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Most geeks I know have a ritual I call the “fake shopping cart” or FSC. This is basically the online version of window shopping.
\x0a\x0aThe principles are similar, go to your website(s) of preference, and try multiple configurations until you build a dreamy new setup. Just the like intricate and confusing world of female fitting rooms, FSC is not only about one item, it’s about choosing the best combination of products.
\x0a\x0aObviously - best - is relative. Although some geeks practice no-limits FSC, the real fun only happens when a certain spending restriction is established. The restriction itself doesn’t have to be realistic at all - you could try to build the best setup for $15.000, a budget that a new imaginary sports team owner like you deserves. In any case, some sort of limit is considered good practice.
\x0a\x0aEver since Apple switched to Intel, my FSC has focused around notebooks. While I loved my iBook G3 and G4 machines, they felt underpowered. The jump in performance of the MacBooks made my dream of an affordable notebook with enough power to substitute a desktop real. Of course, there was still room for lots of debate, MacBook vs. MacBook Pro, screen size, RAM, hard-drive capacity and the obligatory external monitor brand question1.
\x0a\x0aRecently though, Apple has shaken my FSC beliefs with the introduction of the latests iMac’s and the announcement of the iPad.
\x0a\x0aOn my last winter holiday I went to Venezuela and the US. For the first time since I’ve owned a laptop, I left the MacBook behind and only took the iPhone. I was surprised how little I missed it.
\x0a\x0aWhen Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, he said that Apple saw a space between the iPhone and the MacBook. However, if you played FSC with a realistic budget recently, you may have found yourself in this situation: more often than not, you choose an iMac over a MacBook.
\x0a\x0aDuring his talk at this year’s MacWorld, John Gruber mentioned that next year, he would have to pick between two Apple platforms when choosing where to create, and deliver, his presentation. If the answer to this and other mobile tasks starts to be the iPad, then the functionality give the price of the mobile iMac (the MacBook), becomes questionable.
\x0a\x0aAs soon as I add the iPad to my equation, the MacBook vs. iMac debate shifts from one-size-fits-all to best tool for each job.
\x0a\x0aThe arrival of the iPad at Apple Stores next month is going to mark the beginning of a deadly fight. Not with Google or Microsoft, but within Apple product lines. This is not a problem for Apple, since Jobs probably believes that if anyone is going to cannibalize Mac sales, it better be Apple itself.
\x0a\x0aHowever, for Mac fans, it’s judgement time. It’s now time to pay for sins against the Apple II.
\x0a\x0aIt must be said that Mac users usually have less of a hard time with the facts, since Apple is very good at differentiating their product lines. On the other hand, the self-analysis of what you actually need, can be maddening and humbling. ↩
\x0aJonathan Schwartz, on the value of patents:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aIn 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”
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Funny, I always thought that Leopard’s dock looked exactly like the one in Project Looking Glass.
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/via Daring Fireball
\x0aWired’s Chris Kohler, Valve Brings Hit Games, Steam Service to Mac:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a“Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step,” said Josh Weier, said Portal 2 project lead in the press release. “We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac.”
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I don’t know if it was adulthood or switching to a Mac, but with both I stopped playing computer games. After this, I won’t have the Mac excuse anymore.
\x0aiWant.
\x0aEdward Tufte, on being appointed to the panel that tracks and explains $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aI’m doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I’ll learn something.
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I attended an E.T. seminar a two years ago. I’m very sure everyone else is going to learn a lot more.
\x0a\x0a/via Waxy.org
\x0aMacmillan CEO, John Sargent, addresses the changes on their eBooks business model.
\x0a\x0aOn the agency model:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aStarting at the end of March, we will move from the “retail model” of selling e-books (publishers sell to retailers, who then sell to readers at a price that the retailer determines) to the “agency model” (publishers set the price, and retailers take a commission on the sale to readers).
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On availability:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aWe will no longer delay the publication of e-books (read: no windowing).
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On price:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aFor physical books, the majority of new release hardcovers are published in cheaper paperback versions over time. We will mirror this price reduction in the digital world.
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The price range mentioned is exactly the same as the ones announced for iPad’s iBookstore.
\x0a\x0aI don’t feel as strongly about eBook’s $9.99 price point as I did for iTunes 99¢ song price. I still refuse to buy songs that go over that limit, but I do see myself buying a new NYTimes bestseller for $12.99. On the other hand, $14.99 will probably make me wait a bit.
\x0a\x0aAll in all, Macmillan’s plan sounds much more reasonable than what the other bozos talked about in December. As long as they provide the same availability as pBooks - at reasonable prices, I’m in.
\x0aMotoko Rich, also in the NYTimes.com:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aAt a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable. But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent. If e-book sales start to replace some hardcover sales, the publishers say, they will still have many of the fixed costs associated with print editions, like warehouse space, but they will be spread among fewer print copies.
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Nobody said innovation is fair - it’s efficient.
\x0aStephanie Clifford, from NYTimes.com:
\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0a\x0aThe first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, the company plans to announce in an internal memorandum on Monday.
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