The two critical updates that I believe the iPhone OS will feature will be UI enhancements and multi-tasking. Both of these updates are obvious considering the frenzy with new competitors like Windows Mobile Phone 7 around the corner. These are two key ways Apple can make their iPhone OS shine above the rest.

First-off, the banner. With all Apple announcements, their graphic means something besides punching up the copy. The blue background and the gray-silver 4 to me implies that the UI will be severely addressed. If you ask me, this is what gets me the most excited since the Windows Mobile Phone 7 UI makes the iPhone OS look extremely dated. The good news is, Apple doesn’t have to do too much to the UI to make it modernized. They could simply provide an updated skinning to the theme and a new UI for the locked screen with more information and I would be happy.

Aside from UI improvements, I think the key point they will also address is multi-tasking. This is a no-brainer considering this is the number one thing (aside from the camera issue) that comes up about the iPad and iPhone. If this feature is enabled, it would allow for that argument to go by the way side and quick. If you take a look at the phenomenal battery life of the iPad and Apple’s insistency to create their own battery for their products, a hint is revealed. The new iPhone will no doubt have a phenomenal battery like its new sibling, the iPad. This would also allow for multi-tasking without issue, since Steve Jobs addressed his battery consumption woes with the iPhone battery.

Aside from these two features, it will be anyone’s guess what Apple will show. Apple I’m sure will releae some subtle updates such as an alarm clock and calculator apps for the iPad. But I do believe Apple knows that with the competition for the mobile OS market at an all-time high, they really need to deliver much more then just the obvious. Also, Steve Jobs appears to be publicly tiffed by Google for jumping into the mobile market with their own handset. You could almost see Steve Jobs go into his iPhone OS R&D department slamming the door behind him and shouting to his team that the new iPhone OS better not disappoint and needs to blow Google Android and the Microsoft Windows 7 Phone out of the way. With this event just moments away, this is Apple’s time to show everyone they could potentially do exactly that. Stay tuned!

Looks like the teaser poster has been released, and as always, really does hint at what we could potentially get from Apple this year. My hope is the tablet (iSalte?) is finally shown and it blows away our thoughts on how the tablet should work. I am hoping for the works! Including: haptic feedback, gorgeous giant touchscreen, some really intuitive software, and an e-reader just to name a few.

“Come see our latest creation.”
The teaser title seems to hint that it could be a suite for creatives in mind. Think of a DJ who could use software turntables on the tablet, or a movie editor who edits the details of their movie using their hands. And for graphic designers like myself, a way to use Photoshop in a much more hands-on way, even allowing for freehand drawing to be revived in a way that blows Wacom out of the water!

I always dreamed Apple would try their hand on a Wacom-like device and they could potentially be doing exactly that with their new tablet. Wacom does a decent job, but, as we all know, its also all about the software working seamlessly with the hardware. What we could potentially see is Apple tightening up the response and feel of the stylus to the screen to mimic pencil to paper much better than the Wacom has done in the past. There has even been patents that show Apple playing around with a pressure stylus again, which would make perfect sense for using an app like Photoshop. If done right, it could elevate graphic designers who have drawing skills to a whole new level. I personally, couldn’t be more excited since this is something I always wanted to see.

The tablet/iSlate just got a new set of tricks up its sleeve. We can add a creativity suite for musicians/movie editors/artists alike to the list of features that could also potentially include an e-reader, word processing with haptic feedback via iWorks, and ofcourse, a giant iPod with Internet capabilities. It seems with the hints, the tablet is actually starting to flesh out as an essential product line that can live happily with the laptops and iPhones that are already on our desk.

Windows 7
When Microsoft stated that they would be listening to their users, surprisingly, they meant it. They are leaps ahead of their Vista product. I still won’t forget when they released a preview of “Longhorn” and its amazing GUI. Naturally, when Vista was out, it was just a bit of a let down to say the least.

Windows 7 is definitely catching up to the polish that Apple has been serving with Mac OS X for so long. Vista was a subtle step in the right direction, where Windows 7 totally takes the bar and runs with it. Getting rid of the title bars in the task bar is a great step, and allows for less clutter, and more application real estate.

Microsoft also adds features like, application previewing, “peeking” at windows hidden underneath others, and shaking an app to minimize the rest among others. These features are a great boost to productivity and makes the task bar more like an OS X dock then ever before.

Windows 7 Desktop

Snow Leopard
Mac OS X on the other hand, has been trying to keep the polish every year by adding incremental features to OS X but mainly keeping the overall UI similar.

Leopard unified the different iterations of UI from the Aqua, to the brushed metal years, and finally to the new glossy template. Snow Leopard is rumored to introduce a new UI theme introduced, code-named Marble. Most theories point at it being a variation of the glossy, with more black and less white. This would be in line with the latest Apple hardware which has added touches of glossiness and black to everything and using white much more minimally.

Artist Rendition of Marble Interface

Though the new GUI polish is welcomed, it would be nice to see Apple take some huge leaps like Windows 7 just to keep the pace between them. I am curious to see if the Windows 7 UI will change some of Apple’s strategy with Snow Leopard, and force some graphic enhancements to their old yet refined UI last minute before release. Who knows with Apple though, they might surprise us and have much more in store with such features as resolution independence and strengthened  support for graphics processors.

I think the drastic UI changes to the desktop will come in the next release, since they were focused on optimizing Snow Leopard in terms of hardware. In this area, Snow Leopard will shine. In the end, Marble might be all that Snow Leopard needs to wow the end-user in the UI department. The coming month will definitely reveal this. We will just have to see!

Final Thoughts
Windows 7 is significant enough of an upgrade that on my Macbook Pro Unibody, I run the beta of the new Microsoft offering on Bootcamp. I usually keep a Wndows flavor running with Parallels, but with the improved GUI, and Parallels lack of support do to virtualization, it is worth it to reboot in to Windows 7 to appreciate the new elements. Depending on Snow Leopard’s final release, I will have to see if Windows 7 ends up being my default OS! I will keep you guys updated to see which OS I stick with after Snow Leopard launches in the coming month or so!

This would be the ideal way to come into the market and strike a major blow to all competition to the new gadget playgrounds.

Amazon showed us that we have been ignoring the book format and it filled in this need with the introduction to the Kindle 2. Is it perfect? Far from it.

Amazon Kindle 2

Netbooks have been selling like hotcakes and even caused a slump in PC sales which worries industry leaders. Microsoft is even coming in hot with Windows 7 to bring in a quality OS for netbooks so that Ubuntu and Linux don’t steal primary share for the default netbook OS of choice.

Hackintosh'ed Dell Mini 9

Tablet PC’s just don’t have what it takes to be the mass consumption replacement to the laptop. This has been proven since its inception. Though a great idea, it’s complication with the form factor and the proper interface not being developed leaves much more to be desired here.

With its superior design in hardware and software, Apple will change up the market come end of this year. In each area, I believe Apple has a lot of room to flex its muscle and show that there is a lot of room for improvement with each of these devices. The Kindle 2 as high-tech as it seems, lacks the proper interface and multi-touch features to take it over the top. The netbooks with their super cheap price, doesn’t have the strong OS or specs to make it a need-to-have product. And finally, the Tablet PC though having a touch-capable screen, isn’t the portable device that netbooks are. Apple can handle all these issues by serving up a multi-touch, modified OS X, larger screen (maybe even two?) device that will fall perfectly in between their iPhone and Mac line. It will also leverage the iTunes Store by creating a whole section dedicated to digitized books like the Kindle store, and maybe a new software  specific for the new Apple product.

Such a device would be the only way to convince users that carry a iPhone and a Macbook Pro that they need one more hot gadget to throw their economically ravaged money towards. Now that the rumors are being confirmed, the next couple of months until release will be quite interesting to see exactly what Apple has in mind. Me? I am anxiously awaiting a dream product as the one I am speculating they will make. Apple, just read my blog and if it’s anything too far off from what I am mentioning, just scrap the idea and you can have talk to me about using my idea instead

Apple Netbook Concept

I have always heard about how the incase Slider product was one of the most popular for both the iPhone and iPhone 3G, but now with the chromed out editions, I think this is money well spent. They even have the less obnoxious versions for those who are interested. The only complaint I here about the case is that it is hard to take off once it is on, thus defeating the whole “Slider” appeal to it. Other then that, the build quality and look seems to be good enough to put over such a great Apple design. They even have various shades of the metallic case on the site for purchase as well. Check it out here.

Gold iPhone 3G Case

UrbanOutfitters even has a great pair with different color shades for super cheap. You can pick them up here.

Fingerless Gloves

Bullet For My Valentine Concert

Thrashing to Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning” in a flannel and high-tops with un-kept long hair was associated with the late 80’s and early 90’s. With bands like Bullet for My Valentine and Avenged Sevenfold, the metal tribute from the best era is making a full punch-to-the-throat comeback form. And I for one welcome our new metal resurgence overlords.

Some people would disagree with me, but taking inspiration from previous decades and putting a modern spin to it, is something in music I welcome. It serves as a way to pay tribute to the previous decades, and allows more of the music that you once loved to come back in new iterations.

Here is a small list compiled to get you right back to the glory days and bring back the best sub-genre to come from rock in all of time (Opinion? I think not!). Think of this list as a guideline to living and breathing metal in your everyday life. So put your metal horns high, thrash that bobbling head of yours and check out 2008’s version of the golden metal days!

The Albums
Metallica – “Death Magnetic” is the final nail in the coffin to the metal bashers who deny such a revolution. For everyone who recently thought Metallica was going the downward spiral with “St. Anger” and all the Napster battles and band troubles, Metallica delivered a one-two punch to nay-sayers in the form of their “Some Kind of Monster” documentary and their critically and fan acclaimed CD, “Death Magnetic”.

Like I said, everything they did wrong with their last CD, “St. Anger” came back hitting hard on “Death Magnetic”. Kurt’s solos are back and better then ever. Rick Rubin definitely did good with allowing the now mellow Kurt to channel his on-the-spot solos and letting them through to the CD. Their structure and hunger seems to be back while they seem to cover their whole range of albums from “Master of Puppets” to “The Black Album” and the parts that actually did work from “Load” and “Reload”.

I was sadly with the crowd that thought the old Metallica pre-”Load” was dunzo. However, when “Death Magnetic” was released, I saw myself go from almost forgetting the band to rightfully placing them back on the top of the Metal alter, once was, once again. They are one of the few remaining Metal bands that hold weight in present day, and they truly are icons to have made it through all the rock transitions to get back to the golden age.

Bullet for My Valentine – Spearheading the “Metal is Back” modern bands is a group out of Wales with so much talent and love for the metal scene, they can single-handedly bring metal back into the mainstream on their own. Don’t believe me? Featured on Revolver Magazines front cover on an older issue, they claimed exactly this. You can check out the interview here.

Arguably, Bullet for My Valentine has the best hooks and easy-to-swallow metal riffs of all modern age bands. Their solos and song structures are pure ear candy. They have opened for Metallica, Iron Maiden, Guns n’ Roses in the past. They look to Metallica as one of their main sources for inspiration, and covered quite a few of their original tracks with much success (Check out their cover of Creeping Death). Matt Tuck = Welsh version of early 90’s James Hettfield. There are times when you hear a Bullet for My Valentine song, Matt Tuck sounds like a 2008 version of the younger edition of James Hetfield. Just try and argue this. Of course they are a bit more radio-friendly but whoever said this is a bad thing? To me, that says, they are just that talented as musicians. Their future-comings will definitely be exciting to look forward to.

Dragonforce – Gaining mainstream attention to their “boss level” status on Guitar Hero, Dragonforce is a band that doesn’t take themselves as seriously as people may think. They are more concerned with extremely insane metal riffs and paying homage to the bands that started it all. Even though their “speed metal” has come into question with a clever nickname negatively given as a result (Studioforce blahahaha!!), their most recent CD “Ultra Beatdown” is a great CD to put you back into the metal mood.

Other bands worth noting: As I Lay Dying, Avenged Sevenfold
Classics: Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Megadeth

Notable Mentions
Guitar Hero/Rockband Craze – It wouldn’t be right to discuss the awesomeness of metal and everything attributing to it without Guitar Hero and Rockband. One of the biggest forms of entertainment to help spark a new metal revolution. The idea is taken from the need of rock fans everywhere to air guitar to their favorite songs. Just when everyone was claiming “rock is dead” and radio airplay seemed to be nothing but hip hop and pop music, this game got everyone excited about the band element and how awesome it was to have guitar and rock heroes. With a HUGE assortment of all different rock music, the later levels are gold mine for metal music since they have the hardest guitar structures and techniques in the genre.

The latest Guitar Hero game: “Guitar Hero – World Tour” will feature the entire Death Magnetic album for download, and in higher quality then the CD release, which caused fans of. There is even discussion to make an entirely separate title which would be “Guitar Hero: Metallica” which features “Ride the Lightning” font for its cover.

VH1 Classics – with shows like “Metal Mania” this is the channel to go to, to relive the glory days of Metal.

The Look
Metal has a distinct look and feel, not just a distinct sound. To go along with your new/old music and your plastic guitar, you going to need the proper threads to seal the deal. Early metal had a dirty “I don’t care” attitude while the most pop versions saw the glam style seeping through, which had a lot of current Metal fans cringing to forget (See: Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Kiss, Poison). Then there was the goth scene (’nuff said). The new style is a mixture of all the different times, with an emphasis on the classic grunge-metal look inspired from the early 90’s.

Current trends include: Skinny Dirty/Ripped Jeans, Flannel Shirts, High-Tops, Black Everything, Dirty Long Hair, Boots. See urbanoutfitters.com / hottopic.com / zumiez.com and even diesel.com for ideas.

Macbook & Macbook Pro

Apple finally let the new Macbook’s and Macbook Pro’s out of the hat. The new product design is built from a block of aluminum, which makes them sturdier then adding pieces of aluminum together piece by piece. This also allows for a reduction in price. Priced lower for each line, they seem to be much more competitive then before as well, offering a great deal of value for the consumer.

Being a Graphic Designer, what is interesting is, with this new refresh, the new design approach becomes clear. Apple has unified mostly all their new product line with a similar aesthetic. Gone are all the white and clear looks from previous years. The new trend is glass and glossy screens, with a black border while having an aluminum finish for the rest of the body. It seems to be a great “clean” and professional look that the products give off. Even the lower-end products (iMacs and Macbooks) have the same look and feel as the professional line. The inside hardware specs are now what separates a pro from the standard line.

iPod Nano

With the release of the Macbook’s and Macbook Pro’s, we now have the iPod Nano, iPhone, iPod Touch, iMac, and the new Cinema Display all sharing the similar black border with aluminum feel. It’s impressive they even give options to the new Macbook to have the same feel. It seems instead of reinventing the look of Apple’s products in a drastic way, Apple decided that the name of the game is refinement. Apple realized that the overall design of their products have become fairly optimized and now only tweaking is involved. Instead of getting drastic changes in iMac designs that we used to get, we now have a design that works.

It seems this new refinement design idea started actually started with their Leopard operating system. When many consumers expected Apple to do a drastic user interface overhaul to Leopard, Apple simply polished the OS in subtle ways to make Leopard much more refined. They carried this to the rest of their product line as well. The iMac and Macbook Air were the previews with what were to come with the rest of their products. The current Mac Pro seems to fit this aesthetic just fine, being in the aluminum casing that it is coupled with a new Cinema Display.

New Black Border

It seems like with this new refresh of their laptops, Apple will now focus their energy to come up with the next innovative designs and technologies. Which is a great thing, next year’s Apple conferences are going to be set to astound if this theory holds. My guess is that their 2009+ line will focus where the iPhone left off. Making multi-touch displays and a totally new operating system that will be focused on touch, rather then the conventional mouse and keyboard. We’ll see what happens!