Mac’s PC Guy…His Story

John Hodgman has forever been engrained in Mac fan’s brains as the “PC Guy”.

MacUser has a link to an episode of This American Life that features John telling his story.

Source: MacUser

IT Wish List For Apple Phone

MacWorld has an interesting opinion piece on a wish list from IT managers for features for the iPhone.   A few include full API’s for Mail, Calendar and Notes, Wireless/Bluetooth syncing, and a “LoJack” feature.

Read more.

Multi-touch…patents…and everyone else

Tom Krazit has a piece on his blog, hosted by CNET, commenting on the possible impact of Apple’s patents on multitouch, and how it might affect other laptop manufacturers.  One of his premises is that Apple’s patents may lead other manufacturers to use different gestures, and thereby causing a user to use different motions for the same tasks, depending on the brand of PC.

While this could certainly be a possibility, I would hope that some sort of sanity could prevail on this one.

Apple Event March 6th…SDK?

According to numerous news outlets, Apple is holding a townhall meeting on Thursday, March 6th at 10 a.m. PST.  The subject matter: a software roadmap, that includes the SDK and new enterprise features.

Is 3G on that roadmap?  Real Microsoft Exchange support? Unlocking of phones?

I’m mostly interested in the “enterprise” features.  Hopefully Apple will have information on upgrades that will satisfy the road warriors, and possibly cause Blackberry users to break their addiction to their RIM phones and switch to an iPhone.

Too Many Screws?

Apparently a group of Japanese PC manufacturers and the Nikkei Electronics Teardown Squad think the MacBook Air is so expensive because of its wasteful use of screws…yes screws.  Not only that, but the design is anything but revolutionary.

MacUser gives its take on the whole “too many screws” mystery.

Source: MacUser

Apple An Almost No Show at N.A.B.

According to MacWorld, Apple may be skipping this year’s NAB altogether.  NAB is the yearly National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.  Industry professionals from around the world come to Vegas once a year to meet, greet, and see and type of product related to what video professionals do.  Apple has been a key component in the lives of broadcasters for years.

Traditionally, Apple has had a large booth with hardware, software, and large presentation space in the South Hall.  MacWorld has confirmed that Apple will not have a booth this year, and may not even be present.  The writer surmises that this is because Apple has no video related announcements for April, and all of their major hardware announcements have been done as well.

This is a bad idea for Apple.  I’ve attended every year, and their presence looming over the gigantic Sony and Avid booths is refreshing.  Their booth is full every year with professionals like me, who spend time with engineers, asking questions, testing, and gaining trust with Apple.  Bad move Apple, bad move.

Source: MacWorld

MacBook Air

Now that the dust has began to settle around the MacBook Air announcement, I’d like to offer my perspective on this product.

It’s been over a decade since Apple has offered a subnotebook.  The PowerBook Duo line was a trend-setter in it’s time, and offered a number of firsts for consumers.

Fast forward to 2008, and it seems Mac users have forgotten what it’s like to live with an ultra-portable Mac laptop.

Apple has done an amazing job with this laptop.  In such a compact space, they gave us a real screen (the PowerBook Duo always had a smaller screen), a real keyboard, a real Duo Core processor, the same Intel GMA graphics as the MacBook, and a thin, relatively compact package.  Well done.  Apple hasn’t forgotten how to construct an ultra-portable.

Ultra-portables are all about compromise.  Most of the time, you compromise on ports, performance, and some level of functional convenience.  Apple gave us great performance, great RAM, wifi and Blutooth, iSight, a great chipset and front-side bus, and a compact package. Apple compromised on ports, just like the PowerBook Duo: no ethernet, one USB (the PowerBook Duo had one ADB port), video out (the PowerBook Duo had no video out unless it was docked), sound out, and a power port.  Apple removed the optical drive – the PowerBook Duo also didn’t have one.  It’s an external option.  They didn’t give us a docking option.

All in all, Apple did what they set out to do: give Mac users an ultra-portable laptop.  They met the specs, and achieved their goals well, and realistically.

The PowerBook Duo was more expensive.  Ultra-portables in general are.  The MacBook Air is, but not in an unreasonable way.

Kudos to Apple.  We have our light, portable laptop.  We can even get a real solid state drive.  It uses modern technology.  We have nothing to complain about.

Now, what will they do to update it…

The Day Before Macworld…

The day before Macworld, and all through the house…nothing seemed stirring…well that’s because we can’t see what Steve Jobs is doing right now.

So what might we expect at tomorrow’s keynote?  Honestly, I’m not really what I’m expecting.  If you want to know what others are, here’s a short rundown:

- Macworld’s High Expectations
- MacNN – There’s Something In The Air
- MacUser: MacBook Air
- AppleInsider: AppleTV Update
- MacRumors Buyers Guide

The Lull Before MacWorld

I feel let down already.  It used to be that Apple would leave product announcements such as the update to the MacPro line to MacWorld.  I almost feel like…what is there to look forward to?

We already know Office 2008 is coming.  No surprise there.  MacPro’s are updated.  With HD DVD on the fence, will Blu-Ray officially make a premiere?

The iPhone…we already know from AT&T’s CEO that a 3G version is coming in 2008?  Will Steve Jobs show us that?  Is that very exciting?

Leopard is out…so what could happen there?

iTunes 7.6 is slated to appear, and we already know that a few studios are looking to do possible rentals on iTunes…so again, not really much of a surprise.

What does Apple have up it’s sleeve?  I hope something, because right now I’m not very excited for this year’s MacWorld.

New Apple Dock Patent Surfaces

MacNN has a story on a new patent filed by Apple.  The patent describes a new type of notebook dock.  The dock would allow a device, such as a MacBook, to slip into a “sleeve” on a stand.  That stand would contain a larger LCD screen (a la the iMac), allow access to the laptop ports, charge the laptop, and add a “telephonic” function.

A dock like this sure makes docking a laptop more convenient, and much more space efficient.  If it was priced right, it would be a novel concept that would be a great design lesson.

Source: MacNN