Apple unloads the new iPod Shuffle with nary a clue. There was very little inkling that it would come out. So imagine my surprise when I saw the Apple announcement in my inbox.

Add to that there’s iPhone 3.0 which is scheduled to be previewed on March 17. I just hope I’ll be well enough to check that out as it happens.

As we can see, Apple seems to be doing fine in the absence of Steve. There’s just a little less fan fare but the slew of new products in recent weeks assure as that Apple continues ensuring it provides us with the products we’ve grown accustomed to.

It would still be better to see Steve back but as it is with everyone, including myself, life goes on even if we’re on sick leave.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sick As A Dog

Build Quality

Easily this is the most well built (from structural standpoint) computer I’ve ever owned. Nothing about this says it a cheap ass computer. It shouldn’t! As prices of computers plummet Macs have dropped slower than others. It’s still quite expensive. That being said, it’s worth the money.

I love the engineering on this thing. It’s sleek and it’s sexy.

Glossy Screen

I really thought this might be an issue but it’s not. I’m loving the screen on this baby. I work mostly in a controlled environment so I can minimize the glare, so it doesn’t really bother me. Colors are vivid, the LED screen makes the whole display even. Colors on the edge of the screen don’t get darker unlike my previous MacBook Pro.

Keyboard

Some people like the previous keyboard, I like this one. Plus, the keys are inset on the body itself, leaving less room for dirt to go into. The black keys also hide dirt better so the keys don’t look as dirty as they really are when you’ve been typing on them a lot.

Battery Life

This one sucks. At least from my experience. I thought I’d be getting decent battery life on this but I don’t. I barely get 2 hours on this machine.

Although I’m not sure if there’s something wrong with my machine because other people get 3 to 4 hours on theirs. Although most of those who get that long a battery life use the 2.4 ghz version.

I’ve tried using both the integrated video card and the dedicated one and offer only a slight improvement.

Here’s some comments at the Apple support thread.

Performance

One thing I truly, truly love about this is the performance. It’s a step up from my 2.33 Ghz 17″ MBP. The one I’m using right now is the 2.53 Ghz. The .20 Ghz addition plus the 4GB Ram and the 512MB video card really bumps up the performance.

I’m now able to run Parallels without really having to worry about if I have other applications running and it doesn’t take much of a performance hit.

All-in-all

With the exception of the dismal battery performance, I’m quite happy with the Unibody MacBook Pro. It’s a worthy successor to the previous MacBook Pro. In terms of design, performance, etc..

It’s a good evolution of the previous design which I thought was really hard to top.

It’s only been a month so we’ll see how well it holds up.

Post from: EveryJoe

My MacBook Pro, A Month After

Jim Goldman seems to think so. I agree with him. With Apple announcing one of its best quarters ever, it’s showing no signs of weakness.

Apple is in a unique position that it’s got a ton of money locked up in its vaults, it has no debt and a strong product line. All these make for a strong company that’s poised to ride out the recession.

Macs have been selling like hot cakes despite the slow down in the economy. People who are buying new computers are seriously looking at Macs. Just this month alone I’ve had 2 people I know personally who got Macs. That’s excluding myself who just got a new MacBook Pro recently. That goes to show that Apple’s sales are still showing good figures.

The iTunes ecosystem is unlike any other available today. It has not only dominated the market, it is the market. I just don’t see a meaningful competitor that can offer all what iTunes can. iTunes has music, videos and applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It makes it easy for people to buy these items.

As what the article says, with Steve Job’s leave, the focus on his health has been put on the side. Apple is showing that even without Steve Apple will get by. It has a strong management team, great people on board and a long product pipeline that will ensure it comes up with innovative products that people will want to buy.

Apple’s stock is trading at $98.86 as of this writing and in my opinion it’s still a good deal. In a market wherein companies are falling here and there, Apple is one of the strong companies that I’m willing to keep my money in. Oh, wait, I do have money with Apple…

Read the entire article here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple Stock Poised for a Strong Comeback?

Obama’s team suddenly found themselves in the “dark ages” so to speak. The Obama team is known to be Mac users and as they transitioned from campaigning to become the President-Elect’s transition team to ultimately White House staff, their Mac days seem to be over.

Upon coming to work, they saw the reality that was Windows. The White House runs mainly Windows Operating systems. Windows XP and Windows 2000. This is a far cry from the elegance that is the Mac OS. But that is the government and it’s not that easy to change systems. So good luck to the Obama team.

Read about it here.

Post from: EveryJoe

From Macs To PC: A White House Transition

Post from: EveryJoe

Happy New Year

All’s well that ends well. Almost. One member of our PhilMUG community lost his laptop on the eve of his birthday. A thief broke into his car and stole his MacBook Pro along with some other gadgets. Due hard times the incidence of laptop theft has been getting higher. I personally know of 3 people who’s laptops got stolen recently. Sometimes, by some luck you’re able to recover your stolen laptop. That’s what happened to this person. He was able to get back his MacBook Pro with the help of our local community.

In the interest of protecting the member’s identity since the culprit is still under investigation and for security’s sake, I’ll be referring to the member as Lucky John.

On December 23, 2008 Lucky John gets a several private messages from forum members and moderators saying that an ad was placed for a second hand MBP that has the same serial number of his MacBook Pro. He posted the serial number of his MBP the day after it was stolen.

Lucky John checked the for sale ad and verified that the unit’s serial number was the same one as his. He contacted the seller, posing as an interested buyer. He asked several questions to get the seller to think that he was really interested. He even told the seller that he was getting the MBP as a Christmas present for himself.

That same morning they both agreed to meet so Lucky John can inspect the unit. Upon meeting with the seller he confirmed that the laptop was indeed his. This was verified through some marks on the unit. Even though the laptop was thoroughly cleaned and polished, some scratches could not be removed. A few more questions later and they both agreed on the price. Lucky John and the seller agreed to meet at 7 p.m. that same evening to conclude the transaction.

This is the part where it gets interesting…

Lucky John sought the help of local law enforcement agencies to conduct an entrapment operation. Several operatives from the law enforcement agency accompanied Lucky John to the coffee place where they agreed to meet that evening. Dressed in civilian clothes, the operatives positioned themselves in several areas of the coffee shop. When Lucky John hands over the money to the seller that would be the signal for the operatives to act and arrest the seller.

Lucky John saw the seller arrive at the coffee shop. He motions to him to join him at his table. After a final inspection and several minutes of small talk, Lucky John hands the seller the money. The law enforcement operatives take action and apprehend the seller.

The seller was taken to detention and a case will be filed against him for selling stolen property. The seller defended himself by saying he was also a victim. He said that he bought the MBP from another local web site and he was just reselling it. That being said there was still some deception on his part because when Lucky John asked him about the background of the machine he gave a totally different story. He said that the machine came from Australia. In any case his innocence or guilt will be determined by the court.

The reason I’m writing about this is to share the story about how a local Mac community was able to help in recovering a stolen Mac. There’s a big element of luck in this situation but it was also a result of several things that Lucky John did that also helped him recover his stolen Mac. Here’s some things to do if ever you have the bad fortune of having your Mac stolen.

1. Go to your local Mac communities or the Mac community where the Mac was stolen and report the stolen Mac. Post the details behind the theft and post the serial numbers. This will alert people to be on the look out for your Mac.

2. Report it to your local Apple service centers/stores as well. Especially those who also accept trade-ins for Macs. This will also help alert these establishments to be on the look out for stolen computers. There’s a chance that it might be be brought in for service by either the person who stole it or the person who unwittingly bought it.

3. Browse local sites/communities and other sites that post classified ads. Who knows your computer might end up being there.

Other tips to prevent or just to be safe are:

1. If you travel a lot it’s prudent to use encryption on your data. Mac OS X has File Vault.

2. Use a password for your account and set your Mac to automatically require a password when waking up from sleep or after a time from inactivity.

3. Backup your data. This should be a must for all to prevent total data loss. The hardest thing about a stolen computer isn’t so much that the hardware was lost but the data that you can’t replace. A computer can be replaced. Some data can’t be recovered once lost.

Lucky John’s case was an extremely lucky one. It goes to show that sometimes it does pay to be a part of a local community. The local community he belongs to was able to help him recover his stolen laptop. The people who alerted Lucky John about the stolen MBP also deserve a pat on the back. Their vigilance made one person’s Christmas just a bit better. If his data was recovered it would have made it perfect. Still the MBP back is better than nothing.

Post from: EveryJoe

Local Mac Community Helps User Recover Stolen MacBook Pro

From my family to yours, my sincerest wishes that you may have a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Here’s looking towards an even better year.

Post from: EveryJoe

Merry Christmas!!!

The problem with it though is the proliferation of free and 99 cent apps. What’s wrong with that? For the consumer, nothing really but in a way it prevents the development of better apps. The “cheap” apps are the ones that are prominently featured by Apple thus get more attention which translates to more downloads.

In order to keep afloat developers focus on developing these apps rather than look into doing more complicated albeit more useful apps. Of course the better the application the more time you need to develop it and the cost goes upwards as well.

If the developers of these more complicated apps don’t get prominent space then it will take a lot longer for them to get their investment back. In this economic climate we’re in, that’s a big risk.

That’s what Craig Hockenberry writes about. He narrates their experience at Icon Factory and how they shelved some great ideas to focus on 99 cent apps just to keep afloat. Here’s an excerpt of his letter.

I’ve been thinking about what’s causing this rush to the 99¢ price point. From what I can tell, it’s because people are buying our products sight unseen. I see customers complaining about how “expensive” a $4.99 app is and that it should cost less. (Do they do the same thing when they walk into Starbucks?) The only justification I can find for these attitudes is that you only have a screenshot to evaluate the quality of a product. A buck is easy to waste on an app that looks great in iTunes but works poorly once you install it.

Our products are a joy to use: as you well know, customers are willing to pay a premium for a quality products. This quality comes at a cost—which we’re willing to incur. The issue is then getting people to see that our $2.99 product really is worth three times the price of a 99¢ piece of crapware.

Read the whole letter here.

So Apple, what can we do about this? I’d really like to see demos become available and prominent space for these more expensive but better apps should be provided.

Post from: EveryJoe

Dear Steve, From iPhone Developer

Still the question still begs to be asked, “do you need antivirus software on your Mac?”. Macworld has a good article published recently on that. Make sure to read through the comments as well to get both sides.

The article discusses the differences between a virus, trojan, spyware, etc…

Honestly I don’t use any antivirus software on my Mac. I should probably be a good neighbor and use it for the sake of other people but as of now I am just practicing safe computing.

My advice to computer users whether it be Mac or Windows people is to practice several safety precautions. Don’t visit sites that you’re not sure are trust worthy, don’t open attachments automatically (verify the source), don’t forward email without making sure it’s ok, don’t open email attachments from people you don’t know and other common sense things.

The Mac OS is built on a system that makes it difficult for malicious programs to take advantage of it. So while the Mac is gaining market share and more and more people are taking notice, I don’t think it’s quite as easy to write malicious programs for the Mac as it is on Windows. Thus the incidence of virus and other programs alike are smaller compared to Windows. Will there be a time that antivirus software on a Mac will be as common as antivirus on Windows? Maybe… but for now it isn’t.

My honest take is that it’s always better to have antivirus software on your computer but it’s not a must on a Mac. At least not yet.

Post from: EveryJoe

Antivirus Software: Yes or No?

Black Friday is one of the biggest sales in the United States. Traditionally retailers offer big discounts on items during his day. People line up very early for the chance to shop for big discounts.

Apple has been traditionally conservative during this day. Offering discounts but nothing spectacular. According to the AppleInsider report, Barclays Capital expects Apple to be more aggressive in its sale. Will this come true? I’m hoping it does but I’m not holding my breath.

Apple distinguishes itself by being a premium brand and I think dragging down the price too much will go against their strategy. Sure times are tough but Apple is still enjoying good sales and I think people are really willing to pay value for money. However I don’t mind being wrong. Not when Apple stuff on the cheap will be available. Let’s wait and see.

Post from: EveryJoe

Black Friday Bonanza?