Spectre’s Sayings

This oversight is good for a giggle: Apple forbids Windows users from installing Safari for Windows - via The Register.

Steve Jobs made this guy miss his flight.

Apple Released New MacBook and MacBook Pro Models today.

Heh. “This is just one of the reasons I have chosen not to own 5.4 million shares of Apple stock.”

My MacBook’s hard drive died last night. The Apple Support Forums show that there is an epidemic of this affecting MacBooks. It happened to mine at a really inconvenient time. I was just about to start a new web design project for a neighbor, and it had been a little while since my last back up. Of course, the warranty has expired. I’m also a bit strapped for cash, and don’t really want to have to fork out the money for either a replacement part (and I’m not sure I want to open it up to swap out the hard drives) or a replacement machine.

But I need a functioning computer. GAH!

OK, so my predictions were both right and wrong. I was wrong about the “air” moniker. It actually did refer to a new computer, the MacBook Air. But they did upgrade Apple TV. And of course, I didn’t expect any handheld, and had my expectations met.

MacWorld 2008 starts tomorrow at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, and the rumors are running wild about the gear that Steve Jobs is going to unveil during his keynote address. Last week, Apple fueled the rumor-mill by releasing updates to its MacPro and XServe lines. Further fueling the fire is the tag line on banners raised by Apple at the convention center. It reads, “2008. There’s something in the air.”

Many geeks and fanboys have taken that enigmatic tag line and tried to figure out what sort of hardware it refers to. Hence, ideas about the “MacBook Air,” a sub-compact laptop.

I think they’re on the wrong track.

I don’t think “air” refers to a new moniker but an old one. Apple already has a couple of products with “air” in their names. Those are the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express base stations. And what would be the something which is in the air? Data.

I think Apple is going to announce some sort convergance between its wireless routers and the AppleTV, which will include updated AirPort stations. WiFi, WiMax, and streaming HD video are some of the features I expect.

On the other hand, I’d love to see an ultramobile Mac. Having a form factor of the iPhone’s big brother, this handheld computer would feature the full version of MacOS X, and include a multitouch screen. That would rock, but I’m not getting my hopes up, because it’s rather unlikely.

Condingsanity has posted a review of upgrading to Windows XP from Vista.

I tried all of these on a Windows XP machine. How very strange.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) is reporting that a hacker has installed Mac OS X on an Asus Eee PC, the cute little 2-pound linux-based PC laptop. Totally in violation of the user license, of course, but a cool accomplishment nonetheless. Although, who’d want to use OS X on a 7″ screen. It’d look better on a 27″ screen.

Mac OS Hints has a tutorial about installing Windows on a third partition of your Mac’s hard drive, getting around Boot Camp’s 2-partition limit. The geek in me loved reading it, but I realize most people couldn’t care less.

Apple is holding a media event today. That is, they invited members of the media to come and cover an announcement. So what is Steve Jobs going to announce? Well, that’s the big mystery, isn’t it? The consensus is that he’s going to announce a refresh of the iPod line with an emphasis on a new touchscreen interface a la the iPhone. I think he probably will. Plus something surprising. We’ll see when it happens.