512 Pixels

… to Jeff Ward-Bailey’s question.

Matt Hartley:

As Republicans and Democrats continue to work towards a compromise to the country’s debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that Washington now has a total operating balance of only US$73.768-billion.

Meanwhile, Apple currently boasts a cash reserve of US$75.876-billion, as of its most recent quarterly earnings report at the end of June.

Of course, the numbers aren’t directly comparable; the government’s number represents how much financial headroom it has before bumping up against an arbitrary debt ceiling, while Apple’s cash reserve represents the pile of money the Cupterino, California-based company has available on its balance sheet.

Well, crap.

While recording this week’s Bro Show, I had a thought about the iPhone 5.

I have been wondering for weeks now what Apple could add to the iPhone at this point, from a hardware perspective. Clearly, things like a faster processor and better camera are on tap for future models, but I really can’t think of a single “it” feature that would knock things out of the park.

Then, I had it.

What if Apple makes all of the Nuance-powered voice stuff that keeps popping up in the iOS 5 betas iPhone 5-only?

This makes sense to me for a couple of reasons.

First, no real changes have been made thus far in the iOS 5 betas when it comes to voice, and Apple hasn’t said a single word publicly about its Nuance partnership. Why not show it off at WWDC, even in a very un-released fashion? The only reason I can think of for the company to hold its tongue on what would be a great feature is that it is tied to unreleased hardware. (Granted, Apple does like having a secret feature to show off close to release.)

Secondly, by building this technology to run on an A5 chip or better, Apple instantly has its “headlining feature” for a new iPhone model this fall. The iPhone 4 has been a smashing success, and while the new model will be an even bigger success if history teaches us anything, Apple probably wants more than a case redesign and an A5 chip to show off to customers.

Nuance’s software may require an A5 to run as smoothly as Apple would like, too. Android does voice-stuff in the cloud, but I’d imagine Apple would prefer if all the operations could take place locally, without a network connection.

Voice-powered commands aren’t new to the mobile scene, of course. Google has baked-in voice command to Android for some time now. When (if) Apple ships something comparable, I’m sure it will be executed in a way that is more elegant and more powerful than what other companies are doing.

I would love to see voice-powered commands and search come to iOS 5. It is the single biggest thing I miss about carrying a Droid as my mobile phone. I’m really hoping Apple has something ready to go in the fall, even if it doesn’t come to the iPhone 4.

This video is an instant classic.

via Shawn Blanc

I was fortunate to once again join Myke and Terry on the always-great Bro Show podcast. This week, we talked about Lion, iPhone 5 rumors and the 13” MacBook Pro.

Be sure to stick around to the end. We included some bonus material this week.

Dave has brought back a nightmare I thought we had all forgotten.

Ben Brooks, commenting on the 13” MacBook Pro:

Because nothing screams pro like: Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native). If you really need power and portability with FireWire 800: MacBook Air 13″ Core i7 with a new Thunderbolt display. There are also Thunderbolt adapter cables in the works to provide FireWire 800 without the extra glass. The 13″ is dead and, unfortunately, Apple just hasn’t told it that yet.

Yes, the native resolution of the 13” MacBook Pro sucks, but I think I would have a hard time squeezing a 27” Thunderbolt Display into my server rack next time I need to go change something on my router or work directly on my Xserve. While new adaptors may be on the way, the Air isn’t a viable solution for someone like me today.

Holy cow:

I’m trying to put a cd into the iPad 2 to play a track but the slot underneath the screen won’t allow me. What can I do?

via @GeniusBarTales

There’s been a lot of smack talk going on about the 13” MacBook Pro recently, and Thomas Brand has gotten sick of it:

The 13 inch MacBook Pro is more than a pound lighter than the 15 inch model. Its smaller dimensions mean it is usable on an economy class airplane tray table. If I am going to have to carry a computer to and from work, all over the hospital, and around the world on business trips I am going to want to have the lightest computer possible to do my job.

I agree with Brand. When I reviewed the machine back in 2009, I was impressed how good of a fit it was for my needs as an IT professional.

The same is true today. In fact, I am picking up the high-end 13” MacBook Pro tomorrow, as a replacement for my Core2Duo 15” MacBook Pro I currently have at work. I’m excited for something faster and smaller to be back in my bag.

This machine is a great cross between power and portability. Pros need FireWire 800, Ethernet and more onboard. I know I can’t live with an Air as my primary machine at work.

While I do think the 13” MacBook Pro’s days are numbered, I suspect that many will be sad when it goes. I know I will be.

Mike Lennon:

The Mac OS vulnerability relates to user login passwords that are stored in the system memory even if the computer is locked or put into a sleep mode. Passware’s software captures live Mac computer memory over FireWire and analyzes it, extracting these passwords, a process that the company says takes just a few minutes–regardless of password strength and use of a FileVault encryption.

While this is an issue, once physical security has been breached, it is game over anyways.

[via Ben Brooks]

Ok, that was an extreme headline. But still, those little red badges and popups are changing the way we interact with our devices.

I love Mac OS X. I really believe it is the best way to get work done on a computer in the 21st century. For the most part, I like OS X Lion — just check out my review. Lion is fast, stable and brings several great features to the table — especially when it comes to security.

Loving any Apple product is like being in an roller coaster relationship, though. Apple — unlike most companies — is not afraid to break things, change direction or piss off its users. But at the same time, it just wants everyone to be happy and hugging each other.

Lion feels like another step down this road. It feels like a beginning and an end. Future versions of the Mac OS will feel less and less like pre-Lion versions as time marches on.

Launchpad

There’s no doubt that Apple wishes to simplify its desktop OS for the sake of its growing customer base. Apple somewhat said this back in the fall at its “Back to the Mac” event. With Lion, the company took features from iOS — mainly the iPad — and bolted them to OS X.

On the surface, Apple did a good job with this. But the more I use Lion every day (and not just on my test machine), the more I feel like there’s some weirdness going on here.

Launchpad is the best example of an iOS-inspired feature in Lion. It’s also the best example of what I really don’t like about Lion.

While Apple may be slowly moving us away from the Applications folder and Spotlight, adding yet another layer on top of the OS seems more confusing than simplifying at this point.¹

Oh, and swiping across rows of icons makes perfect sense on a mobile device, but on a computer it just feels insulting. I’ve disabled the gestures for it and hope I don’t accidentally launch it from Spotlight.²

So, has Apple succeeded in bringing iOS-inspired features to the Mac? I’m not entirely sure. If Apple is looking to further unify OS X and iOS, it is going to have to work harder than it did in Lion. In trying to make OS X more approachable, I fear Apple just made it more complicated, with more abstractions than ever.

File Management

Apple has changed several significant, fundamental things about the way users interact with their digital files. With Lion, users are being asked to trust their Macs with tasks they’ve never before had to — like saving files.

Now, I know full and well what data loss is like. As someone who has supported Mac users for years, I’ve seen my share of sob stories.

That said, I am finding it difficult to trust Lion with things like saving my files automagically in apps like Text Edit.³ I just don’t trust my computer when it has done the wrong thing so many times in the past when it comes to data.

Shaving

I am sure this post will seem rather silly in six months or a year. Mac users evolve as Apple sees fit. We all stick around, and endure the changes. This time, though, it just seems like a lot to swallow.