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Jobs to Give WWDC Keynote in August August 7th marks the beginning of this year's WWDC (World Wide Developer's Conference) conference in San Francisco. Anyone who is anyone in the Apple developmental community will be there to learn the latest and greatest coming from Apple. As expected, Steve Jobs is going to be giving the keynote at this event, and has promised that he will give a preview of Leopard (the successor to Tiger), which is rumored to be released for MacWorld 2007 (January). Read here for more information. PC Magazine's Top 100 Products of the Year PC Magazine recently published their Top 100 Products of the Year list. Here are the top 10 products: 1) Intel Core Duo Processor In addition to winnng 2 of the top 10 spots on this year's list, Apple was also named "Hardware Company of the Year" by PC Magazine! For a complete listing of all 100 products, click here. Slip-up, or OS X on a Dell?!
The only way this could be the case is to have OS X running on a Dell. We've been told that Apple isn't intersted in selling OS X to run on a PC by itself. This has me confused. Any ideas? Tell me here. 5th Avenue
Apple opened it's doors to the public at 6:00pm EST on May 19, 2006. To help capture the enthusiasm, they set up a time-lapse camera, showing each hour's activity individually, as well as a 24-hour clip. It's very cool to see. Click here to check it out. So what's with the "Will You Marry Me?" guy to the right? Check out the hour of 5:00 and you will see. Let's hope he got a favorable response! NAB 2006 Demo Reel for Final Cut Studio
Prior to NAB, Apple released their upgrade for Final Cut Studio (5.1). To show it off, they showed a demo reel at NAB. Check it out here. As usual, they did an amazing job! If this doesn't get you excited about DV editing, I don't know what will! Even more impressive is the list of feature films (illustrated in the short video) that have used Final Cut. Apple's New Ad Campaign
Not only does Apple have a reputation for exceptional products, but they also work wonders with their advertising. These ads, as with previous campaigns, have the words "class", "quality" and "fun" written all over them! First Came the 15", Then Came the 17" Earlier this week, at NAB, Apple announced the release of their latest Intel-based Mac... the 17" MacBook Pro. In addition to the obvious screen size difference, the 17" also offers a faster SuperDrive and a FireWire 800 port (a feature that Apple decided to exclude from the 15" MacBook Pro, despite the fact that it was on the earlier 15" PowerBook). It's no surprise that the new 17" MacBook pro is another real winner, and video professionals are bound to love it. Windows on a Beloved Mac?! Yesterday, Apple stunned the entire computer industry by releasing a public beta version of Boot Camp. Boot Camp essentially enables you to partition your Mac disk, and load Windows XP SP2. Already, there is plenty of talk about how this will transform how people buy computers. To learn how to use Boot Camp, click here. Next up? Apple needs to include standard Windows APIs in OS X so that we can run those one-off Windows apps right inside of OS X natively! Apple vs. Microsoft: Product Releases Wow, it's been a long time since I posted an entry to my blog. I apologize! It's been hectic. I couldn't let this one slip by though... I was thinking the other day about some of the differences between how Apple handles its product releases compared to other companies. Microsoft came to mind as well. At the developer's conference last year, Steve Jobs announced that they were going to transition to Intel chips in 2006, and that the first of the Intel-based Macs would be delivered in June. During his keynote at Macworld 2006 in January, he announced the new Intel-based MacBook Pro and iMac... 6 months early! Now we look at Microsoft. How many times have they pushed back the release of Windows Vista? I have lost track now. And the latest news is that it's been pushed back again... it won't be available until 2007!! Clearly there are significant differences in how these two companies handle their priorities. What Does it Take to Put on a Keynote at Macworld? I have always wondered this, especially after going to see it in person this year. I must admit, Steve Jobs captures his audience as good as, or better than, the best presenters in the world. He is spectacular at making dramatic announcements, and can keep secrets better than most in the industry. So what goes into making his keynote speach such a success? I was recently sent an article that told the account of one man who had been part of helping to prepare for keynote speaches, as well as been a part of the keynote itself. It's a long article, but well worth the time to read it. Click here to read it. Best OS of 2005!
Are You KIDDING Me?
It's Podcast Time!
For more information, and to subscribe to our podcast, click here. Instant-On PowerBooks? It's no secret that Apple has just entered some long-term agreements with multiple venders (Intel, Micron, Samsung, etc) for flash memory (some lasting through 2010). It's also no secret that they are planning on prepaying for $1.25 Billion up front to show how serious they are about it. What is a secret, however, is what exactly they are going to do with it all. Sure, their new iPod nano and Shuffle are based on flash memory. That we know, but is that all the have planned for it? I think not. As far as I am concerned, I think there are two options for them: 1) They are planning on moving the regular iPods over to flash memory (slightly unlikely since they would need to dump a ton in there to make them even closely comparable to the current sizes offered) 2) They may actually use it for notebooks. "Notebooks?" Yes, notebooks. People have been talking about "instant-on" notebooks for years (the concept is that you can turn a computer on, and within seconds, be at a log-in window). The only way that instant-on can work is if the OS loads from something other than a hard drive. Flash memory, for example. So why not put 16 GB or so of flash memory in the system for the boot partition (which would basically contain the OS), and then use the hard drive for applications and data? Sounds like a good idea to me! I say bring it on, Apple!! (no one else will do it) Sony's Black Eye
The gist of what is happening is that Sony has placed a rootkit on 52+ music CDs. There are so many problems with this, I don't really know where to begin, so I hope I can keep my thoughts slightly organized. First of all, a rootkit is basically code that is installed at the kernel level of a system and reports your listening habits back to Sony. It's part of their DRM technology (see below). This install is so low that anti-virus and anti-spyware applications don't look there. Is it illegal for them to do this? Absolutely. Which is why they are recalling all half-million CDs they have sold with this on it for the last year. Which brings me to my next point... why did it take someone a year to discover this? Did the antivirus writers turn a blind eye because it's Sony? I doubt it. Symantec, McAfee, and the likes are very busy writing fixes for over 200 new viruses every day. This caught them totally off-guard. Now that this rootkit has been installed on countless machines, is it simple to uninstall? No. Again, because it's at the kernel level, it's very difficult to get to it. Unless you perform a low-level format (and reload), I don't know if there is a good fix for it. Sony has reportedly issued a fix for the rootkit, but I have yet to find it, and it reportedly doesn't completely remove it (just enough to please the lawyers). Interesting note to iTunes user... this obviously has no affect on you, which is one of the reasons I prefer to download from iTunes (not to mention it's usually cheaper). All of this has come about because of DRM (Digital Rights Management). If you aren't familiar with the term, it's a way of protecting audio material. For example, if you download a CD, you should only be allowed to burn 3 additional copies of each song. Personally, I think DRM is horrible. Do I endorse piracy? Absolutely not. However, if you talk to 90% of the artists out there, they will tell you that they make nothing from the label companies. They make their money from touring. And the fans that buy the tickets to those shows are fans because they hear the music. Pirates? More than likely, but the artists don't care. It's no skin off their back. Their music is heard by the masses, and in turn, makes it more valuable. So who is making the stink? The labels, because they aren't making the millions in cash for doing very little. For a complete listing of the 52+ affected CDs, click here. Final thought... SHAME ON SONY!! Apple vs. Dell In a recent Reuters article (posted on MSNBC.com), the word on the street is that Dell is nervous about Apple for two reasons... 1) Their hardware has sex appeal, and 2) They are growing their market share very quickly. It has been reported that last quarter, Apple increased it's market share by 45% (currently at 4.3%), while Dell increased only 12% (currently at 33.2%). The industry grew at a rate of 17% overall. At this rate, Apple will be approaching 10% very quickly. Having said this, Dell's plans are to hire very good (and I'm sure very expensive) industrial designers to come in, and revamp their machines to bring in a new sense of sex appeal. No one does this like Apple, and considering they have OS X on their side as well (which is sexy in its own right), I think Dell will find it very difficult to compete with their newly appointed benchmark... Apple. Who would have thought that Dell would have considered Apple a serious threat? Change is good, I suppose. Click here to read the full article. Intel in January?
"Apple Computer is on track to introduce the first Macs with Intel processors as early as January, which should help the company avoid any potential slow down in the first half of 2006 and appease concerns voiced by shareholders and industry-watchers..." Read the article in its entirety here. Come On, America!
I must admit, I haven't been out to vote at every election. In fact, it wasn't until recently that I became a regular voter. The problem has been that it's far too inconvenient. For me to vote, it takes about an hour for me to drive from my office, wait in line,vote, and drive back. And that doesn't include lunch. Why can't this process go digital? I renew my car's registration online, I do my banking online, I do just about everything online. If voting were to follow suite with banks and the rest of the government's resources, and offer an online way to vote, I would be willing to bet my PowerBook that we would see a significant increase in voter "turn-out", and get a more realistic picture of what the people want. Yes, I partially blame the 25-30% turn-out on the community, but place more blame on the government for refusing to make it an easier, more convenient, process. Sure, I'm only one of 50,000 voters, but if it can be a simple, fast, process, I feel more like my vote is actually worth the time it takes to cast it. Come on, America, it IS the 21st century! Flight Patterns I ran across a very cool video today that shows real flight data in fast motion. I knew that there were a lot of planes in the sky at once, but it's amazing to actual see how many there are! My hat is off to all those air traffic controllers out there! Keep up the great work! The Google Giant Last night, I was on a flight from Denver to Salt Lake City. I sat next to a gentleman who proudly introduced himself as an Oracle salesman. I thought to myself, "Finally, I can have an intelligent conversation with a fellow passenger!". Well, we did. For all 50 minutes of the flight. We talked a lot about what new technologies Oracle was working on (at least what he could talk about), and where their vision was long-term (from his perspective). Inevitably, the conversation steered towards Google. His joyful presence suddenly turned bleak. He asked me how I could ever bring up that name in front of him (half joking). "Do you consider Google to be the evil enemy?", I asked. Not being said as bluntly as I am saying it here, he said absolutely. "If you think about it", he said, "Google is not only going to take over companies like Oracle, but possibly Microsoft" (referring to the OS market). Could this be true? Is Microsoft as nervous about Google as Oracle and others are? Are online OSes a thing of the future? Is Google the next Microsoft? Look at Google a year ago. Now look at them today. Can you imagine where they will be next year? And the year after? Hmmmm.... Last but not least, I wonder what Steve Jobs' take is on Google. Is there a sense of nervousness there? Historically, Apple has been a real proponent of Google (and for good reason). Will that level of association continue between Apple and Google? I believe so. What are your thoughts? Head over to the Contact page and let me know what you think. Apple Press Release This morning, Apple held a press meeting in New York City, where they announced the release of several new products... changes to the 15" and 17" PowerBooks, Power Mac G5s and the release of their first-ever pro-grade image editing package... "Aperture". For more detailed information, click here. Apple = Forward Thinking
It looks like Apple may be headed towards another quiet (shhhh) transition. If you look closely, the new iMac no longer sports an analog modem (as shown in the little blurb to the right). Instead, buying a USB modem is now optional. Do you think this has anything to do with Apple's interpretation of where we are headed with high-speed connectivity? Hmmm... Apple Press Release This morning, Apple held a press meeting in San Jose, California where they announced the release of several new products... the new iMac G5, iPod (capable of playing video) and iTunes. For more detailed information, click here. Cubicle Escape I had a great Skype conversation a few days ago with an entrepreneur by the name of Jonathan Brown (of Florida). Jonathan is the creator of a Podcast called "Cubicle Escape Pod", where he and his friend/business partner (Matt) discuss bootstrapping a business. Among other things, we had a discussion about Mac Tips. Jonathan was excited enough about the site that he decided to feature it on his October 04 podcast. Jonathan's Podcast now has over 1,500 international subscribers! Below is a quick audio plug he gave us on his podcast. Thanks Jonathan! Top 100 Products for 2005 Each year, PC World releases a list of the top 100 products for that year. This year's list was just released, and the results are interesting. Here are the top 5: 1) Mozilla Firefox (Web Browser) To view the list in its entirety, click here. Buy, Buy, Buy!
Currently, Apple's stock (AAPL) is at about $54/share, and they currently own about 2-3% of the market (depending on who you ask). Analysts are now saying that not only will this switch be good for the techno-savvy consumer, but also for the stock-holder. Originally, they have been saying that AAPL will hit the mid 60's by the end of 2005. Now, even that number looks low. AND, tech analysts are saying that Apple's market share will go from 2-3% up to 20+% in the next several years! Sounds like a good time to buy AAPL!!! Windows Vista x 7 This audio snippet says it all! It's a 1:31 recording of Patrick Norton (This Week in Tech) explaining the various flavors of the upcoming Windows Vista. Leo Laporte (radio/TV host and author) and John C. Dvorak (PC Magazine columnist) are also in on the conversation. It's worth the listen! By the way, later in that same podcast, Patrick explains that Windows Vista will require at least 1 GB of RAM to run. WOW!! Lights, Camera, Action!
The cool thing was that when I looked at their table, they were using a 15" PowerBook with Final Cut on it to capture and edit their work. Later tonight, I was sure to catch the news, and sure enough, I caught a glimpse of what I saw them capturing over their burrito. Just goes to show that Final Cut is even preferred by some for news footage! Where's My Tab? No, I'm not talking about the tab you get from a server in a restaurant. I am talking about the tabs in your word processor. Why is it that people don't use them?? I get Word documents all the time, and one thing that annoys me is bad formatting. ESPECIALLY when people will hit their space bar 20 times to move a line over, when they could have used a quick tab! First of all, it would have saved them a lot of time and hassle, but it would also save me a lot of time and hassle, because I inevitably will have to go through and clean it all up. If you don't use tabs, stay home sick one day (if it really takes that long) and learn how to use them!! You will thank me for it... I promise! It's a Group Effort
To find a user group in your area, click on the icon on the right. Get to Your Floor... FAST! I recently heard of a real-life hack (as opposed to a computer hack) that directly affects everyone that has ridden, or will ride, an Otis elevator (Otis is the brand). Let's say you are on the ground floor of a 30-story office building. You work on the 25th floor, and are late for a meeting. What do you do? Take the stairs to avoid the elevator, which is bound to stop at every other floor (Murphy's Law)? Not any more. If you press the floor number to which you are going and the "Close Doors" button at exactly the same time, the elevator will take you there directly, bypassing all other floors requesting a stop. Will it work with other brands? Not sure. Give it a try. But for now... thank you Otis!! How Many Words on a Page?
Why? First of all, I would venture to say I am like 90% of the computing world in that I only use 10% of the features found in Word. The other 90% of the features just aren't useful to me. Pages handles a lot of the same features that Word has, but maybe lacks some of the high-end features that you normally wouldn't use. Also keep in mind that Pages has a lot of features that Word doesn't, like it's easy-to-use objects and graphics tools. Compatibility is a hot topic with software. Word, of course, is an industry standard because of Microsoft's market share. So how does that work? Very well, actually. I convert documents from Word -> Pages and Pages -> Word all the time, and most (if not all) of the formatting (even complex formatting) migrates along with everything else. I was honestly amazed at how well it worked. The interface is a little different, and will take some getting used to. Once you do, however, you will find it very easy to use, and will be creating amazing documents in no time! Oh, and to get started with those amazing documents right off the bat, try one of the many built-in templates for designing newsletters, letterheads, posters, and much more. If you haven't done so already, either go get a trial version of Pages, or just buy it. It's only $79 for a single-user license, or $99 for a family-pack of 5. That also includes the incredible presentation application called Keynote (that app is to be discussed on another day, but in a word... "awesome"). Life in a Bag Posted: August 23, 2005 If you travel, and even if you DON'T travel but use a laptop, you probably already agree that it's a wise decision to pack your bag with more than just your laptop. Here's what I have in my bag: Thank You, "Wired"! There are three types of junk mail (all of which are annoying): 1) the junk you get in your (snail-) mailbox, 2) the junk you get in your e-mail Inbox, and 3) the junk you get inside of a magazine. It's inevitable... every time you open a magazine, the first thing that happens is a few cards fall out, right? And to make matters worse, they stuff them all over the place! Between pages 12/13, between pages 25/26, etc. "Wired" magazine has done it right! When you open a "Wired" magazine, just flip to the center of the magazine. Yes, they still stuff those annoying cards in there, but at least they have the decency to put them all in the same place! Simply pull out the stack, and you are junk-free!! Thank you, "Wired". Mighty Indeed Exactly one week ago, I purchased Apple's new Mighty Mouse to try out. I must admit, the name did sound a bit silly, and I did have some reservations with it. First of all, the wheel was nothing like I had seen before. It's so small... will it work? Second, how was the right button to work? Surely, not that well, if it is based on touch sensors. Thirdly, it is wired. WIRED?! Despite these hesitations, I bought one. It did take me a couple hours to get used to it, but WOW!! It really works well! The wheel (or I should say ball) not only works really well in ALL directions, but it just feels awesome on my finger. It has just the right amount of texture to it when you scroll it. Not too little, not too much. Perfect. As for the right button... well, let's just say they must have designed it just for me. Here's my problem. I got so used to the one-button Apple mouse that I started to click the mouse on the right side, as the left click. Make sense? So, you can imagine my thoughts when I switched back to a 2-button mouse. In fact, I STILL click on the right side, even for the left click. How? Simple. As long as my left (index) finger is touching the mouse, it knows it is supposed to be a right click. It is so... mighty! Lastly, that darn wire! I love not having to deal with wires, so this is still a challenge for me. I will say that when they release the wireless Mighty Mouse (maybe named "Mighty Mouse without a Tail"), I will be the first to sign up for it! Investors Love This Site Apple's stock has done quite well the last few days, partially due to their incredible quarterly earnings! 6+ million iPods and 1+ Millions Macs sold in 3 months. Wow! And, to top things off, it looks like the market decided to honor this site at the end of trading today. Thanks to all you traders out there who helped to make this happen!!
Bandwidth Thief Yesterday, the Associated Press released an article which talked about a man in Florida who was arrested for stealing bandwidth from another person via his unsecured WiFi network (while sitting on the street in his SUV). Two thoughts come to mind immediately: 1) Interesting that people are now being arrested over this iTunes Hits a High Note With Me Just the other night, I had watched a movie, and really enjoyed the soundtrack to it. Later that night (around 12:00am), I couldn't sleep and thought it would be nice to listen to that particular soundtrack. Two years ago, that would have meant waiting until the next business day, driving to the store, paying $18 or $20 for the CD, taking it back to my PowerBook and ripping it. A day later, I am able to listen to it. Instead, I jumped out of bed, walked into my office, spent 3 minutes downloading the entire CD at the cost of only $10, and then spent 30 seconds moving the songs to my iPod. In less than 5 minutes, I had downloaded 17 songs, and was back in bed listening to them. I love iTunes!! Why Does It Have To Be 20" Long? "Thank you for shopping Wal-Mart. Here is your 20" long receipt." That's what the clerk ought to say upon checking out. I went to Wal-Mart this evening to pick up a few things... milk, bread, syrup, potato chips and soda. I was so amazed at the length of the receipt that I just had to come home and measure it... 20 inches!! Why in the world does a consumer need a 20" long receipt to remind them that they just bought 5 items? Couldn't it be more like 5" Or maybe even 2"? Really, all the consumer needs these days is a receipt showing very plainly what they bought and how much it was. Most of the receipt was taken up by advertising various products or services in the store. Personally, I never look at them. Just give me a receipt with the total amount charged, and I'm good. If I have a dispute later, I can look up the information online... at least that's how it should be. I would love to see the day where the receipt shows nothing more than the total amount and a receipt number. Then, if you had questions, you can go to the store's site, enter the receipt number, and BAM! Up comes your 20 inches worth of information. But alas, here we are, living in the 21st century. Hmmmm... ironic. Isn't it? Find What You Love Steve Jobs gave the Commencement address to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford University on June 12, 2005. Among many things, it was very motivational. In his speech, he tells of three (very personal) stories that come directly from his life. He does this to illustrate a point. You have probably gathered from the title of this blog that the underlying message of his speech is to find what you love in life, and go for it. As he explains, one of the best things that ever happened to him was when he was fired from Apple only 10 yeas after he started it, and how that motivated him to go after his other dreams. I won't spoil it for you, but it's a must read (3.5 pages). Click here to read his speech in its entirety. Cupertino or Bust This week, I am in Cupertino (California) to meet with some of the greatest minds at Apple's headquarters... developers and trainers. Specifically, I am here to implant some of their core and extensive knowledge of OS X Server (10.4) into my brain. It's been one day so far, and I can honestly tell you, this is MUCH better than being picked first for any team sport in Elementary School! I have been fortunate to hang out at Apple's campus, talking with others about their jobs, projects and products. I met with one guy that works on OS X (client), and it was very refreshing to feel the excitement he had about the work he was doing. Was he so excited because he is new to Apple? Nope. In fact, he has worked there for quite some time, but was so energized by the great innovations they are building into their architecture. It's like his first day on the job every day he arrives at work. 2% market share? Doesn't matter to me. What does matter is knowing that I am an end-user to a massive team of developers working on the greatest software in the world. And it is great to see them at work, and to feel their energy around it. By the way, the food at the on-campus eatery (Caffè Macs) is pretty good too. Can't We All Just Get Along? I use Instant Messaging (IM) all the time. In fact, I would venture to say that I use it more than a phone (and I place and receive calls all the time). It is an integrated part of my life. The IM client of choice for me is iChat. There are several reasons why. For one, it works really well with all my other apps (i.e.: Mail, Address Book, etc), not to mention it has the look and feel of everything else I use in Tiger. I also use MSN Messenger quite a bit. In fact, compared to the 40 or so "buddies" I have in iChat, I have nearly 250 in MSN Messenger (co-workers). What annoys me is that I can't simply use one client to satisfy both networks. Sure there are apps out there that SIMULATE them all being on the same network, but it isn't the same. Have you ever tried to send a file through one of these apps? Impossible. And video-conferencing? Don't waste your time attempting it. So why can't we all just get along? It's business. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel... or so we have been told. Two years ago, it was said that by the end of 2005 (or was it 2006?), there was to be an IM standard that all IM networks would be required to comply with. That way, I can use iChat to connect to my MSN Messenger buddies. The problem is, I haven't heard anything more about it. So has it died off? Is that no longer the plan? What a shame if it isn't. Personally, I think there will be nothing done about this frustrating problem. If you know of any details about this, please contact me and keep me posted. I would appreciate it. Broadband for Everyone!! I know my last post was about broadband connectivity, but I just couldn't resist! I am visiting my in-laws for about 2 weeks in Wales. Although they have broadband, I do not. They currently use AOL, and part of their account setup is MAC address filtering. Basically, their machine is the only one allowed to access the Internet. That's fine for when I need to browse the web, but the second I need to post anything from my machine, I am back to 33Kbps dial-up! Technically, I suppose that suppling broadband would be expensive but worth it. Right? Imagine if you ran a small town. Wouldn't it be great to know that you could stream video to all of the citizens of that town with great ease? Let's look at it from this angle... just looking up cnn.com over dial-up takes about 30 seconds. And that's just for the first page! Corporate American almost expects the majority of the world to be on broadband. There are, by the way, complete towns who have rolled out FREE broadband to all citizens. So, should all cities and towns do this?? Come on! Broadband for everyone!!!! Broadband at 30,000 Feet I recently took a flight to Dallas and, despite the fact that I had taken with me two movies to watch, found myself bored. What I would rather be doing on this 3 1/2 hour flight is actually getting work done. Yeah, I can semi-accomplish this by working on files locally, but let's face it... most of my work requires a high-speed Internet connection. So why don't airlines offer this? Well, as a matter of fact, I know that Luftansa offers this, as well as several other non-US carriers. So the real question is.. why don't the US carriers offer this service? Well, I decided to call one of them (Delta) to inquire such a question. Their response was pretty vague. Something about "possible interference with airplane navigation equipment". Balogne! Studies have shown that cell phones, pages, WiFi cards and other "portable electronics" have no potential to interfere with such equipment (by the way, such tests have been deemed "void" by the US government because they didn't certify it before the testing began). I have personally talked to several pilots (Delta, Continental and JetBlue), all of which leave their cell phones and pagers turned ON during every flight... for the whole flight. I think it's laziness. Possibly economics, but mostly laziness. If it were economics, it's a no-brainer! Charge people an extra penny per ticket, and I bet the equipment could be paid for within a few weeks. Could it be bandwidth limitations? Nope. I checked into that to. They only use a small portion of the bandwidth they currently have available to them via the dish inside the plane nose. Come on, US airlines! Bring us the broadband!! Uptime vs. Uptime One of the benefits of using a Mac is the ability to just let it run. With the release of Tiger, and the new application Dashboard, there is an easy way to check the uptime of your Mac. It's referred to as a "Show-Off" widget. It doesn't really do anything productive apart from show off to others how long your machine has been running without a reboot. Here is mine so far:
I often find myself comparing this uptime to Windows machines. When I used a Dell Latitude as my primary machine, this would never exceed 12 hours. I would reboot at least twice a day... once when I left my house to go to the office, and once when I left the office to go home for the evening. It's nice to know that rebooting a Mac is a rare occurrence! A Blog is a Blog is a Blog. Or is it? We all experience various things in life. Emotional, physical, spiritual. The goal of my blog is to share with you experiences I have related to technology, and how it affects our daily (yes, DAILY) lives. I won't update it daily, but I will share with you my tech-experiences as often as I can. |
Apple recently opened a new retail store in upper Manhatten (5th Avenue), in front of the General Motors building. It sits just a block away from Central Park, and is one of the busiest retail spots in the world. The coolest part about this particular store is that all 25,000 square feet are located underground! There is a simple (and very expensive) 32-foot glass cube that draws you in, and leads you down a spiral staircase of glass to the store below. Once there, the floor is wide-open. There are no walls separating the areas, as has been the case in all other Apple retail stores. In order to better serve the never-sleeping city of New York, the store will remain open 24/365... it will never close! Amazing.
I am personally becoming more than more interested in digital video editing, so it may be no surprise that the resent NAB show in Las Vegas peaked my interest all week long last week. There were a lot of really cool new product announced and released (perhaps the coolest is the announcement of the new 
Two very interesting things happened today: 1) Apple released their new ad campaign ("
InfoWorld just released their tech awards for 2005, and Apple was awarded not just best OS for the client, but also best OS for server as well! Doesn't surprise me... they are both very impressive. One of the man reasons that they won the award was because of ther extreme power, but easy usability. Click 
Creative today announced their iPod knock-off... the Zen Vision:M. Click 
I'm live with my very first podcast!! It's an exciting time for me with this new medium. Initially, it's a diamond in the rough. I'm still trying to figure out the exact format I want to use, but I think I'm close to knowing what I want. I will tell you that it will involve a Mac Tip (of course) or two, intelligent discussions with other Mac users, tech news and information, and I hope to get a few well-knowns on the show as well... Leo (Laporte), if you're reading this, e-mail me.
It's been an interesting two weeks following the story of the RootKit that Sony has exploited on over half a million PCs. If you haven't heard about this story by now, click 
I'm not really one to spread rumors, but this one got my attention (not to mention my heart beating fast).
This last week was voting season for most of the country. Like many of us, it's hard to find the time to actually go down to the school or firehouse and vote. We all have lives (busy ones at that), and lots of things to do. The last time I checked, our town's voting turnout was about 25-30%. That's insane!!! So I ask the question... why don't more people vote?
When Apple first announced they were no longer going to include floppy drives in their computers, the industry wondered. When Apple announced that they were going to include (or at least offer) DVD burners in all their machines way ahead of the rest of the computer manufacturers, the industry wondered. When Apple announced that all Macs would include a FireWire port as part of their standard configuration, the industry wondered (and asked why a user would ever need FireWire).
The more I think about the "switch" (pun intended) that Apple will be making over the next year to Intel chips, the more I think it is for the better. I admit it, I was originally very skeptical about the move, but am now very excited for the change. Intel has a very large market share in their core processor business, and with that, comes a lot of experience in making things run smoothly.
Our family decided to eat dinner out tonight, and settled on a restaurant called "Cafe Rio". It's a great Mexican place. As we started to clean up after ourselves, we noticed that the table next to us consisted of a news team from ABC 4 news, one of which being Brent Hunsaker (local field correspondent). The others were his lighting, camera and sound guys. They had apparently just finished a shoot (about New Orleans refugees who had been evacuated to our state to find temporary relief), and were catching a quick bite to eat before heading back to the station. At the same time, they were capturing their recent footage.
Lately, I have had more reasons to use a word processor than usual. As a result, it has given me a great opportunity to use Apple's latest entry into the productivity software arena... Pages (part of 
