Great and exciting article. . .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209702,00.html

Baby Update

Nothing so far today. April has a Dr. appointment later today, so we will see what the dr thinks. If her blood pressure is still high, and she is (WARNING, YUCKY PREGNANCY WORD COMING) effaced enough she may induce. We are trying everything to help things along, including Raspberry tea, which has been said to bring on contractions. Yea, we know, a bit much. But, whatever.

Apple Talk

On a tech note, (chris writing), Apple had some news this week. They released several new products, the “hi-fi”, the mac mini w/ intel processor along with some other miscellaneous stuff. I suppose it was a bit dissappointing, seeing as how there were a lot of rumors going around. But in the end, they can’t ALWAYS introduce crazy innovative stuff. I am still trying to figure out what I think about the Hi-fi. This is a different move for apple in that there are a ton of products out there already like this, and for a lower price. But i guess they figure that they will sell them, even if they don’t sell like hot cakes, they probably figure they will make some money, so why not. They just can’t lose their focus. I have to say, I won’t be buying one.
The other major product was the Mac Mini with Intel processor. This one is a bit more exciting. I havnt really looked into the specs too much, but it looks like they are positioning this to definatly allow consumers to put this in their living rooms and stream all sorts of media to it, especially with the inclusion of a gigabit ether net and bonjour.

No Apple DVR? Something better maybe?

They didn’t announce any full feature movies available on iTunes, but there are plenty of rumors saying it is only a matter of time. On a similar vein, i heard an interesting comment the other day, actually several. One was that Apple will never come out with DVR software. This was something i was really excited about a month ago, but the argument or thought here is that why would Apple allow people to record the same tv shows they have available for sale through iTunes. This would only take revenue away from them.

What they may do is have a subscription type service where you can download your TV shows from them and stream them over your home network, which would be better, I think, depending on price. I mean, think about it. No commercials to fast forward though, and it very possibly could be higher quality than TV can offer. I know that Apple is big into HD, so it is very possible. It all depends on what the subscription price would be. If they had the right content on there, i might be willing to subscribe. It is a different take on the whole DVR deal.

The other thing i heard from a friend at the Young Marrieds ministry. He said that Apple is missing a huge market related to music, which is the high end audio. This meaning that all of the music you download from apple is fairly low end mp3’s. This is exactly why i DO NOT purchase from them. The audio files don’t sound great. Which also plays on the new HiFi they are selling. If all your audio on your iPod is mp3 or not compressed well, nothing will sound really great no matter what speakers you have. But anyway, i digress. If someone came out with a download music service that featured hi end audio files, they could really do well. Who knows, maybe apple is already on it.

Whatchyall think?

Over and out.

Ok, so all of you know i am an apple computer freek. I am obsessed. Admittedly they are not perfect, but damn. . . if they aren’t close. Yesterday, Jobs introduced two new macs with the dual core intel processors. They are 2 - 4x faster than their predecessors, one is an iMac and one is the first in their newly named line of laptops called “MacBook Pro”. They also released “iLife 6“, which includes great features for iPhoto and a new website authoring program called “iWeb” (yea, the whole “i” thing is old, but it is their branding and it is working). I will actually be purchasing iLife simply for the some of the updated features that iPhoto offers with printing books from your photo albums and newly added Calendars. This will come in handy this year after Logan is born.

So, seriously, I mean it when i think apple will take over the world, . . . well the computer world at least. They already have a 70% market share of portable media players (give or take some). And now that their machines run intel. . . who knows what will happen. I am very excited.

I found a podcast called “This Day In Apple History” and i was listening to it and I never realized how much of a change Apple has made since mid to late 90’s. I mean, they were even profitable when Steve Jobs came on around ‘96 ish. I know in ‘97-ish people weren’t buying their machines b/c they feared they would go belly up shortly, that was how bad it was.

Then in ‘98, Jobs mentions that they are actually starting to turn a profit in his Keynote address at macword. This after launching an online store and a store within a store concept with CompUSA. ‘98 and ‘99 were the years the first, candy colored, iMacs came out. From there, just look at the history, it really is incredible. Check out the stats from yesterdays Keynote:

Now you tell me with a straight face that Apple Revolution isn’t just getting started? I mean, last quarter showed a whopping 48% growth in the Macintosh line a year-ago quarter, and a 220% growth for iPods. Insane. How many freakin times do i need to tell you, BUY APPLE STOCK, you won’t regret it. You know who you are! So, if you are still a nay-sayer about Apple computer, please, PLEASE email me or leave me a comment. chris[at]lagardefamily[dot]com