Cover by Mike Gorman
MyMac Magazine #33, Jan 1998
Here in Tucson, Arizona, USA, our local public radio station KUAZ-FM carries “Real Computing with John C. Dvorak” every Saturday morning from 5:00 – 6:00 A.M. No, I don’t sit bleary-eyed, listening to Dvorak’s pithy words of wisdom. Instead, I use my trusty Radio Shack #61-1060 Digital Timer (approximately $30 US, and well worth it!) to switch on my stereo system and tape the program automatically for listening at a more civilized hour.
A few weeks ago the program began with:
Continue reading »
Fourteen years ago, Apple with the help of director Ridley Scott reinvented television advertising. The famous “1984″ ad changed the way advertisers viewed commercials. They began to see commercials as an abstract art form.
The product did not need to be the message, but instead, a sidebar to the
message. Since then, the Super Bowl has become synonymous with the best that advertising has to offer. Unfortunately, Apple has never been able to reach that level of impact since then. Many believe no one ever will, the timing was too perfect. It was the dawn of a product useful to the masses, comparable to television and the automobile. So, in judging Apple’s Super Bowl ad (they better have one) for 1998, all of us must keep in perspective that Apple will not be introducing a new era of technology, but just their newest version of it.
Fox has announced that a 30-second spot will run 1.3 million dollars. The price seems incredibly high until one realizes that up to 75% of all the televisions on at that time are tuned into the game. The advertising impact is enormous. Apple cannot afford not to run at least two 30-second spots. In addition, they may want to consider airing two 15-second spots. Total cost, 3.9 million dollars to be seen by 100+ million viewers. That’s only 4 cents per person. Pretty cheap considering the potential sales impact.
This month, in addition to my own commercial, I asked my seventh graders to come up with their own ideas. The best five out of sixty-one are below. After all, isn’t the Mac the family/education computer?
* Note: I did make a few minor changes to a couple of these entries to fit
the “Think Different” campaign.
By Mick O’Neil
Having been raised an Irish Catholic, the word “evangelist” evokes
religious overtones. Webster defines it in terms of “one of the four biblical evangelists” or a “revivalist.” My Word thesaurus suggests I substitute “preacher,” “missionary” or “crusader.” When it comes to companies promoting goods, I am more comfortable with the term “salesperson.” Evangelizing the Macintosh suggests that perhaps we consumer “natives” require Apple missionaries to educate us. As I note below, this is one of the longest sustained marketing blunders in the history of commerce.
Nevertheless, I suppose in a way I am an “accidental evangelist.” That is, people come to me and ask for my advice, and do so knowing that I have no commercial interest whatsoever in the outcome. Because of my broad background in installing, trouble-shooting, and maintaining PCs and PC software (Windows, DOS, NT, Novell, and the like) and my similar experience with Macs, I act as kind of an unbiased local guru.
Continue reading »
Gosh! Another year has come and gone. What the heck’s up with that? The millennium is fast approaching and I’m convinced that as it gets closer, time is also speeding up. Scientists may not be able to detect this increase in the speed of time, (or maybe they can but just ain’t telling us) but I myself am convinced that it’s happening. I don’t possess any hard evidence or data to substantiate this claim other than the fact that three days after we celebrate the coming of a new year, I have to mourn the fact that I just got one year older. I realize that this is a pessimistic way of looking at one’s birthday, but according to my calculations, if time continues speeding up at the present rate it seems to be going now, I figure by the time my 70th birthday rolls around, it’ll only take 18 days before I hit my 71st. How optimistic can one be knowing that?
Unable to do anything about the speed of time, I guess I’ll just have to learn to live faster and hope my calculations are wrong. But that’s not why I called you all here today.
No, this month I want to share with you my perception of what the next generation of Virtual Reality machines might be capable of doing in the not too distant future.
Picture, if you will, this average American family living in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. Mom and Dad Average are sitting at the kitchen table sipping on their last cup of coffee before heading off to their respective jobs, when little Johnny Average walks into the room saying, “I think I’ll stay home today and go to school from here.”
“Good idea,” replies Mom Average. “It looks like it might rain today anyway. No use getting all wet.”
“If it’s gonna be a wet day, I think I’ll go to work from here also,” says Dad Average.
Continue reading »
Happy New Year to all you Mac lovers out there! I happen to believe that it will indeed be a very happy New Year for Apple and all Mac users. I am extremely excited about the Macintosh and its prospects for 1998, and it’s because of something that some people thought Apple should have gotten rid of a long time ago: its hardware line.
The title of this month’s article is inspired by a song by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “Another Drinking Song.” The refrain of the song says: “What you call the disease / I call the remedy / What you’re callin’ the cause / I call the cure.” In Apple’s case, I feel those lyrics fit the situation of Apple’s hardware line very nicely.
More than once, many people have recommended that Apple abandon its hardware line and focus solely on selling the Mac OS, much like Microsoft sells Windows to PC companies. This would theoretically allow Apple to cut a tremendous amount of operating costs and focus on expanding the market share of the operating system itself, regardless of what brand of computer it runs on.
Hogwash.
Continue reading »
NS-TOWER 2.5
Author: NAGI-P SOFT
Shareware: $10.00
http://www.hc.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~nagi/nps
Mike: Happy New Year to everybody out there in Mac-land! If you’re like a lot of people out there, you’re making New Year’s resolutions. Those resolutions are often difficult, sometimes even seemingly impossible to accomplish, but we all try our best to keep them as long as possible anyway. Well, these two games are a lot like that – they’re seemingly impossible to beat, but I’ve found myself going back time and time again, trying my best to accomplish the goal anyway.
Adam: It really seems that LCs can run good games after all! NS-SHAFT and NS-TOWER are very high quality, original games. They have great graphics, and sound effects. They are incredibly fast-paced, yet they require a little bit of strategy and guessing as you advance, and they are incredibly simple and nearly impossible to put down. Now, Mike, is there a plot/storyline to this game?
Mike: Nope.
Continue reading »
I got a phone call from my son last week. Most calls start with something like “Hi, umm, would you happen to have an extra modem cable around and maybe a couple of empty Zips; oh, and you got a SCSI 25/50 I could borrow?” After that, it’s all technical.
As a child, this boy lived buried beneath piles of monster comics, King Kong posters and 8 mm film, dreaming dreams of special effects. Now he lives entangled in a welter of wires, cables, SyJets, null modems and external drives linking an Amiga, a Performa 6116, a close-out PowerBase and a used Pentium to make those dreams come to life. LightWave and an Amiga 3000 changed his destiny.
Self taught, he has made up in dedication and fanaticism for a rather late start. We both touched our first computers at the same time: Summer of ’92. But, while I gingerly explored cut & paste and played with my screensavers, he surged bravely forward.
“You touched your Motherboard!” Winter ’92. I was filled with awe. “My son actually touched his motherboard !” I bragged to totally disinterested, not to mention, discombobulated friends and family. “But what, exactly, do you do ?” I asked.
Continue reading »
Virex 5.8
Company: Datawatch/Dr. Solomon’s
Software
Estimated Price: $65.00
http://www.datawatch.com
In early spring of 1997, I reviewed Datawatch’s product, Virex 5.7. This past fall Datawatch released its latest version, Virex 5.8. Just as in the previous version, Virex 5.8 is very easy to install, prompting you to scan your hard disk before you begin the installation, althought I might suggest that the scan option be moved to the first position so that users have to use it before proceeding. After you’ve done this, the dialog box offers you several options on how to proceed, including removing previous versions of Virex. You then choose on installing the Virex Control Panel, the Virex Control Strip module (for those of you using Control Strip on your Mac or PowerBook) and the Virex DropScan.
Continue reading »
You’d think that after 7 years of being a service technician, working Continue reading »
on Macs exclusively, that I wouldn’t get bitten by a screen of a floppy
disk with a flashing “?” on it, but it happened… and me without my
backup. Go figure! I know the feeling of losing data just like you. Man,
does it drive you crazy like it does me? All that work is gone! It’s got
to be up there with getting a root canal. But for me, at least this time, a hero arrived on the scene. Old faithful with its arms folded looking back at you with confidence written all over its face (or disks… whatever).
Dear Apple,
Do Something!
ONE new advertising slogan is a good start, sure. And it was a good one, three months ago. But with the insanity of Christmas buying season now over, you know how many times I saw an ad about Apple computers? Not once.
NOT ONCE!
What the hell are you people doing? Do you NOT want to sell computers?? Is that it? You figure “Heck, we lost. Let’s be happy with our dwindling market share, our core group of ever frustrated users, and not tell anyone how great our product really is. Lets just take what comes our way, and be happy?”
Stupid, stupid, stupid…
Continue reading »
WebPads
Company: MicroVision Computer Products
Estimated Price: $8.99
http://www.webpads.com
Here’s an idea that has long been overdue! Thanks to Webpads, I have finally found a mouse pad worth sitting on my desk that goes beyond a cool picture or cartoon character.
Webpads is a regular mousepad with a clear LEXAN cover that your mouse (very smoothly!) rolls over. It’s also a breeze to keep clean, which is very important to any naughty smoker who has an ashtray sitting right next to the mouse pad. (Can you say “Mouse cleaning every week?”) Well, up to the time when MicroVisionComputer Products sent me a Webpad for review, I was going through a pad every few months. They get dirty, wears out, etc… But this LEXAN cover is easy to wipe clean.
Continue reading »
MYTH: The Fallen Lords
Company: Bungie
Estimated Price: $49
http://www.Bungie.com
What do you get when you take a company renowned for its game creating innovation and a 3-D textured world upon which you can battle to the death? The answer is simple: you get Myth: The Fallen Lords from Bungie.
While it’s true that I don’t consider myself a serious gamer, I do like to think I know a great game when I see (and play) one. And I can say that Bungie has once again moved way ahead of the competition in the Macintosh gaming market. (However, don’t count out last year’s Mac gamer company of the year yet, though. Blizzard will have released StarCraft by mid-January 1998, followed soon thereafter by its Mac version of Diablo.)
Myth: The Fallen Lords is a simple concept. You are given an army. Your opponents are given an army. You fight. One wins, one loses. End of story. However, I have found that Myth is so much more. As many of you may have seen from its numerous ads in Macworld and MacAddict, Myth is a fully rendered 3-D game. The terrain is as much a factor as is the type of game you are playing.
Continue reading »
Dear Readers,
As I sit here in my new office, I have to admit, I almost slimed out of writing this month’s column. It has been a long weekend moving to a different facility owned by the company I work for. Trying to find the time to do my job and Christmas shopping has been tough enough during this move. But then I thought of all the positive feedback I’ve gotten, from both readers and the editors of My Mac. I thought of how our subscription list has grown, how the Web site has gotten so big and busy… and if Tim and Russ and all the others who contribute so much time to My Mac can keep up with it, well so can I!
(Besides, I have a real Protestant work ethic and feel guilty whenever I don’t do something, no matter how mundane!)
Before I jump into Helpful Hints, I thought I’d share with you some of the little factoids I picked up from Apple at the last Boston Macworld Expo:
1. Macintosh is the #1 multimedia PC vendor in the world-for the second year in a row.
Continue reading »
Here’s a problem I hope you or anyone you know hasn’t encountered: trouble connecting to the Internet or other on-line service providers. As with most of the other topics, this can be broken down into several key areas.
Step one simply is getting a dial tone with the modem. Although most Mac people never encounter this one, I’ve run into it enough times to know “we” are not immune.
So let’s check the basics:
Continue reading »
Macworld Mac OS 8 Bible
by Lon Poole
IDG Books Worldwide,
http://www.idgbooks.com
ISBN 0-7645-4036-X, 871 pages
$34.99 U.S., $48.99 Canada, £33.99 U.K.
Teach Yourself Macintosh in 24 Hours
by Howard Baldwin and Anita Epler
Hayden Books,
http://www.hayden.com
ISBN 1-56830-408-0, 392 pages Continue reading »
$19.99 U.S., $28.95 Canada, £17.95 U.K.
Comments. Be heard!
Book Review
Book Review
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384