We are joined today by famed rumor prognosticator Drew Pitchford to discuss what happened today. Is free software enough to tempt people onto Apple saying that you only have to buy the hardware? After we argue the merits of free software, we dive into the commitment to ship a new mac pro in 2013. Chaim breaks down that he is happy that old hardware has been given a breath of fresh air. Finally we discuss iPads.
What happens when Google hangouts fails? inThirty continues on, with our trusty backup Skype. So on today’s show we talk about the Apple roadmap that was rumored a week ago. We opine on our thoughts, hopes, and dreams.
We wish everyone recovering from Hurricane Sandy well, and episode 65 of inThirty goes out to the team at PSE&G for getting power back to Chaim, Harry, and Justin in time to talk about tablets. Google didn’t fair as well and their scheduled Android event was moved from IRL to online. Chaim managed to collect all of the sweet details about the dot 2 update to Jelly Bean and the hardware that’ll accompany it before he was knocked off the grid but Harry is not impressed. We pit the new Android tablets and the Kindle Fire against the recently announced iPad Mini and discuss price point, features, design, and determine along the way that this holiday season Amazon, Google, and Apple will duke it out in in the less than ten inch category. Chaim and Justin were introduced to a new contender in the ring, the Microsoft Surface, at Microtropolis (go on, Google it), while Harry went undercover at a Microsoft Store to try it. Harry likes its kickstand, Chaim says it’s revolutionary, Justin says it’s mutant disaster of a device. Take some aspirin (that’s a really subtle tablet pun), put on your headphones, and listen up.
Isn’t every Apple Event special? On Episode 64 (make that 64 bit, we upgraded) of inThirty
Chaim, Harry, and Justin along with guest host Kelly Guimont of TUAW ooh, ahh, and yawn (Chaim) over the announcement of the new iMac and Mac Mini, MacBook Pro 13″ with Retina Display, iPad with Retina Display (don’t call it the iPad 4), and the worth the price of admission all by itself iPad Mini. We start by critiquing the legerdemain used by Phil Schiller when he removed the black cloth from the slim from one perspective, bulbous from another iMac and quickly move on to discuss whether the new Mac Mini is enough to replace the Mac Pro or even the defunct Xserve. We boldly go where no podcast has gone before in our discussion of Apple’s Fusion Drive SDD plus HDD melding tech. And, yes, everyone wants the new 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display – how could the little sibling of the beautiful 15 incher disappoint? Do the non Retina MacBooks deserve to keep their Pro suffix? We discuss. Amongst ourselves. Apple speeds up its upgrade cycle some with the iPad 4, but how long did you expect the Lightning port to be kept away from the iPad? We finish up with a who/what/where/when/why on the iPad Mini and manage to wake Chaim up from his slumber (he uses Apple announcement videos as a sleep aid) in time to compare the new device to his beloved Nexus 7.
Also, Harry Marks strummed us some nice intro and outro licks. Told you we upgraded.
While it’s still a possibility that an iPad with a 7 inch screen may never make it outside of Jonny Ive’s secret industrial design compound, it doesn’t stop us from talking about every inch of the yet to be announced device on episode 62 of inThirty. Whether it’ll be called the Mini, Nano, Small, Little, Micro, or Petite, Chaim, Harry, and Justin conjecture, speculate, and postulate about how the device’ll fit into Apple’s current range of mobile products and analyze the impact of screen size on how users consume their digital diets. Want to find out the best screen size for playing Solitaire or reading the Wall Street Journal or mixing the musical score for a feature film? You better search Google for the answer because we come to no conclusions on this episode of inThirty. Oh, and less is more, sometimes.