May

23

Drinking the Kool-Aid

Filed Under Strange | Leave a Comment

Somebody is drinking something over at Adobe. This is one strange concept ad. Enjoy.

May

19

iPhone 3.0 Run Up

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iPhone
For those of you who just need to know, the next generation iPhone specs are being leaked all over the place. In addition to the upcoming new iPhone 3.0 software there will be an actual new device with new features. The expected release date is July 17th and some of the specs are (bold represents brand new rumours):

  • 32GB and 16GB to replace current capacities
  • $199 and $299 price-points to be maintained
  • 3.2 Megapixel camera
  • Video recording & editing capabilities
  • Ability to send a picture & video via MMS
  • Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device
  • OLED screen
  • 1.5X The battery life
  • Double the RAM and processing power
  • Built-in FM transmitter
  • Apple logo on the back to light up
  • Rubber-tread backing
  • Sleeker design
  • Built-in compass
  • Revolutionary combination of the camera, GPS, compass, and Google maps to identify photo and inform about photo locations.
  • Turn by turn directions
  • July 17th, 2009 release date

This looks like it will be addressing a lot of the issues/complaints users have had and make the iPhone an even better device to use. An OLED screen would be incredible and explain some of the extra battery life. I love the built-in FM transmitter idea and compass. The larger capacity would be welcomed and of course the faster processor. If you’re waiting to buy an iPhone I would definitely recommend holding out for the new one – you will have a much better experience and as always, get more for your money. Some people suspect that Apple may announce the new iPhones at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference. It’s anyone’s guess when the actual phones will appear, but the July date seems about right.

May

18

Broken Windows

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Broken Windows
Amid the recent advertising jabs at Apple Microsoft this week advised business users to basically stop using the Vista operating system and start testing the next release Windows 7:

“If you’re just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7] Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward,” Bill Veghte, Microsoft’s senior vice president for Windows business, said in a keynote speech earlier this week.

But was this week’s advice by Microsoft’s Veghte a red-letter day, the implicit admission that Vista was a failure in the enterprise? “Oh, I think they admitted that a while ago,” Silver said, pointing to comments by CEO Steve Ballmer last October during a Gartner symposium refereed by Silver and fellow analyst Neil MacDonald.

“If people want to wait [for Windows 7], they certainly can,” Ballmer said then. Earlier in a question-and-answer, Ballmer had said Windows 7 was simply “Vista, a lot better.”
“They’ve been coming to terms with Vista’s [failure] long before this,” Silver said today.

So, Vista is basically a dud. This is a pretty massive admission considering 90% of the world’s computers run on some form of the Windows operating system. I honestly don’t understand why so many computer users settle for a second-rate product. I’m aware of the argument that you use what you know, what you’re used to. However, when it comes to something you have to interact with everyday, something that basically allows you to make a living in many cases, why settle for a failing familiar?

So many of my colleagues who support Windows spend their time putting out fires, removing viruses and spyware etc…I spend most of my time implementing solutions for my clients which help enhance their computing life. Sure things go wrong on the Mac, but ultimately the Mac experience seems to be a more rewarding one and a much easier system to manage. I’ve pointed this out in other posts before so I won’t gloat, but the admission today from Microsoft that their current flagship operating system, the basic interface of a computer, is pretty much a failure just seems incredible to me.

In other news:

As I was reading the New York Times online today I noticed a very quirky digital ad. It’s funkier if you catch it on the Times’ site, but this gives you an idea as well:

May

12

Mac OS 10.5.7 Update

Filed Under Apple News, Apple Updates | Leave a Comment

Apple released a 10.5.7 update today for both client and server machines. As always it is HIGHLY recommended that you backup your machine(s) and important data before applying an important update such as this. You can read the details of the update here:

Client: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3397

Server: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3398

May

5

Goople? Part 1

Filed Under MobileMe, Views | 1 Comment

Google Vs. Apple
Warning – this post is a bit technical – but you can do it!

On the heals of the news concerning a recently begun anti-trust inquiry into the relationship between Apple and Google I thought I would take this opportunity to compare some of the competing services they are both offering and which are being covered in the investigation.

The reason for the inquiry stems from the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 which prohibits the participation on the board of two rival companies when it would reduce competition.
Antitrust experts say the provision against “interlocking directorates,” known as Section 8 of the act, is rarely enforced. Nevertheless, the agency has already notified Google and Apple of its interest in the matter, according to the people briefed on the inquiry, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the inquiry was confidential.

Both companies specialize in offering easy to use (Apple) and fairly easy to use (Google) solutions to their client-base. In the case of Apple it is 10% of the computing public, for Google, it’s the world! Let’s have a look at some of these solutions for individuals and businesses.

The Cloud

I’ve written about the Cloud in previous posts (just search the word ‘cloud’ within this blog). Briefly, the Cloud is a term used to describe a centralized data area, usually located on a remote system over the internet which other computers (desktops, laptops, iPhones, iPods, Blackberries etc…) can access and use to stay in sync with. The data is pushed and pulled to your devices so you can keep your calendars, address books, email, bookmarks and in the case of Apple, passwords, smart mailboxes, notes and other data objects.

The Solutions

Apple’s offering of this service is MobileMe. MobileMe is not just about the Cloud, but it is a major component of it’s feature set. With MobileMe Apple is attempting to offer business-class services and functionality for ‘the rest of us’. It had a rocky start, but it’s running very well now. With a MobileMe account you can enter a new contact on your iPhone and it will appear on you desktop at home (as long as it’s on and online). Enter a calendar event on your home computer and the event appears on your iPod Touch and laptop. Send an email from your iPhone and the message shows up in your Sent mail on your desktop machine (no more CC’ing yourself).

Google recently got into the Cloud computing business with the ability to now sync Google Calendar and Google Contacts using a technology called ActiveSync for iPhone – the same technology behind Microsoft Exchange – as well as with it’s free plugins for the Blackberry – no expensive Blackberry Enterprise Service required. Email sync is not supported at this time, but is provided by enabling and setting up an IMAP version of your GMAIL account on your mobile devices and computers. This requires a bit more knowledge and poking around within your Google account to activate whereas the Apple solution just works after you input your username and password in the corresponding MobileMe system preference.

As just eluded to, Apple tends to meet the technological needs of it’s client-base with an elegant and easy to use appoach. Their online/web versions of their applications – Mail, Calendar and Address Book – look great, work well and fully sync with their desktop counter-parts. Google’s calendar sync supports over-the-air syncing via a mobile setup on your iPhone – but you have to navigate to a website using the Safari browser on your phone. There you have to log in, register your phone, click on the calendars you want to sync and you’re in (oh, and you’re limited to 5 calendars including the default calendar that comes with a GMAIL or Google Premier account). Contact syncing is limited and there is no support for groups (although there is a built-in Google sync plugin with Apple’s address book – but it only appears if you’ve ever used an iPhone or iPod with your Mac).

With Apple you launch the MobileMe system preference on your Mac, enter your username and password, turn on syncing, choose what you want to sync and go. Google does support a service called CalDav - an emerging shared calendaring technology supported by Mac OS X Server 10.5. You can download a free application called Collaboration and it will program iCal to sync with your Google calendar. Another program called SpanningSync will sync your address book and calendars for you – but it costs $70. Other utilites exist to help sync calendars and contacts to Google – BusySync and SyncMan come to mind. Again, with Apple and MobileMe no extra software other than a $100/year subscription to the service is required and it will sync all of your important data between all of your devices over the air.

Neither share their address books easily (in the case of Apple not at all without special tools) – not great for collaboration – and Apple doesn’t like to share it’s calendars very nicely. Google trumps Apple on this point – it’s calendars are very easy to share and it does support a Global Address Book with it’s Premier edition ($50US per user per year). Apple finally came though with it’s ability to share documents from it’s iDisk (internet-based hard drive) which is great. Google offers Google Apps – online versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint plus the ability to upload and share documents.

Email sync works beautifully if you use a .me or .mac account. All your mailboxes appear exactly the same way on every machine and mobile device. However, you can’t use a non-Apple address in the ‘from’ field which is no good for businesses who wish to utilize their own domain name. GMAIL allows you to mask your gmail address with your own and Google Premier will host your own domain mail and offers 25GB of space per user plus great spam filtering (no online spam filtering with Apple).

For business and cross-platform (Mac-PC) compatiblity Google is the clear winner and many of services are FREE. For ease of use and seamless integration with your Mac and Apple devices MobileMe is an excellent alternative although as a collaborative business solution it’s not as strong.

I guess in this area the inquiry may come up empty.

In Part 2  I will focus on the image editing offerings from both of these giants: Picasa from Google and iPhoto from Apple.