No XL iPod touch pro or fabled Apple tablets at the Philnote. Too bad, because I want one badly. Maybe the new pen and touch-enabled Modbook Pro will do.

The new version of the Modbook is made of machined aluminum, finished in black. While its design is clearly not Jon Ive's, the 0.93-inch Modbook Pro is thinner than the Macbook it is based on, and more elegant and straightforward than their previous model.

The new guts include a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Nvidia GeForce® 9600M GT graphics, but the most important thing in a tablet computer is the surface itself. At 15.4-inch WXGA display, it is larger than the 12-inch Cintiq Wacom I reviewed and it has something that the Wacom or the original Modbook don't have: It's touch sensing.

The Modbook Pro uses a technology called Synergy Touch, which combines the pressure-pen Wacom system with direct and simultaneous touch input. They don't say if it supports multitouch gestures in Mac OS X or Windows, but the multiple input is great news.

The only bad thing is its price. At $4,999 for the model based on the 2.4GHz MacBook Pro, this thing is prohibitively expensive as far as tablet PCs go. It's not surprising, since they are done by hand—there's a Modservice Pro that will reconvert your MacBook Pro into a Modbook Pro for $3,049—but still hard to justify looking at the alternatives from other PC manufacturers.

Hopefully, Apple will eventually supersize the iPod touch. When they do, I hope they go the other way around and add pressure-sensitive pen input to it. [Axiotron]

As our warriors move from the beachheads of SF to the trenches of LV, here's today's recap, and reminder that the war week is far from over:

It's been the easiest thing for everybody in the universe to say that Apple's Macworld 2009 keynote lacked not just Jobs but luster. We did feel a distinct absence of a Jobsian ZOMG hover-board-that-shoots-lightning-bolts reality distortion, a surge that is always followed by inevitable grumbling anyway. But the speech by able stand-in Phil Schiller wasn't without genuine news...

• Those who enjoy their iPhoto couldn't help marvel at the new features, including real bonafide face identification and new useful geographical organizing tools.

• People who hated last year's iMovie overhaul are now starting to realize that it might have been a necessary step in a whole new approach.

• We finally got the 17" MacBook Pro that had been projected for so long, though with a truly Apple-flavored twist: a long-lasting but non-removable battery.

• iWork got some improvements, but more importantly made its first lunge toward the cloud—for better or for worse.

• iPhone owners got the chance to impulse-buy songs directly over AT&T's 3G network (and even the EDGE network, at their own peril).

• And DRM—the reason I started buying all music from Amazon—finally got the boot, though under the condition that the four major record distributors get to charge higher prices on their tastiest licks.

It was an eventful day in the Apple-verse, even though Steve sat it out. But Macworld has come to an end (perhaps for all time), and we're already up and running at CES! [Macworld 2009; CES 2009]

'MacHeads,' a new movie about the Apple and Macintosh culture, will premiere Wednesday at MacWorld.

(Credit: MacHeads)

It's a long-established truism in technology journalism that stories about Apple are pretty much guaranteed to do better than just about any other subject.

And why? It's certainly not because of ...

We reported last month that The Sharper Image would be rebranding itself as a gadget maker here at CES, and now we have our first hands-on with their cheap iPod docks. Welcome to the future!

galleryPost('sharperimagedocks', 6, 'Sharper Image iPod Docks');Yes, now instead of a store in the mall to buy your stepdad a spatula mixed with a thermometer, The Sharper Image is going to be a line of iPod docks sold at places like department stores and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

What I saw were some decent-looking but uninspiring iPod docks. One model rotates your iPod touch automagically into landscape mode for watching movies. Another has a pair of detachable, wireless speakers.

The goal is to sell iPod docks that are cheaper than what's out there, but with most of the prices hovering well over $100, they really only seem like they'll be cheap when compared to something like Bose. In any case, these things won't be hitting stores your mom shops at until November of this year, so we have a good long while to get excited about piano-black iPod docks again.

Pandora's personalized internet radio player is one of our favorite iPhone apps—and tonight it got better, adding a snazzy Coverflow-like song history, bookmark previewing, in-line artist bios and a playback progress bar (finally).

You can also take your track-based stations (previously only generated via artist and e-mail them to friends, just like the artist stations (Update: Pandora says something here is new, but you folks are right, you could do this in the last version. Weird. The emailing bit is still true.) Artist biographies also show up inline now to supplement Pandora's ingenious descriptive tags.

The update is available now on iTunes, even though the App Store page still says version 1.2.1: [Pandora via TechCrunch, LifeHacker]

This one slipped even below Jim Goldman's rumor radar: The Apple Keynote Beer Goggles. Judging from today's snoringfest, I won't be surprised if they make them obligatory for every event in 2009.

Many people are bashing the Philnote because it was a bore and there were no new new NEW toys. In reality, the keynote wasn't very different from many other that Steve Jobs did in the past. I remember some who were mostly the same: Endless software demonstrations plus a hardware update here or there. In fact, I think there were even worse keynotes, like that time when an endless parade of third-party software directors came on stage to show their support to Mac OS X. It took me several Guinness pints to get over that one.

So given what he had to present today—and I've to say that I love the new iPhoto and iMovie—El Schillerino did quite a good job. But even while he was good, apparently he's not Steve Jobs and people weren't as enthusiastic as when El Esteban is on stage. I don't know what's going to happen when Jobs finally retires from Apple, but maybe the key for success goes through free beer for everyone at the door. And probably free pizza too. [Image based on the original beer goggles from Urban Spectacles via Dark Roasted Blend]

Aside from the actual speculated products, the big news surrounding the Apple Macworld keynote was that Steve Jobs would be out sick. But as I refreshed the Gizmodo liveblog, I wondered, did it matter?

I'm a sucker for any Apple keynote, whether I'm in the stands with the press or F5'ing away at my browser like most of you. There's a certain hypnotic timing to them, a clean presentation and a controlled, meticulous unveiling process that makes even the less exciting products seem monumental in scope.

During today's last Apple Macworld keynote, not having been there, I actually forgot at times that Steve Jobs wasn't presenting with Phil Schiller taking his place instead. Indeed, from the text/content alone, I wouldn't have even noticed. The presentation style was intact—from the clean slides to the dramatic structure, it was an Apple keynote, even if it wasn't Steve's Apple keynote. But I want to know, do you feel the same way?
Did You Enjoy The Keynote Any Less Without Steve Jobs?
( surveys)

Our liveblog is good, but nothing beats seeing the last Macworld keynote with your own eyes. Fortunately, Apple has posted the entire event online in QuickTime. [Apple]

Add new songs to your iPhone over 3G.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)

Though the addition of DRM-free music is grabbing the most iTunes headlines, there was more music news at the Macworld 2009 keynote on Tuesday.

Apple Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller also announced that beginning ...

Originally posted at Crave

With its launch of iPhoto 09, Apple has begun showing some reasons why it's worth enduring the hassle of geotagging your photos.

It's generally not easy right now to label your photos with information about where you took the pictures--the process usually is done with special software to marry the photos with location data taken from a separate GPS receiver.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, demonstrated geotagging in iPhoto 09 at Macworld 2009.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, demonstrated what you can do with iPhoto at the Macworld 2009 keynote Tuesday.

iPhoto 09 works best with photos that already have been tagged. That's getting more common, as GPS hardware support becomes less of a rarity. For example, Nikon's Coolpix P6000 has a built-in GPS receiver, and Nikon has begun selling its GP-1 GPS receiver, which can plug into its SLR's flash mount so location data is embedded in the photo. Apple's iPhone can geotag its own photos, and camera manufacturers say GPS support in cameras has become a matter of when, not if.

But the software also can help you tag your own images. Clicking a photo flips it over, letting you type in a location, then showing the spot using a map. (Google supplies back-end mapping services). Helpfully, iPhoto then can spread that location data to other photos with similar time stamps, and they can be bundled together into a group called an event.

OK, but what can you do?
Once you have geotagged photos, what can you do with them?

For one thing, sift through them geographically using iPhotos' new Places interface. Viewing an iPhoto event can show an associated collection of pushpins on a map, and clicking each pin shows the photo.

For another, you can search for photos based on where you took them, not on whatever filing system you might use. iPhoto can handle geographic hierarchies, so if you labeled a photo with "Eiffel Tower," it'll find it with a search for "France" or "Paris."

...

Originally posted at Underexposed

At Macworld 2009, Apple's Phil Schiller revealed that the iTunes Store will now sell DRM-free tracks.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)

For all of you who weren't able to follow our live coverage of Apple's keynote address at Macworld 2009 earlier Tuesday from San Francisco's ...

Apple has posted the QuickTime video stream of today's Macworld Expo keynote by Phil Schiller. Apple made a number of announcements at today's event:

- Apple Releases Aluminum Unibody 17" MacBook Pro
- Apple Announces Changes to...

We just confirmed with Apple that swapping out the 17" MacBook Pro's non-removable battery will cost $179. Fortunately, says Apple, the swap might not be needed for a long time:

From a spokesperson at Apple:

It will likely be years before you need to replace it (1000 cycles at 200 cycles/year = 5 years). You can have the battery replaced at any Apple Store or Apple-authorized reseller. The replacement battery is priced at $179, which includes installation of the new battery and environmentally-responsible disposal of the old battery.

The non-removable MacBook Air battery costs $129 to replace, though the lifespan is not promised to be as great. [Apple]

newVideoPlayer("/imovie_09_2_giz.flv", 475, 316,""); In this shakey cam tour (sorry) we go over the three most interesting functions in iMovie 09: The globetrotting map animations, an automatic shake stabilizer, and the zoomed in precision editor.

Maps:
• There are 4 versions of maps, each also in a flat mode (along with the original globe). One is a photorealistic map, one is a school map, one has beige continents and one has green continents.
• If you're adding map animations from scratch, they take a bit of time to render. You have to select a starting and end point (Madrid or Disneyland), and the program will map it.
• Putting two animations back to back, using the same destination and departure city, makes the animation a seamless multi city tour.
• You can update the type of map by dragging the style onto the existing thumbnail in the project line.

Shake Stabilizer:
• It analyzes the entire picture and steadies the motion very, very well.
• If a scene cannot be corrected, because of an overage of movement, iMovie marks the section with a squiggly red line.
• The rendering for this correction has to be done on a case by case or project basis; all the rendering must be done ahead of time and Apple says, "it takes awhile but is worth it".

Precision Editor:
• Basically, precision editor zooms into the transition between two clips.
• It's laid out as follows: the upper segment is the first clip, and the bottom segment is the second clip.
• The left side highlights the first and upper clip, because that's active, and the lower right hand quadrant is also active (as the second clip). Moving the slider inbetween them (the y axis) shifts the transition point. Very easy.

And at long last, slow motion is back.

iMovie 08 was criticized for having a brilliant UI but lacking power, and so many people still use 06 which accepts plug ins. Perhaps 09 is a step in the right direction.

galleryPost('imovie09macworld', 3, '');

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Here's a basic rundown of everything Apple announced ...

SAN FRANCISCO--At the MacWorld ShowStoppers event Monday night, I got a quick look at Newber, an iPhone app from Freedom Voice Systems that lets you redirect calls made to a new number you give out ("newber," get it?) to alternate numbers depending on your location. If you're in the ...

newVideoPlayer("/iphoto_09_2_giz.flv", 506, 305,""); Here are a few best features of iPhoto '09, including Faces and Places, which recognizes people in your albums and the locations you took those photos in.

galleryPost('iphoto09macworld', 11, '');

Cool stuff: separating your photos by people, which you can then scrub (move your mouse) over and see all the images of them you have. iPhoto is smart enough to try and recognize which people are which with semi-decent accuracy, and you'll have to confirm each one as you go. Once you're done, you have a corkboard full of Polaroids of the people you know.

Geolocation is great for travelers, and if you go to a lot of different countries, your "Places" section will have a rich map made up of all the pins you've been to. You can fill in location data yourself, or if you have an iPhone or other GPS-enabled camera, it's automatically filled in for you.

Other cool stuff is Facebook and Flickr integration (includes tagging as well), plus themed slideshows. [iPhoto]

If Wired, TUAW and Macrumors are independently reporting a Mac Mini is on its way, we know it exists. Evidently, we're just not going to see it at Macworld. So what about other rumors?

From our original Macworld 2009 rumor roundup, here's the rundown on how all the rumors panned out.

Came True:
iLife and iWork '09 (with iWork in the cloud)
DRM-Free iTunes
17-inch Macbook Pro

Didn't Come True:
New Mac Mini
Updated 30-inch Cinema Displays

Didn't Come True Stretches:
iPod Touch Jumbo/XL/Pro/Netbook/Thing
iPhone nano
Home Server
Snow Leopard Availability
New iMacs

Seeing as many of the rumors were an admitted wild shot at best, we'd put the real rumor batting average around .400, even if it's closer to .266 on paper.

newVideoPlayer("/MBP17battery_gizmodo.flv", 475, 286,""); Battery life is limited, but Apple built a non-removable battery for the 17" MacBook Pro that lasts up to 8 hours. [Apple]

Apple announced a new 17" MacBook Pro which will be available in late January. Utilizing the same unibody construction as the 15" MacBook Pro and 13" MacBook, the 17" MacBook Pro will be available in a single alterable configuration f...