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Apple on Intel?

ArsTechcnica and News.com are both discussing the possibility of Apple making an Intel announcement come WWDC on Monday.

I’ve only given it a bit of thought, but I find the proespect incedibly exciting. Think about it for a second (of course not counting the work required to port the OS or applications) and you’ll likely agree it would be an excellent move. For starters, the Centrino platform would enable a significant boost to both mobile and small form factor systems allowing for integrated wireless and AV capabilties right in the box. The servers could be 64 Bit right away (Itanium2) and Enterprise customers would be more likely to adopt Macs on for end users knowing there would be no issues running things as the hardware would all integrate with existing systems.

Since it’s all just speculation at this point, there’s no way to really understand the possibilities, but purely from a hardware view, it would be very good direction.

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Spotlight rocks!

Spotlight is totally cool…

Once it gets an index going it unbelievably quick to track new stuff. As an example, I just emailed a link to someone, invoked spotlight and pasted it in. Spotlight found it right away… Gotta love the integration with Mail. It’s a definite advantage in using Mail vs. Entourage.

Searching for other “stuff” you know you have but not exactly where is also quite nice and seems more well focused than the search we’ve all used previously.

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Safari RSS serious annoyance

Safari can’t open the page.

Safari can’t open the page “https://enteryoursitehere.com” because the network connection was reset, which sometimes occurs when the server is busy. You might be able to open the page later.

I am seeing this way too often. Trying to get an eBook, a piece of software and dealing with a credit card.. all today. Firefox does not have any issues with the same sites or pages.

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Quick thoughts on the Tiger update

So Tiger arrived today from Amazon, a day before they said it would, but clearly after the date I expected based on my pre-order. Anyway… installation was smooth. All told it took about 45 minutes on my Powerbook, which is the only machine I’ve worked on too make sure the kinks don’t plague other people’s worlds here at home.

I definitely had a pretty serious issue which took some time and was frustrating to work out. I’ll explain in case you find the same so you’ll have a way to work around it. I chose to archive and reinstall which I thought would be an easy and safe way to go, leaving a fresh system but maintaining a local inactive copy of my previous system if I needed to look back for something.

Mail was set to launch on startup and that carried forward so when my refreshed system rebooted Mail launched as I expected. For some reason, there was an issue (not surprisingly) with some of the bundles (plugins) I had previously installed and as a result, my accounts could not get online. It took a lot of thought and I even deleted and recreated my main IMAP account in order to try and refresh things but even after that I had nothing. Initially, I was told repeatedly by Mail that ALL my online folders (quite a few) could not be found because they did not exist. I was able to confirm they did exist through both webmail and my Treo so I knew my computer did not do something awful…

I was able to finally get past the warnings about missing folders and look through my accounts, but nothing was showing up in the message pane. Aigh… my heart was definitely sinking but I finally recalled the plugins, and nuked them. When Mail restarted, it began to import my previous messages and accounts into the new application which surprised me as I had not seen that the first time around. This took about 15 minutes but when it was all done, Mail was back to normal.

Now that Mail is back, (or actually there) I have to say I like the new interface. There are some subtle changes to how you view folders and unread messages from main and sub-folders within that I really like. The widget at the bottom is cool and gives you similar access as control-click would if you selected a single account. Spam Sieve is nicely integrated into the menus if you use it rather than having to track it down in the Script menu…. I also like the updated HTML and slide show capabilities if you receive a few images. All in all a nice update. The buttons on the bar are totally revised and I don’t really have any feeling towards them other than they feel less friendly and more computer like. I usually cruise by keyboard when possible so it does not really impact me all that much…

Spotlight seems very cool, though it’s going to take more than a few minutes. I like Dashboard a lot and think I’ll be finding myself there several times daily. Still have yet to open Automator, but am looking forward to playing around.

Still much more to play with as well as machines to deal with… overall now that my Mail issue is cleared I like it a lot! My system feels fresh and seems quite responsive too boot!

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Tiger Roars! (soon)

Both The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and The New York Times’ David Pogue give Tiger rave reviews, even with the expected minor bits that require a future update. Spotlight and Dashboard earn the greatest attention as you might expect as does the new enhanced iChat AV which includes up to 10 party audio and 3 way video conferencing.

For me, the main draw in addition to the usual bonuses associated with an OS update, is Quicktime 7 with H.264. I am also very pumped to work through Automator. There have been too many times I’ve thought if I could just figure out a way to do that in AppleScript… I think that day is tomorrow.

Actually, having just checked Amazon May 4th. Amazon is really letting me down on the pre-order. I had yet to see any indication of shipment and just checked… what’s the point of pre-ordering?? Argh. I should have just gone with Apple… but that damn rebate got my attention.

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Where Macs Remain

When you’ve got it right, you’ve got it right.

Tonight was open house at the middle school my daughter may attend next year. During the tour I got a look around the media center (a.k.a. library), where a surprise awaited. Over the last couple years, the local school system has replaced aging iMacs with Dell computers (the Dells came in and the Apples out this year at the elementary school). I saw desktops and notebooks around the periphery of the library. But in the center of the room, under the sign “Digital Video Library,” sat five iMac G4 computers set up on two tables. Apparently, the gentleman in charge of the media center decided Windows PCs suit for productivity tasks, but for creativity that only Macs will do.

[Joe Wilcox]

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Apple Computer reports $290 million 2Q profit

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Apple Computer (AAPL) on Wednesday reported a second-quarter net profit of $290 million, or 34 cents a share, on $3.24 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast Apple to earn 24 cents a share on $3.21 billion in revenue. During the same period a year ago, Apple earned $46 million, or 6 cents a share on $1.9 billion in revenue. [Marketwatch]

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iPod Autofill for bigger iPods?

Why is it that only the small capacity iPods get an Autofill feature?

Ipod Autofill

On my 40GB iPod I have to set a defined playlist and manage the size of it in order to fill it up. I have actually chosen to create a single playlist which contains my tracks in order to keep that info in sync. There should be an Auto-Sync feature that is able to manage larger libraries…My library is more than 3x the capacity of my iPod. If I choose Auto-Sync now, I get a psuedo sample of what goes on… and no control. I think Apple is smart enough to create a feature that lets you say which iPod you have and then help you create a playlist or lists that Auto-Sync back to your main library.

I’d like to see both Autofill and Auto-Sync work on all iPods. Not sure why there need to be exclusive features for smaller pods. I get the benefit, but think more users than simply those with the Shuffle or mini would appreciate the flexibility.

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Apple Brewing a Tasty Treat?

All we need now is for someone to put all the pieces together. I’m going to wager that we’ll see a “total home audio” solution that integrates music from your home server, your car, and your (color) iPod – perhaps a multi-component setup at a package price. [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

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Apple’s Home Entertainment Tablet?

This just in via The Register. Perhaps a “Location Free” collaboration with Sony via the MacWorld Connection? Love to see any iteration of the Tablet idea coming out of Apple.

Apple has filed for a European design trademark which may provide a tantalising glimpse of the company’s long-awaited tablet computer.

The filing, made in May this year but only published this week, covers a “handheld computer” and contains sketches of what look like an iBook screen minus the body of the computer.

…

Hints that Apple might be working on such a product emerged in 2003 when a source close to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Quanta claimed that the company had been hired by Apple to build what was dubbed a “wireless display”.

Jobs has consistently downplayed claims that Apple is working on a PDA, and given the state of the world PDA market, it wouldn’t make much sense for it to do so. Doubly so given how well the iPod works as a portable personal information carrier.

Jobs has similarly poo-poo’d suggestions that the company should offer a video iPod. Again, we agree – video simply isn’t an application as well suited to portable players as music is. However, that doesn’t mean that there’s not room for a larger, house-bound mobile video system, and we’ve mooted a system comprising a wireless display terminal connected to a base iMac via 802.11g before.

Apple’s “handheld computer” design registration sounds more like a PDA, but it looks like the home entertainment tablet system mentioned above. [The Register]

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Mac Mini Colo

Mac Mini colocation… starting at $29.99 which seems like a great low-cost way to get your (virtual) hands on a Mac Mini. It easily runs headless and can be fully administered through either VNC or Apple Remote Desktop. Not a bad way to get a Mac Mini serving your needs with some dedicated bandwidth.

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Free Mac Mini?

Hey – it’s a worth a few minutes of our collective time for the chance at a free device. Freeminimacs.com is from the same people who ran the free iPod promotion. You do have to agree to one offer, but they are all free – minus of course a touch of your marketing info.

Go ahead let’s help each other out… freeminimacs.com