Article: We’re Not Dead
Although some might be thinking that me (or anyone for that matter) not doing anything on this site for almost two weeks is cause for alarm. I just wanted to take the time to assure you that I haven’t pulled a Dave Chappelle and am in fact still around. Okay, I let my ego get away from me for a minute. I’ve been away for awhile, and updates have been a bit hard to do. I’ve been moving and next week we’ll have all sorts of reviews and other changes to the look and feel of our site. Let’s take a look at some of the major news items that have been around lately and what I’d like to say about them. Think of this as all the loose ends that I haven’t said anything about.
“I’m a Mac…” Ads
I happen to love the new commercials—they’re unique, catchy, and to-the-point. Although some have said that they don’t display enough of the product, or that the commercials taunt people to write malware for Macs, I think they’re what Apple needs right now. People know that they make great looking products, but let’s give them the positives they care about. Now we just need one where Justin Long dresses like John Hodgman to represent Boot Camp…Okay, maybe that’s a little ahead of the times—Boot Camp is still a beta program.
MacBook Rumors
I’m looking forward to whatever product Apple comes out with to replace the iBook. I’m actually writing this on my 4-year-old iBook G3, as I’m on vacation. It’s slow, a bit beat up, but still gets the job done. I don’t plan on replacing it now, as my other Mac is relatively new, but I wouldn’t mind my next Apple purchase be an Intel-based laptop that has all the bugs worked out. If they make one model with a 13″ screen, I think it would make the most sense, since there was too much overlap with the 12″ PowerBook/12″ iBook G4. Let’s have a 13″ widescreen that is only a hair bigger than the 12″ iBook and keep it plastic. Schools, students, and anyone cheap will buy these in droves. Keep the metal cases for the fancier models.
Birthdays
I’m amazed that Mac OS X Tiger has been out a year already. It seems just yesterday I was installing it with fingers crossed hoping there were no conflicts with all of my peripherals, preference panes, and other software “hacks”. Now Dashboard has become something that is part of my daily routine, I’m still checking out RSS feeds with Safari, and Spotlight is also used heavily (along with Quicksilver). I’m used to the funky icons in Mail, and iChat AV has been dumped in favor for Adium (again).
Also, the iTunes Music Store has been around for 3 years now—amazing that it’s only been around for such a short time and has sold so many songs. At least we get the free singles regularly now and I’ve found quite a bit to be pretty good. If only Apple could get a few more obscure things.
Forums
We gave our forums a try again, but have found some things not working the best that we’d like. There are some other things we’re looking at to make SchwarzTech more interactive, but those are still far away.
Thatzawrap
Finally, the Beatles-Apple suit ruling was handed out this morning, and Apple (the computer company) was on the favorable end. Looks like we won’t see any forced changes to the iPod and iTunes. What about Macromedia.com‘s demise? Who didn’t see it coming? I think that things will get more interesting before they get boring, especially since we have a few months before WWDC. We’ll be back in full next week, but for now enjoy the archives and any other changes we make.