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Apple's iPad Could Kill The Mac
Why Apple Will (Eventually) Dump the Mac
How To Survive Mobile Systems Stampede
4 Reasons Why Your Next Mac Could Be An iPad
The Ultra-light Laptop Conundrum: Weak Processors
OS X 10.4 Tiger Still Very Usable On 500 MHz G3 iBook
OCZ Launches "Ultra-affordable" Solid State Drives
Freescale Demos Prototype $200 Tablet That Runs Android, Chromium OS, Linux
ClubMac Merging With MacMall
Hard Drive Evolution Likely To Slow Windows XP Performance
'Law & Order's' Belzer: Choking Claim By Apple Employee Is Pure Fiction
MacBook Pro: Display Issue Related To "Hot-plugging"
Try Using Time Machine In Supported Programs
iPad Gaming Potential
Adobe Responds To Apple's Issues Regarding Flash On The iPhone and the iPad
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor Review
Banish Seven Bad Computer Housekeeping Habits
Doritos iPad Ad Parody
PC Mag's Sascha Segan says that the rise of the iPhone OS-based iPad could be the beginning of the end for Apple's 26-year-old personal computer platform - that the Mac's greatest enemy may not be archrival Microsoft Windows but Apple itself, noting that at a Goldman Sachs technology conference Apple COO Tim Cook himself defined Apple as a "mobile devices company."
Sagan theorizes that if Apple could do the Mac all over again, it would use the iPhone OS, and counsels us not to think of the iPad as a big iPod touch but rather as the new Mac - a home-based computing model that Apple hopes can bubble up through its entire product line.
To read more, click here.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361204,00.asp
Why Apple Will (Eventually) Dump the Mac
industry.bnet.com's Erik Sherman says nothing lasts forever, and predicts that Apple will eventually dump the Macintosh product line - not tomorrow, and not next year, but in the relatively near future - for a number of reasons
Sherman asserts that Apple's future is in products that consumers can drop into a pocket, with not only mobile ascendant at Apple, but also the iPhone OS, which the iPad will run on and evidence suggests that Apple plans other hardware that will use it.
"Why support two operating systems when you could move iPhone OS onto laptops and desktops as well as onto Apple TV and have only one?" asks Sherman. "The move saves money, increases efficiency, and frees resources to develop new products and features," also noting that Apple likes to control markets and has shown willingness to bully competitors, the Mac turns 26 this year, original patents are now out of date and many more are nearing their end of life, suggesting that best strategy from the company's perspective is to shift from the existing Mac line to something powered by the iPhone OS, adding a potential 20 plus years of intimidation.
Sherman adds that Apple won't dump the Mac immediately, being as it represents 28.4 percent of their total net sales and many fans would likely feel aggrieved if deprived of the Mac (hey, d'ya think?), but that the balance is shifting and Apple will be looking for ways to transition Mac users to iPhone-based machines for more revenue, lower costs, higher profits, and increased control.
For the full report visit here:
http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10006035/why-apple-will-eventually-dump-the-mac/
How To Survive Mobile Systems Stampede
EE Times' Rick Merritt says:
A flux of new mobile systems is thundering on the horizon. Two words of advice for system makers who want to survive it - think different.
Apple Inc.'s old motto may be grammatically incorrect but it is strategically right on target for this era of innovation by imitation......
An ARM executive warned about the coming stampede in a press event in Taipei, saying as many as 50 media tablet designs will hit the market this year, including ones from each of the top 10 telecom service providers....
Meanwhile, netbooks have hit the mainstream.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800600513_499488_NT_06caa48a.HTM
4 Reasons Why Your Next Mac Could Be An iPad
Mac 360's Ron McElfresh says:
How many ways do you use your Mac? If you're like me or like many Mac users, there are dozens of practical ways we use our Macs. Do a quick and mental inventory of your Mac's apps.
Could many or most of those uses we take for granted be supplanted by apps on an iPad? It's already that way with my iPhone. My MacBook gathers dust. Are there legitimate reasons why your next Mac (or, the one after that) could be an iPad instead?
Ron's four reasons:
Convenience
Price
Apps
Usage
For the full commentary visit here:
http://bit.ly/ctrvau
The Ultra-light Laptop Conundrum: Weak Processors
ZNet's Larry Dignan says that after a few weeks of laptop window shopping he's discovering a major hang-up - the Intel ultra-low voltage chips that scrimp on horsepower, and that simply put, 1.3 GHz feels too much like a four-cylinder engine to him, and even a Dell Latitude Z he tried had an Intel Core 2 Duo chip running at 1.4 Ghz. "The casing said Ferrari," Dignan critiques, but the chip said Ford Fiesta.
Larry concedes that all he wants is everything, with his laundry list including:
• Something around 3 pounds.
• An i3, i5, i7 Intel processor.
• Lots of battery life.
• A neat color or aluminum casing.
• 4GB to 6GB of memory.
• A price of $1,000 or so.
• As far as the drive goes, solid state is nice but he can go traditional to save money, with drive size mattering more than type.
Thus far, compromise is the word of the day. The big question I'm struggling with: Should I compromise on the processor?
For the full commentary visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31788&tag=content;col1
OS X 10.4 Tiger Still Very Usable On 500 MHz G3 iBook
Low End Mac's Simon Royal, who recently returned to the Mac after a brief sojourn on the Windows/Linux side notes that at Low End Mac, they don't scoff if you are still using a G3 or laugh if you're still running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, on the contrary embracing older Mac technologies and asking you to share your experiences.
In particular, Simon addresses how Tiger handles on his new-to-him 500 MHz G3 iBook, which he says is far from being dead in the water yet, maxed out with a whopping 640 MB of RAM, observing that boot time is under a minute - amazing for a 9-year-old machine....
The old iBook also handles Bean a, lightweight word processor, Skype, Spotify, SeaShore, and MacTracker well and even Photoshop CS surprisingly well.
Simon also notes that his erstwhile 400 MHz PowerBook G3 "Pismo" running Tiger would blow his iBook out of the water, but if you want a simple portable machine for writing and browsing the Web, the iBook G3 is still a great little machine and an attractive alternative to a Hackintosh netbook.
To read more, click here.
http://lowendmac.com/ed/royal/10sr/500-mhz-ibook.html
OCZ Launches "Ultra-affordable" Solid State Drives
TG Daily's Aharon Etengoff says:
Interested in purchasing a Solid State Drive (SSD) but don't want to spend wads of cash? Well, the sub-100 dollar 32GB Onyx SATA II SSD may just be the drive for you.
Or not.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://bit.ly/drF4Ao
Freescale Demos Prototype $200 Tablet That Runs Android, Chromium OS, Linux
PC World's David Pierce says that many have tried to build and sell a $200 tablet; none have succeeded, but if the tablet prototype Freescale showed off at Mobile World Congress becomes reality, the dream may finally come true.
Freescale's i.MX5 is a 7-inch tablet that comes in multiple colors, and can run three different operating systems: Android, Chromium OS, or Linux. The demo tablet is used with a keyboard and mouse, but touch features exists as well - The Chrome Source reports that there was another demo tablet running a capacitive touch version of Linux.
Pierce observes, and your editor enthusiastically agrees that the choice between keyboard and mouse input and touch input gives potential i.MX5 (memo to Freescale: please come up with a more euphonious and memorable name) user a major benefit missing on the more than twice as expensive iPad, not to mention all the ports, inputs and connectors missng as well on the the iPad.
Sounds pretty sweet to me, and I hope it does get marketed
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/aM1zr8
ClubMac Merging With MacMall
fairerplatform.com reports:
The long-time Mac catalog reseller has been fading for some time and will formally go the way of the dodo on Thursday, March 18. In a note to affiliates, MacMall has announced the move.
"On March 18,2010, ClubMac officially merges with MacMall.com. In this light, we wish to thank our … affiliates who have helped us become a big name in providing great deals in the Apple space. With this merger, MacMall.com will definitely be the powerhouse in providing the best deals and specials for all things Apple…"
For the full report visit here:
http://fairerplatform.com/2010/03/clubmac-merging-with-macmall/
Hard Drive Evolution Likely To Slow Windows XP Performance
The BBC's Mark Ward reports that computer hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest format shifts in 30 years, and that by early 2011 all hard drives will use an "advanced format" that changes how they save data, making it easier for hard drive makers to produce bigger drives that use less power and are more reliable, but potentially spelling trouble for Windows XP users who want to swap an old drive for one using the changed format.
Heretofore, hard drives have been formatted into 512 byte blocks of data - the standard since the days of floppy disks, but which makes a lot less sense now that drives can hold a terabyte or more of data because of the wasted space associated with each tiny block.
Moving to an advanced format of 4K sectors will result in about eight times less wasted space but allow drives to devote twice as much space per block to error correction, says Ward, but could cause problems for users of older operating systems such as Windows XP, which was released before the 4K format was decided upon.
By contrast, Windows 7, Vista,OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and versions of the Linux kernel released after September 2009 are all 4K aware.
While advanced format drives will be able to emulate 512 byte data sectors in order to acommodate Windows XP in some situations this could slow performance since the drive will take two steps to write data rather than one inducing a delay of about 5 milliseconds resulting in performance generally about 10% slower.
For the full report visit here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8557144.stm
'Law & Order's' Belzer: Choking Claim By Apple Employee Is Pure Fiction
Thw New York Post's Amber Sutherland and Lorena Mongelli report that "Law & Order" TV cop Richard Belzer said an employee of the Upper West Side Apple store on W. 67th Street's claim that he choked her in an computer store was like a story line from his show -- pure fiction.
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/9Rv6Ox
MacBook Pro: Display Issue Related To "Hot-plugging"
A new Apple Knowledge Base article says:
When hot-plugging an external display into your MacBook Pro, you may notice the external display occasionally stays dark, or the internal display of the MacBook Pro appears to flash or turn black.
Sometimes, when switching from an S-Video to a DVI connection, the internal display may appear black or display only the mouse cursor.
Products Affected
MacBook Pro (17-inch 2.4GHZ), MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.4/2.2GHz)
Resolution
• Wait 5 seconds for the screen to automatically re-size or activate.
• If this doesn't occur after 5 seconds, click Detect Displays in the Displays pane of System Preferences.
If the internal (or external) display still doesn't re-size or activate, press the F7 key to turn on mirroring mode, or restart the computer.
Note: This issue does not occur in Mac OS X 10.5.
You can check it out at:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1267
Try Using Time Machine In Supported Programs
MacFixIt's Topher Kessler points out that Apple's Time Machine backup system can be used in a variety of ways, although most users seem to stick to only one method of employing the feature, and observing that in addition to Time Machine's use in restoring the system to a previous state either to revert back to a prior version of OS X, or to undo an application installation, you can also use it from within programs that support it, including the Finder, Mail, the Address Book, iPhoto, and GarageBand.
To read more, click here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10467849-263.html?tag=mncol;title
iPad Gaming Potential
Low End Mac's Dan Bashur says:
As an avid gamer, I must ponder whether the iPad will be up to snuff for more intense gaming experiences. The answer to that question depends on how developers react and continue to perfect those same experiences on the iPhone and iPod touch.
Consider the fact that the iPad uses the same graphics chip as the iPod touch and iPhone.....
To a gamer who has been around the block a few times (let's just say that I started out on an Atari 2600 in the early 80s), I can tell you with great confidence that when the hardware schematics stay relatively similar from one software generation to the next, the developers have more time to optimize and perfect the code for that particular hardware.
To read more, click here.
http://lowendmac.com/ed/bashur/10db/ipad-gaming.html
Adobe Responds To Apple's Issues Regarding Flash On The iPhone and the iPad
Edible Apple reports:
It's no secret that Steve Jobs and Apple don't think too highly of Flash, with Jobs reportedly noting during an internal Apple meeting that the majority of crashes on Safari are due to Flash related bugs.
Apple has refused to budge from its position of not supporting Flash on the iPhone, and with the Flash-less iPad set to hit the streets in just a few weeks, we'll soon find out if user demand for Apple's latest and greatest product outweighs user demand for a complete web browsing experience.
....Anup Mura, Adobe's director of technology strategy and development for the Flash platform, address's some of the more common complaints levied against Flash.
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/aQEjGx
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor Review
Hot Hardware's Marco Chiappetta says:
Although they are not due to hit store shelves for a few more weeks, Intel is using the always exciting Game Developers Conference currently being held in San Francisco to officially unveil the new Core i7-980X Extreme processor. Intel's Extreme Edition processors have always been targeted at enthusiasts and hardcore-gamers, so what better place to show off the fastest desktop processor for the PC to date? Unless of course you're catching it here on the pages of HotHardware, that is.
For the full review visit here:
http://hothardware.com/articles/Intel-Core-i7980X-Extreme-6Core-Processor/
Banish Seven Bad Computer Housekeeping Habits
PC World's Rick Broida proposes seven ways to improve your computing life by changing the way you use your computer, listing seven common bad habits:
Bad Habit #1: Creating Too Much Desktop Clutter
Bad Habit #2: Using the Power Button to Shut Down
Bad Habit #3: Storing Passwords in a Text File
Bad Habit #4: Using the Mouse to Launch Programs
Bad Habit #5: Carrying an Unencrypted Flash Drive
Bad Habit #6: Blindly Clicking 'Next' When Installing Software
Bad Habit #7: Relying on a Single Backup Method
Er.... Hrrrrm.... guilty on several counts, although this article is strongly Windows focused. Ed.
You can check it out at:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/031110-banish-seven-bad-tech.html
Doritos iPad Ad Parody
Doritoscanada has posted an iPad introduction parody using, of course, Doritos. It's only a minute long and should be worth a chuckle:
You can check it out at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqnOqfehJE&feature=player_embedded
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