Has Le come to the bright side?

With all of the amazing new computer models from Apple, I was wondering if Le has taken the plunge? If I had some spare cash right now, I would consider one of the new iMacs. You seem to get a lot of bang for the buck. I have been using the laptop, and having the freedom is nice for a while but mostly for surfing the net, which my current laptop is fully capable of. Now for some serious power.

3G iPhone in June?

Fellows, I have been hearing persistent rumors of a new iphone design by June. What have you guys heard? Any truth? I hear it would incorporate 3G networking and a somewhat revised design.

MacFan back online!

Hey guys - sorry for my absence. Always lots of stuff going on, but this last week or so more than usual! However, I am back!!

Opencomputer runs OSX

Have you heard about the computer called "OpenComputer" which has been tweaked to run OSX Leopard? They are cheaper than standard issue Macs. They claim that Apple has a monopoly and that they are perfectly legal to do this. A Wired magazine article said that legally, Apple may have a hard time going after them and stopping them, but Wired suggested that Apple could just kill it through technology upgrades which would force incompatability. But this would also become a nucense to the regular Mac owners. I think most people would not want to worry about compatability problems cropping up down the line if the cost difference is not too much.
This may put pressure on Apple to keep prices lower than they normally would, at least on the low end. The hardware design from Apple has been compelling but how much more expensive should this be. A low end hardware competitor keeps it interesting.

Steve Ballmer pictures

Where do they get these pictures of Steve Ballmer? I know that anyone in the public light can have bad pictures taken of them, but I almost (almost!) feel bad for Ballmer! He comes off looking like a bumbling fool!

Knockoff Parade

Gentlemen, the parade of iPhone knockoffs continues and is as pathetic as ever. Consider Nokia's description of its as of yet unreleased iPhone knockoff. It is so sad, but it's all good for Apple. Supposedly there will be a 3G second generation iPhone to be released this year. As Le pointed out, how do they get around the power hungry nature of 3G? I'm sure we'll find out soon - Apple will not stop the innovation train for the knockoffs to jump on! Apple will be relentless!

Nokia Knockoff

Counting people is very very difficult

Well it looks like we are back to pencil and paper when it comes to doing a census count. The Federal government had contracted to a Florida company (yes Florida) to come up with a system to take the census on portable electonic devices. For a bill of anywhere from $600 million to $2 billion dollars. But low and behold a electronic counting system can be too complex and cumbersome, and yes this one is too. So for the 2010 US census they will be ditching the electronic system for pencil and paper. Of course now it will require more people to take the census (Why is beyond me. Maybe one to hold the paper and the other to hold the pencil! ) and may cost up to $3 billion dollars.
I am conviced that Apple could have adapted the iPhone to do this task for no more than $200 million, complete with iPhone hardware and Filemaker Pro and it would actually work. What a great advertisement for the iPhone that would be. But in Washington you help your friends with contracts where delivering a working product is not really necessary. Pay up America.

P.S: At the very least couldn't the census takers just take a laptop with them for the census? Why develop a system from scratch? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.



News Link

Samsung Instinct ready to take down the iPhone?

Samsung has a new phone called the Instinct which looks like it may be the best iPhone competitor to date. One catch is the monthly subscription fee may run about $100 a month. Even so, this looks like at least an honest attempt at competition. At least others are trying to keep up with the iPhone.

Instinct

What Macs can't do.

Caution the following link may be disturbing and vulgar to Macnight readers. Click if you feel up to it.

Macs_can't_do


Even so, the in your face nature of the link is actually quite humorous.