26 posts tagged “apple computer”

 The new iMacs where released just about 3 weeks ago, and I've some good and bad things about them. There's little doubt that it's a sharp looking machine, but some things are kind of disconcerting. Here are 5 things I don't like about the new iMacs.
5. No Dual Link DVI Currently, only two machines in Apple's lineup can power it's 30" display, the Mac Pro and the Macbook Pro. Now I can understand that, I really can, if your needing/wanting a 30" display, your probably a design pro that needs a professtional machine. However, the stupid thing is that if you where to go out and buy the consumer version of the HD 2600 Pro (which the 24" iMac uses as it's GPU) it would include one Dual Link DVI. Does it in the iMac? Nope. As I see it, Dual Link DVI is an essential part of a machine these days.
4. Underpowered GPU- Speaking of the GPU, it's kind of underpowered, don't you think? I used to be an ATI fanboy, but I recently went out and bought a 7600 GT (midrange card). It performed much better then it's competitor, the X1650 Pro. Now granted the X16xx series of GPU's performed pretty well under OS X, however the latest generation of hardware, the DX 10 stuff, performs dismally. The only "decent" cards are the 8800 GTX and the 8800 GTS. Everything is incredibly underpowered. Now granted, it's better then the intagrated crap they put into the Mac Mini and the Macbook, however not by much. And with Apple trying to pass the Mac off as a Gaming machine, there going to have a fun time with that, considering what there putting in there hardware.
3 No Removable Storage: I realize that Apple is all about keeping things elegant, but if I recall, when they announced the iMac G5 (Rev A) you could uncrew the back panel to add in things like more RAM, a bigger HDD and an Airport Card. What happened to that Apple? Granted you can invest in a NAS or an external VIA Firewire 400/800, however there are only 2 FW ports and 3 USB ports. So if you have a huge music collection or video collection, your stuck with an external solution and limited to the bandwith of FW/USB. Even the option of adding an eSATA port would be an improvement. But I really thing Apple should return to the model where you could do minor modications in the iMac.
2. No Upgrade to leopard- Not really a complaint, just an observation. First, Leopoard is supposedly due out soon, and these iMacs have been released  It would be nice APPLE, if you give your customers a discoount on Leopard, like what Microsoft did when it released Vista. As of right now, that doesn't look likely, things could change, but I somewhat doubt it.
1. Glossy- Alright, Apple, why, why WHY did you make the iMacs glossy without giving us a Matte option. You did it witth the Macbook Pro's, but why not with the iMacs? First of all, it leaves the photo nuts out in the cold as the Glossy throws off the colour of the photo's. If you even gave the option to get a Matte screen, it would be an improvement.

 So today was Apple's quarterly conference call and by all indications, Apple is still growing. In fact, profits where up 100% from last quarter. And the Mac and iPod are both gaining marketshare. Mac sales  grew by 36% shipping 1.5 million Macs while the iPod gained 24% shipping over 10 million iPods. All I can say is WOW. Apple is growing by leaps and bounds. I predict that this is the begining of the second golden age. The first golden age was in the 1980's when Steve Jobs was in the hot seat and they invented the Macintosh. Things went downhill from there with CEO's like Sculley, Spindler and Amelio took the company on a downward slope. With the return of Steve Jobs, things changed for the better. The iPod solved cashflow problems while OS X gave Apple hope in the OS market after a few embarrasing few years holding onto OS 9. Now Apple's on a roll. The consumer market, after shunning Mac's for years are starting to see that they can actually be decent computers. You can credit Intel and Steve Jobs as well as Jonathon Ive for creating beautiful, fast, functional computers. Now, the Company is better off than it was in it's short history. Aside from a few minor technical glitches, they're on track to increase marketshare. I plan on buying a Mac in the next few years and I plan on convincing my parents to invest in one as well when they buy they're next computer.
Just watch, Apple will outlast Apple, HP, and all of the PC manufacturers.

    If we look back 10 years ago in 1997 it was the beging in of the Rivival of Apple, the introduction of the Pentium II, the release of Windows 98.... Fast forward 10 years, you have Steve Jobs having begun the second golden age of Apple, Linux is more prominent then ever, and the Pentium architecture has been superseded by the new Core Architecture. Windows 98 has been surpassed by Windows ME, 2000 and XP and now where on to Vista. Chips are smaller and faster, computers are prettier (no longer Biege Boxes) etc.
    But my question is this: What will the the world be like in 10 years? Intel promises to have an 80 cores on a chip by 2011, but will the keyboard and mouse survive that long? As we see in the books that predict the future, voice recognition is the medium of choice for the future. But what about going farther? Computers are getting smaller and smaller and biotech is getting more and more advanced? Can you imagine cybernetics? Without any sensory input you can control a computer with your brain. Can you imagine that? You go your giant computer screen and think "Turn On". The computer turns on. You think "Let's check Email" The email client pop's up. Can you imagine that? It's like the Borg. Except not. Now we have computers that go up to a maximim of 3 Ghz. What in 10 years? 20 Ghz? 40 Ghz? A Teraflop? I can see the monikor now "A supercomputer in every home". Robots have become a commodity. They shop for you, clean for you, do all the nasty stuff you don't want to do. Artificial intelligence is now a reality. And that's just in 10 years. What about in 20,30, 40 even 50 years?
    Just my thoughts on the future?

 Windows Vista was released 4 weeks ago. It was Microsoft's major release in 5 years. Needless to say, it's packed full of features. With the shiny Aero glass, Bitlocker drive encryption, a redesigned media center, there is definitely some incentive to upgrade. But is it worth it? Let's take a look at this?
 4. Hardware Unless you have a machine that's been made in the last year, to year in a half, your going to need a hardware upgrade of some kind. And even if you have a new system, your going to need a hardware upg

rade of some kind. I have 1 GB of RAM in this new system, but in order to get decent performance out of any app (like Audition, Photoshop, etc.) you need 2 GB of RAM. And on top of this, if you invested in a new shiny DX 10 graphics card, you have to wait for Nvidia to get off it's but and write proper drivers.
    In comparrison, Mac OS X can run on a G3 (366 Mhz) 128 of RAM and a Radeon 7xxx to 9xxx  with most of the shiny Aqua based effects. What does that tel you? Mac. If your just a casual computer user,  go to your friendly Apple Store or Authorized Apple Reseller and get yourself a Mac Mini or iMac. Considering the amount you have to spend on hardware, plus a copy of Vista, a new mac is looking pretty good.
3. Software: Currently there are around 900 "Vista Certified" applications which is just a fancy of saying that the companies that make the software payed Microsoft a few thousand bucks to say "Yep, we'll make sure it works with Vista". Many of the apps that previously worked with XP no longer work Vista. It's only a matter of time, but it's still a pain in the butt. Adding to the misery, to get apps like Photoshop and Audition to perform decently you need 2+ GB of Memory. In contrast you can run most apps on Mac OS X with 1 GB of memory. Some apps require a bit more, but in the grand scheme of things, you don't need much memory
2.Virtulization: Here's where Microsoft screws you over big time.If anyone likes to use virtualization, stick with your copy of XP Pro. If you like to virtualize Linux or any other operating system, you need to go out and buy a copy of Vista Bussiness or Ultimate. Guess what? You can get Parrallel's for Mac to virtualize Windows, Linux, OS/2 (why?) and other opearating system. And it only costs you $79 and an Intel based Mac.
1. Next Release: Windows Vista is the lastest release and matches the features of OS X Tiger. But Tiger is reaching new of Life and the next release is on the way. OS X 10.5 Leopard promises to have updated Spolight, Dashboard, and new features included Spaces,Time Machine, iCal, iChat and many others. Apple will probably release Leopard in the next few months with 10.6 coming in early or late 2008. So once again, Microsoft is going to go play catch up.
    That's my take on Vista vs. OS X. What you buy is your business, but I urge casual computer users and non-gamers to swtich to Mac to avoid the deathtrap that is Vista.

So the iCEO doesn't like DRM after all. A letter posted on Apple.com today speaks volumes more then what's on the page. It tu rn

s out even though Apple uses DRM, Steve Jobs (who is probably one of the most famous music fanatics in the tech industry.) says that if consumers could the "Big 4" (EMI, BMG, Universal and  Warner) to not use DRM on it's content, Apple would embrace it "in a heartbeat". Apparently the only way that the record labels would put the music on iTunes would be to DRM it. At least Apple is a bit sensitive to consumer needs and doesn't DRM it to death (like Microsoft, Real and Sony.) So will Apple get rid of Fairplay? Not likely. Unless the there is a massive revolution in the content industry, Apple is not likely to drop Fairplay. and the entire DRM thing. I don't think Mr. Jobs want to be stuck with no content on one of the major points that made Apple profitable again (iTunes and iPod) I think the only that would allow for a massive change in the DRM schemes is a complete and total consumer rebellion against DRM. Where starting to see the begining of that now with the rejection of Microsoft's Zune device. It might take some time but I believe that sooner rather then later, DRM will go the way of the dodo bird. I'll look back on this later in life when DRM is gone and say "I remember when we had DRM on our music and we could do certain things with our content. I'll be happy when that comes.

     Today was the first day of the Consumer Electronics show in (VIVA!) Las Vegas. Needless to say, there is some pretty cool stuff. Having watch both the DL.tv and Lab Rats podcasts, it's clear that on day one,there was tonnes of stuff announced, with tonnes more to come in the next few days. Last night, Bill Gates gave a keynote and demo'd some really cool, never before seen features in Vista. One of these features is the ability of use the Windows Search to search not only the PC you are currently using, but also all of the PC's on your network that are using Vista. But wait there More! You can even use an Xbox 360 controller to play games on your PC. And the final feature demo'd at Bill Gates' keynote? Full HD motion desktop in Vista. I can't recall the name right now but it looks awsome.
    Final thing. Tomorrow is the Stevenote at Macworld Expo. It's sure to be a great time and as I have last period off, I'll be home early and blogging about it as developments roll in. It's sure to be a blast
This is just the beginging, it'll be fun to see what the rest of the week brings.

Well 2006 is almost gone and I'm looking forward to 2007. 2006 has been a busy year. New technologies have made there way unto the desktop, mobile and server markets. Intel released it's new Core platforms while AMD is on the verge of it's 4x4 architecture being released. nvidia released it's revolutionary new series 8 GPU, using a new architecture that increases GPU performance many times over.    Apple Computer has made it's much awaited Intel transition, unveiling new notebooks and desktops. Microsoft is on the verge of a new era with the release of Windows Vista within the next 30 days. The world itself has been very busy, with a regime change, the first in the 13 years. Stephen Harper and his Conservatives swept to power in January with a minority. On the international stage, Israel and Lebanon with a 3 month, requiring the mass evacuation of citizens from dozens of nations. 
Onto the Categories:
Technology 

Best Gadget: Sanyo Xacti HD-1A (Previous: Apple iPod/iPod Nano)
With the world going HD it's time for the camcorder world to go HD as well. This thing is tiny. You can fit it into your shirt pocket, it's that tiny. It shoots in 720p. And here's the cool thing: It takes SD cards. A 2 GB card will shoot about 30 minutes for of footage. Now that might not sound like a lot, but when your shooting HD video that's pretty good. So say you get 6 2 GB cards, that's 3 hours of HD video. I can see in '07 the Xacti facing some competition from Canon and Sony, but for now it's the best in it's class.

Honorable Mention: 2G iPod Shuffle

I considered putting this as the Best Gadget of the year, however I'm trying not be biased in favor of Apple, but this second generation shuffle is sweet. It's smaller than the 1^st generation, made of metal instead of plastic and looks much better. I'm considering getting one for my Mom for her birthday in July.

Worst Gadget: Microsoft Zune (Previous: N/A)
Now this may seem biased but I have several reasons for this. First of all, let me state that I love the hardware. It's a nice device. The rubberized plastic is nice and the colors look pretty cool (except for the brown one.) The screen is beautiful. It's bigger than the one on the iPod and looks Nice. The interface is pretty cool and looks very pretty. I believe it gives you the ability to use custom images as the background. Like I said, love the hardware, kudo's to the guys who designed it. But then, Microsoft, being the “Oh we have to play nice with the industry”. Coperation that it is, decided to DRM pretty much everything on the Zune. Say you use the Wi-Fi to share a song, even if it's a song you composed or it's supposed to be shared under Creative Commons applies DRM to it (which is a violation of Creative Commons.) So, in short the Zune had a lot of potential, but that was before Balmer got ahold of it and decided to please the record industry. The status quo is unchanged, iPod is still on top.

Best Overall Product: Intel Core 2 Duo (Previous: N/A)
Intel released Core Duo processors just under a year ago and followed this July with the new Core 2 Duo processors. What makes the Core 2 so special? It's a huge leap forward for the industry. For a while, Intel, in the words of Jerry Pournelle: “They had computers could could bake Pizza in” which is not far from the truth. The Prescott chips ran hot. And the next generation of Pentium 4's really didn't help either. So after a 5 year stint with the NetBurst architechture, Intel moved on to a completely new architecture known as Core. And guess who came up with it? The Israeli's. (they saved Intel's bacon.) Instead of running every single possibility through the processor (guessing basically), the new Core architecture runs eveything in Parallel, which makes things much faster. The amount of L2 cache has almost doubled. The max Intel had on it's chips was 2x 1 MB on the Pentium D series. Now the Low end Core 2 (1.86 Ghz) has 2 MB of L2 with the 2.13, 2.4,2.66 and 2.93 Ghz having 4 MB of L2 cache. That's a lot of cache and it makes this chips really fast. Ideal for gaming and video editing. Needless to say, Apple made a good move when they jumped ship for the PPC platform. The Core 2 Duo is a revolution in micro-processor technology.

Worst Overall Product: Sony Laptop Batteries (Previous:Sony Rookit'd CD's)
Sony has not managed to stop it's losing streak. For the second year running they are running the “Worst” categories. Last year they blundered with the Rootkit'd CD caused an uproar. Now they're the faulty Laptop batteries caused a major brouhaha in the tech community with almost 12 million of them recalled. I mean come on Sony, when will you get your act together? They just can't seem to get all of there policies to work together for the betterment of the coperation as a whole. Recently Matsushita has claimed that they have developed a fireproof Laptop battery that will not explode. Well see how this pans out. So for the second year running, Sony has produced a product that is anti-consumer. Hopefully 2007 will be a better year for Sony.

Best Executive: Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical Ltd (Previous:Steve Jobs, CEO Apple Computer)
Shuttleworth, an international Entrepreneur has become a pioneer with the Linux operating system by taking it from the enthusiast market of PC power users and open source advocates such as Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds to people who can't afford Windows. Shuttleworth has funded the development of Ubuntu and it's sister projects and so far it's a major success. Many people who saw Linux as a complex OS only for experienced users. I'm pushing for adoption within both the education system at my church which is setting up a community computer lab. Needless to say that Shuttleworth, a modern Stallman or Torvalds. Shuttleworth deserves his place as Best Executive of the Year for leading Ubuntu to the place it's at now.

Worst Executive:Patricia Dunn (Previous: N/A)
Dunn screwed up royally. If you don't know what happened this summer, Dunn was caught using gestapo like tactics to investigate several HP board members and technology journalists. She used a practice known as pretexting in which the companies she hired to investigate lied to aqquire phone records and other confidential information. Thus, she earns the Worst Executive on this list for 2006.

Best Overall Cooperation: Canonical (Previous Apple Computer)
This year Ubuntu Linux, which is Canonical's main product hit the mainstream with many anti-DRM advocates including Corey Doctorow adopting Ubuntu instead of Windows or Mac OS X. Although Edgy Eft was a bit of a bumpy upgrade, I look forward to Fiesty Fawn next April. Canonical has made Ubuntu a mainstream product in the open source world and the Linux flavour of choice for both beginners and Linux veterans alike.

Worst Overall Coperation: RIAA (Previous Sony BMG)
What's there to say?The RIAA is the type of organization that is the zenith of not consumer friendly. They sue grandmother's who scratch their heads when they here the word “BitTorrent” and “P2P Networks”. They go after people who don't have a computer, much less an internet connection. They favor the DMCA and are against Net Neutrality. What's there to like about them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

General News

Best Politican: Peter Stoffer MP Sackville-Eastern Shore (Previous: N/A)
My MP is the greatest. I have sent in various letters for a number of causes and every time he has responded with a positive phone call. He really cares about his constituents unlike many MP's in Central Canada. He also supports the troops, health care and many of the things. He has no political agenda and that earns him the honor of  Best Politician of '06. 

Worst Polictian: Belinda Stronach (Previous: Belinda Stronach)
Ms. Stronach ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2003. When she did, I respected her imensley. Her policies where sound and she had a likeable personality. Things have gone down hill since. She jumped ship to the Liberal Party in May of last year and alleged to have had an affair with Tie Domi, star player of the Toronto Maples Leaf's. In short, she's an opportunist and I don't like opportunist's. At least in government. The government is here to serve the people, not your own selfish self interests. She's the worst politician in Canada for 2006, for the second year running.

Worst Policy: Stay the Course (Previous: N/A)

Up until this past month, U.S. President George W. Bush has kept on his policy of “Stay the Course” in Iraq. That policy, is costing not only American soldiers there lives, but also the lives of Iraqi's. What good has it done up until this point? Hundreds of Iraq's die every day, for no apparent reason. American soldiers die as well, also for no apparent reason. This policy is soon to be reversed as Bush and his military advisors look for other option in and a new direction in Iraq.

Best Policy: Accountability Act (Previous: N/A)
Last January the Conservatives swept there way to power after 13 years of Liberal rule. With it, Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced the Accountability Act which gave the Auditor General more power to investigate the spending of the government as well as giving protection to whistle blowers and putting a 5 year lobbying ban on ministers. This Act was the keystone of Harper's election campaign ans was a breath of fresh air considering the rampant corruption in government the past few years. The Accountability Act of 2006 is the Best Policy of 2006.

Best News Story:It's a Series of Tubes! (Previous N/A)

People in the tech community will recall that in June Sen. Ted Stevens, while in committee debating a Net Neutrality Bill called the Internet a “Series of Tubes”. The tech community both in and outside of the United States LAMO'd at Mr. Steven's bumble. It remains a frequent joke in the tech community and is my pick in 2006 for best news story.

Worst News Story: James Kim (Previous Hurricane Karina)

Although there are many of these for 2006, this one stands out for me. James and his family got lost on a remote Oregon road. His family survived, but he himself died of hypothermia, trying to get help. This earns James the worst Story of 2006 and a honorable mention on this list.

    Tha's my take on 2006. I'm off to New Brunswick again tomorrow and I'll be back again on the 30th. I might post once or twice when up there, but I might also take a bit of a hiatus from blogging. But I will definitely post before the new year. I hope everyone is having a great holiday and see on guys later.

Virtunate

    So tonight, after I studied rigourously for my Math test, may parents took me and my brother out shopping. Why? I guess they

wanted to have a look around and I guess have just get a general idea of what we want on our Christmas List.First Stop, Future Shop. After browsing around and drooling a bit in the HD TV section (there was a Samsung running a tutorial vidoe on a Blu-Ray player, it looked nice. I wandered over to the computer section. They I remembered Boredsvunut telling me about an iMac that she had tried out when she had been there earlier. And that was before the 24" iMac was released earlier this fall. And guess what? There was one on Display. So I wonder over to try it out and, it's better than what they show on the Apple website. The display was huge. Where talking about 2' of screen here. Anyway's the iMac was beautiful. Moreso than Vista could ever be. I mean, OS 9 sucked. But OS X? Beatiful, pure beaty. I also ran into a Guy who was also drooling over the iMac. His first computer was an Apple II. He also supports the Open Source Movement and his favorite Distro's are Mindriva and SUSE. He doesn't like Ubuntu, but meh, there are so many flavours of Linux out there, I could really care less. I really wish I could've gotten the guys name,  he was one of the old school geeks that you see (read: Steve Wozniak circa 1976) The  guy was quite interesting and we talked  for about 20 minutes and advised a couple not to buy a copy of  Microsoft Office for Mac because A) It costs a hourendous amount of money.  and B) There's a new release scheduled for sometime next year and it's better to wait. You'd think we worked there, huh? But anyway, that was the hightlight of my  night,  everything else was pretty un-eventful . But there was one more thing. Tomorrow the Wii launches and outside of future shop,  I saw people who where lined up to get one. THey where outside of the store. Several where playing cards, you could see people  sleeping etc. It was quite amusing. And I explained to my parent what all the hype was about.  I think I got throught  to them , but you never know with technologically illiteratte people.

    Today Microsoft released the long awaited (at least for the Windows fan boys.) upgrade to Internet Explorer. It's the first upgrade in almost 5 years and, in contrast to the much hated IE 6, IE 7 has a bright new look and a bunch of new features. As a I mentioned last week, I have no intention of installing IE 7 as I am a devoted supporter of the Open Source Mo

vement and thus, of Firefox. And guess what? Less than 24 hours after the release the is the first vulnerability of IE 7. Wow. That's gotta be a record. Less than 24 hours and the first vulnerability of IE 7 has been discovered. Microsoft has yet to patch it, and they say that they will take "appropriate steps" to fix the problem. Okay. Take those approriate steps soon. Even though I don't use IE, it still makes me nervous when you have a vulnerability in the OS. So with all the shiny new features and the new "security features" should you use IE? At this point, in my opinion (which probably won't matter in the large scheme of things.) I'm going to say that you should not go out and download it. Even with all the new technology and features it's still not as secure as either Firefox or Opera. And the UI is not all that it's cracked up to be. I hate the way they've designed the buttons and the link buttons and such. I still prefer my trusty copy of Firefox 2 RC3. The final version of Firefox 2, as far as I know will be out on October 24. That's the date I've been hearing for a while and unless I've missed that it's changed, it should be coming out in 5 days. If your tired of IE and you want a new browser try out either Firefox, Opera or if your adventurous, try the new browser, Flock.
     People, what's up with you? You want Apple to get out of the hardware business and license the Mac to Dell? Noooooo. Nonnononono. What's the thing that Apple does really well? Design. That's one of the main factors that makes the Mac so appealing. In comparison to the very industrial, dull design of Dell, the Mac is beautiful. And the main thing that makes up most of Apple's business is Hardware! Mac OS X, although that is a crucial component to the success equation Apple is now using. Going into the software business wouldn't do anything for Appple. In fact I think that it would cripple Apple as a company as the market share is so small for Macs. It's better for Apple to keep making beatiful Macs and for Dell to keep making it's design-deprived PC's

Looking around the 'net tonight after I finished all the work I needed to get done for tomorrow, I found an article on Cnet about Microsoft and staying the course with the Xbox division. Last year it counted a $1.26 billion dollar loss as the highlight of the year But this is Microsoft. It's a land where everything is possible....That is, if you play within the rules. Rules at Microsoft, just to name a few.

1. Open Source is Bad. It promotes the idea that people can actully do things on there own. Anyone caught using Linux, Firefox, Thunderbird, the GIMP or any other Open Source program will immediately be either shot or tortured for 48 hours (i.e. have Balmer yell "Wiindows Windows Windows Windows...." at your for 24 hours straight and then see him collapse and go to the hospital to have surgery on his vocal chords.)
2. Anyone caught using a Mac will be subjected to the above torture.  Macs are the spawn of satan. Also anyone caught using an iPod will immediately be sent to there cubicle to rot forever by Balmer.
   
3. DRM is your friend. DRM protects our big nice cosy relationship with the big companies like Sony, BMG, Universal, EMI and others.
4. Anyone  caught with a picture of the following people in there procession will be made to kiss the feet of Steve Balmer and Bill Gates 48,000,000,000,000 times. Or however long it takes you to die or your lips to fall off, whichever comes first.
   Eric Smechit, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, the Mac Guy from the "Get a Mac ads",Linux Torvalds and any one who is associated with Open Source community.

    It might be the fact that I hate Microsoft with my entire being because of the entire supporting DRM thing or the WGA thing or the "3 different kinds of DRM thing" but whatever is, I reallly reallly really don't like Microsoft. I don't know about Vista yet, but I think it's just going to be a clone of Tiger. And Apple's putting out a new version of OS X this spring. And it will be better than Vista.
Xbox may be the only thing Microsoft has done right in the past several years. I haven't tried out the 360 yet, but the fact that Microsoft managed to get it on the market a year early is either a real blunder on Microsoft's part or a real stroke of genius. I'm split. That $1 billion loss is nothing to laugh at but from what I can tell the 360 has been quite sucessful in comparrison to what the current generation of Nintendo and Sony consoles on the market. Unless Microsoft makes changes in the way it manages thing, in terms of it's Windows division the way it manages things like Open Source and Mac software, the word "Microsoft" will be associated with the word "failure" in the next few years.