512 Pixels

Chris Ziegler:

AT&T and T-Mobile have led the charge over the past year to brand their upgraded HSPA+ networks as “4G,” even though such networks historically don’t fall into the “4G” definition — and considering that AT&T is in the process of rolling out LTE concurrently, it can be a confusing message for customers to hear. That said, there’s no sign of AT&T’s network branding effort slowing down, but here’s a bit of a shocker: the carrier is apparently “working with Apple” to change the indicator in the iPhone 4S (which tops out at 14.4Mbps, up from the iPhone 4′s 7.2Mbps) to show “4G” in the status bar as well.

I really hope Apple doesn’t go for this.

Be sure to check out the “Digital Hub” page.

Editor’s Note: This month’s Old Mac of the Month entry is by Matthew Christensen, a senior Film Production major at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles that also happens to be extremely passionate about Apple. His focus is on post production and specifically editing and color correcting films. Some of his editing/coloring work can be seen here and here. You can follow or get in touch with him on Twitter @the_risingtide.

A Tough Mac to Beat

The very first iMac left some big shoes to fill. Between its industry-busting design, simplicity and intangible cool factor, I can imagine it would have been difficult for computer makers at the time (let alone Apple) to know where to go next. With the iMac G4, the team at Apple did it again. Jonathan Ive describes designing this new machine:

When we set out to design the new iMac, there definitely was a tendency for us to be evolutionary. But one of the things that was great about the original iMac was that it was so revolutionary. So the new iMac had to be revolutionary too.

Released in 2002, the iMac G4 was indeed revolutionary. Even though Apple had set the bar for an all-in-one personal computer with the first iMac, other manufacturers hadn’t jumped on board. Flat panel LCD monitors were becoming commonplace, but always shipped separate from the main CPU tower. With this new design, Apple found the best of both worlds. Again, Jonathan Ive:

It’s just this very simple, pure frame that appears to just float in space. When you look at it now it seems so simple, it seem so obvious. Then again, as usual, the simplest, most efficient solution has been the most elusive.

That mobile, separated-yet-joined screen is what most people remember when they think of or see an iMac G4. It invites you to move it around freely while simultaneously is ready to hide away the machine itself and immerse you in what you are doing. Were Steve Jobs on stage today introducing this computer, I don’t doubt the word magical would escape his lips at least once. The design is a testament to the lengths Apple is willing to go to push the envelopes of user experience and simplicity. The screen is perfectly weighted and balanced to be easy and smooth to move, yet not fall out of place once stopped. You won’t find any tightening screws on the joints holding the screen. Keep in mind, too, that creating this iMac was not as simple as drawing it out on paper and stuffing components in a dome. Apple had to custom design a circular logic board with ports radiating out and fit the optical drive and hard disk stacked on top to fit in the dome.

Peeking inside the machine really is incredible, especially contrasted with the simple elegance the end user sees on the outside.

My iMac G4

Here comes my disclaimer. I was 12 years old when the iMac G4 was released. I absolutely remember seeing the cute commercial on TV as a kid, but at the time we had a Gateway PC running Windows 98 at home. I had used Macs at school and loved computers as a whole, but I really wasn’t a Mac fan yet.

Fast-forward to three years ago. As a freshman film production major I knew I wanted a MacBook Pro to do video editing. That was my first Mac and I’m quite proud to be typing this article on it right now. In the last three years I’ve undergone the complete transformation into an Apple fan. So when a friend approached me about an old iMac her dad had bought from a garage sale, of course I was interested. When she mentioned it worked perfectly and she only wanted $30 for it, the deal was done. Sure, I had my own perfectly fine laptop, so why would I buy a 9-year-old outdated machine? If you don’t immediately understand I can’t really explain it. I honestly would have probably gotten it even if it hadn’t powered on, just to tinker with. The fact that it ran beautifully was icing on the cake.

To a true Apple fan’s delight, the seller had included the original sales pamphlet for the iMac G4. It’s fascinating to page through the huge, full-page pictures and Apple Garamond font and seeing how Apple marketed the computer. The copy touts the fact that this is the first Mac with an included SuperDrive, the 15” LCD, and so on. It spends a lot of time advertising the features of OS X we all know and love: the Aqua interface, UNIX underpinnings, the Dock, and the included iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and iTunes. Steve Jobs’ view of a digital hub was perhaps most visible in this pamphlet emphasizing organizing your photos, syncing your music to your iPod, and making your own movies. The last few pages are devoted to debunking a few myths Windows users might have in the format of a Myth followed by a Fact. The final one falls into the cheesy but true category:

Myth 6: Macs are far easier to use then PCs.

Fact: Guilty as charged.

Once home I discovered that whoever had sold it originally had been silly enough to leave all their data on the machine in the form of a password protected user account. To my delight, I discovered this iMac still had its original OS 9 partition! Two hours later, after filling up on nostalgic exploration of the antique OS and not having anything earlier than an OS X 10.5 Leopard install disc (thus no password resetting) I decided to just wipe the drive and start fresh. My mom’s boss is a long time Mac enthusiast and happened to have a copy of OS X 10.4 Tiger available for me to install clean on the computer and after some software updates it was running perfectly. Those keen readers out there may note that OS X 10.5 Leopard is able to run on a G4 processor, but unfortunately it requires an 867 MHz or faster clock speed and mine just missed the cut. I looked into the few hacks out there to trick Leopard into installing but I decided to just let the machine run on the leaner Tiger and see how that went. I haven’t been disappointed.

With its 800 MHz G4 processor, 768 MB of RAM, 100 MHz System Bus, a 60 GB ATA hard drive, and a 15” 1024x768 screen my iMac’s specs are paltry compared to today’s model.

What’s amazing to me, though, is how rarely I notice.

The only time it has kept me waiting was trying to use the unbearably slow USB 1.1 ports. The solution is to use either the FireWire 400 or Ethernet ports available around the base.

So, in my apartment I decided to put the iMac to use for three main functions:

• a wireless iTunes server
• a wireless printing server and scanning station
• playing Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion

Because WiFi was not quite as ubiquitous back then as it was today, the AirPort card was an optional add-on for this model of iMac and mine was without it. Rather than try and find a decent card online I opted to simply buy a cheap but reliable ethernet cable from MonoPrice.com and connect it to my apartment’s wireless router. We also found a decent pair of speakers on Amazon and had them shipped to us. Due to system requirements, iTunes 10 will not run on my iMac, but version 9 is more than happy to do so. Luckily, iTunes 9 is still compatible with the iOS Remote app from Apple so now my three roommates and I can use our iPhone or iPod touch to activate and control what music is playing through the speakers in the living room. Even though it’s not a new technology, guests are always impressed when we can whip out an iOS device and change the volume or song on request. Then, simply connecting my HP printer via USB and installing the necessary software for scanning allowed the other Mac laptops in our place to print wirelessly. For scanning we just use the software on the iMac to have fine grain control and send the scans to our laptops over the network. I was even able to fairly easily set up Tiger to allow my roomate’s Toshiba laptop to print wirelessly as well, using CUPS. Finally, we all love to play Age of Empires II against each other here at the apartment, but in its infinite 1999 wisdom Microsoft made the identical Windows and Mac versions incompatible over a network, leaving my Toshiba-using roommate out of the fray. Snagging this iMac solved that, too!

Having had the iMac G4 for about six months now, I could not be happier. It has worked flawlessly. I had a spare Apple aluminum keyboard hanging around that now runs next to an original iMac hockey puck mouse I was given. The other night I needed to scan a document and so I went out to use the iMac in the living room. No one else was home, it was quiet and nice out, and I remember sitting down on the floor, pulling the screen towards me, and just being immersed in the simple, zen act of using that computer. I know that hockey puck mouse gets a lot of flack, and I’m not going to defend it too much, but it is the only Apple mouse I’ve used before without a right click. Part of that experience was having a machine with only a single click, that ran best with one application at a time, had a relatively small screen, and yet could do all I needed it to do at a good speed. That night made me love being a Mac user, and made me even more excited to write this piece about the wonderful iMac G4.

This computer is the epitome of what an Apple computer should be. It has a novel, intriguing design filled with solid components and software, yet simple and delightful for the average person to use. Even more importantly, all of those elements are still true today, 9 years later.

That’s what a Mac is all about.

Want to write about an old Mac you love? Get in touch! In your initial email, please indicate which Mac model you are planning to write about, so I don’t have systems covered more than once. After we talk, please submit your work in Markdown or HTML. I will be editing posts to conform to AP style, and will link to your site or Twitter account in the Editor’s Note at the top of the post.

Richard M. Stallman seems like a super dude.

Titling Introductions is Hard

Back in 2009, when I was managing an Apple-Authorized Service Provider, I picked up a 13-inch MacBook Pro as a work machine and reviewed it. I closed my review with this:

Over the years, I’ve used a Clamshell iBook G3, a PowerBook ‘Pismo’ G3, a Titanium PowerBook, both a 12- and 15-inch aluminum PowerBook, two pre-unibody MacBook Pros and a black MacBook. I’m confident in saying this machine smokes them all — and is finally a decent replacement for the 12-inch PowerBook. Simply put, Apple is shipping the best notebooks they’ve ever built, and you’re not going to find a better machine out there for $1,199.

It’s a very different world now. The MacBook Air has gone from an over-priced, under-powered notebook to the crown jewel of Apple’s notebook line. With that shift, the 13-inch MacBook Pro’s future has been questioned for some time.

Now, I know all of that. Even so, when I upgraded my work machine from a Core2Duo 15-inch MacBook Pro, I moved to the new i7 13-inch MacBook Pro.

As back in 2009, I need a machine at the intersection of power, expandability and portability. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is that machine.

A Brief Interpolation About Re-Reviewing a Product

Before continuing this review, go read my article from 2009 first. The parts about the construction, keyboard and trackpad all stand true today. The battery life on this new machine isn’t nearly as good as my old Core2Duo-powered machine, but I’ll get that to a bit.

Power, Baby

This model is the high-end, with the 2.7 GHz Core i7. I added 8 GB RAM and my 115 GB OWC SSD post-purchase.

The short version? This little MacBook Pro is insanely fast. It feels like as quick as a MacBook Air, just with lots of ports and a SuperDrive.¹

But that power comes with a drawback.

Is That a Jet, or Are You Running Photoshop Again?

This MacBook Pro gets hot. While I don’t really care about temperature readouts and fan RPMs as much as some people, I do have to say that under load, this machine is loud and hot.

Basically, when under load, the CPU will ramp up and up until it bumps into its thermal limits, meaning the single fan in the MacBook will also ramp up and up. I blame Intel.

To help cope with this while at work, I’ve got the notebook up on a stand to help with airflow. Running this MacBook Pro in clamshell mode is just about impossible.

Sadly, the battery life has taken a hit on this model due to the CPU. While Apple claims up to 7 hours of battery life, I haven’t seen it.

In Closing

I really don’t think the 13-inch MacBook Pro has much of a future. That’s a shame, as it still offers the most power and expandability that can be found in such a small Apple notebook. Even with the heat issues, this machine is well worth the money.

Go read this interview.

What can you say about a man whose inventions and ingenuity changed almost every single industry on the planet?

He went too soon.

What can you say about a man whose first name is known around the world?

He went too soon.

What can you say about a man who co-founded, then rescued what is now the most valuable company on the planet?

He went too soon.

What can you say about a man with four kids and a wife dying at 56?

He went too soon.

The tragedy of course is that Steve Jobs lost his battle to cancer. Our loss of a hero is secondary.

Cancer takes people like Steve Jobs and our little friends at St. Jude too soon. It may take our son. Fuck cancer. Fuck it right in the eye.

It takes our loved ones too soon.

From Jobs’ 2005 Sanford commencement address:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Walt Mossberg’s piece is very, very good.

President Obama, on Steve Jobs’ passing:

By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.