There's been a lot of chatter re: the iPhone leak and the raiding of certain "journalist's" homes. I won't rehash here so feel free to read up on the current situation.
I feel bad for Jason Chen and his wife for having their door kicked in. But I most definitely don't think it's unjustified. What should he have expected when he paid $5K for a stolen phone? I guess what pisses me off the most is how some people can't seem to understand that freedom of the press and crimes committed by journalists are two separate things. He's not getting his door kicked in because he leaked the next iPhone but because he PURCHASED STOLEN PROPERTY. If he had found the iPhone himself or if the person who found it gave it to Gizmodo to do their story, I'd have no issue. The fact that Gizmodo was willing to break the law to get the scoop on a story pretty much moves them out of legitimate journalism to tabloid fare for me. Michael Arrington writes a pretty reasonable post of how he would handle the situation - one I agree with in terms of the bounds of responsible, professional journalism. Unfortunately, the way the world works there is always an incentive to push and break the boundaries of the law in the name of "journalism". We as readers are just as responsible. How many outraged people did NOT go to Gizmodo to see the leaked iPhone photos/video? In the end, I hope Jason Chen doesn't go to jail or face any type of punishment. He was only doing what the bosses at Gawker expected and asked of him. As for the guy who sold them the phone.........Posts for Tag: apple
Finally, a real reason to buy the iPad
via techcrunch.com
Curse you Reed Hastings. I was not planning on buying an iPad... AT ALL. Didn't see the need. Not quite a laptop, not quite as portable as the iPhone. But now Netflix had to go and ruin it for me. I will not be one of the fan boys lined up this Saturday to buy an iPad but it seems inevitable that I will buy one within the next year. Being able to watch my entire Netflix streaming library? Check. Add to that the soon to be released Slingbox app for the iPad? Check and mate. All the other junk like maps, email, web browsing, etc. are just nice add-ons to these two killer apps. You're an asshole Steve Jobs for making me buy your shit.
Blind devotion helps no company...
Nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year...
via online.wsj.com
A Wall Street Journal article is making the rounds re: iPhone usage by Microsoft employees. The debate that's going around is whether MS employees should openly flaunt their iPhones or be more discreet. I can't really answer that since I'm not a Microsoft employee but my guy reaction is to say they shouldn't be sheepish about using a rival phone. If nothing else, this should be a wake-up call to Redmond to make a better phone so their employees wouldn't have to use iPhones.
I remember being a consultant to Apple back in the mid-90's and the team we were contracted by insisted that all work submitted to them be created on Macs. That was an excruciating experience since the Macs of the time were horrible - slow, buggy, and prone to crashes every couple of hours. It took a huge change in philosophy/management/vision for Apple to pull itself from that nightmare. Let's hope that Microsoft has the cojones to do the same. As much as I like the iPhone, I also think competition in the marketplace improves products for everyone.
Laptop comparisons
So I was accused the other day of being a Mac snob which is odd given that I only started using them a couple of years ago (not counting my Apple IIe days). The first Mac I bought at that time was a Macbook Air. I had been using a 15.4" Dell Inspiron which was pretty heavy and also on its last legs so I thought it was a good opportunity to try a super-light computer. Also, I had been using the iPhone for about 6 months and wanted to see how pairing a Mac with an iPhone would be. The experience was good so my next machine was an aluminum Macbook (the one that was stolen). During that time, I wouldn't have been against going back to PC laptops but there weren't any compelling reason to do so. When I switched from the Inspiron to the Air, it was because I wanted the lighest laptop available at the time. Is there a PC laptop that could make me want to switch back? I guess I did my version of the Laptop Hunters commercial...
I had pretty strict requirements for my laptop. 13" to 14", about $1200, light, and must have good battery life. On the Apple side, the 13" Macbook Pro was the standard by which I would compare all the PC laptops. Here's the rundown on what I found: Dell M240014.1" WXGA+ LED
2.53ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
160GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
DVD burner
3-4 hour battery
Bluetooth
Backlit keyboard
Webcam
4.77lbs
$1,464 after $328 instant savings HP Envy 13
13.1" HD LED
2.13ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB RAM
250GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
DVD burner
~6-7 hour battery
Bluetooth
Webcam
~4lbs
$1,899 Sony Vaio SR590
13.3" LED
2.20ghz Intel core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
250GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
DVD Burner
5.5 hour battery
Bluetooth
Webcam
4.4lbs
$939.99 It actually looks like the Sony Vaio SR590 is pretty decent. Still not enough to make me want to switch back to a PC laptop but I think it's a good laptop for the money.
I don't blame Microsoft. I blame the hardware manufacturers.
Ever since my unfortunate incident, I’ve been working on a Lenovo R60e spare laptop we have in the office. It’s a huge adjustment to make going from an Macbook to a plastic feeling laptop. But it’s a hardware adjustment and not a software one. For the record, I actually really like Windows XP Professional. It’s stable, easy to use, and very effective for most work related tasks. Office 2007 has its issues but it’s no biggie. I actually prefer Office 2003 but maybe that’s because I’m just more used to it. Vista and Windows 7, however are garbage but I’ve already discussed that before.
Though this is an older laptop (probably circa 2006), I haven’t really seen a huge leap in usability/comfort/innovation from PC laptop manufacturers. Either they build really expensive machines with a bunch of useless features (Sony VAIOs or Lenovos for instance) or they err on the side of cost effectiveness and build cheap laptops that make CFO’s happy but are lackluster from a usability standpoint (Dell, HP, etc). Yes, I can buy a Dell Vostro for under $500 but it’s heavy, bulky, and feels cheap. The really sad part is that in about 6 months, the value of that machine is basically halved by a combination of its cheapness and the fact that Dell builds its computers to be relaced within 2 years. When I bought my Macbook Air in early 2008 for about $1600 (got a sweet deal). I sold it over a year and a half later for about $1200. It held 75% of its value 18 months after I bought it! When was the last time you could say that about any computer technology?
With rumblings of an update to the Macbook Pro line coming soon, I’ll hold off on getting another Macbook until then. I’ll probably just pick up the version just before the latest one and save a few bucks.