that you lose your cheap backup. The fact that a miniDV tape costs less than $5 makes it easy to just keep the tape as a backup... at $120 for a 40GB 1.8in hard drive, it's much harder to justify keeping the disk as a backup.
I think the $/GB has to come WAY down before this becomes a reality for consumers, at least. Perhaps it's feasible in the professional space...
C u r r e n t B r a n d s
1) Server hardware
XServe - This is a new market - let's see what Apple do next.
2) Workstation / Desktop hardware
G5 - Again we have to watch to see if Apple can develop market share here. Likely in specific domains - for instance....
3) Film & TV production
Final Cut
Shake
I think Apple can go further by introducing standards for HD production. The industry needs "digital film" standards. A removable hard drive with a display might be handy. :-)
Should buy Alias (and let Pixar animate in Maya!)
4) Consumer Desktop
iMac
eMac
This is a big market and a bad market. Apple is not doing well by market share. The winners have very low cost products and thin margins. The iMac in particular looks like a poor deal. An ultra low-cost Mac may not make a big profit - but would be a good way of spreading the word.
5) Displays
Cinema Displays
Needs to overhaul the product range. PC users lust after these things, but Apple limits its market share by only offering ADC products. Even Powerbook users can't use these things without a damn adapter.
6) Laptops
iBook
Powerbook
Apple seem to be doing really well - offering good products that are competitively priced.
N e w B r a n d s
The new brands are where Apple can make a big splash with much less competition
7) Music
iPod
iTunes
A completely new market and complete domination for Apple. New markets=good.
8) Consumer videoconferencing / VoIP
iSight
iChat
Could be a massive market if tackled vigorously. Not sure Apple wants this one. Apple should buy Skype now!
9) Utility devices
Airport Express
Digital hub products
Small cheap single purpose devices - like AirportExpress
I reckon this is big market - but not sure if anyone gets it.
Should buy TiVo.
B a d I d e a s
10) Phones, Tablets, PDAs and other "cool ideas"
Apple could certainly design cool items in these fields. But why would it want to? The PDA market is dead. The phone market is saturated and so on. Leave others to bleed.
So in conclusion - what should Apple do:
Launch Cheapest Mac ever.
Offer most powerful mac ever. Multiprocessor uber-G5 Workstation.
Launch Home entertainment Mac/box
Stand alone Rendezvous videophone.
end-of-rant
Carni
Originally posted by Carniphage
B a d I d e a s
10) Phones, Tablets, PDAs and other "cool ideas"
Apple could certainly design cool items in these fields. But why would it want to? The PDA market is dead. The phone market is saturated and so on. Leave others to bleed.
GOOD POINT!!! People keep saying apple *should* do this and that... these products don't bring in a large revenue... as you said they are saturated with bleeding hearts... why come into this market late? It will only hurt them.
beond that, Apple isnt phased by all of these stupid attacs and viruses, that in itsself is huge.
and iLife included? thats a topper.
not to mention all fo the non-ilife-iapps
they would sell themselves if apple would but buy the time.
Originally posted by a_greer
If apple wants to drive up sales why dont they advertise OSX? it is a cool os and a lot of people pay for the cool factor (see nike, Harley Davidson, and hell, even Apple iPod)
beond that, Apple isnt phased by all of these stupid attacs and viruses, that in itsself is huge.
and iLife included? thats a topper.
not to mention all fo the non-ilife-iapps
they would sell themselves if apple would but buy the time.
I have said repeatedly that the OS alone is worth $1k. OS X has made my life in developing so much easier. I no longer have to boot between windows and linux. I no longer have to deal with stupid kernel setups in Linux, no longer have to screw with security issues with Windows (ahem spyware).
The only thing I really can't do in OS X is C# Winform development. Which is fine with me because I hate that language any ways
Everything that comes with OS X is worth so much... time and money. It has seriously saved me huge headaches. Once end-users see how fancy, cool, and stable it is... I'm sure they would understand. Many don't know the difference between Mac OS and Windows... apple could shed some light on it and perhaps many would see why apple charges so much more.