iCloud

Now that we are all starting to use a plethora of digitally connected devices (many starting with the letter “i”…) it is becoming all too important for us to stay connected to our data, at all times, from any of these devices. And let’s admit it–syncing sucks!

When I face data syncing issues I think about Steve. He probably has less patience for that kind of problem than I do–and I have VERY little patience! So do I believe Jobs & Co. will be addressing this fundamental problem today? Yes.

I think the music deals are just a part of it. What Apple needs to do is  get in on the action that is happening all over out there with the Cloud. Cloud service providers are doing things that save people headaches and they are making money at it. Company’s like Dropbox, LiveDrive, Mozy, ElephantDrive, Amazon, Google, Nirvanix, Box.net, and a list of others including business-oriented providers like Mezeo, EMC Atmost Online, Amazon S3, Rackspace, Eucalptus and others.

iCloud may just start with music, movies, books and iLife suite stuff today. But even if it simply replicates MobileMe’s iDrive feature that will initiate a process towards data storage in the cloud for Apple. In about three more hours we will all know what iCloud really is!

A Bit of History

A bit of history is in order to set the proper mood for this post. The year was 1998. It was one of those water cooler moments. The location was the Boston architectural office of Koetter Kim & Associates. The office was completely Mac based during that time. It was in the afternoon, just after lunch hour to be precise. I was talking to a young colleague who at the time was telling me he was thinking about going back to China to practice architecture, since getting his masters at the GSD. Steve Jobs had already introduced the iMac, but despite that my colleague was telling me how much he loved the Mac but it seemed that the platform was doomed. I told him I thought the problem was that people didn’t have the information available to them to dispel the rumors and disparaging comments.

I told him I was learning how to create Web sites. He said, “you should create one about the Mac in architecture.” I said, “Yeah…maybe I can call it Macitecture or something like that.” He said, or you could call it “Archintosh.” I said, “or I could just call it Architosh,” taking out the “in” part of it. So that is how it began. The goal was simple. Tell the world that despite the gloom and doom surrounding Apple there are indeed firms and tools available serving up architectural practice on the Mac.

Just One Big Problem

Architosh was spun together in 1998 and officially launched on Feb 3, 1999. It was at first not a news site or a site with any journalistic pretenses. It was a resource. It listed software and it began to collect and list information on Mac-using firms. It was instantly popular and it spread through news on the now defunct MacEvanglista e-news list headed by famed Silicon-Valley Apple fan boy and former employee Guy Kawasaki.

Prior to the power of Google to get known fast you needed the power of an influential news e-list. Kawasaki’s list was it. And Architosh quickly become a resource of value. But there was just one problem, many people said. There is no point in fighting for the Mac in architecture without AutoCAD on the Mac. I refuted that point (more on that later).

Just One Big Problem – Part 2

Later on, several years in fact, I was talking to some Apple people who said to me that Steve himself saw little point in pushing hard on the Mac in architecture front if the world’s top software title for it was not available. While I have never been able to check the veracity of that statement, there was always something about that that fit Steve’s logic.

So here we are, more than 12 years on from that water cooler moment. And today, officially, we have AutoCAD on the Mac. A lot has changed in those twelve years. All those Apple naysers were, as it turned out, just plain wrong about Apple, Steve and the immense fortitude and determination of Mac users.

And they were also wrong about something else too. And that is, that it wasn’t worth fighting for the Mac in architecture without AutoCAD. I originally refuted that notion for the very same logic I was defending the Mac and its right to exist in the computing universe back in 1998. That logic boiled down to this: “there was simply too much creative brilliance there…”

What I meant back then by “there” was not just at Apple but at its many dedicated Mac developers around the world. Specifically, in the context of all those who are not at Autodesk, I was referring to the outstanding software achievements by firms like AutoDesSys, Ashar, Graphisoft and Nemetschek–to name just of a few of the key players who were creating and innovating with Mac CAD software.

For the same reason it made sense to bet on, root for, and champion–by way of providing a neutral resource to the world community–the value of Apple and the Mac in computing going forward in 1999, it also made sense to do the same for all those who supported the Mac in CAD prior to, during, and after its darkest days.

Therefore, while today is a big day for Apple and Autodesk and CAD uses around the world, it marks a momentous moment for everyone else who was apart of this story all along. That includes the incredibly talented software developers who served, and will continue to serve, the Mac community with innovative solutions that will compete with Autodesk’s new entrants in the market.

[Editor's Note: A sentence in the third part of this article was relocated to the end of the second part of this article. 6:12PM EST. ]

Okay so the iPad is the name. I was hoping they would surprise us with something new and clever. Not! Clearly Jobs is a fully mature human being now, having gotten completely past Scully and the Newton MessagePad. So contrary to my earlier statement that he would distance the new device from the word “pad” Jobs’s new toy is in fact called the iPad. I have to admit it actually is better sounding than iSlate and iTablet…neither of which I cared much for.

The iPad – Details

The Apple iPad webpage just went live about 60 seconds ago. I’ve been reloading Apple.com for minutes now every 15 seconds. Hurray! It’s up. I have much to do today I’m going to make this blog post pretty short. The details that matter to us at Architosh are centered around this device’s raw power to handle large document images both in viewing capability and creation.

The A4

Apple is calling the new internally designed main processor (CPU) the A4. This is a PA Semi team produced chip, make no bones about it. This group has world-class expertise in high-performance/high-energy efficient chip design. That’s why Apple acquired them. That is why the US Government got hold of some of their first processors for military equipment–because they were that good.

Apple's PS Semi produced A4 processor in the new iPad. 1 Ghz chip may integrate graphics in a system-on-a-chip package. The A4 is likely based on a customization of an ARM processor design as Apple holds a special class license to ARM architectures which enables them to modify architectures.

The Apple A4 runs at 1-Ghz. It’s high-performance, lower-power system-on-a-chip custom silicon. We’ll have to dig around to find out who manufactured it and that will likely be easier to obtain than the internal architecture of the chip. That Apple will keep very close to their chest. We assume it is ARM architecture-based, but that’s not taking us all the way to where we really want to go.

Some of the details we now appear to know are flowing in across various sources on the Net. Engadget is claiming the A4 design is not just ARM architecture based, as we mentioned above, but based on the very latest Cortex A9 series multicore architecture. This chip was first discussed by ARM back in mid year 2009.

The ARM Cortex A9 can be up to a Quadcore multicore chip, as seen in this diagram. Credit: ARM.

Key to the Cortex A9 architecture is that like the Cortex A8 (which the iPhone processor is currently based around) the A9 is multicore. Additionally, it is built on a 45-nanometer processes compared to the 65-nanometer process of the A8. This reduction in chip size decreases power consumption while enabling the chip to speed up. Unlike Intel’s Atom chip, the ARM Cortex A9 sips power at about 300 milliwatts or less, while the Atom uses up to 2 watts. 2 watts is tiny in the world of chips coming from Intel, but not as tiny as what is needed in cell phones. That explains why the Atom is hot with Netbooks but not with Apple.

If Engadget is correct about the Apple A4 being Cortex A9 based the next question to ask is does the A4 have two cores or four? And if  the A4 is indeed Cortex A9 with a quad core why isn’t Apple bragging about that? Seems like it is right up their alley.

Could it be that the number “4″ in A4 stands for quadcore?

Graphics

In terms of graphics Apple is providing no information on the GPU. So we can only imagine what is inside powering that gorgeous LED backlit display, which supports 1024 x 768 resolution max. With that display size one can really bring up pretty big PDF files of CAD or 3D images. That’s much better than doing it on the iPhone–something I’ve done quite often but not like I’d like due to some performance and screen size limitations.

Now looking through the lens of the ARM Cortex A4 as the likely customized engine in Apple’s A4 processor we have learned a bit more. This C/Net article says the Cortex A4 can handle 1080p high-def video but Apple’s spec and iPad pages do not claim this. Video seems to be limited to 720p.

Given what we think we know details of the A4 chip may consist of this:

• 1 Ghz frequency custom designed Apple CPU (via PA Semiconductor team)
• ARM Cortex A9 Multicore Architecture
• Quadcore (hence A4 name) or dual core only
• 1-2 MB of L2 Cache
• Single and double precision scalar Floating-Point (FPU)
• NEON Media Processing Engine (not sure…)

Anyway, until we learn more… In the meantime please enjoy the iPad pages at Apple.

While we cannot divulge the particular developer in question, the major software company has a unique and particular relationship with Apple, one that goes back years and years. We can tell you this: we are not talking about Adobe. 

This note strongly suggested that the release of this new bit 64-bit based software is currently aiming at a June time-frame, timed to coincide with Apple’s worldwide developers conference (WWDC 2009). Apple’s conference is slated for June 8-12, 2009. 

Snow Leopard, New UI and Beating Windows 7

Interestingly, this news come at a time when AppleInsider just reported that Apple is close to unveiling its guarded Snow Leopard user interface overhaul. Jobs originally told WWDC attendees and the press that Apple was just focusing on non-UI based improvements for Snow Leopard, but the company has been secretly working on a brand new UI since the beginning.

Apple is apparently very close to preparing this new UI for broader consumption now, and a two-month window is probably an unnecessary amount of time to prep for WWDC for just the UI–especially given that the company has reportedly been working on the new user interface improvements from the very beginning of this release cycle.

With a major developer hoping and thinking they can release their Snow Leopard-based product in the June time-frame, and Apple apparently ready to go with a new UI, it seems reasonable that perhaps Apple will have Snow Leopard on store shelves within days of WWDC. If so the company will have all summer to drum up excitement and press coverage on Snow Leopard before Microsoft releases Windows 7 in perhaps as early as this Fall.

Mac at 25

There is much I’d like to share about the Mac at 25. But what I’d really like to hear is what all of you think about the Mac…and how long you’ve been working on the Mac. I am sure there are many interesting and fond memories of meeting your first Mac computer, working on it doing this or that, and when you began to do serious CAD or 3D work on the Mac. 

So please write in (or comment below) and share with us your thoughts about the Mac at 25. And where you think it may be heading and what your dreams are for the Mac. We will publish everyone’s comments.

Thanks, 

Anthony Frausto-Robledo, EIC

Imagine an updated version of this machine in all aluminum.

• All aluminum updated version of the original Macintosh – The product would be a “limited edition” run modern Mac redone that had a full blown emulator of all the classic software available on the original Mac. Part collector’s item, part novelty, part modern computer, such a machine would enable you run the old classic stuff side by side with the modern environment of OS X. Original Macs are collectors items; a special aluminum version would be both a homage to the Mac’s beginnings and to its current success and shiny future! How much could such a machine really fetch?  It depends on the size of the limited run. A 100k limited run might see machines fly off the shelf at very high prices, while a larger limited run at reasonable prices could see it become a “must have” Mac darling for macolytes around the globe. 
• New Mac Pro Ultra -  A dream power machine that would represent the “state-of-the-art” in technical capabilities possible. For starters it wouldn’t ship until Snow Leopard because it would need Grand Central and OpenCL. It would be the fastest computer in the world and hold that title for more than a year. Why? Because the PA Semi guys crafted an amazing energy efficient, multi-core processor based on the Power Architecture for which they hold unique expertise and capability. It would feature not four but eight (8) multi-core processors and run so cool you would think Apple found a way to pack the North Pole into it. It would feature multiple Nvidia Quadro GPU’s (making it the ultimate OpenCL dream machine) and it would come with new multi-touch capable monitors that could be positioned for touch-based drawing and input functionalities or run in conventional stand-up mode. Every engineer, scientist and architect would drool and lust for one. And though very expensive…they would sell like hot cakes! 
• New Mac touch – Back to a more Earth-based dream scenario, what Apple very well might introduce at Macworld Expo this January is the Mac touch. We have written about it here. The multi-touch patents that keep coming up in expanded and more elaborate form are, we think, somehow connected to the very existence of this machine. The Mac touch would be Apple’s answer to the rapid rise in the popularity of Netbooks. It would be very affordable. It would be multi-touch based but have a keyboard like an iPhone has a keyboard. It would make a wonderful media entertainment machine and work beautifully in ruggedized mode for specific industries like medicine and AEC (architecture/engineering/construction). We think the Mac touch has serious legs in verticals that need touch-based computing but today are poorly served by a clunky and worrisome Windows OS infrastructure. They would be much better served by OS X and Apple’s future. 

The Quadra had a special feeling to it. It was the ultimate Macintosh...wouldn't a new ultimate Mac be fitting for a Silver Anniversary?

 

Intel’s Killing Games…

Alex quotes Mark Rein who famously stated: “Intel are killing games.”

Yes, Intel chips, hence the plural. Mark was referring to the fact that Intel’s Integrated Graphics are weak and cannot run games well at all (and pro apps for that matter). Yet they are, as Alex notes, hugely popular with notebook OEMs because they are cheap. With such large volumes of such machines in circulation it has forced developers of games to develop around them. That of course is bad. Developers are wasting precious development resources trying to make the best out a mass of “low-performers” while ignoring the capabilities of much higher performing (but more rare…and more costly!) mobile GPU architectures. 

Nvidia Saves Games…

In comes Nvidia. And with the new 9400M platform you get blazing performance over Intel’s Integrated Graphics — as demonstrated beautifully in Apple’s newest MacBooks.

So is Apple in love with Nvidia now? Is that why two Intel executives recently got scolded for bashing the iPhone at an Intel developer summit in Asia? First the uncertainty of the PA Semi acquisition and now the Nvidia 9400M. Both of those moves amply demonstrate that Jobs & Co. have no cronies in Cupertino. For them, it’s all business, all the time. And so…while it may not be love, it certainly isn’t getting any warmer between Apple and Intel. 

To read Alex’s complete post go here.

http://themacgamer.com/2008/10/23/apple-heart-nvidia/

Apple VM for PA Semi

Today however Apple may soon be the new owner of a microprocessor design company and it might behoove them to see to it that virtualization capabilities play a front-burner role in the development of new mobile Internet devices (MIDs). Since Apple has been developing its OS X operating system on both PowerPC and Intel x86 for more than six years now, it is capable of deploying OS X on both chip architectures. It has also written OS X for the iPhone and iPod touch on the ARM architecture, a chip architecture dominant in the smartphone and small device markets.

Having OS X on so many chip architectures (three exactly) doesn’t seem too problematic for Apple at the moment and affords them a great degree of hardware flexibility. However developing its own VM (virtual machine) technology and deploying it on some of these product platforms (Mac, iPod, iPhone) will gain them even more freedom in deploying their software and others across all three product lines more quickly.

More interestingly, an Apple VM deployed on future PA Semi PowerPC designs could give Apple a new “angle” into the world of game consoles and mobile gaming — a world now dominated by the PowerPC architecture. This is especially interesting in light of Nintendo’s resurgence and its prolific use of the PowerPC architecture within a few generations of game consoles. A licensing agreement with Nintendo could allow Apple to build a different category of mobile devices that play Nintendo games, courtesy a virtualization machine.

PA Semi – Why Apple Bought Them

Whether Apple will start investing in VM technology for future mobile devices is anyone’s guess. But such a plan could allow a breach into the PowerPC-driven game console world that bring about a flood of new possibilities for Apple.

Though it will take some time to figure out why Apple really bought PA Semi, we would have to agree with Roughly Drafted’s assessmentthat Apple wants to build out more specialized proprietary hardware in order to compete and differentiate its products in the mobile Internet devices market (this includes the iPod, the iPhone and future mobile devices Apple has not delivered to market yet). One thing is for sure. PA Semi brings to Apple some stellar talent and the future of Apple’s products look extremely attractive from this particular — “post-PA Semi” — view.

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2002 Architosh report discussed Apple’s moves to low-power PowerPC chips for a plurality of new devices

Because it is a Mac, not an iPod, the Mac touch would be a new type of Mac computer whose primary interface methodology would be centered around Apple’s innovative Multi-touch technology. Brendan argues that a tablet is an obvious direction for Apple and that a convertible type of unit “doesn’t seem very Apple like.” We can’t argue with that.

One reader's vision of a Mac touch

Brendan swears the Mac touch idea was developed in his mind weeks ago and sent an email to a friend about it. Included were some very reasonable specs, including the use of solid state storage memory (64GB to 128GB), an included stylus for more intricate work (think of a new technical drawing program in iWork), a dock that works with iTunes, and WiFi and built in iSight camera.

Flushing out the Mac touch

Since Brendan started this ball rolling with his imageand imaginary spec sheet, we might want to elaborate a bit more.

The Mac touch is a full Multi-touch Mac with a modified OS X operating system. It’s primary CPU would be Intel-based, not ARM-based, though it may contain both ARM and ATi secondary processing units.

In particular, ATi may be tapped for its expertise in not just graphics processing units but OpenGL and OpenGL ES. Think of the Mac touch as a field Mac in industries like engineering, medicine, architecture, science and construction. With the included stylus or just your finger the Mac touch would be a wonderful drawing tool, like the old Newton was.

Media Infused Teens and the Nurse

In our crystall bar article, slanted towards the reasonable and the known, we emphasized consumer computing as the place where the leading edge now exists and just how important entertainment (digital forms) is in our life styles.

Unlike Brendan we don’t see the need for the Mac touch to have a dock to iTunes. It would contain the same technology that is built into theAppleTV and obtain all forms of media via iTunes through a WiFi connection. This is a device that would be designed to sit like a digital picture frame on the bedroom nightstand when not in use. It would display pictures from iPhoto in a semi-sleep mode. It would act like a clock if you wanted it to and could wake you and display your iCal calendar first thing in the morning.

The problem with tablet computers thus far is that they have tended to want to be full laptop replacements, rather than looking at how such a form factor can tackle new functional needs. The key function that splits the domains of use of tablets versus laptops is the need to seriously type. And because typing is a key function with general business domains, tablet PCs have not taken off in the enterprise.

However, a light-weight and inexpensive digital slate device like the Mac touch could serve many industries extremely well where typing is not a dominant function. The defunct Newton MessagePad became a popular device in many such fields, from the greeters at Disneyland to doctors and nurses in hospitals around the world.

At the the same time, media-centric users don’t need to type like business people either. A teenager would use a Mac touch to interact with Facebook, listen to iTunes music or watch an iTunes streamed movie and IM all at the same time — all from a position on their bed or the couch that is anything but ergonomically orthodox. A virtual keyboard like that in the iPhone will suffice just fine for these two branches of users.

In short the Mac touch could serve two very different audience segments with the same set of technology virtues. As a media viewing extension of Apple’s iTunes and AppleTV intiatives the Mac touch provides unique value. And because it can be cheap enough, light enough and because Multi-touch and OS X rock as platform technologies, the Mac touch could become a technology staple in industries such as medicine and construction.

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Apple in 2008 – What Likely Lies Ahead

Obviously 2007 will go down as the year Apple changed the mobile cell phone industry with its wondrous iPhone. By all accounts the iPhone introduction was as breakthrough and as big an event as the original Mac. Yet 2008 will be the year the iPhone really takes off as a platform.

For Apple, one of the best things that will happen in 2008 will be the release of the Apple iPhone SDK (software development kit) in February. And one of the surprises for the entire tech industry in 2008 will be its phenomenal take-up. Mark my word, the iPhone SDK and what people will be doing with it will be one of the big discussions throughout 2008.

Although Apple is destined to release both a 3G iPhone and a nano version that is much cheaper, the iPhone discussion is likely going to intensify around its adaptability and flexibility as a true mobile computing device after the release of the SDK. And a by-product of that hype will continue to drive importance and focus to the Safari web browser.

The Mac is an iPhone

Perhaps one of the more delightful twists that should emerge in 2008 will be the way Apple leverages the iPhone’s enduring Multi-touch interface with future Macs, particularly mobiles. Apple will put that interface on the Mac in a way that will make the Mac feel like an extension of the iPhone — not the other way around. In which form this comes is anybody’s best guess but obviously it involves a Multi-touchscreen or screens, as in plural.

Some possibilities include new laptops that convert to tablets. Some folks have written about multi-touch areas near the palm rest area. Yet other possibilities include Apple media slates which simply obtain their image, wirelessly, from another Mac in the house or office.

When one thinks about where Apple is likely headed with the new iTunes movie rentals, and where it has already shunned the idea of competing with Sony on large flat-screen TVs, this forces you to think of new concepts for other types of media screen devices related to AppleTV and where Apple can innovate at the consumer device level.

We have already learned this year that Apple is working not just on its hobby — AppleTV — but on possibly a fifth new leg on which to bear its business. This fifth new product category will no doubt have something to do with the home, a fertile territory pregnant with possibilities on how we manage our lives and the array of electronics that draw energy within our homes. Energy — or how we use it in particular — can become the fifth new hot product category for Apple, something I am sure Al Gore personally would love to see happen.