On The Apple Blog I read an interesting article comparing the Apple Stores to Starbucks. I think the article does a good job of explaining the reason why I enjoy going to the Apple Store and why I tell people going Mac is more than just about the computer and the operating system; it's about community.
iPhone - Time Invention of the Year
I know what you are thinking.... Time has drunk the Apple iPhone kook-aid. Read the article before you make your decision. I think Time makes some very good points and while I don't know if it should be the invention of the year, only because I don't follow enough of the invention tech news to say, I do believe it has to be at the very least one of the inventions of the year. If you just want to talk about inventions with presense, then yep the iPhone wins hands down.
Read the article, and decide!
Great Timing = Great Photos
Check out the link below. The blogger talks about how a great photo sometimes from great timing. That timing could be something that was strived for, or could have been related to good luck. Think, right place at the right time. Some of the photos catch man in the middle of bad decisions and others nature at her most interesting.
Best Buy $59 OS X Install (Geek Squad)
This just doesn't make any sense to me, none at all. Maybe because I am Mac Head, or maybe because technology comes to me as easy as swimming comes to a fish; but why on Earth would anyone pay $59 (regularly $129) to have someone else install OS X? Not only that, the $59 price is only with the purchase of a new Mac. I realize that Leopard won't be pre-installed on Best Buy Macs yet, but upgrading from Tiger to Leopard on a brand new Mac should be one of the easiest things a new Mac owners does on their shiny new Mac.
I know that Windows installs are cryptic and upgrades even more so, but Apple has made upgrading pretty damn easy. I tell folks to do a fresh install (which is a pretty damn easy), but an upgrade on a Mac is nothing like an upgrade on a PC. For fresh installs or moving from an old Mac to a new Mac users have Migration Assistant which is simple and I'm told has been made even easier.
To me this looks like Best Buy and Geek Squad milking the uninformed for $59 or worse, $129.
NOTE TO NEW MAC PURCHASERS --- If you live in a town or near a town with an Apple Store, they will not only install the New OS, but they will also help you migrate all of your documents from your old computer. They will even migrate you from a PC!
I love Best Buy and think their deal with Apple is beyond fantastic; hey it puts an Apple Store near my house in Wylie, but this to me is just ridiculous.
Leopard Release News & Reviews
The reviews are in, and they are pretty good. Not as much news coverage as I expected, but from what I am reading the major news outlets, but general and industry specific seem to think that Apple has released a solid product that offers most users enough reason to at least consider purchasing the upgrade. This is in stark contrast to Windows Vista reviews, both upon original release and even today.
Time Machine is what most reviews are discussing, along with the visual tweaks. Spaces also gets some coverage; but what everyone mentions is the price $129, and most compare that to the Vista price; which for all the bells and whistles is significantly more and comes in a multitude of flavors with upgrade & full installs for each. If anything, Apple is about keeping it simple.
- ABC News
- MSNBC
- Macworld
- PCWorld
- The Guardian
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- USA Today
-
(Initial Review, Full Review Coming)
-
(Really Long and Very Detailed Review)
-
(Includes Video First Look)
Update: Added ars technica review and CNET links
Leopard Release News & Reviews
The reviews are in, and they are pretty good. Not as much news coverage as I expected, but from what I am reading the major news outlets, but general and industry specific seem to think that Apple has released a solid product that offers most users enough reason to at least consider purchasing the upgrade. This is in stark contrast to Windows Vista reviews, both upon original release and even today.
Time Machine is what most reviews are discussing, along with the visual tweaks. Spaces also gets some coverage; but what everyone mentions is the price $129, and most compare that to the Vista price; which for all the bells and whistles is significantly more and comes in a multitude of flavors with upgrade & full installs for each. If anything, Apple is about keeping it simple.
- ABC News
- MSNBC
- Macworld
- PCWorld
- The Guardian
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- USA Today
-
(Initial Review, Full Review Coming)
-
(Really Long and Very Detailed Review)
-
(Includes Video First Look)
Update: Added ars technica review and CNET links
The Leopard Is Released
It's finally here, Mac OS 10.5; also known as Mac OS X Leopard. For those of you that are not Mac heads, THIS IS A REALLY BIG EVENT. More so than a new notebook model, desktop model, iPhone or yes even iPod. Why? Simple, this is something nearly every Macintosh owner can experience. Not everyone can buy a new computer, but for only $129 (cheaper if they shop around) they can purchase new features and enable their beautiful computer to wonderful new things. Some they will experience as soon as the upgrade is done, others as developers take advantage of the new features.
If you are not big into Macs and Apple you will have a hard time truly understanding the significance of this OS release. When Vista came out there was much to do about nothing. Yes Vista has been in development for more than 5 years and yes it has lots of pretty new options, but current computer owners weren't clamoring to upgrade from Windows XP. An OS that with all of its flaws, was mature and worked very well for 99.99% of the user community. Vista, like Windows 2000 and even XP, came out of the gate with a host of problems and nearly a year after Vista's release; it still has problems.
The Mac OS X release is a totally different story. While yes Tiger, the previous release (Leopard is the current), is an extremely stable and capable OS users are clamoring to get their hands on the new version. Part of that clamoring is related to the Cult de Mac that eventually infects most Mac owners, part of that clamoring is that Mac owners know that with a new OS release new functionality is both here today and is coming tomorrow. 300 new features, many of those are building blocks for Apple and 3rd party developers to do amazing things with the applications that will be released in the coming months. The applications that make you go "WOW" I didn't know my computer could do that! With Windows, there isn't often an application that is released that blows your mind away, at least not one that costs under $100.
Why? Well, for most PC users the computer is a tool, maybe a necessity. It is utilitarian in nature. For a most Mac users the computer is an extension of their personal selves. It's sleek and sexy and stands for all that is right in the world. Okay, i may be overstating things a little; but not much. Mac users believe it is as much about form as it is function; and reliable, has to be reliable. OS X is an extension of that belief, and the applications than run on OS X play right into the hands of that belief and foster that belief. Amazingly, mostly done by small developers with applications costing well under $100.
Last night I went to the Mall to experience the Leopard Launch Party. World wide Leopard was being released at 6:00 pm local time, that's Apple's new marketing tool. It works too. I got the mall around 5:15 and took a look at the line, it was 150 people deep. I wasn't interested in standing in line as I wasn't buying the OS (gotta wait till Christmas), but I still wanted to say i was there and see what happened; oh and get a free t-shirt.
The store closed at 4:00 to prepare and at a few minutes to 6:00 they raised the gate. All of the store employees lined up, free t-shirts in hand, and as the 6:00 hour approached the energy around the store rose. The employees began clapping and one ingenious employee pulled out his iPhone and went to the Apple website. On Apple's site was a countdown clock. As 10 seconds approach he began to yell "10, 9, 8..." then the whole store irrupted in unison, "...7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" By now the line was getting itchy and the very first person in line was escorted into the store.
Less you think this "first person" was some prickly faced teen, a goth clad rage against the man type, or an IT Guru ready for the thrills of fresh OS X install; you may be surprised to learn that it was an older dimunitive woman probably in her 60's. She casually walked in, got her free t-shrit and presumably purchased a copy of OS 10.5. As I reviewed the line, I can honestly say that it looked like a pretty ordinary line. It could have been a book signing; in fact folks walking by seemed to think that was it. The word of Leopard's release had gone far and wide, but many folks passing by apparently had neither been far or wide.
I stood outside the line watching these happy folks, many carrying iPhone (no surprise), walking into the store, getting their t-shirts and some amazingly walking out with their signature Apple sack only minutes later. No doubt headed directly home to be one of the first to install Leopard. I chatted with a fellow Mac Head for a while and then he and I both decided that we would entertain our selves in some other fashion while the line dwindled. While he headed to Sharper Image, I was off to Chic-Filet for dinner.
Eventually i did get into line, although it was about 15 people deep and I casually strolled into the store, it was about 6:50. As I walked in employees at the entrance cheered and handed me a t-shirt. Without much fuss or knee cramps I got my t-shirt and was still one of the first to see Leopard, live and in action.
I didn't go to the launch of Vista, and I do know that around the world geeks were lined up; but I don't think you saw the diversity that I saw last night. While Leopard is great and its new features are amazing, the new Mac lovers are just as amazing. I saw old ladies, old men, moms, dads, kids, obvious geeks, businessmen and every other stereotype you can think of walk into the store with genuine interest and purpose of mission. They do all seem to have one thing in common, the desire to have an computing experience that isn't just easy, but has style. It was as much about having the latest and greatest, as a belief they were getting the best.
When I left the store around 8:00, after seeing all the cool new features in person, I strolled down the mall with my t-shirt in hand and no copy of Leopard (remember, not till Christmas) thinking that when i finally do install Leopard I will be pretty happy. I also felt like I was part of a bigger more diverse group than I had ever realized. That's a pretty cool feeling, especially when you realize I'm talking about a operating system and computing environment.
If you have an Apple Store in your town, go check out Leopard and the latest Macs. Don't let your Windows side tell you the Mac can't do anything, just see for yourself how much fun using a computer can be and all that you can do while you are having fun. That's what owning a Mac is really all about, that's what owning a computer is really all about.
iPod Frankenstien - Letter to David Pogue
I recently wrote a letter to David Pogue, technology columnist for the New York Times, in which I asked in my own unique way to please look a little deeper at the new iPods from Apple. My cheif concern being that in order to watch video on your TV you apparently have to purchase a special cable from Apple. If you are a new iPod user that's not a horrible thing, but if you are a current user your current set-up has to be trashed and replaced with a new one.
Personally I think the MPAA is at the heart of this situation. I bet if we dig deep we will find this cable will inhibit copying or some such other nonsense.
Mr. Pogue,
I just read your article,
Making Over the iPod, Again;
and while I enjoyed the article and agreed with your points, but you glossed over the $50 cable debacle; not stopping to inform your readers that apparently deep in the labs of Castle Apple Corp scientists designed a way to teather the new iPods to Apple cables, only.
Typically you aren't hesitant to go "THREE STOOGES" on Apple when they do something boneheaded; what happened? Now it could be that you were as blind-sided as the rest of us and didn't realize it until after your story went to print. I mean you wouldn't take part in a conspiracy to chain the People's Video, would you?
I'm hoping that there is more to this decision than Apple Corp's misguided greed. Maybe it was part of the deal with the studios to get more TV and movies in the iTunes Store. Maybe it's a secret government operation to see what we watch on our iPods (I'm kidding, I think...). Maybe it's "to insure the viewing experience is to Apple's high standards." That would, of course, infer they didn't have standards before the new iPods.
I must return to MPAA argument, as any other argument just makes my blood boil more. Not that I get a warm & fuzzy from the MPAA flexing the brains of their legal swat team in support of this unholy creation. In the end though, it doesn't matter. The evil has been unleashed on an unsuspecting public and it isn't going to be pretty.
You Mr. Pogue may be the only one that can douse the flames of anger and mistrust. This is a delicate situation requiring your tact, your diplomacy, your unique ability to cut right to the heart of the story. Or, you could just go for broke and ask them "WHY?"
I always enjoy your commentary, but now my fellow iPod owners and I feel that Apple hasn't "Made Over" the iPod as much as created a monster. So, while we wait for you and other intrepid investigative reporters to unearth the truth; we'll be heating the oil, sharpening the pitch forks and preparing the torches for the inevitable storming of Castle Apple Corp. Our holy mission, to capture and kill Frankenstein's iPod. We know Dr. Frankenstein (a.k.a. Steve Jobs) only wants to make the world a better place for video, but I dare say, this just isn't the way.
Maybe I have missed something, maybe I've gone totally mad, or maybe something has gone horribly wrong in the labs of Cupertino. Think of it, somewhere a little girl is about to plug her beautiful new red iPod Nano into a TV only to have her innocence crushed by the deafeningly horrific static of incompatibility. Her life of video ended prematurely; killed by Frankenstein's iPod.