teh TODDtastic webLog-a-majig

http://www.macworld.com/article/139333/2009/03/ipod_shuffle_design.html

Apple definitely went to far with this revision of the iPod shuffle. The thing has no buttons at all. They are built into the headphones. So when you loose the headphones, you have to buy special headphones with the controls built in (I’m assuming other companies will develop headphones with controls built in… and charge a premium for them). But the part that will surprise people… is that Apple will still sell the darned thing better than any other companies’ superior MP3 player just because it has the name Apple on it.

Terrible, Apple. Terrible. But please… keep it up. Without Steve around you’re bound to fail anyways.

To me it seems like they do. Especially after the release of the new 15″ MacBook Pro.

And now they just released the new 17″ MacBook Pro onto the heap of ’shit professionals don’t want.’

For starters, they are now CHARGING for the Matte screen that used to be a default on these devices! We’ve gone from “Check out out shinny shit at the same price!” to “We like our shinny shit, so we’ll charge you more to have the superior shit because it isn’t as shinny.” Oh well, it’s not that big a deal at only $50.

I guess at least they offer it on the 17″… because the 15″ is still left hanging with a shitty screen. I can’t believe they even had the balls to offer it on the 17″ and not the 15″! That seriously takes some balls! I couldn’t do it if my life depended on it! Professionals prefer accurate screens, believe it or not! And they do not want lighting conditions reflecting back at them!

But that’s fine… Because professionals always want to carry around a 17″ laptop… or do they?

Moving on… the battery really bothers me. Yeah, yeah, they last upto 8 hours (in reality probably only 5-6hrs and only for the first year) and that’s just fine. However… did they just make it non-user-replaceable!??!?!?!?!? On a $3000 laptop!?!?! Are you fucking kidding?!!?! Seriously. I know people that are still carrying around G4 PowerBooks… and I’m sure they’ve had a few batteries. They do not want to be taking it in to a local Apple store and paying someone to replace it for them.

Also, from what I could tell from the pictures shown… the bottom is “sealed” off. I saw no hatch for hard drive or memory replacement. I will not go raging about that until I hear it confirmed that these parts are not supposed to be [easily] user replaceable, but from the looks of it, it seems like they don’t want you opening it yourself… A huge step back for a professional laptop.

(And as a side note on that… if the RAM isn’t user upgradable… no one in their right mind is going to pay $1200 for 8GB of RAM. Is Apple crazy?!)

All-in-all… I really think these recent Pro laptops from Apple are huge leaps backwards when they are supposedly aimed at professionals. It really seems like they are more influenced by the normal consumers than the professionals. Why can’t Apple keep the MacBooks separate from the MacBook Pros? The only practical differences now are the screen size and firewire on the Pros. They even run the same damn chipsets. I really would expect more distinction for a Pro laptop other than size of the Screen and cost.

Apple is really screwing the professionals now. Here is to me not buying another Apple laptop ever again (unless they turn this terrible behavior around). ::clink::

Why is every phone that comes out always compared against the iPhone?? That really annoys me. Sure, the iPhone did revolutionize cell phones a little bit… mostly in the sense that it brought smart phones to the eyes of the general public (even though the prices are right in line with other smart phones). I’ve used some iPhones… and some iPod Touches… and I can honestly say two things:

1. iPod touch + phone from 4 years ago = iPhone
2. It is not the greatest phone since sliced bread.

There are honsetly better phones out there that would be much better benchmarks to review phones from.

I saw a youtube video the other day of someone getting their iPhone repaired (because it broke!) and in the mean time they were given a cheapo phone for At&t. They were complaining that the phone has buttons.

It was at that moment that I realized… she has no idea she is talking about. Many people that have the iPhone really have no understanding of what is going on. This was also apparent went I saw a de-facto, large, black lady (don’t worry, I’m not racist) standing outside the Apple store mumbling something about getting “da iFone”.

I have no respect for those people that get devices because “everyone is doing it.” I have never bought a piece of technology because everyone is getting it. The decisions to buy certain pieces of technology are always made on my own after much research and talking to other people that know what they are talking about. This is because I have a great appreciation and understanding of technology. I’m not some black lady going around mumbling about “da iFone” thinking it’s cool.

That said… think for yourself people. If you feel the iPhone really is your best option in a phone, then great. If you find you’re only wanting it because you’ll be so cool after getting it… perhaps you should consider more options. Personally… the biggest turn off to the iPhone is the fact that Apple is so controlling of it.

Let me just get it out there… these new MacBook Pros suck.

I was expecting them to make these things better… not worse.

I guess I can start with some things I like about them… so that I’m not all negative. Hmm, I guess I like the fact that it is using an nVidia chipset. The performance gains with the 1066MHz FSB and DDR3 (almost the first use of that in the laptop industry) are certainly good. The new manufacturing process is good, and I’m sure these laptops feel very solid. Also, the fact they are letting you swap out the hard drive now is a plus.

And that’s the only changes I like. I’ll move on now to the things I’m neutral on… the touch pad is very iffy to me. Sure, it’s nice that it’s bigger and multi-touch… but I know about having the whole thing be the button. This is something I will have to try and use in person to see whether I like it. The magnet latch is just fine, as well. The overall design and look of it is just a normal update… and I’m sure it’s fine.

OK, now the biggest section of my gripes. The following things suck:

• The battery — The battery is smaller… and you have to remove a whole door to get to it, should you want to swap out a second battery while traveling. A smaller battery means that the battery life suffers, and it does. Before they claimed 6 hours (and it got about 4.5). Now they claim 5 hours (so it’ll probably get about 3.5).
• The display — I have not seen a single glossy display laptop that I like. The glossy displays absolutely suck. Matte is 100 times better than glossy. Enough said.
• The keyboard — Sorry if you happen to like the old MacBook keyboards with the gaps between the keys… I personally don’t like the gaps… but that can be gotten used to, I guess.
• The display port — These wouldn’t be so bad if they fucking included the needed adapters. The fact that they charge $29 for each one (and there are probably at least 2 you may need), really sucks. Plus… I don’t think these new ports are industry standard. I think Apple really wants them to be.
• The Dual Graphics cards — First off… this is really dumb. They have the balls to put 2 separate graphics chips in these things… and NOT SLI them for improved performance. What the hell? Secondly… why not condense them into 1 chip (talk to nVidia a little more) and just use the 9600M GT chip?  To save battery life… all you do is dynamically clock the chip (which yes, is possible!).

I have to say the most important thing that sucks is the glossy display. And right behind that the battery. If they would have left those 2 things alone or improved them… I would have been sold. But those 2 things are the deal breakers for me.

Update: Interestingly enough, I’ve seen some benchmarks on these new MBPs… and there is no significant upgrade in performance… unless of course you get the 2.8 Ghz chip. In some cases, the previous generation is actually faster.

Article

So…Apple seems to have applied for a home screen patent for their iPhone. InteliScreen already exists… which adds a very useful home screen to your “wonderful” iPhone. Well… my thinking on this was that if Apple was experienced in actually making a phone…. they would have had a home screen to begin with… because smart phones happen to have very useful home screens for you to look at at a glance.

I really don’t feel the iPhone is a mature enough smartphone. They can barely call it such. More of a shinytoyphone (emphasis on the toy part, and not the phone part… since it can’t make calls very well).

This article says what I’m saying about Apple better than I can say it… especially the following quote:

They give out tiny amounts of information, and by being so stingy they make everyone beg and salivate for little scraps But in the end, Apple is just a company like every other company. They screw up, they release things before they’re ready and they botch crisis control.

Thank you Adam Frucci.

While many people may not realize it… I don’t like Apple as a company. Everyone else has orgasms every time Steve shows off something shinny. It’s ok… I went through that phase, too.

“But Todd… you own a MacBook Pro”

Yes… Yes I do. It is a very nice machine. The only reason I got it was because I did want to see what exactly Mac OS X was all about and being that it was an Intel chip… I knew that it could do all my Windows and Linux duties as well. It’s like having at least 3 computers in one… and it’s the perfect size and it does perform very well. Also… since laptops in general are not very upgradable (the reason desktop machines are my thing)… I figured it definitely couldn’t hurt to have a well known, good quality laptop. No… it is not perfect… but yes… it is pretty much perfect for my above average needs.

Would I buy another Apple computer? Only if it’s a laptop because their desktops are not nearly as flexible as a PC system can be. But no… I’m not a brand whore for Apple Laptops. I’ve considered many times picking up a smaller, cheap laptop just to have another throw around laptop (an upgrade from my current throw around laptop from 1995).

While there was a time I was seriously considering the iPhone… after much thinking and the disappointments in the 3G update… I’ve concluded it simply is not a logical phone to have.

But what I really can’t stand about Apple is the fact that Steve Jobs could litterally get up on stage… present the iPooponastick… and people will still clap and chear and everyone will critically claim it’s the best thing to happen since poop (without the stick). So much hype surrounds everything Apple does and I’ve not yet seen why:

• Their last OS (Leopard) was glitchy as hell when it first came out (it’s better now, though)
• Their iPods are overpriced, sub-par music players. Oh yeah… Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player… I had an mp3 player years before apple made one.
• Their computers are over priced (although they are of very good quality).
• Their AppleCare service is less than impressive (twice it came back all dirty). And they hugely over charge if your system is out of warranty (right Kristin Y?).

To me… Apple is just another company with annoying hype all the time. And I get annoyed by it because people assume so much just because it’s Apple and it must be great

My brother even gets pissed and wonders why he spent so much on a shitty laptop every time it is a little slow… all spawning because he assumes that Apple is perfect. He was once ready to smash it… of course cursing at Apple the whole time (if that makes sense). It’s just like buying a car from Ford… running over a nail… then cursing at Ford because you should’t have to deal with a flat tire. (Of course… my brother only bought the exact same laptop as me because I got it.)

So people… please see through the hype bubble surrounding Apple. Realize things like how apps on the iPhone are not a new concept to the cell phone market.