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MacWorld Expo Brought some new and interesting things into our world, like Mac OS X 10.1 which I can't wait for, but sadly marks the end of one of my favorite machines Apple has ever made, the G4 Cube. I had hoped that Apple might bring out a new and improved version, possibly with dual processors, but sadly that was not to be. I have recently had access to a G4 cube to work with and I love it. The concept is nearly perfect. I say nearly perfect, because the Cube's Polycarbonate case cracked, but the concept was great. Even the Apple pro speakers that came with it blew me away which is a first for any audio equipment from Apple. I am a devoted vacuum tube amplifier fan, and for some reason the cube speakers/amp sounded a lot like one of my valve systems. They didn't have the punch or the range, but they somehow made up for it. I never liked the Apple iSub, or the Harmon Kardon speakers Apple puts in the iMacs, but for once it seems they did it right. The 450 MHZ cube makes makes OS X feel great, unlike my 333 MHZ G3 PowerBook which runs OS X acceptably, but is somewhat sluggish at times. Still the cube can just barely play MPEG movies at an acceptable frame rate. The PowerBook can't do it at all in OS X. I have heard from several sources that this is just a video driver issue, and I hope they are right. Until then, I wait, and my collection of CDRs with rock videos on them collects dust in the closet. I am always looking for the absolute best examples of technology in the world, even if they are expensive and inconvenient. I'm sitting next to a set of Vacuum tube Mono Block amps with about 1300 volts running across bare terminals on top of them. They are dangerous, hard to maintain, and expensive, but they sound better than anything else I have ever heard. I'm listening to The Offspring's latest album on vinyl. Yes I still use a turntable, and buy anything I can on an LP. I drive a 1967 Chrysler Imperial, because it's one of the best cars ever made. It's powerful comfortable, and great looking. The cube fits right in here with these other examples of technology which appeal to elitists. Unfortunately a lot of people are happy with whatever middle of the road equipment everyone else has. They drive brand X cars because everyone else does. They have a brand X PC running Microsoft Windows because everyone else does, they use hotmail.com for their email because everyone else does, They have a transistor powered Dolby surround sound 5 channel stereo system, because it's what everyone else buys. I have a love hate relationship with our culture here in North America, because everything is derivative, everyone copies everyone else, because they can't think for themselves. This is why every song on the radio sounds pretty much the same, It's either some sickly sweet sounding synth pop Brittany Spears, or Backstreet Boys rip of, or some screaming guitar smashing Limp Bizkit or KoRn imitator with their own variation on how much they hate the world. It's not that I don't like some of this music, it's just that I don't understand why no one can come up with something original. Brittany Spears' CDs sit on my CD rack next to my other albums by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Beethoven, The Bee Gees, The Beach Boys, and many others. They are all good in their own way, but some of them stand out with an original sound which in the case of the Beatles, and the Beach Boys changed pop music for years to come, and is STILL being copied by artists today. Brittany Spears is great when I'm in mood, but she will barely be remembered in 40 years, let alone played. Apple Computer Inc. has a reputation for setting trends in the computer industry, they come up with a good idea, and then other companies copy. Take the iMac for example, for years almost all computers were gray boxes, and then Apple decides to make colored computers, and BANG all of a sudden Wintel rip offs of it start to appear. I have never been able to figure out weather other companies just don't think of innovative products, or maybe they do, and are smacked down by the and conformity police who decide what products go into production, and what products get scrapped before they get out of R&D. The rigidness of the corporate world in America is disgusting, it is governed by a bunch of narrow-minded people who couldn't come up with an original idea to save their lives. They are almost mechanical and fit a generic profile so well that you can easily guess what they are going to do or how they will react long before they actually do something. They hold the purse strings for most of america's companies, and their rigidity goes far beyond they outer reaches of reality to the point that at one point during the 1970's a new employee of IBM was informed that he did not wear his socks correctly, and asked to correct the problem. This is an extreme example, but this type of attitude is so ingrained into most corporations that it's very hard for anything to change. People like this wouldn't be caught dead with a Mac on their desk, let alone a G4 Cube because it just wouldn't do to break the cycle of conformity. Stephen Jobs comes to work in jeans and a T-shirt, and he has the right idea, it's too bad no one follows his example. Perhaps there is hope for the G4 Cube to survive though there are rumors now of a more powerful version in the future if apple can figure out a way to make it cool properly with a faster chip inside. After my experiences with the Cube, I want one so badly I'm going to break my long standing tradition of buying PowerBooks. I have never bought a desktop Mac before. I just hope there are still some Cubes left by the time I get my PowerBook sold, they are getting thin on the ground lately as everyone who wanted one, but didn't buy it while they were in production is buying them up fast. I may have to wait for the next generation Cube if it ever makes it out of Apple R&D. Steve: don't give into the conformists just hold out for a while until DELL comes out with the PENTIUM 4 Circle in a clear round lexan case, and then everyone will know that it's OK for them to buy the Cube.
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