I decided iTunes 10 was a big pile of junk, in part because it regularly couldn’t see iOS devices on the network over Wi-Fi. The devices weren’t especially hidden, given that other apps and services could see them—it was just iTunes that was being stupid. Well, iTunes 11 arrived today and it’s same-old, same-old. The two iPads in the house were picked up, but the iPhone was not, which was just great. And by ‘great’, I mean ‘good grief, Apple, is it really that difficult to get this rather important aspect of your software right?’

Anyway, the old tried-and-tested means of getting Wi-Fi sync working again, at least temporarily, seemed to do the job. The method is as follows:

• Connect your device to your Mac, like some kind of idiot living in 2005.
• Hope that iTunes at this point actually recognises the damn thing.
• Uncheck ‘Sync with this [device] over Wi-Fi’.
• Click Apply.
• Check ‘Sync with this [device] over Wi-Fi’, laughing internally and ironically about all those old ‘Microsoft car’ jokes.
• Click Apply.
• Unplug your device, while hoping iTunes won’t immediately forget it exists.

If the second step doesn’t work for you, try rebooting everything. If that doesn’t work for you, I strongly recommend making voodoo dolls of the iTunes engineering team and stabbing them with pins. There’s only a very remote chance this will have the desired effect of them feeling your tech pain first-hand, but it’s got to be worth a go.

Tech pundits are strange creatures. I’m fairly certain some of them don’t bother with trifling matters such as listening to what they’re saying or reading what they are writing. Take, for example, Andrew Keen’s piece on TechCrunch. He trots out yet another piece about Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder that’s had bugger-all to do with anything Apple’s done in a very long time, and who while being a brilliant engineer had about as much marketing savvy as a squirrel.

In case you’re wondering, his latest nugget of info is that he’s concerned Microsoft has become a more innovative company than Apple. (Microsoft’s current innovation, in case you’ve forgotten, is to desperately try to make tablets into laptops, while desperately trying to make its tablet OS run Windows-style Office apps, while desperately trying to remain relevant.) Well, fair enough. This is what Woz does these days—he talks about tech stuff, and because of his place in the history of computing, people listen. They ignore his overtly engineer focus, and the fact his hit rate in terms of what will come to pass is no better than anyone else’s, but they listen. And then they report. And then they suggest what he says has bearing on the current market, when it mostly doesn’t.

To be fair, Woz also seems like a really nice guy. I’m sure I’d get swept up in what he’s saying should I ever get the chance to meet him, but not quite to the same level as Andrew Keen.

Much has been said about his unworldliness, but Woz is now so savvy, smooth and smart that I wonder whether, if Tim Cook should stumble, Apple might consider bringing him back as their CEO.

THERE ARE NO WORDS.

Microsoft head honcho Steve Ballmer’s recently come in for some flak, due to saying some slightly odd things about the current state of technology. In a video on CNBC, he uttered:

I don’t think anybody has done a product that is the product that I see customers wanting. You can go through the products from all those guys … and none of them has a product that you can really use. Not Apple. Not Google. Not Amazon. Nobody has a product that lets you work and play that can be your tablet and your PC. Not at any price point. (Transcription: AllThingsD.)

Despite Ballmer setting the BWUH? level to 11, I let this slide. On Twitter, I simply pointed out that no-one really admits when their rivals are doing well, as evidenced somewhat by Apple’s oddly defensive ‘attack’ on the Nexus tablet during its recent keynote. But a Wall Street Journo piece today makes me wonder if Ballmer has his own Microsoft intranet, on which he can only visit the websites MicrosoftIsReallyFuckingGreat.com and MicrosoftNewsStevieWantsToHearGodammit.net:

In every category Apple competes, it’s the low-volume player, except in tablets.

In every category apart from tablets? So presumably smartphones are tablets? And music players are tablets? Still, Microsoft might have become the high-volume player in screaming bullshit, if Ballmer keeps this up.

Hat tip: The Loop.

John C. Dvorak, for ITProPortal.com:

Just imagine the scene if Apple had projected “$179” onto the screen during its announcement (and priced the UK model at £149). Apple stock would have rocketed

Yup. Right until the next financial quarterly results came in, showcasing how Apple’s profits had plummeted, at which point the stock would have followed suit.

Perhaps Apple has misjudged the market. Maybe the iPad mini won’t sell that well. If that’s the case, there’s nothing to stop Apple adjusting its price-point later. But people have in the past argued against Apple’s pricing decisions regarding mobile products, and yet all the devices have flown off the shelves. It’d be a brave or stupid tech hack that would bet utterly against that happening this time round.

UPDATE: Looks like I was wrong on this. New new iPad is out today.

Over on App.net, Marco Arment has been wondering about today’s iPad announcement from Apple. One thing he asked:

If the iPad 3 gets updated tomorrow, presumably Apple’s done with the spring iPad updates and will release in the fall from now on, fixing the just-got-one-for-the-holidays frustration with the current iPad release cycle.

Logically, that thinking makes sense, but you also have to bear in mind what currently happens with iPad cycles. First, Apple has a two-spike strategy. In spring, the iPad is updated, causing a major sales spike. Apple then gets ‘holiday’ spikes for free in the winter, regardless. By moving new iPads to the autumn, Apple loses its spring spike.

Secondly, Apple always has massive problems in fulfilling demand. New iPads are often thin on the ground for months after release, and the international rollout is rarely immediate. It’s one thing being frustrated in not getting your new iPad in April or May, but November and December? Apple might lose a little goodwill in people buying iPads for the holidays and then announcing a new one in late-spring, but it’ll lose a hell of a lot more goodwill if it releases new iPads in November and can’t fulfil demand for the holidays.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a minor new iPad bump today, but I’d be surprised if that signalled a change in Apple’s overall scheduling strategy.