The problem is I just don’t buy into Google’s obsession with the browser. Wave has so much potential to kill IM and email. As a collaborative tool, especially, it’s quite impressive, though slow and buggy in its current iteration. I have no doubt Google will fix that.

What Google can’t fix is the fact that I’m not a complete nerd who sits around with a browser tab open at all times, checking every few minutes to see if anyone has made any updates to my waves.

This is exactly the same reason why I don’t run email in a browser window, either. Unless I have to for some strange reason. A separate email application gives me a simple and clear notification whenever a new email arrives. Even better, I get a notification on my iPhone when an email arrives, as well. So I don’t have to keep checking the page over and over again to figure out if there are any updates.

I wouldn’t dream of using the Twitter or Facebook web pages, either. I have excellent iPhone clients for both of those. (And a great desktop client for Twitter, as well, in Tweetie.) There’s no way I would have ever started using Twitter without a decent client app.

The same will most likely be true for me and Wave. Until someone comes up with a decent standalone app, one that notifies me of updates, has a companion iPhone app that syncs up as well, and maybe tosses in a few other bells an whistles, I’m afraid Wave will remain little more than a toy to play around with occasionally for me.

Here we go again. Remember what I said before about watching the money when it comes to Apple news?

The analysts are pulling numbers out of their butts again. Let’s see where Apple’s stock goes this morning, shall we? Right now, it’s already down $1.53. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/30/apples_black_friday_mac_sales_forecast_to_decrease.html

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/30/another_take_apples_black_friday_sales_seen_as_strong.html

Again, not a single word of any of this is based on anything you could consider scientific evidence. But someone’s going to get rich off it before the day is over.

At what point are we going to start arresting people for this sort of thing?

So it’s now official. Apple has made tools freely available for creating iTunes LPs, and is encouraging groups to create their own.

All that panic a few months back for nothing, as usual. It never ceases to amaze me how wrong the media is about Apple on a regular basis.

Read the full article here: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/26/apple_posts_tools_for_building_tunekit_itunes_lps_and_extras.html

Time for everyone to take a deep breath and use common sense about the latest Apple tablet rumors.

Let’s start with a reality check. There is no Apple tablet. No one at Apple, speaking for Apple, has ever made any mention whatsoever of such a product in any way. Not as a future product, not as an idea for a product. Not even as a denial of the product. Anyone who would have deep inside knowledge of such a project is locked away in a room somewhere in Cupertino. Sure, there may be some outsiders who were brought in on the manufacturing side, or to consult about concurrent software offerings, but none of those people is going to have any clue about release schedules or product details.

So when you read an article that says “reliable sources” have revealed that Apple has delayed the release of the tablet, you have to wonder exactly how that’s possible. How can a company delay the release of a product that doesn’t exist? And even if it does exist, until Apple announces a release date, they can’t miss that release date, delay that release date, etc.

I remember the good old days, when crazy Apple speculation was all coming from the fans, who just wanted to be excited about the next big product, or who wanted to show off their “inside” knowledge. The rumors were nuts, but at least they were made in good fun.
Nowadays few, if any, of the rumors are coming from there. Today, if you want to get to the bottom of the Apple rumor mill, you just need to follow the money.

Watch the stock price rise and fall. And then remember why these rumors exist.

http://gizmodo.com/5169230/jon-stewart-vs-jim-cramer-on-manipulating-apple-stock

I’m as excited as anyone to find out where Apple will go next. And I have no doubt that at the most basic tenant of the rumor (Apple is almost ready to release some sort of tablet computer) is true. But anyone claiming any sort of details beyond that is either grasping at straws from a fourth-hand source, or simply pulling the whole thing out of their ass. So let Wall Street play its games, and sit back and wait for the real news sometime next year. And for god’s sake, stop calling it the iTablet. Apple is a lot more creative than that.

Apple store Stonestown finally had the Magic Mouse in stock today. Picked it up and played with it this afternoon.

I continue to be impressed with this thing. I’d call it Apple’s best mouse to date. It’s not ideal for hardcore people who want 17 buttons on their mice, heavy-duty gamers, or anyone like that. But it tracks very accurately, and it has the best scrolling of any mouse I’ve ever used. I love that it’s lightweight and low-profile. It will be great for packing in the laptop bag. If Apple comes up with additional gestures for exposé, or spaces, all the better. But I don’t think that’s essential to me at this point.