Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Tuesday, September 2, 2008
US Consumers Are Most Likely To Choose Mac
How-To: Migrate Time Machine To A New Drive
Apple: Forget iCards, try Mail
Google Extends Apps Premier Credit For Gmail Outages
Working with Windows and Linux, playing with the Mac
MacBook touch - Here's Hoping It's Not A Pipe Dream
Samsung Unwraps MacBook Air Beater
Psystar: Apple Illegally 'Destroys' Competition, Bricks Mac Clones
General Motors to offer radios in 2009 models with USB ports for iPods, MP3 players
Two Decades of Portable Macs: 1989 - 2009
U.S. Army Increasingly Using Custom iPods As Field Translators
Few Tech Tracks For McCain's VP Pick
Sarah Palin and Technology
Thoughts On The Steve Jobs Legacy
Microsoft breaks IE8 interoperability promise
Dell Quarterly Profit Drops And Stock Plunges
The Mac Night Owl: Microsoft Apps and the Mac
The Mac Night Owl: No, Apple Isn’t Going Downhill
US Consumers Are Most Likely To Choose Mac
Computerworld's Gregg Keizer reports:
More US consumers plan to buy a Mac in the next 90 days than any other brand, according to a ChangeWave Research survey of over 4,000 US Americans conducted earlier this month.
Of the consumers polled by ChangeWave Research who said they expect to buy a personal computer in the next three months, 32 per cent plan to purchase a Mac. The closest rival was Dell, which accounted for 28 per cent of planned purchases.
Apple was also the only vendor whose plan-to-buy share increased from July in both desktops and laptops.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=22588
How-To: Migrate Time Machine To A New Drive
MacFixIt says:
Users may wish to change their hard drive configurations for convenience in workflow, adding a new drive, or just for the sake of changing things up. In many cases, users may wish to migrate their Time Machine backups to a new, larger drive, but Apple does not provide a good way to do this.
In order to change the Time Machine database over to a new drive, users cannot just copy the files manually, but instead must use a cloning software package to mirror the current TM drive over to the new one. The procedure is very straightforward.....
You can check it out at:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080829123830927
Apple: Forget iCards, try Mail
Macworld's Philip Michaels reports:
This June's Worldwide Developers Conference saw Apple unveil the iPhone 3G, firm up its iPhone 2.0 plans, offer a brief peek at Snow Leopard, and profile MobileMe. And as a highly-trained news professional, I used my keen journalistic judgment, honed by years of experience, to ferret out the biggest story to come out of Apple's week-long developer confab. And I found that story to be None of the Above. Rather, the real news to come out of WWDC was Apple's decision to unceremoniously whack iCards, its 8-year-old free online greeting cards service.
So moved was I by the unceremonious demise of iCards that I dragooned associate editor Brian Chen into helping me create a fitting video tribute to iCards.
Shortly after making the video, incidentally, Brian moved on from Macworld. I've convinced myself that the two things are entirely unrelated.....
I bring this up, because Apple has apparently heard the cries of displaced iCard users. Or, at the very least, the company got tired of my daily, increasingly hostile voicemails on the subject. And it's decided to do something about the void left in our lives by iCards' absence.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/135281/2008/08/icardsreturns_sortof.html
Google Extends Apps Premier Credit For Gmail Outages
IDG News Service's Juan Carlos Perez says:
Due to the three outages that Gmail suffered earlier this month, Google will extend a credit to all paying customers of its hosted Apps suite and has vowed to improve its problem-notification methods.
In an apologetic e-mail sent Wednesday to Apps Premier administrators, Google said it will automatically extend annual subscriptions by 15 days at no extra charge. Apps Premier subscriptions cost $50 per user per year. This 15-day extension is the maximum credit of the 99.9 percent uptime service level agreement Google offers Premier customers for Gmail.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/135277/2008/08/gmail.html
Working with Windows and Linux, playing with the Mac
CNet's Matt Asay says:
I've noted before that we use the Mac because we want to, but are resigned to using Windows because we have to. Well, now there's some data to back up that assertion.
The Facesrch blog did a quick review of when people search for the terms "Microsoft" (Blue), "Linux" (Red), and "Apple" (Orange), and found two interesting trends in the data, more easily viewed over the last 90 days:
First, Linux and Windows have declined as a trend since 2004, while Apple has boomed. Second, and more interestingly, Windows and Linux see greater search traffic during the workweek, while Apple's search traffic goes up on the weekends.....
For the full report visit here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10028820-16.html
MacBook touch - Here's Hoping It's Not A Pipe Dream
ITWire's Stephen Withers says:
The idea of a tablet-style Mac has been bubbling along for some time, but new information from a supposedly reliable source has thrown fresh fuel on the flames. If this is really what's coming from Apple in the next month or two, I'll have one for Christmas, please!
Earlier this week MacDailyNews published a tip that we're about to see a new Mac with a multi-touch screen. Unlike suggestions of a touchscreen device along the lines of an oversized iPod touch, this one is said to run full Mac OS X, not the somewhat reduced OS X used on the current handhelds, including the iPhone....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20324/1151/
Samsung Unwraps MacBook Air Beater
The Register's Tony Smith says:
IFA Samsung promised its X360 "premium" laptop would be "lighter than Air" - it isn't, but it's a smartly spec'd thin'n'light notebook nonetheless.
Based on Intel's Centrino 2 technology, the 16.7-30.9mm-thick X360 will come with a range of Core 2 Duo ultra-low voltage processors, one to four gigs of Ram and integrated graphics.
The Air/Sony-esque lozenge-style keyboard's coated with an anti-bacterial coating in case you lend it to someone with personal hygeine issues. It's not backlit, though.
The X360 sports a 13.3in, 1280 x 800 LED-backlit glossy wide display and ports a-plenty: ExpressCard 34, seven-in-one card reader, three USB, VGA, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet and analogue audio. But it's also dockable for extra portage. Handy, that, because there's no built-in optical drive....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/28/ifa_samsung_launches_x360/
Samsung X360 Photo Gallery here
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/28/ifa_samsung_launches_x360/page2.html
Psystar: Apple Illegally 'Destroys' Competition, Bricks Mac Clones
InformationWeek's Paul McDougall reports:
In a move that could profoundly alter the face of the personal computer market, upstart Mac cloner Psystar on Thursday filed a countersuit against Silicon Valley heavyweight Apple, claiming that Steve Jobs' company employs technology, dubious licensing schemes and high-pitched marketing campaigns to illegally destroy competition in the Mac market..
In doing so, Psystar claims, Apple has violated Sherman antitrust rules and other U.S. laws. A Psystar victory in court could pave the way for other PC makers, including big vendors like Dell, HP and Lenovo, to enter the Mac market and offer alternatives to Microsoft Windows PCs
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/5hrual
General Motors to offer radios in 2009 models with USB ports for iPods, MP3 players
The Associated Press reports:
General Motors Corp. says it will offer optional radios with USB ports for personal music players on some of its 2009 models.
The new radios will allow customers to play music from iPods or MP3 players while charging many of the devices through a USB port like the ones found on most computers.
The new radios are available now on the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR and the Pontiac G5. By the middle of the model year, they will extend to the Pontiac G6 and Solstice, the Saturn Sky and Aura, and the Chevrolet Malibu.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/technology/sns-ap-gm-music-players,0,2394141.story
Two Decades of Portable Macs: 1989 - 2009
Roughly Drafted Magazine's Daniel Eran Dilger has posted a concise historical profile of the 20-year history of portable Macs, noting:
Apple's first mobile-centric computer, the 1989 Macintosh Portable, was a huge heavy monster with a lead acid battery just like your car (okay, a bit smaller)..... and only arrived to market after third parties had started hacking together their own laptops from the guts of old Macs.....
However, Apple destroyed the market for portable Mac clones and dictated a new form factor for the laptop when it partnered with Sony to design the entirely original PowerBook in 1991....
During the company's struggle to survive in the mid 90s, the PowerBooks were often Apple's most popular product. The company frequently couldn't manage to keep enough in inventory despite weak sales elsewhere....
When Steve Jobs returned in 1997, one of the first new products to be released was the curvy new PowerBook G3, which again melded technology with an original design to create a standout product that endured for three years....
A year later, Apple added a consumer laptop under the new iBook brand....
You can check it out at:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/08/30/two-decades-of-portable-macs-1989-2009/
U.S. Army Increasingly Using Custom iPods As Field Translators
Appleinsider's Aidan Malley reports:
Apple's iPod has been easing tensions with Iraqi citizens in a real-world experiment that has seen the music player provide on-the-spot translating for a fraction the cost and size of earlier systems.
Instead of carrying around a relatively bulky PDA or notebook, the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division has for a year been using 260 iPods and iPod nanos modified to run a special app from Vcom 3D known as Vcommunicator Mobile.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/5cuya4
Few Tech Tracks For McCain's VP Pick
CNet's Stefanie Olsen reports:
Alaska is no high-tech haven, so it's understandable that Gov. Sarah Palin is a little-known quantity when it comes to tech policy and renewable energy.
In a surprise move Friday, presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Palin, 44, was elected two years ago, becoming Alaska's youngest governor and its first female governor...
On the tech policy side, Palin has almost no record on issues such as Net neutrality, data privacy, and wiretapping. But there's one exception that's sure to pique the interest of privacy advocates: on May 28, Palin signed a bill that would make Alaska the ninth state to not comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law requiring national identification cards.
"It's something to reflect on as far as caring about people's privacy," said Cord Blomquist, technology policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C.....'
For the full report visit here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10029320-38.html
Sarah Palin and Technology
Government Tech's Casey Mayville reports:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced this morning that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his running mate.
Elected governor in 2006, Palin became Alaska's first female governor, as well as its youngest. She will be the first politician from Alaska to run on a national ticket in a campaign for vice president.
Palin has made efforts to expand the use of technology in Alaska. In 2007, Palin announced a new online training program for workforce development. The Work Ready/College Ready program helped to assess skills and offered training courses....
Later, in 2008, Palin introduced the Alaska Health Care Transparency Act, which aimed to help Alaskans to access more affordable health care.....
Most recently, efforts are being made to enhance health care delivery to Alaska's native people through telemedicine and telehealth.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.govtech.com/articles/402325
Thoughts On The Steve Jobs Legacy
BusinessWeek's Arik Hesseldahl says:
Reading through Bloomberg News' mistakenly published obituary today has got me to thinking a little bit about how history will remember Steve Jobs.
In case you missed it, Jobs joined scores of other notable people who over the years have seen their pre-written obituaries prepared long in advance of such articles ever being needed, published by mistake on the Bloomberg News wires.
News organizations routinely write obituaries of notable people years, and sometimes decades in advance of their deaths so that they can ready for publication on short notice. These obits not supposed to see the light of day until the subject of the obituary actually dies, but occasionally they do. Wikipedia even has a page on the subject. The reporters at Bloomberg were probably taking advantage of a slow news cycle to update their files and pressed the wrong button. Notable similar cases include those of Mark Twain, Bob Hope, Vice-President Cheney, former President Gerald Ford and many others.
But the whole incident got me to thinking about Jobs, his life story so far, his legacy, and how history will judge him in say, 50 or 100 years.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/5z73hs
Microsoft breaks IE8 interoperability promise
The Register's Hakon Lie - CTO, Opera Software says:
In March, Microsoft announced that their upcoming Internet Explorer 8 would: "use its most standards compliant mode, IE8 Standards, as the default."
Note the last word: default. Microsoft argued that, in light of their newly published interoperability principles, it was the right thing to do. This declaration heralded an about-face and was widely praised by the web standards community; people were stunned and delighted by Microsoft's promise.
This week, the promise was broken. It lasted less than six months. Now that Internet Explorer IE8 beta 2 is released, we know that many, if not most, pages viewed in IE8 will not be shown in standards mode by default. The dirty secret is buried deep down in the Compatibility view configuration panel, where the Display intranet sites in Compatibility View box is checked by default. Thus, by default, intranet pages are not viewed in standards mode.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/29/hakon_lie_ie8_interoperability/
Dell Quarterly Profit Drops And Stock Plunges
The Associated Press reports:
Slashing computer prices helped Dell Inc. boost sales in its fiscal second quarter, but the No. 2 PC maker's bottom line took a hit when efforts to cut costs failed to make up the difference.
Investors punished the stock Thursday on word that Dell missed Wall Street's expectations for earnings and gross margin, calling into question the Round Rock, Texas-based company's turnaround efforts....for the three months ended Aug. 1, Dell's profit plunged 17 per cent to $616 million, or 31 cents per share.....
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/5s573e
The Mac Night Owl: Microsoft Apps and the Mac
Most of you know that Microsofts Mac Office apps all originated on the Mac in the 1980s, before they were duplicated on the then-fledgling Windows platform. Now before you remind me about that old political gaffe about being in favor of something before you were against it, that should, in theory, indicate that the worlds largest software developer ought to be able to build the best Mac products on the planet.
Here's the URL for today's commentary:
http://www.macnightowl.com/2008/09/microsoft-apps-and-the-mac/
Notes: You can also access our new RSS feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/rss
Or our new Atom feed at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/atom
The Mac Night Owl: No, Apple Isn’t Going Downhill
I still remember, nearly 20 years ago, setting up a brand new Macintosh system in my home. Up till then, I did most of my work at the office, but I had seen the future, more or less, and telecommuting was going to be a large part of it, so I had to be prepared.
Here's the URL for today's commentary:
http://tinyurl.com/6pax9c
Notes: You can also access our new RSS feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/rss
Or our new Atom feed at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/atom
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