NDP Group is saying that Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro product lines have been one of every six laptops sold in the US. Sweet! I have a MacBook Pro which I love to death, but I still run Windows XP on it using Boot Camp (I gotta play games, you know!). I had Windows Vista Ultimate installed on it earlier, but it sucked so bad I had to take it off. GameTap wouldn’t run in it, Lost Planet ran at really low frame rates, and the OS itself took up so much room and it was so unstable it just wasn’t worth. Maybe in four or five years I’ll take another look.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

No. That’s not a barb directed at Mr. McGuiness. I simply wanted you to understand up front that the person I’m going to complain about here is a man and not a woman. I’d also like to point out that even if it was a woman, I’d still complain.

Laurie apparently thinks Apple’s line of world famous, award winning, powerful computers (some of which are used to make some of the fastest super computers in the world) are silly and pointless. To make his point he has produced four ad spots which mock Apple’s famous Mac & PC ads, only here the PC is the winner and the Mac is a loser.

Its sad, really, because in order to make his point he has to lie by omission. He suggests that Mac users don’t share, alluding to the Microsoft Zune’s Wi-Fi sharing capability. He also suggests that Mac users are drugged up, alcoholic, ne’er do wells who are late and can’t pay their bills. He also suggests that Mac users stay and home and make movies or create web sites for their cats with their buddies while Windows users hang out with fantastically beautiful women.

Not one of these videos is funny, insightful, or illuminating. In fact, its clear that Laurie is, indeed, a hater of Macs, and clearly doesn’t like Mac users either. Maybe Laurie doesn’t know that most musicians are Mac users. A lot of people in the film and television industries are Mac users. I know first hand that scads of people in advertising are Mac users. Even Al Gore is a Mac user.

So, who’s the loser now? I don’t know. Maybe the guy who feels so insecure that he has to take dodgey, questionable, anger-filled stabs in the dark at an ad series not only recognized as tops in advertising, but has also proven to drive sales at Apple Stores. Laurie advertises himself as a copywriter. Maybe he should use a Mac and he wouldn’t be so angry any more.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings, Opinion

I’m clearly not good at my job. I’m a professional Apple Fanatic and yet I’m not earning any stripes by sitting on me arse and writing nothing at all about the Lords of Cupertino. I could be talking about the offer Jobs has extended to the other record labels regarding the removal of DRM. Of course, nobody is interested in that. We already like our music the way it is.

I could talk about how Jobs has announced that Apple will move all displays to LED backlighting by the end of 2008. I can’t think of anyone who wants a thin, light, bright, low power, evenly lit backlight for their display. So, I could just chatter about how Apple sales are slowly increasing. How about Jobs giving the keynote at WWDC next month? What about the battery patch Apple just released?

Nothing all that interesting until the iPhone comes out (or if Jobs lied and he sneaks out 10.5 in that keynote of his!).

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

Not that you haven’t already heard, but Apple and EMI (that’s a record label in the UK) have announced that they are now going to offer DRM-free music on the iTMS. It will start in May of this year. DRMed music encoded in AAC at 128Kbps will remain US$0.99. The new DRM-less AAC files will be encoded at 256Kbps and will be US$1.29 per track. Jobs said something about purchasing the complete album will get your the DRMed AAC price, but I’m not sure I understood. The only thing you need to know is that these files will work on any DAP capable of AAC playback, not just MP3 players. In other words, you don’t need an iPod to listen. Of course, why would you not want an iPod? Yeah!

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

Scott Finnie of ComputerWorld Magazine is certainly an odd fish, and maybe this is due to the new cohesive bond Apple has developed with Windows as a way to start luring Windows faithful to the Side of Light. Apparently its working, too. Scott gives his take of how Microsoft should be wary of Apple or suffer the consequences. Good, if long, read.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

If you need a feel good story (with some strong tech aspects) to sum up your week, here’s one you’ll enjoy. Son got sick of supporting silly Windows for Mom across the country, so he bought her a Mac. The article tells the story of how me found the perfect Mac (are there any other such Macs?), prepared it for her, and how she fell madly in love with it. So sweet!

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

Mitch Ratcliffe over at ZDNet is writing a series of articles exposing Vista’s weaknesses against the subtle, sublime, and superior power of Mac OS X. No, I don’t love everything about Mac OS X, but I do feel it should have a few greater reach in the marketplace than it does now. Head on over and check it out.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of Southpark, the wickedly funny, biting, and timely animated show featured on Comedy Central, did not participate in this article at the Apple site. However, it was very cool to find out that their studio is able to pump out a complete, airable episode in less than a week, and they do it every week! Not only that, but they do it on Macs! Sure, the render farm is Linux boxes, but MAN that’s cool!

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings

Bad name. Cool idea. Shady limitations. Apple is now offering iTMS music buyers the ability to fetch the rest of an album at a discount if they purchased a few $0.99 tracks. Here’s an interesting quote from the PR piece:

“Complete My Album offers customers up to 180 days after first purchasing individual songs from any qualifying album to purchase the rest of that album at a reduced price.”

Note the use of the term “qualifying” up there? This may be a neato feature, but if it only works with Slim Shady, The Go-Gos, and Yanni we’re going to have a problem. Also, what would it hurt of offer more than a measly 180 days? Regardless, you get $0.99 knocked off the total price of the album cost for each track you previously purchased. Not like I care. I never buy singles. I’m an old school album guy.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Mac Musings