Category: Gear

  • Best in show at macworld – nice gear

    Beyond the well-rehearsed revelations of his Steveness, the Macworld Expo is also an opportunity for the rest of the Mac ecosystem to show off its latest and greatest wares. I’m obviously not in SF, but I caught up with some cool-looking stuff via Macs Only and Macworld. Keep in mind that I haven’t actually touched…

  • MacBook Pro – it gets worse before it gets better

    As more and more becomes known about the new Intel-based MacBook Pro, there’s more and more to get worried about. Rosyna at Unsanity.com’s blog has a host of concerns beyond those that I mentioned yesterday, including the demise of dual-sided DVD writing capability and the loss of the PowerPC’s Altivec feature that speeds up multimedia.…

  • MacBook Pro – when little problems add up

    Updated 1/11 after Carl Longino commented that I incorrectly described his post Kudos to Steve Jobs and Co for pulling off the transition to Intel chips faster than most expected. At today’s MacWorld show, Jobs unveiled an iMac and a new laptop, dubbed the MacBook Pro (will iBooks soon be renamed MacBook amateur?) running with…

  • Down goes Palm, yet another notch on Gates’ belt

    (Updated 9/28) The depressing news that a once innovative and leading software company has been vanquished by Microsoft is hardly surprising. Palm, now called PalmSource, revolutionized the “personal digital assistant” by shedding features and focusing on simplicity and a good user experience. Now it lives to see the day that its own hardware unit, called…

  • Working with the e815 and photos – oy vey

    (Updated 1/25/07 on MicroSD) After a couple of weeks with my Verizon/Motorola e815, I have a few quirks and quibbles to report. Getting photos off the phone has been a mildly trying exercise since Verizon crippled the Bluetooth profile that would allow one to effortlessly and wirelessly move snapshots into iPhoto. You can upload photos…

  • Motorola e815 – best of a sorry lot for Macs

    Verizon — just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Years ago in New York City, I subscribed with Verizon Wireless but when I moved back to Massachusetts, they had little to offer in terms of cool phones that played nice with Macs and their prices were substantially higher than everyone…

  • Verizon Wireless Broadband plays with Macs pretty well

    (Updated 4/19) I’m posting this entry from my laptop on a moving train using Verizon’s wireless broadband service. It’s pricey ($80 a month for “unlimited” service) but thanks to some serious OS X gearheads, can work pretty well with Macs. I did have to activate the required PC card (a Novatel v620) on a Windows…

  • Great news on phones and isync in Tiger

    Apple unveiled a lot of details about its next OS release, Tiger, due April 29. I’m intrigued by promised abilities to synchronize all manner of stuff between and betwixt various Macs. Also — great news — the list of phones that will work with iSync is not only much longer, it finally lists Bluetooth compatibility…

  • Don’t hold your breath for Motorola iTunes phone

    Here it is — no. There it is — no again. Don’t look now but Motorola’s announced phone that will be able to play songs bought from Apple’s iTunes music store was pulled from a planned unveiling yesterday. Apparently wireless operators aren’t real excited about offering a phone that doesn’t give them a big cut…

  • Mac mini mondo good

    There’s something ridiculous — as in ridiculously good — about the new Mac mini that arrived last week. Open box, unwrap computer the size of a Michael Chabon novel, place on desk, connect mouse, keyboard and monitor. Turn on. Ten minutes after arriving, everything just works. And everything works just fine, speedy for Web browsing,…