Photos From the Indy Apple Store, at Keystone

No Comments »September 5th, 2006

Over the Labor Day weekend I and a fellow Mac fanboy decided to pay a visit to our nearest Mecca to all things Apple…the Apple Store located at Keystone, in Indianapolis. The store was oddly vacant when we first arrived at around 10:00 AM on Monday, but a couple hours later we returned after some shopping and a bite to eat. The store had suddenly become packed with customers during our absence. It was a madhouse!

My friend (actually a client of mine) purchased a Mac Pro with 23″ Cinema Display, which is an upgrade to his existing G5 iMac. I think he was jealous of my Mac Pro with 20″ Cinema and thought he would upstage me by getting a larger display. Curse him!

I will say this about the staff at this Apple store; they are absolutely well trained and on the stick in customer relations.

View my photos on Flickr.

More proof of Mac Pro coming next week?

No Comments »August 3rd, 2006

Some spy photos taken from the floor of the Moscone Center, where workers are setting up for next weeks World Wide Developers Conference, are quickly circulating around the web. The image reveals a banner depicting a 64bit processor icon. This could be further evidence that Apple will announce the much anticipated Intel-based professional workstation at the event. Not that any further verification is needed, as we know almost for certain the Mac Pro (the official name for Apple’s PowerMac successor) will be unveiled. The reference to 64bit could also have something to do with OSX 10.5, codenamed leopard. We shall soon see.

Apple unveils more “Get a Mac” TV ads

No Comments »June 13th, 2006

Apple has quietly added three new TV spots to its current nationwide ad campaign called “Get a Mac”. As before the ads show the same two characters who symbolically represent a PC and Mac, played by actors John Hodgman and Justin Long, respectively. These particular ads I find much more humorous than the previous roll, especially the Out of the Box sketch. Funny stuff. See the ads here.

Turning An Old Dell PC Into A Mac

No Comments »May 20th, 2006

Ever since Apple ported OSX to the Intel x86 architecture, bootleg copies of the PC-compatible OS have flowed through peer 2 peer networks like a pandemic virus. In fact, an entire community of PC “Mac users” was born almost overnight, devoted to the cause of running OSX on mainstream PC hardware.

Being the curious lad that I am, I have longed to experience first hand how OSX 10.4 Tiger performs on generic PC hardware. All in the name of research of course. As I’m sure you have already figured out, I’m quite a Mac fan. However I still remain largely a PC user. Much as I love Apple and Macintosh platform as a whole, I still have a parallel affinity for the PC side of the computing market. Windows XP, despite its numerous flaws, is a viable and fairly reliable platform that I use daily, right alongside my Mac. It’s not politically correct to endorse Windows or Microsoft, but then again I’ve never been politically correct.

(Behold…the ancient Dell Dimension 8100…in all its…uh, glory?)
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Apple Offers Mac Mini Test Drive

No Comments »August 31st, 2005

Apple is offering a special thirty-day money back guarantee on its popular Mac Mini system, allowing anyone to “test drive” a Mac…worry free. If you don’t like the Mini, you can return it at the end of the 30 day trial period for a full refund. How about that?

This is another smart move by Apple. As cheap as the Mini is, there are still those who fear the unknown. Many PC users I speak with that are Mac curious always voice the same concern…”What if I don’t like it?” This should resolve one more hurdle. Of course, once the new Intel-Macs start arriving, the entire Mac vs. Windows argument will be gone forever, as those systems will be able to dual boot both operating systems.

iBook Stampede

Comments OffAugust 16th, 2005

There were several minor injuries and one person was taken to a hospital with a leg injury, fire Battalion Chief Steve Wood said during a 1 p.m. news conference. In all, 17 people were treated, the majority for heat- or diabetic-related problems, he said. Thousands of Henrico County residents and/or taxpayers stood in a half-mile-long line as dawn broke while others waited in cars parked nearby or milled about not far from the entrance to RIR. One official estimate put the crowd at 5,500. Other observers estimated more than twice that. Many had come prepared with books, snacks, umbrellas and chairs. The first car arrived at 1:30 a.m. By 6:30 vehicles were backed up on Laburnum Avenue about a half mile to Carolina Avenue.

A few years ago Apple struck a rather large deal with the Henrico County school district in Virginia to provide iBooks to all Middle-school students. The district decided to sell off 1,500 of these aging iBooks at a blowout price of just $50 per unit. The people you see in the photo were waiting in line to buy them as soon at the gates opened. The line was more than a half mile long!

By the way…is that Dale Coffing in the foreground?

Apple Moves to Intel

Comments OffJune 6th, 2005

“At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Apple previewed a version of its critically acclaimed operating system, Mac OS® X Tiger, running on an Intel-based Mac® to the over 3,800 developers attending CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote address. Apple also announced the availability of a Developer Transition Kit, consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple’s software, which will allow developers to prepare versions of their applications which will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.”

So there you have it…the rumors were true. Can’t wait to see how this story unfolds.