Saturday, June 25, 2005

Pro Tools LE now supported in Tiger 10.4

Digidesign this week announced Tiger support with Pro Tools LE 6.9.2.

Steve Jobs wasn't lying when he said that Tiger support would come to Pro Tools quickly.

Friday, June 24, 2005

New Apple product July 7: iTunes phone?

MacBidouille.com reports that Apple has asked members of the press to be prepared for a new announcement from Apple in two weeks, on July 7.

We don't know what is going to be announced, but I suspect that it could be the Motorola/Apple iTunes phone, although it could be something like the new version of iTunes with Podcasting support. If they do announce the iTunes phone, I'd consider buying it if it had these features:

Aesthetically pleasing
Lightweight (115 g or lighter, preferably with a candy bar form factor)
GSM with quad band support (850/900/1800/1900)
Bluetooth 2.0 enabled (for quick Address Book and iCal synching)
Wired USB 2.0 support (for music synching)
Headphone jack
Reasonably good quality 2 Megapixel camera (preferably with autofocus)
Enough memory for music & pictures (or removable flash media support)
US$500

However, I suspect the iTunes phone (whenever it is finally released) could be a lower end phone with less features, for marketing reasons.

[Update 2005-06-25]

French language newspaper Le Figaro is reporting that Motorola and Apple will release the iTunes phone very soon. They also report that it will have the form factor of the E398, and will be ivory white in colour.

The E398 is a mid-end phone, but even if the phone looks like the E398, there is no guarantee that the phone will have the same specifications as the E398. Mobile Gazette reported rumours in May that the phone would be designated as E790. The E790 would be based off the E398, but would include some higher end features in addition to its iTunes support. I will note that the A780 has quad band support and a better camera. The A780's form factor is different from the E398, but it is possible that the similar model number of the rumoured E790 may reflect a similar feature set to the A780. However, rumoured specifications posted at Mobile Review would suggest otherwise.