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30 years in Apple products: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Has it really been 30 years since two buddies named Steve sold off their prized possessions (Woz's HP calculator and Jobs' VW van) to raise money and launch a company? Has it really been 30 years since the two Steves, tired of selling blue boxes, built the Apple I and began selling it for $666.66? Yes, it has, and if you don't believe it, just compare Jobs' hairlines from '76 and today. And while the company has become known for many things, from its groundbreaking GUI to the iTunes Music Store, we know Apple has always been a hardware company at heart. So here's to you, Apple: the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly from the past 30 years. Happy Birthday.
Flickr find: Macs really ARE easy to use
Flickr user amalthya is living in Goma, Democratic of Congo where she works at a chimpanzee sanctuary (no, that's not a pet). She says that the chimp pictured above is one of the orphans they look after. I asked her about her experiences using Macs all the way out there, and this was her reply:"...I promote macs wherever I go in Congo or other parts of Africa because virii are just rampant anywhere you plug in. Of course, I have had problems with durability of the powerbook -- living in Congo and Uganda is pretty dusty and dirty and my 17-incher hasn't been holding up too well!"Not to mention the hair in the keyboard, I would imagine.
Rig of the Day: Powerbook, MacBook, iMac, Newton
Remember our "Rig of the Day" feature? Yeah, me too. Today's entry features a Powerbook, a MacBook Pro, an iMac, an iPod and an oh-so-beautiful Newton 2100. Isn't it nice to see siblings getting along so well?"My New Improved Setup" posted by \~{Foolery}~/ . 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 (usually) to highlight.
Apple issues battery update 1.1 for 15" aluminum Powerbooks
Apple has issued a battery update for the 15" aluminum Powerbook which, according to Apple, "...aids the 15-inch Aluminum PowerBook battery in performing at full capacity." Not sure if your Powerbook qualifies for this update? No problem, Apple spells it out for you here. Go and get it, and revel in your battery's new found longevity.
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]
Migrating to a MacBook Pro
Enterprise Mac's Tom Yager posted about his recent transition from a PowerBook to a MacBook Pro using Tiger's integrated Setup Assistant. Using Setup Assistant one can easily transfer old data, settings, applications and more to a new Mac over firewire. His migration took a little under two hours to transfer 60GB of data rather painlessly.What I found insightful with Tom Yager's post is that with Rosetta one can still use most old PowerPC applications without having to search for upgrades. This makes switching (or cloning) to a new machine a hopefully trivial experience. Have you had a breezy time of upgrading your Mac using Tiger's built in Setup Assistant? We're all ears.
MacBook Pro vs PowerBook benchmarks
If you are like me and enjoy a good clean fight, check out these benchmarks at Geek Patrol using their own pre-production software: Geekbench, a multi-platform benchmarking utility. These numbers reflect benchmarking on a 1.5GHz PowerBook G4 with 1.25GB RAM vs a 2.0GHz MacBook Pro with 1GB RAM (the latter benchmark running as a Universal Binary not in Rosetta). I took it upon myself to average their twenty benchmark results. Using Geek Patrol's benchmarking results, the MacBook Pro they used is 3.74 times faster than the PowerBook they tested. If I throw out the low results they received from Stdlib Allocate (which they note: "depends more on library performance than raw hardware performance"), the MacBook Pro is on average, 4.26 times faster than a PowerBook.We all know that real world testing is what will really determine whether or not the MacBook Pro can severely outperform the PowerBook, but we will have to wait for more pro apps to be released as Universal Binaries before anyone takes a crack at graphing those statistics. Until then, all of you who have a MacBook Pro, enjoy your zippy new laptop.[via Slashdot and reader Ernest Leitch]
Playing video on the go
We've all been there. You're jetting off to Paris to see the last fashion line, and whilst you are hurtling over the Atlantic and you decide to pop in 'Dumb and Dumberer' to ease the pain of the transoceanic flight. The movie reaches the dramatic high point, and you run out of juice in your Powerbook.Fear no more, because Digital501 has some tips for you that pertain to watching movies on the go. Mostly, they recommend that you rip the move to your harddrive to save on juice, but they go into a little more detail.
Apple discontinues 15" PowerBook
Well, it was bound to happen: Apple has quietly axed the 15" PowerBook from its product line, removing it from the online store. Looks like it's gone from the education store, too.Since Apple's apparently working feverishly to get the MacBook Pro's into consumers' hands, this seems like the next logical move. And regardless of Adobe's recent we-won't-ship-a-Universal-quite-yet announcement, even under Rosetta I imagine Photoshop on the MacBook Pro is faster than on the PowerBook G4.Now we just need those 12" and 17" models.
Apple beginning to phase out the 15" PowerBook?
TUAW has received a tip that points to the possibility that Apple could already be phasing out the 15" PowerBook. The tipster, whom we'll call Bob for anonymity's sake, manages an Apple B2B program for a U.S. institute. Recently, Bob noticed that, as you see in our screenshot, the 15" PowerBook has disappeared from their program's offerings. After Bob verified this disappearance with his Apple sales rep, the rep also (reportedly) explained that it would slowly begin disappearing from other catalogs as well.As with all claims like this, TUAW can neither confirm nor deny their validity. If this is true, however, it could force some uneasy decisions for those who had their eye on picking up a pro 15" portable from Apple, as we've already found out that some pro apps, such as Adobe's Creative Suite and After Effects, won't be Intel-ready until at least 2007.
Surface HD snafu: Linux on a PowerBook
I was catching up on some TV the other night watching Surface Episode 12 from last month. Two of the main characters were using a PowerBook to read their email. Being the Mac geek that I am, I was looking rather closely and I noticed that the PowerBook wasn't running OSX. I had to rewind it a few times to catch what was going on, but thanks to High Definition I was able to clearly make out the Gnome Desktop (Bottom left corner of screen and menu bars). The odd part was that although they were using Mozilla to read their email, the message in question was in Outlook Express, it seems like a waste to configure Wine for OE. The clip was long and elaborate and for the life of me I can't figure out why they wouldn't just use OSX for the scene.
Rig of the Day: One more headless Powerbook
Ok, I just couldn't resist one posting one more Powerbook minus its display. Open the door, slide out the tray and your media center "flat Mac" is ready. Let this image be a reminder: Whoever says to you, "That old Mac is useless" just isn't a very inventive person."mp3b" posted by Henri Smeets.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.
Apple products in the Engadget awards
Engadget has compiled their list of tech awards for 2005, as selected by the readers and Engadget editors. Categories ranged from "Gadget of the Year" to "Disappointment of the Year." Apple received six readers' choice awards (but no editors' picks, oddly enough). So, here's how Apple fared, as selected by Engadget readers: Gadget of the Year: Apple iPod 5G (Editors' pick: Xbox 360) Desktop of the Year: Apple Power Mac G5 Quad (Editors' pick: Sony RC series) Laptop of the Year: Apple Powerbook 15" (Editors' pick: IBM Thinkpad Z) Media PC of the Year: Apple iMac G5 with FrontRow (Editors' pick: Niveus Media K2) Portable Audio Device of the Year: iPod nano (Editors' pick: iRiver U10) Portable Video Device of the Year: Apple iPod 5G (Editors' pick: Cowon A2) While not really an Apple product, Disappointment of the Year went to the Motorola ROKR E1. I whole-heartedly agree.
Rig of the Day: World's thinnest desktop
What do you do with your Powerbook when its display finally dies? Toss it? Just buy a new LCD for it? No. You connect it to that big old CRT you've got sitting around. The result is the world's thinnest desktop Mac."2nd Life of a Powerbook" posted by qny. 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.
Get your brand new PowerBook with Win98 from Best Buy
MacBook Pros and Mac OS X are so three weeks ago. I'm all about getting a brand new PowerBook from Best Buy with Windows 98. While the product description says OS X ships on the PowerBook, its accompanying image certainly says otherwise.While this could easily be an Apple-hatin' designer or maybe just a design department goof, it's at least good for a snicker, especially since it's Best Buy, of all places.[via The Apple Blog]
Rig of the Day: Group photo
Ok, everyone gather around for a group photo. Cinema CRT...you stand it the back, you're tall.Pictured here we find a 17" Apple CRT Cinema display connected to a dual 2.5 Power Mac G5, three sibling Powerbooks, plus an iBook, iSight, six iPods (yes, six) and a G4 Cube. That's either quite a personal collection, a gathering of many people's Macs...or somebody runs one heck of an Ebay business."Apple Products" posted by jpod999.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.Update: Regarding our Rigs of the Day series, reader Ron Martinez says, "There's a depressing sameness about the rigs - motley collections of Macs from multiple eras, with accessories and peripherals in a poorly framed photo. How about replacing ROTD with a Rigs of Distinction feature. When you get something truly new or noteworthy, or interesting for some unique feature (rig in a car, on a scooter, case mod, etc.) post that." Well, you heard the man! We want to see your killer set ups: The mini under your car's dashboard, the room full of Xserves, the SE/30 that is automating your home, your stack of every iPod model ever sold...even your Newton web server. Just upload them to our our group Flickr pool. We're not saying that we don't want to see your humble home set up (that's what most of us have, afterall), but don't hesitate to really knock our socks off.
Powerbook vs. Thinkpad
David Parmet has written an amusing piece for Apple Matters lamenting his wife's recent ThinkPad purchase. Now, we Mac folks have got it good with Powerbooks and MacBooks, but I must say that I find it unfortunate that David had to pick on a ThinkPad.Are they sexy? Well, not really but they are solid machines, and the best Windows laptops you can buy (for business use, which is what I use mine for). If you have to get a Windows laptop, get a ThinkPad even though it will show finger prints. But let us not forget that it wasn't so long ago that Powerbooks were black.Now, I know we are all dyed in the wool Mac users, but if you had to get a PC laptop, what would you get?
Rig of the Day: Oh, my electric bill!
Flickr user tbridge has got a lot of stuff plugged in at once here. Check out the 20" G5 iMac, 20" Cinema Display, Powerbook, Mac mini (with attached 160GB LaCie drive) and a 3G iPod. Not to mention the Creature Speakers, two lamps, printer and clock (though that may run on batteries)."Desk" posted by tbridge.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.
Rig of the Day: Great vintage collection
Check this out. Flickr user Henri has got a great set of vintage Apple products in his snapshot. Note the (blueberry?) iMac, the Powerbook, Newton Message Pad, the Apple PowerCD with remote (wow), eMate, Color Classic and a Twentieth Anniversary Mac. I must confess, I had never seen an Apple PowerCD before, and had to write to Henri for an explanation. "MacCollection" posted by Henri Smeets.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.
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.
