[psmith2.0]

I just learned today(!) that WWDC is next week. And for the life of me, I can't seem to get the least bit interested or excited.

That's never been the case, but I couldn't possibly give less of a flaming damn if I tried.

And judging by the lack of discussion/activity in the Speculation and Rumors section, it appears I'm not alone.

I never thought I'd be so out-of-touch or uninterested in the prospect of something new from Apple. I simply can't get stirred-up over the idea of TV, "wearables" and big 5" iPhones.

Never before has my enthusiasm/interest for this company and its products (and possible upcoming stuff) been at such a low.

Kinda weird. I think I'm at maximum burnout on all this stuff. Sick of the "mobile wars" (and the frothing, wild-eyed a-holes it turns normal people into), dipshit analysts/pundits just being clue-starved, click-bait morons about everything 24/7, the "over-teching" of the culture in general and all the ways we've let these devices take over our lives (and the lousy manners/narcissistic behavior that has sprung from doing so), the feeling that stuff is "held back"/intentionally crippled for nothing other than marketing-based, "just wait 'til NEXT year!!" reasons, etc.

I can't help but think this stuff kinda peaked, in terms of true purpose/usefulness, in 2011-2012, and everything since is mostly a "solution in search of a problem" circle-jerk from all the relevant parties.

Anyone else kinda feeling any, or all, of this?

[drewprops]

Time keeps on slippin'.....

Another friend recently complained (almost bitterly) about how a local annual event is no longer the same and no longer excites him... in his opinion the thing was all but dead and ready to collapse.... and yet it goes on without him, in a different guise with different people.

There's a time and place in our lives where certain things matter, and when enough elements have been replaced we realize that it's no longer the same "thing" we once enjoyed, and we move on.

I try to move on gladly, with the understanding that whatever that new "thing" will be, it was built on the foundations of a "thing" that I once knew and loved.

And maybe there's yet a chance you might rediscover that old thrill, but it's okay if you don't.




...

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, it's not a huge crisis. I'm not "devastated" or anything. It's just such a far cry from how I was once so wrapped up in all this.

A big part of it is Steve Jobs being gone. I've commented on that before. Not that he was perfect (or really even likable), but he did an amazing job of making everything seem so desirable and "you need this!"

You simply don't get that passion/enthusiasm from Cook, Schiller and the others. It just all seems almost...pedestrian. The showmanship and thrill of a new unveiling or demo is definitely gone. They're just routine affairs now, really no different or better than you'd see from Google, Microsoft, etc. Just some middle-aged guys in casual Friday attire hawking their wares from a script. Steve had a way of at least making it seem like it was all on-the-spot, from the gut, even though it was rehearsed/planned a zillion times.

It's a small factor (in addition to the other things I mention), but it's real. It's telling that the only place I really participate is the Outsider section, with movies and things like that. That wasn't the case five years ago. I was in the other sections, talking about "what if..." and "W(hy)TF did they do it that way?!"

Just kinda freaked me out that I was genuinely unaware of WWDC looming; and that once I realized it, I noticed I had no spark/interest for what might be shown or unveiled. That's a definite first!

I was like "ouch...". A swift kick to the bittersweets...

I saw a story about Apple unveiling some big home automation push next week. Which is a perfect example of the exact kind of stuff - along with wearables, etc. - I just can't seem to have any interest, enthusiasm or curiosity for. I have light switches I can turn on and off as I need. I just don't need every single aspect of my life app'ed up/routed through the Internet anymore. It just feels like I'm "over all that", in some ways. Just not excited about hinging more of my existence on all this stuff, like I might've been at one time.

[drewprops]

You definitely used to be a contender for the role of KING of the Speculation thread

And yeah, Steve made it all fun.


...

[Eugene]

It's all commodity hardware on the inside at this point. There's no promise of better performance than Intel...it is Intel. There's no potential for a third party like Exponential or PA-RISC swooping in to rescue us from IBM and Motorola.

OS X is at the point where core OS features are set and anything new is just streamlining. OS X is Mac OS 9.2.2 at this point and it's boring.

Design has also simplified itself. There's only so much flexibility when you are at the point where shaving a millimeter in thickness is a bullet point. No more swing-arm iMacs, no more toilet seat iBooks.

Most of all Apple just isn't the underdog anymore.

[turbulentfurball]

I'm excited about 10.10. There's been rumours about OS X getting the Jony Ive treatment, which should be interesting. As for iOS 8, I don't really know where Apple are going to go now. It's mature, there are no missing features*. Other than that, I don't think there's much to get excited about.

*(Remember the 'YOU CAN'T EVEN CUT AND PASTE!!!!' arguments?!)

[PB PM]

As noted before, Apple really has not done anything exciting for a while now. The fact that rumour sites tell us what is coming a year, or months before any announcements doesn't help the excitement level either.

I think another factor is that, other than the Mac Pro, there have been no interesting new designs on the desktop/notebook front for some time. There really isn't much they can do to make them any better either. Gone are the days of major design changes that we saw in the late 1990's and 2000's.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Eugene It's all commodity hardware on the inside at this point. There's no promise of better performance than Intel...it is Intel. There's no potential for a third party like Exponential or PA-RISC swooping in to rescue us from IBM and Motorola. OS X is at the point where core OS features are set and anything new is just streamlining. OS X is Mac OS 9.2.2 at this point and it's boring. Design has also simplified itself. There's only so much flexibility when you are at the point where shaving a millimeter in thickness is a bullet point. No more swing-arm iMacs, no more toilet seat iBooks. Most of all Apple just isn't the underdog anymore.

All very good points, and things I've thought about in recent months/years. Very true, every one.

We look back and laugh at some of the stuff, but you gotta admit that early 2000's iEra (the colors, translucency, curves, the "out there" design that looked like nothing else, OS X was new and finding its footing and we were all getting used to it, Macworld magazine was still thick and useful, it truly felt like it was a small band of believers against the world, etc.) was the best. I know that was my favorite period. Two Macworlds a year (3-4 if you want to count Tokyo and Paris there for a while). New stuff getting unveiled at a regular clip, it seemed. It was all pre-iPhone (and some was even pre-iPod) so it was just about the Mac.

I kinda miss that sometimes.

Don't get me wrong...I do recognize, and appreciate, the "big picture": that OS X and iOS are so strong, powerful and reliable. I'm glad we're past that "growing pains" or "missing features" period. But, yeah...design-wise, there's only such much you can do at this point. They've painted themselves into a corner, going all aluminum, straight lines and having "13% thinner" being a keynote slide point (especially when, as they've proven a half-dozen times in the past several years, that they have no qualms about jettisoning performance, upgradeability or other positives in pursuit of the Almighty Thin®. On their desktops, in particularly, I wish they'd give that a rest and just quit trying to make the iMac the desktop Air...it isn't necessary.

The new Mac Pro was the first "oh wow!" design I've seen from them in quite some time. Unfortunately it's not a product that has any sort of appeal to me or a place in my life. But I would love to see such a rethinking applied to some of their other things, for sure.

I'm not displeased with Apple (where the hell else am I gonna go...Android? Windows Phone? Give me a break). But I'm just kinda in "cruise/maintain" pattern these days, vs. finding myself all spun-up and tingly over it all. It just feels different and kinda weird to know that I'll probably never be as "into it" as I used to be.

Time does indeed march on.

I'm an Apple guy, true blue. But I think the honeymoon is kinda over and we're no longer going at it 3-4 times a day, so to speak.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by turbulentfurball I'm excited about 10.10. There's been rumours about OS X getting the Jony Ive treatment, which should be interesting.

Well, that's one word for it.

I like iOS 7 okay (it does feel "fresher" and "lighter" than iOS 6 and early, no doubt). But they botched/screwed up some stuff too, and engaged in a whole lot of "fixing" for stuff that wasn't broken (kinda tying into my "solution in search of a problem" remark in my opening post).

The older I get, the more I'd prefer an approach that's more like "fix/perfect the core, basic stuff that is lacking vs. trying to caress my eyeballs with new, whiz-bang but questionable/poorly-implemented 'features' that nobody is asking for." I get real put out by that approach, and not just from Apple.

[Robo]

I wouldn't take the lack of activity in our S&R forum as a sign that nobody is interested in speculating about Apple these days. If anything, it's a sign that everybody is interested, and the conversation has moved on to Twitter and "regular" tech sites, with the little Apple rumor boards becoming less relevant.

But I still like y'all.

[Kickaha]

I dunno, while OS X may be stable, I don't see how there is a lack of opportunity for new features. The foundation, unlike MacOS 9, is *solid*. There's a tremendous amount that can still be placed on top. Think about the new technologies in 10.9, such as Maps. Now think about what can be done on *top* of those. Think about the still-missing integration opportunities between OS X and iOS, or iCloud. Think about how little has been brought to the user level leveraging OpenCL, Obj-C 2 blocks, and LLVM capabilities. Heck, look at what they just did with FTL JavaScript using the latter. Nifty speed boost that the user will appreciate, even if they don't know where it came from.

On the hardware front, it's hard to look at the Mac Pro and think 'commodity'. Yeah, I thoroughly get that the innards are, in many ways, rather run of the mill, but there's still room to maneuver here too. CISC-vs-RISC may be a dead horse, but that's not where the cutting edge tech is landing. The CPU is becoming more of a task manager, while the GPUs are taking on much of the number crunching roles, particularly when coupled with the OS level advancements OS X is taking on.

And really, that's where a lot of the steak *and* sizzle is these days - well under the hood. As a developer and technophile, that's where the best bits of the Mac are right now. The user-facing layers are good, but it's the foundation where the enabling technologies live, and those just keep getting better. A harder sell to the consumer, of course, without a clear use aimed at them, and I think that's where the problem lies at the moment. Okay, where it lies at any moment. lol

I guess I'm not one of those folks who believes the hype that Apple has to pull miracles out of its hat every 18 months to maintain relevance. That's just ridiculous.

[drewprops]

Here you go Pscates, some excitement!!


...

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Kickaha I guess I'm not one of those folks who believes the hype that Apple has to pull miracles out of its hat every 18 months to maintain relevance. That's just ridiculous.

I don't believe that either. I'm in it for the long haul and not impressed by flashy, surface-only stuff. I know they're doing the right thing, taking the right approach...slow and steady, incremental, etc.

It's just different now than it used to be. And part of it may be "iFatigue" on my part, I fully cop to that.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by drewprops Here you go Pscates, some excitement!! ...

Interesting. They've done that 1-2 times in recent years. I take it to mean they've got something they think is worth showing off to everyone in real-time, as it happens (with the full benefit of demos, explanations, etc.) vs. letting everyone read or hear about it on the news later on.

Hmmm.

I assume it's all that house automation stuff. Which, if it is, is actually quite hilarious because I don't recall anyone, anywhere, talking about this as Apple's "next big thing"! It's been nothing but 6-12 months of "iWatch", TVs (yeah...) and of course the bigger, Pop Tart-ier iPhone.



SIDE NOTE: if WWDC comes and it's all about this other home automation stuff - and none of the above topics are even remotely brought up - that should be the final confirmation anyone needs to realize all these so-called "analysts", pundits and "industry insiders/watchers" are pissing up a rope as much as any message board amateur (and that their "advice", suggestions, analysis, speculation, assessments, etc. should all be taken for the butt-extracted, pharmaceutical-induced nonsense it is). That one guy (Munster?) has a worse track record than Ryan Meader, for crying out loud. How do people that unaware, constantly wrong and full-of-shit stay employed? I'm all those things, but nobody's paying me six-plus figures to publicize it.

[alcimedes]

It's likely means they're going to be doing the 'wearable' item, whatever that is.

Might be worth watching after all. I'd be interested to see their take on it.

It's that or the AppleTV/Comcast/media streaming deal, if I were to bet my 2¢.

[PB PM]

Wearable kind of = yawn.

[psmith2.0]

Well, we now know that the Beats stuff will eat up a chunk of the keynote...that'll be talked about, and perhaps the two guys will even come on the stage. I never enjoy the parade of people at these things (the Intel CEO years back, some game developers taking entirely too long to demo some silly-ass sword/sorcery stuff, someone from a company that doesn't make anything very exciting/interesting yammering on for eight minutes, etc.). Hope these two aren't up there for 20 minutes talking about "music"...ugh.

Thing is, there won't be a Mac announcement/product in sight.

[Escher]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Anyone else kinda feeling any, or all, of this?

It may just be that we are getting older and focusing on what is directly relevant to us and our family and friends? Seems only natural that our passions and priorities would change between our teens/20's and 30's/40's.

Originally Posted by Eugene Most of all Apple just isn't the underdog anymore.

That right there! These days, Apple is the 500-pound gorilla. The wannabe underdogs sell to FB and Google for billions. And Micro$oft is looking like the real underdog.

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 That one guy (Munster?) has a worse track record than Ryan Meader, for crying out loud.

OMG, LOL, Paul! Just figured out a couple of days ago that Meader tried to revive MOSR from the dead, although with no updates since April 2012.

Originally Posted by drewprops Here you go Pscates, some excitement!!

I, for one, plan to tune in to the WWDC keynote on Monday. It's as close as I'll ever get to attending WWDC. Plus, I'm rebuilding my house and ready to trash my Google-controlled Nest thermostats and so-so WeMo light switches.

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Thing is, there won't be a Mac announcement/product in sight.

Following my long-standing tradition, I will be holding out for the upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air coming this Fall. Unless it's a sub-PowerBook, homie don't care. And hope springs eternal!

[addabox]

Eddie Cue says it's the best product pipeline in his 25 years at Apple.

Baseless bravura? Doesn't seem like you'd put that out there if you just had further iterations to show.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by PB PM Wearable kind of = yawn.

Smartphones were kind of yawn till Apple rethought the category. Ditto tablets.

[addison]

The past 25 years? That includes the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. That's a tough act to follow in my view. Maybe he got caught up in the moment. Who knows. I'm not gonna be impressed If they roll out an iWatch that will tell me the front porch light on.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by addabox Smartphones were kind of yawn till Apple rethought the category. Ditto tablets.

It's not about the technology or functionality to me. I really dislike watches, for comfort reasons. Thus, I have no interest.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by PB PM It's not about the technology or functionality to me. I really dislike watches, for comfort reasons. Thus, I have no interest.

You disliked watches till Apple rethought the hand!

[Chinney]

Originally Posted by alcimedes It's likely means they're going to be doing the 'wearable' item, whatever that is. [...]

SmartShirts

It's coming.

[alcimedes]

whatever it is has to be unisex, wireless charging, syncing.

hmm, I can't think of what that might be, but then again, maybe apple will surprise us.

[PB PM]

Apple A8Q chips for the brain. Why bother with google glass, and a watch, when Apple can install software right into your brain! :P The Steve Jobs warped reality field will become a reality! We will truly think different, because we will no longer be ourselves! Apple has done it again!

[psmith2.0]

"You're wearing it wrong...".

[torifile]

I'm bored by it, too. But they haven't released a new or even updated product in, what, 8 months now? That's a really long time for no product updates aside from speedbumps. I'll be keeping one eye on the liveblogs just in case.

[Luca]

They really need to give some of their products a resolution bump. The iPhone has had a 640p screen for the past four years and now 1080p phones are commonplace. The MacBook Air has a 1366x768 resolution that really needs to be bumped up as well.

It's weird that Apple began the "resolution wars" several years ago with the "retina" thing, but since then they've basically sat by and watched everyone pass them. The Surface 3 that just came out has a 2560x1440 screen and costs about the same as the MBA.

I'm not saying Apple needs to give the iPhone 6 a 5.5" screen with 4K resolution or anything, just that this is an area where they can improve. Their hardware is basically where it needs to be; PC and mobile hardware seems to have plateaued in recent years and even cheap CPUs get the job done and then some.

[thegeriatric]

I for one am interested to see where the Mac OS is going, but that's about all.