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The First 64 Gigs
Patrick Rhone and Ben Brooks have been talking this week about minimal computing.
More specifically, about applications and minimal computing.
The most minimal Mac is the base model MacBook Air. At 11.6 inches with just 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, operating one seems to be a practice in minimalism in and of itself.
I’ll be honest — I love the small MacBook Air. I’m often tempted to order one, as it would be a great fit for me. At home, I have a beefy 27-inch iMac, and a super fast 15-inch MacBook Pro at work. Those machines aren’t minimal, simply because of what I have to accomplish while using them. However, I would love a third machine — the little Air — as a machine to use primarily for writing.
‘Nothing Special’
Ed Bott at ZDNet, talking about malware on Macs:1
Now I am seeing evidence that the next target is OS X. That’s potentially very bad news for Mac owners who have abandoned their PCs in the belief that switching to a Mac somehow immunizes them from malware.
Security experts know, of course, that there’s nothing magical about Macs when it comes to security. They just haven’t been targeted because Windows has been such a big juicy target for so long.
RIM’s ‘Two Distinct Problems’
RIM seems to have two distinct problems: the first is that it doesn’t seem to adapt quickly to a changing market, and the second is that when it finally does make a move, the results too often feel half baked. The company and its leaders seem almost indignant about the fact that they no longer lead in a field which they clearly feel they created. The unfortunate reality for RIM is that it’s in the process of trading first place for third, and in an increasingly crowded market, it’s not battling to win, it’s battling to stay alive.
‘iPad or Bust’
The Omni Group has lots of goodies on the way.
Macgasm Podcast: New iMacs, Castle and More
Be sure to listen to the end, when Josh shared his terrible idea about how Apple could allow “true” multi-tasking on the iPad.
The Marginalized Mac Pro
The new iMacs released yesterday have some extremely impressive CPUs at the high end. The Sandy Bridge architecture in these iMacs, and the recent MacBook Pros, is so good that they’re competitive with the Mac Pro in some benchmarks.
So why buy a Mac Pro instead of an iMac or MacBook Pro?
That’s a great question and one that is increasingly complex.
The Mac Pro used to be the obvious choice for anyone who needed power or expandability. It really was a no brainer. If you need brawn, Apple’s only tower was the only choice.
A Brief Rant About Analysts Publishing Incredibly Obvious Things About Apple
According to one analyst’s check with sources along Apple’s supply chain, Apple plans to refresh the rest of its Mac lineup, which would include the MacBook, Mac Pro, Mac Mini and MacBook Air, “in upcoming months.”
Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee issued a note to investors on Wednesday claiming that all Mac products that have yet to see a refresh this year are “due for refreshes” soon.
For Sale
Apple’s latest ad wants you to buy a $500+ tablet computer to run App Store apps on. Apple wants to sell you shiny things to make money.
Google’s latest ad wants you to store personal details about your child’s life, from birth, on their servers. Google wants your data so they can sell it (aggregated and anonymized, of course) to others to make money.
Taken in that context, Apple’s ad might be obnoxious and highly commercial, but Google’s is downright creepy.
Writers I Read: Myke Hurley
This time around, I’m talking with Myke Hurley, one of the guys behind three great podcasts — The Bro Show, Enough — The Minimal Mac Podcast and 11 Minutes. He also tweets and writes at The Podcasting Project. Stephen: Hey Myke, thanks for agreeing to spend some time chatting about what you do on the Internet. For those readers not familiar with you, who are you, and what do you do online? Myke: Hello Sir! Thanks for inviting me to take part. I’m honoured and in such great company!
New on the Android Market: A Software Firewall
The Omni Group, on Creating iPad Apps
This video is simply great.