Views from the Ivory Tower

By Ted Bade - February 2007

Macworld Expo is over and a lot of interesting items were presented. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. I was really expecting Apple to announce at least something new in the Macintosh line up. But alas, there was nothing offered in that area. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t this event called Macworld Exposition, not Apple Expo? IMHO, Steve Jobs should use this as the forum for new and innovative computer related things. The headliner of this event was a device that doesn't really know what it is....

As you probably already know, the big news was Apple’s cell phone/music player/video player/Internet browsing/planner device. Lawyers will be arguing for he next umpteem months about what it can and cannot be called when you speak of it. Why, because, someone at Apple decided to call it the iPhone, but apparently someone at Cisco systems already used that name for something they have. I would have expected Apple to call their cell phone device the ? iPhone, but I would also have expected that someone at Apple would have researched the name to see if it already wasn’t being used.

I have to admit that a lot of interesting technology has been included with this device. It has a screen larger then an iPod. It should be a whole lot better for looking at pictures and video. It is smart enough to know if you are looking at it in portrait or landscape view, so it adjusts the image accordingly, it includes wireless access and well as cell phone access. Most importantly, it interfaces with a computer running Mac OS X, so all your stuff can be synched, to a point. It has only a small amount of memory. You can read all about these cool and innovative features on Apple’s and many other web sites. http://www.apple.com/iphone/

What disappoints me most about this device is that it is almost a great iPod. There is a definite lack of capacity in this machine. It would be hard to justify buying it simply to replace an iPod. The iPhone comes it two sizes, 4 and 8 Gig. 4 Gigs wouldn’t handle my iTunes audio collection, add another movie or some video to this and the 8Gig wouldn’t either. Then what about my photos, my appointments, the cache for the web browser, space for the pictures it can take?

But it seems like Wall Street liked the idea, as Apple’s stock went up over $10 usd a share two days after the keynote. I am sure that a lot of people, excited about their iPods, will love this idea as well. It is not a cell phone style that would work for me. I’ve never had a problem carrying my PowerBook when I am on the road, so all my appointments, calendars, Internet stuff and so forth are available, and I already have an iPod for listening to audio.

Is this device going to be the next big thing or a flop? I don’ really know. It won’t be available for a while yet, which gives the lawyers enough time to argue about it and other companies to figure out what Apple did wrong and make something better. Perhaps Apple will change their mind and release a really nice iPod instead. ;-).

In addition to the Apple branded phone device there were other things released at the Expo. From Apple we heard about the ?TV. This device can wirelessly move or stream video content from your computer to your TV. It seems like a good idea for people who typically download movies onto their computer. I still enjoy renting or buying a DVD because of all the extra content one gets. If the extra content isn’t an issue and I don’t really want to own the movie, renting it or using Pay-per-view from the local cable company is the best deal.

The other thing about the ?TV that might be an issue for some people is that you need to connect it to an HDTV. I haven’t looked at the percentage of computer users that own an HDTV and who don’t already own a device that moves video from their computers to this device, versus the rest of the world. I wonder if there will be enough interest to make Apple’s ?TV a viable product?

The ?TV is well engineered and should be easy to use. It can store content, although it comes with only a 40G drive. Apple claims this gives 50 hours of storage, but what they don’t mention is that this is for standard definition video, not for HD. I don’t know the ratio of how much more space HD video takes over standard definition video, but it is at least twice or more.

What were they thinking putting only a little more storage then an iPod in the ?TV? Both of my Tivos have been upgraded to 200G of storage, giving them 135 or so hours of standard definition video. I don’t think the iTV will record video from your cable or satellite company either. It would be a lot more useful a device if it could record video from a number of sources. As always, we will have to watch and see if Mr. Joe Consumer buys it or not. The reaction to the information at the Keynote presentation was pretty mild, unlike the cheering that occurred when Steve Jobs described the cell phone appliance. To read all about this new device visit: http://www.apple.com/appletv/

Apple also advanced the ability of wireless connections by modifying the airport and other wireless devices to the latest “n” format. The cool thing is that older “g” formats can be upgraded with software to this new format. Apparently, Apple is planning to charge $2 for the patch that lets you upgrade your machine to the “n” format. For more information on this new wireless format visit: http://www.apple.com/wireless/80211/

As always this expo is a time for many other companies to present their software as well. One piece of software that caught my attention is called Crossover Mac. This application will let an Intel based Macintosh computer run applications written for Windows without running Windows! It is a pretty cool solution for people who need to run a couple of Windows based applications but who want to spend most of their time using the Mac OS. I could see it being a very nice solution for switchers who have a pile of Windows software. Rather then spending the money to upgrade every title to a Mac version, they can buy this application and use it to run those programs they haven’t yet converted or those that have no Mac OS version. There should be a complete review of this application in the next edition of MacCompanion. Be sure to check it out. For now you can visit their web site: http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

Roxio released a new version of their CD/DVD burning suite that includes a Mac OS X version of Tivo-to-Go. I have been waiting for a Mac OS version of this feature that allows Tivo owners to burn DVDs of shows recorded on their Tivos. It is great to see it finally happen. There are a lot of other new and powerful features in this new version of Toast, including the ability to work with HD DVD burners. Hopefully, we will have more information on this product in the near future a well. Visit the information at the Roxio site for more information. http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/titanium/overview.html

Bring on the malicious software – Apple, choosing to use the lack of malicious software as a PR campaign for Mac OS X, has essentially thrown down the gauntlet to those people who write this type of code. There have been one or two issues so far but nothing as far reaching as a typical Window’s virus. But we might expect this to change in the not so distant future.

A group of people have decided to research and publicize any security hole they can find in the MacOS and Apple’s other software items. They are calling this “a month of Apple bugs”. I bet Microsoft is really happy people are putting so much attention on MacOS related malicious-ware and not on them! If you would like to read about hat is being released, visit: http://www.securemac.com/, it is their cover story.

What always amazes me is that there is never any lack of people willing to research and create malicious computer code. It is like they have this need to prove that the human race is nothing but a race of losers, one part happily willing to destroy anything other parts create.

If these hackers really wanted to put US companies or economy into a tizzy, they could research and develop a cure for “uncurable” diseases, such as cancer or diabetes. A solution for just those two diseases would destroy millions of research jobs and dollars, billions in profit from drug sales, and change our culture considerably! Yet these people would rather make mischief on some grandmother’s or a kid’s computer. With the intelligence and potential to do great things and gain great fame, with their small minds they can’t think beyond annoying a few old people. Talk about losers. It really makes me sick.

Cheating the Investors - While I am being annoyed with people, I might as well include Apple and bring up this backdating of securities issue. This has little to do with the spirit of the company and a lot to do with the greed of people. Again it boils down to the fact that the human race is all too willing to take advantage of others, whenever they can. This isn’t the Macintosh way, this isn’t ethical, it is just downright bad.

It would be very sad to think that a company that has created so much innovation and wonderful technology could be seriously hurt because a handful of morons wanted to get more then they were really due. This is even sicker when you consider the people doing this already make quite a lot of money for what they did. To them I say, if wealth is your goal, go work for Microsoft. Then at least, your bad habits might be useful to the Macintosh community and your philosophy will be more in tune with the company.

Apple financial information - I might not completely agree with the direction that Apple has been taking with its new products, financially, they are doing well. Which is a good indication that the rest of the world likes their products and is buying them!

In January they posted their first quarter financial information. although they did not meet the predictions, they still had a great first quarter. They posted a record revenue of $7.1 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.0 billion. Apple shipped 1,606,000 Macs and 21,066,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 28 percent growth in Macs and 50 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

Just for the record, 1.1 billion of these gross sales were from the Apple stores! I guess this means the stores were a good idea. Another interesting tidbit is that Apple believes that about 50% of their Macintosh sales were to people switching from Windows.

For the full story as posted by Apple visit: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/17results.html

Help a switcher - I hope the people switching to Mac OS X are having a great experience. I have offered my assistance and suggestions to a couple of friends I know that switched. It is amazing what a how much impact a few basic suggestions have. If you know of someone that has switched, ask them how it is going and don’t be afraid to offer some useful suggestions. Mac OS X is easy, but if a person has been using Windows for some time, they have developed certain habits. It is all too easy to try to do something, using a tried and true Windows method, only to get frustrated because this method doesn’t work on Mac OS X. There are a number of tricks and shortcuts that are easily translated from Windows to Mac OS X. Pass those you know along, your friends will appreciate it.

Elegance can be an issue too. Window’s based machines require that you interface personally with the hardware to eject a removable disk. Which is to say that to eject a CD you need to push the eject button on your CD drive. Macs don’t have an eject button on the drive. This is the source of a major confusion for many switchers. I’ve related the concept of removing something from your desktop using the tools available on the desktop. It isn’t a hard concept and I’ve found most people get the concept really quickly. Of course, use your mouse, use your keyboard, drag the icon to the eject button, but don’t bend over and push a button on the machine!

Suggesting a useful book is also a great idea. I generally suggest the Switchers missing manual for Mac OS X, both as a good read and a great reference. There are probably other books that are useful, but I like David Pogue’s writing and I feel this book is a great intro to living in a Mac OS X world.

Say goodbye to Macintosh Computers - A final note of sad news, we can all say goodbye to Apple Computer Corporation. Yup, Apple dropped the work Computer from its name. They are now Apple Corporation. I just hope they don’t drop the computer from their line up! Yet, I wonder, is this a sign of things to come? Let us hope that the Macintosh and Mac OS X are here for a long time yet to come.