While the company is still largely beloved by the public, sentiment seems to have turned against them amongst their peers, and even amongst many of the startups around Silicon Valley. While these tensions have been building for months — and even years, in some cases — we’re seeing this on display more clearly than ever now thanks to the patent issue(s).
But why? Why is Google now a villain to many in the industry? I don’t believe it’s because they’re evil, I believe it simply relates to the Plainview quote. Increasingly, Google is trying to do everything. And they have the arrogance to think that they can. And it’s pissing people off.
Category: Apple
A Problem with Rumors
Federico Viticci, in his review of the new 13-inch MacBook Air:
The truth is, if you follow tech rumors you’re never going to buy anything. Sure, you might get a new gadget or computer every once in a while, but then you keep it for years and even after you realize you need something better because your work or computing life in general could actually deeply benefit from it, your judgement gets obfuscated by the rumors and by the next great thing that’s perennially coming. For many people, potentially referring to themselves as “geeks”, nothing is new anymore. It’s just a headline, an unboxing, and some benchmarks to compare to last year’s headline. Rinse and repeat.
iCloud iOS Wallpapers
This is a great collection of wallpapers by my buddy Chris Herbert.
The Self-Canceling Rumor
Earlier today, we told you that Apple was looking to discontinue the Magic Mouse in favor for the Magic Trackpad. This report was based off an inside source confirming that Apple was phasing out the Magic Mouse’s part number from its inventory.
Our source in Apple inventory has followed up with us, and it appears that Apple has instead discontinued the Magic Mouse’s old part number in favor for a new one. This move may indicate an update to the Magic Mouse, with the most logical prediction being better integration with advanced gestures in OS X Lion.
Apple Summer Camp
Sending your kids to a “summer camp” put on by the second-wealthiest corporation in the world is just so damn creepy. I mean, it is inside a retail store.
iOS Growing Like Mad
Saying “Apple doesn’t care about the enterprise” isn’t quite as true as it used to be, it seems.
iCloud Artwork
The Javascript image might be my favorite.
Small Big Shoes to Fill
Everyone I know who has owned a 12-inch PowerBook G4 looks back with fondness about that being the best Mac they have ever owned. It was a perfect blend of power and portability, and it invoked an affinity from its owners that few Macs in history have.
A few years from now, I believe we’ll look back and say the 12-inch PowerBook was the best laptop we ever owned until our MacBook Airs. The MacBook Air is the new 12-inch PowerBook — the new blend of power and portability that also invokes a fondness that few Macs in the lineup can.
iPhone 4 on Sale
According to reports from Engadget and Phone Arena, both Radio Shack and Target planned to offer between $30 and $50 off of the price of an iPhone 4 with a two-year contract. We verified Monday morning that Radio Shack has a current promotion running through Saturday, offering the iPhone 4 for $169.99 and $269.99 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively. Radio Shack is also offering up to $100 credit for the trade-in of a previous iPhone model, dropping the price to as low as $69 with contract.
Slam Dunk?
From AFP548’s Lion Server review:
Does this mean that OS X Lion Server is a slam dunk upgrade for everyone? No. In fact there are some folks that I don’t think I could even recommend to remain on the platform. If you are making a living doing web and mail hosting on Mac OS X Server then you are probably going to be better off moving to some other Unix or even Windows. The total gutting of web configuration when it comes to sites and virtual domains means you are going to be doing a lot of the same work in Apache2 conf files as you would be elsewhere. You can certainly get the job done on Lion Server and he price is right, but there just isn’t a compelling reason to do so.
Lion Server Reviewed
Andrew Cunningham at AnandTech:
Lion Server’s main problem, from an IT person’s point of view, has less to do with the software’s functionality and more to do with Apple’s software support model. Lion Server is a good product that maintains most of the appeal of past OS X Server versions, but like the client version of Lion, it’s clearly a transitional product that makes many changes and foreshadows many more, and there’s less tolerance for that sort of thing in the server room than on the client end. If your organization depended on something like the Print or QuickTime Streaming service in Snow Leopard Server, or the ability to join Windows clients to Open Directory, Apple decided that those services were obsolete and got rid of them; now you’re stuck having to find something else to do the same work.
The Sweet Spot
The MacBook Air has never been a laptop for everyone. It began as a niche laptop for a tiny sliver of the population, but in the intervening three years there’s been a sea change. Today, most people in the market for a Mac laptop should seriously consider the MacBook Air. Sure, there are some people for whom it’s a poor fit—but I suspect they are increasingly the exception, not the rule. (There’s a reason Apple’s marketing slogan for this version of the Air is “The ultimate everyday notebook.”)