The new Mac Pro has 6 TB2 outputs and handles a desktop of 3 x 4K screens.
Correct. That doesn’t help you drive any 5120 x 2880 displays though.
Hmm. We really don’t know what’s in the labs, but there are some tricks to push images with less bandwidth sacrificing some features, for example interleaving, sending odd and pairs lines in 2 batches creates the same frame with the half bandwidth. The truth is, they are preparing their software for this format, Maverick wallpapers already uses this resolution. Who knows… Maybe only the Mac Pro 2014 edition will handle it.
[quote=13100:@Geoff Perlman]However, they still use a camera in the Camera app icon. And a handset for the Phone app icon. So perhaps these symbols will become icons that come to mean something that actually don’t relate to things in the modern world. Many people will only have a cell phone and only have the camera that is built-in to that phone.
In my family, we have no home phone. We have a 35MM Canon Digital Rebel but we only take that with us when we are going somewhere to specifically take pictures. The ratio of pictures I take with my iPhone compared to our 35MM is something like 50 to 1.[/quote]
At home, we have 2 wireless handsets connected to a wired base station which provides my ADSL+ internet. That’s why we have a home phone. Since my first 8MP phone 3 years ago, only my wife uses the camera. 
And my daughter, 17, never saw this weird device: 
This discussion reminds me of something I observed years ago: I was at a place which had one of those souvenir machines which you put a penny into and turn a crank to stamp some logo onto the penny. The directions were to insert a penny and turn the crank clockwise. 2 high-school aged kids were looking at the machine, when one turned to the other and said ‘Which way is clockwise?’.[quote=13025:@Bob Keeney]What’s old is new. In 10 years they’ll go back to more of a 3D look because flat will look so outdated.[/quote]
In 10 years, they actually will be 3D. Can you imagine tech people trying to instruct novice users (us older folks, most likely) on how to click on an icon without clicking too far in front of or behind? 
The iOS 7 calendar icon is one of the worst, I laughed out loud. Seems Apple designers are on a longer vacation. Well, much deserved, for what they did in the past.
Christian
Jony Ive got a tribute website due to this work. He is a great designer, but I feel sorry for him. http://jonyiveredesignsthings.tumblr.com
I tried explaining the headset in the “Phone” icon in my iPhone to my daughter. She couldn’t understand. I had to point to a handset in a movie for her to finally grasp what I was talking about (because that icon is not only a handset, it’s one of the really old ones, with the two screw-on caps, the one we used to use in modem rubber couplers).
The flat trend is way more than a fashion trend. I think we’d be wise to understand this. “Native” controls shouldn’t do too badly, but learning to do custom controls had already become mandatory in the previous style and this one builds on top of that with even more custom behaviour and adds animations to make it all interesting.
I have started moving in this direction, even though I don’t prefer them myself, because it’s clear it’s how things will be in the near and medium future (and it’s OK, nothing bad in it, we can’t pretend the style and visuals we got used to are the “right” ones). This had been cookin in web interfaces for a long time (most widgets in things like JQuery UI and similar are flat, since CSS lends itself to that).
Mavericks.
(I’m correcting more to remind myself of it than anything else, as it doesn’t come naturally)
My bad. They needed to use the plural as the singular already had an owner. 
http://www.maverick-os.dk/
Or because the name is with an s and is not a plural.
This is a fun topic, the cassettes and old telephones made me smile. And Apple are becoming more environmentally friendly because they are not going to use virtual cows anymore etc.
I am no expert either Thom however 4K makes good sense this year as Apple are already in the Pro Video arena and 4K trial is already happening in broadcasting. I believe that they use 8K cameras to capture content for 4K so you can see where it is going to lead. With Apple kit already being expensive is anyone going to mind paying a bit more for an already £900 / $999 27" ACD? BTW 4K UHDTV is 3840 x 2160 (2160p) so I guess Apple need some extra space for the chrome and tool bars
I know that. 4K is less usable space than the current Thunderbolt Display. That’s 1920 x 1080 at 2x resolution. The current Thunderbolt is 2560 x 1440, so to make a Retina version, they need 5120 x 2880.
4k displays don’t really exist for consumers - yet
Asus announced one but its not 5120 x 2880 (3800 and some by 2100 or so)
There were a few announcements about them at CES this year but still expected to be super expensive ($10K)
Panel yields for 4k monitors are just really really really low
Oh and the “flat” look in Windows 8 is …well … gawdawful
It reminded me of looking at Windows 1
Did I misunderstand what you wrote:
4K (3840 x 2160) is less usable space than the current ACD at 2560 x 1440?
Anyway looking at my 27" ACD DisplayPort version (currently connected to a Windows box) - it is the best monitor that I have ever had. I will buy the new Mac Pro when it arrives and one or two new Apple 4K+ displays. I am going to put my money on this year for an Apple 4K but even 2x the current ACD would be very nice for development work.
[quote=14455:@Carl Clarke]Did I misunderstand what you wrote:
4K (3840 x 2160) is less usable space than the current ACD at 2560 x 1440?[/quote]
We’re talking about Retina. 3840 x 2160 is 1920 x 1080 @2x. So the usable space is still 1920 x 1080. You can double the usable space by turning off Retina, but that wasn’t the point of the discussion. What I’m saying is that 4K is not suitable to produce a Retina Thunderbolt Display. Do achieve that, you need 5120 x 2880.
Personally, I think it is a bad time to drop $1k on a monitor. Something better is on the horizon. If limited to a 4K connection, I hope it is in a 20" package, because that is the ideal size for a 1920 x 1080 resolution.