Year: 2012

The Loop Turns 3

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Jim Dalrymple:

It’s hard to believe, but three years ago today I started The Loop.

It’s hard to believe that The Loop has only been around since 2009. It is such an anchor in our corner of the Internet, it feels like it’s been around forever.

Here’s to many more, Jim and Peter.

Happy Birthday, Macintosh II

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Benj Edwards, Macworld.com:

Twenty-five years ago, Apple released the Macintosh II, a powerful, expandable desktop computer that represented a profound ideological design shift in the Macintosh line. Through its open architecture and color display capability, it echoed the experimental philosophy of Apple’s earliest machines and ignited a new wave of enthusiasm for the Macintosh platform.

It may have echoed the ‘experimental philosophy’ of Apple’s earliest machines, but it did so by being a complete reversal of the original Macintosh.

Guess which type of machine won in the end?

On Reporting Rumors

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With Apple’s WWDC keynote less than a week away, most of the Internet has lit its hair on fire and is running in circles, moving from one rumor site to another, trying to glean information on what Tim Cook and company might announce.

While a look at Mountain Lion and iOS 6 seem inevitable, rumors now say the entire Mac line might get updated. They’ll have Retina displays, or at least USB 3. Google Maps is getting kicked the curb (perhaps), on Apple’s fancy-ass, big-and-tall iPhone 5. (Or iPhone 6. OMG WHAT DO WE CALL IT?)

At the very least, sources say, all of Apple’s new hardware and software will include a new coating of unicorn fairy magic dust.

There’s no denying that rumors drive a shit ton of page views. Lots of people are genuinely interested in them, and they fill the time leading up to an event, but I think we as “Apple bloggers” are over-doing it.

With the large number of Apple-centric websites, it seems more and more like the whole scene is a big echo chamber. While some writers do have sources within Apple, the majority of them do not. Some in that majority write like they do, anyways.

This means that a story gets bounced around 100 times, with 100 mediocre writers adding 100 mediocre points to it. By the time I hit refresh in Reeder, what should have been a simple story is all over the place.

It’s all very tiring.

So, this morning, I deleted the “Apple News” folder from my Google Reader account.

We’ll see what sites make it back in there after WWDC.

Most Macs To Be Refreshed During WWDC?

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AppleInsider says yes.

This makes me wonder about the release schedule for Mountain Lion. Either it’s ready now, and these machines will ship with it, or we’ll see a Lion update (or new build, at least, for these machines), with 10.8 coming later this summer. If it does, then at least the company’s “Back to School” sale will be stuffed with new Macs.