John Nemerovski enjoys concert.
Dan with the band, Shaw-Blades
Thursday was the day for the Apple Consultant’s Network. Starting with the BYOB (Bring Your Own Breakfast) Meeting at 8 a.m. and ending with a $60 dinner for 400 at the Franciscan Crab Restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf.
The morning meeting was very informative, with lots of information on the various certifications that Apple uses to make sure those of us who call ourselves Mac Experts have the knowledge to back up our claims. I’m looking forward to learning Leopard Server this year and getting certified in that, increasing my value to business clients who need a higher level of assistance. (Read more money)
The afternoon Business Meeting concentrated of our relationship with Apple Corporate, Apple Business Sales, and Apple Retail. I spent time before the meeting with Lane, the regional ACN manager for the southeast, and had some productive discussions with him that will enhance the benefits I get from the Apple programs. There was a lively question and answer session after the meeting with pointed questions about the Apple Stores and their dealings with Apple Consultants.
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Friday was exclusively devoted to MyMac.com. After prowling the floor in the morning, making contacts with the exhibitors, then lunch with the group in the Media Center, I had a good meeting with the people at Altec Lansing and made arrangements to review some neat new products. Verbatim also has some nifty USB/Firewire hard drives in their lineup along with some different-colored lightscribe CDs.
Then, It was all over. The weary crew was summarily ejected from the media center as the room was dismantled around us. After recording the final podcast from the sidewalk outside the Moscone Center, I left Tim, Nemo, Guy, and Larry to catch the BART back to the hotel where we are to meet and head out to our final dinner together.
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All in all it was a wonderful week. In spite of my limping around for the last three days, it was well worth the time, money and effort. I got a lot out of the trip and look forward to MacWorld 2009.
The biggest complaint I’ve heard about the MacBook Air is not the fact that it only takes three plugs (headphone, USB, and an external monitor); but that the battery is not user replaceable.
This is a non issue for most people as most people don’t mess with the battery. The average person will never replace the battery at all. For about a quarter or less of users, in about year or so it stops holding a full charge and you get it replaced. A good percentage will be able to get the battery replaced at the Apple Store or a Best Buy* “while you wait.” A smaller number will have to send it in to have the battery replaced and then there’s the smallest number (like me) who will do it their own selves.
The MacBook Air is not for everyone. I place it beside the 15-inch MacBook Pro in the pantheon of Apple laptops. The entry point continues to be the MacBook. Buyers of the MacBook can’t, won’t or don’t want to spend the money for the bigger or faster laptop. Great big old power users and those who just want to impress people plunk down the big bucks for the top of the line 17-incher. That leaves the middle ground. The geekier will choose the 15-inch -Pro over the -Air. They have lots of stuff to plug in and need all those ports.
Who wants the -Air?
There’s the office road warrior. They mainly use Microsoft Office to do Word files, spreadsheets, and give PowerPoint presentations. They already have a briefcase full of papers in file folders and if they can lighten their load with a skinny, stylish laptop . . . then by the ghost of Zig Ziegler, they will rush right down and buy one.
The fashion conscious will also line up behind the -Air. Pictures don’t do it justice. This is one sexy laptop. Pick it up at the store and even without opening it, you want to hug it to your chest and take it home.
Caution!
But then again, its thinness may also be a problem. Most laptops have a heft to them that prevent you from ignoring the delicate electronics. Slide it safely into your padded computer case and treat it carefully. Pulling my aluminum -Pro from the bag, I’m conscious of how slippery the case is and take care not to drop it.
As computers get lighter, I fear that they will not receive that level of care. Road Warriors will squeeze them into briefcases and drop them onto desktops harder than they should. And there will be a rash of bent laptops.
I hope I’m wrong.
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* I spoke at length with a representative of Best Buy at their MacWorld booth. Watch for my next blog where I’ll report on that meeting.
At MacWorld Expo, I spoke with the good folks at Best Buy’s booth and held a lengthy conversation on how BB is planning to fill the void left by the closing of CompUSA. For those who don’t know, CompUSA has been the “Go-To” Store for computer peripherals and apparatuses for over a decade. Sadly, they couldn’t decide which role they wanted to play (A business store? A retail store? TVs? Computers?), so they never seemed retain their initial success.
Best Buy, on the other hand, seems to have its act together, and recently initiated Apple’s “Store With a Store” in about 50 stores on a trial basis. Well, it must have been a successful trial, since they increased that number to 600 stores and according to Best Buy spokesperson, Jeff Dudash, plans are that fully two thirds of the Best Buy chain will feature Apple.
“Support” is a loaded word. And at Best Buy it certainly involves the Geek Squad. It has been reported that the Geek Squad would “Rather make a salesman into a tech” than the other way around. But in my conversation at the MacWorld booth, it was shared that central locations would have technicians who would be Apple certified and fully qualified to provide AppleCare repair service. (I am told that is also the case at Apple’s own stores, and if a local Apple Store does not rate a qualified technician, your warranty repair is shipped off to a company store where there IS a qualified technician.)
Where CompUSA came in handy was not so much buying Apple Computers, although I certainly sent clients there on a regular basis for their Macs; it was for all the other things we needed. I can’t expect Best Buy to have as many mice or keyboards or cables or printers or dongles or hard drives or enclosures . . . but they’re already expanding that section at my local store. They’re promising to have most of what we need and we’ll just have to go online for the rest.
I have Google News searching for Mac articles and this morning, it came up with a dilly from the venerable PC Magazine: “Refresh Your Mac”
Click on the link above to see the article. Pay particular attention to “Step 1: Save Your Applications” which says, “Open your Applications folder (Macintosh HD\Applications) and drag and drop any apps you regularly use onto your external hard drive.”
Stop right there.
That hasn’t worked since OS 9. Oh sure. There are some applications that are fully contained, but to expect your apps to work after a trip to the external drive and back . . . well, that’s just false.
Apple has sent MobileMe subscribers an email apologizing for the problems encountered switching over from .Mac.
“Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially,” the letter stated.
On top of that, they apologized for playing fast and loose with the use of the term “Push,” since it doesn’t really push . . . it sucks (by taking “up to” fifteen minutes to propagate to your devices). So instead of making it work as promised — they’ll solve the problem by not using the word “push.”
Ingenious!
To apologize, Apple is giving a free month to their MobileMe subscribers. This is a good thing and I accept their apology.
I have been a .Mac user since it was iTools (and free). I can usually find a bargain during the year and wind up paying less than the normal $99. I have no desire to stop using my prestige “@mac.com” address, and consider the benefits of membership to be worth the price.
To be fair, I have found dot Mac to be extremely dependable with very little downtime. I don’t begrudge Apple the switchover glitch.
But it’s still nice to get their apology and a free month.
This does not bode well.
It’s Friday morning, September 12, and the iPhone update 2.1 has just been released, with promises of “Fewer Dropped Calls” from Apple and “More Bars in More Places” from AT&T.
As I sit here in my own home with my 2G iPhone five inches from my keyboard, I have five bars on the Edge network from a tower I can see from my patio door.
Previously, the 3G coverage was spotty here in my home in south Charlotte, an area showing solid coverage on AT&T’s map — Not downtown, but comfortably inside the urban sprawl of the banking center of the south, and certainly not out amongst the cows and chickens.
The update is complete! Time to see 2.1′s enhanced, zippy 3G coverage.
“No Service!?”
Same spot. Watch the bars come back when I turn off 3G. Watch them disappear when I turn it on. Restart. Same thing.
Dang! Turn off 3G and back to Edge network with two days of battery life.
Remind me. Why did I buy the new iPhone? Oh yeah. The GPS — neat when I use the apps ‘Where’ and ‘Distance’ inside my house.
This does not bode well.
I have a client who wanted a new MacBook, but also needed a bigger hard drive for her humongous photoshop files and client projects. Like most graphic designers, she watches her pennies.
With Adobe CS3, she won’t notice the difference between the 2.0 and the 2.4 GHz MacBooks, so memory and hard drive become the limiting factors.
I went online and googled for bargains. Lo and behold, our favorite sponsor, OtherWorld Computing popped up with a sweet deal and a really good price.
For the same $300 (plus tax at Apple) that she would have paid for an extra 90 Gigabytes of hard drive, Miss Client gets a Samsung 500 GB hard drive, and an external USB enclosure for her old drive.
On top of that, is a 4 GB ram upgrade for $139 which would cost $150 at Apple. (and I get the old RAM!)
Miss Client is happy.
I’m happy.
OWC is happy.
I sincerely hope that everything Obama said is absolutely true. I wish him the best of luck in seeing the country through these difficult times.
But, until his actions give proof to his words, I’m still going to watch him like a hawk.
Owen Rubin compares custom and DJ earphones at the iFrogz booth with their creative director.
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Kevin Clover of Dr. Bott with Matt Saye and Bill Palmer, our friends from iProng.
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Mark Rudd learns about new high-capacity hard drives from a Rep at the Iomega booth
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Owen inspects a laptop cooling pad with Kelly Reeves, our contact at Targus.
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Tim with Adam Karneboge, who was our original teenage webmaster at MyMac Magazine. Adam now runs two Mac specialist retail stores in suburban Chicago.
Bob LeVitus shows off the small but powerful Altec portable speaker
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Remarkable Westone 3 in-ear, premium headphones being worn by Westone people . . . I wonder why they wouldn’t let Nemo try them?
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Happy winner of our Prosoft MyMac quiz is pleased with his prize, The Prosoft girls feel that’s a good excuse to have a drink.
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MyMac Apple quiz in action.
Guy Serle, Owen Rubin, and Tim Robertson looking concerned as the ProSoft Quiz gets under way.
Tim runs the contest while Guy hides behind the screen that holds the question.
The aforementioned screen, question, and Guy Serle . . . all unhid.
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Bunny-eared teenagers mug for the camera while resting up for another bout of button collecting.
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Bob LeVitus demos Office 2008, to accompany his book. And no, that’s not the book his Mac’s sitting on.
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Nemo covets the sexy-looking Parrot hi-tech speakers by Philippe Starck.
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AKG headphones impress Nemo. Is it the quality of sound or sticker shock?
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Steve Jobs has announced he will be taking a “medical leave of absence” until June.
You and I can batten down the hatches for a storm of doom-sayers, and others whose lack of knowledge and expertise qualifies them to predict the future of Apple, Inc.
How does that affect us?
If you own stock, it’s going to do one of three things immediately — go up, down or stay stable. And all three, eventually. So, if you’re into Apple, Inc., hang tight. Surprisingly Steve’s presence is as much decorative as it is useful.
If you’re a fanboy or girl, nothing’s is going to change for a while. We loved Mac in the dark days of the 90s and we’ll continue to do so now that market share is over 10% of new computers sold. If you count “All computers in use,” market share is significantly higher.
If you’re the average Mac user, you’re just happy you don’t have to putz around getting a Windows box to work. “Steve Who?”
If you are a mainline journalist for CNN or just a hack blogger, THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR ILLS! Remember the three ‘P’s of yellow journalism, “Pontificate, Prognosticate, Prevaricate.”
So the rest of us can lean back and watch the muckrakers and bottomfeeders capitalize on Steve’s Pancreas. Just remember that they get paid by the word.
On Computerworld’s website today (March 12) they said the following:
Nine of the 16 flaws patched Thursday were in the open-source WebKit browser engine that forms the foundation of Safari; six affected only the Windows version, which runs on XP, Vista and Windows 7.
Notice they didn’t complete the math?
sixteen patches
minus nine webkit flaws
minus six Windows-only bugs
equals only one Apple specific bug left.
They just didn’t want to say it out loud, huh?
Guy Serle has a good article here on the iPad today, and covers lots of reasons why we agree that Apple has another hit.
I ordered mine yesterday, too. I ordered the 32 gig without 3G. So why would an old Apple Fanboy/techie like me ordered the “limited” version?
1. This will be principally used at home or one of our favorite hangouts where wifi is available.
2. This is mainly for my wife, who is losing her vision and can no longer read regular print books. Even large print books are becoming problematic. The iPad is:
a. Brighter than the Kindle and Nook.
b. Has a bigger screen.
c. Can zoom way close for ebooks and web sites.
d. Portable like the even MacBook is not.
e. Can be held close for easier seeing compared to her iMac.
3. I have the iPhone for 3G if I need 3G
4. I don’t need to spend another $30 a month for something I already have on the iPhone.
5. All her iPhone apps will work on the iPad.
6. I can create ebooks on my Mac and upload them to the iPad.
Now all I have to do is wait for April 3.
What IS the iPad?
Simply, it’s an iPod Touch on steroids.
Who will like it?
There is a separate class of user for whom the iPad is the perfect device — The Consumer.
The consumer is one who spends their time on the internet viewing the content created by others.
Who will not like it?
The Creator.
The creator builds web pages, writes articles, manipulates photographs, edits movies, and so on.
That’s it. If you’re a creator, you can stop reading now.
* * *
There is a small middle ground I’d like to cover. The iPad is good for another subset of people — The Presenter.
If you’re making a presentation on Keynote or Powerpoint, the iPad is a light, handy presentation device. Keynote for iPad at $9.99 is a bargain, but you should be aware that it suffers from some serious limitations.
- Fonts — You MUST use fonts that are on the iPad. Mac users creating presentations for PCs are familiar with this problem.
- Don’t expect your actions/transitions to be available on the iPad.
- Presenter notes are stripped out.
It appears that none of the iWork apps import your best files in a usable fashion. So if your iWork files are in any way non-vanilla, you’re stuck using your heavier MacBook for the time being.
So it boils down to this:
It’s not a laptop. Don’t expect it to create complex documents easily.
It’s not a phone. Don’t expect it to make calls or take pictures.
* * *
Now for the good news.
For surfing, email, games, and reading ePeriodicals & eBooks, the iPad is a wonderful device!
What it does, it does well, with Apple’s usual style and panache.
The on-screen keyboard is surprisingly usable. I can type almost as fast as on a regular keyboard. But then again, I look at the keys when I type.
It has almost a zero learning curve. If you’ve ever used an iPhone or iPod Touch, then you know how to use the iPad. If you also have an iPhone or iPod Touch, your apps will make the trip to your iPad automatically.
It blows the Kindle completely A-Way. My vision-impaired wife loves her iPad and is on it constantly. (Wanna buy a barely used Kindle?)
I don’t miss the absence of Flash.
The speakers and microphone are surprisingly good!
If you really must type on it, the Apple Bluetooth keyboard is said to work fine.
So if you are going to use it for the purpose for which it was intended, run right down to your local apple store and plunk down your bucks.
Three stars for the creative types
Three and a half stars for the presenter.
Four and a half stars for the consumer type.
As a registered old phart, I am constantly surprised at the way people get their knickers in a knot about cookies, sharing social network info and the like.
Let’s go back to the good old days.
You went to the Book store and bought a book. The nice lady there helped you, took your money and bid you a speedy return. When you did return, she welcomed you warmly and suggested you look at the new book by the same author. You looked at it but it was an double novel from ten years ago.
But still, you were pleased that she recognized you, remembered what you bought, and showed you something new along those lines.
Fast forward to today.
You go to Amazon dot com, buy your book and return to your Klondike game.
Next time you go to the web site you are recognized, greeted, and shown some books along the same lines of your past purchases. In all respects except for the drive and flirting with the clerk, it is the same scenario.
Why is this a bad thing? Cookies are how it happens. Delete your cookies and you have to start over each time you shop at the same site.
Now Facebook is taking it to a new level. If you have listed some favorite tunes on Facebook, and then visit Pandora. Your favorite artists are offered up. Facebook will be sharing your information with other sites so that they might tailor-make your visit experience.
Is this a bad thing? Have they gone too far?
If you feel it is, then you have an option to opt out and/or adjust your Facebook privacy settings.
I assume it’s all done with cookies only, and not a large file with user-sensitive information. In any case, on Facebook, go to . . .
Account/Privacy Settings/Applications and Websites and unclick the ‘Allow’ box.
This is short and not so sweet.
The Mac-centric press has been all over the fact that Steam is now available for the Mac.
Whoopee!
I am a casual gamer. Maybe once a week I’ll play a decahand of Klondike. Chuzzle is good for a half hour or so. Cowy the Minesweeper is only fun if you’re trying to beat your high score.
So let’s download Steam. OK. That’s done. Now download a game.
Seven Gigabytes! You gotta be freakin’ kidding me!
How bout America’s Army. I hear that has real targets — no orcs or elves anywhere in sight.
Downloaded. Play.
Sorry. This is not yet playable on the Mac.
Dang! I shoulda read it closer.
Delete.
Portal’s free. Let’s try that.
Download.
Play.
Sorry, your graphics card isn’t up to the challenge.
WHAT??!!! The graphics card in a Mac Pro can’t handle it?
Delete Portal.
Delete Steam.
Scroot.
Comments. Be heard!
MyMac Podcast #403
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