5/5/2009 - Laptop Hunters

There is much we can derive from those new "I'm a PC" ads from Microsoft where "laptop hunters" go out to do comparison shopping for laptops that are $1000. These ads are probably the most direct attack on Apple and relies on just one argument: price. Of course in this economy, that aspect is nothing to sneeze at. Yet, nobody ever talks about the difference in the Total Cost of Ownership between a typical PC and Mac laptop. Sure, the initial price of a PC laptop may be less, but that doesn't take into account all the antivirus and antimalware applications you have to buy just to keep the PC healthy. Those programs have yearly subscription fees, which can add up over time. With all that added bloatware on top of a resource intensive operating system, you're going to need more memory as well, just to keep things humming. There's also the notion that you get what you pay for. I'm sure Microsoft has some kind of gag order on the release of all those customer satisfaction surveys.

And you have to love the controversy that surrounded this particular commercial:



It turns out that "Lauren" is not a real "laptop hunter" after all. She's an actress hired by Microsoft's ad people to attempt to relate to the average consumer. Yes, Lauren, you're not cool enough to be a Mac person.

4/5/2009 - MacHeist 3

With only two days left for this offer, I wanted to get the news out about MacHeist 3, the software bundle that aggregates hundreds of dollars worth of Macintosh applications for only $39. Too good to be true? Fear not, because this is actually an opportunity for software vendors to get their brand noticed in the Mac community, and it's a donation of sorts since 25% of the sales go to charity! That's right, get a bunch of quality apps for a rock-bottom price and donate to charity... how can you lose? Here was the unveiling of MacHeist 3 a couple of weeks ago:



Would you ever see this kind of promotion for Windows software? I don't think so.

2/28/2009 - Steve Jobs demos Apple Macintosh, 1984

It's really too bad that Steve Jobs has had to take leave from running Apple day-to-day because of his mysterious illness. Everybody hopes he'll make his scheduled comeback this summer (maybe except Steve Ballmer). The innovation of the original Macintosh cannot be understated. The computer you're reading this blog on is not much different in terms of the GUI from the 1984 Mac. It's hard to imagine what kind of a seismic wave was produced when the Mac was introduced, but it was probably quite substantial. What everybody was working on before were computers with ugly screens and text-based input. Remember how big the hype was when the iPhone was introduced? I would argue that the iPhone wasn't as much of a revolutionary product than the Mac was. After all, there were smartphones with GUIs prior to the iPhone. The Mac was really something different. You may have to be over 40 to appreciate this video introduction of the Mac, or you may just have to be a computer enthusiast:

1/6/2009 - Mactini

The last MacWorld keynote (with Apple's participation) was today and a lot of people expected an Apple "netbook" to be announced. Netbooks are the big trend in computing these days. People seem to like their ultraportability despite having underpowered processors. They're meant to be carried anywhere and everywhere, and they cost about half the price of a regular notebook computer. I'm actually skeptical of the longevity of netbooks because their underpowered processors can't handle the HD video that is becoming more prevalent. Still, I think Apple would have been well-served if they did come out with a smaller laptop but one that has a real processor in it. My previous laptop was a 12" PowerBook and I thought it was the perfect mix of portability and power. The smallest laptop Apple has now is 13" and my complaint of it is that it won't fit into those small safes you find in hotel rooms. Ugh.

Well, if Apple ever did make a netbook, I'm afraid it will look something like this:

11/13/2008 - Apple Macbook Sucks

When Apple announced the new aluminum MacBooks, I thought for sure I would get them. My previous laptop was the titanium 13" PowerBook and it would seem that the new Macbook is its spiritual successor. I was looking forward to the new LED screens, new trackpad, and faster graphics. Then came the sticker shock. $1300 for a laptop? I know there's the traditional "Apple tax" that pays for the luxury of using a stable and elegant operating system, but I'm not sure that argument holds water, especially in today's economy.

Then there's the new Display Port. The new display adapters that you can only get from Apple would cost $30 instead of $20 or less than the display adapters for the Mini-DVI ports of the previous generation MacBook. Also, there is no Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapters yet. So to connect the aluminum MacBook to my TVs, I would need to buy two different adapters that total $60 instead of a single Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter for $20. $40 may not seem like much when compared to the cost of the computer, but that can be 8 lunches.

Then there was the last straw. No FireWire. FireWire is an interface that Apple pioneered and promoted, but when USB 2.0 became the standard for PCs, Apple all but gave up hope on FireWire. I should have realized when they switched the interface for iPods from FireWire to USB that they would eventually do the same with their computers. But I was a chump, and I bought a FireWire drive as my backup drive. To me, FireWire is the better technology in that it carries enough power to the device so that I don't need to plug in an extra AC adapter for the portable hard drive. Also, the Migration Assistant works so much faster between two computers with a FireWire cable.

So after evaluating all of this, I went ahead and bought the last generation MacBook. I saved over $300, migrated from my old PowerBook in under 2 hours, and am hooked into both my HDTVs. Although I have some regrets (this MacBook's trackpad kinda blows), I'm happy that I took the time to consider everything before the purchase. I could have easily ended up like this guy:

10/15/2008 - T-Mobile G1 Android - Hands on vid

If you have any doubt as to how far ahead of the game Apple was in January 2007 when they first announced the iPhone to the world, then this video should convince you otherwise. It took almost two years after that announcement, but the most anticipated iPhone competitor will arrive next week in the form of an HTC phone with Google's Android operating system. There's no doubt that the folks at Google are code gurus, but it looks like not even their genius could reverse-engineer what Apple did with the iPhone so many moons ago. The best way to show this is with a side-by-side comparison:



Nice try, Google... but by the time you get something that matches the iPhone, Apple will just release an upgrade.

10/1/2008 - Apple Lisa Demo

Yes, Xerox PARC may have invented the modern graphical user interface (GUI) with mouse-based input, but it was Steve Jobs' vision that brought it to the masses with the Macintosh computer. Before the Macintosh, though, there was Apple's first computer with the GUI called the Lisa. The Lisa was not really meant for the average consumer and, in fact, its $10,000 price tag was even too much for the business consumers that Apple was aiming for. Still, there's no doubt as to its impact in the world of computing. The concepts and innovations of the Lisa GUI are still being used to this day and it's hard to imagine anything replacing it any time soon. It's so ubiquitous that grade school children are more well-versed in using a mouse and keyboard than their parents and grandparents.

Using a mouse with a GUI may seem so commonplace and pedestrian now, but imagine back when computers were still using text-based input. It must have been like a toy or novelty to move a cursor around and clicking on icons. In some ways it's actually slower to use a mouse and GUI, but its ease-of-use comes from the fact that it's harder to make mistakes like you would with typos in a command-line-interface (CLI). Not having to memorize command keywords also helps immensely. Sure, people had to get used to it, and there were actually videos like this one that got people acclimated to this new concept:

7/30/2008 - Is iPhone 2.0 Worth It?

After playing with the new iPod Touch 2.0 software, I can confidently say that mobile computing has finally arrived. I have played with software on my old Palm before, but that's exactly all I was doing... "playing". Compared to the robust nature of the iPhone/iPod Touch applications, Palm software is child's play. Sure, the hardware and interface of the iPhone is years ahead of my old Palm, but it's the architecture and ecosystem that Apple has presented with the App Store that is a true revolution. Chris Pirillo has a good demonstration of what can be done with the new iPhone Apps:



Now how cool is that Midomi app? I had an idea to program something like that once, but never did I imagine the use of voice recognition in that way. It's too bad my iPod Touch doesn't have a microphone... otherwise I'd have fun with that. Speaking of which, this video doesn't even cover the games that are available in the App Store. Most of these games use the accelerometer as steering controls, but some of them use the touchscreen as well. I wouldn't go as far as saying that it will outdo the Nintendo DS or the PSP, but it's always fun to see how the gaming industry takes on the challenge of new hardware.

6/7/2008 - MacBook - thin enough.

My PowerBook is close to 5 years old now, and I'm itching to get a new one. It's still running fine for the most part, but the battery is old now and I pretty much have to leave the laptop plugged in. I can tolerate the speed of booting up, shutting down, and launching apps, but many things are running prohibitively slow. For example, I can't watch HD video with Quicktime because it's so choppy. Adobe Flash is such a processor hog that I can't watch Flash videos of any higher resolution than YouTube videos. I know a lot of this is because the PowerBook is using a PowerPC G4 instead of an Intel chip (my work PC which is older can play high resolution videos fine).

Anyway, I am still sticking with Apple for home computing, but I'm torn as to which laptop I'm going to get. Since I have a "PowerBook" right now, you'd think I'd go with its spiritual successor, the MacBook Pro. I really like the form factor of the 12" PowerBook I'm using right now and unfortunately, the smallest MacBook Pro is 15". I guess I'll be going with the 13" MacBook even if it's not the best Apple has to offer. I'm definitely not going to get a MacBook Air for so many reasons. Besides, as this video shows, the MacBook is thin enough:

3/25/2008 - Newton Virus

It's kind of rare to see an actual computer virus these days. I think most people have got the point not to open executable attachments from strangers and most e-mail software will prevent you from doing such a thing. In fact, many people use online e-mail services such as Yahoo or Google which scan your e-mail long before it gets into your inbox. Besides, most malware these days are limited to adware or spyware which, while annoying, can't really be considered viruses in the traditional sense. In fact, the programmers of these particular forms of malware don't want to break your computer because they want to be able to hack into your computer with spyware installed, or they want you to be able to view all the pop-up ads with aware installed. It's only due to poor programming or the interference with legitimate software that makes malware a destructive force on computers.

Anyway, as I said it's actually uncommon to find a computer virus nowadays, and even more uncommon to find one for a Macintosh. This has been true for sometime because virus writers don't bother with the Mac platform because of its low market share. Virus writers want their product the "spread" after all. Things may have changed recently, especially with the remarkable growth of Mac OS X and the backlash against Windows Vista. Have the virus writers found a new target with the Mac platform? Well, here's a "virus" specifically for the Mac, and I must say, if this is a virus, I might want to catch it... looks like fun:

2/26/2008 - MacBook Air Unboxing

I'm not sure what the fascination is with unboxing videos on YouTube. They're everywhere! Everything from cell phones to video games, people like to show off their new toy to the rest of the world. I figured that if I was going to feature an unboxing video on this blog, then I'd have to go with one that features the hottest gadget out there right now, the MacBook Air. As if the demonstration from Apple's commercial isn't enough, this video gives some visual size comparisons between the MacBook Air and a couple of other Apple products. Needless to say, it is eye-opening.

2/20/2008 - NBC Today Show: Apple MacBook Air

You probably have all seen Apple's MacBook Air commercials... you know, the one with the laptop coming out of a manila envelope. It's all cool and shows how remarkably thin the laptop is and everything, but the commercial is so minimalistic, not giving specifications or pricing. But everything that's not mentioned in Apple's commercial is all neatly laid out in this segment of the Today Show:



Wow, talk about "pimping" a product. Just listen to Al Roker's reaction! I mean, why even go through all the trouble of producing a commercial and paying for airtime when a major morning news program will sing praises for the laptop all for free? They practically recounted Steve Job's keynote address down to the pro-environmental aspects of the MacBook Air. You wanna know the ironic thing? NBC's cable news channel is MSNBC, a joint venture with Microsoft. I'm sure Bill Gates is asking Steve Capus, "What were you thinking?"

2/7/2008 - Apple Music Event 2001

It's hard to believe, but it's been almost seven years since Apple first introduced the iPod. Looking at this introduction video now, it was so hard to imagine back then that this little device that plays music would be the one thing that brought Apple back into the mainstream of consumer electronics. After all, it only worked on Apple machines which at the time had very little market share. Also, it was very expensive compared to MP3 CD-players that could play about 100 songs per CD. I don't even know if Steve Jobs himself knew what a phenomenon the iPod would be, even though in this video he touts all the features that did make it a smash: its ultra-portability (even though it looks so bulky now), its ability to store your entire music library (even though the current Nano holds the same amount at less than half the price), its ease of management (one could argue that iTunes has gotten bloated now), and its cool sytle (again, the current Nano trumps the original in every respect).



Of course, at the time, no one knew what was really up the sleeves of Steve Jobs: the iTunes online music store and the availability of iTunes for Windows. The first came at a very opportune time when the RIAA started to seriously crack down on Napster downloaders, forcing the file-sharing program to cease operation. Who knew that so many people would happily switch to paying for their music? And everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY was shocked when iTunes came to Windows. Even Jobs said that "hell has frozen over" when it happened. But looking at it all now, it all made sense. Only true geniuses like Steve Jobs would have known it years ago.

1/12/2008 - Mac Vs Pc: True Multitasking

It was only a couple of years ago when I would recommend getting 512 MB of RAM for new computers. With all the stupid Windows updates and the necessary anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-adware software you need, I now have to recommend 1 GB of RAM, and that's just for Windows XP. It's really quite ridiculous. If you had a new computer without the updates and other software, it would run fine on 256 MB. Now, it would just crawl.

And with Windows Vista, it's worse. I don't have much experience with it, but I've been told that you need 2 GB of RAM now for it to run smoothly. How insane is that? Before, 2 GB of memory for a single computer was only needed for high-end desktop publishing or video editing. Now, you need it to run regular productivity software? Unbelievable. This is where the inevitable comparison with Macs come in. Since Macs don't really need all the security software that Windows needs, this is what you can do with 2 GB of RAM:



Try that on Vista.

11/28/2007 - Don't Give Up On Vista Ad

Now this is rich... Apple is not-to-humbly crowing about the fact that some computer manufacturers are "downgrading" to XP instead of installing Vista on their new hardware because of Vista's incompatibility issues, its sluggishness, and its higher expense. If you've seen the new Apple ads with the Mac guy and the PC guy, you'll see that the PC guy is not too happy about this downgrading trend and is trying to persuade those who will listen to not give up on Vista. The funniest of these ads is actually not on TV. A few days ago, Apple started a viral marketing campaign on some tech websites with the Mac and PC guys in an online Flash advertisement. What's really clever is how the ad was designed on the webpage, as you'll see in this video:



What's kind of ironic is that the new Apple operating system, Leopard, shares a few problems with its direct competitor, Vista. My main beef with Leopard is that you really need the newest hardware to take advantage of all of its features. My Powerbook is running perfectly fine with Tiger and I don't see any compelling features that I would need in Leopard.

What is really exciting to me, though, are these new mobile computing platforms in the form of the iPhone/iPod Touch OS and the new Google Android mobile operating system. These new operating systems really allow developers to "start over" with software that has no bloat (yet), allowing for applications that run fast, are efficient, and are a truly new experience because they have to adapt to a new user interface in a mobile device. Leopard and Vista may be the big boys on the desktop and laptop computers, but Web 2.0 and mobile apps are the future, in my opinion.

10/26/2007 - Bricked but Useful

Apple is getting so big right now, that they don't seem like the underdog anymore. Their stock is at an all time high and today marked the launch of their newest operating system, Leopard. There may have been lines for Windows Vista, but I doubt that they had such enthusiasm and hipness as the lines for Leopard.

With the explosive growth of Apple, though, have come some growing pains. I mean, you know you're huge when you get monopoly lawsuits left and right. This was something that Microsoft faced all the time a few years ago, and now it's hitting Apple. The thing is, some of these complaints actually have a bit of merit. Apple's iPod has such a stranglehold on the market, that Apple can really get away with charging a premium on them. Just research what their profit margin is on each iPod, and you'll see what I mean.

What's really bad, though, is that Apple has begun to act like Microsoft too. For example, take the new iPod Touch... at first blush, it does seem to be the product for those who wanted an iPhone without the phone. Unfortunately, they got rid of so many of the software applications from the iPhone that you could not use it as a PDA. What's frustrating about this is that some of these apps that were taken out had nothing to do with the phone or camera hardware of the iPhone. Apple just took them out so that they'd have an incentive for people to buy the iPhone instead of the Touch. This is exactly what Microsoft did with their gazillion versions of Vista!

Also, what disappointed a lot of people recently is their recent firmware upgrade with the iPhone. If you made certain changes to your iPhone such as adding applications or unlocking it for other cellphone carriers, the firmware upgrade would "brick" the iPhone (disable its functionality altogether, making as useful as a brick). Now, Apple probably reserved the right to do this in their EULA, but I think I would be pretty mad if I spent all that money on a device that didn't work anymore because of a firmware modification.

Well, the guy in this next video didn't just get mad. He made a video parody of the situation:

10/21/2007 - all about Steve - Boom!

I have never seen a more persuasive presenter/showman than Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Inc. If you've ever seen one of his keynotes, you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong... Apple products are great and practically sell themselves. But if anybody can make a PowerPoint... er, Keynote presentation exciting, it's Steve. People even say he has this "reality distortion field" that makes you believe whatever he is saying, and outside of his keynotes, you can begin to see the some of the seams of the products he touted. For example, I was convinced by Steve that the Apple PowerMac Cube was going to be a cool computer, but it turned out to be a flop. Also, I half-believed that the web-app solution for the iPhone/iPod Touch's third-party support would be viable. Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, one of Steve's favorite things to do during his presentations (or specifically, while demoing a product during his presentation) is to say "Boom" after showing something cool. It's so succinct, that it really does represent the simplicity and gee-whiz factor of Apple products. Here is a montage of a lot of the "booms" that Steve has let out (ok, that didn't sound right):

9/6/2007 - In Your Face, Microsoft! (2 videos)

I've made my points about Microsoft and Apple in the past, but what happened yesterday really has solidified my position. First came the announcement that the Microsoft Zune was discounted $50 to make it $199. Now, the only real reason to discount something is to sell more of them (as long as you have the supply and can still make a profit). Everybody knows that the Zune really hasn't done that well, especially when compared to its direct competitor, the Apple iPod. Well, wasn't it curious that Microsoft would make the price cut on the exact day that Apple was introducing its new line of iPods? Coincidence? I think not.

Boy, I tell ya... if I were Microsoft or any other media player manufacturer, I'd be sweating bullets at the prospect of competing with Apple this holiday season. With the new iPods Apple introduced yesterday, they have something for pretty much everybody...except me, but that's another story (or blog entry). Everybody pretty much knew that the iPod was going to go with touch controls like the iPhone, but seeing it in reality is a different story, especially with a price point affordable to most gadget fans. Now, I'm not one to rub in the failures and the faults of others, but with Microsoft, I'll make an exception:

This is what would happen if Microsoft designed the iPod package:

It's funny because it would be true.

And this is what Microsoft's smart phone would be like:

Yeah, I could see that.

6/29/2007 - My iPhone Diary

Today is iPhone day! I'm an Apple fanboy, so I wish I could have been part of those crowded lines (and being in Tucson, AZ with the 106-degree heat, that's saying a lot), but I don't have an extra $600 to burn. :( In all honesty, I don't use my cell phone too much, so as a phone, it wouldn't be worth much to me. So if they made a phone-less iPhone that didn't require a two-year plan, I'd love to replace my aging PDA even if it did cost $600.

To celebrate iPhone day, we have a video review of it by David Pogue of the New York Times. He's their technology writer and a Mac user himself. His reviews are always entertaining, combining just the right amount of humor with all those geeky details. For example, look at this video of him comparing the features of Windows Vista to those of Mac OS X. In a world of dry, boring technology reviewers, Pogue stands out with his more light-hearted take of Silicon Valley. If Justin Long didn't want to be the Mac guy in those Mac-PC commercials anymore, they should really hire David Pogue.

6/9/2007 - apple II videoclip the apple two

Back when I was in elementary school, the biggest thing in personal computing and in the schools was the Apple II. It was a multi-purpose computer that became a hit with schools and small businesses. The only thing I really remember about it was playing Oregon Trail on it and that it used floppies (when floppy disks were really floppy).

Computers back then were marvels at efficiency. Just think, the Apple II had 48 kilobytes of RAM maximum. Yes, that's kilobytes, not megabytes, and certainly not gigabytes. Compare that to today's computers where you pretty much need 1 gigabyte of memory to run Windows Vista. Of course, things were a lot simpler, not having any kind of graphical user interface at all.

That's where the programmers come in. This video shows how simple animated text can make for a good music video. This is not something you can lay out in a Macromedia Flash movie... this was written in pure BASIC, the first programming language I learned. You'll actually see the code typed out at the end of the video. As a former programmer, I know how difficult this was to pull off... especially getting the timing to work with the lyrics.