Apple’s competitors in the smartphone, laptop, and tablet markets think that if they can best the specs of the iPhone or iPad or MacBook Air with higher-resolution displays, thinner devices, or more powerful processors, they’ll be able to gain ground against Apple. This is a flawed strategy from the start, because it’s not Apple’s specs (impressive as they may be) that draws in consumers.

It’s Apple’s vision. Apple has always been a visionary company. They’ve singlehandedly created or perfected at least five major marketplaces in the last five to ten years, by my reckoning: digital music players, smartphones, ultrabooks, tablets, and apps. (Arguably, there could be even more than these.) Where they invent and innovate, the competition merely tries to copy.

Instead of vision, the competition has gimmicks. They’re not thinking about building the future, they’re thinking about whatever little techno-gizmo that will be here today and gone tomorrow that they can add to their devices in order to sell more stuff. Instead of organizing a revolution, they’re playing catchup.

Just look at CES. I’ve been following CES coverage all day long today, and there’s a common thread running through nearly everything I’ve seen and read: everybody is taking their cues from Apple. Apple sets the standards that everyone else follows. The heavy hitters copy every product Apple creates. The smaller businesses are making millions by crafting accessories for Apple products (and I’m not knockin’ ‘em — a lot of those accessories are terrific and very useful). Everyone is either riding Apple’s coattails, or chasing them.

This is “kinda hilarious,” as I said above, to longtime Apple users, because for so very long, Apple was seen as little more than a boutique hardware manufacturer. A little-company-that-could that catered to the artsy-fartsy tastes of people who shopped at Target and bought Saturn cars. They made great stuff, but would never be an industry leader.

And then something unexpected happened. Technology finally caught up with Steve Jobs’ sense of vision. Digital music downloads came of age, touchscreens became sophisticated enough to function as computers’ primary input devices, and so on. And little by little, Apple changed the entire paradigm of the computing industry.

A big focus of CES this year is the new “ultrabooks” category of devices — a category that was created 100% as a response to Apple’s super-thin laptop, the MacBook Air. Android tablets are a dime a dozen as well this year, and they obviously exist as an answer to the iPad. Several companies are launching their own cloud storage and computing services, such as Acer’s new “AcerCloud.” They’re even taking a bit of flack today for blatantly copying Apple’s presentation slide about iCloud with their promotional material for AcerCloud. (Admittedly, Apple didn’t invent cloud storage; both Amazon and Google beat them to the punch. But iCloud is so much simpler and more elegant — one of Apple’s keys to success. User effort is minimal; it “just works.”)

Nothing lasts forever, so I’m not naive enough to think that Apple will always enjoy the golden age they’re experiencing now. But for today, everybody else is playing with hardware and software that’s too fragmented to make a real dent in Apple’s market share. Sure, there are more Android phones out there than iPhones, but they’re all over the map, wildly inconsistent, each using their own tailored version of Android and running their own apps. There are tons of laptops — and even these gimmicky new ultrabooks — but if every hardware maker creates their own cloud storage system and has specs that are divergent, they can’t help but be at a disadvantage to the intuitive consistency of Apple’s product line. Android and Windows users never know if one of their devices will play nice with another, while Apple users benefit from a perfectly uniform ecosystem.

In retrospect, Apple’s dominance seems like a foregone conclusion — to everyone except their competitors, who just never seem to “get it” the way that Apple’s customers do.

The tracking data uses cell tower triangulation over GPS so the information collected by the iPhone doesn’t give a totally accurate picture of where you’ve been. However, the information collected can be used, with the right App, to track your general whereabouts if your phone falls in to the wrong hands. This can either be useful or dangerous with the general census leaning towards the later.

The location data is contained in a file called “consolidated.db” which can only be accessed if your iPhone is Jailbroken or someone has physical access to your computer and can read your iOS backups. Obviously the best way to secure this file filled with your general location points is to not Jailbreak your phone, don’t let anyone use an App to read the data and to encrypt your iOS backups. There are no signs Apple or another company/entity is collecting this data to track your every move. Instead, this file is likely kept to decrease the time your iPhone takes to locate your position.

However, John Gruber muses the tracking issue may be a bug or lack of oversight in how iOS purges recent location data:

I don’t have a definitive answer, but my little-birdie-informed understanding is that consolidated.db acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn’t, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight. I.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that’s meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history.

Gruber’s theory holds water. It’s likely Apple regularly logs data using cell tower triangulation to give users a quick approximation of their location when they first open Google Maps. Once the user is presented with a general bearing on their location in Google Maps or any other location aware App, iOS likely switches to the GPS to fill in the exact information. Once the GPS kicks in and the user’s location is approximated, the previous locations in iOS’s are no longer needed and should be purged.

About Incase’s Nylon sleeve

The Nylon sleeve comes in various color schemes but for this review we looked at Incase’s signature black and green sleeve. The outside of the sleeve is black and complimented by green around the zippers, tag and interior. A plush interior made up of faux-fur gives the MacBook Pro a comfortable home to live in.

Incase bills the sleeves as form fitting while providing complete protection and I couldn’t agree more. The front pocket is large enough to fit small accessories such as a headphones, cables, cleaning cloth and an iPod. Cramming a charger stretches the sleeve and adds unnecessary bulge that tightens the sleeve up.

Using The Sleeve

Incase’s Nylon Sleeve is one of those accessories you wouldn’t think about until you use it but that’s the beauty of this particular sleeve. The sleeve fits snugly around your MacBook Pro and gives more than enough protection against objects that may be in your backpack, bag or would normally come in contact with your laptop. The snug fit can make it too tight to pull out your MacBook Pro but is a tradeoff for great protection.

The sleeve focusses on the bare essentials and puts protection before anything else yet still looks good. The sleeve is extremely light and doesn’t add unnecessary bulk or weight to your MacBook Pro making it easy to carry around.

Final Word

Should you buy this case? Without a doubt! I’d highly recommend this sleeve for your MacBook Pro.

Pros
-Slim and light
-Comfortable interior
-Provides great protection for your MacBook Pro

Cons
-Tight fit might make it a bit harder to pull MacBook Pro out of sleeve

About Air Display

$19.99 on the Mac App Store.
Client Software is free

Avatron’s Mac App focuses on simplicity and replicating the features of Air Display for iOS on OS X without any hassle. Available via the Mac App Store is one part of the wireless screen sharing combination offered by Avatron. Once the App is launched a simple guide helps the user through the steps to setting up a spare Mac as a secondary display. A client App is downloaded to your second Mac and scans for another Mac running Air Display. Setup is as simple as selecting the Mac running Air Display through the App’s menubar options.

Be warned: if you’re thinking of setting up that aging PowerPC Mac as an Air Display client, you’ll be out of luck – the App is Intel only.

How Air Display Works

To achieve the feat of transforming a Mac in to a secondary wireless display is accomplished over WiFi using a Bonjour like networking protocol. Both Macs must be connected to the same network and running Avatron’s Air Display Apps. If both Macs are connected via Ethernet to a router, Air Display will still work. However, the technology that powers the App is not without problems.

Despite the incredible advances made to wireless technology in the past few years, speeds can’t come close to traditional cable based video output. Avatron’s Air Display works amazingly but streaming video or bringing your Final Cut Pro canvas to a second Mac over WiFi will be pushing both computer’s wireless connections to the max. Quality will degrade and flickering will occur simply because the bandwidth available over Wifi is less than what’s available with a DVI or HDMI cable

Why Not Use Screen Sharing?

That’s a great question and one I considered when reviewing Air Display. However, I prefer Avatron’s solution over Apple’s for two reason: simplicity and cross platform compatibility. Setting up Screen Sharing isn’t as cut as dry as Avatron’s Air Display’s setup. PCs and iOS devices are supported as well.

Final Word (4 out of 5 stars)

There isn’t a lot against Air Display. PC and iOS compatibility put it ahead of Apple’s Screen Sharing solution. The simplicity of setting up Air Display and not being bogged down with wires and adapters is refreshing. However, the technology that makes Air Display work so well detracts from its potential. All in all Avatron’s Air Display for the Mac is great for productivity and those wanting a second display without having to purchase one.

About The Bag Specs

Mission Workshop’s Rambler is characterized by its large fold over flap that covers the pack’s 3 large internal compartments. A small velcro pocket is hidden underneath the flap and a small zip up pocket is on the pack’s front right towards the bottom.

Two weatherproof compartments
Large Roll-Top Pocket
Expanding cargo compartment
An external accessory pocket
Water-resistant urethane coated zippers
Rugged internal frame
Made in America with a lifetime warranty
Dimensions
Compact Measures – 13” x 19” x 5”
1,350 cu. in. / 22 L / 5 Gallons
Expanded Measures – 13” x 19” x 10”
2,700 cu. in. / 44 L / 10 Gallons
Weight
3.7lbs / 1.65Kg

Build Quality

The first thing I noticed about the Rambler aside from its sleek exterior and comfort was the pack’s build quality. You’d expect a backpack in this price range to be versatile, comfortable and durable. The Rambler not only meets all of these qualifications but looks it. The build quality is superb and reinforced by a Carbon Fiber frame making it light to carry.

The Rambler really sets itself from other bags by being completely versatile and weatherproof. Mission Workshop’s attention to detail is what stunned me. Zippers are covered with a protective layer to prevent liquids from seeping in to the Rambler. Side pockets are protected the same way and give easy access to small electronics like a phone or your wallet.

Storage

Storage space is what really struck me as one of the best features of the Rambler. Mission Workshop decided to blend the best of both worlds — sleek and portability with space and durability — to create the Rambler. In either Medium or Large sizes, the pack can be expanded by unzipping the middle compartment’s inner cover which doubles in size. I had no problem fitting a Canon 50D protected by a massive Pelican all purpose case without noticing much bulge.

Even with the many options to carry large things like a few DSLRs, lenses, laptops, external drives and whatnot, there aren’t many medium or small sized openings. You have three main compartments that can house anything iPad sized and larger snugly but loose objects like cables, drives and small books can only be stuffed with each other in one of the large compartments. I feel the Rambler could be bettered by converting the front to a zip open compartment that reveals the entire space with smaller sections for miscellaneous items.

If you have other storage solutions for these kinds of items, you wont be bothered. However, I found myself dumping cables, an external drive, pencils in the large front pocket.

Comfort

The Rambler is comfortable and well-suited for cyclists. The front strap doesn’t suffocate and makes the pack a lot more bearable to carry when loaded to the brim with weight. As I rode through the town following my daily routine I wasn’t worried about the Rambler swishing around or suffocating me. This pack was made for cyclists and perfect for carrying work clothes to change in to after riding to the office.

Other Thoughts

The Rambler is worth every penny but I had a few minor issues. While the bag focuses on being a backpack you’d take with you on your suburban adventures and urban exploits, it looks more like a camping pack than your traditional bag or backpack. A few people commented on the Rambler’s large size when not expanded and asked if I was going camping. This may not be the bag for fashionistas but it works damn well for those lugging around copious amounts of gear. Those who want one bag to rule their gear know the importance of functionality over looks. If you’re serious about being comfortable while toting your mobile gear then the Rambler is perfect for you. If you’re looking to make a fashion statement with an oversize pack, camping might be a new hobby of yours with the Rambler. That’s not to say the Rambler doesn’t look bad – it looks great and durable yet sleek.

Final Verdict – 4 Stars

Pros:
-Great for those taking a lot of gear with them
-Comfy and durable
-Sleek design and expandability options are a plus

Cons:
-Not too many small pockets for miscellaneous items
-Might get confused with a camping backpack depending on who you talk to.

Pros:
-But even if it did, the Rambler could weather the elements and carry your camping gear without breaking a sweat.

Drawing and painting Apps aren’t in short supply on the iOS but are rendered less effective by the interface that makes the iPad so powerful: touch. To quote Matt Inman of The Oatmeal, “painting on the iPad is like painting with a fire hose.” I couldn’t agree more. Smashing Magazine took a look at some of the most popular iPad styluses — the BoxWave, Griffin, iClooly, Pogo, Dagi, AluPen, Hard Candy, Stylus Socks — and their usefulness when designing.

The general census is that tablets in their current form won’t replace pen, pencil and paper. In the interim, there are some great styluses that make drawing and note taking with the iPad even easier:

Having tried out these eight styluses, I recommend the Griffin and BoxWave for their superior sketching and writing and because they “just feel right” in my hand. Although they were better than the others, they still weren’t ideal for UI text. I often found myself incorporating dashes instead of descriptive text because the results were not optimal. If your sketches have limited text, then the Stylus Socks and AluPen are strong alternatives.

1. A Working Lego Mac

Perhaps one of the best Lego creations on this list is a working vintage PowerBook 5300 in a Finder Icon case crafted out of Legos. An employee working for Apple Juice (a now defunct Apple consulting company in South Wales) salvaged an old PowerBook turning it in to a server for the office. The case was created entirely out of Legos (500 bricks in all) and resembles the Finder icon.

When it went to auction in 2003, the Lego Mac garnered worldwide buzz and a BBC interview with the employee who built the case.

The specs:

-PowerPC 603e 100MHz, 32MB RAM, 750MB 2.5″ hard disk, ATAPI Expansion bay, CDROM, Floppy disk drive, Ethernet 10BaseT, two free PCMCIA slots, SCSI, ADB, serial, audio in, audio out ports Supports SCSI disk mode. Currently running Mac OS 8.1 The connector on the logic board for the LCD screen is damaged and not repairable. However, a Focus Lapis card provides both external video and 10BaseT ethernet. Height: 19.5cm Width: 20.5cm Depth: 6cm

2. A Mac G4

Another amazing creation is the “working” miniature Lego iMac G4.
Bjarne Tveskovs thought of creating a Lego iMac after he bought a 7″ picture frame that oddly resembles the iconic machine’s swivel screen. There are no working components in the Lego iMac G4. The photo frame can play video to give the illusion it’s real and has a fully functioning operating system:

There is no Apple hardware inside (for now), but the screen can display videos, images and TV (there’s a digital TV tuner built in). I almost managed to get a motorized CD-tray in there, but most of the space in the bottom was needed for weight-elements. The screen is rather heavy so there is a lot of stress on the swivelling arm, but it worked out quite well.

3. The Evil Lego PowerMac Cube

While not built out of traditional Lego bricks, Thinking Bricks used Lego’s Mindstorms kit to build a robotic Mac. In the video, an iMac G4′s startup sound wakes the robot. A light sensor illuminates the Apple Logo red while a motor deploys the wheels. Two more motors give directional movement and a rear mounted ultrasonic sensor prevents collisions. A sensor can detect the Lego Mac’s proximity and once the robot is near a wall, the motors stop. A motor raises the wheels and tells the light source to shut off.

4. The Other Lego iMac

Chris “Powerpig” McVeigh, a well known Lego sculptor and artist isn’t one to shy away from a project involving plastic bricks. McVeigh was contacted by Mac Rescue to create a Lego iMac for an ad.

“During the month of December, I was contracted to create another card image for my friends at MacRescue. One concept had the employees decorating a huge iMac. The build itself was pretty straightforward; at the time, the only challenge was finding some 1×1 lime green plates to complete the onscreen logo.”

The end result is an aluminum iMac re-imagiend in Lego form. For the enthusiasts and hobbyists, McVeigh has released the Instructions and Lego Designer file so you can build your very own Lego iMac replica.

5. The Lego iPad

Last but not least is the Lego iPad created by Flick user jmenomeno. The Lego ‘Pad uses a relatively simple design and was created following the real iPad’s announcement.

Low Sales, Low App Numbers, Low Everything

Before the iPad 2′s unveiling, Apple took the time to highlight how far behind the competition is. Steve Jobs didn’t shy away from calling HP, Samsung, RIM and Google’s Android copycats. To reinforce the high number of Apps available for iOS, Jobs ridiculed Android 3.0′s (Honeycomb) support for only 100 Apps in comparison to the iPad’s 65,000. The highlight of Jobs’ competition ridicule was a slide displaying a mistranslated quote from Samsung’s VP Lee Young-Hee.

The slide read: “As you heard, our sell-in was quite aggressive… around two million. In terms of sell-out, we believe it was quite small.”

The misquote — which had been corrected shortly after — caused controversy for Jobs as he intentionally used the wrong translation to hammer home his point:

The iPad 2 is better because the competition isn’t.

Jobs’ downplay of the competition is Apple’s way of defending the market it’s defining with the iPad. Highlighting the follies and laughing at the look-a-likes gives Apple the power to back up its marketing claims while eradicating its competitors. This is no longer a battle of specs or speed, it’s a battle of usability which Apple is keen to point out it’s the king of with the iPad.

The End Of The PC Era

The iPad’s competition wasn’t the only thing Apple downplayed. To wrap up the iPad 2′s debut, Steve Jobs revealed Apple’s entrance in to the ‘Post-PC Era’ something the media is downplaying as hype or taking with some skepticism. Below is Steve Job’s ‘Post-PC’ speech transcribed by Apple 2.0.

I’ve said this before, but thought it was worth repeating: It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. That it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.

And nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices.

And a lot of folks in this tablet market are rushing in and they’re looking at this as the next PC. The hardware and the software are done by different companies. And they’re talking about speeds and feeds just like they did with PCs.

And our experience and every bone in our body says that that is not the right approach to this. That these are post-PC devices that need to be even easier to use than a PC. That need to be even more intuitive than a PC. And where the software and the hardware and the applications need to intertwine in an even more seamless way than they do on a PC.

And we think we’re on the right track with this. We think we have the right architecture not just in silicon, but in the organization to build these kinds of products.

And so I think we stand a pretty good chance of being pretty competitive in this market. And I hope that what you’ve seen today gives you a good feel for that.

Benchmarks and specs may overtake the iPad in some form but Apple’s playing a numbers game with the App Store. To back it, Apple is taking every opportunity to downplay the competition’s efforts.

Apple boasts the iPad isn’t a game changer it’s a category creator. While Tablet PCs existed before the iPad, they were just that: PCs. The iPad is Apple’s shot at dominating the computing landscape while differentiating itself as much as possible from the PC and creating something unique. Anyone that competes with Apple won’t be competing with just the iPad: they’ll be fighting a well oiled marketing machine as well.

During the previous MacBook Pro revision Apple upgraded the 15 and 17-inch models with Intel’s Core i5 and i7 processors while sticking with the Core 2 Duo for the 13-inch MacBook Pro. The reason was frustrating; Nvidia’s 320M GPU gave the low end MacBook Pro its graphics kick and acted as a chipset for Intel’s Core 2 processors. This allowed Apple to shrink the size of the logic board in favor or a larger battery.

Intel eventually introduced its newest line of processors to succeed the Core 2 line dubbed Core i3, i5 and i7. However, Intel ran in to legal issues with Nvidia and blocked them from making chipsets for the newest line of processors. Intel and Nvidia’s heated legal battle which started in directly effected Apple. For Apple to continue using Nvidia’s GPU and chipset combo, Intel’s newest Core i5 processors could not be used.

Skipping Intel’s Sandybridge CPUs and sticking with a slightly faster Core 2 processor combined with an Nvidia 320 or 330M GPU would have been a bad move by Apple. However, the design constraints of the 13-inch MacBook Pro meant Apple couldn’t include a discrete GPU and was forced to use a chipset/GPU combination. The ultimate result is Intel’s HD 3000 which can barely go toe-to-toe with Nvidia’s lower end 310M and 320M GPU and has some questioning whether a Mac with integrated graphics can be really be a pro level machine.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro’s space constraints, Nvidia’s inability to create a compatible chipset/GPU combo and Apple’s reluctance to skip over Sandybridge CPUs led to Intel HD 3000 powering the baseline MacBook Pro.

I was conflicted. Supposedly Apple will release a new MacBook Pro with a faster Intel Sandybridge CPU and as suggested by rumors, perhaps an integrated SSD, thinner chassis – essentially a Mac Book Air but beefier. While that would be the perfect laptop as dreamt up but every Apple fan including me, I stumbled upon the question of “would it be worth it?” Apple will release a new generation MacBook Pro with its relevancy reinforced by insightful diagrams that break down how fast you can do a certain day-to-day task whether you’re a consumer or prosumer – that’s a given. What isn’t known is much of a leap up the MacBook Pro will make with a new CPU.

But, there’s a problem: Intel is recalling all defective Sandybridge parts – parts that have already shipped and are in computers. Typically recalls don’t speed up a product launch whatsoever, in fact, a lot of people bet on Intel’s gaf inhibiting the release of a new MacBook Pro and even a new iMac. Sure enough, everyone who guessed a delay was imminent is correct. This pegged a new MacBook Pro – which I was in the market for – with a new release date of June instead of the now hopeful timeframe of Spring.

Should I wait? I want to have the latest and greatest if I can time it right. But, I can’t wait. Today I pulled the trigger and bought a refurbished 13″ MacBook Pro with no buyer’s remorse whatsoever. Will I cringe a bit when Apple releases a MacBook Pro sans optical drive backed by an insanely fast CPU and an even more amazing GPU? Yes I will but I’ll still cringe a little when the next generation after that is released as I’m further reminded obsoletion is another generation closer. While I may cringe and think “I should have waited!” my everyday routine and work won’t; at the end of the day my new purchase is a tool for a job I love doing.

Should you wait for Apple’s new Sandybridge MacBook Pros? The answer to that question and all future upgrade questions is “if you need it now, buy it.” But what about having the newest model? If you can afford to wait, then you have a great amount of patience and flexibility.

I think this is where people become caught up in product upgrade cycles. Today’s quick paced world of upgrades have conditioned us to forget why we use technology. While having the latest and greatest is well, great, the cost of waiting is a hard price to pay. Knowing full well Apple has the next generation MacBook Pro sitting in a vault deep within the depths of Cupertino waiting to be package and sold, I still bought a current generation MacBook Pro. My needs in a computer don’t change when Apple doesn’t release an update in a timeframe that’s suitable for me. If anything, my technical needs are being delayed by waiting.

At the end of the day, our phones, MacBooks and iPods are tools. While they wear out, they shouldn’t be shunned when something new comes out a few months later. Our work and personal lives are impacted by computing devices, don’t allow your needs to be dictated by product release cycles.

Apple has made the tablet and the smartphone intimate. It’s personal, touchable and everywhere you are — a revolution years in the making — here’s how it happened.

Touch computing was at the forefront of futuristic concepts for computers and has appeared in many kinds of gadgets over the last decade. It wasn’t until the iPhone’s debut in early 2007 that touch screens became wide spread in mobile devices. Apple’s approach to bringing the touch computing to a wide audience isn’t accident; Apple made the tablet intimate.

You Want To Touch iOS

As humans, we interact by touching which creates a bond between people close to us. Touch came to the computing world but it wasn’t as refined as it was today and was tacked on as an additional layer of interaction. Apple made touch the only method of interaction and navigation on the iPhone and iPad but made the user interface finger friendly. Navigational elements and buttons were front and center. This was an interface designed for fingers and not cursors. The iPhone and collectively all iOS devices beat out touch layers put on desktop OSs.

iOS Focuses On Your Content

Apple took the experience of how we interact with media and made it personal through a touch interface. While we could thumb through photos and hold documents, we couldn’t interact with the web, our music and videos on such an intimate scale even with touch interfaces pre-iPhone. Apple made content king on all iOS devices which coupled with one of the most personal means of human interaction has now made the tablet form factor and the smartphone intimate.

iOS Is Everywhere You Are

Because the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad are so personal and intimate, we want to take them everywhere. The iPhone and the iPod Touch have the advantage of being extremely portable as it can fit in your pocket. But have you noticed it’s often the first thing you go to in the morning? Checking email or Facebook? The focus is on content. Why is it the first thing you grab in the morning? It’s personal, you’re touching things you care about even if they’re visualized 1′s and 0′s. The iPad, while not pocketable, does make it more appealing than the most ultraportable notebook if you are focusing on mobility.

The entire family of iOS devices thrive on touch interfaces and adapt well to any screen size. We as humans love touching things, especially things we care about like photos, music and the web.

I spend most of my time working from home, and that means that I’m in front of my desk hammering away on my 15-inch MacBook Pro. I’ve often got 5-10 programs running simultaneously, which not only heats up my CPU, but causes the fans to run pretty heavy as well. It’s not a big deal because it’s mounted on a stand, but it is something that prevents me from going mobile with the thing. I don’t take it into the living room to work because after 20 minutes my lap is so hot that I wonder if I’ll ever be able to reproduce again.

I’m also always trying to be more productive, and one thing that constantly distracts me is television. We have stacks of shows on our DVR, and if I get sucked into watching one of them, I find myself losing a few hours of time to the tube. As a result, I’ve been debating getting a TV for my office (or moving one from another room) and then going from there. I originally was going to use a TV that I received from a friend, but that hasn’t worked out so well.

So after doing some math, I realized that putting a new TV in my office would cost at least a grand – cost of the TV, new DirecTV receiver, installation, etc – which isn’t very cool. So it looked like I needed to find another option.

Just like that, I was able to justify buying a new MacBook Air. The cost would be about the same, but I could use that in my living room without fear of burning my lap, and I could get most of my lighter work done while watching the television. I’d also have a lighter computer to take to the office, because I don’t need the full horsepower of my MBP every day, just access to my iDisk or Dropbox account and I’m good. No reason to run Adobe CS5 on the machine, just iWork and some e-mail.

As my wife likes to say, I can justify anything, particularly with an electronics purchase. But fact is, my iPad can’t do enough heavy lifting for me to really get things done, and my MacBook Pro gets so hot that it’s difficult to use unless it’s on a work surface. I’ve even debated ditching the MBP for a Mac Pro (probably an older model) and then having the Air for mobile use.

Now granted, most likely none of these things will happen, because they’re all expensive propositions. But it’s nice to dream sometimes, even if it’s in technicolor.

[Image via Engadget]

I have no interested in the Google TV. I’m sure that at first you’ll assume that it’s because I’m an Apple fanboy, but for me, it’s more about making my life easier than whose label is on the box. Frankly, if Microsoft comes out with a product and it makes my life easier, then I’ll go for it. I don’t have some special allegiance to Apple. I want products that work, and work well.

I also don’t want to look at my pictures on my TV. Or my Twitter account. Or Facebook. I want to watch TV and movies on my television, and that’s it. Call me old fashioned, but I still look at the television as a way for me to get my news and entertainment, not a way for me to surf the web. That’s what I have my iPad, iPhone, and laptop for.

But more importantly, I see history repeating itself. Remember WebTV? I do, and I remember it being a flop. Now you could make the argument that the product was ahead of its time, and that since broadband Internet wasn’t widely available that the product didn’t have a chance. But it’s still around, and I don’t know anyone who’s buying it. Why would they? Fact is, websites are made for viewing on small screens, not 60-inch plasmas in the living room.

So no, I have no interest in the Google TV. For me, it looks like Google is trying to bring the Internet to the living room again, and that doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Besides, have you seen that remote? Who wants to use that thing?

[Image via Charm Royal]

About a year ago, I moved my office from one room in the house to the other so that I could accomodate my as then yet unborn son. Between myself and my wife, we have three computers: My MacBook pro, a community iMac that’s mostly used as an iTunes server, and her Dell laptop. we bounced around a lot of ideas, including a setup similar to the one above with both the iMac and MBP sitting right next to each other. When I proposed the concept, my wife said to me, “But what’s the point of having two computers next to each other? What if I want to use one of them?”

Truth be told, I’m not really quite sure what the advantage would be. In my scenario, I could see using one computer for FTPing up large documents while the other is doing graphics work, but it does seem like kind of a waste. Which is why I come to you, our loyal readers with a question: What’s the point? Would this type of setup work for you? Let me know in the comments.

There’s this guy at my office who isn’t very technologically savvy, and when he walked into my office yesterday to check out what I was doing, he saw that I was reading Engadget’s review of the new AppleTV. He was planning on buying a new Blu-Ray player with Netflix built in, but now he’s leaning towards the AppleTV for its cheaper price point. But as we continued talking, he asked me why we can’t just import our DVDs into iTunes the way we did with our CDs. What was the problem with that?

This is a very complicated answer to give someone who isn’t very techy, but that’s ultimately what brought it home to me. He says, “I own this. Why can’t I do what I want with it?”

Good question. It’s been asked before by many people much smarter than me, and answered thousands of times beyond that, so I won’t bore you by rehashing the deets. Regardless, what always bothers me about this scenario is that big media is so afraid that what I’m really going to do is take my DVDs, burn them, then upload them to a torrent site. But really, all I want to do is view them on my iPad, iPod, or iPhone. I always wonder if they think that I’m going to make another purchase of the same movie because it’s in a different format like things were in the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray wars, or VHS/Beta before that. No, I’ve already got a digital version of the movie, I just want to watch it again.

This is never going to change. It’s always going to be illegal to take your own property and transfer it to another device as long as the media companies stay greedy. It sucks, but unfortunately, it’s just the way it is.

Foul language ahead.

Let me take a moment to peel back the curtain a little bit and fill you all in on how I do my job. I spend a good portion of my day hunting down Apple info, and when I get it, I report it to you. Sometimes I wait a day to let it marinate in my head, and other times I’m on it ASAP. To do this, I look at sites I know to have good Apple info, and subscribe to a few RSS feeds, including one with the keyword “Apple.”

That’s where I found this gem, and it’s so bad that I’m not even going to link it.

Apple’s iTV Shipments Start As Early As October 2010

Huh. I wonder if that’s an old post, let me investigate.

Apple and Steve Job’s newest love child: The iTV is expected to hit the counters in October. That being said, you should start saving money because October is just a few days away. For now, log on to Apple’s official website to get a hang of those pre-order lists for the iTV. If you’re interested in buying one, then expect your order to go through in October’s 3rd week.

Nope, not an old post. Turns out, it’s just a bullshit one.

As a writer, I get offended when I hear about SEO blogs and stuff like that. It’s not popular to talk about in the blogging world, but purely as a writer, I think that starting a site purely to lure people in under the false pretense that they’re a legit news blog is a load of crap. It’s designed to up pageviews, then bring more people to their ads, and potential bring in income. It’s bullshit. That’s exactly what this site is trying to do, just riding on the Apple bandwagon. I hope the site implodes tomorrow.

So yeah, the iTV is coming out soon, so get ready for it.

My mother is a big fan of the iPad my wife and I bought her for mother’s day, and it’s completely changed the way she does things. She hasn’t been in Barnes & Noble in over four months, and she used to spend a good portion of her free time at the bookstore. For her, it’s now all about iBooks and the instant gratification of the iPad. It’s changed the way she reads, and now, she’s considering buying a Mac and, as she calls it, “Getting fully Macified.”

The problem started when her i7-equipped Dell decided to stop connecting to her printer, even though it worked the previous day. Then she started having problems with her picture library, and that was the end of it. My father has been pushing for her to switch over for a bit, but they’ve had some reservations about how the Mac handles files and what-not. I’ve assuaged their fears, and now I think that it’s time to start picking out computers.

I know they don’t want to spend a ton of money on an Apple product right now, but I’ve been mulling over the options and trying to figure out the best solution. I think the laptop line is out of the question, because the portability isn’t really a need for her. What’s left is the iMac and the Mac Mini, and between the two of them, I’m leaning towards the iMac.

It’s really the full Mac experience in one package, as opposed to the Mini where she would be using her old Dell keyboard and mouse. Plus the 21.5-inch model is pretty well priced at $1199, and it’s a well built machine.

But I could be wrong, which is why I’m taking it to the streets. Any suggestions on an Apple for my mom?

With iOS 4.2, the iPad is finally catching up with the iPhone. Multitasking, printing, AirPlay and more are coming in just a few short weeks, but with it, there’s still the feeling that the iPad could do so much more. We all know that the iPad is going to get a version 2.0 in the next few months, but what does it need to really take it to the next level? Here are a few thoughts.

1. FaceTime. This is a no brainer, and pretty much a given that it’s going to happen with the iPad 2. But this could bring the iPad into the workplace and cement it as a firm fixture in the corporate world. Imagine a company with multiple branches who want to do videoconferencing. They could buy a service, but for $499 X the number of branches they have, they’ve got it covered. Besides that, it brings FaceTime to even more people. It’s a given.
2. The Cloud. The iPad is great, but its document management system sucks. Tonight, for example, I wanted to work on a document that’s stored on my Dropbox account. Yes, I could open it up just fine on the iPad as it sits now, but there’s no way to export right back. And it makes sense for Apple to make this move because it sells MobileMe subscriptions and with it, iDisk. Once the iPad gets a decent document management system, people will start using it more as a desktop replacement, particularly with short trips.
3. The Screen. The iPad screen fits Apple’s definition of hi-def, but not many others. With the Retina Display technology out there, it makes sense to upgrade. As long is it’s at least 1080, I think it’ll do well, and as an added bonus, FaceTime calls will look even better.

I don’t think any of this is ground breaking material or anything, but I do think it needs to be said. The iPad is so close to being a viable laptop alternative, particularly for travelers and people who just want to use it on the go. I’m that guy, and I know dozens of others who are as well. Now if we could just figure out a few issues here and there, I think we’ll be perfect.

[Image via PCWorld]

There’s been a lot of talk recently about Android, specifically how it’s not living up to its potential. The problem seems to be with the carriers, who have been using Android’s flexibility against itself by adding new skins, making exclusive deals with apps, and even taking Google out of the search system. At the end of the day, the only real Android phone out there is the Nexus One, and that’s no longer for sale by Google.

So now we have a ton of iPad competitors coming out on the market, all seemingly ready to dethrone the king of the tablets because they’re all going to be running Android. But what’s to say that it’s not going to have the same problem as the phone versions?

Many of these tablets are being sold through the cellular providers, which means that those tablets will certainly have the same problem. The ones that go to consumer electronics stores such as Best Buy could potential run the same problem because of their manufacturers. How many Windows PCs come with bloatware from HP, Toshiba, and Acer? It’s likely the same thing will happen with the tablets.

So what does this mean for the iPad? Ultimately, the same as the iPhone. It’s true that Android is a more open ecosystem than iOS, but when it’s been bastardized so many times it becomes an inbred version of what it could have been. If Android were to stay pure and not be messed with by the manufacturers, then I think it could really give iOS a run for its money. As it is, it’s not likely that we’ll see these new iPad killers beating the iPad anytime soon.

[Image via Engadget]

When the iPhone first came out, people were shocked by the on-screen keyboard. “It won’t work,” they said. “It won’t be accurate,” they said. Here we are 3 years later, and not only does it work, it’s spawned a series of touchscreen keyboards seen in all sorts of Apple products, and now it’s trickling into the laptop market as well. Pictured above is an Acer laptop with dual touchscreens, rumored to be coming soon. You’ll notice the second screen is a giant keyboard. Looks like touchscreen works just fine, huh?

But do we want touchscreens on everything we have? I like it on my iPhone and iPad because of its ease of use and portability. It makes both devices thin because they don’t need second keyboards. Yet on my iPad, I have used a Bluetooth keyboard on occasion because it’s just faster. Without a tactile response, it can be difficult to hammer away creating that next great novel, unless you want a book fraught with spelling mistakes.

I don’t think that the laptop is the best place for a touchscreen keyboard. I like my keys. They’re tiny, have a short throw, and I like how they work with my computer. It’s comfortable, really, and I don’t think a touchscreen keyboard in its current state fits the bill. Now that’s not to say that technology won’t change my opinion in the future, but for right now, I think I’d rather keep my physical keys – on my laptop, at least.

[Image via Telegraph.co.uk]

The smack talking has begun.

Yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal online, Samsung made a pretty big claim:

The Galaxy Tab is essentially an enlarged version of Samsung’s new Galaxy S smartphone, which is available through AT&T Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel Corp.

Mr. Yoon said Samsung expects to ship 10 million Galaxy Tabs and take a third of the global tablet market next year. Samsung is exploring the possibility of a tablet with a 10-inch or six-inch screen, and Mr. Yoon said the company plans eventually to introduce a family of Galaxy Tab devices.

No kidding. So in by this time next year, everyone I see is going to be carrying either an iPad or a Galaxy Tab, huh? Sounds like a load of crap to me.

Everyone says they have the next iPad killer, but I’ve discussed that before. The thing is, the iPad took off for a few different reasons, none of which are going to be motivating factors for the Galaxy Tab.

First, there’s the fanboy community. There are easily a million Apple fanboys out there who buy everything that Apple puts out blindly, no questions asked. Once they get the new device, they become a million-plus strong preachers for the cause, who go off and tell all their friends how cool the new product is. That brings in people, including the normal people who aren’t early adopters. I love Samsung TVs, but I wouldn’t buy one of their tablets. It’s unproven technology for them to me, so I’m just not interested.

Second, there’s Apple’s marketing campaign. Apple has their ads down pat, and that alone has helped sell iPads like crazy. Even if Samsung puts out a stunning campaign, I just don’t see people dropping iPads to pick up the Tab. Apple sold 3.27 iPads in their first quarter selling them, and have sold lots more since then – and that’s just domestically. By the time the Tab comes out, there will be easily 6 million iPads sold – if they’re not already. Is the tablet market really a 16-million unit mover? Will there really be 16 million tablets out there by then?

Third, there’s the hidden cost. The Tab is going to come out with a low price – between $200 and $300. But it’s also being sold through AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint/Nextel. That says to be that it’s a subsidized product, similar to the iPhone with AT&T. I don’t care how cheap the tablet is, if I have to sign up for another contract to get it, then I’m not in. Even if it’s month to month, it’s just not worth it to me.

So here’s my official verdict: The Samsung Galaxy Tab will sell quite a few units. But they won’t have a third of the global market by the third quarter 2010.

As of five minutes ago, this was what my desktop looked like. Admittedly, it’s a bit more scattered than I typically like to see, but it’s still pretty functional. Here’s what I’ve got going down.

I like to watch movies or TV shows while I’m working, because it does a good job of being background noise to filter out the kiddo while my wife plays with him. Recently, I’ve been streaming Netflix on my computer while working, and that’s been causing the temperature to spike up to 170 degrees. The other problem is that I’ve been using Spaces to coordinate my screens, and when I switch desktops, I have to pause the video, etc. Today, I seem to have found a pretty decent option to fix my problems.

I’m 6’1, and when I sit up straight in my chair I can still see the entire 23-inch Dell screen behind the iPad, meaning that I’m not losing any screen real estate. The iPad is sitting in the stand that comes with the incase Travel Kit Pro,  which angles it back far enough to be visible while I’m upright, but not distracting. Originally, I piped the sound through my external speakers, but I switched to a pair of headphones so that I could deaden the outside sound even more. For those that are wondering, I’m watching Fastlane on Netflix – one of the best TV shows ever to be cancelled.

I like playing around with my setup every now and then and trying out new things. Today, this works out pretty well. Who knows what I’ll think tomorrow, but then again, tomorrow is just another day.

[Image via Kimberly White/Reuters]

I have a friend of mine who isn’t very tech savvy. She loved her BlackBerry for years, because she loves to wear down the keyboard with frequent texting. When the iPhone came out, she debated it for literally years until she finally caved in and bought it. Now it’s her favorited device.

Flash to the other day, and she was talking about all the “cool new tablets” coming out on the market. I sat there and listened to her about how she wanted one with USB ports and everything so that she could do all of her computing on the fly wherever she happened to be. Then all her music could go on it, and it was going to be so much better than an iPad.

After owning the iPad for a few months now, I can honestly say that it’s become one of my most indispensable devices – just not for the reasons that I originally thought it would be. I have taken it out on the road with my wireless keyboard and tried to get a few things done. Problem is, it’s not my iPhone. Without multitasking, it seems like I’m constantly opening and closing programs so that they work the way I want them to. Since I know that’s just an update away, I’ve decided to wait on putting my iPad through the paces in that manner. Instead, I use it to read.

Between comic books, novels and Twitter updates, the iPad is the perfect tool for instant reading. I don’t have to wait for it to boot, or go through some complicated menu system to find what I’m looking for. Instead, I push a button, slide my finger across the screen and it’s on. No muss, no fuss. I can get to reading whatever I want right away, and I never even think about it. And I haven’t yet had to travel on a plane, but when I do, you can bet that the iPad is coming with me. Then I can watch a movie or read while doing my thing. It’s perfect.

What my friend doesn’t get is that the iPad isn’t a full replacement computer, and it shouldn’t be. For me, it’s become the way that I consume video, books, and the web, in a convenient form factor. Occasionally, I’ll use it to get things done. Ultimately, I think she’s going to buy a PC tablet, then a few years down the road really wish she had bought an iPad instead. History does have a way of repeating itself, after all.

It happened to me twice on Wednesday, and at one point, I almost lost it. It was … the iTouch.

You may recall that I have a little bit of a problem with the shortened nickname that many people have given to the iPod Touch. For those who don’t want to click the link, here’s an excerpt:

But it makes me physically angry to hear the product referred to that way be seemingly everybody. I swear the next time I hear it, I’m going to get a fungo bat and start swinging.

I’m just glad I didn’t have a fungo bat handy.

It started with an early morning delivery from Fed-Ex. They had my iPad Camera Connection kit, and I was stoked. The driver says to me, “So what is this? IPhone? IPod?”

“Umm … it’s either a case or an iPad camera connection deal,” I say.

“Oh good. I’ve got an iTouch. Two of them, actually, and I love them.” With that, he left and I figured I’d never see him again. I decided to be mature and let it go.

Not an hour later, I go to Facebook to see how things are going in the world. That’s when I see my friend’s status update:

forgot my i-touch , now i have to listen to peoples stupid comments . need my music so i dont go crazy .

Oh good, and he even hyphenated it. How nice. The hairs on my neck started to raise.

Later in the afternoon, the doorbell rings again. It’s the same Fed-Ex guy, this time with my Bumper, the one I’m going to return. Sure enough, he brings up the “iTouch” again, and once again, I bite my tongue. Drove me nuts, but I did it.

So now, I’ve made a decision. Apple just needs to change the name to iTouch officially. That way, not only do I get to keep my sanity, but everybody gets to keep calling it what they’ve already been calling it for the past year or three. Until that happens, I just want to make sure that everybody knows not to keep any sharp objects, bats, or shovels anywhere nearby. Because the next time it happens, I will not be responsible for my actions.

The very first day that I had my iPhone 4, I was very excited. I called a friend of mine while I was out picking up dinner, and he says to me, “Is it worth it?” Then the call dropped.

Now there are a multitude of reasons why this could have happened. I could have been in a bad area, which is very likely the case. I could have had problems on his end, since he too has an iPhone and AT&T service. Or, it could have been the iPhone death grip.

This issue has been talked about extensively, including on this site. It seems an awful lot like much ado about nothing, because not everyone is having this problem, and, at first, I was in a bit of denial. My wife wasn’t having problems with her phone, and my issues with dropped calls weren’t very repeatable. I didn’t notice my bars going down with my grip at all. I did notice having problems with an internet connection, but I wasn’t sure what exactly it could be as the iPhone was on a surface at the time. It was very frustrating.

But it makes for a good story, so many people are running with it like it’s fact. In reality, this may be blown up a little bit out of proportion. Yes, some people are having reception issues with their iPhone 4, so that is legit. But many other people aren’t, and are showing faster upload and download speeds than the 3GS. It seems like those people who aren’t having problems are having wild success, with other people showing large problems.

There is another issue here though which hasn’t been talked about yet – not so far as I’ve found, anyways. When my wife and I were preparing for the iPhone 4, one thing we discussed was the network. AT&T has claimed that the issues with their network in cities like New York and San Francisco is because of the high population of people in those cities with iPhones. The more iPhones in one particular area, the crappier the network. My wife and I live near a college, and even though it’s summer school, it’s still pretty packed. A college full of kids carrying iPhones and a city that sells out of them quickly may equal reception issues for me no matter how I hold the phone.

Because of all this talk, Apple has officially released a statement about the issue. I can sum it up for you pretty easily: There is no problem with the hardware, but there is a problem with the software. We’ll fix that soon and get back to you.

In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait for this update and see if it really is a problem with the hardware or software. Some websites will go ahead and fill their home pages with hyperbole  about how horrible  the iPhone is, and others will minimize it and pretend the problem isn’t happening. I’d like to think that on my end, Apple Gazette is keeping an even keel and not trying to sensationalize this story one way or another.

But just in case, I went ahead and picked up a Bumper to see if that would fix my problems. I’ve only made a few phone calls since then, but not a single one of them has dropped.