How busy have things been around here of late, you ask? Well, today I was browsing my news RSS folder (for the first time in a while) and caught a few articles titles referencing the big WWDC keynote today at 10am PST… and I thought, “TODAY???”
That’s right, folks. There are big doin’s today in the world of Apple, and I was totally unaware of it!
I’ll try to do better next time… 🙂
I posted recently some thoughts on the ongoing myth that Apple computers are more expensive (comparing “apples to apples”) than their Windows-running counterparts. It’s pretty amazing that such thinking is still widespread. I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, and say they just haven’t actually seen the real numbers for themselves…
Today came across another article debunking several myths about Apple/Mac OS. Here’s one snippet of what he said:
While users do pay some premium for both the Apple brand and the innovation that goes into Apple’s often brilliant hardware design, the premium is not out of line with that users already pay for name brand systems from vendors such as Sony, HP or Lenovo. In many cases, comparable Apple systems are priced similarly or in some cases are even cheaper than their competition.
If you’re interested, you can read the full article by Michael Gartenberg at his blog. It’s relatively short. And, if you really still think PCs running windows are cheaper… just read the article. 🙂
(Also, it’s not just the price myth, he also takes on the software myth as well as the proprietary myth. Sheesh. Why so many myths??) 🙂
It’s been quiet here at GregsHead because it’s NOT been quiet in Greg’s office or Greg’s home! I even tried to post something like Steve did yesterday, but didn’t have time to finish it! Ha! 🙂
But wanted to post a link to this article about the Apple market share myth(s). Pretty interesting stuff. Was chatting with a fellow Mac user about it and he sent me this link.
From what I have seen (from my decidedly Mac-skewed vantage point) the world is much more than the fabled 2% Mac market share. And, as the article says, we are some of the coolest tech/computer users out there. 🙂
It’s not too late to “go Mac“…
🙂
I can’t really believe that this still comes up, but I’ve been talking with a friend who is in the market for a new computer, and though there are several people close to them who insist they would love a Mac, is still convinced that he can get “the same” computer for less. Folks… this is just not true. Perhaps a little less… but usually the opposite is true. I wrote about this here TWO YEARS ago, and Apple has gotten heaps better in those two years.
I was trying to figure out why I can’t just let it go sometimes. I think it’s just my personality. I need stuff to be true. (Though, not in everything… but I guess the stuff I care about.) If someone just doesn’t want a Mac, that’s OK (too bad, but OK) 😉 But if they say they don’t want it because they can get the same computer for less… that’s just not true. I think it all works out pretty evenly in the end, except with a Mac you get no viruses, spyware, everything just works “out of the box” (all included in the computer) and you get the Mac OS, which is fantastic. (Not to mention their superior customer support.)
I’m really not trying to be a salesman… and I TOTALLY understand the need to spend less on a lesser product simply due to lack of funds. TOTALLY. But I just wanted to say again, Macs are not ridiculously overpriced. You get what you pay for, and we think, with Mac, you get even more than what you pay for.
If you’re at all interested, or even if you think you know that you’re NOT interested… check out this section of Apple’s website. apple.com/getamac. Not only are all the cute/funny ads there, read the 10 reasons (and more) “Why You’ll Love a Mac.” Great list. Explained well.
Everyone gets to choose and use what they’d like, but we, the Campbells, can’t say enough how great Macs are, and how much you’ll love ’em if you try ’em.
(This blog post brought to you by an Apple fan and user for over 13 years now. No money was received for this endorsement.) 🙂
There are some advantages to staying up super late. I had some stuff to do tonight, and kind of randomly pulled up the Apple online store when lo and behold, I have a scoop! The Apple Store is currently down… and today (tomorrow for me) is Tuesday, which is when Apple typically releases new products.
I don’t know what it will be. BUT… I’ve been telling folks for a couple weeks that I think Apple will be updating the iMac soon. They had a “limited time offer” on refurbs of the current generation listed at the online store for just about two weeks now, and to me that meant that at least an updated iMac is coming, if not a bigger revision of the best computer on the planet! 🙂
So anyway. Now that I’ve broken the story…
I’m going to bed. 🙂
Check the apple store for what the actual news is tomorrow. 😉
I am no longer paid by Apple to tell you this, but that never mattered anyway! I was looking for something at the Apple store yesterday and discovered that they are selling refurbished iMacs at extra low prices. You can get a 20″ core 2 duo iMac for $999! (That’s good.)
I think that link will work… if it doesn’t, just go to apple.com/store and scroll down to the refurbished Macs link near the bottom left.
Great deals, and for a limited time! So, maybe a way to spend your tax return? 🙂
The big news from the keynote presentation from Steve Jobs today at the Moscone Center in San Francisco was the announcement of the highly anticipated ultra-portable laptop – the MacBook Air. This computer is as thin as .16″ and the full thickness when closed is .76″. Whoa. Still has all the bells and whistles! (13″ screen, 80GB hd, 2GB ram, built-in iSight camera, backlit keyboard, multi-touch track pad, 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and some cool software that allows you to access/use an optical drive on a network computer – Mac or PC!)
They’re pretty pricy, but also a pretty amazing little product. You can even get it with a solid-state drive (flash drive), which might give you more battery life, but definitely is super fast and less parts to breakdown.
Other announcements included a new wireless router (AirPort Extreme base station) that includes a hard drive for easy network access, and Time Machine backups. It’s called Time Capsule, and is available in 500GB or 1TB. And, the iPod Touch received some software updates, allowing iPod touch owners to access Mail via their iPod as well as some other “essentials” (weather, stocks, etc).
The other big announcement involved iTunes and the AppleTV. iTunes sells movies, but not all that well. Not compared to how they do with music. The AppleTV has done OK, but not that well. Well, now the newly lower-priced AppleTV gives you access to much more movie content which can be rented and immediately watched on your AppleTV. Movie rentals are $2.99 and $3.99 for 24 hour rentals. HD movie rentals are $4.99. You can also purchase music directly on your AppleTV now as well.
I’m still waiting for Apple to fully get into the TV business and release a real AppleTV. We should start saving up now, cause I know it’s coming! 🙂
Fun stuff today from Apple. Not sure I’ll be getting any of it soon, but those MacBook Airs will sell faster than anything Apple has ever made. Even at that price (starts at $1799). Just watch and see.
[for more coverage, see the archived live coverage page from Macworld.com.]
It’s that time of year again, the annual Macworld Conference and Expo is going on starting today in San Francisco, CA! For some reason I am not as excited this year as I usually am… maybe just too busy with other stuff. But, I’m sure I’ll be following tomorrow’s keynote presentation by Steve Jobs around my lunchtime and will be at least slightly excited by the new products and services announced.
Rumored this year is a new super slim MacBook. They are calling it the MacBook Air. We’ll see what actually shows up.. there are a lot of rumors supporting something like that though, so I’d say that will be one of them.
Expect a full report back here tomorrow sometime. 🙂
In the meantime, here’s a pretty decent link with rumor “news” if you’re interested.
I remember when I was a kid, one of the coolest things in the world was remote control cars. I mean, you could make it go… even though you weren’t touching it! How cool is that?!?
Well, last night I noticed that remote control is still one of the coolest things.
I was walking away from our vehicle and needed to lock it as I was going out of sight of it, and all I had to do was press a button on the little key fob and … voila! It was locked! Like magic!
When I was able to do that, I realized that remote control is a bit like being God. You can manipulate things outside of yourself, like magic. (I know… it’s not magic, but… it looks like it is!) Whether it’s a toy car, or a boat, or a plane… or a real car that you can lock, unlock, or even start! You say it, or click it, or whatever… and it happens!
And there’s so much like that these days! The whole world is going wireless. Cell phones, GPS thingies, satellite radio, key fobs, Wi-Fi computers and other devices… everything is wireless. On our home network, I can log into Jen’s computer from my laptop, and send files from there to my computer in the office… without being on either computer! I can even do a “screen sharing” thing where I can use other computers as if I were right in front of it. I can print stuff in the office from any computer… WIRELESSLY.
We have some pretty amazing powers these days… 🙂
So, just a little observation. I still believe the next computer interface (probably Mac OS X 10.6) will be a spoken interface. So not only will things be “remote control”, but we will speak and it will happen.
And Greg said, “Let there be e-mail” … and there was e-mail.
Weird. 🙂
