WWDC is expected to be a mainly software oriented conference this year but we should see little pieces of hardware sneak through. We expect the line of MacBook Air and Pro to get some hard drive upgrades, maybe see more Solid State Drives expand into this market or the use of smaller fusion drives to speed up the standard Disk Drives.

Apple will implement Intel’s new Haswell processor in both its Air and Pro lines. We should see a nice boost of speed from that and faster RAM, similar to the new RAM on the Retina powered MacBook Pros. No real expectation to see a Retina Air this time but we are not going to forget. But a Retina Air will be thicker since the battery would need to be bigger to sustain the extra juice for those pixels.

I am exposed to so much technology and different attempts at the same general product that I am starting to feel the heat towards Apple. For the past six years, Apple has had it easy. They introduced the original iPhone and I think that is what kept Apple at the top. We see them as pioneers of the next generation. With each iPhone, we see the innovation within the products. Apple has the things we will be doing already planned out, we call this visionary. So what if they are wrong? What if they have a product idea that just doesn’t fit the world. Or even worse, what would happen if someone released it before Apple, like Google Glass. Would Apple be able to take that kind of blow to their ecosystem? I’m not sure.

During all the conference calls that Apple has held, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has given everyone assurance that Apple is working on some incredible hardware to be released in 2013 and into 2014. This could just mean a new iPhone and iPad. Nothing really ‘new’. With all the rumors buzzing around, we all expect Apple to change everything in the product line. We are expecting Apple to make a smart watch, a new iPhone, a new iPad and iPad mini, an Apple Television set, a new line of MacBooks with Retina Displays on more models, and maybe even Apple smart glasses. I’m not saying Apple is not capable of making those but Apple is good at making one product as good as it can be and that takes time. The market is consistently changing in the world of Android because there is more than one manufacture developing new products. Apple is the lone wolf in this. They sell their software to themselves and no one else. Does it feel like Apple is being rushed? Well, to the public and tech community, that’s what we think. Is it what Tim Cook is thinking? Probably not.

With all the assurance Cook is giving us I sort of feel that Apple has been working on these innovations for quite some time…. maybe even stretching into the era of Jobs before he stepped down and sadly passed in 2011. I still do hold my fears about Apple. I hope everything will pan out and Apple will regain its innovation strive but hope is only a word. I want to see action from Apple. Quarter by quarter Apple’s market is shrinking. Features that Samsung, LG, HTC, and others are putting into their devices are crazy. Samsung’s Air Gestures and eye tracking are things we haven’t seen in a consumer device. The software that Google is developing is as polished as Apple’s iOS and the applications being developed for the Android operating system is just as slick as Apple’s in my opinion. As we saw at the Google I/O conference, over 50 billion applications have been downloaded from the Google Play Store and a day after that, Apple’s App Store crossed 50 billion applications. Apple doesn’t have the competitive edge of using the marketplace anymore. They need product differentiation not market talk.

We will see some light shined on Apple at WWDC. We hope to see a different iOS. If we see a difference, that may mean some different hardware will peak its head through in September this year. If we see the same old iOS, we may be disappointed. I’m still an Apple supporter. I’ll still buy the products but we can only take so much of the same thing until we, as consumers, will go with the best deal and best technology choice which right now, I’ll admit, is not Apple. If you want product innovation in the mobile sector, Android is the way to go. The HTC One is beautiful and the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a tower of power. The iPhone is still my main daily driver though. I use it for emailing, messaging, phone calls, and to chat with friends. I use my Note II as my work driver though. I hope Apple can get things together to blow us away this year because that is what I need. Blow us away Apple.

The DigiTimes have reported that AU Optronics, the company that supplies Apple panels for the iPad mini will be making only 2.5 to 2.68 million units this quarter instead of the usual 4 million to meet the demand in the Q4 and Q1 time frames. iPad mini will be a bit harder to get a hold of and the sales from Apple will suffer from that. It won’t be a record breaking quarter for Apple but don’t feel bad for Apple…. they still have tons of cash. I mean TONS.

This is also hopeful for those waiting for iPad mini 2. We expect it to be debuted in September along with iPhone 5S/6! Stay tuned.

Since I drove the Nissan 370Z last year, I’ve driven many other sports cars and all of them have their share of problems. Some were too disconnected and underpowered, some were just too driver-aid friendly, and others were hilariously slow. So where does the Nissan 370Z fit into the market? Well, you have cars like the Mazda Miata and Scion FR-S which are under powered, rear-wheel drive fun things and then you have cars like the Hyundai Genesis which is the most disconnected sports car in the history of sports cars. Other than that, no other Japanese cars really compete. Then you have cars like the Mustang but in the same price category you have to get a V6 or even worse an eco-boost Mustang which goes like a Mus….. Whatever that is. So really your only choice is the Nissan 370Z if you want the perfect combination of aggressive power and rear-wheel drive. Now if you say I can get a preowned Porsche Cayman…. go ahead. Because I did. And good luck with the maintenance costs.

Video Review

So what do you get with the $31,000 base price? Well, a console from the 1970s and an engine from the 90s. Yes, it’s an old power plant but one that still delivers some good kicks. It’s a 3.7 liter V6 from Nissan’s classic VQ line of motors. Power output is at a good 332 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque. Gets the roughly 3400 pound car up to 60 in 5.1 seconds. But if you are as clever as you look you already know this is not a normal Nissan 370Z. I wanted to feel the best of Nissan and the best Z possible. Nothing is better than the Nissan 370Z NISMO. NISMO stands for Nissan In-House Tuning company. It’s a slightly lighter, slightly more powerful version of the regular Nissan 370Z. It’s been given a lower ride height and stiffer suspension too so it’s not just a Nissan Z with some look at me body panels. The engine ECU software has been rewritten to give the engine a little more power and a higher red line so power is upped to 350 horsepower and 276 pound-feet of torque. Will you feel the power difference? No. You will notice the much more fatter exhaust kicking out some nasty tones. When I say nasty, I mean lovely of course.

The next thing the Nissan 370Z NISMO has is a manual transmission. You can get a normal Z with a manual transmission and you should. If you opt for the automatic, we’ll send out resident hit man to come and take care of business outside of your house. Let’s keep it simple. Get the manual. Do yourself a favor. If you don’t know how to drive a manual, no worries because Nissan has something to make you look like a stick god behind the wheel. It’s something called Syncro-Rev Matching which in plain redneck english is, a little doohicky that makes the engine go up to make me look good. Yes, it’s a little engine blip that will automatically blip the throttle on down shifts and match the road speed. If you already know how to drive a manual in a good fashion don’t worry. You can turn off the system by pushing the S-Mode near the shifter. Many mistake this as sport mode…. its not.

The six-speed box is slick. It’s heavy and it feels mechanical. it buzzes and shakes when you shift. It makes you feel like you are in a race car but you are really stuck in I-10 traffic. The clutch is heavy but the travel of slip is small so if you are going for it, heel toe shifts are very easy to do if you are an experience driver. If not, just keep using the two feet because you will stall this vehicle out. When you wind the car up past 6,000 revs, your heart is racing. The noise is fascinating and well, you start sweating because the speed will quickly climb. It’s a good feeling. Good job Nissan!

Let’s get to the driving characteristics. Let me make it clear. I love the Porsche Cayman. I like the clinical feel of the Porsche, it’s very precise and very light on its feet. Something the Nissan sadly does not posses at slow speed. The Porsche is precise at any speed while the Nissan will feel slow and sluggish when you are in town cruising. The steering is heavy and the turning circle isn’t very good. In corners, you will go wide. You may stray off to the next lane if you are driving with the traction control turned onto James May. Now, if you are a brave soul you will switch the traction control off…. but you better be a good driver. When you wind the car up, the speed will climb and with each mile per hour gained, the car will gain precision. The more speed, the more downforce you have. You will get so much mechanical grip that you can literally fly through corners going twice as fast as you’d normally go. Eventually you will reach the limit of adhesion and you’ll oversteer but with a dash of power from the big V6 and you’ll be right back in order. The car doesn’t pivot around your hips but it feels like without you, the car wouldn’t be able to do anything, which is true. The Z plows through a corner at low speed but give it a boot full mid-corner and you’ll get that back end to come loose. It’s spectacularly easy to hold a power slide in this thing.

So the driving characteristics we like so how about the other things like suspension, ride quality, interior, practicality? Well, it’s what you should expect from a small two-seater sports car. The suspension on the NISMO is stiffened, lowered, and the wheels are 19 inch RAYS alloys. It’s an unforgiving ride when you drive in town or on rough country roads. Bumps at speed feel like you fell down several flights of stairs. So if rough rides are not what you are looking for, look for a Honda Civic. The ride quality is not very good. The suspension thing will be annoying, the seats seem like they hug you in the wrong places if you are under 5 foot 7, the wheel arches seem like they catch every single piece of rock, and some road noise comes through the air vents and other parts of the cabin. The interior is a bit better. On the Z you can navigation, bluetooth streaming audio, a back-up camera (because you need one), and more stuff. You could option your car with Leather seats and climate control which are luxuries to have in a sports car. On the NISMO unit we had, we didn’t have navigation but a back-up camera built into our rear view mirror. I seemed to like that more than have it on the navigation screen but there is no tracking on a screen that small and detail isn’t the best. The leather wrapped around the dashboard is very good, the wheel has a sporty grip and sporty weight to it. The dash doesn’t buzz or vibrate and everything seems well thought through. I’m not saying everything will be perfect because there are a couple buttons still made from bottle top plastic which I don’t like. Overall though, nice place to be in. Now if you ask about practicality, you should leave. It’s a two-seater sports car. No back seats, you get a little storage area and a stiffening bar and the trunk is long but very shallow. You’ll struggle to fit a large sized travel bag in there. It’s definitely not meant to be a cross-country car for more than one or two people. Two would be pushing storage space so make sure you go to a nudist beach and resort.

So as of now you probably want a Nissan Z. It seems well thought through, it has the power, it has the riding characteristics of a young driver, and it’s priced well. What should be holding you back? If you are responsible for more than one passenger, don’t get it. If you complain about how much gas prices are, don’t get it. If you want a car to soothe your brow instead of attack it with scissors, don’t get it. But if you like that sort of car that will get you shouted at, this is the one. If you want to be discrete about your sports car, get the normal Z with a silver or black paint job. If you get the NISMO, get a color that shouts. This Magma Red comes to mind.

We only have a few minutes before the Keynote begins at 9AM PST. Head over to our Live Blog page here. 

Welcome to our Live Blog page of Google’s annual developers conference! We will start live blogging as soon as the event kicks off this morning! We have a team on the ground prepared to give you the best coverage they can in San Francisco, CA!

Google I/O kicks off at 9AM PST, 12PM EST on Wednesday, May 15th.

It seems that Google published a page on the refreshed Google Maps with higher quality 3D imaging and more features. It looks more simplified and a lot cleaner than previous versions of Google Maps. It may be a Beta sign up this afternoon after the keynote. We have to wait a few more minutes and find out.

In the meantime, head over to our Live Blog page here.