Doesn't anyone else think that pico projector is cool then? I know it's probably old news to some of you but the last time I saw it, it was just a prototype and I didn't know if it would stay that way for a long time. Conventional projectors are big bulky fragile items with expensive bulbs. Surely this deserves it's place in the honours list?
From your dismay, I'm guessing that you figure this thing is a passive cable. It's not. It's a small box with digital video conversion componentry in it, plus digital audio broken out to a mini plug, plus USB for power.
As was discussed at length when the 27" iMac was released, the Mini DisplayPort input on the iMac doesn't take HDMI or DVI signals natively, so those signals must be converted before they can be displayed.
This thing is actually among the cheaper solutions, and the same price as the Dr. Bott box, which doesn't do audio or USB power.
This is speculation since I can't seem to find detailed specs, but the audio out minijack is on the same side as the HDMI port, not next to the mDP port where it belongs. Also, without USB-out so 5.1 channel audio from a Blu-ray disc won't be possible. 2-channel audio is all that the mini-jack can output.
I notice that as well, and now I'm realizing that because I originally followed the link in the article to the cable adapter instead of the converter, I'm conflating the specs on those two things. Does the converter even do audio? Looks to be a straight HDMI/mDP box.
Not sure how they intend that cable adapter to work, although the picture could be misleading-- but no matter what, there would need to be a mini at either end to work with Apple's stuff.
Quote:
What they do need to add is audio out through DisplayPort so users can have one single cable for audio and video over this superior interface.
Agreed. Apple's implementation of mDP so far is funky, and if they're planning to move to Light Peak they may never fix it.
Quote:
They also need to enable the data. DP can output USB at 750Mbps. That is 50% faster than USB2.0. I'd like to see an ACD with a single cable to enable video, audio and the USB hub. Scratch the USB hub through DP, I'd rather that be a USB3.0 hub which means a seperate USB cable off the ACD.
Again, I'd wager they just stick with what they're doing until it's commercially viable to change to Light Peak. I just hope they implement that to the full spec and stick with it for a while. I have a bucket of Apple display interconnect adapters as it is. If they're going to be changing it up all the time they could at least give us as much functionality per iteration as possible.
I notice that as well, and now I'm realizing that because I originally followed the link in the article to the cable adapter instead of the converter, I'm conflating the specs on those two things. Does the converter even do audio? Looks to be a straight HDMI/mDP box.
I think you're right. What I was calling the mini-audio jack is likely the power input, which makes sense. You should be able to run optical audio to the Mac's optical audio port just fine to get 5.1.
This doesn't seem like a great convertor for the price but I wish Apple didn't even include the video-in option until they were able to make it support HDMI signaling in and audio. Obviously people were going to want to hook game consoles and other media center appliances to it.
I wonder how the GPU was altered to support this feature. If it's even possible to support the HDMI signaling and audio after the fact through a driver/OS update. Do we even know if the image gets scaled to fit the screen or stay centered with a black border since the max resolution is less than the iMac's display?
Quote:
Agreed. Apple's implementation of mDP so far is funky, and if they're planning to move to Light Peak they may never fix it.
Again, I'd wager they just stick with what they're doing until it's commercially viable to change to Light Peak. I just hope they implement that to the full spec and stick with it for a while. I have a bucket of Apple display interconnect adapters as it is. If they're going to be changing it up all the time they could at least give us as much functionality per iteration as possible.
I have doubts about the speed in which LightPeak will arrive. Even if Apple adopts it out of the gate, I'd think it will still just be a single port at first, possibly replacing only FW on Macs. I don't expect to see LightPeak controllers to first appear for at least a year. Is it even ratified yet?
I think you're right. What I was calling the mini-audio jack is likely the power input, which makes sense. You should be able to run optical audio to the Mac's optical audio port just fine to get 5.1.
Yeah, that seems to be the expectation. Still, given the price of the box, the fact that you have to supply your own HDMI, mDP and optical audio cabling is not great.
Quote:
This doesn't seem like a great convertor for the price but I wish Apple didn't even include the video-in option until they were able to make it support HDMI signaling in and audio. Obviously people were going to want to hook game consoles and other media center appliances to it.
Yeah, it seems kind of confounding, even for Apple, to put a video in on your most expensive iMac and then engineer it so that it's only useful as an external monitor for your MacBook Pro.
Given the cost of external converter boxes I guess I could sort of see the decision not to include such hardware, but at the very least they could have enabled sound (that goes for the mDP out as well).
Quote:
I wonder how the GPU was altered to support this feature. If it's even possible to support the HDMI signaling and audio after the fact through a driver/OS update. Do we even know if the image gets scaled to fit the screen or stay centered with a black border since the max resolution is less than the iMac's display?
I've wondered about doing the conversion in software as well, but my guess is that it's task that's well suited to hardware acceleration. Still, it seems like if you're using your iMac as a passive display, that leaves pretty much the entire processing power of the thing free to tackle on the fly conversations. I would think that would go for scaling as well.
Quote:
I have doubts about the speed in which LightPeak will arrive. Even if Apple adopts it out of the gate, I'd think it will still just be a single port at first, possibly replacing only FW on Macs. I don't expect to see LightPeak controllers to first appear for at least a year. Is it even ratified yet?
If that's true Apple really should at the very least enable audio in the next release of their mDP machines.
If that's true Apple really should at the very least enable audio in the next release of their mDP machines.
I've got my fingers crossed that the soon to be released pro Macs will have USB3.0. With the updates getting close to a year apart if they don't do it know they'll likely behind even cheap machines by the end of the year.
Asus has been making logic boards with USB3.0 on them for awhile now and Asus has been used by Apple before to make their logic boards, so I'm hoping that Asus' early foray into USB3.0 was because of Apple's need.
Apple clearly isn't supporting anything but USB for their iDevices so even if they want to forward FireWire or jump into LightPeak there are still going to be many generations and dozens of millions of iDevices that would benefit from USB3.0.
Was there even a single piece of Macintosh software in this list? I didn't see one, that's a little scary that the Macworld Expo's "Best of Show" awards don't include many Mac-centric products...
Mac's dead, its all about the iPhone OS now, just wait until we get the Pad Book to replace the Mac Book. It will be a revolutionary idea of having a real keyboard attached to the screen! </sarcasm>
Seriously though Quick Office is great, I'm quite impressed that its so easy to use and has beaten anything from Apple and Microsoft. Just a shame I have absolutely no way of getting a file from being an attachment in Mail into it to edit without the use of a computer, making it completely useless.
Kanex HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Connector - $150: This hardware allows users to connect an external device, such as a Blu-ray player, to Apple's new 27-inch iMac. Previously, only devices with a Mini DisplayPort output were capable.
Technically this is actually any device with DisplayPort signaling, which is devices with DP and mDP ports. This is an important distinction for the Dells and video cards with DP out on them. I'd hate someone to think they needed a $150 converter when they already have DP capable device.
1. Many people were surprised with the traffic. We were in the smaller Moscone South I believe so a lot of the booths were scaled down.
2. Apple wasn't taking up half a section with a humungous booth
3. Attendees were clogging the aisles so foot traffic was beyond good.
This was the Macworld that would seal the fate. The turnout could have been pathetic but in fact it exceeded expectation and the attendees that spoke on it said "I can see Apple products at the Apple stores...I'm here to see software, hardware and accessories.
I was working so I missed a lot of stuff but I was impressed with Kanto Speakers RYO system. It's a monitor system that integrates with the iPod ecosystem very well with a small Wifi receiver that lets you walk stream your music (I know Audio Engine has a similar dongle but this is much smaller) and the system comes with a wifi Subwoofer. Expensive at a grand for the trio but nice. The ball's in Audio Engine's court to ante up.
I'm looking forward to next year's show. Hopefully we'll see bigger booths and even more traffic and the return of some vendors.
What they do need to add is audio out through DisplayPort so users can have one single cable for audio and video over this superior interface.
They also need to enable the data. DP can output USB at 750Mbps. That is 50% faster than USB2.0. I'd like to see an ACD with a single cable to enable video, audio and the USB hub. Scratch the USB hub through DP, I'd rather that be a USB3.0 hub which means a seperate USB cable off the ACD.
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
Like many others, I waited impatiently outside MacWorld 2010 on Thursday until the doors opened. I've attended the last 14 shows. Like many others I spent around 1 1/2 hours rushing around becoming increasingly disappointed by the lack of offerings and smaller booth size of many of the exhibitors. I left on Thursday afternoon vowing to never return.
I did return though on Friday for a couple of hours and on Saturday again to gather additional information about products I had seen or wanted more information on. I didn't spend as much time at Macworld as usual because I just ran out of things to review, discover and explore, there were just not enough exhibitors.
After careful consideration I've concluded...
Companies like El Gato, LaCie, Adobe, Canon, Epson, Xerox, Kyocera and Filemaker all missed out on an incredible marketing opportunity for their products this year as did many other smaller companies that usually participate. In particular also, the numerous resellers who actually offer product at the show like Guitar Center and J&R and others, you missed a sales opportunity!! Personally, I purchased 4 new WD external drives instead of the rack mount LaCie's this year. WD impressed me, LaCIE ANNOYED ME with their no show (and I own 6 of their larger drives and three CD/DVD burners). I was also very impressed by those teeny tiny 16GB USB sticks from Verbatim, WOW... and the PRICE point was AWESOME!!!
I certainly missed the Microsoft giveaways terribly and their small booth was pretty pathetic, but then, they have no new product because they are mid cycle and doing yet another year of Office 2008 for the MAC in 2010 would have made them as much of a laughing stock as I think their tiny booth and silly characters handing out candy did... ON THE OTHER HAND, I SINCERELY applaud Microsoft for "being there", I look forward to next year when they will hopefully take a bigger booth and present their Office 2011 for MAC complete with full Outlook and enterprise exchange capability, and look forward, hopefully to lots of giveaways again. Stephanie, we really missed you and your presentations this year!! They, at least, showed up... others didn't, so KUDOS to Microsoft!!! KUDOS also to HP who turned up when Epson and Canon didn't. The booth was small and also pretty sparse, but at least they were there!
The foot traffic was annoying at times because everything was compressed to make it look more crowded... it would have been crowded had it not been so compressed as well. I was impressed with the attendance despite the lack of exhibitors. Either there's been no innovation this year for peripherals and accessories for the MAC, or a lot of companies lost out on this marketing opportunity, more fool you I say! I was happy to see something other than 500 iphone accessory peddlers as well!
MY true disdain is really reserved for APPLE at this point though. I rarely visited their HUGE display and frankly, everything they put on display there I can see at an Apple store. I always thought the Apple booth was just the physical embodiment of Steve's ego on display. Oh, don't get me wrong, he's a demi God... but that huge display was a stupid waste of space in my opinion and he was right in saying he didn't need it, he didn't. He should however have been there in some form!
Suggestions from me to APPLE and what is truly needed would include taking a smaller sized booth and JUST manning it with knowledgeable professionals from the Genius bars to answer questions, period. As others have said here, the products can be viewed at the Apple store, I prefer to ask questions about issues I'm having. APPLE could take a booth that is one third the size with no stage and simply present anything they want on the MacWorld main stage. This would satisfy all concerned and bring back a lot of vendors.
In summary, Despite my initial negativity I will be back again for a 16th year in San Francisco and more fool any vendor who doesn't get involved. KUDOS to MacWorld for having the balls to continue this exhibition.
One final word... I would have loved to have seen Memjet technology at Macworld this year. Their products are close to market and they are going to either be embraced by Canon, HP and Epson, or next year, someone like Brother Xerox etc. is going to come in with an inkjet using memjet technology and absolutely kick their asses with it... Len Lauer (former COO of Qualcomm) was recently appointed CEO of Memjet... so what about it Mr Lauer??? Isn't it time to present your technology at the next Macworld????? This is truly MAC worthy and technology we all can use, from the small to the large!!
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
Based on your argument Apple and everyone else should continue to use USB2.0 because that is what everyone is using now. Your view of how technology should work means that nothing would ever change because being first is a bad thing.
Not that Apple was the first to use the DisplayPort standard. That honour goes to Dell. Nvida and ATI are using it. It's better than DVI and HDMI, it's cheaper than DVI and HDMI, the mDP port standard is smaller then DVI and HDMI, and there is finally a single video-out port that is the same across all Macs that is backwards compatible with DVI/HDMI video signals.
I expect the reason why Kanex's box is useful (and expensive) is that it is compatible with HDCP, the High-Definition Content (aka Copy) Protection scheme which is mandated by Blu-Ray. Kanex's box speaks HDCP, and basically decrypts and strips HDCP from the signal so that you can play Blu-Ray movies (in addition to PS3 and XBox 360 games) on your iMac. In order to speak and/or strip HDCP, Kanex had to get an HDCP license and buy special HDCP chips.
I suspect there may also be a requirement that devices that remove HDCP cannot sell beneath a certain price, but it could just be the cost of the license and hardware.
One terrific thing about the Kanex box is since it does no complicated scaling (720p is exactly half the resolution of the iMac in each dimension, so fills the screen by making the pixels 4x larger), there is no lag! This means you should be able to play games that require precise timing, like music games (think Rock Band/Guitar Hero), fighting games (SoulCalibur, Street Fighter, etc.), and shooters (Halo, Resistance, etc..) I couldn't quite test this, however, since they were demonstrating Lego Batman (which did seem to work OK.)
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
I think your suggestion would preclude any leading-edge innovation.
That being said, I'd love to have five USB 3 ports that could be used for anything - network, display, hard drive, video input, whatever. At 5 Gbps, USB 3 already beats eSATA. And it's half the data rate of 10GbaseT Ethernet at a (hopefully much smaller) fraction of the cost.
One terrific thing about the Kanex box is since it does no complicated scaling (720p is exactly half the resolution of the iMac in each dimension, so fills the screen by making the pixels 4x larger), there is no lag! This means you should be able to play games that require precise timing, like music games (think Rock Band/Guitar Hero), fighting games (SoulCalibur, Street Fighter, etc.), and shooters (Halo, Resistance, etc..) I couldn't quite test this, however, since they were demonstrating Lego Batman (which did seem to work OK.)
The conversion from HDMI signaling to DisplayPort signaling will offer some lag. Whether or not it's negligible or not is another issue.
Overall, I'm not impressed with the box. I'm sure it maintains HDCP since it's outputting 1080p video but since it doesn't splice out the audio to a USB or optical audio port on the mDP port side I have to wonder if the audio timing will be an issue with some heavy video conversion since the audio will then have to come directly from the initial device to the iMac.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blecch
That being said, I'd love to have five USB 3 ports that could be used for anything - network, display, hard drive, video input, whatever. At 5 Gbps, USB 3 already beats eSATA. And it's half the data rate of 10GbaseT Ethernet at a (hopefully much smaller) fraction of the cost.
Apple is clearly supporting USB on all their iDevices, not FireWire, and LightPeak still hasn't been ratified so I'm hoping that the Asus logic board's with USB3.0 are a sign that Apple will be supporting them with their next pro Mac release.
Note that DisplayPort standard can also push USB data at speeds 1.5x that of USB2.0. Of course, Apple isn't supporting audio through DP so I see no reason to expect them to support data through DP, though it would be nice.
I'm not sure about the real world speed of USB3.0 over eSATA and Ethernet. Don't the latter two process data more quickly? Regardless, it's a moot point since only USB3.0 will be supplying power. (Yes, i know there is PoE but Apple won't be using it.)
Other things I'd like to see in the next Mac update:
Fixing the SATA issue with 3rd-party drives
SATA-III (6Gbps)
More & better SSD options
GPS chip with new Mac OS X and MobileMe featuers to utilize it
GSM-based 3G data card option for MacBook Air
Seamless switchable grpahics
10GbE
Removing of the ODD (not likely for another year or so. SSD's may have to get more feasible in cost and capacity that they can go with the 7mm height over the 9.5mm HDD)
Video out option on glass trackpad (not gonna happen)
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
I have noticed that Apple doesn't do it to "just be different". They do it because they know what is going to be the next forefront. They don't seem to just do things because everyone else is doing it. It sucks in the beginning because you have to buy adapters or buy new stuff all together, but, everyone else follows suit eventually because it eventually proves to be better in the long run. Apple is a very forward thinking company where everyone else seems to live in the now and "just settle".
Comments
From your dismay, I'm guessing that you figure this thing is a passive cable. It's not. It's a small box with digital video conversion componentry in it, plus digital audio broken out to a mini plug, plus USB for power.
As was discussed at length when the 27" iMac was released, the Mini DisplayPort input on the iMac doesn't take HDMI or DVI signals natively, so those signals must be converted before they can be displayed.
This thing is actually among the cheaper solutions, and the same price as the Dr. Bott box, which doesn't do audio or USB power.
Bazinga!
Bazinga!
Would I be wrong by assuming you are a fan of The Big Bang Theory?
This is speculation since I can't seem to find detailed specs, but the audio out minijack is on the same side as the HDMI port, not next to the mDP port where it belongs. Also, without USB-out so 5.1 channel audio from a Blu-ray disc won't be possible. 2-channel audio is all that the mini-jack can output.
I notice that as well, and now I'm realizing that because I originally followed the link in the article to the cable adapter instead of the converter, I'm conflating the specs on those two things. Does the converter even do audio? Looks to be a straight HDMI/mDP box.
Not sure how they intend that cable adapter to work, although the picture could be misleading-- but no matter what, there would need to be a mini at either end to work with Apple's stuff.
What they do need to add is audio out through DisplayPort so users can have one single cable for audio and video over this superior interface.
Agreed. Apple's implementation of mDP so far is funky, and if they're planning to move to Light Peak they may never fix it.
They also need to enable the data. DP can output USB at 750Mbps. That is 50% faster than USB2.0. I'd like to see an ACD with a single cable to enable video, audio and the USB hub. Scratch the USB hub through DP, I'd rather that be a USB3.0 hub which means a seperate USB cable off the ACD.
Again, I'd wager they just stick with what they're doing until it's commercially viable to change to Light Peak. I just hope they implement that to the full spec and stick with it for a while. I have a bucket of Apple display interconnect adapters as it is. If they're going to be changing it up all the time they could at least give us as much functionality per iteration as possible.
I notice that as well, and now I'm realizing that because I originally followed the link in the article to the cable adapter instead of the converter, I'm conflating the specs on those two things. Does the converter even do audio? Looks to be a straight HDMI/mDP box.
I think you're right. What I was calling the mini-audio jack is likely the power input, which makes sense. You should be able to run optical audio to the Mac's optical audio port just fine to get 5.1.
This doesn't seem like a great convertor for the price but I wish Apple didn't even include the video-in option until they were able to make it support HDMI signaling in and audio. Obviously people were going to want to hook game consoles and other media center appliances to it.
I wonder how the GPU was altered to support this feature. If it's even possible to support the HDMI signaling and audio after the fact through a driver/OS update. Do we even know if the image gets scaled to fit the screen or stay centered with a black border since the max resolution is less than the iMac's display?
Agreed. Apple's implementation of mDP so far is funky, and if they're planning to move to Light Peak they may never fix it.
Again, I'd wager they just stick with what they're doing until it's commercially viable to change to Light Peak. I just hope they implement that to the full spec and stick with it for a while. I have a bucket of Apple display interconnect adapters as it is. If they're going to be changing it up all the time they could at least give us as much functionality per iteration as possible.
I have doubts about the speed in which LightPeak will arrive. Even if Apple adopts it out of the gate, I'd think it will still just be a single port at first, possibly replacing only FW on Macs. I don't expect to see LightPeak controllers to first appear for at least a year. Is it even ratified yet?
I think you're right. What I was calling the mini-audio jack is likely the power input, which makes sense. You should be able to run optical audio to the Mac's optical audio port just fine to get 5.1.
Yeah, that seems to be the expectation. Still, given the price of the box, the fact that you have to supply your own HDMI, mDP and optical audio cabling is not great.
This doesn't seem like a great convertor for the price but I wish Apple didn't even include the video-in option until they were able to make it support HDMI signaling in and audio. Obviously people were going to want to hook game consoles and other media center appliances to it.
Yeah, it seems kind of confounding, even for Apple, to put a video in on your most expensive iMac and then engineer it so that it's only useful as an external monitor for your MacBook Pro.
Given the cost of external converter boxes I guess I could sort of see the decision not to include such hardware, but at the very least they could have enabled sound (that goes for the mDP out as well).
I wonder how the GPU was altered to support this feature. If it's even possible to support the HDMI signaling and audio after the fact through a driver/OS update. Do we even know if the image gets scaled to fit the screen or stay centered with a black border since the max resolution is less than the iMac's display?
I've wondered about doing the conversion in software as well, but my guess is that it's task that's well suited to hardware acceleration. Still, it seems like if you're using your iMac as a passive display, that leaves pretty much the entire processing power of the thing free to tackle on the fly conversations. I would think that would go for scaling as well.
I have doubts about the speed in which LightPeak will arrive. Even if Apple adopts it out of the gate, I'd think it will still just be a single port at first, possibly replacing only FW on Macs. I don't expect to see LightPeak controllers to first appear for at least a year. Is it even ratified yet?
If that's true Apple really should at the very least enable audio in the next release of their mDP machines.
If that's true Apple really should at the very least enable audio in the next release of their mDP machines.
I've got my fingers crossed that the soon to be released pro Macs will have USB3.0. With the updates getting close to a year apart if they don't do it know they'll likely behind even cheap machines by the end of the year.
Asus has been making logic boards with USB3.0 on them for awhile now and Asus has been used by Apple before to make their logic boards, so I'm hoping that Asus' early foray into USB3.0 was because of Apple's need.
Apple clearly isn't supporting anything but USB for their iDevices so even if they want to forward FireWire or jump into LightPeak there are still going to be many generations and dozens of millions of iDevices that would benefit from USB3.0.
Was there even a single piece of Macintosh software in this list? I didn't see one, that's a little scary that the Macworld Expo's "Best of Show" awards don't include many Mac-centric products...
Mac's dead, its all about the iPhone OS now, just wait until we get the Pad Book to replace the Mac Book. It will be a revolutionary idea of having a real keyboard attached to the screen! </sarcasm>
Seriously though Quick Office is great, I'm quite impressed that its so easy to use and has beaten anything from Apple and Microsoft. Just a shame I have absolutely no way of getting a file from being an attachment in Mail into it to edit without the use of a computer, making it completely useless.
Would I be wrong by assuming you are a fan of The Big Bang Theory?
geek shows are fun!
Kanex HDMI to Mini DisplayPort Connector - $150: This hardware allows users to connect an external device, such as a Blu-ray player, to Apple's new 27-inch iMac. Previously, only devices with a Mini DisplayPort output were capable.
Technically this is actually any device with DisplayPort signaling, which is devices with DP and mDP ports. This is an important distinction for the Dells and video cards with DP out on them. I'd hate someone to think they needed a $150 converter when they already have DP capable device.
Here's what I gather to be the overall consensus.
1. Many people were surprised with the traffic. We were in the smaller Moscone South I believe so a lot of the booths were scaled down.
2. Apple wasn't taking up half a section with a humungous booth
3. Attendees were clogging the aisles so foot traffic was beyond good.
This was the Macworld that would seal the fate. The turnout could have been pathetic but in fact it exceeded expectation and the attendees that spoke on it said "I can see Apple products at the Apple stores...I'm here to see software, hardware and accessories.
I was working so I missed a lot of stuff but I was impressed with Kanto Speakers RYO system. It's a monitor system that integrates with the iPod ecosystem very well with a small Wifi receiver that lets you walk stream your music (I know Audio Engine has a similar dongle but this is much smaller) and the system comes with a wifi Subwoofer. Expensive at a grand for the trio but nice. The ball's in Audio Engine's court to ante up.
I'm looking forward to next year's show. Hopefully we'll see bigger booths and even more traffic and the return of some vendors.
Hell no!. You want that just buy an adapter.
What they do need to add is audio out through DisplayPort so users can have one single cable for audio and video over this superior interface.
They also need to enable the data. DP can output USB at 750Mbps. That is 50% faster than USB2.0. I'd like to see an ACD with a single cable to enable video, audio and the USB hub. Scratch the USB hub through DP, I'd rather that be a USB3.0 hub which means a seperate USB cable off the ACD.
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
I did return though on Friday for a couple of hours and on Saturday again to gather additional information about products I had seen or wanted more information on. I didn't spend as much time at Macworld as usual because I just ran out of things to review, discover and explore, there were just not enough exhibitors.
After careful consideration I've concluded...
Companies like El Gato, LaCie, Adobe, Canon, Epson, Xerox, Kyocera and Filemaker all missed out on an incredible marketing opportunity for their products this year as did many other smaller companies that usually participate. In particular also, the numerous resellers who actually offer product at the show like Guitar Center and J&R and others, you missed a sales opportunity!! Personally, I purchased 4 new WD external drives instead of the rack mount LaCie's this year. WD impressed me, LaCIE ANNOYED ME with their no show (and I own 6 of their larger drives and three CD/DVD burners). I was also very impressed by those teeny tiny 16GB USB sticks from Verbatim, WOW... and the PRICE point was AWESOME!!!
I certainly missed the Microsoft giveaways terribly and their small booth was pretty pathetic, but then, they have no new product because they are mid cycle and doing yet another year of Office 2008 for the MAC in 2010 would have made them as much of a laughing stock as I think their tiny booth and silly characters handing out candy did... ON THE OTHER HAND, I SINCERELY applaud Microsoft for "being there", I look forward to next year when they will hopefully take a bigger booth and present their Office 2011 for MAC complete with full Outlook and enterprise exchange capability, and look forward, hopefully to lots of giveaways again. Stephanie, we really missed you and your presentations this year!! They, at least, showed up... others didn't, so KUDOS to Microsoft!!! KUDOS also to HP who turned up when Epson and Canon didn't. The booth was small and also pretty sparse, but at least they were there!
The foot traffic was annoying at times because everything was compressed to make it look more crowded... it would have been crowded had it not been so compressed as well. I was impressed with the attendance despite the lack of exhibitors. Either there's been no innovation this year for peripherals and accessories for the MAC, or a lot of companies lost out on this marketing opportunity, more fool you I say! I was happy to see something other than 500 iphone accessory peddlers as well!
MY true disdain is really reserved for APPLE at this point though. I rarely visited their HUGE display and frankly, everything they put on display there I can see at an Apple store. I always thought the Apple booth was just the physical embodiment of Steve's ego on display. Oh, don't get me wrong, he's a demi God... but that huge display was a stupid waste of space in my opinion and he was right in saying he didn't need it, he didn't. He should however have been there in some form!
Suggestions from me to APPLE and what is truly needed would include taking a smaller sized booth and JUST manning it with knowledgeable professionals from the Genius bars to answer questions, period. As others have said here, the products can be viewed at the Apple store, I prefer to ask questions about issues I'm having. APPLE could take a booth that is one third the size with no stage and simply present anything they want on the MacWorld main stage. This would satisfy all concerned and bring back a lot of vendors.
In summary, Despite my initial negativity I will be back again for a 16th year in San Francisco and more fool any vendor who doesn't get involved. KUDOS to MacWorld for having the balls to continue this exhibition.
One final word... I would have loved to have seen Memjet technology at Macworld this year. Their products are close to market and they are going to either be embraced by Canon, HP and Epson, or next year, someone like Brother Xerox etc. is going to come in with an inkjet using memjet technology and absolutely kick their asses with it... Len Lauer (former COO of Qualcomm) was recently appointed CEO of Memjet... so what about it Mr Lauer??? Isn't it time to present your technology at the next Macworld????? This is truly MAC worthy and technology we all can use, from the small to the large!!
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
Based on your argument Apple and everyone else should continue to use USB2.0 because that is what everyone is using now. Your view of how technology should work means that nothing would ever change because being first is a bad thing.
Not that Apple was the first to use the DisplayPort standard. That honour goes to Dell. Nvida and ATI are using it. It's better than DVI and HDMI, it's cheaper than DVI and HDMI, the mDP port standard is smaller then DVI and HDMI, and there is finally a single video-out port that is the same across all Macs that is backwards compatible with DVI/HDMI video signals.
I suspect there may also be a requirement that devices that remove HDCP cannot sell beneath a certain price, but it could just be the cost of the license and hardware.
One terrific thing about the Kanex box is since it does no complicated scaling (720p is exactly half the resolution of the iMac in each dimension, so fills the screen by making the pixels 4x larger), there is no lag! This means you should be able to play games that require precise timing, like music games (think Rock Band/Guitar Hero), fighting games (SoulCalibur, Street Fighter, etc.), and shooters (Halo, Resistance, etc..) I couldn't quite test this, however, since they were demonstrating Lego Batman (which did seem to work OK.)
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
I think your suggestion would preclude any leading-edge innovation.
That being said, I'd love to have five USB 3 ports that could be used for anything - network, display, hard drive, video input, whatever. At 5 Gbps, USB 3 already beats eSATA. And it's half the data rate of 10GbaseT Ethernet at a (hopefully much smaller) fraction of the cost.
One terrific thing about the Kanex box is since it does no complicated scaling (720p is exactly half the resolution of the iMac in each dimension, so fills the screen by making the pixels 4x larger), there is no lag! This means you should be able to play games that require precise timing, like music games (think Rock Band/Guitar Hero), fighting games (SoulCalibur, Street Fighter, etc.), and shooters (Halo, Resistance, etc..) I couldn't quite test this, however, since they were demonstrating Lego Batman (which did seem to work OK.)
The conversion from HDMI signaling to DisplayPort signaling will offer some lag. Whether or not it's negligible or not is another issue.
Overall, I'm not impressed with the box. I'm sure it maintains HDCP since it's outputting 1080p video but since it doesn't splice out the audio to a USB or optical audio port on the mDP port side I have to wonder if the audio timing will be an issue with some heavy video conversion since the audio will then have to come directly from the initial device to the iMac.
That being said, I'd love to have five USB 3 ports that could be used for anything - network, display, hard drive, video input, whatever. At 5 Gbps, USB 3 already beats eSATA. And it's half the data rate of 10GbaseT Ethernet at a (hopefully much smaller) fraction of the cost.
Apple is clearly supporting USB on all their iDevices, not FireWire, and LightPeak still hasn't been ratified so I'm hoping that the Asus logic board's with USB3.0 are a sign that Apple will be supporting them with their next pro Mac release.
Note that DisplayPort standard can also push USB data at speeds 1.5x that of USB2.0. Of course, Apple isn't supporting audio through DP so I see no reason to expect them to support data through DP, though it would be nice.
I'm not sure about the real world speed of USB3.0 over eSATA and Ethernet. Don't the latter two process data more quickly? Regardless, it's a moot point since only USB3.0 will be supplying power. (Yes, i know there is PoE but Apple won't be using it.)
Other things I'd like to see in the next Mac update:
No what Apple needs to start doing is using what everyone else uses and stop trying to be different for the sake of being different. They need to add HDMI to everything and simply use USB 3.0 which is what everyone else is going to do. The reason Apple has to sell adapter for everything is the standard the rest of the world uses. So much for Apple setting the industry standard (a Quadra myth).
I have noticed that Apple doesn't do it to "just be different". They do it because they know what is going to be the next forefront. They don't seem to just do things because everyone else is doing it. It sucks in the beginning because you have to buy adapters or buy new stuff all together, but, everyone else follows suit eventually because it eventually proves to be better in the long run. Apple is a very forward thinking company where everyone else seems to live in the now and "just settle".