Posts by Tardis 6 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Jun 2010
"Introduced in Febrary 1997, the PowerMac 6500 ..... was the first computer, Mac or PC to break the 300 MHz barrier."
I had one, with an Apple-made TV tuner that slotted into a video capture slot.
I now have an iMac with a USB TV tuner, which is my living room TV and looks very nice. It's digital, so it requires a credit-card size smart card in order to work. I cannot imagine Apple building such a reader into an iMac, when USB devices are so readily available.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/jobs_horns_32.pngh
And as if Japan weren't suffering enough, today we are told we will not be able to buy an iPad 2 as scheduled!
Seriously, all that nuclear stuff is happening a long way away from Tokyo. My chances of getting affected by radiation from Tohoku are perhaps equal to or slightly greater than my chances of getting hit by a nuke launched from North Korea, which is only slightly further away from Tokyo than the north-east (Tohoku) region.
But there is a 100% chance that I will not be able to get an iPad 2. Surely this is racial discrimination against the Japanese, Apple deserting its greatest fan base in their time of need.
I suffered from RSI (Repetetive strain injury, aka Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) resulting from using CAD software in my work as an architect. After I learned to control the symptoms, I always used a mouse pad with a wrist rest on my work PC. When I said I will "never go back" to using a mouse, my feeling in avoiding the pain of RSI may be part of that decision.
Of course, I have the trackpad working on my Mac at home. I do not yet know whether I can get it to work on my Windows PC, but I will definitely try it. Apple's Magic Mouse works over BT on XP, but not too well. Good news is AutoCAD will soon be released for the Mac!
"You've got to hand it to Apple. While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better. Music players, small form-factor computers, tablet PCs - it's taken existing concepts and given them a major makeover."
So whose idea did Apple "re-invent"?
Wikipedia: Apple's PowerBook 500 series was the first laptop to carry such a device, which Apple refers to as a "trackpad". When introduced in May 1994 it replaced the trackball of previous PowerBook models.
I bought an Apple Magic Trackpad to try out. It took a bit of getting used to - one finger for this, two fingers for that, three fingers etc., but now I would not EVER go back to using a mouse with my desktop PC.
"Same size as the Apple TV, has an HDMI port like the Apple TV - will the Mac Mini replace that machine? Well, it's telling that the current verision of the Apple TV has been dropped from the front page of the online Apple Store."
Was the Apple TV EVER on the front page of the online Apple Store? I always had to look for it via the iPod section, and it's STILL THERE.
Even so, this squashed-Mini introduction must have some implications for Home Theatre and the Apple TV. Apple could, for example, strip it down to bare bones and sell it as a NEW Apple TV. Or they could sell an even-more stripped down $100 box that has been rumoured recently.
I personally think that a combination of "Mac Mini X-Serve Home Server plugged into Hi-def TV plus iPads" will eventually replace the combination of "iMac or desktop Win PC plus MacBooks or laptops" combo of the typical household. Maybe within 3 years.
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