No Comments »February 20th, 2007
For those of you that don’t like Apple Mail.app, and don’t want to downgrade to Thunderbird, a new open-source project is underway that promises to to with Thunderbird what Camino does for Mozilla; bring the application into full Quartz goodness. The software is called Correo (don’t ask what the name stands for or where it came from), and although it’s still in the Alpha stage of development (version .01), this app looks very promising and may in fact become a great option for Mail-hungry Mac users. Much work lies ahead and this app is nowhere near ready for prime time, it doesn’t even have a preferences feature yet. But it’s worth downloading simply to test and contribute feedback to the developers.
Click here to learn more about Correo and download
Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, Mail, OSX
No Comments »February 20th, 2007
Believe it or not, I don’t own a laptop. I generally have little need for a portable, as most of my work in done primarily in front of a workstation (actually two in fact). But on the odd occasion a laptop would be a welcome accessory. So I began researching various PC laptop models on the market today, notably Apple, and came away surprised. Apple is really behind the market. Dell and other PC vendors are offering portables for as low as $599, which include a 15.4″ widescreen display, while Apple is charging $1,099 for its consumer portable (MacBook) that only offers a confined 13.3″ widescreen. Now, I wouldn’t buy a Dell Inspiron or HP Pavilion notebook to save my life…they’re junk! But a gulf exists between these two products that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Granted, Apple’s products have always been premium priced. So this is nothing new. And historically you get much higher quality components in Apple’s machines which makes the higher sticker price worth the premium. But in this case it is the weak specs that have me alarmed. If Apple is charging me over a grand for a MacBook, so be it. But at least give me the same 15″ widescreen display that I would normally get from a bargain basement PC laptop for crying out loud!
At this point I can’t justify spending so much for so little, and intend to hold off for a while before making a purchase. Hopefully Apple will revamp its portable line soon, bringing it to more competitive terms.
Technorati Tags: MacBook, MacBook Pro
No Comments »January 11th, 2007
AppleInsider has posted some really great shots (from behind the giant Bell glass display case) of the iPhone on display at MacWorld.
Link
No Comments »January 10th, 2007
Apple finally launched its much rumored mobile phone at MacWorld yesterday, immediately triggering a massive worldwide drool-fest among gadget freaks. While it has been widely known that Apple has had such a product secretly in development for at least two years now, the device itself remained shrouded in mystery. Some analysts speculated the device would prove to be nothing more than a relatively simple inexpensive iPod phone, while others expected more of a Blackberry style Smartphone, done in a sleeker package. Both camps got it wrong…and right. iPhone isn’t what anyone really expected.
When I first gazed upon images of the iPhone I was immediately awestruck by its unique industrial design, which oddly resembles a PDA more than a phone. We’ve come full circle back to tablet style form factors with large screens again. Didn’t see that coming. At the same time I was also slightly disappointed. As amazingly slick looking as it is, I have a great deal of reservations about typing on a flat screen display in place of fixed keyboard input. Hardware buttons offer good tactile feedback when entering text. The idea of tapping on a smudge prone screen with my fingers doesn’t exactly fill me with delight. Whether it will work or not remains to be seen since we have yet to see this scheme in action other than well staged product demos.
But Apple may be onto something with software based input. And God knows the Operating System alone will move this product in massive volumes. Everyone is talking about this device, and everyone seems to want one.
The next few months are going to be grueling!
No Comments »October 25th, 2006
Nothing fills me with greater joy than watching one company pull the rug out from under its competitor the moment that adversary is about to step into the spotlight. That’s exactly what Apple is about to do to Microsoft on the eve of Vista’s launch. Now, keep in mind that Apple, or rather Steve Jobs, has stated publically that its next operating system (OSX Leopard) will ship sometime in the second quarter of next year. Microsoft meanwhile will ship Windows Vista to consumers in January. Well guess what? Apple is going to sucker punch Microsoft by launching OSX Leopard early in January at Macworld San Francisco. How do I know this? A few reasons.
- Steve Jobs loves to surprise the industry with his legendary “One more thing” product announcements. And nothing will give him greater pleasure than trumping Redmond by stealing publicity away from Microsoft with a surprise launch of Leopard.
- Apple is running out of dot releases. The latest system update to OSX Tiger is version 10.4.8. Now unless Apple plans on adding further incremental digits onto its builds, I don’t see how they can protract one further dot release another 7-9 months.
- Apple has recently been turning up the heat on Mac developers in an attempt to cajole them into getting their apps released for Leopard at the earliest possible date. I’ve received two emails from Apple’s Developer Connection program over the last couple weeks that boasted the benefits of supporting Leopard, and encouraging me to learn more about the new OS. This coincides with recent preview builds of Leopard to developers. Coincidence? Maybe.
Now, granted I don’t have any insider information to confirm my suspicions, but the pieces fit. Just as Apple surpised analysts and the media with a January release of Intel-based Macs early this year, which weren’t supposed to ship until Q2 of this year, history will repeat itself again this MacWorld with Leopard.
Technorati Tags: Apple, Leopard, OSX
No Comments »October 24th, 2006
Apple keeps finding more ways to drive me into bankruptcy. First they nickel and dime me with repeated assualts from iPod rollouts. Then they introduce the Mac Pro. Now comes a beefed up MacBook Pro running Intel’s latest mobile processor; Core 2 Duo. This release seems to be watered down as upgrades come; aside from a new processor under the hood, nothing significant has changed over the previous models. Even pricing remains the same.
My biggest concern is the much maligned heat issue that some users complain to be so hot, the laptop can literally be used as a portable grill top. If these machines run cooler and more reliably than its predecessor, then I might bite the bullet. As it is now I don’t own a Mac portable at all, in no small part to issues I keep reading about. We’ll see
Check out the new MacBook Pros here.
Technorati Tags: Intel, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Core 2 Duo
No Comments »October 19th, 2006
Dozens of happy new Windows based iPod users found an unexpected surprise in their iTunes playlists; a Windows virus!
Granted, this is old news by now but in light of the totally hilarious nature of this story, I simply could not let it pass without posting something. Believe it or not, this incident truly was merely an unfortunate accident, and not as nutsack conspiracy theorists suggest…a deliberate act. According to the news wire, a batch of 5.5 generation iPods were inadvertently infected with a Windows virus, while in manufacturing, during (ironically) quality control testing when docked with a host PC which was apparently infected with a virus. The infection, both on the test PC and as well as attached iPods, went unnoticed until large quantenties of said iPod units had already shipped.
Perhaps Apple should begin selling downloadable copies of McAfee Anti-Virus from the iTunes Store. What next…rootkits on every iPod nano?
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod
For those of you that don’t like Apple Mail.app, and don’t want to downgrade to Thunderbird, a new open-source project is underway that promises to to with Thunderbird what Camino does for Mozilla; bring the application into full Quartz goodness. The software is called Correo (don’t ask what the name stands for or where it came from), and although it’s still in the Alpha stage of development (version .01), this app looks very promising and may in fact become a great option for Mail-hungry Mac users. Much work lies ahead and this app is nowhere near ready for prime time, it doesn’t even have a preferences feature yet. But it’s worth downloading simply to test and contribute feedback to the developers.
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