It is a tribute to its CEO that Apple, which ten years ago seemed headed for the slag heap, is No. 1 on this list. Steve Jobs has always had a knack for weaving magic out of silicon and software. But who knew he could build a $24 billion (in sales) company on the strength of a portable jukebox and a computer with a single-digit market share?

When I wrote about the performance of Apple's recently-released MacBook Pros last week, I wanted to write about the MacBooks, too but didn't have results for the differnet MacBook models. Well, now I do, so here's a Geekbench performance comparison of the latest MacBooks against the previous generation of MacBooks....

Despite having a slightly faster processor, the smaller L2 cache of the Penryn processors means the base MacBook (Early 2008) is slower than the base MacBook (Late 2007). If you're considering buying a base MacBook, you might want to shop around and see if you can snag an old one rather than a new one.

Of course, the high-end MacBook (Early 2008) is faster than the high-end MacBook (Late 2007); it seems the increase in processor frequency is enough to overcome the smaller L2 cache in this case.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he wishes Apple hadn't released a 2G version of the iPhone; that the Apple TV is frustrating to use, and that the MacBook Air won't be a hit.

Wozniak was in Sydney this morning to deliver the keynote speech at a conference focused on Australian broadband. But his commentary during a press Q&A session ranged far beyond the topics of broadband and telecommunications, with Woz lobbing numerous constructive critiques about Apple's latest products back over the pond to Cupertino.

Steve Wozniak is in Australia this week and gave a keynote speech for an Australian Communication Industry Association broadband conference. The press took advantage of a Q&A session to get the Woz's opinions on recent Apple hardware.....

Regarding the MacBook Air, Woz is still pretty torn. At first, he was put off by its lack of features, but after some use - "for some reason, the way its keyboard is, I can type faster"- Woz is finding ways to squeeze the machine into his workflow. Despite his warming to its geek-chic cachet, he's still not convinced it's ready for the masses.....

It was exactly a year from the time Axiotron first debuted their touchscreen MacBook at Macworld 2007 to the time we got the first hands-on of it at Macworld 2008, and that year of development time seems to have done the company some good. Not only is this ModBook the touchscreen Mac Apple fans have been looking for, it's got all the components of a MacBook, which means it's not a low-powered, stripped down, gimped version (MacBook Air) that sacrifices performance for the tablet pen sensitivity. And for that, we're thankful.

On Thursday I wrote about some problems I'm having with my Macbook Pro. I received lots of great feedback in the comments and via email.

After trying several solutions, I still couldn't get the computer running at a decent speed, or recording audio properly. So, taking kyre's advice of "the squeeky wheel gets the oil!", I fired off an email to steve(at)apple(dot)com. I explained in that email what was going on, and how it could be documented that I was having problems here at the site and on the podcast, long before the 3 weeks since my warranty ran out. I also mentioned how unhappy I was that Apple was charging $900 to fix something that other companies could do for under $200.

On Friday afternoon I received a phone call from Apple.....

We've put the new MacBook Pros through their paces and found that the changes add up to noticeable performance gains over the last-generation of Apple's high-end laptop. More significant, the revamped MacBook Pro lineup is decidedly faster than the Core Duo-powered models that debuted two years ago.

Remember the Megahertz Myth? It held the widespread belief that a computer with a faster processor clock speed was more powerful than one with a slower CPU.

Apple demolished that with the PowerPC G3 and G4 processors, and with the transition from Pentium 4 to Core, Intel demonstrated the same thing. A CPU with a slower clock speed can be more powerful than one that runs at a higher MHz rating.

Pay attention, because Apple just took a step backward with its entry-level MacBook and 15" MacBook Pro models. The previous version of these computers included a 4 MB on-chip level 2 (L2) cache; the replacements introduced last month use the new Penryn CPU, and the slower version only has a 3 MB L2 cache.

Apple's Time Capsule, which went on sale last week, may not be quite what the Mac maker maintains it is, in the storage department at least.

Time Capsule is Apple's 802.11n Wi-Fi router with an integrated 500GB or 1TB "server-grade hard disk drive", to use Apple's words.

But when one buyer took his TimeCapsule apart, he found his machine contained a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB, a hard drive designed not for servers but for desktop computers....

The mass market is supposed to be dead, but you would never know it from Apple. In February the iTunes Store became the second-largest music retailer in the U.S., right behind Wal-Mart. The iPod is to music players what Kleenex is to tissue or Xerox is to copiers. Almost everything Apple makes transcends gender, geography, age, and race. An Apple Store is a demographic melting pot, with computer games for kids and a Genius Bar for their parents and so much cool stuff to touch that it's a magnet for teens and twentysomethings....

the company that ranks as the new No. 1 among America's Most Admired Companies has become a roaring financial success.

Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20.

Less than five months after going public with plans to immediately start replacing its Windows-based PCs with Macs, Auto Warehousing Co. was forced to push back the project by more than a month. That was last December. The reason was not a lack of money, manpower or executive support. Rather, what stymied the project were protests from workers and objections from customers who perceived the technology switch as unnecessarily costly.

"I didn't see this coming at all," says Dale Frantz, CIO of the Tacoma, Wash.-based company. "We never before had any of the workforce question our technological initiatives." But with the Mac project, "there was a perception that the equipment was much more expensive than traditional Windows PCs and that we were purchasing Lamborghini-level equipment with the company's profits," he says.

Apple's next generation iMacs might not just be Penryn updates as speculated earlier. If they are one of the first computers to recieve the Intel Eaglelake motherboard (which support Penryns), they could also have some Blu Ray configurations as well....

A month after it went of sale, demand for the MacBook Air is surprisingly strong, according to Ars Technica, which surveyed stores across the U.S. over the weekend and found supplies of the $1,799 notebook computer ($3,098 for the solid-state drive version) thin or nonexistent.

We've developed a great new application. Trouble is, we can't decide on a name for it! This is where you come in: help us Name this App!

Peruse this page to become familiar with some of the features of the application. Once you've done this, submit the survey on the left and we'll provide a valuable discount coupon good toward the purchase of the product when it ships.

Our application, code-named "Dialectic", is a brand new, incredibly versatile tool that unites your Mac, data, and phones - mobile, landline, & VoIP - enabling you to be more productive - and have fun doing it!

Dialing Has Never Been So Much Fun

"So, what's the most secure desktop operating system of all? Well, we'll get at least a hint from an upcoming bout pitting some top hackers against Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Ubuntu."

Samsung Electronics hopes it can extend its leading position in the computer monitor market into the printer and laptop PC sectors this year, a senior executive said Monday at the Cebit trade show in Germany.

"Our mission is to become a top-tier IT company with a leading position in both the business and consumer markets," said Jongwoo Park, president of Samsung's digital media business, at a news conference. "We are already the global leader in monitors and now plan to extend that leadership to printing and mobile computing."

Much smoother than the built-in mouse, the wireless Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 will quickly become the pointer of choice for those on the move.

As well as the conventional scroll wheel and left and right buttons the 8000 has a button that activates a magnifying pane, which means there's really no restriction to operating the machine from a distance. I found the signal so strong that I could reach the computer from the adjoining room.....

All three mice are Windows XP/Windows Vista compatible, and can also be used on Apple Macs.

www.intel.com/Atom






eWEEK: Playing Fast and Loose with Printer Specs

Here are some specs to be wary of and others you should ask about, even though manufacturers tend to skip them.

To read more, click here.





eWEEK: Microsoft Expands Its Online Services

The driving force behind the move is for Microsoft to compete with Google, which has been making inroads with its hosted e-mail offering, an ex-official says.

To read more, click here.






The Mac Night Owl: Those Computers Look Nice, But Can You Tell Them Apart?

The other day I was watching the talking heads on a certain cable TV news network, when I noticed that their notebooks all had Apple logos on them. Funny thing, the lids seemed to be dark-colored, almost black, which doesn't mean they were using ancient Macs. More than likely, they refinished the case in a fit of interior decorating, or maybe the set designers don't like basic aluminum.

To read more, click here.
http://macnightowl.com/2008/03/03/those-computers-look-nice-but-can-you-tell-them-apart/

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