Apple Archive

My CTX AMD K6-300/128 MB RAM/3 GB drive laptop is obviously at the end of its life. I was in the "shopping" process for a laptop for 2 months now, and I considered a number of PC laptops, including the Compaq Presario 1525US. At the end, I decided to get the new 12" Powerbook, came in last week, and I am since then using it as my primary machine. Here is what I think about it.

"It's possible to mistake Apple Computer's new 12-inch PowerBook G4 for its own manual -- the foam envelope that protects the laptop in the box is only a little longer and wider than the plastic pouch for the documentation. About 11 inches wide, 85/8 inches deep and less than a quarter-inch thick, this PowerBook is the smallest laptop Apple has ever built, and at 4.6 pounds it's almost its lightest." Read the pretty good review at WashingtonPost. Expect my review this week too.

The new iMac models are primarily speed-bump editions with the addition of Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme support (does not include the cards). The models will range in price from US$999 to $1700. In addition, Apple will not be upgrading the eMac line, but will instead lower prices of existing models to stay more competitive. ThinkSecret also has some exclusive info on the 10.2.4 release.

Apple Computer Co. has been hit by a growing number of lawsuits filed by Mac dealers who are upset by the company's alleged efforts to lure their customers to outlets that Apple owns. They are also fed up with what they say are long-standing problems in the company's service and billing systems. Tom Santos, owner of San Francisco's Macadam, one of the largest Apple- authorized storefront dealerships in the nation, filed a multimillion-dollar complaint last month that accuses the Cupertino company of fraud, breach of contract, unfair competition, false advertising and even violation of the federal RacketeerInfluenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Apple Computer on Tuesday harvested a new crop of Power Macs outfitted with faster processors and lower prices on some configurations. The high-end system tops out with twin 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 processors. The new low-end Power Mac costs $1,499--a $200 reduction over the previous starter system--and packs a single 1GHz processor. But the megahertz boost and price cut is a trade-off. The previous entry-level Mac packed dual 867MHz processors.

"Going by the numbers, Apple appears headed for trouble again. But fear not, Mac faithful: Apple may never again pose a threat to Microsoft and its PC allies, but its niche is safe. In the $160 billion PC market, a 3% market share should be enough to fund Apple's research-and-development push. Nothing will come easy for Apple, however. It is rapidly losing its grip on the education market, a former stronghold. Over the next year, Apple may get a boost in the professional market. Finally, Apple is moving beyond the Mac." Read the article on BusinessWeek. Also, Apple strengthens server support.

"Apple Computer has quietly extended an overture to the Unix community, with the release of software that would make it easier for Unix applications to run on the Mac operating system." Read the interesting article at News.com. "The XFree86 Project had been working on a port for OS X, and Apple "took the ball and ran with it a little further and integrated it more tightly into the system. We also made it easier to download," Apple's Brian Croll said." NewsFactor has a similar story too. Update: Another Mac editorial today, this time a bit more controversial though.

A note from Subband Software, former developer of MacAmp, cropped up recently: "Thanks to everyone who supported us over the years. iTunes just got to be far too big, far too free, and far too bundled with the OS." The editorial is going on giving more examples how Apple is taking away market from the small developers by embedding such user software on OSX (e.g. iPhoto, iMovie etc). In the past we talked about it regarding the Watson application and its competition with Sherlock 3. Update: One of the two developers (the most commited one) of Chimera is thinking of dropping out: "I'm torn about what to do with Chimera. It's obvious it will only ever be a marginal product on a even more marginal platform. AOL and Netscape have no interest in supporting it. Who aspires to be number two in an already over-commoditized space? Working my ass off for 3% just isn't any fun any more. Safari has already won, the rest is just to see by how much." In the meantime, Safari tops 1 million downloads.

"I'm a switcher. My main personal computer system is now an Apple Macintosh. It began innocently enough. Over a period of several months after Apple's new OS X Jaguar operating system was released last year, I tested a variety of iBooks, iMacs and G4s. I was playing with fire." Read the confession of a Detroit Free Press columnist who switches to the Mac.

"They started queueing at 2.30am. By 8.30am the line continued for hundreds of yards, snaking down an escalator, under a road, up another escalator and along the other side of the street. The first MacWorld Expo of the year had arrived at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. And chief executive Steve Jobs' keynote speech was the hottest ticket in town." Read Guardian's and Ars' report from MacWorld.

"As some Apple defenders have noted (and I implied with my Bang & Olufsen comparison), there are lots of niche players who make loads of money selling higher priced, but high quality products. The problem, however, is that software lacks the natural levels of compatibility found in other markets. Bang & Olufsen stereos can play the same radio stations and CDs as the lower-priced offerings from Aiwa. That isn't the case with operating systems, and really can't be so long as developers have different ideas about API design." Read the editorial at ZDNews.

"The Apple booth staff 'freaked' when I tried to plug my FWDepot Cutie FireWire test drive into the new 17" and 12" PowerBooks with Photoshop, Quake3, and other real world test apps. But I knew you wanted some idea of the performance, right? So since the demo units were connected to the 'Net, I downloaded Xbench beta and ran it on the two new PowerBooks... along with a few others." Take a look at the benchmarks over at Bare Feats.

"In perhaps one of the most stunning MacWorld Keynotes to date, Steve Jobs unveiled three completely new applications (Safari, Keynote, & FinalCut Express) and upgrades to three existing iApps (iPhoto 2, iMovie 3, & iDVD) in edition to it's new hardware. Dig Deeper for the skinny on the veritable buffet of software." Read more at MacSlash.

Steve Jobs just announced in his Macworld Keynote that Apple is releasing its own browser, called Safari. Its claim to fame is extremely fast performance on the Mac. The Mac platform has struggled from sluggish browser performance with IE (the old default browser). Update: According to Jobs, Safari is open source and based on khtml. It only runs on Mac OS X and will be available for download today.