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Tagged: apple RSS

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  Spencer Schoeben 8:47 pm on September 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: apple, event, prediction, steve jobs   

  Poll: Will Steve Jobs Present at the Apple Event Tomorrow? 

  Will Steve Jobs be presenting at tomorrow Apple event. Steve Jobs has officially came back to work after his apparent liver transplant. He hasn’t made any public appearances yet; this would be his first time on stage since he announced he was going on medical leave.

  I personally think that he will be giving a portion of the presentation. Someone else will probably start and then hand it over to Steve part of the way through.

  What do you think?

  AppleInsider | Apple’s annual media event rumored for early september

   

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  Spencer Schoeben 11:43 am on August 24, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: apple, os x, snow leopard   

  Snow Leopard Available Friday 

  Snow Leopard—the newest version of the OS X operating system—is scheduled to be released this Friday, the 28th.

  The update will cost only $29 as opposed to $129—the price of most other OS X updates. The reason for the minimal price is because the update is much smaller than updates in the past have been. Instead of focusing on adding a host of new features, Apple has decided to refine aspects of OS X Leopard and make them “Better. Faster. Easier.”

  Some of the notable improvements include a dramatically smaller footprint. Installing Snow Leopard is supposed to give you 7 GB of disk space back. The Finder has also been rewritten and is apparently faster than ever before. iChat is also supposed to have a four times higher resolution.

  In my opinion, the biggest new feature is probably QuickTime X, the new version of QuickTime that is included with Snow Leopard. QuickTime X refers to the entire system that runs Snow Leopards audio and video playback. A new QuickTime player is also included with features allowing you to easily trim video just like you do on the iPhone and quickly upload videos to YouTube. It also looks like they are ditching the whole QuickTime Pro upgrade thing and giving all the features to you for free. It also now supports HTTP live streaming.

  Another major feature addition is Exchange support. With Exchange, Apple hopes to make Macs more popular in the workplace. They boast the simplicity of setting up a new account and the streamlined experience of having everything in one place.

  Anyway, if you want Snow Leopard, which I highly suggest, you can pre-order it online now or you can buy it at an Apple Store starting Friday. I have also heard that they are giving away free T-Shirts at the Apple Store on Friday so it might be fun to get your copy there if you have a chance. The interesting thing for me is that this is going to be the first time we, as a family, have to buy something from Apple as an ordinary consumer.

  We were a PC family for the longest time. We got our first Mac when my dad started working at Apple in 2003. Ever since we have become incredibly for-Mac and anti-PC. We now each have our own iPhone and Mac Laptop and we have a bunch of other Apple products scattered around our house. Anyway, you could certainly say that my dad getting a job at Apple has changed us for the better, brought us to the good side. That tidbit aside, we have never spent a penny on Apple software, not once. Now that my dad no longer works at Apple, we will have to join the masses and pay $29 this Friday. This should be interesting. I’m excited to get a free shirt!

   
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  Spencer Schoeben 3:38 pm on August 9, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: apple, techcrunch (3)   

  Comment: The Case Against Apple Is Just As Much A Case For Apple 

  MG Siegler just wrote an amazing post on TechCrunch in response to a post written my Mahalo’s CEO and Founder, Jason Calacanis.

  MG’s post acts as a rebuttal to what Jason wrote earlier today. While Jason argues that Apples arbitrary and controlling principals are hurting their business, MG says the opposite—they’re helping Apple. Jason’s main point is that Apple is becoming the type of company that they used to make fun of Microsoft for being.

  While I think both people are making good points, I tend to agree with what MG wrote. Here is a comment that I left in response to his post: (view original)

  This was an absolutely amazing post MG. It was very long and at first I just scanned though it. Then, I decided it was worth reading the whole thing and I did. You have done an outstanding job making a very good point which I completely agree with.

  A lot of people like us have looked at Apple and think that what they are doing is a bad thing. Everyone who I engage in conversation with over the Mac-vs-PC argument says that PC’s are better because they give you more control. However, I agree with you, Apple’s lack of control is what makes them so popular.

  Everything runs so smoothly. Everything is so organized. They control everything, even the retail which makes for a great user experience, one that PC’s (as we know them) will never be able to match. I think that as Microsoft opens some of its own stores we might see some interesting stuff. But, for the most part, Apple’s products and user experience rock because of their incredibly streamlined ecosystem.

  I believe that their hardware is superior to others. But, more importantly, is something does go wrong, the Apple Stores are very helpful. Apple’s closed ecosystem is what make the stores possible.

  Just this morning, I had to take in a MacBook Pro because it was having some issues. They decided that they will replace my entire machine and even migrate my data. All I have to do is pick it up when it’s ready. Easy!

  The experience I had at the Apple Store is a more appropriate example of the result of Apple’s policies than any of the negative things that also come along with their policies. Sure, I would love to have Google Voice on my phone. But, their are trade offs. I think Apple made a bad decision to reject the app but it’s just one example. Who knows, after the whole FCC thing, the app might show up again.

   
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  Spencer Schoeben 7:10 pm on July 31, 2009 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: app store (2), apple, att, fail, google (2), iphone (2), rejection   

  Comment: FCC Takes On Apple And AT&T Over Google Voice Rejection 

  I left this comment on Jason Kinclaid’s post on Tech Crunch: “FCC Takes On Apple And AT&T Over Google Voice Rejection.”

  Thank goodness. It’s certainly time something of this manner occur. I don’t care exactly what the answers are, they just need to get their act together. It’s like Apple doesn’t even have any clearly defined guidelines anymore. Sure, Apple said up front (during the announcement of the iPhone) that there would be some applications that they wouldn’t accept. I just don’t think all of their rejections (especially this one) reflect what Steve Jobs said.

  And AT&T. They seem to think that it’s acceptable to request Apple to remove applications from it’s app store solely because they don’t like them. After all, removing applications from the app store ultimately affects people that are in no way affiliated with AT&T. For example, people with other carriers or iPod Touch. In this case, this isn’t necessarily the case because Google Voice only works on phones (not iPods) and in America (so not on other carriers). But, it shows that the behavior has come to be considered acceptable by them. Like, for example, the SlingPlayer—an amazing app that let’s you watch your TV on your phone. Because of AT&T, Apple was forced to tell the developer to restrict 3G access. This ends up affected people of other carriers, in other countries.

  Though, at the same time, we can’t put all the blame on AT&T. Perhaps, you can’t blame them for what could have just been a try. Apple could be the one who is at blame for giving into AT&T. We, as iPhone users, expect Apple to advocate for us. That is, after all, why we are iPhone users—we appreciate the significant quality difference over other devices which are strictly dictated by AT&T.

  The significant quality difference if beginning to shrink, leaving previously pleased iPhone customers in a difficult place. Possibly deciding “to quit the iPhone” like Michael declared this morning.

  So, I would think Apple would be a little bit more aggressive when fighting with AT&T. After all, they have nothing to lose.

  So, hopefully, with the FCC’s assistance, something can finally happen for a change. Everyone here needs to learn that they don’t always get what they want and that they don’t always have to give others what they want.

  Go FCC!