Happy 25th Anniversary Macintosh!

Today, January 24th, marks the
25th Anniversary of the Macintosh:



Above, Steve Jobs demos the Macintosh at Macworld.
Below, the first Macinitosh Computer Ad:



These take me back, I remember the Apple Macintosh
commercial when it first aired in my childhood.
I was just entering my first computer classes in
high school, and remember wishing we had one
in my Gifted and Talented class, as we were stuck
with Commodore 64s at the time.

Enjoy and Happy Anniversary Apple!

APPLE KEYNOTE: Compromised

I’m sure by now I’m not the only one who feels that exact same way. At Macworld, Apple really didn’t have much to show
off, really didn’t have much to deliver, so they gave us a few
things to say it was worth the price of admission.

A Unibody 17inch Mac Book Pro that is at the fastest a
laptop can be (2.93ghz Intel Core 2 Duo), but that has
hands down the worst idea of Battery replacement ever
(ie. YOU CAN’T!) ; a ho-hum iLife update that leaves iWeb users
in the cold ( why didn’t you listen to us iWeb users Apple?);
An even more lackluster iWork ’09 update ( hint Apple,
sell it off to Adobe and let them incorporate it as a CS Lite Suite)
and Apple’s bending over to give a little to the Record Labels
to get variable pricing structure in iTunes Music Store.
( which I haven’t used in months thanks to Amazon.)

I hope the next Apple Only Invite Event is spectacular,
otherwise this is strong signs of Apple being affected
by the downturn economy.

Staying Relevant When Your Product Isn’t

Today Roxio, makers of the long stalwart app for the Mac,
Toast Titanium, announced a new version that would incorporate
Blu-Ray Authoring Capabilities; Streaming Video Capture
(think burning your favorite Youtube clips to a Highlight DVD);
A new interface that includes an NLE that looks like an older
version of iMovie; the ability to capture Streaming Audio
to burn to CDS; and four new “Pro “ version apps for Soundtracks,
Photo Editing, Sound Conversion / Cleanup, and creating HD Photo SlideShows.

What’s really telling about this upgrade is that Roxio felt it
was necessary to add more items that...well, somewhat relate
to burning CDs and DVDs, but aren’t much comparison to
tools that already exist on the Mac, all in an effort to keep their
product relevant to today’s marketplace.

What would have simply been wrong with offering a Burning
Application for the Macintosh, that:
*Has all the latest current drivers for every model of DVD
& CD drive ever made?
*Has A Templates Customizer that enables you to author
decent looking Menus for your DVDs and Slideshows?
*Can handle input of any file type, audio or video, without
having to buy third party add-ons or plugins?
Integrates well with EXISTING Products, and doesn’t
try to compete with them?

To me, that would be what Roxio needs to focus and deliver on,
and with that it would stay relevant for Mac users.

Tomorrow is A NEW DAY

Tomorrow begins the controversy that is MacWorld 2009.
And whether you spent the last couple of weeks looking over the rumor mill daily,
or you worried if Steve was going to show
up anyway, or how this would affect Apple’s current stock prices,
I believe that without a doubt, tomorrow at 12 noon CST,
( that’s my time here in Midwest USA), I along with the millions of you,
will be tuned in just to see what shakes loose from the Apple Tree this year.
Regardless of what new goodies make it to
production, I’m sure that even the most budget conscious
of us will be saving our pennies for the newest Apple widget.

A New Year Is Upon Us!

The New Year has arrived, and with it renewed hope in all things.
With scant days away from MacWorld 2009, as well as the
beginning first Quarter for many businesses including Apple,
and a new President Elect coming into office shortly,
Mac users have much to be excited for and thankful for!

What is the one thing your are hopeful for or excited about
coming in 2009? Tell me in the comments below.

Apple Leaves MacWorld: Who Cares?

Apple announced that they are no longer participating in
MacWorld Expo, the largest Apple -centric gathering of
vendors and consumers in North America.

And yet this should be no surprise: Apple started announcing
years ago that they were pulling out of trade shows, citing that
since they were investing in opening Apple stores and that
their website was reaching millions of people a day, there
was no further need to go to trade shows to get their message
out to Mac consumers.

And yet people the world over have said this and that about
how much doom and gloom it means to Apple as a company,
and how MacWorld will no longer be a viable trade show.

I see things from Apple’s POV: Trade shows are costly, and I’ve
setup at a few in my time, and what you get back out of them,
doesn’t justify the expense of setting up.
Apple has dedicated presence now in retail outlets and malls
nationwide; they have top commercial spots running in
prime time across four major networks. Apple’s own website
gets millions of hits a day! Apple doesn’t need to waste dollars,
it needs to spend dollars on what works.