Applelinks.com Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Friday, February 15, 2008

Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Friday, February 15, 2008

By Staff Friday, February 15, 2008.
Filed under: News � Tech-Industry �

1842

MacBook Air Not Selling All That Well
Falling in Love with Mac OS X
Unexpected MacBook Air Benefit - Reduced Carpal Tunnel Pain
Apple Macbook Air - All Hail The Kate Moss Of The Computing World
Breath Of Fresh Air
MacBook Air Diary-Day 15: Temperature benchmarks
MacBook Air's Superdrive is Restricted?
Lovin' the MacBook Air
Play.com Seeks To Challenge Apple With DRM-Free Music
Do I Need to Buy an AirPort for My Wi-Fi Network?
PC Mag: Apple Aperture 2 Preview
eWEEK: Intel Leads Stocks Decline
Desktop Linux: XP for OLPC is Almost Here
Desktop Linux: A Marriage of Convenience Broken: OLPC and Intel
Linux-Watch: 10 Years of Open Source and Counting
eWEEK: Google to Enter China`s Online Music Sector
The Mac Night Owl: The Great Time Machine Conspiracy

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MacBook Air Not Selling All That Well

WebPro News'a Doug Caverly reports:

Only Apple knows exactly how many MacBook Airs it expected to sell, and thus, only Apple knows whether current figures are disappointing. Still, new findings suggest that people are doing more looking than buying, and that by year's end, transactions involving the Air will account for only 16 percent of Mac sales.

So place your bets, people - will Apple and its investors find this acceptable? The 16 percent stat comes from Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, so although he talked to just 20 resellers, it'll be somewhat hard to refute. Also, Munster added that about 60 percent of those resellers are seeing less initial demand for the Air than they did forthe 13-inch MacBooks two years ago.

For the full report visit here:
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/02/14/macbook-air-not-selling-all-that-well

Falling in Love with Mac OS X

Low End Mac's German Rotondo says:

My name is German, and I live in Argentina, South America. I'm a Senior IT at a company and a certified Microsoft Professional. I'm 34 years old, and I've been using and living from PCs for about 20 years now. I also have plenty of experience with Unix and Linux.

Last October a friend of mine called me asking me if I could repair his old iMac...... I found that the down converter was faulty and repaired it. I powered it up.

It had Mac OS X Panther and Classic installed. I can't explain how surprised I was after 30 minutes using Mac OS X (I had never used a Mac before). So surprising to find that with a 7-year-old Mac you could do pretty much everything, like browsing the Web, email, and such with a very acceptable speed.

I fell in love with Mac OS X. I bought a secondhand Core Duo Mac mini. I sold my main PC. And for my personal use I'll never go back.

For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/myturn/0801my/falling-for-mac-os-x.html

Unexpected MacBook Air Benefit - Reduced Carpal Tunnel Pain

Product Review's Dave Rosenberg reports:

For those of you who are MacBook Pro users, you too may have felt the pain from the somewhat oddly placed keyboard....

A week into the MB Air and I can honestly say that I have almost no pain or fatigue in my wrists when I use the machine standalone.....

For the full report click here.

Apple Macbook Air - All Hail The Kate Moss Of The Computing World

Personal Computer World's Cliff Joseph reports:

Apple says that the Macbook Air is a ‘no compromise ultra-portable laptop’.......

Ultimately, though, Apple’s engineers know that there’s more to good design than just a spec-sheet full of numbers. It’s the sheer elegance of the Macbook Air’s slimline design that catches the eye, and when you feel how comfortably the machine balances in the palm of one hand you can’t help but wonder if your credit card will stretch to buying one.

There’s no doubt that Apple has hit the ultra-portable nail right on the head. But shrinking the unit down to this size has inevitably involved compromises in other areas, no matter what Apple says.

For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/hardware/2209688/apple-macbook-air

Breath Of Fresh Air

smh.com.au's Simon Tsang

I'm deeply torn. When Steve Jobs first slid the supermodel-thin MacBook Air out of a manila envelope during his MacWorld keynote unveiling, I wanted to buy it. It was exactly what I was looking for - an ultra-light portable with a decent-sized screen and full-sized keyboard. However, after 24 hours away from the effects of Steve's reality distortion field (a well-documented phenomenon), I had time to ponder its shortcomings and desire quickly gave way to doubt....

Could I really be happy with a notebook that had so many compromises or would I carry it in frustration wishing the left-brain had been more assertive during the purchasing?

I decided practicality had to win out and the regular MacBook would be my next computing mule ... until I held the Air in my hands. The dilemma was back and this time emotion was involved.....

To read more, click here.

MacBook Air Diary-Day 15: Temperature benchmarks

The Apple Core's Jason D. O'Grady says:

A big concern for anyone using a notebook computer for any length of time is the heat it generates. It actually came to a head a few years ago when the lawyers at most notebook computer manufacturers replaced the term "laptop" with "notebook" for fear of litigation.

Apple recommends that their notebook computers only be used on a flat, stable surface � not on your lap.....

To measure the heat generated by the MacBook Air I created 12 temperature zones on the bottom plate. I flipped over the MBA and mapped locations in three rows and four columns. Zones 1 to 4 are across the top from left to right. Zones 5 to 8 are in the middle row and 9 to 12 are the bottom row.

I measured the temperatures (in degree Fahrenheit) on the bottom of an MBA (1.6GHz HDD) and MBP (2.4GHz Santa Rosa) after approximately three and five hours of use using a Mastercool 52224 infrared thermometer. Both machines were attached to AC power and sitting on a cloth upholstered automan........

For the full report click here.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=1312

MacBook Air's Superdrive is Restricted?

HardMac's Lionel says:

Apple is very clear on this subject. The Superdrive MacBook Air is not compatible with any other machine. We thought that this was related to a lack of power drawn from the USB ports of other Macs, and have decided to make some tests to be absolutely certain.

For the full report visit here:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2008-02-14/#7781

Lovin' the MacBook Air

ernietheattorney.net says:

Okay, this shouldn't surprise many people: I ordered a MacBook Air (a/k/a "the world's thinnest notebook computer"). I had been planning on upgrading my notebook computer for a few months before Steve Jobs announced the new computer at Macworld 2008. Up til then, I hadn't thought about what my 'dream features' would be. The MacBook Air was interesting, but at the same time a bit skeptical. Or maybe I became skeptical reading reviews that complained about the lack of removable battery and lack of built-in DVD player. I didn't care about those issues but, still, I was afraid I'd be disappointed.

Well, it arrived last Thursday and so far I'm thrilled....

For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.ernietheattorney.net/ernie_the_attorney/2008/02/lovin-the-macbo.html

Play.com Seeks To Challenge Apple With DRM-Free Music

cbronline.com's Sheetal Vyas reports:

Play.com, the Jersey-based online retailer, has challenged Apple's iTunes dominance in the UK with the launch of an online digital music store, which offers music tracks minus the digital rights management (DRM) copy protection.

The website, which sells DVDs, toys, gifts and music, claims that the music tracks on offer at online music store PlayDigital will not only be cheaper but can also be played on various digital music devices such as MP3 players and PCs as well as Apple's iPod.

For the full report click here.

Do I Need to Buy an AirPort for My Wi-Fi Network?

MyFirstMac's Chris Kerins says:

A lot of people wonder if they have to get an Apple branded base station to set up a wireless network at their home or office. The answer, fortunately, is no, you don't have to because Apple has been supporting common wi-fi standards for years now.

In fact, Apple has learned their lessons and has been at the forefront of I/O (input/output) and networks standards for a while now. And they often lead with letting go of old standards for new ones, most notably the 3.5 inch diskette and now the optical drive on the Macbook Air.

The result is you can take your new Mac to most any wi-fi network that isn't password protected and join it effortlessly. Which is a nice change of pace for a long time Mac user such as myself.

For the full report click here.

PC Mag: Apple Aperture 2 Preview

"If you're passionate about photography, Aperture 2 offers all you need to get the very best from your photos. Discover a streamlined way to speed through photo edits, enhance your images with powerful adjustment tools, and showcase your portfolio online or in print-using one simplified, integrated workflow. Whether you shoot RAW or JPEG, Aperture lets you get the most out of your photography."

To read more, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2260059,00.asp

eWEEK: Intel Leads Stocks Decline

Semiconductors led technology companies lower and Goldman Sachs removed Intel, a Dow component, from its "conviction buy" list

"It's not like anyone has asked for Windows XP to run on the Linux-powered One Laptop Per Child XO laptop, but Microsoft is getting ready to deliver it to us anyway.

In an eWEEK news story by Peter Galli, Orlando Ayala, senior vice president of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group, said Microsoft is conducting field trials to make sure that a modified XP Service Pack 2 will run well on the XO. According to Ayala, "We are encouraged by what we have seen of Windows on the XO machine so far, and field trials started at the end of January involving about 200 XO machines running a customized version of Windows XP SP2 with a reduced footprint image.""

"Get over it. We're never going to see OS/2 open-sourced. If you want to run OS/2 today, the closest you're going to get is Serenity System's eComStation 2.0 RC4. But, it just might be possible for Linux desktop users to get one of OS/2's best features: SOM (System Object Model)."

"I find it hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens deliberately coined the phrase "open source." To me, it seemed like only yesterday that Eric and I, who've known each other for-cough-30 years-cough-had talked about the need for a term for "free software" that didn't carry all its baggage."

To read more, go to: http://linux-watch.com/news/NS6278881818.html?sp=0&kc=DTLXW021408LINX

eWEEK: Google to Enter China`s Online Music Sector

A joint venture with Top100.cn allows users to download licensed music files for free.

To read more, click here.

The Mac Night Owl: The Great Time Machine Conspiracy

Apple has always had a love and hate relationship with its customers. In the old days, when you called support, you sometimes got a downright hostile attitude, and getting a solution to your problem wasn't very easy, and sometimes doomed to failure.

Here's the link to the story:
http://macnightowl.com/2008/02/14/the-great-time-machine-conspiracy/

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