In July, iPhone 3G was released, with a product hype the web world hasn’t seen in a long long time. It’s a nice little product, but in my opinion, there are some fundamental flaws.
Having upgraded/installed two Macs (Macbook Pros) to Mac OS X Leopard, I thought I’d briefly share some of my experiences.
By now, I’m sure you know about the controversy between NBC and Apple, where NBC decided to ditch Apple’s iTunes Store and instead sell their shows through Amazon Unbox.
Just as I’m writing this, asteroid 85275, with a diameter of at least 2 kilometers, should be passing just by Earth. If it had hit, all of us probably would have been gone by now. So, what better time and way to say that I’m back writing? 
It all started last summer. Everyone seemed to be talking about Ubuntu, so naturally I had to try it as well. I installed it, played around with it, and then, somehow, it just went away…
But now I’ve tried it thoroughly, and I like it a lot!
For some time, I was looking around for the best hard drive media player to plug into my TV, and I scoured the web and harassed my friends to get some good pointers. And, finally, I found just what I needed!
For those of you who aren’t aware of it, Mac OS X has a fantastic, and somewhat hidden away, feature to easily view images as a slideshow or an index sheet.
When I use my Mac and type away in the Terminal, I’ve felt the need to add custom commands; e.g. launch an application with that folder/file as a parameter.
I’ve been a Mac user for a little over a year now, coming from about 10 years with Windows, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share the applications available for Mac OS X that I find absolutely essential.
Recently I got a bug report from marketing (don’t all bug reports come from there? 
), about an unexpected problem in Firefox in Mac OS X. The end users had problems tabbing through the web page, and especially through forms. Since I, at the time, sat on a PC, I couldn’t test with my settings, although I knew I hadn’t seen the problem on my Mac at home.
As you might now, yesterday Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 started with his keynote address. I thought I’d cover the new products, my opinion about them and the Apple hype.
So, 2006 is almost over and it’s time to look ahead at 2007. Will it be an exciting year? No doubt, we have to wait to see just how riveting it can get! I thought I’d go through some notable things that happened in 2006, not just web-related, and scribble down some words about them…
As you might now, I’m both a Mac and Windows user. I primarily use my Mac at home and my PC at work, and one thing that really annoys me is the inability to maximize windows in Mac OS X.
Recently a minor number of Apple Video iPods were shipped with a virus, namely RavMonE.exe. What do Apple do? Well, blame Microsoft, of course.
I use a PC with Windows at work and a Mac with Mac OS X at home and I like them both. They each have their distinct benefits but also shortcomings. What does annoy me in the computer market is when one company, no matter which company it is, gets such a monopoly that it can basically do or produce anything and the end users have no choice but to happily get into line and accept it.
So, therefore I urge: Let Mac OS X Free!
First and foremost, let me tell you that I don’t abide to the poor labeling of being a Mac fanatic or a Windows user. I’m a computer user, period. I use the programs and computers and programs that are good, no matter what their eventual name might be.
With that said, I hope this post will be balanced and fair instead of just trying to take sides, and informative no matter from what angle you’re coming.
As soon as the Intel-based Macs were revealed, people started to find ways to run Windows XP on them. The most spoken about resulted in a contest where the winner would get the money that a lot of people had contributed with. Naturally, it succeeded. To get down and dirty with the result, please visit OnMac.net.
I guess some people’s desire to run Windows XP on a Mac was to finally have a lean good looking computer with the OS they prefer; for some people it was about having it all, being able to dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X on the same machine. Some prefer one OS over the other, and some need both in their daily work.
An interesting twist came yesterday. Apple has officially launched a tool to run Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac. The days of wonder are apparently still here… The name of the tool is Boot Camp and for the moment it is in beta but offered for download by Apple. The final release is said to be shipped with the next major release of Mac OS X: Mac OS X Leopard.
What you also need to do in order to run Boot Camp is to update the firmware in your Mac. The different downloads are:
If things go terribly wrong, or if you have a change of mind, you can run the Firmware Restoration CD v 1.0
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and get it all!
In December, after some serious thinking, I decided to get me a video iPod, the fifth generation of iPods. I already have a third generation iPod, but took some time to find arguments to convince me (and my dear Fredrika) that it was a good idea to get another iPod just one year and nine months after the first one.
How could I motivate this to myself? Well, there were some factors that pushed me over the brink:
I’ve also seen that there a number of porn movies available in iPod format. I sincerely don’t want to know what people are doing with an iPod in one hand and… shivers
Besides, if one would want to get off holding an iPod, the design of the iPod would be such a turn-on by itself. 
A disturbance is that the software isn’t perfect, it has a tendency of sometimes freezing when the battery goes low and you’ve just watched a video. Just remember to hold down the Menu key and the Play key to soft reset it and you will be fine. Aside from that, I wish they would’ve thrown in an AC adapter. One doesn’t want to fire up the computer only to charge something through an USB port (and why does the computer have to be on for that?).
Conclusively, if you’re looking for a MP3 player with a nice hard drive, I most definitely recommend getting an iPod. I hesitated for a while, took the plunge, and haven’t regretted it for a single second!
If you don’t have movies in the MPEG 4 format, you can use free tools such as the Videora iPod Converter for Windows and iSquint for Mac to convert it.
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So Macworld Expo has taken place and there they presented new Macs using Intel chips.
What I find interesting about this is that they will make no attempt to stop people from installing Windows on these machines, meaning that you can have Mac OS X or Windows, or *gasp* both! Sounds like a pretty interesting setup to me!
However, not sure what the pricing is in your country, but here the new Macs are still terribly overprized compared to the PC equivalent. But I guess you gotta pay for your high maintenance life style…
First, I guess you need to check the description of equilibrium in the dictionary. Done? Great, let’s go to my rant.
I get tired when people criticize the hell out of Microsoft all the time, just for the sake of it. I’m not a Microsoft lover, and I do think they definitely deserve some of the bashing they get. But take a look at these examples:
How long will it take before someone sues Microsoft for having the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows XP (and the same time no one will even mention iPhoto)?
Also, to me as a Windows user, it’s enormously annying that Apple forces me to download iTunes if I only want to download QuickTime to watch a movie clip.
I know Microsoft are huge, I know some of the things they do stifle competition. But to me, either something’s good business practice or bad business practice, no matter who does it. So please, give me a break; be consistent (and have some self-distance) when it comes to your criticism.
Some equilibrium, please.
PS. A funny sidenote is that Apple’s headquarter is nowhere to be found in MSN’s Virtual Earth. DS.
Recently, I confessed about my flirting with Mac, and right after that I got the chance to go all the way. An Art Director in the company I work for resigned, and I got (read:took) the opportunity to take over his Power Mac G5 with the Panther OS installed and 1,5 GB RAM. In short, a very competent computer.
Some more cynical people would say that it is a case of “knowing your enemy”, but that’s definitely not the way I see it, I was just very interested.
However, the things that bothered me was:
All in all, it didn’t suit me for developing purposes, but I would have nothing against using a Mac for entertainment purposes at home.
Now when I’m back with Windows XP, and now sporting the silver color scheme, it feels just right!
PS. Thanks to Per Zimmerman at Gamepepper 
for helping me finding where different characters actually were on the keyboard, as well as the discussions about a real environment vs. an emulated one. DS.
I just have to say that Apple’s image, design and software really seem to be the way to go. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a PC user and I’m not about to change, given certain developing tools, more software available etc for a system with Microsoft Windows (some of the reasons in Why Windows Users Won’t Switch To The Mac may also be applicable). Also, I find it terribly pricey.
However, I have been flirting with Macs for some time now since they seem to have some kind of attraction power trying to lure me in.
First of all, when it comes to the hardware design there’s, in my humble opinion, no one that even comes close to it. I find it unbelievable that no other company has ever been near Apple when it comes to design. How hard can it be?
I’m not saying that design is easy, but what I’m going for is that I can’t believe that no other company can match the Apple design. The main reason they’re so popular is their design, so it really should be desirable for other companies to beat Apple in their own playing field. I mean, compare this with these (and I really do like Dell’s computers, but design-wise compared to Apple: come on!).
I also think the Mac mini is a great design idea, although its performance isn’t really spectacular.
With the gargantuan success of iPod, which has even been appointed to be one of 5 inventions to change your life by CNN Money, it has had an enormous effect on the market. I own one myself and love it. Plus it’s probably the closest I’ll get to owning a Mac. But many other users have taken the plunge, it seems:
The survey, which polled 400 consumers, found that 19% of PC iPod owners have purchased a Mac in the past year
When it comes to software, I really like the look and feel of Mac OS X, and I wish I didn’t need Apple hardware to use it. The interface just seems more intuitive than, for example, Windows and it’s also good for the world to see that something can look good and be functional.
I think it’s great if Apple gets more popular, I would have no problem seeing them having a 10% or 20% market share. Just as with web browsers, I’d really like to see several actors with about as much users as the other, for a level playing field and more incentive through competition to be better.
