Apple Announcement predictions!

Yes, it's that time of the quarter! You know the drill - Apple sends invitations to an announcement, I post my predictions, and I grade myself at the end of the announcements!

I'm going to do something different this time. Since this announcement is supposed to have a new product, I'm going to make a scorecard of what I EXPECT from the announcement - everytime Jobs & Co. announces something that is in my list, they earn marks. Then, we sum up the scores to see how well the team's reality distortion field fared.

So, let's start, shall we?

(Mark breakdowns are shown for clarification. Each line shows how less marks may be rewarded if the full criteria is not met.)

The Apple "Come See Our Latest Creation" Announcement Exam Scorecard.

Section A: The Tablet. Maximum marks = 100m

1) Connectivity: GPS, 4G, and 802.11n (10m)

Award 2m for GPS. 

Award 4m for 4G; 2m for HSDPA/3G 

Award 4m for 802.11n; 2m for 802.11g)

2) UI & Software: Multi-touch, OS X, App Store, Book Store, Interactive Books (30m)

Award 2m for Multi-touch

Award 4m for use of Project-Natal-esque UI control

Award 4m for Book Store

Award 4m for interactive books / incorporation of videos/web technology in books.

Award 8m for Mac OS X Leopard; 4m for new flavour of OS X; 1m for iPhone OS

Award 8m for App Store or SDK plans

3) Hardware: Screen, I/O, Internals & Externals (40m)

Award 2m for front-facing camera

Award 2m for mic

Award 2m for 3.5mm headphone jack; 1m if headphone jack is recessed

Award 2m for MagSafe; 1m if 30-pin dock connector

Award 2m for USB port (mini or input)

Award 2m for SD slot

Award 4m for capacity ≥32GB

Award 4m for OLED or colour e-Ink screen; 3m for OLED; 2m for LCD; 1m for monochrome e-Ink

Award 4m for ≥300ppi; 2m for ≥160ppi; 0m otherwise

Award 8m for ≥8 hours of standby battery life; 1h for every hour if less

Award 8m for Nvidia Tegra or PA Semi chip; 4m for Core i3 or Atom; 1m for anything more powerful than i3/ less powerful than Atom.

4) Availability and Pricing (16m)

Award 4m for Worldwide release; 2m if in the UK; deduct 4m if only in the US

Award 4m if available immediately; 3m if available before 31 March 2010; 2m before Q2'10; minimum 2m if a firm date is given, regardless of period. 

Award 8m if less than US$499 on contract OR US$699 standalone; 4m for either; 0 if more

5) Design (4m)

Award 4m if it looks good/original; Deduct up to 10m if it looks anything like an enlarged iPhone.

Section B: iPhone OS 4.0. Maximum marks = 50m

1) Features of updates (30m)

Award 4m if Home Screen is updated

Award 4m for syncing over WiFi

Award 6m for multitasking of any sort

Award 6m for new UI

Award 10m max, where every 2m is earned for every additional feature they can list/name, excluding the ones listed above

2) Availability of updates (20m)

Award 10m if available immediately; 8m if within 1 week of announcement; 5m if within 1 month; 3m if within Q1'10; 1m if within 2010

Award 10m if available for all iPods & iPhones; take 2 points off for every iPod/iPhone model not supported / where payment is necessary for update

Section C: Stars, products and ads. Maximum marks = 50m

Award 10m max, where 1m is earned for every developer or Apple guy who speaks during the keynote (including Jobs himself), whether through a video clip or in person

Award 10m max, where 2m is earned for every ad played, and 1m for every feature non-ad video clip played (Btw, this includes every time they play a video loaded on their demo unit).

Award 30m max, where 10m is earned for every product that Apple refreshes in the keynote (Mac, iPhone hardware, iLife, Apple TV, whatever), and 3m is earned for every Mac product mentioned from this list: iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, iMac, Newton, Apple TV, iLife, iWork, MobileMe, Snow Leopard

So te overall maximum is 200m. Let's see how Apple fares next Wednesday, 27 January 2010!

Reccos...

Another quickie post.

Couple of things I just discovered recently, that I thought I should share on my sort-of-dying blog (hey, I have exams!)

First up - iPhone App. 

"Moodagent - Automatic Playlist DJ for your music, your mood" (whoa, that's a mouthful) is an alternative to the Genius playlist maker. It uses 5 'mood' scores (Sensual, Tender, Joy, Aggressive, Tempo) to make up a playlist of 25 songs, based on what's on your iPod touch/iPhone. You'll need more than 25 songs, and you'll need to make sure they've all got accurate metadata (or your results will just be rubbish - rubbish in, rubbish out). But the great thing is that you can save the playlist in-app, and then you have a setlist for whatever mood you configured! Oh, do get this app quick, because it's FREE (for now).

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Next up, music. 

I know that by now, you're probably getting sick of me expressing my addiction to Owl City. Hey, there's nothing wrong with uplifting music being piped into my ears. But now, I found an antidote to my Owl City drug. 

It's an up-and-coming electronica (oh goodie!) band from Manchester, and they're called Delphic. They were 3rd in the BBC Sound of Music 2010 round-up (if you didn't read about the BBC Sound of 2010, I suggest you do. It's basically a title which goes to a music act that's been predicted by most of the music 'geniuses' of the UK, ranging from radio DJs to journalists, to do very well in 2010 on the UK charts.), but what makes them different from number 2 and 1 is that they actually have an album out now. It's called "Acolyte", and it doesn't have a cheerful tracklist (that's quite evident when you look at the album art, actually). It's intense, it's dark, and yet, it didn't fall into the 'overly emo' trap (I'm looking at you, Paramore). It's a new band with a promising future, at least in 2010, if not in this decade. And they've been off to a great start. Rating: 9/10

I especially recommend these tracks from the album: Doubt, This Momentary, Acolyte.

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One last thing.

As you probably know, there was an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on the Richter Scale that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010. The death toll has been estimated to be in the thousands, and there is a desperate need to get aid into the country as quickly as possible. So let's all help in whatever way we can, little or big.

If you'd like to donate to support the disaster relief efforts in Haiti, there are a number of ways to do it, including some online means of donation. Google has links for donations to UNICEF and CARE; In the UK, 12 charities have come together to raise funds for their efforts in Haiti via DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee); if you shop on iTunes, you might have seen the link on the iTunes Store which lets you donate to the American Red Cross.

At this point, I also hope we can pray for the survivors in Haiti, the leaders in Haiti, as well as those involved in the relief efforts in Haiti. Let's pray for peace and stability in the country as recovery efforts are underway. Let's pray that the people of Haiti can pick up the pieces and get back on their feet as swiftly as possible, as they continue on their pathway of progress.

Let's support each other, especially in times of need.

quickie- links

Just a quick one (need to get to bed to fix to UK time soon).

MobileMe Gallery of photos from past few days in SG:

http://gallery.me.com/ron_liong/100076

YouTube video of the Vermonster preparation "ceremony"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uit5bHyw-cw

[Watch in 720p, if your bandwidth and PC/Mac can handle it, if you want.]

Facebook & Flickr Gallery should be on their way...

Music lists of 2009. Not by me.

Yes, I hear you breathe a sigh of relief. It's not one of my hastily-prepared chart that I randomly come up with willie-nilly.

I decided to scan through the news sites that I frequent on the World Wide Web and compile a list of links that I thought you music fans out there might find fascinating, especially if you're looking for the next big thing in 2010, or if you prefer, a look back at 2009/2000-2009.

One word of caution - Music is subjective, and people's preferences differ according to their age, influence, etc., so you may or may not agree with some of the writers who come up with these lists. Me, too.

So, let's stop this chatter, and on with the show, shall we?

(Not sure what's up with me. For some reason, Pepper Lunch Express gives me the propensity to use language that is not normally expected of me.)

The Best Albums You Never Heard in 2009 [BBC]

The BBC Radio 1's Chart of The Year 2009 [BBC Radio 1]

The Music Stars Returning in 2010 [BBC]

BBC Sound of 2010 [BBC]:

•How It Works

•The Longlist

Readers' Poll 2009 - The Results [Guardian]

James Blunt makes decade's best-selling album [Guardian]

2009: The Year In Music [Guardian Photo Gallery]

If There's Any Justice... Our Guide To Who Should Be Big in 2010 [Guardian]

Musicians To Watch Out For In 2010 [Times Online]

The Top 10 Music Acts To Look Out For In 2010 [Times Online]

Rock & Pop Albums To Look Out For In 2010 [Times Online]

Best of the 2000s Hot 100 Songs [Billboard.com]

Best of 2009 Hot 100 Songs [Billboard.com]

100 Best Songs of the Decade [Rolling Stone]

100 Best Albums of the Decade [Rolling Stone]

There. Links.

Probably more than your brain can absorb.

But seriously, do check some of these out if you're bored when you're free. Especially the BBC Sound of 2010 Longlist.

Me being my tech analytical self again...

It's a new year! What does this mean? New technology galore, we have lots of announcements coming from Tech companies scattered across the year! So, with that in mind, I have decided to write up a list of things to look out for in 2010.

Let's start with...

1) 3D everything.

This year, we saw the spread of 3D technology, with big major 3D movie releases like "Up" and "Avatar". Now, it's time to bring 3D from the silver screen to the home. Yes, expect to shell out that credit card and wear dorky glasses, because 3D's the new big thing in TV. There has been 3D TV prototypes on display in various exhibitions, and 2010 is probably the year this technology matures and goes a bit more mainstream. You can start thinking about watching the World Cup in South Africa or Singapore Youth Olympic Games in stunning 3 Dimension. Oh, and your PS3 or XBox 360? They might go 3D, too. Just make sure you look at the price tag first before you say you're buying one. I mean, as with any new tech, it makes a debut with a high price tag, before it starts to depreciate and become outdated with newer models. Take the "wait-and-see" approach with this one. For all you know, it could all go heading for the rocks as HD-DVD did.

2) Apple iSlate.

So many analysts have been talking about this. Heck, it's been talked about in mainstream media. And the rumours say Jobs has been working on this for years, and he's happy with it, and thinks it's ready now. So, this has to be either a really good product, or a big media hype, or just a hoax that the fake-rumour mill in Cupertino has been putting out to make the analysts look like fools. But I think this is real. I mean, the last time Apple introduced something revolutionary, it's the iPhone, in 2007. Before that, it's the iPod in 2001. it took 6 years to go from iPod to iPhone, so maybe it should take 3 to go from iPhone to iSlate as their new big thing. The big question now is: what's the big selling point of the iSlate? The iPod was a music player, which then evolved into a video, music, photo, web browsing, games, and tip calculator device. What does the iSlate bring to the table, other than a larger screen? Many have said it'll be a nice book reader, to compete with the Kindle. Could that be it? Speaking of the Kindle...

3) Digital Books - eReaders.

We have the Sony eReader. We have the Amazon Kindle. We have the Nook. We have lots of eReaders to look out for at CES next week. Maybe the Apple iSlate, too. The eReader seems to be to 2010 what the Netbook was to 2009. Or at least that's what you might see, according to Tech blogsites. Let's just wait and see as various tech companies throw their own device into this tech cauldron.

4) 4G.

Not much on 4G actually reaching your hands (unless you're in the US, in which case, get ready), but I suspect you'll hear more about 4G being tested by telcos worldwide. Look out for this!

5) HD video.

Yes, 3D is coming. But until there's more HD content, 3D (which is using HD) will still lag behind HD adoption. You'll see more HD video recording devices, especially prosumer devices like the Canon PowerShot G12 or maybe an upcoming Canon 60D.

6) Google.

The web company that's trading at $620+ per share (as at 2 Jan 2010, 1:22AM, After Hours Trading). They'll probably have a couple of things coming in 2010. Does the Google Chrome OS netbook excite you? OR perhaps their Android OS/Google Nexus Phone? What about Google Wave? I mean, love it or not, Google is Google.

7) Green Tech.

Copenhagen didn't work out as well as anyone had hoped. But that's no excuse for not going green. Low energy-consuming LED TV/monitors, improved GPU/CPU/battery tech, etc.

8) App Stores.

Ever since Apple opened up the App Store for the iPod and iPhone, every other manufacturer of consumer devices have been trying to emulate their accidental success. Android has their Marketplace, BlackBerry has App World (it's not a theme park), Nokia has Ovi, you get the point. This year, App Stores will continue to grow from strength to strength, as we see more app stores, and apps to go on these app stores.

9) Social Networking.

Will Twitter start to die out? Will Facebook be the new Friendster? Will something else catch on with the average consumer and take over them?

10) Airport Security.

With the recent Christmas Day 2009 foiled terrorist attack, we have seen the US, Netherlands and Nigeria tightening their airport security. Specifically, they are adopting the Full-body X-Ray scanners. These things might go global in 2010. We'll see.

11) ?

Nobody saw the Mac catch on from 2006, with the abrupt Intel switchover. Nobody saw the Zune become a flop, in spite of Microsoft's experience from other media devices, like the XBox. I didn't see the netbook becoming the "in" thing of 2009. What will 2010 bring, apart from the things I mentioned above? Only time will tell...

So there, 10 things (plus one unknown) to look out for in the tech arena in 2010!