WWDC Keynote and pundit thoughts.

Posted on June 11th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, main.

Within the Mac Modding community, and the Mac Nerd news community I’ve read several articles so far that were slamming the WWDC keynote. Its run the gamut from people being pissed that Apple has “forgotten the Mac,” to people complaining about there not being enough about Mac OSX, to the iPod getting left out. Oh, and there was lambasting over there not being “one more thing,” the fact that Mac OS 10.6 is called “snow leopard” and so on. In essence, the sentiment was stated as feeling ripped off.

My reply to all of this is simple. Quit whining, grow up, and get over it.

Allow me to elaborate. Steve Jobs promised you round about nothing. Nada. Zilch. Steve was in no way required to even have a keynote speech. He’s not obligated to give you “one more thing,” nor is he required to dedicate any of his time on stage to anything other than that which he wants to. Hell, the man could come out with a banjo and sing two hours of John denver tunes rewritten to be about AppleScript, and it would be entirely his prerogative.

So what if WWDC’s keynote was all about the iphone. Its only recently that WWDC has warranted any such thing. With the amount of public darling that Apple has to contend with, steve jobs farts in a stiff wind, and the nerd news machine is trying to figure out what it means. Hello? Maybe he just farted.

Now, lets address that which did and didn’t happen at the keynote, and my thoughts as to why.

Apple had a sold out venue for WWDC this year. Thats the first time ever. Let me say that again. For the first time in history, apple has sold out the World Wide Developers Conference. What does that tell you about development for Apple hardware and software? That we’ve got more devs working third party than ever before. That alone is impressive.

Then lets notice that Apple had separate tracks for the desktop Mac OS and the iPhone OS. Both Mac OSX, but unique to their hardware. Notice that Apple has without telling the entire world, gone and turned OSX into a legitimate portable OS that people WANT to develop for. Thats impressive as well.

So, why was the Keynote all about the iPhone? It wasn’t. It was about software development for the version of Mac OSX that the iPhone runs. So too with the iPod Touch. Why was it all about showing off software development? Big hint. They keynote was at WWDC! It was a keynote for developers! Not for the nerd news, and not for the average joe consumer. Sure, they announced the iPhone and MobileMe. They knew it would give the end users something to talk about. But the majority about mobile OS development tells the developers that Apple is serious about this as a platform. It tells the public that there are amazing things in store. And by doing a developer oriented keynote, it tells the nerd news that Apple will not put on a big show and cater to “what the peoples want” in order to get headlines. They’re going to gear towards the correct audience.

So, why didn’t Apple talk about 10.6 very much? Because they didn’t want to. What have they got up their sleeves? They don’t have to tell you. They can do whatever they want. And if history is any indicator, what they told us on Monday is barely the tip of the iceberg.

Now, lets address Snow Leopard. What’s in a name? In this case, very little. The cat names were Apple internal project designations. Apple has always used names like this on an internal scale. However, the nerd news picked up on “tiger” and “leopard” and such, and the names stuck. And as far as Snow Leopard? Okay. Sure. Current Mac OS is Leopard. Many people also call it Space Kitty because of the default graphics. I’d guess that would make Snow Leopard “Frozen Space Kitty.” And, for the record, if you think Snow Leopard is bad, lets take a moment to remember some other internal apple product names, that are a hell of a lot worse.

Mac OS 8.6: Horatio
Mac OS10.2.7 for the PMac G5: Smeagol
Quicktime Early Dev: Road Pizza
iWork 07: Garlic
PMac 6100: Piltdown Man
Pbook 3400C: Hooper
newton Messagepad keyboard: Bazooka
Apple OneScanner: Moosehead

And thats just a couple. Many times, devices got names like Q98 or M68. The fact that apple cares enough to give us a cat to call the OS is pure icing, since other than being named after a cat, it’ll more realistically be called Mac OS X 10.6. To wit, quit whining about cat names.

Finally, lets roll the rest of it together. The rest of it being that there were no new machines other than the iphone, nothing got speed bumped or entirely redesigned, the ipod didn’t get any real stage time, etc. In order of my listing:

No, Apple did not promise you any new boxes. They dropped the MacBook Air on you in January at MWSF, a Consumer and corporate trade show, which was in fact, the correct venue to do so. Also, during the 2008 calendar year, they’ve updated the Xserve, the MacPro, the MacBook, and the iMac. They also released an N-Compliant Airport Express. So far, I see plenty of of updating and new product movement. Sure, its not high profile, but apple is not required to make everything a high profile event.

No, nothing got speed bumped, they just hit up the iMac’s recently. Currently the product line is pretty well diverse, so mucking about with it would have been more of a hassle than not. They’ll get around to it in their own sweet time. Good things come to those who wait. Be patient and Apple will bring the Awesome.

The poor iPod. Its so lonely in iPod land. No mention at all. Whatever. In first quarter 08 financials, apple noted that they had sold 22,121,000 ipods during the quarter. for second quarter, their numbers were 10,644,000. Thats 32,765,000. Yes, thats almost 33 million ipods. Let that sink in. 33 million. That works out to pretty much an ipod for every man woman and child in Canada. Its 3 million shy of an ipod for every man, woman and child in California, in 2 fiscal quarters.

Now, the last time I checked, Companies always put money into development, but they don’t start heavily revising their product line until their current product hits market saturation and sales begin to decline. Then they hit the market with a revised product line, and the cycle starts over. Bearing that in mind, ipod sales are pretty strong. People like and want ipods. Therefore, since the product line isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it.

Now also bear in mind that the WWDC Keynote figured heavily in terms of software development for their portable device OS. Maybe I missed it but that includes the iPod touch. And if you think that Apple isn’t planning to work more of the iphone/touch features into the rest of the iPod product line over time, you’re not paying attention. The WWDC Keynote was all about software and OS development for the iPhone and the iPod.

Now, bearing all this in mind, Steve’s keynote speech makes perfect sense to me. It contained targeted info, for a targeted audience, with candy for the kids sprinkled in here and there. Was I disappointed? No. Did I get what I expected? Yes. Was it impressive? I thought so.

And yes, before I forget, Mobile Me. Watch that space. Closely. Carefully. Pay attention. Apple has. Google’s online features? Microsoft’s talk of web based subscription based applications? The proliferation of web based email, the decentralization of data across multiple machines and devices? Having all of your data be cohesive across those multiple devices? Yes. Apple’s been paying attention. Lots of attention. And they’ve got a master plan for keeping you organized, on the go, and connected. This isn’t the .mac of current, or the iTools of old. Apple has a vision of the future, and they’re just starting to give us a taste. MobileMe? Cant wait, roll over my .mac account now. Show me what I’ve been missing, and give me a reason to love what you’ve got to offer. Go ahead Apple, win me over with cold filtered awesomeness.

In short, if you hated the keynote, and felt ripped off, then you’re most likely in the category of people it wasn’t targeted at. if you saw Steve “Bring The Awesome” and the awesome wasn’t the iPhone, then you’re totally in the keynote crosshairs. Not that this will stop a million tech writers from filing a million articles about “what the new ipod means.” It wont. It just means that Apple is still as good as ever at hiding things in plain sight.

Pay attention to the future. Steve showed you on Monday. It may not be here right now, and it may not be a phone, but its coming. And we’ll see it soon enough.

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ModYourMac.com Tech Support Series Episode One. Should I buy Applecare?

Posted on June 11th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, Tech Support Series, main.

You just dropped anywhere from $599 to upwards of $18000 on a new Mac. Or you dropped anywhere from $149 to $499 on an iPod. Regardless of whether you purchased on line, in an Apple Retail Store, or from an Apple Specialist, a human being or a website offered to sell you AppleCare. You were quoted a price ranging between $39 and $349, depending on the device in question. Depending on the device, and your wallet, that can be a pretty sizable chunk of change. So, what is Applecare? Why do you need it? Why should you buy it? And why is everyone trying to sell it to you?

Many would typically categorize AppleCare as a service contract. However, its a bit different. Instead of locking you into taking your machine one place, and having to have it serviced by one company, or selling you extended warranties that you’ll probably never use, Apple capitalizes on the simple fact that they service all their own hardware. Yes, you read that right. When your Apple technology is repaired, it is repaired by either Apple, or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. This could be in the Apple Retail Store, or at a 3rd party Apple Specialist. Regardless, what this means is that an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) will be diagnosing, repairing and testing your hardware. Kinda nice to know that its not being done by some chump, right?

Given this, Apple knows that your machine will be repaired by their authorized people. Since you’re already going to go to them in some form for service, they’re willing to sell you piece of mind. Does that catch you off guard a little? The concept of purchasing an intangible? It shouldn’t. When we buy a car, we’re always interested in the warranty. 3 years, 30,000 miles. 5 years, 50,000 miles. 10 years, 100,000 miles. Bumper to bumper, power train, etc. Warranties are important. They give us piece of mind that if our expensive car breaks through no fault of our own, the manufacturer will repair it. What a novel idea!

Big surprise, Apple does the same thing too. Your new device comes with a standard one-year warranty against manufacturer defects and failures. Just the same as most other big ticket items you buy. But here’s where AppleCare shines. For that nominal fee, you can extend your one year warranty to two years for the iPod line, and three years for your computer purchase. Simply put, your warranty just got longer.

So, why is this necessary, good, and so on? Simple. You just spent money on an expensive piece of technology. You bought and Apple device, so you’re expecting quality. But, sometimes things fail. Its inherent in electronics. And wouldn’t you expect to keep that iPod or MacBook Pro for more than oh, a year? Say, two, or three at least? One should hope. So why arent you protecting that piece of technology like the expensive jewel that it is? As any and all Apple tech’s will tell you, you should. In fact, we’ll beg you. If you haven’t bought AppleCare and you come in for a repair in your first year of warranty, we’ll gladly tell you what that repair would have cost out of warranty, in order to illustrate the value.

For example. You drop $2499 on a MacBook Pro. Its an amazing machine. AppleCare is $350. Now, in your second year of use, the video chipset fails. If you have AppleCare, getting your machine will cost you nothing. Apple will replace your Logic Board and cover the labor for free. Why? Because you bought AppleCare. But, what if you didnt? Well, you can expect that a replacement logic board will run you between $500-$800, and you’re looking at being charged between $100-$125 in labor from your service provider. Do the math. even at its cheapest, you’ve already justified the cost of AppleCare by $150.

Now bear in mind that the aforementioned scenario is very illustrative in terms of cost. But if you think logic boards never fail, hard drives never die, screens never lose their backlight, and DVD drives never stop burning or spinning, then you’re in for a rude awakening.

In short, AppleCare is a repair guarantee. If your machine fails through no act of negligence, misuse, abuse, or act of god, Apple will repair it at no cost to you, because you bought AppleCare. But dont think for a second that Apple is doing this to be nice to you. Just like you’re buying piece of mind with your AppleCare purchase, Apple is hedging their bets that you wont ever use it. They’re hoping against hope that you’re machine runs perfectly from day one, until you replace it, and/or the warranty expires. Why? because if it does, they’ve just made between $59-$349 off you without lifting a finger. Put simply, its free money to them. And if the majority of people buy AppleCare and never use it, Apple still comes out ahead in terms of the people who do. Its financially sound on their end, and proactive on your end.

So, with all of this said, please buy your AppleCare. You can purchase AppleCare any time within the first 364 days of ownership of your device. It gives you the piece of mind to know that if something happens, you’re covered. It also means that when you come in for repair, we can smile at you from behind the service counter and tell you that parts and labor are covered and not to worry, rather than telling you its going to cost several hundred dollars. Believe me, we’d much rather bill apple, than bill you.

(John Hart is an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician since 2001. He’s worked for Apple Specialists for the entirety of his professional career. He has repaired and worked on every Macintosh model shipped in the last ten years, and many beyond the last decade.)

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Yet another redesign.

Posted on April 24th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, Site News, main.

So I was looking through the site traffic log and I noticed that traffic all but completely died off when I updated to the previous gray and blue theme with ads. I dont know if this was theme related or ad related, but I’ve since killed both, and gone with something a little more clean and modern. I’ll be tracking web statistics, and we’ll see how things pan out.

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DIAF ADC Upload page.

Posted on April 18th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, Modding News, main.

I built a dashboard widget this morning. Its good, its clean, and I’m pleased with it. What is it? a countdown for the release of GTA4. I then decided to upload it to Apple’s widget download page. Arent I nice for sharing? Yeah. Screw it. You can all download it from my site. Why? Let me tell you why. Apple’s widget submission page is completely tarded. After filling out all the boxes, and including screenshots and the whole nine yards, the submission form kept finding errors. And of course, then I had to change the urls for everything, because I’d already submitted those urls. And then, my upload and download packages were different sizes. and on, and on. Finally, I said, “fuck you” and clicked the cancel button. I’m all about making something and sharing it, but when it takes longer to upload it than it does to build it, I’m done.

If you want the widget, click on the page in the menu bar.

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Modding with Fire.

Posted on February 13th, 2008 by phiber811, under John, Service Rants, main.

Every now and then, someone asks me “why should I buy a Mac?” My response is of course, why shouldn’t you? I’ve been a mac person for my entire computer using life and have no problem with that. Its a good thing. But of course, once in a while, something comes along that serves as a reminder of how well built the Macintosh computer is. I offer it as a good example of why you should buy a mac.

Yes, the picture above is an iMac. Your standard 20″ iMac G5. They’re good machines all told. Granted there was an REP on the power supply and logic board, but one can hardly hold Apple responsible for Foxconn getting a batch of bad capacitors. But I’m digressing. Notice that this mac isn’t pristine white. Its yellow. Its black. Its gray and sooty. The plastic has bubbled and started to melt. Yes, thats right. This mac was caught in a fire! I came into work this morning, and this machine had somehow made it into our possession, post customer. The shop folks were getting a good look at it, since Mac techs always enjoy a look at the extreme destruction that can befall one of MotherShip’s fine machines. Of course, with this unit’s life cycle ended, the guys just opted to leave it for the recycling pile.

I couldn’t let it go though. We can only imagine what this machine saw. How the room around it went up in flames. How, sitting on its desk, it was engulfed in an inferno and managed to still be upright. This machine had obviously made it through a baptism of fire, literally. But how well had it survived? I had to know. It was almost a moral obligation to try that which most people had already written off.

Would this horribly thrashed and discarded machine, who sacrificed all to protect it’s hard drive, power on? And if it did power on, would it boot up? Yes. I had to know.

I went ahead and set the unit up on its own surge protector, just in case. I hooked up a keyboard, mouse, power and ethernet. The usual basics. Then, while compressing the warped back plate assembly, I pressed in the power button. I caught the sound of a fan spinning, a scent of burnt plastic, smoke and ash. Then, the unit elicited the famous mac startup chime. What!?!? It passed POST! (Power On Self Test) To coin an internet acronym, OMFG! The thing not only powered on, but POSTed. Jesus Tap Dancing Christ.

At this point. I had to step back and marvel for a minute. I’ve seen a lot of machines take some seriously impressive beatings. But I’ve never seen one take this kind of damage, and still function. This machine was subjected to temperatures hot enough to completely color cook, bubble, and melt its plastics. Its entirely possible that the machine itself may have for a time, been on fire. And it powers on and passes the self test. I don’t think I could possibly be more impressed. Well, maybe if it asked me for a stiff drink and pooped out the keys to a ferrari, maybe. But this is reality. All my Liquor is at home. I couldn’t offer it a drink, even if I wanted to. But I’m digressing again.

So, as I’ve said, the unit powered on and passed POST. As I sat there marveling at it, I was even more surprised when the thing found my NetBoot server, and began to boot up. It loaded up the desktop and sure enough, this machine that was given up for dead, sat here on my workbench, patiently waiting to be used. In my mind, all I could imagine was the “Little Computer That Could” sitting on my desk, and despite its battle damage, hollering out,

“Dude! Wait, I still function! I can still make an iMovie, or check your email! We can hit the iTunes Music Store, or like, maybe check out Slashdot! I’m not done yet! I can still be useful!”

This machine impresses me thoroughly. It embodies the idea that you’d be surprised at what you can live through. Likewise, its a testament to how well constructed Mac’s are. This one survived a fire, and it still works. Sure, the plastics are toast, literally, and the screen is a loss, but it powers on, and wants to do its job. I don’t know if I can say that about any other piece of technology that I own or service.

This little Mac had been cast to the recycling bin, given up as a loss. Its precious data was retrieved, so the machine could head for the trash. However, I don’t think I can let that happen. I have too much respect for this inanimate object. I’m going to find a good corner of my work area for it, maybe clean it up a little bit, and keep it around. Why? Maybe as a reminder of how good Mac’s really are. Maybe because you don’t really know what tough means until you see it first hand. Or, maybe because its just so damned cool that it got roasted and can still check my email.

You rock hard little iMac. You totally do.

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