Computer related stuff (and computer-related gadgets).
There has been a lot of comments about the glossy finish in the new MacBooks, many of them link John Siracusa’s article approvingly.
This is a reminder why a Mac fanboy like myself hates Mac zealotry: “Reflections! Glare! These are not good things!â€
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If you remember from an earlier post, I pointed out that Creative’s strategy just doesn’t understand the iPod market. With over $1 billion in iPod-related accessories sold last year alone, the iPod is not just a device, it is a platform.
It seems Creative has given up trying to compete with Apple, and is suing Apple on the “Zen Patent.†This smacks of desperation to me.
One thing not noted by a lot of blogs linking this lawsuit: although the patent was only recently awarded, Creative applied for this patent before the iPod existed (they applied for the patent in January 2001, the iPod was released that October). Back then, Creative had the Nomad: a shitty player if there ever was one—I borrowed a friends at the time and decided to stick with my Rio and wait it out. It was probably the first hard-drive based MP3 player (there may have been one other).
It is fine debating prior-art and the triviality of the patent (how else are you going to navigate a hierarchical menu except sequentially?), but don’t dismiss the lawsuit out-of-hand.Continue reading
As has been mentioned many times on the blogs already, The Apple v. Apple lawsuit ended in favor of Apple Computer.
And to everyone who claimed that that Apple Corps were sure to win, I’d like to point out more of us need to do a common sense parse of the news we read.
Look, if Apple Computer actually expected to lose this lawsuit do you think they would have merged their countersuit in California (home turf) into the one in Great Britain (enemy turf)? Did you miss the part where Apple didn’t “lose†the last two lawsuits, but settled? That because they were settled, people could only deduce the implications of the settlement and nobody besides the two Apples and the judge actually could actually be qualified to make a ruling?
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The 17″ MacBook Pro was announced today at NAB for $2800.
It has the following differences from the high-end 15.4″ MacBook Pro ($2500 retail):
Here is a strange quirk. If you build-to-order the latter with the last two additions (2.16Ghz processor for $300 and 120GB HD for $100), it ends up costing $100 more than the 17″ computer. So you can get a larger screen, firewire 800, dual layer higher speed burner, and an extra USB port for $100 less!
(I figure the Firewire 800 addition is because the better heat dissipation qualities of the larger notebook. If that is the case, I wonder if they stopped underclocking the video chip in this model. I’d have thought the dual layer burner in a 17″ would only be because it was thicker than the 15.4″, except that it isn’t—they’re both 1 inch thick. This specification may have a lot to do with the target market (video) and their penchant to be willing to pay for the top of the line.)
This means that the 17″ MacBook Pro is a good deal (or the 15.4″ MacBook Pro is a bad one).Continue reading
If you have a Macintosh, don’t install Adobe Flash Player beta (formerly Macromedia Flash).
It will crash Safari (and other applications that use the entire WebKit like DEVONthink) after my Powerbook (Mac OS X 10.4.6) wakes from sleep.Continue reading
Aperture 1.1 was released as a free update today. If you own Aperture, see Software Update. (My comments about it are here.)
In my original review of Aperture, the only real complaint I had was the price, which was too close to PhaseOne CaptureOne. I felt that Apple should undercut them like Final Cut Pro did to Avid. Well, if you own Aperture 1.0 like I do, you can get a $200 coupon good for future Apple Store purchases (Academic users get a $100 one).
By the way, this also means a $200 price drop to Aperture to $300 from $500.
Now how is that for service?Continue reading
The first time I heard of ”player hater” was about four years ago when Sean showed me the Star Wars Gangsta Rap viral video. If you somehow missed that, you need to watch it. If you’ve already seen it 100 times, one more won’t hurt. 🙂
Gizmodo reports the hate for a different sort of player, the iPod and iTunes Music Store. This hate appears in the form of the never-ending Apple v. Apple lawsuit.
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Pity Microsoft sometimes.
What possess them to send out hype announcements just before a Steve Job’s keynote/event? I know Apple has a tiny marketshare, but in the geek world, their mind share is huge. This is why Apple’s announcements top Google News Sci/Tech section even after a mediocre product announcement.
More is the pity because Origami is actually a very interesting device.
(Be warned, the Origami website linked is pointless.)
