Macintosh

July 14, 2005

Apple iPods

Yesterday, Apple announced some pretty good numbers for last quarter. Once again the iPods are stealing the show.

I can't wait until they have a living room version of the iPod, a device that will replace having Multi-CD Electronic devices.

Here's what currently on my July Playlist:
Africa, As We Walk to Fenway Park In Boston Town, Black Water, Broken Wings, California, Candle in the Wind, Desert Moon, Dirty Water, Don't Dream It's Over, Drift Away, Ebay (Parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys), Gangsta's Paradise, Going up the Country, How Bad Do You Want It, I Lost On Jeopardy, Independance Day, Iris, Live Like You Were Dying, Maybe I'm Amazed, Merchandising Wright Brothers, Nothing Compares to you, Otherwise, Parents Just Don't Understand, Psycho Killer, Somebody's Watching Me, Teddy Ballgame, This Used To Be My Playground, Tubthumping (I Get Knock Down), Waiting For A Star To Fall, Walk On Water, Wind of Change, World Series Game 4, You're Still the One

July 08, 2005

New Powerbook

Well after months of thinking about buying a new Powerbook, I finally bought a new one last night at the Apple Store in Salem, New Hampshire. This is the model I selected:

15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64 MB DDR)
Backlit keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800

Apple made it easy to copy Applications from my old laptop onto my new laptop. It took a couple of hours to move 20 GB of data. All this was automatic. I just connected the two computers and told it what I wanted to copy. It couldn't have been easier.

I had to enter in my Serial Number for Snapz-Pro and install MySQL. Other than that, things work as they did before.

They were selling 512MB Ram for $150 with free installation. I declined that knowing that I could get a better deal online. I found places that had the same memory for $50.

The screen is much brighter and some applications do appear to open faster.

June 07, 2005

Devon Think

In March I purchased Sticky Brain, however due to problems with the software in my upgrade to MAc OX 10.4, I can no longer use the software.

I tried to uninstall, reinstall and nothing worked. I have two computers and can't get the main program to work. The shortcuts and other features work, but I can't get to the main screen.

Other people were having a problem with Sticky Brian, so I decided, since I use the program as a work tool, that I need a different application.

Right now I am using DEVON think, and so far everything is working well.

I think the problem with Sticky Brain is that it uses OpenBase as a database and I have MySQL installed on both computers. I program a lot in MySQL, so I don't plan to uninstall the database.

June 06, 2005

Apple to use Intel

This past weekend CNet got the scoop that Apple will start using Intel chips in their computers starting next year. I think someone at Apple intentionally leaked the information so the the Developer's Conference would be getting a lot of publicity.

The news that Apple is switching from PowerPC to Intel chips could confuse consumers, some analysts are warning. "Apple has sent a strong signal that it would be sensible to wait a year if you want to buy a new Powerbook," Gary Barnett, research director at Ovum, told BBC News. Mr. Barnett said he would have been more impressed if Apple had decided to switch to AMD processors. AMD had "out-innovated" Intel in terms of its 64 processor technology, he said. "Everything around PowerPC seems to interesting and optimistic - AMD can be classified as that too. Intel is just the current leader, albeit it by a big margin."

My impression is that most consumers don't care what's in the box. They just want to know if its easy to use and will it work with their exisiting programs.

Apple's move to Intel is an economic and technological win for Apple. They will be able produce cheaper computers that will run really fast. It appears this all has to do with getting a G5 chip in the Powerbook.

Also Yesterday:

Jobs introduces Wolfram's CEO, who said they ported Mathematica 5 to Intel-based Macs in 2 hours. Working version in 2 hours flat. Only about 20 lines of code changed.

Ok... Maybe you should reword that it took 2 hours test changing 20 lines of code. The above quote makes it seem that Mathematica has slow programers.

May 23, 2005

Apple and Intel Rumors

The Associated Press is reporting that Apple is in secret talks with Intel, and the AP is spreading the rumor that this has to do with the possiblity that Apple might be using Intel chips.

A couple of years ago, Apple was in talks with several major record companies and all the rumors were about how Apple was going to buy a record company. However, it turns out that Apple was in talks to get record companies to sign off with Apple's new music service.

So the rumors of Apple using Intel instead of IBM could be just that rumors. Apple might be planning some Living Room accessory and would like to use Intel Chips. This might be a better option since it wouldn't infringe on any contracts that Apple and IBM have.

Its possible that Apple-TiVo might be working on something using an Intel chipset, that would be cool...