512 Pixels

MG Siegler says yes.

I think I agree:

I bet we’ll see a minor Mac Pro update to use the E5 CPUs whenever they’re available (probably within the next few months). But it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the last Mac Pro. It had a great run, but the tower is over.

Fraser Speirs:

I’ve been interested recently in the apps available for iOS that push the very edges of what we thought was possible on a mobile device. Informed by my recent experience of spending a week on iOS alone, I decided to try and express what I mean by “ambitious” and to collect some examples of those kind of apps.

When iOS first appeared, it was a smartphone OS. Today, with the iPad, it’s much more than that. To be an “ambitious” iOS app, I think you need to be doing one or more of the following things…

What a great list. Be sure to check out his public spreadsheet as well.

Kasper Jade at AppleInsider:

Despite the coming availability of a new generation of Sandy Bridge desktop CPUs suitable for advancing Apple’s Mac Pro line, the company has reportedly been evaluating whether to continue to invest in furthering its full-sized workstation line beyond this year in the face of limited sales.

Although the Mac maker has reportedly developed a revision to the existing Mac Pro that may or may not see the light of day, people familiar with the matter said management as far back as May of 2011 were in limbo over whether to pour any additional resources into the product line.

As a Mac Pro user (at work, at least), I am sad — but not surprised — at this rumor.

People buy Mac Pros for two reasons:

• Power
• Expandability

Those of us who use Mac Pro to crunch video and audio know it to be a workhorse machine. We bought the low-end model last year, and it still smokes most machines in the office. However, most people don’t really need a Mac Pro, now that the Intel’s i7 chips can be found in MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac minis. The more powerful Macs have become, the more marginalized the Mac Pro has become.

Thunderbolt may be the killer of the Mac Pro. If external PCI-E cards become available, and prices on external Thunder-bolt RAIDs come down, the massive shell of the Mac Pro won’t be needed anymore.

The reality is, however, that most people never max out their Mac Pro’s internal storage or card bays. So maybe this reason isn’t as important as it once was.

There will always be edge cases — people who really do need wring out every ounce of power and flexibility of a machine. However, Apple is more and more focusing on meeting the needs of the majority. Depending on how far the company pushes that mindset, the Mac Pro may some become a memory.

I, for one, would be sad.

The Pew Research Center has found that tablets are changing the way people read news:

Consuming news (everything from the latest headlines to in-depth articles and commentary) ranks as one of the most popular activities on the tablet, about as popular as sending and receiving email (54% email daily on their tablet), and more popular than social networking (39%), gaming (30%), reading books (17%) or watching movies and videos (13%). The only activity that people said they were more likely to do on their tablet computer daily is browse the web generally (67%).

The survey also finds that three-in-ten tablet news users (defined for this study as the 77% of all tablet users who get news at least weekly) say they now spend more time getting news than they did before they had their tablet. Just 4% say they spend less time while two-thirds (65%) spend about the same amount of time.

A third (33%) of tablet news users say they are turning to new sources for news on their tablet, sources they had not turned to on other platforms such as television or their desktop computer. And, more than four in ten (42%) say they regularly read in-depth news articles and analysis on their tablet.

Michael Sykes:

If you want to sit down and play Angry Birds (or Trainyard – seriously, you should play Trainyard) then sit down and play Angry Birds. But don’t use Angry Birds or whatever else you can think of to occupy your mind when it might otherwise be accomplishing something.

Bingo.

Time machine not included.

I heard heat was a real issue with this hardware, but it was great for storage.

Merlin Mann, in his 2008 essay “Better”:

What makes you feel less bored soon makes you into an addict.

Jacob Pacey:

Hey guys, long time no see, toss me a PBR—actually, better make it a Coors Light. I know, I look different, but before you all start saying how I look like some midtown suit, let me explain. I haven’t gone pleb on you, I’m actually a neo-hipster now. It’s basically where you’re a hipster, but since hipsterism has gone so mainstream you dress and act like a regular person, ironically.

I posted the above photo on Instagram the other day, and have gotten several questions about it.

The explanation is pretty simple. I don’t play games on my iPhone.¹

I noticed at some point over the last year or so that I used iPhone games to fill little gaps in my day. Instead of writing, reading or just thinking, I would play a game while waiting for an appointment or while on hold for a conference call. Any time I had a few “extra” minutes, I found myself pulling out my phone to play something.

It all started when I read this Steve Jobs quote a while back:

I’m a big believer in boredom. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity and out of curiosity comes everything.

I know I am my most creative when I have time to just sit, be still and think. For me, iPhone games killed that time.

Boredom isn’t a bad thing. But strangling it with Angry Birds probably is.

Ouch.

via Marco