It seems increasingly likely that versions of Google’s webapps will be a major feature of the iPhone, when it is finally released. At D5, Steve Jobs said it would be successful because it offers “the internet in your pocket”. And if that’s with a reasonably-priced unlimited data package, he just might be right.
Someone compared a Mac Plus with a brand-new Vista-running PC. And more than half the time, the Mac turned out to be the faster machine. That said, it wasn’t strictly a fair comparison; the Mac Plus wasn’t required to do any modern computing tasks, only those that it could reasonably have done back in the 1980s. So the more reasonable conclusion of this test isn’t “an old Mac Plus is faster than a brand new PC”, but “day-to-day computing tasks aren’t very much faster than they were, despite 25 years of hardware advances”. Or, as the article itself surmises: there’s been zero advance in productivity. Oh, and something else I learned from this article: Vista requires 15 GB of disk space to install itself in. Fifteen. Gigs.
EFF: Mystery data buried in iTunes Plus tracks. I can’t say it’s very surprising. Should people be bothered? Some people hate DRM, but some hate mysterious unidentified stuff even more. Expect outrage, bluster, and conspiracy theories. Not from me, though - I’m keeping an open mind.
Finally, a download snippet: Accelerando is a very interesting collection of Automator actions…
Loved the Mac Plus article. Something I've thought about myself for some time now. Ok, I'm not giving up my new Macbook for an old machine because I like surfing the web, and creating DVD's etc. But it's a fun article. Something else I'd love to see data on (from Apple really) is the machine reliability now and then. I remember IIci's running forever. They were amazing. I think all Apple products are outsourced for production now which gives us our much cheaper machines, but I think we've lost a little quality to achieve that low price. Since computers get outdated so fast, that's not a big deal, but I wonder if more durable machines would be good again. As wonderful as my new laptop is, it doesn't do much more than my 4 year old Powerbook did. I just like new machines.
I don't mind mystery data buried in tracks even if it's identifying, but I do object to it being clear text that non-Apple folks can view if there were an inadvertent leak of my songs - I have no intention of posting tracks for public access, but I can't say I might not send a song to a friend or two if I like it (I seem to recall even the DRM license allows tracks to be burned a certain number of times), and who knows what they might do.
Actually the pc was running windows XP SP2.
M
Anonymous | May 31, 2007 08:47 PM
but I can't say I might not send a song to a friend or two if I like it... and who knows what they might do.
Don't do that then.
The "Old Mac vs. New PC" comparison is an amusing read, but IMHO the only conclusion that can be drawn from it is that an old version of MS Office running on an old Mac isn't slower than a new version of MS Office running on a new PC as far as the most basic of tasks are concerned.
As an example for a massive increase in productivity since the days of the Mac Plus, you just have to look beyond run-of-the-mill office software: find someone whose day-to-day tasks involve laying out catalogs or product brochures and ask them what AppleScript means to them... ;)