This is not the tourist Africa of upscale game parks and locals decked out in quaint native dress, but a land of stark beauty and riveting contradictions.
Monthly Archive for August, 2008
With restaurants and clubs filled with the sounds of samba and pagode and bossa nova, the city channels Brazil primarily through its music.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
A spate of bad news surrounding Mobile Me and iPhone 3G quality problems paired with renewed vigor from competitors Microsoft, Dell, and Nokia has Apple running out of slack from the normally fawning press (TUAW certainly not withstanding).
Forbes has a story about why Apple seems to have lost its luster recently. The New York Times is waxing nostalgic with a retrospective article titled Apple Imperfect. The National Post cites TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington saying Apple is “rotting” and “flailing badly at the edges.”
Consider the parable of the friend. Say you have a good friend, who’s trustworthy, reliable and generally happy to be around you. If that friend suddenly isn’t glad to see you anymore, swears at the elderly and starts drinking cheap bourbon from a hip flask in meetings, you’d say something, right? At least you’d worry that your friend was on the wrong path.
That’s where we find Apple today: A friend on the wrong path. Many have noted that a lack of transparency in admitting its mistakes is hurting its credibility. The fact that it’s making mistakes in the first place is generally forgivable, but we’ve been spoiled by Apple’s pristine track record of consistently delivering quality. As consumers, we want the quality back. If anything, our expectations are even higher now to properly correct the various perceived injustices we’ve suffered.
Taking the long view, Apple will pull out of its funk. Knowing Steve Jobs, it will do so in a spectacular fashion, too, with new products, product improvements, or both. Apple isn’t suffering from a lack of talent or innovation. It’s suffering from management problems that any company of its size faces on a daily basis: scheduling new products, preventing employee burnout, and managing logistics.
We’re nowhere near Apple’s nadir under Gil Amelio, over a decade ago. In fact, investors don’t seem to be fazed at all, with stock prices rebounding to their levels in May. Apple may already be back.
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Filed under: App Store
Tris Developer Noah Witherspoon has conceded to removing his app from the App Store after pressure from the owner of the copyright for Tetris. Tetris offers its own app for $9.99, while Tris is free.
Macworld reviewed both games, and found the official version, developed by EA, lacking. It takes about 30 seconds to load, and you can’t listen to your own music while playing. Tris [app store link] isn’t perfect either, rotating pieces the wrong way, and doesn’t offer “ghosting”: seeing where pieces will land before they drop (which always seemed like cheating to me).
The Tetris Company is well known for aggressively enforcing its copyright on the game. Tetris clone Quinn, for example, goes to great lengths to distance itself from Tetris: it doesn’t even mention the word except for a small disclaimer at the bottom of the screen.
Witherspoon understands that The Tetris Company is entitled to enforce its copyrights, but said on his blog “the approach they’re taking seems to me little more than bullying.” Witherspoon is a student, and admits he lacks the means to pursue the case through the courts.
Witherspoon will pull Tris from the App Store on Wednesday. He wants to offer the app at some point in the future, but is evaluating his options.
[Via MacNN.]
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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Financial
We recently reported on Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s expectations of phenomenal iPhone sales over the next year, and now he’s back with more happy Apple news!
As reported on Macsimum News, Munster looked at preliminary July sales results from NPD Group, did some extrapolation, and came up with numbers showing that both iPod and Mac sales could beat Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter ending September 30, 2008.
Munster’s prognostications show Apple selling 2.7 – 2.9 million Macs, which is up 28% year-over-year from the same period in 2007 and beating Wall Street’s expectations of 2.65 million units. He also expects iPod sales to hit 10.7 – 11.2 million units, which is slightly above Wall Street’s 10.8 million unit guesstimate on the high end.
If Apple happens to hit the high end of these estimates (2.9 million Macs, 11.2 million iPods, 4.1 million iPhones, and a 32% gross margin), Munster calculates that Apple could post earnings per share in the range of $1.19, much better than the Street estimate of $1.11.
TUAW will definitely be following this monster news during the earnings call in October.
[via Macsimum News]
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Filed under: Mac 101
Mac users love their machines for the “ease of use” and “simplicity.” We agree, but completing a few simple steps (free and built-in, mind you), will make things even better.
1. Easy access from the dock
I always drag my hard drive and Applications folder into the dock. No need to minimize windows, invoke Expose or, worst of all, shuffle windows around manually to reach the folder or file you want. Just click to reveal a speedy, hierarchical menu.
2. Learn some keyboard shortcuts
Mouse jockeys will balk, but memorizing even a few keyboard shortcuts will save you much time in the long run. For instance, most web browsers will select the address field with Command – L.
Things get even more fun with the Finder. Shift-Option-D brings up the Desktop Folder. Shift-Option-A presents the Applications folder. Command-M minimizes the frontmost window.
Is the dock in your way? Command-Option-D hides it away, and then calls it back. There are many shortcuts to choose from, but find the four or five that address the tasks you perform most often. Sure, it only takes a second to move from the keyboard to your mouse and back again, but seconds add up.
3. Embrace the menu bar
Several applications offer functionality that can be accessed from the menu bar. For instance, you can set your iChat status and even monitor which of your buddies are online without launching the application.
First, launch iChat and select “Preferences” from the iChat menu. Select “Show status in the menu bar” from the General tab. If someone initiates a chat with you, the application will launch in full and ask if you’d like to receive the invitation.
There are others, of course. Initiate a sync (for MobileMe customers) or Time Machine backup, alter display settings, select a wireless network or check the date and time without exiting the program or project you’re woring on. Many third party applications will let you interact with them via the menu bar as well.
4. Mod your windows
There’s a lot of room for customization in Mac OS X’s Finder windows. For instance, you can easily drag frequently accessed applications, files or folders into the sidebar. I keep AppZapper in the sidebar to quickly eliminate unwanted applications. To remove something from the sidebar, simply drag it out and let go. Poof! It’s gone.
The toolbar at the top of Finder windows is equally flexible. Again, you can drag files, folders or applications up there for one-click access. No more hunting through nested folders.
Change the default icons by right-clicking (or Control-clicking) any neutral space in the toolbar and selecting “Customize toolbar…” from the resulting contextual menu. A sheet will appear with several options. Just drag-and-drop.
Finally, you can keep related files color coded. Simpy right- or Control-click any file or folder and select the color you like under “Label” in the resulting contextual menu.
So there you have it. This list is by no means exahustive, but represents four simple things you can do in fifteen minutes or less to make your Mac more effecient and fun. Best of all, there was nothing additional to buy or install. Happy computing!
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Filed under: Terminal Tips
Have you ever wanted your screen saver to appear as a background image? Probably not. But if you like to show off to your Windows-using friends, then this tip can definitely help you out. By typing the following command into Terminal (Applications > Utilities), all on one line, and hitting enter, you will instantly see your screen saver displayed as a desktop background:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background
To get things back to normal (which you probably will want to do, as many screensavers will put undue load on your processor), either close the Terminal window, press control + C, or restart your computer. If you are running Leopard and have the clock overlay active, it will appear above all windows, which can get a little annoying.
Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW’s Mac 101 and Terminal Tips sections.
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Filed under: Retail, Bad Apple
Is Apple’s oldest NYC retail store causing agita for its well-heeled neighbors in SoHo? AFP and Dow Jones are reporting that the SoHo Alliance, an umbrella community organization, has complained to city officials and Apple execs about a litany of issues with the popular outlet. Crowds outside the store (sometimes overnight) have blocked streets and left trash behind, to the frustration of nearby residents.
The recent Jonas Brothers in-store concert may have been the final indignity for alliance director Sean Sweeney. “This concert attracted thousands of young teenage girls who screamed incessantly on the street for hours for their idols, blocking traffic, injuring one resident in the crush, and inconveniencing scores of other people and businesses.”
I suppose there’s a price to pay for being busy and popular. Considering that the immediate vicinity of the store is home to scores of restaurants, bars and high-end boutiques, it’s surprising that Apple is the biggest quality-of-life offender in the area, but maybe it’s time for some of the bigger draws to move to the 14th Street store instead.
[via Cult of Mac]
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Some really funny apple ads can be found on this page. So far this series of advertisements has made both of the actors stars (John Hodgeman, as the PC and Justin Long as the Mac) So no wonder that microsoft is not too happy about is and is starting to launch a new campain to revamp its image as the looser computer. One of its latest efforts is the www.mojaveexperiment.com. Have a look at this article in the Economist.
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