The Preferred Toronto Apple Reseller of MacMedics:
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A Safe Way To Dispose Of Your eWaste – And Get A Tax Receipt Too!
My Preferred Canadian-Based ISP
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Oct
25
Apple Gets Politcal
Filed Under Apple News, Views | Leave a Comment
Something a little off topic, but interesting: Apple has recently come out in opposition to Proposition 8 that seeks to eliminate the right to same-sex marriage in the state of California. It’s put it’s money behind it’s stand as well – $100,000.
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.
The proposition will be on the California ballot on the November 4th vote.
Oct
25
Mac Mini Followup
Filed Under Apple News | 1 Comment
It seems, like Mr. Jobs, rumours of the Mac Mini’s demise may have been premature. Macminicolo has published a State of the Mac mini which some may find interesting.
Oct
22
Mini review and Mini no more…
Filed Under Apple News, Views | 2 Comments
The hubbub about the lack of Firewire on the new MacBook is toning down a bit as users get their hands on these new babies. I set one up a couple of days ago for a client and they are impressive. This was a 2.0GHZ model which is garnering complaints that it’s processor speed specs (entry level MacBook) appear to make it slower than the outgoing models it’s replacing. My experience with it demonstrated that the faster bus and graphics card more than makes up this and the faster 2.4GHZ will be even speedier.
It is a beautifully machined computer – no edges, just a smooth curve at it’s borders. The display is bright, the chicklet keys aren’t too bad. Yes, there’s no firewire, but I was easily able to transfer data between my USB hard drive and the MacBook very quickly – as fast as Firewire to be honest. I think this is a winner for Apple. They’re definitely positioning their hardware line into Consumer (MacBook, iMac), Prosumer (entry MacBook Pro, high-end iMac) and Professional (MacBook Pro, MacPro). For those of you wanting more in-depth coverage on the new MacBooks check out this review by Robert Mohns.
There are rumours of the Mac Mini’s demise as they have dried up in all the retailer sales channels. Although it has been Apple’s worst seller the news of its disappearance will no doubt upset those users who continue to want a cheap machine to use as media centre, inexpensive file server or other purposes. It’s too bad if the rumours are true as it does have a niche for this kind of thing. Will Apple replace it with something more appealing? Let’s hope so.
Oct
17
Flak Jacket
Filed Under Views | 2 Comments
Apple is in the dog house and taking a pounding on the message boards over the lack of Firewire support in the new MacBooks. Mr. Jobs appears to have responded in a short one sentence message to the barrage:
Actually, all of the new HD camcorders of the past few years use USB 2,
Steve
Now, I don’t know if this is real or not, but it is true that 9 out of the 10 top selling digital camcorders support USB 2.0. However, the way these units talk to iMovie 6 HD or Final Cut Express/Studio is different than how they talk to iMovie 08 which many film people detest. Apple is obviously trying to make a distinction between it’s Pro and Consumer line of products. It’s a drag for those who use the consumer line in a Pro fashion – although connecting a Firewire drive to one’s computer is not a Pro task, nor is trying to migrate or recover data. Why was firewire present in the first place in these machines?
Another thing to remember is Firewire support remains present in all of Apple’s lineup except the new MacBook and the MacBook Air so there is comfort there. I still think the new MacBook looks like an excellent machine for the people Apple is appealing to.
Oct
15
It’s Not Easy Being Green…
Filed Under Apple News, Apple Updates, Views | Leave a Comment
A bright spot, although it’s coming from Apple itself, is it’s commitment to the environmental impact of it’s products from production to packaging. On each product page Apple is posting it’s environmental impact mission statement like the following from the MacBook tech spec product page:
MacBook is designed with the following features to reduce its environmental impact:
- Highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure
- Mercury-free LED-backlit display
- Arsenic-free glass
- BFR-free internal components
- PVC-free internal cables
- Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
- EPEAT Gold rating
Oct
14
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Filed Under Apple News, Apple Updates, Views | 3 Comments
The announcements have been made and as the dust begins to settle let’s take a look at what Apple has offered to it’s customers and potential customers today. Apple’s site as well as the major Apple News and rumour sites have tons of information on the technical and design descriptions of the new machines so I’m going to focus on the elements that stand out to me and that other might be interested in. I highly recommend readers peruse the other sites for more in-depth coverage and followup (see end of this post).
The Good
The new MacBook is lighter weighing in at 4.5lbs – a half-pound lighter – than it’s predecessor. This is good. There is now a customizable build-to-order option to add a larger 320GB hard drive as well as a choice to have a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) installed. This was previously only available in the MacBook Air. This is an interesting option if you looking to use a MacBook primarily as a business machine and desire the stability of a SSD, but want a more powerful computer than a MacBook Air. Apple states:
MacBook also offers a solid-state drive option, which uses technology similar to that in the iPod nano and other flash-based products. Solid-state drives offer greater durability and improved resistance to data loss in the event of an accidental drop.
The Bad
One major and glaring change in this line is the removal of a Firewire port on the MacBook. This could be a deal-breaker for some users as it will impact those who have been and wish to continue to use the MacBook with Firewire devices such as hard drives, Digital Video Cameras, scanners which use Firewire400 etc…It’s a bit of strange move. Many people choose a MacBook for digital video editing because frankly, they’ve been more affordable than a MacBook Pro. Apple is even removing the concerns about the lack of Firewire on the new MacBooks from their forums. This is very odd.
From a technical point of view, an advantage of Firewire is the ability to turn a laptop into a hard drive by putting into Target Disk Mode (starting up the laptop with the letter ‘T’ held down). This has advantages for data transfer and recovery as well as data migration. I am very disappointed in Apple’s decision to remove this port and I’m not sure what they’re thinking here.
The Good?
I think I like the new glass trackpad (also on the new MacBook). There’s no more tackpad button, now the whole pad is the button. This is an interesting design change although I believe it’s going to bother a lot of long-time laptop users who are used to the way the trackpad has worked over the years.
I like that the graphic power has increased – the new units include hardware that can take advantage Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT graphic hardware. Apple states that you can toggle between these two types of hardware, but using the faster graphic architecture will eat up battery life 20% faster so it’s not as advisable to use it in this mode when one is reliant on battery power. It also will force a log out as Appleinsider pointed out here.
Drive choices are similar to the MacBook with some differences. The MacBook Pro can be configured with 250 and 320GB 7200 RPM drives – better for video, graphic and audio editing uses – as well as the 128GB SSD drive.
The Bad
The 15″ displays are now available only as a glossy screen – matte is out. There does not seem to be a 17″ offering in the new design at this time. There is debate among users concerning a Glossy versus a Matte display in terms of colour accuracy, glare and just preference – we’ll see how users respond to the lack of a Matte option.
Although the MacBook Pro does sport a Firewire 800 port Apple has removed the venerable Firewire 400 port! What does Apple have against Firewire 400?!
Apple also announced a new 24″ LED Cinema Display – this was probably the source of the $800 laptop rumour that wasn’t. Apple is packaging this as an add-on to a MacBook purchase. It adds extra USB port on it’s back and it also has built-in mag-safe power charger for a MacBook. I like this move as many of my clients like to use a laptop with an external display in a virtual desktop machine arrangement. Now you can also charge your machine while using the display which is one less power supply. Another nice touch is its integrated iSight camera and speakers.
Again, there is no Firewire support on the display which is too bad – this could have filled the lack of this important interface on the MacBook.
Apple also quietly updated the MacBook Air line giving the slim laptop a larger 120GB magnetic hard drive (up from the 80GB it provided in the first version) and a 128GB SSD drive, up from the original 64GB offering. The graphic chip received an Nvidia upgrade as well. This should make the MacBook Air a better performing machine.
The Ugly
Although I love the look of the new laptops – nobody designs better than Apple – I have real concerns about what the designers and engineers have decided to remove to the detriment of it’s existing base.
For example, Apple has also redesigned the way the new laptops connect to external displays, projectors and TV’s. The new laptops sport the new Mini DiplayPort – which means customers have to buy new adapters if they want to use their existing external display devices! I find this a bit of a rip-off – Apple should include at least one adapter with every laptop and not make people buy all these extra doodads.
The disappearance of Firewire 400 across the line really bothers me. I use Firewire devices all the time and so do many of my clients – for backup, archiving, scanning etc…. Not all hard drives come with Firewire 800 and USB is not a fast enough interface for many uses.
For new users none of this may make a big difference. If you’re primarily a business user I believe the new offerings are excellent. For existing users with existing gear it’s a bit of a disappointment and will cause some serious inconvenience with current hardware and especially give owners of Digital Video Cameras that do not have Firewire 800 ports real headaches. As a colleague of mine commented on the new announcements, there’s nothing revolutionary here, just evolutionary – but that’s necessarily always a good thing. I have no doubt much commenting on the Mac sites is to come. I look forward to some here too.
Links
Appleinsder
Macintouch
9to5Mac
The Notebook Keynote by Steve Jobs and Co.
Oct
13
They’re Coming…
Filed Under Apple News, Rumours | 4 Comments
For those of you who just have to keep up to date on the imminent notebook announcements scheduled for tomorrow there is plenty of information here. It always amazes me how nutty the Mac community gets just before a major hardware event. I mean, it’s fun to speculate, but all will become clear shortly. Meanwhile, there is something on the order of 14000 posts to rumour sites all about the new machines, their case designs (gleaned from leaked pictures which may or may not be accurate etc…)! I will be following up on all the news tomorrow afternoon.
Oct
10
MacBook Pro Graphic Card Issue
Filed Under Alerts! | Leave a Comment
If you have purchased a MacBook Pro 15″ or 17″, specifically:
- MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz)
- MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz)
- MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
and are experiencing:
- Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen
- No video on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on…
then this post is for you (and you’re not going crazy). The issues are related to a defect in the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor (video card) in the affected models. Apple will cover this issue within 2 years from the date of purchase even if the laptop is out of it’s official warranty period. They are also reimbursing clients who paid for any repair related to these issues as well. For more repair and contact information check out this tech note posted by Apple. To its credit, Apple pursued the issues on its own as NVIDIA had claimed Apple’s products were not affected.
Oct
9
Note Book Event – October 14th
Filed Under Apple News, Rumours, Tech News | Leave a Comment
The rumour mills were right as Apple has announced a Notebook event for October 14th (voting day in Canada!) with a cryptic:
The spotlight turns to notebooks
The event will begin 10am PST or 1pm Toronto time and all will be known about a half-hour later. Further rumours abound concerning a possible sub-$800 model - we’ll see. I will of course give a thorough overview of the day’s announcements so stay tuned!
Oct
5
A Little Bit Of Everything
Filed Under Fun, Tech News, Views, iPhone | Leave a Comment
Today’s entry navigates through a variety of areas which I believe will be of interest to those following the blog so let’s get into it.
Rumours – Laptops
First off are the rumours circulating around new laptops from Apple. I am being asked about this almost everyday. It is looking increasingly that October 14 will be the day for the announcement. Part of the new features will be their design and it also appears they will be sporting more powerful video cards that may not be integrated with the main processor as they are now. What does this mean? Faster graphic and video drawing for designers and video editing as well as a general feeling of well being (I’m pushing it).
iPhone News
Do you travel with your iPhone outside Canada? If so, you’re going to love this. Fring has announced a free version of their software for the iPhone available at the App Store. What is Fring? Basically it is communication software that allows chatting over multiple networks such as Google, MSN, AIM, ICQ, Skype etc…but more importantly it allows Voice-Over-IP phone calling (VOIP) either over the cellular 3G network or WiFi. What does this mean:
- Can call directly using iPhone to another person with iPhone running Fring
- Call MSN or Skype users that are using their computer
- Call using Skype account, which allows you to have your own Skype number and at a discount rate for international calls
- Receive phone calls using Skype with your own custom Skype number
- Basic chat functions with most chat platforms, such as AIM, Yahoo and ICQ
The new iPod Touch can also take advantage of this using a headset and microphone which it now supports – check out this You Tube video to see it in action. I use Skype all the time to speak to one of my brothers in Denmark. Our skype-to-skype calls are free and using Fring on my iPhone allows me to use my Skype-Out credits to call landlines anywhere in the world cheaply. Now, Fring isn’t perfect as calls can be stilted or dropped, but it may come in quite handy if you’re willing to try it. I think if nothing else it points the way for better VOIP apps to follow.
Another great iPhone App I’m enjoying is Recorder which fills a hole many have complained about – voice note recording. There are quite a few recording apps out there, but this one is very simple to use and is cheap – 99 cents. You can rename and email the recordings. Another great feature is the ability to transfer longer voice files over WiFi. When invoked, Recorder displays the IP address of the iPhone and a link to the directory where the files are on the device. You can then use a web browser to view a list of the existing recordings and download them directly to your computer – very cool.
Rumours Part 2: Steve Jobs Is Alive and Well – 7 more lives to go!
I’m not sure what’s going on with the rumours surrounding Steve Jobs’ health. First there was the incident of his obituary being published. Now another story began circulating that he had had a heart attack. Apple’s stock dived over 10% before rebounding when the rumour was quashed. The SEC is looking into whether the rumour is tied to some kind of stock manipulation. Yikes!