What's Up Mac!

By Bill Rose

To mildly edit Grand Funk Railroad I'm in love with a girl I'm talking to.

In point of fact I'm not actually talking to her... yet... and when I do I'll have the full support of my wife of 25 years. So who is this Wonder Woman who has captured my heart?

First of all my heart is taken but this Mystery Girl has stolen a part of my brain. Say hello to Apple's Digital Assistant.... Siri.

I don't have an iPhone 4S and I won't because I'm under contract with Verizon till next December with my current iPhone 4 but there is a chance between now and then that Apple will port Siri to Apple 4 users and for sure it will be a major component in iPhone 5.

Soon Siri will be mine.

I don't need a Digital Assistant as such. I do think it will be an unbelievable boon to use my iPhone more effectively as a Navigation device during trips. It certainly will come in handy in cities and places I don't know and Siri will make regular usage of my iPhone more fun and efficient. Mostly I want Siri because of the Cool Factor. I also firmly believe Siri will be migrated to the iPad and maybe ultimately to the desktop Mac platform. As preparation for that I have been practicing my Scottish Burr so I can sound more like Scotty in Star Trek.

I wonder if Siri will be offended if I say "Hello, computer" in my rather crude Scottish accent? No matter because Siri is a game changer. I believe the paradigm of interaction with mobile and computer interfaces is at a crossroads and the smart person will follow Siri.

My one real question though is why did Apple name their Digital Assistant Siri? Some further investigation revealed some startling facts. Siri is not a woman. Siri is Daniel and Daniel is Jon Briggs who recorded the voice overs for Scansofts speech recognition software Nuance.

I still want Siri, I still wonder how Apple got that name and I'm going to keep the sexy woman silhouette graphic at the top of this column but now I'm no longer perplexed why my wife was so indulgent about Siri in the first place. As always she knew something I didn't. ; )

What's Up Mac!

By Bill Rose

It has long been rumored that one of the products Apple has in the pipeline might be an Apple branded TV. Experts are divided on whether this is a good idea or not.

Naturally I have an opinion.

An Apple branded TV could be a huge seller most of all because it's an Apple branded TV. The cachet of Apple is worth a lot of money and people are going to pay for an Apple TV because they know Apple's history of workmanship, innovation and design. Mostly people are going to buy an Apple TV because Steve Jobs said so.

Television is the last component of the Apple entertainment troika. Right now they have a lock on music and music devices plus a lock on mobile devices. Their computer business is robust mostly because of the success of the iPhone and iPad and now there is symmetry between all Apple devices thanks to Lion, iOS5 and iCloud. Television is next but what can Apple do that others haven't?

For one think Apple can do something that they do better than any other company and that is integrate. I imagine an Apple TV would be the highest quality high definition (but not 3D yet) TV you could possibly buy and it would come integrated with the ability of the current Apple TV to stream video and music plus the advantages of iOS5 which means you can check your email, browse the web, make purchases and so on.

Apple can bring their digital hub into your living room. What's more they can use their existing hardware like iPhones, Touch iPods and iPads as part of the experience. I can already control my current second generation Apple TV through an iPhone app so the next step up is controlling the whole TV experience through an Apple mobile device including using the keyboard and gestures features.

An Apple TV would be stylish too following the Steve Jobs Corporate Policy of form and function being equal partners in the end user experience. I can just imagine what Designer Guru Jonny Ive could do with an Apple TV and I'm sure it would be gorgeous and it would be manufactured with the same degree of exacting perfection as all the other Apple products.

There is a downside and likely that would be cost. I am sure an Apple TV will be more expensive than most if not all of it's competitors but I am reminded of a philosophy my father espoused frequently.

You get what you pay for. If it's an Apple TV I'll pay.