Powerbook 1Ghz: My Old Girl, But Still Sexy

I bought my aluminum 1Ghz Powerbook eons ago and it has not been on my lap for more than two years since I bought the late-2008 unibody Macbook back in December of 2008. And guess what? It still rocks.

See, one of the reason I went with the Macbook was that it had a great screen that the LCD on the Powerbook just could not keep up through over the years of being used and abused as a productivity device and media device.

Still, it has a lot of uses that cannot be matched in ways that an aging Windows machine cannot.

First, the keyboard on this particular line of the Powerbook is still second to none. The keys are responsive and is, depending on your opinion, a starkly different from the chicklet forms on the newer Macbooks. And that's say that the current keyboards on the Macbook are also excellent.

I imagine that many of you out there in Apple land has more than a few Powerbooks still up and running at home. So you know what I am talking about. Whether you've passed this along to your kids, parents, or just having it sit on the side of your workstation to play music through iTunes or as a file server, you know what I'm talking about here.

There's life yet in this awesome piece of Apple engineering for years to come. There will not being any more updates from Apple and have not been for a long time. However, what is there is quite stable and fast.

I've maxed out the PB to the 2 GB of RAM. There simply isn't more you can do beyond that. And for what you can continue doing on these PowerPC Macs, you don't need more than that.

Anyway, it's a good walk down memory lane and great knowing that road is still being traveled. And as if I needed a reminder, the Powerbook seems to be agreeing with me by warming my laptop on this cold night.

So, do you still have a pre-Intel Powerbook in your household, apartment, or dorm? If so, what are you using it for?


- This post was written and sent from My Powerbook

Motorola May Be Onto Something With Atrix And LapDock

Would you be interested if iOS can one day (it probably will) be powerful enough (it probably already is) to become a full-sized Mac. Well, I think I just kinda of answered that question for myself. And I got this idea after spend some time with the Atrix at the ATT store when I was pre-ordering the 3G iPad 2 a week ago and I saw it at a Starbucks over the weekend.

And I'm not the first one to come up with this idea for the Mac or the iOS devices. But I'm writing this post on my brand new Macbook Air. Boy it is light. And if Apple were to morph future iPads into a sort of a laptop with a dock.

A while back, some blog, I forgot which one, even thought it might be a neat idea if Apple was to get rid of the trackpad and in its place, allow the user to dock their iPhone or iPod touch. From there, the user can synch data and use the touchscreen as the trackpad.

Obviously, that is not likely to happen given the complexity of this setup. Steve Jobs would never allow it. The design team would rather quit than let this happen.

And doing it the way Motorola designed the Atrix sit behind the screen on the Lapdock is just as clumsy to say the least. But it can work.

The Jonathan Ives and his team has to be working on this concept right about now. Apple's iOS and Mac team are already trying to figure out how, if they haven't already, such an integration works.

Will it happen with iOS 5 on iPad 3 or iPhone 5? Probably not. But it will happen.

This will likely happen once the mobile chips that power the iOS devices are powerful enough that it can duplicate much of what a regular Macbook can do today. Already, OS X is integrating a lots of what Apple picked up from creating the iOS experience.

Perhaps, we'll see iOS and OS X merge into one unifying OS. And when that happens, we might have ourselves a MacPad that can work as a standalone tablet or when hooked up to a dock or monitor, it becomes a Mac.

Gauging Apple's Mobile Success By Examining Its Vision, Not Stock Price

I do own a couple of shares of Apple that I did not sell from way back when things were still bad. As a believer, albeit naïve at the time, I thought things would turn around. The naïve part would have come true had Steve Jobs not entered the halls of Apple Proper and took things over and shook the music, PC, and, now, the mobile markets.

I was watching a CNBC video today where two analysts, pretty much clueless about tech and what we mobile warriors are about, took both sides of the Apple stock. One thinks it’ll go up while the other thinks things about to come to a head for Apple’s stock price.

Where do I stand?

iPhone Intel:

After Apple's event to preview iPhone 3.0, I realized that not much will take place between then and until iPhone 3.0 come out in the "summer". And summer pretty much covers, well, all summer. So, it stands that we expect things to be quiet.

To my delight, that has not been the case. There has been no shortage of information about Apple, rumors that come from "well-placed informants", rumors that stem from other rumors, and just plain old stuff Wall Street analysts make up.

And as it is today, people are getting more and more of their information through the Internet. Blogs, news sites, blogs on news sites that quote blogs, and so on and so forth. It's a cycle that is feeding itself. We all need eyeballs. Yes, readers.

So, lots about Verizon and Apple. Pre Nano and ATT. Verizon with Microsoft. CDMA versus GSM. Apple's 10" tablet. So, what is going on with Apple's mobile gears and plans in the coming months?

These are what we know:

• iPhone 3.0 is coming out this summer. If Apple sticks to their habits, we are looking at end of June or early July.
• To coincide with the availability of the new mobile OS, new iPhones will be launched. This where we stop. We have no idea of there will be other mobile devices. Wishing it won't make it so. Having said that, I'm wishing Christmas comes early this year. Wishing really, really hard.
• We'll hear a lot about Snow Leopard at the WWDC. While Apple would like the focus to be on the next Mac OS, there will be information about iPhone 3.0.
• We know there are feature within iPhone 3.0 that were not talked about at last month's preview.
• Tethering is coming. Apple could not announce it at the preview since it would unveil too much at that time.
• There will be boring demos at the WWDC, about 1.2 or 1.3 billion apps downloaded, the number of iPhones and iPod Touches in the wild, and other self-congratulatory remarks.

So, there you have it. Wanting adjustments to mobile plans, relishing in new technologies behind the new iPhones, wishing Steve Jobs will make a surprise appearance, and wanting longer battery life in the iPhones won't make it so. Wanting Verizon to say "I'm sorry I ever doubted you" to Apple isn't going to suddenly going to make Cupertino develop a CDMA iPhone.

We have 6-8 weeks (possibly longer) of excruciating waiting to do. Meanwhile, enjoy the increasingly outrageous posts, rumors, Photoshopped pictures that will alleviate some of the anxiety. Just don't take them in as Apple gospel.

MacWind (Or Macbook Mini if you prefer)

Like a lot of folks, we're waiting Apple to release the next generation of Macbooks.  Word on the steets (Internet Drive) is middle of October.  Well, apparently someoneis not willing to wait that long.

Meet MacWind.

Wired has been writing a series on hacking and installing OS X on MSI's Wind.  You can check it out below.  In fact, there are now fixes and drivers to make this baby easier to use.  In fact, with some Wi-Fi issues, there will be new genuine OS X drivers from Realtek as well.

Also check out our post  on the best non-Mac Macbooks.

Impact:  This is becoming more than jus tone guy's obsession.  Wired has legitmized OS X hacking with these posts.  I can't help but wonder if Apple is secret monitoring the situation.  It may well create a deeper and more obsessive cult than the general mainstream Apple fanboys.

Also, we may see more OS-hack-friendly netbooks in the future from the likes of Asus and other Asian brands.

Source: Wired

Best Non-Mac Macbooks

Will Apple eventually license OS X?

I don't know but I'm beginning to come around to the idea that maybe Apple may offer OS X to 3rd parties.  Why is that?  Intel.  Since the early days of the Apple-Intel partnership, folks started trying how to efficient get OS X installed on non-Mac hardwares.

So, in a word or two, what is the state of this form of Mac jailbreak?

Not too difficult.  That three words, ain't it?

Some of the EEE PC owners have been able to install OS X without much difficulties (Wi-Fi did not work out of the box - there is a Dell Wi-Fi card that be found on eBay).  Even before this, we have the Hackintosh where people installed OS X on desktops.  The boast is that no hacking is required.  However, it does require twicking the BIOS and having to go on the Internet and download a special version of Leopard.

Wired has now gone a step further and literally promote install OS X in the MSI Wind by associating openly with hackers (for journalstic purposes I'm sure).

I'm okay with that.  Really.  I've unlocked and jail-broken iPhones And this is why I think Apple may allow a small number of sanctioned manufacturers to make OS available in market segments currently addressed by Apple.

If it does happen, it will not be an situation like we had in the 90s.  I think it would look a bitter more like the app approval process.  Nothing will go on sale without Apple's approval and Apple will receive payment from from licensing OS X and the "verification process".

So, we've got MSI Wind and EEE PC.  Now, I'm currently looking at the Asus N10 .  It's retailed for $800 but at that price, I going to recommend getting the Macbook instead of Asus N10 to run OS X. No hacking required there.

It has 2GB, 160GB or 250GB, Vista/XP, and a hybrid graphic system, Intel's IGP and Nvidia's GeForce 9300M.  It's the GPU system that got my attention.  And this is what it's capable of doing:



So, there you have it.  I think the N10 is the best candidate for OS X given it's GPU capability.  OS X runs well on Intel's IGP but having a dedicated GPU makes things easier.

The only thing is I'm looking for a price drop.  At this price, it's no longer a netbook.  Even if it is only about 3 lbs.

Note:  There have been speculation that there maybe an Apple project or device called the "brick".  Some think perhaps this is a wider strategy to throw a "brick" though Microsoft's Windows (be it Vista or XP).  It may be a series of assaults on the Redmond's OS market dominance.

Another Note:

Mac Hybrid - Speculative Fun on Secret Product from Apple

People are all over the place when it comes to what sercet product, if any, will Apple be introducing that require them to warn investors of lower margins in future quarter?

Some Apple fans think Apple will merely be lowering prices but others think Apple will actually introduce a brand new product that will cause panic and pandemonium among its competitors.  TUAW reportedly received information that points to changes among Apple TV marketing material and a September 30th webcast.

Pure speculation.  Simply rumors.  It'll be a couple of slow weeks between now and mid-October, when Apple is most likely to offer new Macbooks.  But for speculative purposes, it would make sense for Apple to merge it's "hobby", the Apple TV, which has been met with limited success to be it kindly and the Mac in creating a consumer-class Mac that let folks use it as a computer, gaming machine, and as an Apple TV.

What would be the sole purpose of the "Mac Hybrid". (Apple, please feel free to use this.  I mean it.  Go ahead.)

• Do what Apple TV cannot do alone.  In corporate Apple TV into Hybrid will allow more "Apple TV" to be sold.  In stead of thousands, millions of Hybrids will allow Apple to truly move into homes, if not living rooms.  That is right, there is that much pinned up demand for a midrange Mac.  Mac Mini has not been upgraded for almost 1.5 years now.
• A stealthy way to build a console without actually entering the console war.  It'll be more expensive than Xbox 360 and PS3 but those two cannot claim to be a real computer now, can they?
• More integration with iPod Touch and iPhone.  Provide app developers with a larger market.  Give the Mac Hybrid to use apps will Apple's walled garden App Store to expand "its perimeters".  In fact, this feature should be extended to all Macs.  It's my belief that Google will eventually develop an Android virtual environment to do just that.
• Limited upgrade options.  Apple will offer limited upgrade option here but it could really get a lot of hobbyists interested in using a Mac that runs both OS X and Windows.  Gamers are just as fanatical as hardrest core of Mac users.  Win their loyalty and you've got another regiment of army that will do anything for you.  

My core demand for such a machine is added integration with iTunes material and Apple's mobile platform.  The seemless ability to use apps on these Macs on TV will go a long way in allow developers and consumers more flexibility, not to mention it'll help take away some heat Apple is taking from developers regarding their NDA impementation.

Source:  TUAW