A Bit Eclectic

Except they tend to converge on a few similar points.

I have a love hate relationship with the Apple rumor mill, and the past couple weeks have been as good/bad as any.  We hear all this talk about the Apple tablet, but if you look close all the talk is the same.  It starts off with a few pieces of, typically false, information that then gets repeated over and over.  Sometimes a twist is added/made up, but for the most part it is the same.  Look around at the tablet rumors, I bet most of them claim it will have a 10″ screen.  This may or may not be false, but as a community (yes I am referring to the Apple community) we have very little information or imagination. Yet everyone want’s to regurgitate the same hardware specs and not so innovative UIs.  The hardware means very little.

I don’t care how big the screen is or how many ports it has. Features don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things (I had a Verizon phone that surfed the web and played music). I care about how I will interact with the device and what hole it will fill in my digital life.

Think back to the pre-iPhone rumors, most of them were guessing that it would have a click wheel slapped onto a regular old phone.  Those rumors were regurgitated so many times it began to feel real.  In the end, the actual iPhone is so far away from the rumors that we should be happy those people aren’t employed by Apple.  Granted, hindsight is a little misleading.  If these rumors had been spot on and predicted everything, nobody would believe they were true.

This article really hits the nail on the head and sums up a lot of my feelings.  What I want to know can’t be made up by the kind folks on the internet; Apple (and other companies) needs to be the one that opens my eyes and shows me what I’m missing. (Neven’s post also parallels my feelings)

I’ve been working for 13 hours so this post might not make much sense. Good night all and enjoy the festivities tomorrow.

For those of you who aren’t super obsessed Apple Fanboys, you may not know that one of the biggest Apple events, Macworld, is right around the corner. In fact, it all starts on Tuesday 1/15 and Steve Jobs will tell us about those amazing and shiny new products that Apple has been working on. But I am not talking about Macworld. What interests me are the weeks that lead up to it.

The weeks, or even months, before Macworld is when people start “leaking” information that someone on the “inside” has passed along. In addition, you also see speculation about where the industry is headed and the products that are “definitely” going to be released. Some rumor sites post lists of their readers ideas and speculation, most of which sound as if there origins are in a science fiction story. We hear stories about really cool technology that doesn’t really sound feasible. In the end, most of the rumors and speculation are usually wrong and way off the mark, but this doesn’t negate their value. In fact, these fake rumors are just as important as the products that are actually released.

All these fake rumors were created by someone’s imagination. They dreamt of things that they would like to see invented and instead of shooting down an idea because it was unrealistic, they ran with it. They told others about these ideas and somewhere along the way it turned into, “Company A is going to release product B according to a reliable source.” The fact is, a companies innovation is limited to their creators imagination. If people stop dreaming and start saying “this isn’t possible” or “it can’t be done” then innovation will come to a standstill. Some of the greatest products are a result of people following their imagination.

I don’t believe that all, or even most, of these rumors are started by employees at Apple or other tech companies, but their idea could still make it there. Someone may hear about this idea and try to make it a reality. These creative individuals may even start their own company or find their way into one that is already established.

Remember to take the rumors you hear with a grain of salt, but don’t stop enjoying these fantasy products that may show up in the future.