Macintosh & Apple

If I am going to be labeled a fanboy I am going to take it all the way baby! The latest Microsoft ad is more of the same. It is squarely aimed at people who don't know technology. There are plenty of good PCs out there, but the ones they are trying to sell in these ads aren't them.

All of a sudden, with the release of the Skype App on the iPhone, the VoIP vs. Telcos issue has been thrown into the spotlight. This is a no-win situation for the telcos. Here's why they should change their gameplan to become mobile ISPs.

Wall Street got a bit of a shock in the way of good news from Ottawa-based Research in Motion today. How did this happen and what does it mean for the rest of the tech sector?

Skype on the iPhone 3G works really well. In fact, it sounds better than regular calls over AT&T's network, at least on my iPhone in New York City. This is bad news for the telcos. Here's why ...

HP announced a new cloud-based service today. But if you tried to connect to the "true webcast" with anything but IE on Windows, you were destined for problems.

He's having a fun ride. But at some point, it's not fair to pick the most popular guy over the more talented ones -- even if it's the geek who's winning the popularity contest this time.

Apple has always been avant-garde in their approach to computing. Back in late 2007, my friend James (the then IT tech at a library I visit) knowing I was a Mac fan, called me into his office to show me his new Mini. The fist thing that caught my eye (or rather, my ear) was how quiet the Lilliputian computer was. I was so excited that I went out and bought one myself. After I got it, I did some research and found that because of their diminutive size, quite a few people have used them in various places - such as in cars (as MP3 jukeboxes or navigation systems).

A rogue commenter on my "fun blog" posted what appear to be some very nice Macintosh netbook images.  While they are unlikely real, they seem to have gotten many people excited about the prospect of a MacBook Mini.

Apple has been making a lot of moves over the past few weeks which seem to indicate that it is trying to speed up the consumption of iPhone 3Gs.

Here are some of the indications that Apple has been offloading iPhone 3Gs:

Microsoft has unveiled a new ad campaign designed to hit Apple where it hurts: In people's wallets. A new ad shows real people trying to buy affordable laptops, and ending up buying PCs rather than Macs because they can't afford high-priced hardware. The campaign even uses jujitsu against Apple coolness, saying that cheap is the new cool.

In Friday's IT Blogwatch, we wonder if we'll be Skyping from our iPhones soon. Not to mention Atari 2600 powered by hope ...

Apple today announced that the World Wide Developer Conference would be held on the previously predicted dates of June 8th-12th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.  Since Apple has dropped out of Macworld (and had a paltry showing this year), WWDC is THE event for us Apple watchers.

Microsoft kicked off a new Crispin Porter + Boguksy-produced Ad campaign today with an advertisement aimed at people struggling in a tough economy.  The ad doesn't really focus on Microsoft's software.  In fact, nowhere during the commercial does Vista even make an appearance.  I'll sum up the message for you:

"We allow our software to be installed on really cheap machines"

During today's Blockbuster on Tivo press release, In today's Blockbuster ONDEMAND on Tivo press release, Blockbuster snuck in a little tidbit of information that has the Apple community curious:

A few days ago, Steve Ballmer stirred up a hornet's nest when he said that Apple users pay a $500 tax for buying Macs instead of PCs. What he neglected to mention, though, is that plenty of people believe they pay a Microsoft tax for using Windows --- and it's not the price of operating system they're complaining about.