The stress from keeping such secrets becomes too much for some. Jobs made a habit of personally conveying to employees the confidentiality of all-company broadcasts. Recalled one ex?employee: “He’d say, ‘Anything disclosed from this meeting will result not just in termination but in the prosecution to the fullest extent that our lawyers can.’ This made me very uncomfortable. You have to watch everything you do. I’d have nightmares.”

As much as I like Apple products, I wouldn’t want to work there.

Google does offer free food, massages, and nap time so it may seem like a fun place to work at. Unless you have a family. But it is definitely more open, no sarcasm intended.

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Post tags: Apple, Business, secrets, Technology, work

The “Android” Nook won’t run the Kindle app, because Barnes & Noble doesn’t allow it.

The “Android” Kindle Fire doesn’t offer Gmail or Twitter, along with other apps, because Amazon doesn’t allow it.

Hulu Plus is available for Android, but not for Android-based Google TV, because Hulu doesn’t allow it to work there.

The Nexus S for Sprint, which is perfectly capable of working on Sprint’s pay-by-the-month Boost Mobile sister-company, can’t work there because Sprint doesn’t allow it.

My Droid Charge Verizon LTE phone can’t run Android 4 now, and perhaps never, because Samsung hasn’t said anything about it.

[Source: For Consumers, Android Is More "Clopen" Than Open]

So much for “open”, huh? This article was too awesome to not share. Yup, it is about the perennial iOS-Android battles. I couldn’t care less what you use (why?) but if you asked for my opinion, you know what I’ll recommend. This article perfectly describes why I stay away from Android. Because it is, as Mr.Gump’s momma said, like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’ll get.

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments
Post tags: android, Apple

China and India are likely to produce many rigorous analytical thinkers and knowledgeable technologists. But smart and educated people don’t always spawn innovation. America’s advantage, if it continues to have one, will be that it can produce people who are also more creative and imaginative, those who know how to stand at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences. That is the formula for true innovation, as Steve Jobs’s career showed.

[Source: Steve Jobs’s Genius - NYTimes.com]

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments
Post tags: Education, entrepreneur, innovation, Technology

I used to scratch my head wondering what the fuss was all about when people use to complain about AT&T. But seeing this screen for the past 3 hours helps me understand.

I received my new iPhone 4S at noon today and have been unable to activate it hence not able to use it. A visit to the AT&T store didn’t help either. The customer service representative insisted I call Apple since I bought it via the Apple Store. Why would a hardware and software company be able to resolve what is clearly a cellular carrier issue is beyond me. But his insistence that they were told that by the management implied he too knew it was a load of bull. Also, note how the two paragraphs in the error message contradict each other (Am I in an activation queue that will eventually get addressed or should I keep trying?) Well, I hope it gets activated soon until then you can chalk it up as a first world problem.

PS. My 3GS is still working fine and unaware that it will soon be replaced.

UPDATE: Finally figured out how to get your iPhone 4S activated. Get out of your WiFi zone and attempt to activate it in a 3G zone. Voila! Worked for me the first time I tried and within a minute.

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Post tags:

Considering we have a plethora of Mac products – a Mac, two iPads, an iPhone, and Apple TV – all of which needed updates, I was glad to have them all updated by 7pm while others were still struggling with theirs. Although I don’t know why I bothered to update my iPhone since the new one is arriving tomorrow; the update does make it better though even if it is for two days. In hindsight, perhaps iCloud should have been turned on a couple of days before releasing iOS 5 but knowing how deeply integrated it is now with the OS, I don’t know if it was even possible. I would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall during the meeting when they planned the order of the updates and see the frenetic activity behind the scenes when the updates rolled out.

We should know in a week or two on how reliable iCloud is. People mistake iCloud for some kinda Dropbox or Google Docs which it isn’t (David Pogue has a short column on what it actually is). It works best when you barely notice it exists. The syncing so far seems very seamless and quick. Photos taken using the iPhone appear in the iPhoto and Apple TV photostream within seconds. The new apps you download also appear within seconds on all your iDevices. The tasks, contacts, and calendars also synced without a hiccup. I don’t use iWork so am not sure how quick those changes appear. Also, from what I have heard, the MobileMe transition to iCloud hasn’t been smooth so there definitely are kinks that need to be addressed. I bet no one working at Apple datacenters is going home anything soon.

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Post tags: Apple, iPhone, software

It was on a NeXt machine that the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee wrote the protocols, procedures and languages that added up to the World Wide Web, http, HTML, browsers, hyperlinks … in other words the way forward for the internet, the most significant computer program ever written was done on a NeXt computer. That is a feather in Steve Jobs’s cap that is not often celebrated and indeed one that he himself signally failed to know about for some time.

After having written www, Berners-Lee noticed that there was a NeXt developers conference in Paris at which Steve Jobs would be present. Tim packed up his black cube, complete with the optical disk which contained arguably the most influential and important code ever written and took a train to Paris.

It was a large and popular conference and Tim was pretty much at the end of the line of black NeXt boxes. Each developer showed Steve Jobs their new word-processor, graphic programme and utility and he slowly walked along the line, like the judge at a flower show nodding his approval or frowning his distaste. Just before he reached Tim and the world wide web at the end of the row, an aide nudged Jobs and told him that they should go or he’d be in danger of missing his flight back to America. So Steve turned away and never saw the programme that Tim Berners-Lee had written which would change the world as completely as Gutenberg had in 1450. It was a meeting of the two most influential men of their time that never took place. Chatting to the newly knighted Sir Tim a few years ago he told me that he had still never actually met Steve Jobs.

(Via Shared by Roshni Mohapatra)

So very awesome anecdote and the far-reaching influence of his innovations that sometimes even he (Steve Jobs) wasn’t aware of.

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments
Post tags: Apple, innovation, Steve Jobs, Technology

My first Apple product was, like most PC owners, an iPod but the real Apple experience was when I got my first Mac. In 2009. Yup, I was very late to the party. The iPhone followed soon after and then the iPads, the Apple TV, and even the AirPort Extreme. People often mistake my love for simplicity in design, be it architecture (my major in a previous life) or technology, as fanboyism. I wear that badge with honor. But I never bought Apple products because I was in love with Steve Jobs. Actually, before buying a Mac, I had never heard a single Jobs famed keynotes. You could say I was living in the anti-reality distortion field.

I bought and loved Apple products because they just work and Steve Jobs philosophy, as I later discovered, emphasized just that. Breaking the shackles of complexity from computers and making users feel at ease was his underlying design principle, be in in hardware with a single scroll wheel or in software with the simple yet robust Mac OS X. Although the cult of Mac is derided and mocked relentless on any web forum, the sense of community is strong even if its growing by the millions every year (23% market share compared to less than 5% ten years ago). I remember my sense of puzzlement when I first got my Mac. As an avid Windows tinkerer, I had to unlearn all that. I still remember Supremus’ advice which he in turn had received from his Mac-using colleague:

When I got my first mac, my colleague had told me that I would go through 3 phases. 1st would be when I would get find myself comparing everything to windows and find things annoying with mac (ex: 2 button mouse, no way to expand apps to occupy full screen real estate etc). 2nd phase would be when I’d gloat over the fancy gui and tastefully done aesthetics and how everything fits together in OS X. The 3rd stage he told me was when I’d start looking *beyond* the beautiful UI and start knowing how the operating system has been designed, and that is when I’d appreciate OS X fully.

I went through the stages exactly as he described and if you are a recent convert or are planning on becoming one, I ask you to keep this in mind (although some things like “expand apps to occupy full screen” are now better than in Windows). As Supremus describes, it is hard to explain and has to be experienced firsthand with an open mind. If you think that the Mac is a toy then you haven’t yet delved into the wonder of AppleScript and Terminal which I’m no expert by any means. I have been proven wrong enough times by a work colleague who whips up a tweak that does things I have not thought possible on a Mac or any other platform.

As John Gruber put it succinctly, that Steve Jobs greatest legacy is not any particular Apple product but it was Apple itself. The company that he founded is instilled with this philosophy of providing the best user experience there is. Things may not be as ‘open’ or convenient or even have the latest top-of-the-line specs but the whole is always going to be greater than the sum of its parts. I hope this philosophy remains strong at Apple for as long as it can and although the domineering presence of Steve Jobs isn’t around anymore, we can only hope that his lessons have seeped in deep enough. Like all things, Apple may eventually fade away and be replaced by yet another innovative company but all I can hope is, that company would be guided by the same principles that Steve Jobs proved were so pivotal in creating a lasting and wondrous consumer experience.

Twitter shared this image:

Click here and then click on the link that says, Original (7000 x 6386). Wow!

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments
Post tags: Apple, Business, Philosophy, Steve Jobs, Technology

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Post tags: Apple, Steve Jobs

Apple is known to never release any hints of its upcoming products let alone detailed specifications. Heck, Apple wouldn’t even tell anyone if the new phone would be called the iPhone 5. People and notably, tech pundits merely assumed so. Gawker has an excellent roundup of tech stories leading up to the announcement showing how big tech sites supposedly with inside sources in Apple got it wrong big time. Sites like Boy Genius Report had outrageously funny ‘exclusive’ rumors that the new model will be exclusive to Sprint, the third phone carrier added by Apple to carry the iPhone. Most tech blogs were almost certain that the new phone will have a brand new form factor although otherwise sensible journalists like Farhad Manjoo had suggested that the current design was the epitome of cell phone industrial design (by the way, he was disappointed in the new phone too)^[1] . I’m all for contemplating what the new iPhone will look like but to suggest with near-certainty, as some tech blogs did, about any new design was stupid. MacRumors even went to the extent of developing a prototype of this allegedly new design and several case manufacturers in China went ahead and released cases based on the ‘new’ tear-drop design. So naturally when Apple finally released their new iPhone and all their rumors were found to be baseless and insanely stupid, the tech blogs had nothing else but to bemoan how disappointing the new phone was. So as the logic goes, these tech sites come up with some insane rumor about the new iPhone with no substantiated evidence and when they are proven wrong, feign disappointment and blame Apple. Remember, in all this time, Apple hasn’t said anything or released anything about the new iPhone.

I was never a fan of tech rumors but at times, it can be fun. However, this time around, it was crazy as wannabe sites tried jumping on the bandwagon trying to outdo each other by proposing an even atrocious rumor.The rumor game is getting so out of hand that even mainstream publications like Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, etc. started referring to the new phone as the iPhone 5 whereas during the previous iteration, the iPhone had progressed from an iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS. So there was even the lack of precedent to the naming convention. Further, people were disappointed that it was the 4S and not the 5 although when told about the enhanced hardware and the upcoming OS, they agreed it was definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

And yes, I’m getting the iPhone 4S simply for the reason that my 3GS is now two generations old and my AT&T contract suggests, I’m eligible for an upgrade. I’m not into the specs game and simply want a phone (I use the word loosely since I hardly use it for talk) that works and syncs well with other devices that I have.

Update: Jason Kottke explains why the lack of a newness cognitive jolt that usually accompanies Apple announcements is necessarily a bad thing. Also, his conclusion is exactly what I mention as a reason to buy the iPhone 4S. Stephen Hackett at 512 pixels adds, “most US customers are stuck on two-year contracts, so why release a brand-new iPhone every year?” Valid point that contradicts most people who believe that Apple wants fanboys to buy a new phone every year.

Footnotes:

1. Notice how the sedan in car design hasn’t been improved upon much given certain affordability and efficiency standards. There is a reason why the Toyota Camry 2011 doesn’t look a lot different than the Camry 2008

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Post tags: Apple, Design, iPhone, Technology

Twitter’s first ad has caught flak for its un-serious nature but personally, I like it. It focuses on the speed of communication that Twitter is known for and takes itself less seriously. At least Twitter is not trying to sell itself as the service that causes revolutions in the Middle East although plenty in the media like to tell us otherwise. The objective of any advertisement is to create buzz about the product and although Twitter hardly needs that (it is in fact, the medium used to spread buzz), this ad will at least make people chuckle and let those people holding out try the service.

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Post tags: Advertising, Twitter

[image via Apple.com]

As any Mac enthusiast is aware, Apple released the latest version of its operating system yesterday, OS X Lion. There are several reviews on various tech blogs, including the seminal 19-page review in Ars Technica by John Siracusa. In some ways, it is a much bigger upgrade than its predecessors, Snow Leopard which made no bones about having no new features. Mission Control and Launchpad, two new features are mostly for people buying Macs for the first time. The Mail app has a new look and usability changes. Apart from being touchpad friendly, there are several little tweaks that make it a worthwhile upgrade for a measly $29.

However, for me, the following is one killer tweak that I have struggled with on several ocassions:

With the laptop lid closed and the computer asleep: Plug an external display in, wake the computer, and the external display will be the only working display. If you were to then open your laptop lid, the laptop’s screen would turn on and you have two working monitors.

With the laptop lid open and the computer awake: Plug an external display in and you have two working screens. If you were to then close your laptop lid, the laptop’s screen turns off and the external monitor becomes the only working monitor.

In short, opening and closing your laptop’s lid is like adding or removing a second display, and does not affect putting the computer to sleep.

[Source: OS X Lion — Shawn Blanc; via Digitizd]

I almost always hook my laptop to a 22″ external monitor when I’m at home and I’m lucky enough to be able to get my Mac to office and hook it to a an external monitor for my personal stuff. With Snow Leopard, the behavior was always unpredictable when you closed the lid and turned on the monitor. Sometimes it worked but at other times, you had to open the lid and wake the computer up again. Or plug in a USB device to wake it up once the lid was closed. It didn’t help that I was using a bluetooth wireless keyboard and a trackpad because tapping wouldn’t always wake it up. With this tweak, the behavior is intuitive. If the laptop is open, it can be used as an external monitor and doesn’t just stay open with a dark screen and if you close it, it doesn’t put the computer to sleep.

Apart from this change, Scrolling, strangely called Natural, is reversed so that can mess with your head a little. You can change it back or try it for a while. It can be extremely frustrating and I can see why it is making people mad. I’m trying to stick with it for a while though.

Have you upgraded to Lion yet? What is the biggest change you have seen and what feature do you hate the most?

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2011. | Permalink | 15 comments
Post tags: Apple, computers, MacBookPro

I bought the iPad primarily for reading and checking Twitter/email occasionally. More importantly, I hope it keeps me away from my computer in my den when I get home. A year since the iPad launched has given developer enough time to come up with some amazing apps; Flipboard, Zite, and Instapaper are just few of them. I also got the Smart Cover which definitely is impressive with its ‘magical’ magnets but I admit that it takes getting used to folding it just right when you are reading or using the iPad. Thanks to Andy Inhatko’s tips, I’ve managed to find just the right way to fold the cover so you can hold the iPad comfortably. The hardware is excellent and handling feels just right. The speakers are powerful and loud enough so you can hear music across the room although I prefer to AirPlay them to our Bose Speakers via Apple TV. The camera is not that great but I don’t assume I will be using it for still photos and it fares well in better light. Now I just need people to FaceTime with :) Here’s hoping my brother and parents get an iOS device in India so they can see our kid more often.

I decided to get the iPad on the weekend and had it on thursday. So how did I manage to get the iPad so quickly when there are long lines everywhere and the website says, 3-4 weeks for online orders? Once again, Best Buy to the rescue. I had gone in to look at iPhone cases when I decided to check out the floor model. When I asked the salesman if they had one in stock, he told me that they had it in the morning. But almost instantly, he gave me his card and asked me to email him my phone number so he could text me as soon as they got a new shipment. I emailed him as soon as I got home and his text arrived yesterday afternoon. Although I got to the store within the hour, I was lucky to get the last available one. ^[1]

As with my Mac, I’ll soon write about the apps I use on a regular basis. Right now, there simply are too many although I’m disappointed that magazine apps still cost as much as you would pay if you bought them at the newsstand. I’m waiting for the reduced price subscription plans. Even if it costs the publishers almost nothing to ‘print’ the digital versions, I’m willing to pay as much as I would pay for the print subscriptions.

Footnotes:

1. I had ordered one online on Monday, just in case. Delivery date was April 30th. I cancelled the order as soon as I got back with the one I got in store.

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Post tags: Apple, ipad

I’m only writing about the non-obvious apps. Rest you can search in the App Store and find them easily.

[click on image for a larger view]

Homescreen

Most are default apps like Messages, Weather, Stocks, Clock, etc.

Instapaper: This is a must-have app if you like to catch up on your reading while you are waiting or in bed. You’ve to sign up for an Instapaper account online and then mark long-form articles that you want to read later in the browser. The app syncs them automatically as soon as you open the app within a WiFi or 3G range.
Alarm Clock Pro: This app extends the alarm clock functionality of the iPhone and lets you also use it as a desktop clock while it is charging in the dock. You can set songs in your iTunes library on the phone as your wakeup alarm.

Photography

Camera+: A great app from Tap Tap offers plenty of shooting modes, basic editing, special effects, and sharing options. An additional set of effects are available for in-app purchase for an additional buck. Worth it if you like to shoot random pictures and share them with your network.
Pro HDR: Until you have the HDR capabilities of the iPhone 4, this app works just as well as the built-in feature or maybe even better.
PS Express: This is the original Photoshop on the go. Quick fixes and effects and you can share or save the edited photos instantly. It retains the originals.
Cinq: Until Steve Jobs relents and allows for wireless syncing, I use this app to remotely sync photos I take with my iPhone to my Mac thus eliminating the need to hook the iPhone to transfer photos.
Instagram: The latest in social networking is focused exclusively on photos. Currently an iPhone-only app, the ease with which you can take photos, apply great effects, and share them simultaneously across various networks, blogs, and photo sites is amazing.
TiltShiftGen: This relatively low-power app just does one thing and one thing only – apply the tilt shift lens effect to the photos you take. Unfortunately, the lite version is limited and doesn’t let you load an existing photo. But this app is much better and cheaper than its desktop equivalent which I made the mistake of buying on the Mac App Store.

Utilities

Toodledo: A to-do app that syncs with its web version. I’m not much of a to-do list guy so there might be better apps for this purpose.
WhatsApp: This app is useful if you like to exchange plenty of text messages within a small group of friends who also have this app. It offers free texting even internationally. Plus, push notifications make it easy to not miss any text message.

Music

Shazam: Hear a song playing in a coffee shop or on the street and want to know which one it is? Just open Shazam and tap to make it listen for around ten seconds and it will instantly recognize the song and even let you buy it instantly off iTunes or Amazon.
Pandora: Needs no introduction and iPhone’s ability to let it play it in the background makes it a must-have. I listen to it more than I listen to the songs in my iTunes library.
Attic: Plays songs from your iTunes library that you have not listened to in a while. Allows you to rediscover your old favorites that you had forgotten you had.
Dhingana: For your Indian music taste buds. Not that great of an app but the best of its kind.

Movies

Movies Now or Flixter: These apps offer a quick view of the movies playing in your local theaters and shows you the show times. Very useful when you are out and are deciding on whether to go for a movie. Movies Now is aesthetically pleasing and Flixster is more useful complete with Rotten Tomatoes Ratings.
Peel: The app version of a TV guide. Enter in your zipcode and you’ll be shown the current shows on TV.

Shopping

Cardstar: Throw out all the barcoded keytags from your membership stores and enter all your codes in this app. Fire up this app and let the cashier scan your code off your phone. One of my best clutter-free apps.
Red Laser: Lets you recognize any product (in its database) by scanning its barcode. Useful for price checks and compiling shopping lists.
Amazon: The Amazon apps are a must for any shopper. Download them and try them out. The features are far too many to list. One of my fave features – Like a product in the store? Take a picture and upload it to Amazon and they get back to you with the same or similar product on Amazon along with its price.

Voice/Video

OrbLive: Lets you stream live sports events from ESPN3 among other live events (you’ve to keep your computer on and install a desktop version of the app). If you can see it on your computer, this app will stream it to your phone. Works over WiFi and 3G. Slightly expensive for an app at $10 but it proved to be useful for me at one particular time.
8mm: The video camera on your tiny phone may be of HD quality but sometimes we yearn for the vintage effect. This app provides instantaneous vintage effects on video.
AirView: Move video streaming from one iOS device to another seamlessly. Useful if you want to share a video with another person in your house with an iPod touch or an iPhone.
Dragon Dictation: Voice recognition app for longer text. You’ve to train it but works well once you have.

Other System Apps

iOS is a robust operating system for my needs. The only place it sucks is the notification system. Hopefully it gets fixed soon and Steve Jobs is working on it to get it just right. Until then, BoxCar should be more than sufficient.

Other Apps

Utilities:
1Password, ATTScanner (for QR Codes), Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Find iPhone, Flickr, Foursquare, Google Voice, Google Latitude, Twitter, Yelp, VLC Remote.
Blogging:
Mint Stats, Tumblr, WordPress
News:
NY Times, Broadsheet, Digg, HT Media (Hindustan Times), NetNewsWire (feed reader), NDTV, Pulse News (Aggregator), Alien Blue (Reddit)
Finance:
ING Direct, Mint, Bank of American, MyWireless (AT&T Billing), ShareBuilder, Venmo (PayPal clone), Vanguard.
Movies:
IMDb, PhoneFlicks, NetFlix.
Reference:
Google, Wikipanion, Weather Channel, MapQuest.
Shopping:
Grocery IQ, Craigsphone, Price Check (Amazon).
Sleep:
WhiteNoise, Ambiance.
Voice/Video:
Skype.
Games:
Hangman, Paper Toss (I know, no Angry Birds yet)

I hope this list helped. Please mention your favorite apps in the comments.

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments
Post tags: App Store, Apple, apps, gadget, iPhone

Most e-readers, like Amazon’s Kindle, have an antenna that lets users instantly download new books. But the technology also makes it possible for the device to transmit information back to the manufacturer.

“They know how fast you read because you have to click to turn the page,” says Cindy Cohn, legal director at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. ”It knows if you skip to the end to read how it turns out.”

[Source: Is Your E-Book Reading Up On You?] Whoa! Whoa! Hang on, now does Amazon really transmit this information back to the publisher? I may not have a problem with Amazon doing this but at least let me have the illusion of control over my privacy by checking a box saying I Agree. Considering how Amazon will not even tell you how many Kindles it has sold so far, I doubt they are in the business of making their data collection practices transparent. For the record, I do not skip to the end to read how it turns out so don’t believe Amazon when it tells you I do.

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2010. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: amazon, ebooks, privacy, reading, security

Taking a cue from the amazing success of their app store for the iPhone and the iPad, Apple today announced the App Store…for the Mac. Although there existed some rumors pointing in this direction, most didn’t think Apple would go there considering all the closed system accusations they face everyday. But Apple being Apple did just that. The App Store, just like its iPhone and iPad versions will allow for one-click downloads, auto-installation, and auto-updates for Mac apps. I’m assuming the same selection criteria will be in place for these apps and developers will get the better part of the 70/30 revenue split.

But the important question here is – will the App Store be the only way to install apps on your Mac? Although Steve Jobs did not say so and even casually slipped in a line saying that, it would be one of the ways, this is still a genuine fear among Mac users. The iPhone and iPad stores are successful purely due to Apple’s curation and control. But still your personal computer is still your personal fiefdom where you reserve the right to fuck up royally by installing any random app you find on the interwebs. I still think that we will have this right even in Mac OS X 10 aka Lion.

The only way Apple can subtly make it evil is by insisting that if a developer has his app in the App Store, he cannot offer it elsewhere even on his own site as a .dmg installable file. But if there is no such condition, the developers may still choose to offer their apps only in the App Store because frankly, it makes perfect sense to them; financially and logistically. They don’t have to neither host downloads or support forums on their website nor handle payment gateways. They don’t have to fear their apps being cracked by rogue serial numbers or licenses distributed on Bittorrent networks. Apple handles it all for them; all for the price of 30% of their revenue. Apple is being smart here in putting the ball in the developers court and as long as they don’t coerce them into opting in, it will be the perfect example of watching the exercise of free will within rational business parameters. Some fear that this may mean the beginning of the end of the DMGs and it may very well be that way but it will happen only if developers willingly chose not to offer them to consumers. Also, as Supremus pointed out, there is no way major developers like Microsoft or Adobe are going to shell out 30% of their revenue to Apple when they can easily handle the load themselves. I think the new App Store will only be relevant for small developers.

The days of free software might be coming to a close and the only way open-source software can survive is by making as convenient as Apple makes it to install and update your apps. There obviously will be geeks and nerds who would love to jailbreak their systems and even vow to never use the App Store but it would be rooted mostly in their philosophical beliefs and not inspired by ease of use or convenience.

Personally, I would expect Apple to retain both – a curated App Store and the ability to install DMGs as we do now. Let the best method win. You already have our iPhones and iPads under control.

Update: One good reason why the Mac will never be a walled garden

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments
Post tags: App Store, Apple, mac, software

Behold the allegedly new iMac Touch purported to be in works at Apple. The OS changes as you change the angle at which you operate the computer. But of course, this is just a patent application so no dates on production yet.

[Source: Patently Apple]

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Post tags: Apple, computers, innovation, mac, tablet, touch

She did some research online and was getting more ‘bang for the buck’ for PC laptops but the Action Shoes-Nike analogy was dropped. Also, I recommended getting a Lenovo (used three before I got a Mac) or a high-end Dell if she really wanted a PC. But both could only be bought online and worked against instant gratification needs. One visit to Best Buy ^[1] where she played around with the Mac sealed the deal. Much thought was spent on the warranty aspect. I believe in AppleCare but Best Buy was also offering accidental damage coverage which seemed enticing for the accident-prone user. But upon clarification, we were told we could buy the accidental policy separately for $99 a year otherwise it was $449 for three years including tech support and accidental damage. Geek Squad is not particularly loved on Consumerist hence I was a little wary of relying on them.

But here is the kicker. Best Buy may be a better place to buy a Mac product than the Apple Store. In addition to the $100 education discount to university students, staff, and faculty, Apple also offers a free iPod Touch (2nd generation) worth $199 free with the purchase of any Mac computer. But in order to get it free, you have to first buy it at retail value and send in a rebate form to be reimbursed. This takes anywhere between 6 to 8 weeks so unless you really want an iPod Touch, it is a freebie that most are not interested in but get it anyway. It is a nice way for Apple to get rid of previous generation iPods before launching new ones in September. However, Best Buy in order to match that offer gives you a $199 store gift card that you can be used instantly toward any purchase in the store. So after taking into account all discounts, her 13″ MacBook Pro cost her $974 including sales tax (original price $1199 plus nearly $100 in tax); just below her threshold of a $1000 dollars. To me, that was an awesome deal and I now wonder why didn’t I do that last year ^[2].

Footnotes:

1. No Apple Store in town and the local authorized retail store was closed on Sunday; talk about sacrificing business at the altar of religion
2. I hook my Macbook Pro to an external monitor most of the time anyway so the laptop screen size doesn’t really matter; a 13″ would do just as fine

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2010. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: Apple, bestbuy, mac, MacBookPro

iWant. But too frikkin’ expensive (pssst…my birthday is coming up). What I like about it best apart from the obvious aesthetic appeal? The one cable that replaces three. That warms the cockles of my cable-clutter-free heart.

[Source: Apple]

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Post tags: Apple, display, monitor

Users proclaim 1Password as one of the best Mac utilities ever made, and that joy has rightfully spread to the iPhone/iPod touch and more recently, the iPad, Windows and even Android. The desktop version just got a major new update with a long list of great new features, capped by using Dropbox to sync between the different versions.

[Source: Mac|Life] I swear by 1Password. I no longer have the same password for most of my online accounts or email. Each one is a randomly-generated strong password comprised of alphanumeric characters interspersed with upper and lower cases letters. Heck, even I don’t remember any of my passwords any more. 1Password has extensions for all known browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and Safari and logging in to your accounts with saved passwords can be done with a single click.

The apps for the iPhone and iPad synced your passwords from the desktops to your phone so in case you wanted to login to your accounts on a third-party or public computer (not recommended for obvious security reasons). The apps on your phone let you directly login to your account just like on your desktop. The only point of inconvenience was remembering to manually sync your phone and desktop each time you added or modified any login details. 1Password just made it a lot easier by letting you store your encrypted password database on Dropbox (surely, you have heard of this tool). Now syncing is done on the fly and your login details are always up-to-date. Obviously, you need to use a similarly strong password for your Dropbox and protect your phone with a keypad lock (set to delete all data after a fixed number of tries).

The app for the desktop and your other devices like the iPhone or the iPad are relatively expensive at $39.99 and $14.99 but for the protection of your online data that often includes your financial information, it is a small price to pay. Obviously the convenience factor rates high in my opinion whether it is setting up Dropbox to store your 1Password database or sync with other devices.

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Post tags: 1password, dropbox, mac, passwords, security

Just to be clear, I haven’t refrained from buying Apple over the years because I blog about Microsoft. Many of my Microsoft-watching colleagues consider it imperative and even enjoyable to use Apple’s wares. But I never wanted to be part of the Apple community because I have had so many negative, hostile and condescending interactions with not just Apple fanboys, but regular Apple users. If that’s what “thinking different” was, I wanted no parts.

[Source: I confess: I bought an iPad (and so far I love it)] So she hadn’t bought a Mac because the “Apple community” was negative and hostile? By that logic, as the MacUser assumes, she has perhaps never used the subway either.

But in her defense, I can understand her predicament. Switching platforms is not easy especially if you have gotten used to the one you started out on. Apple fanboys and avid Windows users are just as likely to refuse to consider the other option; probably because change can be difficult. I’m a recent convert to Mac (talking about hostile and negative, I’ve been already labeled a Mactard) but still continue using Windows at work. Most of my statistics programs like SAS and ArcGIS work best on Windows. Although Windows 7 is said to be the best thing that came out of Microsoft in a while, I’m content with XP. But if I were to recommend a computer to a new user (mostly family or close friends), I would recommend a Mac even if it was for the simple reason of avoiding potential future tech support that I have to provide.

But if it helps, I won’t be ‘negative and hostile’. Honestly, I’ve never met a negative or hostile geek, PC or Mac. They are always only too willing to help out so I suggest Mary Jo Foley change her geeky friends. And don’t feel too guilty about buying the only tablet that is available in the market right now. Not using Apple products just for the sake for not using them doesn’t make sense to someone who believes in openess, right? Unless you mean openness of the platform and not the mind. Sheesh! There I go again being all negative and hostile. I’m sorry.

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© patrix for Nerve Endings Firing Away, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments
Post tags: Apple, computers, ipad, mac, Windows