Gizmodo (or Nokia?) trashes iPhone.
Published on 13 Dec 2007 at 10:08 pm.
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Filed under gizmodo, iphone, rant.
I first noticed that Gizmodo trying to pass off ads as content a few days ago when they were pushing an old, possibly discontinued, TomTom GPS.
Then today they post this little ad telling you why not to buy an iPhone.
It is almost indistinguishable from the two actual stories below it (in all honesty, I’m not so sure that last one isn’t an ad as well.) While mixing ads and content like this is dubious at best, in this case Gizmodo has been paid to trash another product — a product that their associate editor has written a book about — and pass it off as a story!
That’s pretty sleazy considering how much content they have thanks to the iPhone. They’ve tagged more than 1,000 stories “iPhone”, whereas Nokia (the sponsor of the iPhone trash-talk) manages around 400.
And take a look at their reasons for not recommending buying or wanting an iPhone, basically “they’ll have a better one at some time in the future.” Can I infer from that that Nokia is standing still and that the Nokia phone I buy now won’t be improved upon anytime in the next year?
I’m sorry Mr. Chen but I won’t be buying your book or visiting Gizmodo anymore either.
Update on that .Mac security thing
Published on 10 Dec 2007 at 1:46 am.
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Filed under Uncategorized.
Regular readers should remember my little post titled “My Mac’s security is being compromised by .Mac.” If you don’t remember it, go ahead and read it now. After reading the comments and some other posts on the web about similar issues I began to think it might be expected behavior, but I always questioned it…
Who would expect adding an email account would cause file sharing not to ask for a password?
And I concluded that even if it were expected, it was boneheaded. Before I ever posted the issue here I sent it to Apple. I admit I didn’t give Apple much time to fix it but I felt like it was a very minor issue. I knew it only happened on a local network (Bonjour) so I wasn’t worried that anyone would use this information to exploit a remote machine in any way.
A few days ago I received a reply from Apple. The reply reads in part:
Regarding the issue you reported, after further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue. We take any report of a potential security issue very seriously. It is being addressed, and we would like to thank you for taking the time to pass it along to us.
So there you have it. Its a known issue, and its being addressed. I hope to see the fix sooner than later because it still really bugs me. Of course in February I won’t be .Mac member anymore and I’ll once again be safe from myself or anyone who happens to commandeer my MacBook.
Macs really do cost more
Published on 10 Dec 2007 at 1:37 am.
11 Comments.
Filed under cost, dell, mac, price comparison, prices.
There’s an unfortunate trend in the Mac community to lie or bend the truth when talking about Macs. A common claim is that Macs and PCs cost the same… or that Macs include more so they cost more. The truth is that a PC configured identically to a Mac will almost always cost less than the Mac. Take a look at these two configurations.
All those yellow items are configuration changes I had to make to the Dell machine to make it comparable to the MacBook Pro. For the MacBook Pro I only had to change the hard drive — increasing it to 250GB (at a cost of $225) because Dell doesn’t even offer the smaller 120GB drive that the MBP ships with. The Dell has twice the display RAM (and possibly a higher resolution webcam), this is the only place where these two machines don’t have hardware parity.
It’s worth noting that the price difference is most pronounced when a Mac configuration is old (such as the MacBook Pro) since Apple doesn’t lower prices during a product’s life cycle the way Dell does. Also, Apple charges the most for Macs (they do offer a free-after-rebate printer with any Mac purchase) where as Amazon and other resellers often offer rebates, free memory upgrades and such with their Macs.
Software is a completely different story, and something that cannot be easily compared. I chose Windows Vista Ultimate on the Dell for two reasons. First, I wanted to choose the most expensive option to close the price gap as much as I could. Second, Steve Jobs himself has said that Mac OS X comes in one version — Ultimate.
So, as Mac users, let’s be honest. Let’s start out by admitting that Macs do cost more. Then we can move on and talk about what you get for that extra money. Here are three of the most obvious (to me at least) benefits of choosing a Mac:
- Mac OS X — It’s elegant and intuitive. Dells are stuck with Windows, with a Mac you can choose to also run Windows.
- The shell — A MacBook Pro is light weight yet durable and solid. Even best looking Dell can’t match a Mac’s design.
- The Genius Bar — It’s always free to talk to someone and get help at a Genius Bar. Dell has nothing that compares to this.
I’m sure you can think of plenty of other great reasons to choose a Mac. Please leave a comment to let me and others know what makes the Mac worth more to you.
Dells being advertized with OS X wallpaper
Published on 8 Dec 2007 at 2:24 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under ad, dell.
For a while Dell has been showing it’s screens with an image strikingly similar to a background provided with Mac OS X.
In a recent Costco ad they’ve just gone ahead and used Apple’s image.
In all fairness to Dell, I doubt they produced this artwork. It was likely produced by Costco’s art department… on a Mac. They probably should have just stuck Dell’s logo on the screen, but instead decided to appropriate Apple’s well-recognized Aque Blue image.
For a few years screens were often shown with a grassy field and blue sky. More recently they’ve gone with this blue motif. I think it’s indicative of an increasing admiration of Apple’s near-timeles designs.
Apple a Vista OEM?
Published on 4 Dec 2007 at 2:47 am.
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Filed under rant, vista.
Let me just start by answering the question — no, Apple is not a Vista OEM. To see Paul Thurrott tell it you may very come to the conclusion that they are. I’ve seen him dig down the source of a story to see how facts get twisted and now I’m going to give him the same treatment.
On November 26, 2007 Visitmix.com posts an article titled “Our Newest Vista OEM: Apple,” in which they claim that “10% of all new Vista licenses are sold to Macintosh owners.” Their source for that figure is an article published by Microsoft-watch.com titled “Microsoft’s Big Mac Sales.”
However the Microsoft-watch article says something quite different than the Visitmix.com article. Not only is the word OEM never used, it says that “Ten percent of Vista Business and Business Ulitmate [sic] SKUs go to Mac users” … “he referred to US retail sales.” If I had to pick one word to be the opposite of “OEM” it would be “retail.”
How one jumps from two specific retail SKUs (remember, Vista has eight retail SKUs including upgrades) to “all new Vista licenses,” then claims Apple is a Vista OEM is beyond me.
But back to Thurrott… he apparently links to this story without checking the facts, then adds to it by saying that “Microsoft is finally responding, sort of, to those silly Apple ‘I’m a PC’ ads…” I highly doubt Microsoft’s response to Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads would be “Mac owners make up 10% of our sales.”
He wonders why the story isn’t getting more coverage. I can tell him why — it’s complete bullshit.
Apple recycles. Here’s your code.
Published on 29 Nov 2007 at 2:48 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under apple, recycle.
I picked up a Mac mini from my local Apple store tonight. This is the third I’ve bought in the weeks since Leopard was released. To my pleasant surprise, I received this email from Apple shortly after my purchase.
Below this are two barcodes with RMA numbers to give to FedEx along with my old hardware. It looks like Apple is serious about this recycling thing after all… I purchased another Mac mini less than two weeks ago and did not receive a similar email. They made no mention of this at the store, so they may not be aware of it yet.
As always, I have a suggestion for Apple. After the sale, the salesperson should say something along the lines of “Apple will send you an email with a free, safe and easy way to recycle your old hardware. You can also bring it to us here at the store and we’ll be sure that it’s recycled properly.” It not only reminds people to recycle old hardware but let’s them know that they can even drop it off at the store. I don’t know if Apple actually offers in-store recycling but, if they do not, they should!
The PC guy should switch, already
Published on 20 Nov 2007 at 2:58 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under ad, apple, get a mac, switch.
Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads are generally pretty entertaining and sometimes even reminiscent of the truth. Although the recent jabs at Vista are a bit childish. Vista runs admirably on my MacBook, and honestly, I’d never choose to run XP instead. But I think Steven Leigh put it best when he said “Can you imagine shopping for a car and having the salesman only talk about what’s wrong with the competition’s cars?”
Here is my suggestion to Apple – have the PC guy switch to a Mac. Just picture it…
PC guy is dressed a bit like Mac guy, not quite as casual, not quite as stuffy as usual.
Mac guy asks “Hey PC, what’s with the new threads?”
PC guy responds “These? Oh nothing, just trying something new.”
Mac guy “I kind of liked you in the suit, PC.”
PC guy “Well OK. I switched to a Mac.”
Mac guy “Really PC? That’s great!”
PC guy “I know. I didn’t really switch. You see, my Mac runs Windows so when I’m around my PC friends I fit right in.”
Mac guy nods
PC guy “And when I’m with you, we can do all the cool Mac stuff.”
The idea is to show Windows users that they can switch to a Mac without leaving Windows behind. I’m sure Apple already has this idea, but I just wanted to encourage them to go ahead with it.
My Mac’s security is being compromised by .Mac
Published on 17 Nov 2007 at 9:19 pm.
7 Comments.
Filed under apple, mac, mac os, security.
I’m not a security expert by any means, so it is with great consideration that I bring up anything security related. While a feature I don’t understand may not necessarily be a security problem, one part of Leopard behaves in such an unexpected way that I can only call it a security problem – .Mac is at the center of it.
As you may have already read here, I won’t be renewing my .Mac membership. To get a jump on not relying on it any longer I was sure not to add my .Mac account to the .Mac preference pane. I do however need the email a bit longer so I did add my .Mac account to Mail.app on my iMac and new MacBook. This had the side effect of filling in my account details in the .Mac preference pane, something I didn’t want. Incidentally, clearing the fields in the .Mac preference pane disables my .Mac account in Mail.app
At least I’m not signed in, right?
Now, here’s the problem. File sharing no longer asks me for my machine password. When I click on my iMac from my MacBook I’m signed in using my .Mac account. Note that both machine are on my local network, this is not happening from a remote location.
Upon signing in to .Mac I confirm on both machines that “Back to My Mac” is not turned on.
Not only is this completely unexpected (that adding an email account to two machines would allow this sort of open access to my computer), it’s ostensibly disabled.
I disagree with John Gruber of Daring Fireball that the intended behavior of Back to My Mac is not security issue. But how can anyone not consider the behavior I’ve shown here to be a major lapse in security? I do not want anyone in my house who happens to open my MacBook (usually left laying around) to have full unrestricted access to my iMac (in a locked office).
Apple has a knowledge base article about Back to My Mac security. In the article Apple says:
To prevent a computer from being part of your Back to My Mac network at any time, you may click the “Stop” button on the Back to My Mac tab of the .Mac preferences in System Preferences. Additionally, you may click on “Sign Out” in the .Mac “Account” tab to log out of the .Mac service completely on that computer.
Apparently this isn’t the case since I’m not signed in, and, Back to My Mac is disabled, but my machine is still open. It’s completely unexpected that using my .Mac email will open me up to this. I wonder if using a .Mac sign-in for iChat behaves the same way.
The basic security I have in place on my iMac is a password. By using .Mac mail I’ve opened my iMac to anyone who has access to my MacBook. My Mac’s security is being compromised by .Mac.
Managing 10.4 Servers from 10.5
Published on 14 Nov 2007 at 11:50 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under apple, mac os, server, software update.
Finally! The release of Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 update finally makes it possible for me to manage my Xserves from my Leopard client. I think Apple did a excellent job with the new server overview.
One caveat is that you cannot manage DNS on 10.4 servers using the 10.5 server admin tools. This doesn’t effect me since I’ve always written my zone files “by hand,” but this is going to be an inconvenience for some people.
Apple pushes out 12 updates today – servers still unmanageable
Published on 14 Nov 2007 at 1:52 pm.
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Filed under apple, mac, mac os, server, software update.
Apple has released 12 software updates today, including the overdue Mac OS X 10.4.11 update and a security update for 10.3.
I have several 10.4 servers in need of the .11 update. When I upgraded my iMac to 10.5 I could no longer use the 10.4 server admin tools. The 10.5 server admin tools told me to upgrade my server to 10.4.11, which has not been available until now.
For all the updates visit Apple Support Downloads or run software update.
Update: none of the four 10.4.11 updates released today is for Mac OS X Server. It looks like I’ll have to keep waiting to be able to manage my servers again.
Second update: a few hours later Apple did release the much needed 10.4.11 Server update.
