Raw

So...300+ quid for a phone, eh?

Must admit the thing looks good, and fulfils most of one of my predictions of (just over) a year ago :

Apple will explode onto the mobile phone market with their iComm, which will include a new user interface paradigm and make Star Trek noises.

Ok, I got the name wrong, but really, isn't "...phone" a bit unsexy for Apple? What next - iWashingMachine? Wonder who they've got to do the ringtones - my money's on Phil Oakey.

Although Apple Consumer Appliances Inc. seem to have some very old-fashioned notions about intellectual property and the like. Their surface image is that of market-leading through continuing innovation, but it makes a body wonder when they feel obliged to slap 200 patents on this one device - the flow of new ideas no guaranteed? As for the ideas that seem like their going to be carried over from the iPod - DRM and closed development - and add to that the lock to Cingular, pure retro 20th century thinking.

Which reminds me, they, along with Microsoft, have now attached a TV to a computer. Wow.

Unless there's a *lot* more work on the metadata angle (to enable machine-aided choice of viewing, intelligent rescheduling, remixing even), this doesn't really offer a great deal more than was available a couple of decades ago. Hopefully The Venice Project will shake things up a little there. 

I rather fancy MS's Home Server, assuming it'll run Linux. Otherwise I guess the green lights will go nicely with the blue screen...

I did intend to share my original insights on why the exponential growth of processing power (not to mention storage and network bandwidth) has only been associated with a fairly linear improvement in software utility. But playing with The Gimp was more fun. 

@en