“Hey Siri, give us a hint.”

Apple has sent out their invites for their “annual” iPhone release.

Hey Siri, Give Us a Hint

If you ask Siri on your iPhone, to give you a hint, you get some quite witty responses.

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As well as new iPhones, the rumours also say there may be a new Apple TV. That I wouldn’t mind to replace my old 720p model.

iStream?

In the past I have used numerous streaming services such as Qik, Ustream and more recently Justin.tv

One of the (recent) downsides of these free services is that the advertising has enroached so much into the stream, including pre-roll advertising, that as a tool for the informal streaming of conferences and events, it is just not worth the bother.

So you can imagine my interest in the recent Cult of Mac report that in a rumoured possible revamp of MobileMe, Apple are working on a live streaming service along the lines of Ustream.

Now the question is, will this be an advertising supported feature (with iAds) or will it be free of adverts. Remember that Apple have that big server farm, so have the technical capability to deliver a smooth service. Facetime is already with us on the Mac, so in many ways we already have the technology in place. A streaming service would allow you to “Facetime” to lots of people, and not just one person.

Of course this is just a rumour and there are always lots of Apple rumours.

Beatles on iTunes?

So this afternoon Apple have an iTunes announcement.

Rumours indicate that this is probably going to be an announcement that the Beatles will now be available in the iTunes Store.

Another rumour indicates that Apple will announce live streaming for iTunes.

I wonder if the wording of the “invitation” is significant? It does say iTunes and not iTunes Store. Does that make a difference?

New MacBook Air???

There are rumours floating about regarding a new MacBook Air.

Macrumors says

…the new MacBook Air will offer an 11.6-inch display, down from the 13.3-inch display found in the current model.

and

…the new models will do away with existing options for a conventional hard-disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) in favor something described as an “SSD Card” that lacks a traditional drive enclosure and more closely resembles a stick of RAM, yet is not easily user-replaceable.

This sounds like the really portable MacBook that I expected when the first MacBook Air came out. A true Apple netbook….

Back then I said

Key new product announced at the keynote was the MacBook Air, a small light MacBook.

I do like small computers, great fan of the 10″Sony VAIO laptops, however this is slightly bigger than I would like, and I can’t see how that would survive travelling by air or train.

Don’t get me wrong I think it’s very stylish, well designed, but doesn’t meet my needs for a small portable computer for use at conferences, on the train and in coffee shops.

I also talked about the lack on built-in 3G, something that most portable laptops at the time were coming with.

However something has changed since then.

The iPad.

The iPad is now that portable computer that I take with me to conferences, use on the train and in  coffee shops. The iPad has built in 3G and has a great battery life.

What will the MacBook Air offer that can’t be done on the iPad? Well I know stuff like printing and saving and moving files for instance….

This rumoured MacBook Air sounds like the device that Apple should have released back in 2008.

New Apple TV

Well Apple are holding an event on the 1st September for the press.

Generally at this time of year we see Apple announce their new iPod line up for the festive season.

With sales of traditional iPods falling I suspect (as others do) that there may be a limited refresh of the traditional iPod line, but the real focus of this event will be a new iPod touch and a new iOS4 based Apple TV (or iTV as Apple want to call it). There are also rumours of an iPad refresh, not sure how reliable that is, but we will be getting iOS 4 for the iPad about now and I do wonder if the delay was down to a refreshed iPad with Facetime camera? There are also other rumours of a 7″ iPad.

What really interests me is the new Apple TV. I have been considering buying one for some time now and keep putting it off. Using a Mac mini has solved many of my issues with pushing video and music from my computer to the front room, however this is only a temporary solution. In the long term I need to choose between getting another Mac mini or getting an Apple TV. The new rumoured $99 Apple TV actually might be a real solution and in many ways could work alongside a Mac mini!

Will be interesting to see what is in fact announced on the 1st September.

WWDC Keynote

Today is Steve Jobs’ Keynote at WWDC.

Traditionally we get to hear about new products and new software.

As might be expected the web is rife with rumours about what we will hear about. I’ll let you Google them to find what they are.

Will probably follow the keynote via Macrumors.

New Apple TV ?

According to various rumours Apple may be releasing a new Apple TV but in a different format compared to the current model. If the rumours are to be believed then the new Apple TV will be a screen-less iPod. It will only have 16GB of on board storage. It will in the main be streaming content from a Mac or the cloud.

I already use my iPhone to do this, however this new Apple TV has the advantage that it will she able to play 1080p HD content.

The price?

$99

Probably will get one.

Is this the new iPhone 4G

Gizmodo have been showing off what could be the iPhone 4G.

It certainly would be a change from the current iPhone 3GS.

Of course is this a fake or what?

From what Gizmodo and other sites are saying about the device, I think if it is fake, it’s a very very clever fake.

I suspect whoever lost it at Apple may have lost a lot more now than just a prototype iPhone.

Really, all that from a job advert!

You have to love the rumour sites, have a read of this article from Macrumors.

Computerworld points to an Apple job listing posted last week which suggests that Apple is looking to expand the iPhone OS beyond the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to additional platforms.

It suggests….

Let’s all speculate the future production of Apple products based on the job description of someone who will probably design those future products…

I love the rumour sites!

No Blu-Ray

I have been holding off buying a replacement iMac as I have been waiting for the release of new models. Rumours were abound a month or two back that the new redesigned iMacs would have Blu-Ray.

Generally you should never wait for new models as you will always be waiting. Buy the hardware you need when you need it.

Sometimes I wish I had done that, but my “normal” practice with Apple hardware is to buy it just after it was released. I did that with my last iMac and my iPhone 3GS.

Well the current rumour is that the new iMacs won’t have Blu Ray, they will have powerful chips, but no way to play Blu-Ray films…

A lot of this is dependent on your view if the future of movies is in physical media or downloads.

The main reason I prefer physical media is that my broadband connection has trouble with standard definition films let alone the huge file sizes that HD movies would be. Even now I have to download films from iTunes overnight to avoid hitting my bandwidth cap, the time it takes and the impact downloading has on my (very small) bandwidth, essentially stopping me from doing anything except watching the progress of the download.

The new iMacs (again according to the rumour sites) will be released before the end of October.