MWSF 2005: The Highs

All-in-all, this was a pretty awesome keynote. Even though the rumor sites pretty much spoiled things in terms of the general ideas of what Apple would announce, what Apple delivered was uniformly better then what the rumor sites were predicting. Without further ado, here is my list:

• Spotlight - Desktop search done right. The integration into applications (especially the Finder with Smart Folders [which look super rad]) is what really makes spotlight great.
• Improved Mail.app in Tiger - being able to search all of my mail folders via spotlight is going to save me crazy amounts of time. I could *really* use this at work, however. Maybe I should buy a Mac mini and use it at EDS?
• iChat AV and H.264 - I really want the better codec. I don't see myself doing multiparty video conferences, unless some of my team at EDS gets macs (hint, hint).
• Mac mini - Stupendous. It is smaller (but taller) than what I envisioned. And Apple actually got to the $499 price point. I haven't looked at all of the specs yet, but it looks like it's essentially my laptop in a smaller package. If it had a PCI slot and TV-output, I could use it as my Tivo. And it would look way better than that Shuttle that I just bought.
• iPod shuffle - I was surprised that Apple actually did a flash-based iPod. Basically, because up until now, all flash players have sucked, and I didn't see a way for Apple to make them un-suck. Well, I am quite happy to be proven wrong. Apple has been able to deliver a lot of memory for a cheap price. And, even more importantly, they have licked the UI issues. I played with one on the expo floor, and it is amazing. You hit play, and it immediately starts playing a song. Don't like it? Hit next -- you immediately get a new song. It is really fast. And the audio quality is amazing. Even on the noisy show floor, I could tell that this thing sounds great. And it is so compact. The form factor is also really amazing. I want one. As I have typed this, my want for this product has increased. How does Apple keep doing it? They are taking all other CE vendors to school right now. Creative? Rio? iRiver? Sony? None of them can even touch this. It doesn't make any sense.
• Apple sells 4.5 million iPods in Q4 2004. Quite simply, this was the biggest, most stunning announcement that Steve Jobs made today. With the 1-2 iPod / iTunes music store punch, Apple has blown the roof off of digital music. The numbers that Jobs presented during the keynote are simply astounding.
• More iPod integration with cars - I checked out the Mercedes CLS 500 on the show floor. That looks like a really impressive ride. Is $70k too much to spend on a car?
• iWork only costs $79 - Quite a price savings, since Keynote alone used to cost $100. I don't think that I'm going to buy it (since I have Office 2004, which is pretty sweet). But if I have to deliver a lot more presentations for work, I may start sniffing around Keynote 2.
• Sheet music generation in Garage Band 2 - I don't know what this feature is really called, but watching John Mayer play the piano and having the notes pop on the screen in Garage Band was jaw-droppingly cool.
• Dashboard - the way the widgets flip in and out must be seen to be believed. A really killer feature in Tiger -- I can definitely see myself using this a whole bunch. Apple has addressed a real need in using the computer (getting little sides bits of info fast), and solved it in a beautiful, innovative way.
• New features in iPhoto - while I have already panned the price, it looks like a lot of the improvements in iPhoto 5 are going to be welcome. I didn't get a chance to play with it today (the Apple booth was positively mobbed), but I'll try and get some time with it tomorrow.

All-in-all, a dazzling keynote. I'm really glad that I went. I will try and post some pictures and blog more about some of the other things that I saw at the show later this evening (after I put in a few hours at work).

-Andy.