My last article Taking stock of Apple was about Apple as an investment– but it made some assumptions that people know how to invest, or what that is about. This breaks the first rule of teaching, “do not assume, explain”. So this article explains the basics of financial security or why’s and how’s of investing in the first place. I can’t guarantee you’ll become a millionaire by heeding my advice, but I think I can dramatically increase the odds of that happening.
Financial Security
The Sword of Damocles is a fable about a fool that mentioned to the king how much better his life would be if he was the ruler. So the King traded places with him — but the cost of being the leader was that he had a large sword hanging over his head, hung by a thread (horse-hair). Of course the thread could break at any time and take away everything, thus Damocles quickly learned that the responsibilities and costs that came with the job were very high, and decided he preferred his old life without the feeling of impending doom.
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LightWedge
Company: LightWedge
Price: $35 US for hardcover LW100 version, $25 for paperback PB100 version, $9 / $8 for neoprene sleeves, $10 for lens care kit
http://www.lightwedge.net
It’s the middle of the night. You can’t sleep. The day’s thoughts are causing commotion in your brain. What to do? Don’t want to disturb your spouse (or roommate or partner). You would like to read another chapter of a book, or an article in a magazine, but you can’t in good conscience flood the room with table lamp illumination.
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Heaps of praise is being cried out from every corner, from the hobbyist websites to CNN, and all of it directed at the Mac mini. Revolutionary is often heard; though the truth is there has been PC’s with a small form factor for many years now. (However, a tiny or portable desktop PC is never cheap, at least until Apple released the Mac mini.) Still, the good press is nice for a longtime Mac veteran such as myself. I clearly remember the last time Apple got this sort of good press, and it really did change the paradigm of computing: the release of the original iMac. Soon, every product under the sun was coming out in bold colored plastic cases. And it was the iMac that helped Apple turn the corner to profitability.
But I want to take a step back, and pose a “What-If” scenario for you. What if Apple released a sub-$500 Mac, but it was actually as large as the G5?
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MyMac.com’s PodCast (Still no name, help!) is now ready for downloading. Hosted by Tim Robertson and Chad Perry! This week, special guest Tad Scheeler!
Download the show HERE in MP3!
PodCast Show Notes: 1/27/05
Apple lowers Mac Mini prices on BTO!
Jim Heid’s video at PeachPit. Very cool, check it out!
Rock For GarageBand
Company: Advanced Media Group
Price: £30 (about $55)
http://www.samples4.com/catalog/
I’ve done reviews for other GarageBand loop packages before and it’s probably the most fun type of review for me to do. Some of course are better than others and the biggest problem I have with those are that I spend too much time going through the loops and arranging them and posting them and…and, PHEW! Maybe I should just talk about the “Rock For GarageBand”
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Okay, let’s see how many people I can piss off with this one…
I want to feel proud to be an American again. For as long as I remember, I have been a proud American. But as of late, not so much.
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Mac ANNOYANCES
How to Fix the Most ANNOYING Things About Your Mac
John Rizzo
Publisher: O’Reilly
www.oreilly.com
ISBN- 0-596-00723-x
US $24.95
CA $36.95
Author John Rizzo’s Mac Annoyances is a slim book that straddles the line between a “let’s learn the basics” newbie book, and a comprehensive reference book.
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The other day, a friend (who was one of my professors) asked me if I thought she should buy some Apple stock. Ironic, since the same day my brother asked the same thing. Being that I’m a wordy sod, and she was one of my teachers in business school, I felt I not only had to give an answer, but explain and support my answer.
The short answer is that I’m sitting on my Apple stock, but would still rate it as a “buy”, and told my teacher and brother as much. Of course at over $70/share it is not as good a buy as it was last year at $20. But just because it is that high doesn’t mean that there’s no upside left. Quite the opposite, now that it has proven itself, there may be a lot more room to move. (Growth investors will know what I mean).
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So you may be asking, what the heck is the deal with these PodCasts you keep seeing here at MyMac.com? Actually, it is a combination of a new and old technology, but for those new to it, this article will act as a sort of primer to get you started.
First, a PodCast is sort of like a radio show in that it is all audio. In our case, as it is with all PodCasts, it is a simple MP3 file you listen to. You can either listen to it online in your web browser, in iTunes, or on an MP3 player, such as an iPod. (Hence the name.)
So how is this any different than any of the MP3 radio shows that have been around for a few years now, you may be asking? First and foremost is the distribution method used. Unlike old MP3 internet radio shows, a new technology was created around a year ago that takes advantage of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. As a newbie, you don’t have to worry about any of that sort of thing, though. You only want to know how you can get the PodCasts to your iPod or iTunes, right?
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MyMac.com PodCast for January 20th, 2005. Download the MP3 here. Tim and Chad shop online for a Mac mini. With upgrades, how does the price compare to a low-end iMac G5? Also, the dog keeps licking Tim. And now our RSS works thanks to David Every! 32:59 seconds long at 15,879K in size.
Send any feedback after listening to tim@mymac.com!
Dude, you got Dell! Yes, I have a Dell laptop, it was required by my work, and now I have one. And I have my great, but heavy PowerBook 17” from Apple too. Both have extended warranty plans on them. Apple’s cost more than the Dell’s, and my 17” PB cost more than the high end Dell laptop too. But then again, we always knew Apple was more expensive, this is no surprise.
When (not if) my Dell laptop breaks, I call Dell on the phone, tell them the problem, and they immediately send me either a replacement part I can install myself, or a complete computer replacement if the problem is critical. That is right, the UPS guy arrives with a new or refurbished laptop configured exactly like the one I own within two working days. With just a small screwdriver, I open a small panel on the bottom of the laptop, pop out the hard disks on both machines, swap them, and boot up the new machine. In a manner of minutes, I am back up and running as before. I plop the dead machine or part in the box they sent the new one in, place a pre-paid postage label on the box, and the UPS guy whisks it away the next day. In typically 3 to 5 days, I am back up and running and the problem is now Dell’s, and I am done. (If the HD breaks, they simply send a replacement, and I swap them the same way.) I believe this “Gold” service costs under $300 for 3 years.
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A Decade of MyMac.com – 1995 – 2005 Part 1
During the New Years celebration, many people reflect in the year past, and look ahead to the coming year with hope of a better future. 2005 will mark ten years for me as publisher of MyMac.com, and as such I will spend a few moments during the coming year to look back at the history of this site and the digital magazine that preceded it. In this first column, I look back to where it all started, 1995.
At the beginning of 1995, the Internet was still an unknown. While few had direct access to the Internet as we know it today, online services were all the rage. America Online was just shaping up to be a major force, but most hard-core computer users were using CompuServe. Apple Computer had their own online service named eWorld using the same basic software as AOL, but done right. I had an idea to publish some software reviews using a program called “DocMaker” that would allow me to use pictures and text and distribute the digital magazine electronically over the various online services, as well as many BBS’s around the world that I had memberships at.
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• Macworld Expo • Macworld Photos (Nemo) #8
Do you know what you were doing in May 1997? I do, I was admiring this new cover for our twenty-fifth issue of My Mac Magazine, the downloadable edition. This cover was created by Alan Dingman, a friend of then regular cover artist Mike Gorman. Alan actually did two covers for us, the other I will post soon.
You can view more of Alan’s work at http://www.alandingman.com, which includes his work for a Steven King book as well. (Who ever Steven King is…)
Update: Here is the other cover:
With another MacWorld tucked away in our minds, we all wander away from the conference with thoughts of what we want to buy, and dreams of the things we wish we could buy (I still want that Mercedes SLK iPOD accessory!)
In the next week or so, the staff will pick what we thought were the best of show products and software, and hopefully we can do some fast, small reviews of each of those products to help you decide if you want them as well. I already posted a few favorites of mine which I mentioned in recent postings, but I still have a very large stack of stuff to go through to figure out what I missed.
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Cheaper than any Apple II, more powerful than a Pentium, bundled with iLife, able to avoid most viruses in a singe bound — look on the desk, it’s a white coaster, it’s a squashed cube, no it’s mini-Mac — er Mac mini.
For 30 years of computer history, I’ve seen cheap repeatedly beat out cool, better, better value, more reliable, and so on. The entire PC history can be summed up as follows; most people pick cheap over good because it takes too much work to know the difference, so they go with cheap. Once you’ve made your choice, you’re not going to look for reasons why you’re wrong. Viola.
Apple already has most of the people that don’t think that way, those that researched or valued good over cheap; but now the other 97% of the market gets a chance to get a Mac.
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Sorry about that! The photo album is HERE
Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #385
MyMac Podcast #384