More MacWorld Coverage

Here are a number of articles that I found today covering the product releases at the MacWorld SF keynote:

Paul Thurrott has written a commentary of the keynote… and it's actually fair! He has pointed out flaws in certain areas, but has praised iLife and the iPod shuffle, and especially the Mac mini:

The Mac mini is drool-worthy. The Mac mini is beautiful. The Mac mini is affordable. The Mac mini is small, quiet, and elegant. Like an iPod, it has trade-offs when compared to similarly-priced PC products. But you know what? I don't care. They're going to sell millions of these things. PC people will be able to get into a Mac for next to nothing. And Mac market share will grow. Mark my words. This is big stuff. Well, it's small. The box. Nevermind.

I love Mac mini. I love Apple for making Mac mini. And I love the thought of this thing turning around the Mac's fortune. All these years of over-pricing their products and Apple totally hit it out of the park this time.

I would like to nitpick on little thing, regarding the "crash" in the Spotlight demo:

In another moment of unintended hilarity, Spotlight actually crashes on Jobs. Unlike, say, the Media Center demo during Bill Gates' CES keynote, which did not crash, though it was incorrectly reported that way everywhere. "I'm going to get a lot of images here, I … uh… oops … I didn't want to do that. I'll show you that in a minute … [awkward pause and then audience laughter] Alrighty. Yup. I've got a little bug here. [More laughter as Jobs gets the "bong" OS X error sound that typically required a hard reset]. Alright. Well, that's why we have backup systems here." [Riotous laughter and applauding] Only Jobs could get that kind of reaction from a "little bug" that was somehow big enough to freeze Mac OS X completely. And no, you won't see any negative press coverage of this very real gaffe, like we did for Gates, despite the fact that Gates' Media Center demo didn't actually crash. Ah well.

I don't think it was actually a crash (or a bug) is Spotlight… Rather, the preview application, while in fullscreen mode, refused to exit. You could see Steve hitting the Escape key a couple of times, before he switched to the backup computer. It happens to the best of us. Oh well.

As the Apple Turns has its typical sardonic view on the events.

Engadget unpacks the iPod shuffle.

Engadget: "Creative CEO disses the iPod shuffle" – It may have less features than many of the Creative flash players, but if Apple manages to sell a ton more than Creative, who's the winner?

CNet: "When it comes to Apple Computer's new Mac Mini, beauty is in the eye of the person holding the wallet."

Andy Ihnatko: "Thoughts on the Keynote"