- We don't care. We don't have to. We're the iPhone company.
- How to scoop the brains out of a Windows PC and dump them in your Mac in one step
- Review: Core 2 Duo MacBook (Black)
- How to determine whether your Mac's 802.11n is activated
- The whole truth about Apple's 802.11n Enabler
- Leapin' Leopards! Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference scheduled for June 11-15.
- Introducing the Vista Virgin, a Mac user's journey into Microsoft's new world
- Apple's Xserve RAID prices slashed 75%; plus, how Apple builds enterprise-grade hard drives
February 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
We don't care. We don't have to. We're the iPhone company.
"One ringy dingy...two ringy dingy. Oh, gracious good morning to you, sir. May I speak with the iPhone holder to whom I am speaking?
Yes, I'm calling regarding your request to switch your iPhone to another wireless carrier. May I ask, sir, why you want to switch from AT&T? Because you can't get a clear signal in your area? Oh, dear, we certainly can't have that. Have you considered moving? (snort) Can you hear me now? (snort, snort) Just a little Phone Company humor about what we like to call unoccupied territory.
But seriously, sir, once your mandatory two-year contract expires, you can do whatever you want with your iPhone. Except make phone calls. (snort, snort) I'm in rare form today.
Your rights? Oh, sir, that's so cute. You paid for that iPhone, buster, but we own your butt. And from the look of these pictures, it's no bargain. You don't have the body for briefs, if you get my meaning, and it looks like your girlfriend needs a shave! (snort, snort, snort) Or is that your father? (snort) My, I'm short of breath.
Oh, look at this. Shame on you. Does your fuzzy-faced girlfriend know that you've chatted with Miranda Arnold, subscriber 32341668, three times at two in the morning? [typing, beep] She does now!
Pardon? Right to privacy? Oh, sir, that's so cute! No, no, no. Your subscriber agreement states very plainly, "AT&T — not customers — owns customers' confidential info and can use it to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process." I was merely safeguarding your hirsute honeybun from co-signing that lease with a loser like you. It is a perfectly legal process.
Excuse me? I should what myself? No, sir. It's our business to what you, and thank you for calling AT&T."
Head over to TV Acres if you're too young to remember Laugh-In and Lily Tomlin's recurring character Ernestine the Operator.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 24, 2007 11:35 AM
February 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
How to scoop the brains out of a Windows PC and dump them in your Mac in one step
In Release Candidate 3 of its Parallels Desktop Mac virtualization product, Parallels has introduced a tool that it calls Transporter. It makes the task of migrating a Windows system to a bootable Parallels Desktop virtual disk image impossibly easy once you understand how it works best.
Unlike the majority of partition cloners, Transporter doesn't require a boot floppy or CD, and it doesn't call for a directly-attached target hard drive. Transporter non-destructively migrates a partition on a running Windows host to a Parallels virtual drive image that can be booted on both Parallels Virtual Desktop for Mac and Parallels Virtual Workstation for Windows/Linux. You might say that Transporter harvests a Windows PC's brain while the donor is fully awake.
Transporter is comprised of two parts. A service called Transporter Agent installs on the Windows system (client or server) that is to be migrated into a bootable virtual disk image. Transporter will migrate non-bootable partitions as well; it will bring over all of the partitions on a host machine, turning each into a separate virtual disk, in one step. The other half of Transporter is the migration tool. This runs either on the Windows machine hosting Agent or on a Mac that shares the Windows host's subnet.
I reasoned that it would be quicker to migrate my bootable Windows partition to a non-bootable partition on the same Windows machine, so my first few efforts focused on that approach. On each try, the process aborted about a third of the way through with a generic, unhelpful error message and no entry in Windows' event log. I set the system's drives to verify and remap bad sectors on reboot and tried again. The migration still failed at the same point, and the Transporter Agent service locked up and forced a system reboot.
Finally, with little expectation of success, I used Transporter's over-the-network migration. This succeeded in creating a bootable image on my Mac on the first try, but that's only a third of the way home. It had to boot, and it had to work exactly like the physical Windows host. With fingers crossed, I pointed Parallels at the just-created image and clicked the Play button. Not only did it boot quickly and smoothly (faster than the original PC), it booted with no errors, no services that wouldn't load, no weirdness with network connections. It wasn't an approximation of the PC I had just cloned, it was that PC.
Parallels keeps making its product better and better, and it hasn't charged for an upgrade yet. If Parallels isn't rolling in dough, it deserves to be.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 23, 2007 11:36 AM
February 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Review: Core 2 Duo MacBook (Black)
MacBook is a Switcher's Hit
Windows switchers and PowerPC upgraders will flock to MacBook's compactness, affordability, speed and advanced ergonomics, not to mention OS X
The Top Line
Apple MacBook (Black)
Apple Inc.
Price: Starts at $1,499; $1,779 as reviewed with optional 2 GB DDR2 RAM, dual-layer SuperDrive DVD burner and Intel 2 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU
Platforms: Delivered with with Mac OS X 10.4.8 Tiger (Intel); runs Windows OS (including Vista) with Apple's Boot Camp multi-boot utility, and some Windows applications directly using optional Codeweavers' CrossOver Mac; Optional Parallels Desktop virtualization permits running most 32-bit x86 operating systems
Executive Summary: MacBook is a popular first purchase for professionals switching from Windows, and it's easy to see why. It is compact and affordable, yet travel-hardened and loaded with features. Its 64-bit dual-core CPU, glossy display and 802.11 draft-n WLAN are state of the art, making MacBook's value outstanding. OS X Tiger with iLife '06 give MacBook the finish it needs to be the quintessential mainstream commercial notebook for Windows switchers and those professionals seeking to upgrade from 12-inch PowerBook and iBook.
Pros:
Cons:
| Ratings: | |
| Performance | 7.0 |
| Build quality/durability | 9.0 |
| Ergonomics (keyboard, display, trackpad) | 8.0 |
| Multimedia (graphics, audio) | 6.0 |
| Battery life | 6.0 |
| Peripherals | 7.0 |
| Value | 8.0 |
Final score| 9.0 | |
| Excellent |
In compact commercial notebook computers, there exists a mainstream morass of undistinguished contenders in the $1,500 range between the thin and light and the desktop replacement. Buyers in the middle deserve something better, and Apple delivers. MacBook is a fast, unusually well-built notebook with a 13-inch wide-aspect glossy display, DVI connectivity to LCD, plasma and HDTV monitors, Bluetooth 2.0 and advanced 802.11 draft-n wireless networking. These qualities make MacBook a standout in its price class, but MacBook's specs are just the beginning.
Happy fingers, grateful eyes
There is nothing in its performance, capabilities or ergonomics that positions MacBook as either a poor man's MacBook Pro or a consumer notebook in a business suit. Quite the contrary: MacBook is a unique design that's ideally suited to professional use. Its case is, as Apple's notebook cases consistently are, hardened against damage from crushing and impact. MacBook's odd-looking keyboard turns out to be evolutionary, completely silent and incomparably comfortable for ten-fingered and two-fingered typists alike. As it does for photographs, the gloss finish of MacBook's display makes colors more saturated and edges sharper. MacBook's display is even viewable in direct sunlight, handy for those times when the fine gentleman in the window seat won't lower his shade.
Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics controller is used in MacBook as it is in most Intel Core and Core 2 Duo notebooks that are not based on the AMD/ATI mobile chipset. Apple's developers worked magic, raising GMA 950 to meet Mac users' high standards for speed in GUI, PDF and HTML rendering as well as full-motion media playback. Those wanting real time mobile 3-D goodness can get it from MacBook Pro or from a PC gamer's notebook for an extra $500-$800. You can buy a MacBook and plow those savings into a really sweet desktop display.
As it happens, my testing included using the optional mini DVI-to-full DVI pigtail to jack MacBook into a 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, just because I could. What I approached as a lark showed that MacBook's high-resolution performance is roughly on par with that of its built-in display. I did a more realistic test with an entry-level Samsung digital LCD monitor that was a fuzzed-out mess in Windows. Apple's ColorSync color calibration tool kicked this mediocre monitor into brilliance that put my reading glasses back in their case. Your mileage will vary, but I found the difference startling.
Beneficial radiation
MacBook's AirPort Extreme 802.11a/b/g/draft-n WLAN gave a fine showing in performance and range tests operating in the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11 draft-n almost consistently connected at around 105 megabits/second, roughly twice the speed of 802.11a and 802.11g. I had trouble with fluctuating connections when operating at 5 GHz, but Apple has set up a call with me to try to resolve it. I'll update this review on-line after that call.
Update: An engineer from Apple worked with me on the problems I had maintaining 5 GHz draft-n connections. He narrowed the cause down to AirPort Extreme's automatic channel selection. After manually switching channels, then switching back to automatic selection, the speed latched at a rate of 250 to 300 megabits/second. We agreed that changing channels momentarily must have shaken some gremlins loose.
MacBook's wireless capabilities are rounded out with a built-in Bluetooth 2.0 transceiver, enhanced with Extended Data Rate (EDR) capability. MacBook has no CompactFlash slot, and even though MacBook would be ideal for the 34 mm ExpressCard, it is absent. This limitation only concerns me with regard to future wireless USB or potential incompatibility between 802.11 draft-n and ratified-n, but that's asking a lot of a $1,500 notebook.
MacBook's supreme advantage over other $1,500 notebooks is unquestionably OS X Tiger and the iLife '06 multimedia suite. iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, Garage Band and iWeb are consumer-easy but prosumer-grade. There is no lite version of OS X; MacBook has, bit for bit, the same incredible OS that ships with Mac Pro. The most skeptical analysis will find that the combination of OS X Tiger and iLife '06 trounce Windows Vista Ultimate, and MacBook throws in the iSight Web cam, infrared Apple Remote and Front Row media center software. After all, professionals do kick off those too-tight dress shoes now and then.
The last word
I brought a good deal of performance and quality snobbery into this review, and came away thoroughly impressed with MacBook. If you're using a Windows notebook now and it's time for an upgrade, I insist (politely, of course) that you lay your hands and eyes on a MacBook while you're shopping around. Keep in mind that MacBook runs Windows at least as well as any mainstream commercial notebook, but no PC notebook shares MacBook's advantage: MacBook runs OS X, and if Vista turns your head, Apple's Spring release of OS X Leopard release will twist your head clean off.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 22, 2007 01:12 PM
February 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
How to determine whether your Mac's 802.11n is activated
If you're like me, you don't run a major update, getting no feedback during the process, and just take it on faith that it worked as advertised.
This Apple article tells you how to verify that 802.11n has been enabled.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 11, 2007 10:00 PM
February 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The whole truth about Apple's 802.11n Enabler
A reader tells me that a flap is being raised over Apple's newly released $1.99 802.11n Enabler for Core 2 Duo Macs. There's some wild nonsense flying around, so let's nail down the facts.
You may not have an 802.11n-equipped Mac. Only Core 2 Duo MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac (except 17-inch, 1.83 GHz) and Mac Pro (with the wireless option installed) support 802.11n in hardware. All other Intel Macs with Wi-Fi have 802.11a/b/g networking. PowerPC Macs have 802.11b/g.
802.11n cannot be added to Macs that don't have it. Bummer. There's always USB and ExpressCard, so don't lose hope.
If you buy a new AirPort Extreme, you get an unlimited site license for the 802.11n Mac client enabler for free. Contrary to other reports, the enabler that comes with the AirPort Extreme CD can be used on any number of Macs at the owner's site. The AirPort Extreme CD has a redistributable package containing the enabler. I did the full software install on the MacBook Pro and verified that it enabled 802.11n networking. I copied only the Enabler package file to a MacBook, installed it, and found that it had enabled 802.11n. I wasn't required to associate with the AirPort Extreme to get 802.11n going.
If you don't have any draft 802.11n equipment now, keep your $1.99. The enabler adds absolutely nothing to a qualifying Mac other than to enable 802.11n. The enabler will not speed up or otherwise enhance 802.11a, b or g. I believe that 802.11n will be bundled with Leopard. Can you wait until June?
After you run the enabler once, it sticks to your Mac forever. You will never have to buy the enabler again. Roam from one network to another network and your Mac's n-ness will remain. You can wipe your Mac clean and reinstall OS X from scratch, and your machine will remain n-enabled. If you replace your whole Mac, run the original enabler again on the new machine and you're covered.
Apple is required to charge you for the enabler. 802.11n was R & D intensive; it's not your granny's WiFi. You can't amortize R & D costs against new products--in this case, AirPort Extreme and Apple TV--and then give that same R & D away somewhere else. That would create what's called an accounting irregularity, and these aren't popular at places like Apple and Dell just now. The only way to put 802.11n into existing Mac users' hands was to turn it into a product against which R & D could be charged. $1.99 is a token, the very least that Apple could charge you and still call the enabler a product. If Apple hadn't come up with this sound solution, you'd have to buy AirPort Extreme--an extraordinary product, as you'll read in my review--or wait for Leopard in order to get 802.11n.
Nobody can promise that the 802.11n draft will match the final specification. Chipmakers claim that they can adapt to changes in the spec with firmware updates. If no one else planned for that contingency, Apple did. It releases plenty of AirPort compatibility updates as it is. Apple's network team is on it.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 11, 2007 05:23 PM
February 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Leapin' Leopards! Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference scheduled for June 11-15.
Apple just set the date for this year's WWDC: June 11-15 in San Francisco. That's a bit early for WWDC, which is usually a summer event, but Apple would have planted WWDC in March if it thought it could get Leopard ready in time.
I'm not sticking my neck out too far by predicting that Leopard availability will be the headliner. I think we'll also see Mac Pro and Xserve upgraded to quad core CPUs, although shipment will be contingent on Intel production availability. Intel confirms that dual-to-quad is a straight chip swap, so as soon as Intel makes enough parts, Apple will be pumping out eight-core systems. That doesn't preclude Apple from rolling in some new features intended to keep people from buying Intel boxed processors and doing the upgrades themselves.
Let's remember, too, that Leopard ushers in a revamp of Apple's developers tools, libraries, languages and frameworks, including a bold, major makeover of Objective-C. This is no bump.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 6, 2007 10:24 AM
February 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Introducing the Vista Virgin, a Mac user's journey into Microsoft's new world
A man established in my profession doesn't brag about what he doesn't know. Well, I'll come right out and proclaim it: As brutal and career-limiting as it was sometimes, I successfully averted my eyes from everything related to Windows Vista. Reviews, previews, opinions, tutorials, Flash demos, video demos...I've been inundated by media feeding from Vista's original Community Technology Program (CTP), through release candidates, and then way-early access to the final (gold) release. I looked at none of it, even that written by my colleagues. I saved it for you.
I am, without pretense or qualification of terms, a Vista Virgin. After months of peer pressure--including questions from Apple about what I think of Vista--I'm finally giving it up, and I'm handing out free tickets.
If you came here looking for a satisfying slam of a Microsoft product, you might be disappointed. Or you might not. I'll find what I find and relate it the way it strikes me at the moment. I can revisit a topic later, see it through a different glass and realize that my first conclusion was wrong. I am operating from the standpoint of one who might consider switching from a Mac to Vista or adding Vista PCs to a Mac shop. Fairness requires that I compare Vista to TIger, since Leopard is not shipping and no firm date has been announced (FYI, Apple's Spring ends in June, at the end of calendar Q2).
Right this second, my PC's monitor says "Press any key to boot from CD..."
Tap.
See you soon.
Posted by Tom Yager on February 5, 2007 09:22 PM
February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Apple's Xserve RAID prices slashed 75%; plus, how Apple builds enterprise-grade hard drives
In 2003, 10 terabytes of Xserve RAID storage cost $41,196, and if you had absolutely, positively had to have it overnight, you could tack on $2,320 in shipping charges. That works out to $4.35 per gigabyte. With the announcement of Apple's new 750 GB drives, 10.5 terabytes of Xserve RAID, shipped at Apple's expense (albeit not overnight), costs $13,799, or $1.314 per gigabyte.
The only fudging of those numbers is temporal.
Dollars per gigabyte is a little tough to get one's mind around as a measure of value, especially since there's more to judging an enterprise storage device than capacity. I'll give you some insight into one aspect of Xserve RAID that distinguishes it from other 10+ TB arrays costing less than $15,000. I'll tell you how Apple makes its own enterprise hard drives.
To Apple, the Seagate 7200.10 750 GB ATA drive is a raw mechanism, not a standalone device that's suited to go straight into service. It's a long journey from the Seagate carton to the Apple Drive Module. Apple only accepts 100 percent defect-free drives from Seagate--hard to come by for such a dense device--and those select drives have to pass a rigorous burn-in by Apple without reporting any new sector defects or soft (recoverable on retry) errors. Apple has Seagate burn custom Apple firmware onto every drive, and Apple extends the firmware on Xserve RAID drive controllers to match the specific characteristics of each new drive model. Predicting a skeptical question, the firmware change does not alter the devices' ATA compatibility; it extends the drives' feature set so that they mate more intimately with Xserve RAID's controllers.
Xserve RAID provides full compensation for the differences between desktop and server hard drives in terms of validation for 24/7 usage and high MTBF (mean time between failures), autonomous on-drive logic that monitors drive health and reacts to trouble conditions, the ruggedness of the enclosure and connectors, and the ability to hot swap without data loss or circuit damage. By the end of the process, Apple Drive Modules are rated for continuous server use and covered by AppleCare as such. ADMs take on SCSI-level smarts when they plug into Xserve RAID.
For perspective, Seagate's highest capacity server-validated SCSI drive holds 300 GB and retails for around $700. I'm a SCSI snob from way back, and I'd never use desktop ATA or SATA drives in a server. ADMs in an Xserve RAID become smart and bulletproof devices. That's no Apple brochure talking. That's a lifelong server storage wonk speaking from experience.
So, does $1.31 per gigabyte seem a little more impressive now?
Posted by Tom Yager on February 1, 2007 11:57 AM
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