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macTV posts my least favorite Apple ad
Remember "Middle Seat," the ad that featured an iBook-wielding airline passenger? For some inexplicable reason, he decides he's just got to work on his iMovie project during the flight, and he commandeers the dining trays of the poor people sitting on his left and right, which he immediately fills with his computer, camera, Palm (why he needs this is a mystery) and stacks of CDs. Finally, he blasts his music and wakes the sleeping passengers. "Middle Seat" indeed. I've always thought of this ad as "Obnoxious Jerk." I like to think that, in the moments just after the story ended, the guy in the tie gave this kid a pounding.Check it out for yourself.
Skyn laptop covers
In my relentless pursuit for all that is stylish or feminine in the world of tech, I come across some interesting accessories. One such product that I'm not in the market for are Skyns' girly laptop covers. These glorified stickers (described as "durable plastic/adhesive laptop covers") are not exactly my cup of tea. It's not the lack of color or size choices for iBooks, PowerBooks or MacBook Pros that turn me off to the Skyn product line but rather the fact that it's nothing more than a large sticker. Yes, the adhesive may be specially formulated to remove cleanly without leaving residue, but the fact of the matter is I'd rather buy a Colorware laptop or have my laptop custom laser engraved. If I put a big sticker on my machine, it will be one that I've personally customized or designed.[via Gizmodo]
How to cram a PCMCIA WiFi card into your iBook
Livejournal user tanais decided that he wanted to get his 700mhz iBook on his wireless network, but didn't want to pay sky-high prices for a discontinued 802.11b card. So, he took a $16 Orinoco Silver PCMCIA card, physically stripped it down to its bare essentials (so that it would fit underneath the iBook's keyboard), wrapped it in electrical tape (for insulation), crammed it into place and what do you know, it worked. Some great photos accompany his article. Well done!Now for the disclaimer: Kids, don't try this at home.[Via Make:Blog]
Henrico County to continue using Macs
Remember The Battle of Henrico, where thousands of Mac-craved cheapskates gathered to purchase student-abused iBooks for $50, resulting in a Lord of the Rings-like skirmish that made the typically-unimpassioned PC world pause and wonder why the hell anybody would be so enthusiastic over a fricken' beaten-up old laptop? The County was liquidating machines it had provided its students the previous years as part of a deal with Apple to test the increasingly-popular everyone-gets-a-computer programs popping up all over the country.Well, good news from that front: Apple beat out Dell in securing a new contract to continue providing laptops to Henrico County's middle school students: "On a 3-1 vote, the School Board last night approved a four-year contract worth nearly $16 million. ...The new contract will begin after the current four-year pact with Apple ends June 30. ...The new contract is for 12,675 iBook laptops at a cost of $1,246 each."What's interesting is that Dell even underbid Apple by a whole $125 ($1,246 vs. $1,111 for the Dells), and yet the County still chose to stick with the Mac.Who knows: With ambition in their hearts and iBooks in their bags, maybe the country's youth do still have a chance in the dog-eat-dog World of Tomorrow.[via MacDailyNews]
Original i-Tablet being sold on eBay
I don't know if I should be sharing this with you (because I kind of want it myself) but Joseph DeRuvo Jr.'s i-Tablet, built in 2004, is up for sale on eBay. If you don't remember, TUAW and Engadget covered the i-Tablet when it was released. Since 2004, the i-Tablet has become a sort of holy grail of mods for Apple fans. The i-Tablet is a modded iBook with a Troll Touch attached to the iBook screen which has been flipped and attached to the top surface. Extra firewire ports and a snazzy black leather cover have been added as well. Apparently Mr. DeRuvo is revving up for a new project and needs to fund his compulsion for hardware hacking (wait, so do I, my Eastern European hackable electronics collection keeps growing) and therefore is selling the coveted i-Tablet. I guess I'll be seeing you in the eBay auction. [thanks Joseph for emailing the hack a day tip line, posted here with Eliot's permission]
Rig of the Day: Crisp and clean
After the cluttered desks we've recently featured, we had to put up the polar opposite today, just to balance things out. I really like the iBook propped on its stand, as well as the iMac, iPod in a universal dock and Soundsticks. Plus, that's a sweet desktop picture. TransparentDock gets rid of the dock's background and border, and an iSight wraps up the rig."My Setup (Revised)" posted by jdys™If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Intel iBook mock-up...sweet
A user with some mad Photoshop skillz at Macteens posted a mock-up of a possible design for the expected Intel iBooks (or "MacBooks sans Pro").It's got a thinner shell and a wide-screen display, and looks exactly like what I think Apple would shoot for with the new models: a familiar, modernized, consumer-friendly design with Apple's trademark stylin' goodness.Notebook designs are getting sleeker and sexier every day, and the current iBooks, while great machines, are starting to show their age (in more ways than one). A revamp like this would be a great way to revitalize interest in one of Apple's most important product lines.
Rig of the Day: Technosexual
Flickr user Vedia really likes his laptops. Check out this sweet display: A 12" Powerbook G4, a 14" iBook G4, a Pismo Powerbook and finally a Powerbook 5300c. Pretty nice, just make sure the 5300 doesn't burst into flames ok? Rounding out Vedia's collection is a pair of LaCie Porsche drives, a 3G iPod (I still prefer the design of the 3G) and a couple of Apple Pro mice. I really want to squish that mousepad."Technosexual" posted by Vedia.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Widget Watch: Carpenter's level
Now this is a cool widget. The Carpenter's Level is a Dashboard widget that responds to your (so equipped) iBook or Powerbook's built-in motion detector. Tilt your laptop to the left or right and watch the bubble move. This widget has been written to go to "sleep" when Dashboard is inactive, so don't worry about it continually monitoring your laptop's position in space. I don't have an iBook or Powerbook that I could try this with, so if you do, please post your experience in the comments. If you're a carpenter who actually gives this a try on the job site, we definitely want to hear from you.[Via Daring Fireball]
Rig of the Day: Typical desk
I love this shot because it looks a lot like my own desk: Mac, Coke, iPod, external hard drive, books, random junk...ahh. I'm feeling productive already. I'm also glad to see that I'm not the only one who has powered speakers sitting around and doing nothing."iBook at Work" posted by migroveruk.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Survey: what will Intel-iBooks be called?
So now that we know Apple has changed the naming scheme of their PowerBook line to MacBook Pro, the question begs to be answered: what will the iBooks be called once they get Intel Inside Leap Ahead? Will the name shift to iMacBook? MacBook mini? Something else? Post your thoughts, and lets have some fun trying to guess Apple's next marketing move.
Apple notebook reliability study, courtesy of Macintouch
MacInTouch has released a comprehensive, in-depth report on the reliability of Apple's portables throughout the years. They apparently logged over 10,000 notebooks from 41 models, covering the gamut from iBook G3's to the latest Aluminum PowerBook family (basically anything that can handle OS X), as well as thousands of reader comments. Their survey included what years a notebook had to be repaired, how many times or if something broke down and the owner simply decided to deal with the situation, such as an optical drive they no longer need.Their results are very well summarized and broken down into groups such as most/fewest repairs and most common failures from specific models. MacInTouch also tackled the ever-prevelant topic of Applecare, asking whether those surveyed purchased it, if they felt it was worth the money or if they went with an outside insurance plan (like myself) that covers hardware defects as well as accidents.I'd like to spoil the results, but I honestly feel they did one heckuva job here and would hate to ruin all their hard work. Swing on by and check out everything they put together, and scroll to the bottom for the cliff notes.[via MacSlash]
Is Apple first in line this January for the Yonnah?
Engadget picked up on a post from ThinkSecret claiming that Apple could announce portables at Macworld '06 that just might be the some of the first available on the market to have Intel's new Yonah chips inside. Getting this close to Macworld there's no shortage of buzz and rumors flying around about which move Apple's going to take in light of this Intel switch. But ever since I blogged Intel's announcement of the new chips over on DownloadSquad last August, I was willing to put money down (if I had money, that is) that Apple wasn't switching for the Pentium 4 (how old is that chip now?) or even the M or Centrino chips. Apple's after what Intel has cooking in the pot, and I'm willing to throw down (Monopoly) money that Macworld is where they'll whip out those new Intel chips, especially since Macworld Boston is no more. Things also look positive for a Yonah iBook/PowerBook since Engadget also notes that NEC has officially announced a Yonah portable, sans shipping date, however.So could Apple (ironically) beat other PC manufacturers to the punch with brand new chips from Intel, come Macworld '06? To me, that sounds like a play straight out of Jobs' book.
$50 iBooks cause stampede!
No, you aren't reading The Onion. Yes, there really was a stampede. No one was seriously injured, but this morning's $50 iBook sale was an insane mob scene by all accounts. Lines of parked cars started to form around 1:30am and by 7:00am, when the sale was to begin, the line was said to be more than a 1/2 mile long, while thousands of people rushed the gate for an opportunity to spend $50 on a 4-year old iBook that stood a good chance of barely being worth even that little. There are reports of baby strollers being tipped over and mangled and one old man in a walker was reportedly trampled to the ground! More after the jump...
