Review: TightJacket for MacBook/iPod/iPhone
In the overcrowded gadget-protector market, sometimes the simplest solution is the hardest to see. While most case manufacturers seek to protect your expensive device by hiding it under layers of rubber and reinforced plastic, designer Terry Wilson decided to take a softer approach. Terry’s TightJacket sleeves are simple “pull-over” style covers that can fit pretty much any laptop, or any rectangular object, for that matter. Made from unused bolts of spandex... Read More
Review: Racer-X laptop bag by WaterField Designs
Above: The challenge – Can the Racer-X (right) take on my ridiculously over-stuffed bag? So began my quest for a new bag capable of safely managing both my new laptop and my impressive collection of crap. I ended up turning to the folks over at WaterField Designs, who time and again had impressed me with their case designs for Apple products ranging from the obscure Apple iPod Hi-Fi to the ubiquitous iPhone. With their help, I decided on their Racer-X bag. Coming in... Read More
Urban Legend or Urban Fact? – Steve Jobs and the squishy MacBook
Urban legends are usually thought of as pretty cool, quite often involving escaped maniacs and hook-hands stuck to the side of car doors, but even we geeks have urban legends. I learned one such tale today, told to me by a Mac Genius on a trip to the Apple Store, and if you think you are brave enough, pull up a round bean bag chair, and I will tell it to you now. About 5 hours after I opened my new MacBook (purchased 2 weeks ago online) I noticed that the lower left side of the... Read More
Why we’re not buying the Asus/Apple iTablet rumor
Just as I was able to confidently predict Apple would never release a touchscreen iPod, 🙂 so too am I convinced these recent Apple/Asus tablet PC rumors are untrue. I do not doubt Apple has an “iTablet” touchscreen portable prototype locked away deep inside its R&D labs, (after all, they submitted their patent for one back in 2005), but there are a couple things that, to my mind at least, still put the Apple tablet a fair ways off. First, what is the perceived... Read More
Speaking of China…
Well, someone was probably speaking of China. Yes, my newly ordered MacBook has left China, and apparently has made it to the West Coast. With each feverish pressing of the “re-load” button on the FedEx tracking page, I have gradually become less and less worried about the possibility it will arrive with graphics problems, and am now just plain old excited about the thrill of installing tons of crap on a pristine machine. Perhaps sensing my newfound optimism, ComputerWorld... Read More
Apple’s Top 5 current design travesties
Sure we all love Apple, but it doesn’t mean we have to turn a blind eye when they occasionally make the odd design decision. Below is our list of the top 5 most glaringly bad design decisions the company has recently (and is still currently) incorporating into its hardware. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments. 5) The iPhone’s speakerphone volume is (still) pitiful In “reinventing the phone”, Apple chose to unnecessarily re-invent the “low... Read More
I don’t even have it and my new MacBook already has a problem
When Apple announced their revised MacBooks Thursday, true to my word, I successfully tricked the Bride of Macenstein into thinking it was a good idea for me to have one. I placed my order for a slightly customized version of their low-end “combo drive” system (Apple’s greatest shame is that they even offer the combo drive anymore) with 2 GB of RAM and 160 GB drive. Due to these additions, I now face a week-long wait for the unit to ship, but I am eagerly awaiting... Read More
Rumor: I am buying a new MacBook on Tuesday
According to MacRumors, I will be buying a new MacBook this Tuesday, and I am very excited! Allegedly, my new MacBook will sport the updated Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip, which implies I will be getting the Santa Rosa chipset as well. I can neither confirm nor deny this rumor until I check with my wife (keeper of the checkbook), but reliable sources have confirmed to me that if I can somehow outline that a convincing case that a MacBook is necessary for “research... Read More
Apple’s Market Share – It’s all about the Quintiles
Faithful Macenstein reader Kevin O’Neil pointed our heads towards a rather controversial article making the rounds these days. Philip Elmer-DeWitt, writing for Fortune by way of CNNMoney and citing Toni Sacconaghi Jr. of Bernstein Research (this has sort of a “My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night”... Read More
The REAL reason the iPhone gets so much press
Even as an Apple Fanboy, I have moments of incredulous disgust caused by all the press the iPhone has received. While searching for tech stories it seems these days we must wade through 10 (or more) iPhone-related articles for every 1 non-iPhone tech story. Given that only a million or so iPhones have been sold, and the Earth has about 6.7 billion people, this amount of press coverage (and we are almost 4 months into the launch) seems suspiciously disproportionate. I mean, I own... Read More
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