A tribute by Mark Rudd
If we define a friend as someone who desires what is best for others and enriches the lives of those around him, then Steve Jobs was indeed my friend. As the news of his passing broke across the various media outlets, I was saddened as though I had lost someone close. I could not understand why I was feeling the impact of his passing so profoundly. I began to try and understand how I could feel this sense of loss at the passing of someone I had never really known on a personal level.
As an Apple employee, I received an Apple ][ for free and was able to later purchase a Mac SE20 for a significantly discounted price. These two products fundamentally changed my life, and a love for technology was born. Through his vision and drive, Steve made these products a reality. While the Apple ][ was more of a rudimentary, when compared to the gaming of today, gaming novelty, the Macintosh, its interface, and software changed my life in so many wonderful ways.
Download & Listen here
TechFan 50 celebrates Steve Jobs with a large panel of contributors, including Tim Robertson, David Cohen, Guy Serle, GazMaz, David Biedney, Sam Levin, Rich Lefko, Steve Hammond, Antonio Gómez, Scott Willsey, and Mark Greentree.
Contact the show
feedback@mymac.com and leave a message at 1-801-938-5559
Should Apple REALLY think different and stop making Apple-branded Macs? How does a Lenovo Mac sound to you?
Continue reading »
It’s hard to express the sense of relief I feel after the 2011 WWDC keynote by Steve Jobs today. FINALLY. Apple does get it.
For months (years?), many of us have been increasingly impatient for untethered syncing for our iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads. We’ve seen tantalizing glimpses of the potential that iOS devices that do not require a computer for full functionality could provide. For years, many people have been wishing for an easier way to manage our media and make it easier to get it on the devices that we are going to take with us, whether that be our laptops, iPods, iPhones, or iPads.
Now, thanks to some much overdue and needed features coming in OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud, my daughter will never know a time when media was cumbersome to move around, or when a portable computing device required a less portable computing device for activation, backups, and updates. And that’s good. I have experienced all that, and can’t see why anyone else should. There’s no way that a forward looking computing future could continue on such a clunky, outdated model.
Continue reading »
It’s no secret that I like Apple products. The only computers in our house are Macs, my wife and I both have iPhones, and I was in line to buy an iPad 2 the day it was released.
I don’t consider myself an unthinking Apple fanboy, however. Sometimes Apple products have problems. Sometimes Apple wants to protect me more than I want them to. And I will admit, as much as I love my iPad now, when I first tried my Dad’s original iPad, I was slightly underwhelmed. I didn’t need one right away.
Continue reading »
Download the show here, and subscribe to ALL the MyMac Podcast Network Show here
Don is in BIG trouble with the GMen! He promised to be on but let his daughter’s 18th Birthday get in the way! BAD Don! We have a great show regardless with a good discussion about Lawyers, Guns, and Money but without the guns as it relates to recent events concerning Apple and Google. That’s followed up with a good laugh (from Guy anyway) about Microsoft taking over big in the mobile market at Apple’s expense.
Links: Continue reading »
NetNewsWire
Left4Dead 2 on Steam
Samson Go Mic on Amazon
OK, Apple is running a new contest. The person to download the 10 billionth app will receive an iTunes gift card worth $10,000. Obviously I’M going to win this contest so no one will need to bother to even consider their worthiness. Why am I so confident? It’s all in the math baby!
Continue reading »
When I first heard about Apple’s Mac App Store my initial impression was this was going to be ANOTHER add-on to iTunes which needed it as much as a hole in the head.
Continue reading »
I love technology. I may not be an early adopter, but eventually I get all the latest and greatest: Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Flip Mino…well, you get the idea. Does this make me a material girl?
Yes. And no.
In the age of Google, Dropbox, Chrome OS, online backup, and remote access solutions, it’s pretty evident that cloud computing is already mainstream. What types of cloud computing and how much of our data is going to wind up in the cloud are issues that are still being worked out. And nowhere do those questions need to be asked more than with Apple’s MobileMe service.
Listen to the show here, and get it for FREE every week in iTunes
Tim Robertson and David Cohen discuss interactive gaming. Okay, video games, sheesh! From two guys who grew up on video games, we look at where the technology was at in our childhood, the rise and fall of the arcade, the coming of the home gaming market, how Apple and iOS is changing the way we find and consume games, and what the future may hold.
Contact us at tim@mymac.com or leave a message for the show at 1-801-938-5559
Yesterday Apple announced that anyone with an iPad, iPhone 4, or iPod touch (4th generation) that is running iOS 4.2 can sign up for the Find My iPhone service for free without having to have a MobileMe subscription. You can register for the service through the Find My iPhone app available in the app store.
People with a MobileMe account already have this functionality as part of what they are paying for.Those who don’t can sign into the Find My iPhone app using your Apple ID (the same account you log into your iTunes account with) and get set up. Once you’ve done that, you can either log into the MobileMe web site using your Apple ID, or use the Find My iPhone app to find any of your iOS devices wherever they might be.
Unfortunately, getting set up initially requires an iPad, iPhone 4, or 4th generation iPod touch. People with an iPhone 3gs and no iPad, for example, will be out of luck. People who do have a qualifying device can register, and then once registered, find any of their iOS devices, regardless of revision, using the service.
Since my iPhone 3gs is the most recent iOS device I own, I wasn’t able to set myself up to use the free Find My iPhone service. However, I’m still excited about it, and it’s because of the fact that they have made a MobileMe service available to non-MobileMe subscribers using the Apple ID as a login.
I’m hoping this is an indication of things to come. It would be great if we could eventually log into MobileMe without having to register a MobileMe account, just using our Apple ID, and use other services like cloud storage, streaming iTunes music, and data synchronization between devices, just to name a few.
It’s possible that Apple’s new data center is just going to be used to keep iTunes running under ever increasing load, or to provide space for the current and future MobileMe subscribers under the same for pay model that exists today. But it’s also possible that Apple is going to start making these services available to any Apple customer with an Apple ID, which means anyone who has ever logged into the iTunes store to buy music or iOS device apps.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Listen to the show here, and subscribe via iTunes (For FREE!)
David Cohen has lust for 11-inches. That, plus Apple, Microsoft, old technology, and the Nook are subjects Tim Robertson and David discuss this week on the TechFan Podcast
Apple iPhone 4 Bumper (currently unavailable for sale)
Griffin Reveal Etch iPhone 4 Case — $29.99
Griffin Elan Frame iPhone 4 Case — $29.99-$34.99
Griffin Outfit Ice iPhone 4 Case — $29.99
By now, the big to-do about iPhone 4 reception issues and Apple’s Case Program seems to have subsided. That being the said, need for a case for your iPhone 4 is still just as great as it has ever been. A recent incident in my own life drove that point home to me clearly.
Just recently while out fishing with my father, I learned a real lesson about the importance of having a case on your iPhone. Let me give you some good advice; don’t keep your phone in your pants pocket while walking around in a boat! Having been an avid fisherman for nearly all of my forty years, I have never fallen out of a boat while fishing — until last weekend.
While placing the boat on the trailer at the boat ramp, I tripped and fell headfirst out of my boat and into the balmy sixty-degree waters of Owasco Lake, one of upstate New York’s famous Finger Lakes. Not only was it truly embarrassing, but with my iPhone 4 in my pocket, I was certain it was instantly ruined! In fact, as I was falling all I could think of was the fact that my iPhone was about to bite the dust. Fortunately, I was testing out the Griffin Outfit Ice case, which provided just enough protection to save my iPhone 4 from ruination.
Since the introduction of Apple’s new iPod lineup on September 1st, there has been a lot of commentary on the internet about the new iPod nano. While most people seem to view it as a worthy update that creates a very nice, focused music player, some people are upset with Apple for removing features that were in the previous generation of nano. I think they are wrong to perceive the changes negatively. Apple’s decision to go against conventional wisdom and remove features from the new nano makes sense, in my opinion.
Book Review: Take Control of Apple Mail in Snow Leopard (Ebook version)
By Joe Kissell
Take Control Ebooks
$15.00 US
Apple Mail is a free product that comes with every Mac and OS X operating system disc. This is both a strength and a weakness. Apple Mail is a fairly simple email client, which means that it is easy to use in most respects. On the other hand, it has some idiosyncrasies that can make it feel limiting and frustrating at times. The ebook Take Control of Apple Mail in Snow Leopard by Take Control Ebooks from Tidbits Publishing, Inc., by author Joe Kissell, can help make using Apple Mail both easy and productive.
Take Control of Apple Mail in Snow Leopard is 133 pages, and covers every conceivable aspect of Apple’s Mail application. The book walks you through setting up accounts, reading and searching messages, address and contact handling, sending email, encryption and signed email options, managing mailboxes, synchronizing mail across multiple devices, and many more Mail related topics.
One of the joys of buying consumer electronics is having to decide whether or not to purchase a warranty for your shiny new toy. Most warranties are fairly limited, expensive, and generally worth thinking about carefully before deciding to purchase. But not so with AppleCare. AppleCare is a no brainer. If you’re considering buying an Apple product, and you’re not planning on getting AppleCare, then Lucy, you have some ‘splainin to do.
Apple’s web site shows AppleCare options for Mac and Apple display, iPod and Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. What might not be obvious is that if you purchase AppleCare for your Mac, it will also cover things other than the Mac and an external Apple display, such as a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme. I’m not sure how Apple handles it if there’s any question about the other device being purchased at a different date than the Mac, but I have firsthand experience that they will honor it.
Continue reading »
As an iPhone 3GS owner, I’ve been watching with interest as companies have started releasing Android phones with larger screens. The Motorola Droid X and the HTC both have 4.3 inch screens, compared to the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4′s 3.5 inch display. The Droid X is 12.3 mm taller and 6.9 mm wider than the iPhone 4, and weighs almost .7 ounces more. Dell is going to be introducing a phone that’s being branded as an android tablet, the Dell Streak, with a 5 inch display.
Certainly more screen real estate comes in handy. Apple certainly recognized this and released the iPad, which has been selling very well. People are finding that the additional screen real estate really transforms how the device is used compared to their iPhones and iPod Touches, and people who have them love them. So, especially after seeing the iPad spark massive interest, it’s understandable that some of the other smartphone manufacturers would be tempted to think that making the screens on their devices larger is a great idea. But there is a flip side to this, and Cnn.com has an article talking about the problem of phones too big for pockets.
As a longtime iPhone and Apple customer, I have been a fan of the design choices Apple has made to bring me a mobile phone that intelligently balances hardware, software, and industrial design. I was blown away by the revolution that was the original iPhone. After spending some quality time with the new iPhone 4, I feel like it is, The Second Coming of iPhone.
Continue reading »
The birth of my geekdom happened on a rainy day in late 1982. I had been working for Apple long enough to qualify for my free computer which every employee received once they completed their probationary period. I received a call from the human resources employee and she walked me to the “Apple Store” (a makeshift caged area used to store merchandising products and computer systems).
As I loaded the boxes onto a dolly and wheeled the precious cargo out to my car, I don’t think my feet touched the ground once. Surely I must have had a dumb silly smile on my face the entire time. I finally had a computer of my very own. Oh how excited I was to open the boxes. If only I had a video camera back then, well, and the Internet. Can you say, “unboxing?”
I can still remember the smells, textures, and sense of amazement as I removed the CPU, floppy drive, and monitor out of their boxes. There it was, my very own Apple ][. My life and bank account would never be the same. Growing up, our family had an Atari console which seemed to have Pong loaded most days of the week. However, this was completely different. Something changed that day. I then began to look at the world through rainbow colored glasses. I was not just an Apple employee; I was an Apple evangelist.
Comments. Be heard!