Tag Archives | Apple

Flash on Macs: Birthright? Curse? Something Else?

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 22, 2010 at 11:54 am

I’ve been using a new MacBook Air which Apple loaned me for review–thoughts coming soon–and it didn’t take me very long to discover that it didn’t have Adobe’s FlashPlayer preinstalled. To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether there was anything noteworthy about that–I couldn’t remember whether any Mac I’d ever used came with Flash, or whether I’d just installed it myself. In this case I did the latter (although–odd coincidence–going to the Flash download page got me an error message at first, and I had to come back later).

But as Daring Fireball’s John Gruber writes, the lack of Flash is a new twist in the Apple-Adobe squabble. Apple says that it’s still cheerfully supporting Flash, and that downloading it from Adobe is the best way to get the safest, most current version. Others, of course, may draw more conspiratorial conclusions. (The timing is probably a coincidence, but it’s an interesting one: The news is hitting right before Adobe’s big, news-filled conference MAX kicks off.)

Continue Reading →

9 comments

Five Questions About This Week’s Apple News

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 21, 2010 at 5:34 pm

Apple’s big press event yesterday previewed OS X, introduced iLife ’11 and two new MacBook Air models, and provided lots to chew on–including decisions on Apple’s part that are bound to be controversial. I’m working on some stories about the news (including a hands-on look at the 11.6″ MacBook Air) but in the meantime I’m interested in what you think. So here’s a T-Poll extravaganza with five questions for you.

Continue Reading →

2 comments

Needed: A “Zune Touch”

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 21, 2010 at 12:18 pm

With Windows Phone 7 finally out, what does the future hold for Microsoft’s line of Zune media players? I suspect that very few people outside of Redmond are asking themselves that question right now–and that anybody who does care assumes that the Zune HD will turn out to be the final stand-alone Zune. (Like all the other Zunes before it, the HD suffered from a malady I like to think of as “Gee, this is quite a good product, but it’s in a class of devices that people lost interest in a year ago” syndrome.)

Me, I’m hoping for a new Zune soon–maybe several of them. Hold on, hear me out, I’m serious.

Continue Reading →

5 comments

Join Me for Liveblog Coverage of Apple’s Mac Event

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 19, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Quick reminder: I’ll be in Cupertino Wednesday morning at 10am PT for Apple’s “Back the Mac” press confab. We know that the company will talk about OS X for the first time, and everyone seems to assume there will be a new MacBook Air (or two) as well. I predict a surprise, too–mainly because I’d like to see one.

Join me at technologizer.com/macfuture, won’t you? And tell your friends…

No comments

Is the New MacBook Air the First Apple Netbook?

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 18, 2010 at 9:59 am

Remember Steve Jobs demolishing the whole idea of netbooks back at Apple’s iPad launch in January? I’m a netbook fan, but I still found his takedown awfully entertaining.

Jobs was, of course, positioning the iPad as Apple’s answer to the netbook. But that didn’t make the iPad a netbook, or anything very much like a netbook at all. It was sort of like comparing the world’s best motorcycle to a bunch of ho-hum subcompact cars.

But if the rumors are true, Apple will soon announce a new version of its MacBook Air thin-and-light notebook with an 11.6″ display and a pricetag meaningfully lower than the current Air. Any such machine would still cost much more than a run-of-the-mill netbook, and have a far higher cool factor–and at 11.6″, it could have the acceptably comfy keyboard that smaller netbooks often lack. Even so, it may be as close to an “Apple netbook” as we’ll see. And assuming that such a product is indeed imminent, it’ll be fascinating to see Apple make a machine with at least a hint of netbookishness after the world stopped paying all that much attention to netbooks–and years after pundits gave up insisting that the company needed to get into the game.

One comment

After a While, You Stop Counting

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 18, 2010 at 8:41 am

When McDonalds first got going, it was a small-but-pioneering outfit that was justifiably proud of how many hamburgers it had sold–so much so that it told the world on its famous signs. (Hey, a million burgers was a lot of burgers back then.)

Continue Reading →

4 comments

Apple and Verizon: Together at Last, Kinda-Sorta

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 14, 2010 at 11:10 am

It’s not a Verizon iPhone, but could it be a sign of things to come? Starting on October 28th, Verizon Wireless will be selling Apple’s iPad in its stores. No, Apple hasn’t built an iPad that works on Verizon’s network: Instead, Verizon is bundling the Wi-Fi iPad with a MiFi mobile router that can deliver wireless Internet to the iPad via Wi-Fi. The total prices you’ll pay are the same as for AT&T 3G iPads: $629 for a 16GB iPad, $729 for a 32GB model, and $829 for a 64GB model. 1GB of data costs $20 a month, and I don’t see any mention in the announcement of a contract being required.

Using an iPad with a MiFi is a very viable alternative to buying an AT&T 3G model. I think so, anyhow: It’s what I do. (I use mine with a $60/month Verizon plan that provides me with 5GB of data, enough to let me use my laptop and iPad all I want without worrying about overages.)

I’m not going to puzzle out whether there’s any particular significance to the timing of today’s news, but even the most optimistic of predictions don’t involve Verizon having an iPhone until early 2011. By stocking the iPad this month, it gets an Apple goodie in time for the holidays–and an opportunity to buddy up with Apple fans before it has a phone they’ll want to buy.

In related news: AT&T, which has been powering the iPad’s 3G service but not selling the device itself until now, will begin stocking the tablet on the same day that Verizon stores do.

One comment