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Why didn’t Apple reveal iPad mini sales figures?

First, only Apple knows why they didn't share iPad mini sales figures, so what follows are just my thoughts. Instead of splitting the mini from the fourth-generation iPad, they reported a combined three million units for the iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. So why didn't they split it out? At the highest level, I think (again, only my thoughts) it's as simple as this:

Apple hasn't ever historically split out products by type within a family. In their annual report, they tell you how many Macs, iPods, iPhone, and iPads were sold, and that's it. Reporting a combined "total iPads sold" figure is perfectly in line with past behavior.

Beyond that simple explanation though, I believe that reporting a sales mix would be a lose-lose proposition for Apple. By way of example, here are some theoretical press headlines, based on a few mini/full-size iPad sales splits.

mini: 500,000; iPad: 2,500,000

  • "Apple's new mini a flop; sells only 500K units"
  • "Apple's lost the magic touch post-Jobs; new mini tanks"
  • "New fourth-generation iPad underwhelms; doesn't reach 3mil units mark"

mini: 1,500,000; iPad: 1,500,000

  • "Customers confused by iPad options; pick both equally"
  • "iPad mini cannibalizes iPad sales"
  • "Full size iPad sales impacted by release of mini; margins likely to dip"

mini: 2,500,000; iPad: 500,000

  • "New mini succeeds, at huge cost to full-size iPad"
  • "Margin impact of iPad mini sales success will harm profitability"
  • "iPad mini roars to life; is the full-size iPad dead?"
  • "Full-size iPad on life support after horrid opening weekend"

Clearly there's some (OK, a ton of) exaggeration in these fake headlines, but the summary level is certainly true:

  • If iPad mini sales exceeded iPad sales, then that's a margin hit, and a warning sign on full-size iPad's future.
  • If the sales were equally split, that's still a margin hit, and possibly a sign of customer confusion.
  • If iPad mini sales were substantially under iPad sales, then the new product's a flop, and Apple's lost their touch.

So even ignoring Apple's track record of reporting sales by family, it seems there's no upside to splitting the sales figures. Given the lack of a good interpretation for any split, as a shareholder I'm happy they're reporting a lump sum figure.

Note that this does not make the iPad the equivalent of Amazon's Kindle: Amazon has never, to my recollection, reported any exact Kindle sales figures.



A workaround for an iPhoto/set desktop picture bug

On both my Mac Pro and my iMac, I've run into a problem where the iPhoto library simply doesn't show up in the Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences panel (in Mac OS X 10.6.x). Well, sometimes it shows up, but simply as a line reading iPhoto, but without any actual content.

When this happened the first time, I looked in Console and found the following entry for each time I'd tried to load the Desktop tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver panel (reformatted for easier reading):

1/12/12 9:09:36 AM      System Preferences[4134]
**** DesktopPref error: DSKiPhotoRootSource -loadData TIME OUT!!! There something wrong with iLife Media Browser

Googling on that error led to a number of pages, including iLife: Cannot See iPhoto Files in Other iLife Applications on Apple's support site. But after trying everything in that article, I still couldn't see my iPhoto images when trying to set the Desktop picture.
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Troubleshooting a Mac CD tray that won’t stay closed

Recently, I placed my Mac Pro up for sale, both on the net in general and on eBay. The eBay auction closed with a successful bidder, so yesterday, I went to prep the machine for shipping. After wiping the drives and reinstalling OS X, I had but one thing to do: solve a small but annoying problem with one of the two installed disc burning SuperDrives (name used for simplification; one was an actual SuperDrive from Apple; the other a multi-format burning drive from Sony).

The stock drive, which I had mounted in the lower slot, worked fine. So did the after-market upper drive, as long as there was a disc in the slot. If I ejected the disc and then closed the tray, the drive would grind for a few seconds, then eject. It would then stay ejected for a few minutes, until (I believe) OS X noticed it was open. It would then close, and the grind-eject cycle would repeat.

I'm posting the sordid details of my experience in case anyone else is looking for help with a CD/DVD tray that won't stay closed on their own OS X machine; perhaps it'll show up in a Google Mac-specific search at some point in the future. Read on for the details…
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How to not upgrade to iOS5

If you follow me on Twitter, you're probably familiar with my iOS5 installation difficulties. Two days into the process, and I've still not been able to update either my iPad (first generation) or iPhone 4. This is—by far—the most frustrated I've been with any Apple upgrade, ever…and that covers a lot of history!

Simply as a means of venting, and perhaps to save someone else from going through what I've gone through (though note that I haven't yet solved the problem), here's what I've gone through to try to upgrade my iPhone and iPad.

Update: On my 48th attempt, my iPhone 4 successfully updated to iOS5. Now, on to the iPad…

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11.6″ MacBook Air: Who needs a netbook?

As I'm really enjoying my new 11.6" MacBook Air, I thought it might be interesting to compare it with some other portables I currently own. Specifically, I wanted to compare the Air to my previous fave ultra-portable Mac (the 12" PowerBook G4), a Dell Mini 10 running Mac OS X, and my current fave Mac laptop, the high-res anti-glare 15" MacBook Pro.

What follows isn't a comprehensive set of benchmarks done under controlled conditions. It's more of a quick look at performance (and measurements and specifications) across a series of machines, three of which can be considered "ultra portables."

Read on for the table...

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These are a few of my favorite roads…

Last summer, we took our two girls on a 30-day, 4,000-mile trek around the western United States (here's the full route). The trip was made possible by my wife's employer, where everyone is given a multi-week sabattical after 10 years of service.

Our kids are relatively young for such a journey--just four and seven at the time of the trip. To make it bearable for them (and us!), we drove relatively short distances each day, and spent a mostly-driving-free week in Colorado in the middle of the trip. (More on the lessons we learned traveling for 30 days straight with two young kids in a future blog post...)

What was great about the trip, for the adults in the car at least, was that relatively little time was spent on interstate highways--only 1,200 of the 4,000 miles, and of those 1,200 miles, 900 of them were on the first three days and the last day of the trip. So most of the time, we were on state highways or even smaller backroads. These are the roads where you can really see the country, and get away from the crowds--many times we had the road completely to ourselves.

Given how much we enjoyed these roads, I thought I'd take a few minutes and share some of my favorites from the journey. (Click the small map image for the full Google Maps view (in a new window) of each road.)
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My new favorite (for now) laptop Mac

A while back, I tweeted that my new MacBook Pro was my fave-ever portable Mac—this despite having only used the machine for under two weeks at that point. A few people asked me "why your fave-ever?," so I thought I'd use those queries as an excuse to post here on my near-silent blog.

The specific machine in question is a 2010 15" MacBook Pro with the 2.66GHz Core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM, and (when new) a 5400rpm 500GB hard drive...and, oh yes, the single most important spec: the anti-glare 1680x1050 high resolution screen.

This machine replaced a 2008 MacBook Pro (last of the non-unibody laptops) with a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, and a 7200rpm 200GB hard drive (and the only screen at the time, the standard 1440x900).

Comparing the two, the only area where I gave up anything at all was in the hard drive's speed. I took care of that problem by installing a new Seagate Momentus hybrid hard drive, the 500GB version, to be exact. (A hybrid drive is one that combines a small solid state drive—4GB in this case—with a traditional drive, and then uses its firmware to optimize performance on the fly. For more on the Seagate hybrid drive, see this excellent article at Anandtech.)
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Macworld: 2009 writings

Macworld logoAll (or as many as could be found online) of my 2009 writings for Macworld.

January
Jan 2Spotlight enhancer HoudahSpot gets enhancements of its own
Jan 6The amazing vanishing Mac desktop machine
Jan 7First Look: Numbers ’09
Jan 7The history of the Mac, told by those who were there
Jan 8Expo Notes: Memeo puts you in a sharing mood
Jan 9Expo’s Ask the Editors session
Jan 9Expo Notes: Jing, a year later
Jan 10Expo Notes: The search for TechTool Pro 5
Jan 10Expo Notes: Araxis Merge adds to its file-comparison bag of tricks
Jan 10Expo Notes: Digitize your paper trail with NeatReceipts
Jan 12Expo Notes: Restoring the matte screen
Jan 19The video industry just doesn’t get it
Jan 22Pirated iWork '09 installer may contain trojan horse
Jan 22Review: iDive 300 iPod/iPhone underwater case
Jan 23Review: Third-party browsers for the iPhone
Jan 27Review: Numbers ’09
February
Feb 3Hands-on: TechRestore’s matte-screen MacBook Pro service
Feb 4Look before leaping... and formatting hard drives
Feb 6Review: Power Support MacBook Pro Anti-Glare Film
Feb 9Six years with an Apple Cinema Display
Feb 11No more getting started with iLife ’09
Feb 12Review: Days of Thunder for iPhone
Feb 12Review: Spreadsheet editing apps for the iPhone
Feb 16Growl 1.1.4
Feb 18Review: Keynote controllers for the iPhone
Feb 23Review: MobileFiles Pro for iPhone
Feb 24Review: Air traffic control games for the iPhone
Feb 24First Look: Safari 4 Beta
March
Mar 3FireWire 400 reaches the end of the line
Mar 13VirtualBox 2.1.4
Mar 16Mariner Calc for iPhone
Mar 1615 iPhone 3.0 features we'd like to see
Mar 24Eight years and counting
Mar 30What you need to know about the Conficker worm
April
Apr 15VMware Fusion bug breaches the guest-host OS wall
May
May 5Why Firefox is my preferred browser
May 11TechTool Pro 5
May 14FireWire saves an iMac from a failed 10.5.7 upgrade
May 15Pointer Remote for iPhone
May 15First Look: Chromium browser for OS X
May 19Application Wizard makes program switching easy
May 20Close the Java security hole in many browsers
May 21Add an OS 9-like app menu to OS X with ASM or multiXFinder
May 21Hands on with the WolframAlpha computational knowledge engine
May 22Click Archive: An easier way to work with disk images
May 25DeskCover makes icons easier to see
May 26Digital Sentry watches your computer's activities
May 27iCab Mobile for iPhone
June
Jun 1Quickoffice Files for iPhone
Jun 2BdContacts: An alternative to Address Book
Jun 3Hands on with the Opera 10 Web browser beta
Jun 4Port Map: Simple port mapping for your router
Jun 5WWDC Preview: What we know, what we expect with Snow Leopard
Jun 8Snow Leopard more feature-laden than expected
Jun 9DailyFinance and eTrade Mobile Pro for iPhone
Jun 12Mariner Calc 1.2 for iPhone
Jun 17How I use iPhone 3.0's Spotlight search
July
Jul 1First Look: Firefox 3.5
Jul 6SpamSieve 2.7
Jul 7Personal Antispam X5
Jul 9Chrome OS's impact? It's too early to tell
Jul 13The no-worry backup plan
Jul 16Purify 2.1
Jul 20SpamX 4.0
Jul 22Living on the EDGE
Jul 23The Intel-only future draws closer
Jul 28The case of the cracked iPhone
Jul 31New NetNewsWire sync option isn't for everyone
August
Aug 4SpamSweep 1.6.1
Aug 5The end of the road for a favored text editor
Aug 6Frankenbook! Another look at hacked Mac netbooks
Aug 27Services step out in Snow Leopard
Aug 28Snow Leopard's old and new annoyances
Aug 29Snow Leopard: What's gone where
September
Sep 3How to create a Service in Snow Leopard
Sep 15Camtasia for Mac
Sep 23Snow Leopard changes the rules about opening files
Sep 24The real genius of the Genius Bar
October
Oct 13Inside Snow Leopard's Guest account data loss bug
Oct 15Apple allows in-app purchasing for free App Store apps
Oct 26First Look: VMware Fusion 3
Oct 26ScreenFlow 2.0 adds powerful new editing features
Oct 27ScreenFlow 2
November
Nov 4Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac arrives
Nov 20Mad Skills Motocross
Nov 21Why go Pro when iMac goes faster?
December
Dec 4PDFpen 4.5
Dec 8First Look: Chrome for Mac
Dec 21Run Stats for iPhone
Dec 20Batch conversion saves slow QuickTime clips
Dec 29Add an ExpressCard solid state drive to some MacBook Pros


Macworld: 2008 writings

Macworld logoAll (or as many as could be found online) of my 2008 writings for Macworld.

January
Jan 2First Look: Excel 2008
Jan 14Expo Notes: Office gets its day in the sun
Jan 15Steve Jobs gets cohesive
Jan 15Time should be on our side with iTunes rentals
Jan 15MacBook Air: Holding my breath
Jan 16Expo Notes: Hurrah for Houdah
Jan 16Expo: Of Snowballs and Snowflakes
Jan 16Expo Notes: Podcasters in glass houses
Jan 17Expo Notes: TechTool Pro gets approachable
Jan 17Expo Notes: Merge ahead
Jan 17Microsoft Excel 2008
Jan 18Expo Notes: Screenshot sharing
Jan 18Expo Notes: Acura show its drive at Expo
Jan 18Expo Notes: Cleaning Up at Expo
Jan 23Stacking up the MacBook Air and a Sony Vaio
Jan 23Avoid embarrassing typos
Jan 25Expo's international flavor
February
Feb 25The state of the union for iPhone apps
Feb 26Mac case designs: Nirvana achieved?
March
Mar 5HoudahSpot 2.0.8
Mar 6When good hard drives go bad in small places
Mar 6The iPhone SDK has all the right answers
Mar 7ScreenFlow 1.0.2
Mar 12iPhone SDK: One at a time?
Mar 14Hands on with Firefox 3
Mar 25Hardware Monitor 4.5
April
Apr 4Leopard’s Unix tricks
Apr 15Excel 2008 vs. Numbers ‘08
Apr 18Apple and the homebuilt Mac community
Apr 18Frankenmac! What's in a Mac clone?
Apr 24iPhone battery life redialed
May
May 2Flying through time
May 7First Look: VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1
May 13Basic lesson: Microsoft listens to its users
May 19Best of Both Worlds: OS X and Windows
May 20Microsoft Office: The killer Windows app
May 20More killer Windows programs
May 21The 10 best games you won’t find on your Mac
May 22Psystar skates on thin ice
June
Jun 5Does Apple have an OS X update up its sleeve at WWDC?
Jun 10Some background on background processes
Jun 12Apple announces Mac, iPhone design award winners
Jun 13OS X virtualization options limited for desktop users
Jun 16Lingon 2.1
Jun 17Tidy Up! 1.4.2
Jun 23SmartSleep 1.2
Jun 24Smultron 3.5
Jun 25SuperDocker 2.2.0
Jun 25XP’s window is about to close
Jun 26The ARDAgent security hole: What you need to know
Jun 26MenuMeters 1.3
Jun 26When installing software is too simple
July
Jul 9A brave new world for iPhone apps
Jul 10Window shopping at the App Store
Jul 10View the web's images via iEnvision
Jul 10Use Jott to record your thoughts
Jul 10All the news that's fit to tap
Jul 11Review: Mobile News Network for iPhone
Jul 16Two steps forward and one big step backing up
Jul 16Review: Jott for iPhone
Jul 18Review: Bloomberg 1.1 for iPhone
Jul 21Review: iEnvision for iPhone
Jul 21Review: Golf scoring applications for iPhone
Jul 28Review: NowLocal for iPhone
Jul 29Review: Golf scoring applications for iPhone
August
Aug 1Review: Mocha VNC and Mocha VNC Lite for iPhone
Aug 4Review: Teleport for iPhone
Aug 5Review: Firefox 3.0
Aug 5How sound is Consumer Reports’ Safari advice?
Aug 6More ways to protect yourself from phishing scams
Aug 12Vetting the App Store approval process
Aug 14Troubleshooting iPhone and iPod touch issues
Aug 15Review: Secret keeper apps for the iPhone
September
Sep 1Review: Dive Planner for iPhone
Sep 5Review: 1Password for iPhone
Sep 10First Look: iTunes 8.0
Sep 17A market opportunity for Apple Remote Desktop
Sep 19Practice good online password security
Sep 19Review: X-Plane 9 for iPhone
Sep 23Review: Frotz for iPhone
Sep 29Apple and old equipment recycling
Sep 29Profile: Automotive performance apps for the iPhone
October
Oct 1More credit for Apple
Oct 6Review: Gas station finders for the iPhone
Oct 6Review: Razer ProClick Mobile Notebook Mouse
Oct 9Review: Fuel mileage trackers for iPhone
Oct 9iTunes and media file organization
Oct 14Matte matters
Oct 15Fluid 0.9.4.1
Oct 24Review: Grocery list applications for the iPhone
Oct 27Leopard’s year-old annoyances
Oct 31Stop the page-flicking madness—give us iPhone folders
November
Nov 5Remembering Michael Crichton
Nov 11Shopping at Apple’s Special Deals site
Nov 13Path Finder 5.0.2
December
Dec 3Eddy Winner: VMware Fusion 2
Dec 3Eddy Winner: ScreenFlow 1.0.2
Dec 4Did Hulu deserve an Eddy?
Dec 8Review: Another look at iGasUp
Dec 17Review: Parallels 4 build 3540
Dec 17Review: VMware Fusion 2.0.1
Dec 18Review: Sun VirtualBox 2.0.6
Dec 18Choosing a virtualization application
Dec 23Review: RemoteTap for iPhone
Dec 16The end of an era for Macworld Expo


Deals to be found at the Apple refurb store…

If you know me at all, you know how I feel about glossy screens, especially on laptops. As nice as the new MacBook and MacBook Pros are (and they are very nice, based on some early hands-on time with the new MacBook at the local store), the glossy screens are a deal breaker for me. I tried to use a MacBook for six months or so, but in the end, the glossy screen was too much for me, so I went up to the MacBook Pro and its nice matte display.

With the lack of a matte option on the new MacBook Pro line, I won't be buying another Mac laptop (of the 15" variety) until Apple comes out with some form of non-glossy screen--whether that's a true matte screen, or just an effective anti-glare coating, I don't really care. But until there's a solution, I'm going to use what I have for as long as I possibly can.

My current machine is a two-year-old 15" 2.33GHz MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM--and it's a very nice machine. However, it's already two years old, and I want to get at least five more years out of my matte screened laptop...so I figured I'd go look on eBay for used last-gen 2.6GHz MacBook Pros--the fastest 15" machine with a matte screen available, basically.

On my way to eBay, though, I got sidetracked by the Special Deals section of the Apple Store--otherwise known as the Refurb Store.
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