Top Stories of 2005

Here's my look back at the top Macintosh stories of 2005 and my predictions for MacWorld Expo.

1. By far the biggest story of 2005 was Apple's Switch to Intel. For years, Apple put up with Motorola & IBM's inability to produce faster PowerPC chips. Intel has their roadmap for the next year well planned and they have some pretty exciting products, such as low powered multi-core chips. At one time PowerPC was better than x86, but PowerPC development stagnated while Intel surpassed them with faster, cheaper, and more energy efficient chips.
   
   

2. Apple releases Tiger. Mac OS X 10.4 introduced spotlight, dashboard, and automator along with many major under the surface improvements. Among the less obvious features, the file system now supports access control lists for finer access control than standard Unix permissions, and the kernel's threading mechanism has been redesigned for better performance.
   
   

3. Firefox finally challenges Internet Explorer's domination of the browser market. IE's market share has been steadily declining while Firefox & Safari are gaining more users. Maybe web designers will finally stop developing IE only sites.
   
   

4. iPod Video along with Apple making deals with several networks to sell episodes of TV shows in iTunes Music Store. This is the first time video content has been sold online successfully.
   
   

5. Finally, podcasts gain respectability when Apple added podcast support to iTunes.

And now my predictions for MacWorld Expo in January:

• Apple will release the first Intel-based laptops, most likely based on Intel's Yonah chip with a wider HD-capable screen.
• The Mac Mini will become a full media center. It will include an enhanced version of Front Row and a TV-style remote.
• The iPod Video will gain a larger 16:9 screen.