Join us live tonight for another episode of the SMACKDOWN.
8:30 CDT via UStream and WyldeRyde IRC.
Following the recent surge in criticism towards Apple’s business model, Mark and Brian will explore the issue of ‘openness’ in technology using the iPhone and Windows Mobile phone ecosystems as examples.
Packard will entertain us with a recent news story.
Ok, I usually post tips, but this time I thought I would post something fun I just came across. If you have or are using Vista, this song is for you!
The song “Vista Drivers”
Got my parts, got what I need
Just gotta put it together
Active cooler and some new thermal grease
So my new CPU will not fry
Verse 2
So many times, I’ve clocked it too fast
Hot swapped my BIOS for glory
But not again — I’m learned so much since then
I just hope that I don’t cause a fire
Chorus A
When I find all the drivers that’s when I’ll know it’s right
I’ve got all the components I desire
I’ve got new SATA cables and some cold cathode lights
But I don’t know if I have the right
Vista drivers
Verse 3
Motherboard mounts in the case
I put in two brand new hard drives
Don’t have to wait, ’cause they’re both solid state
Add two more, now that’s four, in RAID 5
Chorus B
But I still need the drivers or those hard disks won’t write
Without them, this whole project’s looking dire
I’ve installed several RAM sticks and the optical drive
But they won’t do me much good without
Vista drivers
Verse 4
Final piece falls into a place
Lean and mean, power hungry
DLLs have been giving me hell
With a flick of the switch it’s alive
Chorus C
It came down to the drivers, though they put up a fight
I can see my performance soaring higher
Now with my best screwdriver I’ll make everything tight
And I finally found all the right
Vista drivers
Those damned Vista drivers
Nvidia drivers
Creative sound drivers
I hate Vista drivers
They’re still Longhorn drivers
So you finally, decided that it’s time to go out and buy a new computer, but what to buy? The old argument of “I’ve had a PC running XP for so long and from what I’m told they don’t have anything available that I can do on it.” Well I’m here to tell you that many of the programs that you have on the PC can and are available on the Mac.
The argument “No writing programs”
This is a big misconception on the Mac. The Mac has built in a word processor called TextEdit, while this program is good for writing down notes, typical text files, and you can even use it for HTML editing (if your good at hands on HTML editing) .
The argument “When I send these files to some one they can’t read them!”
This is also not true. There are many ways with this FREE text editor that you can save your files so that your friends, relatives, and colleagues. The formats that this simple little FREE (Did I mention FREE?) word processor can save to:
Rich text format (RTF)
RTF with attachments (RTFD)
HTML
Web Archive
OpenDocument Text (odt)
Word 2007 format (docx)
Word 97 Format (doc)
Word 2003 XML Format
This includes tabs, text formatting and yes even your pictures in the documents!
If you are dead set on giving Micro$oft more of your hard earned cash, you can always get Microsoft Word for Mac.
It has most everything that the MS Word on the PC side that you can think of. There are so many there I would be writing a book if I were to get them, all down here.
The argument “What about chatting? My friends are on XYZ! I want to talk to them!”
Yes Virginia, you can also talk to all your friends and even do it all from one Application!
On the Mac, another FREE (There’s that word again!) application, called Adium. You can find this at http://adiumx.com. With this you can talk to your friends on several networks that are the more common and even some that are unusual!
This one program covers the following: AOL, Jabber, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Bonjour, Facebook, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, IRC (Interenet Relay Chat) Laconica, LiveJournal, Lotus Sametime, MobileMe, MySpaceIM, Novell GroupWise, QQ, SIP / SIMPLE, Twitter, Yahoo! Japan.
Now some of these you wont even have any idea what they are and some you will. This list is from the beta one that is out that only works under Mac OS 5.0 and higher., however the current version does handle about 99% of the ones listed above.
The argument “I don’t know what anti-virus programs to get for it!”
Well let me set your mind at ease here. Quite simply.. You don’t need any! However, if you really feel you want to get an anti-virus for your Mac, there are a few suggestions that I can make.
The following are free:
iAntivirus This works with Mac OS X 5.0 and up http://www.iantivirus.com
ClamXav This works with older Macs http:// www.clamxav.com
This one also finds most windows viruses so you don’t pass them on to your PC buddies!
The argument “There aren’t any programs for the Mac!”
If I were to name every site and every program that was available for the Mac, You would be reading this list like it was the book “War and Peace”.
A great place to get you started to finding free and other programs is the site http://versiontracker.com
This is a great place for a new user to start browsing for applications. They cover PC stuff as well!
The argument “The Mac costs to much!”
This has been an argument since the days of Mac & Windows became rivals. There is an old saying and I don’t know anyone that won’t agree with this “You get what you pay for.” PC makers are using cheaper and cheaper parts for their computers, we all know this but are afraid to really admit it. When the cost of parts goes down, the cost also goes down, but that means there is little or no customer support for that computer. Many PC makers have gone this route, and if you don’t believe me, call your customer service department and just try to get someone that can really help you without pulling out your hair! Also with the Mac there are a lot of programs that come already with the OS that are free (Free? AGAIN?) and not the demo stuff that works for a week or less then quits working, but full working versions of great software, making movies, basic photo editing and as I mentioned before the word processor. I have only touched on just a few of the applications that come with the OS. There are oh so many more!
Argument “I won’t know how to use a Mac! Aren’t they like all weird and stuff?”
Using a Mac is not any harder than using the Windows environment you’re already used to. There are a few little differences in the GUI (Graphical User Interface) but they are minor and if you know how to switch a computer on, you can handle using a Mac.
A few subtle differences are you will notice that instead of closing your windows on the right side, you close windows on the left side. Here you have a ”Dock” vs. a “Start bar”. Also instead of clicking on your start bar your applications that you want to use many times can be put in the dock or removed easily by dragging them to it. Go up to the top of the screen to control stuff vs. going to the bottom.
I could go on, but if you really want to get a feel for the differences between the PC you have now and a Mac you could have or are considering getting, you can visit your local Apple store or neighborhood Mac fan boy. I’m sure they will be glad to show you their Mac!
Apple has publicly published their response to the FCC! Listen in as we smackdown about this and a few other topics.
Apologies for the audio quality on this one. Skype wasn’t kind to us, it seems.
Posted in Macrumors.com this week an apparantly lucky so and so received their brand new Mac Mini with a little extra surprise. A Snow Leopard 10.6 instal disk. Could this be a mistake? Could have this been a planned Apple leak? Is this fake? You decide. But it has done a lot to stir up the rumor mill as to when Snow Leopard is shipping.
In fact, most rumors are now pointing to Aug. 28th as the date. Here is a question for you all. Since this is WAY earlier than Win 7, will this effect Win 7’s launch at all. The two positives out the of the gate for Snow Leopard would then be the early release and the price. Any thoughts?
Pics are below.
Cal
Join us live for the latest show!
8:30 Central Time
Apple has publicly answered the FCC!? What??
Weigh In:
Pounds this week = –2.2
Pounds total = -17.4
This is the penultimate weigh-in and the scale is looking pretty good. My average, weekly weight loss has dropped below three pounds, but I had a fairly unproductive week last week.
My left knee is a little sore after riding home today, but I think it’s temporary. I never did lift any weights and I won’t this weekend either as I am going to be out of town.
I’ll see you again next week on the 26th for the final weigh-in. Go get ‘em, Cal!
I’ve been listening to my normal bout of podcasts and such lately and it seems that many are being very critical of Apple recently. The purpose of this blog is to discuss this perception that is created, in large by the media, and whether it is accurate or not.
First, it should be known that recent practices that have come to light to the public at large are not a recent change for Apple. We’ll discuss this more in a bit.
Apple has made several business decisions over the years that have brought them great wealth and great losses. What we are talking about is the company’s decisions on how to approach computers and consumer electronics. The products may be niche products, but they represent Apple’s attempt to enter certain markets that they feel they can compete. Apple invested millions in the products they produce and they aggressively promote and defend those products in the market. Many successful products go through the same basic process to gain market share.
The exact process of how Apple goes through the development process is a tightly held company secret. One things that appears to be generally agreed upon is that the products developed are created first through design and then through engineering. This mean the company is highly focused on the user experience from cradle to grave. For those who have purchased Apple products, you’ll know that every detail is considered right from the moment you open the box. The consider the materials, the finish, the fit, the presence and location of every screw. Often this leads to the use of materials that may be more expensive or manufacturing processes that cost more to setup and run.
So, h0w does this matter when we are talking about the current market environment as it relates to Apple? Simple. They are continuing to run their business as they always have, and it currently is working out well for them. The company is both profitable and successful.
So, why doesn’t Apple let you upgrade their computers (except the Mac Pro which is upgradeable)? One could argue that the vast majority of customers have neither the knowledge nor the desire to do so. They want to plug in the device and have it just work — like a light switch. Once you add the ability to change the hardware to random bits and bobs, the ability for the system to be stable drops considerably and support costs go up dramatically.
So, why doesn’t Apple let you put OS X on any machine? I’m not sure the reasoning is any different than the above. Companies spend big money supporting the configurations involved, whether it is internal IT or someone calling Microsoft for help with a problem. You could also ask the question; Why can’t I put my TomTom software on my Garmin? Why would you want to?
So, why doesn’t Apple allow you to run multiple apps at the same time on the iPhone? User experience. On other platforms that do permit this, battery life is usually unacceptable. Background apps are always consuming resources whether you know they are or not. As an iPhone user, I’m not sure how much I’d use it for practical purposes, and I haven’t had a situation where I needed it.
So, why doesn’t Apple just allow any application into the iTunes App Store? A poor application can have several negative impacts to the phone. For example, crashing my be perceived as an iPhone issue which raises support costs. Malicious apps could attempt to steal personal information. Apple may also be restricted by AT&T for the types of applications that they will permit on their network (since many will indicate it’s not great to start with).
Apple decided that all of the other features on the iPhone aside, it still needs to be a phone. Like their other products it has just work. I know that of all the phones I’ve owned, nothing allowed me to really take advantage of some of the basics like the iPhone did. SMS on traditional phones is a painful process unless you were born after 1990. For the rest of us, it’s pure torture.
If you do not want to deal with the decisions that Apple has made, then you have choices. Buy an Android phone, or buy any of the cacophony of computers available and run Linux or Windows, or what have you. You have choices. You wouldn’t go into Burger King and demand they make you a Big Mac, would you?
Does this mean Apple is right? No. Does this mean those that don’t agree don’t have a right to say so? No. Apple sells millions of devices a year, and there is always going to be some complaints. However, the market seems to be responding with their wallets and indicating the methods Apple is using to approach their devices suits their needs.
It’s also important to say that Apple is making other manufacturers try harder to make products their customers want. Windows copies from OS X time after time. The cellphone industry has gone through a revolution by the appearance of the iPhone. Even if you hate everything about Apple, you have to keep in mind that the alternatives you choose have been influenced by the existence of Apple challenging the status quo.
Apple provided me an alternative to the distractions and frustrations presented by the other devices I worked with over the years. I don’t feel as though I made a compromise, and I’m much happier with the solutions I have today with the Apple logo.
footnote: I am not an employee of Apple, nor do I own any stock or represent them in any way. I’m just a person that buys products and has an opinion.
We like to talk about industry news a lot on the SMACKDOWN. We speculate based on news/blogs from analysts and industry gurus and our own experience with tech. One of the problems with speculating about the future of tech is that unless you are one of the executives at the corporate table, it’s all just guess work. Another problem is that competition and human behavior are unpredictable.
That’s immediately what came to mind the other night when I was watching the SciFi channel. Following the new HP add featuring Lauren from the “Laptop Hunters” and yet another “images on the screen are not what happens in real life” iPhone add, I saw for the first time the new U2 Blackberry ad. In case you haven’t heard, U2 has ended their ‘partnership’ with Apple and have Blackberry sponsoring their upcoming tour. The add ends with prominent, white, sans serif font reading, “Blackberry Loves U2.”
RIM already has the largest market share for cell phones, right? Are marketing shifts like this game changers?
Only time and the buying power of the World’s population can tell.
I JUST recently found an older ORIGINAL iMac at our local pawn shop and proceeded to set it up for my kids so they wouldn’t have to fight over the one computer I had available to them here in the house for them to use. Well when I booted it up for the first time, I discovered that the original owners of the iMac left quite a few surprises for me to discover. So I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to set aside some time to point out some common mistakes people often do when selling their older hardware.
A lot of these tips can be used for either platform, Mac or PC. Some will be focused mainly at the Mac side.
Remove your passwords!
No one likes to boot up a used computer that has been locked down with a password. When selling your used machine, go in to your system preferences in your user accounts and clear out the passwords if any. This way when the next person to buys your old equipment they most likely wont know how to get by this unless they have a geek in the family or a few extra bucks to pay someone to fix this.
In the Mac you will also want to clear out your passwords from your key chains. You will find this in your Utilities folder. The application your looking for is called “Keychain Access”. Why do this? You may ask?. Well as the computer passwords can be reset and anyone with some good knowledge of what they are doing can dig up the passwords for all the sites you visit. This would include your email locally and out on the internet at your favorite web sites, along with any chat programs you regularly use as well.
While your email while interesting to you could be even more interesting to the person getting your old machine! If that sounds like I’m trying to make you worry about that, well frankly in a way, I am! So much of our personal lives are in our email and our address books. If you leave anything in there (Like the stuff I found) I did find somewhat interesting. All your email can be seen. Spam, letters to mom, dad, friends and relatives alike can be very telling about who you are and what kind of person you are as well. Naughty, nice or who knows, the alien planning world domination MWHAHAHA! All joking aside your email is not and should not be for everyone’s eyes, but yours!
Remove personal photos!
The baby that you left on the desktop picture is real cute and you want to share them with the world right? WRONG! In today age, you need to protect your kids from the eyes of someone that you don’t know who currently has your child or grand child’s pictures! These are also found in the (yes again) email you forgot to clear out as well!
Clear out your browser!
Don’t forget to clear out your bookmarks that you have left behind. If you have done this already your ahead of the game. However did you remember to clean them out from the menu bar with your favorites? How about the history the browser just went through just before you packed it up and took it to the pawnshop, sold it at your garage sale, or even put it on sale at eBay! Who knows who will be buying the computer next and if you haven’t done this then the racy material that you left behind could be found by someone that you know wouldn’t want seeing it. If you have kids, would you let them see this stuff? I should hope not!
Clean out the addresses!
If you actually used your address book on the Mac, would you want the next person to know where you live currently or lived at? How about all your friends? Would they mind becoming the target for a scam because you didn’t remove them? So your thinking what’s the big deal??.. So what if I leave their addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, personal notes about them whether they come their hair on their head or on the foam head they keep on the dresser? Well this is an age of information and you have given away the keys to the kingdom with this information and knowing that Bob works at ABC safe company or BRG Bank and loan could be doing them a great disservice to them. Just think some one could call up one of your friends and say “Hey I’m a friends of Bob and he said to contact you about a loan or a great idea he thought you would be willing to go in on!” This is called a SCAM if you haven’t guessed it by now.
iTunes or other music
Please clear this stuff out, these are tracks you paid for and if you haven’t backed them they will be lost for good! Plus I don’t want to hear a song about someone doing ******** to your ******* or whatever spew comes out of what is passed for as music today. And as I was prepping this computer for my kids, I don’t want them to be exposed to that as well!
Clean out your calendars!
On the Mac there is the iCal calendar which if you leave that stuff behind where your eat at regularly or who you have been dating (even if your hubby or wife don’t know about it) the next person that goes through it they sure will!
While these are time-consuming things to do to your computer you can always take the easy way out and make sure that the next person who get that computer and they wont have any issues with what you have left behind. That is to simply put n your install disk and erase and install a fresh OS then once its ready for the first run the next person can go to it like it was a brand new computer and history of your being there will be no more. Well mostly… But that’s a topic for another day
So unless you want everyone one to know who you are, what you have been doing, where you have been, and what you have been up to be sure to clean out your crud first before you sell or give it away.. While you’re doing that, I will be doing some mining on that not cleaned out computer now…. Hmm Interesting…
