 Cult of MacRead Leander Kahney's latest commentary about Apple and Mac News in Wired.com's Cult of Mac Blog, including Mac, Mac Pro, MacBook, iMac, iBook, Mac mini, iPod video, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iTunes, iPhoto, iPhone, Apple TV, OSX, Steve Jobs, and Macworld. http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/ другие подписчики этой ленты также читают >> |
- Novell Launches Pro-Linux "Get a Mac" Spoofs
Apple just might create the most parody-inducing advertisements in the world. Both the dancing iPod-listeners and "Get a Mac" have kept YouTube busy over the last year, but very few of the parodies have reflected the efforts of a competing...Apple just might create the most parody-inducing advertisements in the world. Both the dancing iPod-listeners and "Get a Mac" have kept YouTube busy over the last year, but very few of the parodies have reflected the efforts of a competing company to actually attack Apple.
Microsoft did their own Zune v. iPod spot a few months ago, and now Novell has gone big with two Pro-Linux commercials. And guess what? Linux is a thin woman. Still, for a poorly thought-out ad parody, these are a lot better than the bog-standard. The second one's even better. I've got it after the jump.
Technorati Tags: get a mac, Novell
Via Digg.
Pete Mortensen - How Did Apple Blow It With QuickTime VR?
So, I've been thinking. I stumbled upon this wonderful, amazing, stunningly high-res QuickTime VR of the interior cabin of the Airbus Corporate Jet on Digg, it reminded me of just how incredibly and ahead of its time the technology really...
So, I've been thinking. I stumbled upon this wonderful, amazing, stunningly high-res QuickTime VR of the interior cabin of the Airbus Corporate Jet on Digg, it reminded me of just how incredibly and ahead of its time the technology really is. It can deliver crystal-clear images across platforms, really fast zoom and rotate...it's awesome. And Apple failed to make it really matter.
This should be killing on Google Earth and Microsoft's Live Maps. And it's not. For more on how and why this happened, click through.
Technorati Tags: apple, quicktime vr
QuickTime VR hit in the mid-'90s, and it was strictly a novelty for a few years. It was good at rotating 3-D visuals of new Apple products, and that's about it. The technology got better and better over time, but Apple never found the killer app for the technology. It stayed with interior design tours and product glamour shots.
Stuff like the Airbus cabin is nice, but people spend hours on Google Earth, scouring the globe and leaving tags, and the visual quality is not as good as what Apple could do here if they wanted to. A lot of the time, I think that the death of Apple's R&D group was one of the most important steps in Apple's recovery. But there are times where I truly do mourn what was lost in the process. Apple is brilliant at finding new business models these days, but there was an era when they really pushed us forward on the technology front, not just on interface and platform.
QuickTime VR should have been a contender.
Welcome to the New Airbus Cabin Showroom [Airbus]
Via Digg.
Pete Mortensen - OK, I Believe in the Bulging MacBook Pro Battery Crisis
Last fall, the Magazine ran a great article by John Hockenberry about the problems with batteries. If you haven't read it, stop what you're doing now and do so. It's totally fascinating. Batteries are absolutely essential to most things in...
Last fall, the Magazine ran a great article by John Hockenberry about the problems with batteries. If you haven't read it, stop what you're doing now and do so. It's totally fascinating. Batteries are absolutely essential to most things in life, but they are shockingly unreliable -- and unsophisticated. Consider this: In the last 150 years, battery performance has increased eightfold. Microprocessors do that every six years.
Yeah.
So it's little surprise that batteries blow up and bulge and do weird things all the time. We push them beyond their actual capabilities. The above image comes courtesy of an unfortunate soul named Brian, whose lovely MacBook Pro suddenly shut off in while watching a movie. Then it did it again, and then the battery cells tried to escape their banks. There are more images through the link. I've heard mumblings about this for awhile, but it's clearly not a fluke at this point. Anyone else dealing with this?
Swollen batteries affecting 17-inch MacBook Pros too? - Engadget
Technorati Tags: macbook pro, batteries
Pete Mortensen - AppleTV Round-Up: First Unboxing Photos AND Video
Right now, you probably have a lot of questions about the AppleTV. And I'm here to tell you that the answers are out there. Where is there? Gizmodo, who have really outdone themselves with coverage today. They've got the quintessential...
Right now, you probably have a lot of questions about the AppleTV. And I'm here to tell you that the answers are out there. Where is there? Gizmodo, who have really outdone themselves with coverage today. They've got the quintessential unboxing photos, a set-up video, six things you might not know about the AppleTV and a guide to cheap cables for your new set-top box (Yep, Apple totally didn't throw in an HDMI cable).
You should definitely check it out. Consider the following:
2. AppleTV will pick up where your iPod left off. Let's say you start watching a movie on your iPod, then pause it 20 minutes in. Go home, plug the iPod into your host machine and then cue up the same film on the AppleTV and it will re-start right from where you paused.
Technorati Tags: appleTV, unboxing
Pete Mortensen - Oh, How the Tables Turn: AppleTV Semi-Exclusive to Best Buy
It can be easy to forget how bleak things honestly were for Apple during the years in between the Newton launch and the release of the iMac, in part because things are so damn good these days. Best Buy just...It can be easy to forget how bleak things honestly were for Apple during the years in between the Newton launch and the release of the iMac, in part because things are so damn good these days. Best Buy just announced how excited it was to have the exclusive rights for two weeks to sell the AppleTV. Which would be great, if Apple weren't excluding their own stores from this deal. Oh, and if Apple were providing more than 3,000 TOTAL AppleTVs to Best Buy's 822 stores.
For more on why this really marks a milestone, click through.
Technorati Tags: appleTV, bestbuy
Consider this: Ten years ago, Apple pulled its computers out of virtually every brick-and-mortar store in the country other than CompUSA. Best Buy earned particular derision from Mac fans back then. I remember well seeing a single Performa that crashed in 1995 on display as the only Apple machine in the whole store. It's a good thing that Apple stormed out -- controlling their public image at stores did a lot to change negative perceptions. For a lot of people, those are the only Macs they ever see. That was a negative image to promote. The iMac and then the iPod re-opened those doors, and Apple returned on its terms.
And now, Best Buy is over the moon with joy to have two weeks of partial exclusivity to sell the AppleTV. Think about that -- they bent over backwards to Apple for the right to be the only place you can buy a new Apple product, well, except for the Apple Store online and all of Apple's physical retail stores. And then, only for two weeks.
But Apple is now just about the most powerful force in consumer electronics. People are doing things for them that would be unheard of for any other brand. It's pretty amazing.
Best Buy finagles Apple TV exclusive | News.blog | CNET News.com:
Pete Mortensen - Elsewhere on Wired: Apple Shows DVR Hand?
Some intriguing speculation about the AppleTV has bubbled over at Gadget Lab -- the mystery USB port on the back might be for attaching Miglia DVR hardware: Apple bloggers and analysts suspect that may not be a problem for long,...
Some intriguing speculation about the AppleTV has bubbled over at Gadget Lab -- the mystery USB port on the back might be for attaching Miglia DVR hardware:
Apple bloggers and analysts suspect that may not be a problem for long, noting the as-yet unitilized USB port on the set-top box and recent talks between Apple and Miglia, which makes a variety of TV and VoIP accessories for Macs and PCs.
Those include the TVMini HD+, a HD receiver/antenna that plugs in via USB port.It is intriguing. Then again, it might just be another interface for Airport Disk or a way to expand the capacity of the AppleTV's woefully inadequate by TiVo standards 40 gig drive. Time will tell.
Gadget Lab: "A Cheap Way to Beef up AppleTV As A DVR?"
Pete Mortensen - The Joys of Four Cores and 10GB+ of Ram
Next time I make some disparaging remark about the limited usefulness of non mobile computers, remind me of this video, put together by egotacular yet oddly compelling YouTube maven Adi Blasi. He has his Mac Pro run something like 50...Next time I make some disparaging remark about the limited usefulness of non mobile computers, remind me of this video, put together by egotacular yet oddly compelling YouTube maven Adi Blasi. He has his Mac Pro run something like 50 really resource-intensive apps at once, and then starts running Expose on them. It's totally sick.
My computer...well, it's not this fast.
Pete Mortensen - Creator of Anti-Hillary "1984" Commercial Revealed
I love news on Internet time. Forty years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to track down the creator of subversive political skullduggery. These days, though, all it takes is one national, slightly amused news story and the perp...
I love news on Internet time. Forty years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to track down the creator of subversive political skullduggery. These days, though, all it takes is one national, slightly amused news story and the perp outs himself days later.
You can breathe easy folks -- the creator of the Pro-Obama Anti-Hilary remix of Apple's legendary "1984" commercial has confessed. The artist formerly known as ParkRidge47 is named Philip de Vellis, and he was a strategist with Blue State Digital (such a non-partisan name!), the Internet consulting firm that set up presidential candidate Barack Obama's website. He came forward after learning that the Huffington Post would soon reveal his identity.
For quotes from Mr. ParkRidge himself and to check out the ad again, click on through.Technorati Tags: hillary clinton, obama, 1984
Here's the full post from Huffington:
Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it.
I made the "Vote Different" ad because I wanted to express my feelings about the Democratic primary, and because I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the process. There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it--by people of all political persuasions--will follow.
This shows that the future of American politics rests in the hands of ordinary citizens.
The campaigns had no idea who made it--not the Obama campaign, not the Clinton campaign, nor any other campaign. I made the ad on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment (a Mac and some software), uploaded it to YouTube, and sent links around to blogs.
The specific point of the ad was that Obama represents a new kind of politics, and that Senator Clinton's "conversation" is disingenuous. And the underlying point was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power.
Let me be clear: I am a proud Democrat, and I always have been. I support Senator Obama. I hope he wins the primary. (I recognize that this ad is not his style of politics.) I also believe that Senator Clinton is a great public servant, and if she should win the nomination, I would support her and wish her all the best.
I've resigned from my employer, Blue State Digital, an internet company that provides technology to several presidential campaigns, including Richardson's, Vilsack's, and -- full disclosure -- Obama's. The company had no idea that I'd created the ad, and neither did any of our clients. But I've decided to resign anyway so as not to harm them, even by implication.
This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.There you have it folks. Case closed.
Mystery creator of anti-Hillary ad unmasked / He's a political strategist with firm linked to Obama
Pete Mortensen
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