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Apple Universe

Top-level category for all Apple, Mac, and OS X related topics.

On meaningless hyperlink graphics

Macworld logoHave you visited one of those sites that has an annoying advertising pop-up when you mouse over a link? While I find those somewhat annoying, at least they're usually well marked (via double underlines), so you can easily avoid them. Worse, to me, are hyperlinks that appear normal, yet pop up useless information on mouseover, without any warning whatsoever.

True, I have one such link here, for the "Why is this required?" link in the spam blocker. However, that pop-up contains useful information, and it's located on the right side of the page, where it's unlikely to be accidentally activated. So I think it's OK :).

The ones I find really irritating are the Snap Preview Anywhere pop-ups, which show a small thumbnail of the page you're about to visit when you mouse over a link--talk about a complete waste of bandwidth! I rant about these (and provide some suggestions to actually make them useful) in more detail in this Macworld Editor's Notes blog.



Ten iPhone suggestions

Macworld logoEven though the iPhone won't ship for about six months, that hasn't stopped me from thinking about how I'd make it better--that is, how I'd make it more into something more of a myPhone than an iPhone. I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and came up with a final list of ten suggested iPhone improvements for Apple's consideration (because they always listen to me!).

Much of my list is influenced by my current phone--a Palm Treo--and the capabilities it provides. If the iPhone is to replace the Treo in my pocket, it's going to have to handle a majority of the items on my list. If it doesn't, I'd actually end up carrying one extra device, instead of one less device.

How realistic do I think my list is? Not very. But it's what I'd make sure the iPhone could do if I were building it just for me!



Rob talks! It’s a podcast…

Macworld logoThis afternoon, I sat down in a room with fellow Macworld employees Jason Snell (our esteemed leader; VP and Editorial Director), Philip Michaels (Executive Editor, Online), and Jonathan Seff (Senior News Editor) to talk about the keynote--what it was, what it wasn't, and when we think what wasn't might turn into what is :).

You can listen to our ramblings from the links on this page over at macworld.com--it's episode #64, in case there are others posted there as well. I haven't done much in the way of podcasting, either creating or participating. It was kind of fun, and I heard some ideas about things I hadn't considered, even though I sat and listened to the same keynote as the others. Hopefully you'll find it interesting as well.



How not to start an Expo presentation

Macworld logoToday was my first presentation day of the show. Although the presentations went well (I was asked to give my talk twice, to accomodate everyone who wanted to hear it), I had a bit of a misadventure in getting everything going.

You can read about exactly what happened over on macworld.com. First time (and hopefully the last) I've ever combined a workout with a presentation!



My thoughts on the Expo keynote

Macworld logoI took a few minutes yesterday to jot down my thoughts regarding the keynote. As described in the article, I was disappointed--not by the iPhone (wow, what a product!) nor the Apple TV, but by the complete lack of information on OS X, the lack of new Apple software, and the non-existence of any new Mac hardware (excluding a never-mentioned AirPort Extreme).

Don't get me wrong--I'm not negative on Apple, and I think the iPhone is truly revolutionary. It's going to spawn a full line of products (come on, Apple, drop a 100GB drive in there, remove the phone wiring, and sell the true Video iPod). I do think it will take Apple in exciting (and profitable) new directions, and I can't wait until I can play with one in person. But attending a Macworld Expo and not getting any new Apple hardware or software to play with is...disappointing.



An ode to the Expo

Macworld logoI got a bit bored last night, after checking in and getting everything set up in the room. Left with time on my hands and not much to do, I started thinking about the upcoming keynote. For whatever reason, the poem 'Twas the night before Christmas started running through my head, but repurposed for Tuesday's event:

"Twas the day before Macworld, and all through the nets
Not a weblog was silent, they were all taking bets;
The photos were taken of posters afar,
In hopes that St. Jobs' stuff would clearly show thar.

I finished a version (although without using every single stanza in the original long poem!), then sent it to my buddy Kirk McElhearn to take a look at. He tweaked a few words, added a couple more stanzas, and we wound up with this.

Somehow, the tie-in with Christmas and the Expo keynote seems quite fitting; I hope everyone gets what they're hoping for tomorrow!



What are they up to?

They being Apple, of course. If you haven't seen it yet, check out their home page. This from a company who has somewhat of a history of setting a very high expectations bar?

So what's coming? Seems like too much hype for a simple dual quad-core machine, or the iTV, or even any form of video iPod. Is it a 30th Anniversary Mac? A tablet? An ultra portable? Something else entirely? Nothing at all? Feel free to comment with your thoughts...

Whatever it is, it should be a most interesting keynote speech next week!

Macworld logoUpdate: I said I'd get better at this, and I'm off to a bad start. I actually wrote up my predictions for the "big news" in the keynote in a piece for macworld.com last week. My hope? Definitely for something in the ultra-small category, perhaps functioning as a tablet as well as a laptop...and designed in such a way as to be befitting it's title of 30th Anniversary Mac :).

I'm off to San Francisco today, and I'm anticipating a great show, regardless of what Apple may or may not reveal on Tuesday. I've not seen such a great collection of new hardware and software from the other Expo vendors in many years (just based on the exhibitor list and the flurry of press releases thus far). It should be an exciting week. Check macworld.com for regular updates from everyone attending, and I'll try my best to remember to cross-link anything I write over here.





Macworld: 2006 writings

Macworld logoThe following is most of everything I wrote for Macworld in 2006, though there are a few missing…

January
Jan 14 First Look: iWork '06
Jan 24Butler at your service
Jan 25 Review: Apple iPod Radio Remote
March
Mar 2 Top OS X tips
Mar 6 Souped-up Spotlight
Mar 12 First Look: A maximum look at a mini Mac, part one
Mar 13 First Look: A maximum look at a mini Mac, part two
Mar 15 First Look: A maximum look at a mini Mac, part three
Mar 16 First Look: Mini series follow-up: More RAM
Mar 20 First Look: Mac mini series: HD playback issues
Mar 22 First Look: The XP experiment: Running Windows on a Mac
April
Apr 18 First Look: Living in a Parallels universe
May
May 10 Norton AntiVirus 10.1
May 11 Intego VirusBarrier X4
May 12 ClamXav 1.0.3
May 19 What price MacBook beauty?
May 22 Music Store search struggles
May 30 Just the iPod facts, ma'am
June
Jun 2 First Look: MacBook gaming: A graphics concern?
Jun 7 Axis 207W network camera
Jun 7 Summer Gear Guide: Gifts for dads
Jun 8 Something's missing here…
Jun 8 Something's missing here...
Jun 28 First Look: 23 things we want in Leopard
Jun 30 Parallels Desktop for Mac
July
Jul 12 Best of Gems: Shortcuts, launchers, and search tools
Jul 18 First Look: First Look: Firefox 2 beta
Jul 27 Opinion: Which Mac should I buy?
Jul 7 Widgets calling
August
Aug 9 Apple Design Award winners announced
Aug 23 In praise of Senuti
Aug 25 'Not factory recommended'
Aug 28 Cruising for some hints
Aug 30 Google Earth goes golfing
September
Sep 14 Circular arguments
October
Oct 19 Discover Safe Sleep's secrets
Oct 27 My day at camp
Nov 29 All washed out
Oct 30 Leaving Tampa
Oct 31 Cruising the Keys
Oct 31 Sailing into Belize
November
Nov 3 Guatemala, Mexico, and Mac horror stories
Nov 6 All ashore
Nov 15 Hands on with the Mac Pro: Getting started>
Nov 16 Hands on with the Mac Pro: Putting it to work
Nov 17 Hands on with the Mac Pro: Testing the limits
Nov 27 FIOS tech review
December
Dec 8 Microsoft makes a Basic mistake with Office 2007
Dec 13 Should YouTube win an Eddy?
Dec 27 The Mac Pro and Photoshop CS3
Dec 29 iTunes, authorization, and multiple Macs


My opinion on the next version of Office for the Mac

Macworld logoIn case you haven't heard, the next release of Microsoft's Office for the Mac will lack one major feature: support for Visual Basic (VB). This core technology is what allows one to record macros, and it works basically the same on both Windows and Mac. But the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft has discovered that porting the code to Intel would be very hard...so they decided to just drop it completely.

I think this is a really bad mistake, and wrote about why in this opinion piece for Macworld.