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Nerdist was started by Chris Hardwick and has grown to be a many headed beast.

MacWorld 2009 Highlights

by on January 6, 2009

Well, Apple ended its long relationship to MacWorld with a series of announcements that can only be described in long-term relationship terminology as “a courtesy screw.” Don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic additions to iPhoto, iMovie and iWork (though I don’t know anyone who uses iWork) plus DRM-free music whose only downside is more Katy Perry in the world. Also, look out for a 17″ MacBook Pro, which I find interesting considering the current computing trend is leaning toward Japanamation-grade adorable Netbooks. I think one of two things may have happened with the keynote(and this is based on nothing more than my own brain’s questionable thought ejaculate):

1) The big thing they were going to announce has some massive failure so they scrapped it last minute, or

2) Apple is trying to prove that it doesn’t need MacWorld by dropping the big stuff at a (hopefully soon) later date.

I (and I assume many other geeks) am have been kind of underwhelmed by their last few fanfare-based announcements. Oh well. Sooner or later they’ll drop something rad that will excite nerds to the point of stress-farts. You never know with Apple. They pretty much do whatever Steve Jobs wants whenever he feels like it. I always say that Apple has “Hot Cheerleader Syndrome”: she treats you like crap but you carry her books for her anyway.

Below is the coverage I did for G4. If for some reason you feel like sanding the edges off a surplus of pizazz in your life you can sit through the entire keynote speech delivered by Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller in glorious HD here.

 
11 comments read them below or add one

  1. hey…I use iWork…and I am most likely alone in that regard. I actually like Pages a lot more than the version of Word I tried on my Mac, and a HECK of a lot more than the current version of Word on Windows. I might actually have to try iWork 09 to see what changes they made. I think I am still on 06.

  2. I certainly wasn’t capping on iWork…I really don’t know anyone who uses it…Until now! I recommend checking out ’09, though. Slideshow presentations look great, as well as the spreadsheet UI. Plus, iwork.com has some amazing cloud computing document-sharing action going on. I might try it m’self, actually.

  3. I loves me some Keynote, though until now I have found Numbers to be insufficiently rigorous for bigger things…and you sort of know me!

    Not sure how I feel about not being able to swap out the MBP batteries, even though I can appreciate the space-saving argument. Mainly uneasy; as cool as adaptive charging and such things sound, it reminds me of my G4Cube with its space-saving lack of a fan.

  4. I actually enjoyed the Qik footy, maybe because I have yet to unlock my phone and I’m jealous you have an app I can’t get. Other than that, great coverage! hopefully I will make it to the next one, see ya CES!

  5. I also use Pages and have been quite happy. I guess it has something to do with the whole ‘canvas’ idea; I’ve been able to create some documents that have really impressed instructors. I’ve only used Keynote once so far, but it’s a tool that offers great simplicity and quality. Numbers has enough power for me, but it took me a while to find the Fill Down/Right menu option. I also haven’t found a way to create a stepped number series automatically yet. I’m very content with my 15″ MBP, which I got a few months before they changed the style. And as most people are familiar with, Apple’s main drawback seems to be that they give you just short of what you want – it would be simple enough to allow video recording on the iPhone without a jailbreak, as well as receiving picture messages without having to go online. Oh well, it’s a pretty amazing device nonetheless.

  6. Hey Chris, It was great to meet you at Macworld. I think you’re spot on with the second reason there for Apple. I’m fairly certain that they are about to announce something, I’ve even heard inside the month, just to give Macworld the finger.

    Anyway, if you were wondering, I did get two short clips of us just standing there smiling, haha.

  8. I got my 17 MBP in ’06 so that’s not new. I think just the unibody feature, battery and ports were upgraded. I love the size of mine though- it’s great for watching movies and working with graphics but it’s started randomly shutting down when it’s not plugged in. Probably the 2 year old battery is to blame for that. Don’t know for sure as I can’t afford to have it fixed, but not being able to replace the battery might cause some issues with the new design.

  9. The thing about the non-replaceable battery that makes it a good move for Apple is that they can come back later and say, “We’ve now made the battery in the MacBook/MacBook Pro replaceable” – something they should do in the first place. Yes, I love me some Apple products (MBP and iPod touch currently), but sometimes they do things that make no sense to me. It seems as though it has happened more recently, especially since their success has skyrocketed.

  10. To have a keynote from MAC and not have Steve Jobs is like having Guns N Roses play without Slash. It sucks. I have always been a total MAC guy. I have all the neat Nerd type gadgets that MAC puts out yearly and I spend way too much money on them just because they say Apple on them some where. We record our weekly podcast using Garageband so I was excited to see what the new iLife was going to give me, but after hearing about it I decided that at least as far as the garageband app was concerned, it was no big deal.

    Who the fuck uses iWork? I know of nobody that has ever even opened that program. As far as the upgrades to iDVD and iMovie are concerned, well I am stil lstuck on the 04 version of iMovie and it works just fine for the little bit of video editing that I might need. I can see the benefits of the new software but it wasn’t a big enough deal to have a whole Keynote on. The 17′ inch Mac Book Pro was decent, but I seem to be doing fine with my 15 inch version so it was no big deal. I actually like the older titanium versions better because they took firewire off the fucking laptops. For all of us who have invested tons of money in firewire, we get screwed when we upgrade our laptops, fuck you Steve Jobs. I hope Bill Gates has you anally raped but Mountain Goats sometime in the near future.

    On a side note, DRM free music on iTunes is pretty cool. Finally they get their head out. I can only see their sales of music growing over the next few months. Damn good idea if you ask me.

    Michael

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