Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Friday, March 28, 2008
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The MacBook Air Has No Clothes
Designing a Better Laptop: Look to the Past
Safari reaches 100/100 Acid3 status, beaten by Opera
'Once you go Mac, you don't go back' - REM's Michael Stipe
Will Computers One Day Run on Single OS? - When will OS X Win Fight?
Turn Your Car Into A Traveling Wi-Fi Hotspot
PowerBook 150 Still a Winner
Is Apple Good Or Evil?
Modern Technology Killing Seaside Postcards
Analyst: Current students to drive Mac sales in future
Moving from Microsoft Office VBA to AppleScript: MacTech's Guide to Making the Transition
The Mac Night Owl: Is Mac OS Classic Nostalgia a Bad Thing?
The MacBook Air Has No Clothes
The Apple Core's Jason D. O'Grady says:
There. I said it.
After using the MacBook Air intensely since it arrived in February, I am beginning to feel the limitations of its pokey 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. I knew what I was getting into going in, but I was convinced that I could make it work. Initially the tradeoff of less CPU and RAM was worth shaving two pounds off my daily notebook heft but as I use the MBA more and more I'm increasingly frustrated by its molasses-like performance.....
... I can't help but think that I have a mild case of battered MBA-owner syndrome. "No officer, I don't want to press charges against the MacBook Air. I fell down the stairs. Honest."
For the full commentary visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=1467#more-1467
Designing a Better Laptop: Look to the Past
Low End Mac's John Hatchett says:
Once in a while everyone becomes so frustrated with something that they growl under their breath, "Even I could have designed a better ______" (fill in with the object of your wrath).
Not to defend the merchants of commerce, but the thought of someone as technofeeble as myself jumping ahead of engineers, designers, and marketing executives is bit silly. But there is no harm in visiting a fantasy world every once and a while....
There is no limit to my hubris, so let me go on to design a better laptop. In my (not so) humble opinion, there are some issues that would seem to make sense. Removable batteries are essential....
I really do prefer the removable module bay in a laptop. With this feature, you can add different drives or storage devices that allow you to increase the laptop's versatility to that of a desktop. If the MacBook Air had a removable bay, you could even add all the missing connectivity I complained about.....
I also believe that a PCMCIA/PC Card card slot is a real godsend. I know that the MacBook Pro models have ExpressCard/34 slots, but there are still a whole lot of PCMCIA cards out there.....
Laptops are either easy to service or have been designed by technical imps from heck who delight in increasingly Byzantine assemblies.....
.....another item on my wish list is upgradable RAM. I don't think you can provide too many RAM slots...
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/ed/hatchett/08jh/desiging-a-better-laptop.html
Safari reaches 100/100 Acid3 status, beaten by Opera
MacUser's Derik DeLong reports:
Acid3 is a series of tests for web browsers that I've mentioned several times before. The Safari team has been working relentlessly at achieving a perfect 100/100 score for the suite of tests. Last night, Safari reached it....
While Safari has reached that mystical ratio, Opera got there first....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macuser.com/internet/safari_reaches_100100_acid3_st.php
'Once you go Mac, you don't go back' - REM's Michael Stipe
Macworld UK's Jonny Evans reports:
REM played a storming set at Apple's Regent Street store last night, mixing new tracks taken from current album, Accelerate with a selection of classic songs.
Frontman Michael Stipe used the event - which marked the third year anniversary of Apple's 'Live From London' series - to reach out to his fans, talking to the 450 people gathered for the exclusive invite-only gig as if they were friends gathered in his front room....
Stipe also admitted to being excited to be playing at Apple's biggest retail outlet, saying, "I have a bit of an eye-boner on this, because I'm a bit of a Mac fan... once you go Mac, you don't go back," he told the crowd.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itunes/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=20819
Will Computers One Day Run on Single OS? - When will OS X Win Fight?
PBCentral's Joe Leo says:
A few weeks ago, a war was won by an electronics heavyweight, and the battle was deemed over for good. The high-definition DVD format wars were won by Sony with their Blu-Ray format the clear winner in the end, and Toshiba throwing in the towel, conceding defeat on their HD DVD. (War, conceding defeat? Sounds like a political debate!).
With the opinion piece yesterday on Leopard's seemingly clear victory over Windows Vista, it brings to mind an interesting thought... will we one day see a single computer OS format?
To read more, click here.
Turn Your Car Into A Traveling Wi-Fi Hotspot
InformationWeek's W. David Gardner says:
Internet addicts rejoice. You can now surf to your heart's content in your moving car, a veritable Wi-Fi hotspot, thanks to a partnership, announced Thursday between Novatel Wireless and AutoNet Mobile.
The two companies said they will use nationwide CDMA EV-DO Rev. A wireless infrastructure to connect autos, moving or stationary, to the Internet. The technology could even allow people near cars outfitted with the technology to surf the Web.
"It's a traveling Wi-Fi hotspot," said a spokeswoman for the firms. AutoNet, which pioneered the technology with its TRU mobile IP platform, developed an in-vehicle module for the service that is priced at $595. The monthly charge for the service begins at $39.
For the full report click here.
PowerBook 150 Still a Winner
Low End Mac's Carl Nygren says:
Old PowerBooks can be a lot more useful than you might expect. Sure, they may not run recent games and high-end video editing software like Final Cut Pro, but if you just do a little Googling, you'll find lots of nice apps to make your oldie just as useful as a new MacBook.
I am a big fan of classic Apple notebooks, because they have a nice, sturdy design and are also very good word processing machines. When I first got my 1994 PowerBook 150, I was just using it occasionally to do some word processing for school in ClarisWorks.
But all of a sudden, things changed. I read the 30 Days on Vintage Macs articles here on Low End Mac, and I was stunned at how the author could use his old Macs for so many of his normal tasks that were usually performed on a modern computer.
I decided to do the same thing....
You can check it out at:
http://lowendmac.com/myturn/0803my/nygren-powerbook-150.html
Is Apple Good Or Evil?
The Apple Core's Jason D. O'Grady s a
There has been a lot of talk lately about how is Apple becoming more like Microsoft and turning evil, but is it really the case? Personally I've known that Apple was evil since they tried to litigate me out of business and subpoena three years worth of my email, but I digress.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=1474
Modern Technology Killing Seaside Postcards
The Register's James Sherwood reports:
Video may have killed the radio star, but a new report has found that emails and picture messaging could be killing off the traditional holiday postcard....
Broadcaster ITV surveyed 2000 people recently about the ways they keep in touch with friends and family during a holiday. Some 67 per cent admitted to going online to, say, send an email or upload photos while sunning themselves....
The report claims such holiday connectivity has led to a 75 per cent decline in the number of postcards send from holiday destinations over the past ten years.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/27/itv_postcard_report/
Analyst: Current students to drive Mac sales in future
Ars Technica's Justin Berka r e
Anyone who has been on a college campus lately has probably noticed a proliferation of Macs, which have become increasingly popular with students over the past few years. Apple has even overtaken Dell as the top higher education notebook supplier, a feat that was almost unthinkable just a few years ago. Student demand for Macs may do quite a bit more for Apple in the long run, too. As reported by AppleInsider, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty believes that students will increase Apple's market share in the future.
The basic argument here is that students who are used to Apple products grow up, get jobs, and make money. They will then buy more Macs, and will also make Apple products more "mainstream" and become more common in the workforce.....
For the full report click here.
Moving from Microsoft Office VBA to AppleScript: MacTech's Guide to Making the Transition
[ Press Release ]
Welcome to MacTech's Guide to Making the Transition from VBA to AppleScript.
In this guide, we'll show you how to get started with your transition, help you through some of the challenges, and speak to you from a "VBA" point of view. In other words, we'll help you to understand AppleScript, and help you to start writing AppleScript as fast as possible. We'll do this, in part, by keeping your VBA background uppermost in mind.
While moving from VBA to AppleScript may be a necessity for some, the good news is that there are some advantages as well. The primary difference? AppleScript is the scripting language across the Mac whereas VBA is limited to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. With AppleScript, many other applications, and the Mac itself, will become available to you.
This gives you two benefits. First, once you learn the AppleScript language, that knowledge will apply to many applications. You do need to learn the dictionary for each new application you want to script, but the standard suite, the syntax and the basics are the same throughout. Second, since this is the scripting language across the Mac, you'll be able to script many things: Mac OS X, the Finder, Microsoft Office (including Entourage), and FileMaker to name a few. This means that one script can talk to all of these applications, and that the applications can interchange information.
You'll also be able to take advantage of any AppleScript development environment, including not only Apple's Automator, but also third party tools. The bottom line is that while making any transition is work, there's some "goodness" that moving to AppleScript will bring you.
This guide will not only show you the basics of AppleScript, and about scripting Microsoft Office, but we'll also introduce you to the world of AppleScript. We'll give you an overview of the AppleScript universe. And, the guide includes a special bonus chapter on using AppleScript in Entourage (which does not have VBA at all). Finally, we'll introduce you to a number of other resources that will help you to understand what's available in the AppleScript community.
While any technical publication is complex to assemble, and requires a dedicated team, this one stands out as a Herculean effort because it draws on so many different types of expertise. As our "tour guide," Paul Berkowitz has done an amazing job of bridging the gap here between VBA and AppleScript. And, our experts Jonathan West, John McGimpsey, and Steve Rindsberg have done a wonderful job with their deep VBA understanding and providing VBA examples to transition.
Also, I'd like to thank our many reviewers around the globe who helped create a high quality document — one that the community can use to make this transition more smoothly and easily. Of course, thank you to Microsoft for their support during this project. Lastly, a big thank you to the MacTech team for all the editing, and production efforts to make this all happen.
Enjoy the guide, and let us know what you think!
Neil Ticktin
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
MacTech Magazine
You can get a hard copy sent to you AND download a PDF ($19.95), or... just download a PDF ($9.95).
Either way, you get a complimentary MacTech Magazine Subscription courtesy of the Microsoft Mac Business Unit
Magazine Reg. Price: $50.00 value
Guide Reg. Price: $40.00 value
You Save: over $80.00!
For more information, visit:
http://www.mactech.com/vba-transition-guide/
The Mac Night Owl: Is Mac OS Classic Nostalgia a Bad Thing?
I suppose we ought to pity those who have been around the tech universe for a long, long time, such as yours truly. I mean, some of the things we accepted as state-of-the-art in those days, such as 800K floppy disks and 100MB hard drives, seem downright primitive today. Please don't get me started about using tape drive for basic data storage, as opposed to backups.
Here's the link to the story:
http://macnightowl.com/2008/03/27/is-mac-os-classic-nostalgia-a-bad-thing/
Notes: You can also access our RSS feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/rss
Or our Atom feed at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/atom
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