I have always been lukewarm on Rotten Tomatoes. I generally agree with the reviews but I don’t spend a ton of time on it. Most of the time I will just check a movie out and decide for myself, but it’s a pretty sweet concept nonetheless.
New info on the latest iPhone OS beta…
To the right of the orientation lock is a set of three controls for play/pause and track skipping in the iPod app, as well as a dedicated icon for the app itself. It seems likely this will replace the current “notification window” method for accessing iPod controls via a double-tap of the Home button.
I figured they would have to do something in regards to iPod controls. Presently, you double-tap the home button to bring this up, but now double tapping will bring up the multitasking dock.
Last June when Apple released iPhone 3.0 and officially announced tethering for the iPhone it left many people salivating with excitement. I personally couldn’t wait since my in-laws don’t have broadband and it would be nice to use when I am there. But shortly after the announcement we found out AT&T wasn’t ready and we were left waiting. Ten months later we are still waiting, with no end in sight.
Three years into the iPhone’s life and AT&T is still unable to promise good performance. I know it’s been said before, but I am sure Apple regrets the decision to pick AT&T over say T-Mobile. This is completely unacceptable. No one knows the terms of Apple’s agreement with AT&T. It it were ending this year I think we would have heard by now, so I suspect we have at least one more iPhone left before it ends. Meanwhile, people are switching left and right just to avoid AT&T.
Interesting that Microsoft killed their dual-paned Courier device. My personal feelings are that they were two years from launch and worried that Apple had too much of a head start.
The big news of the day is that Apple finally announced WWDC information. But the nerdier fans have been alerted by developers that when Apple listed their categories for Apple Design Awards it appears that only applications in the App Store will qualify, which means iPhone/iPad apps only and no desktop apps.
A lot of people are reading into this that either, A) Apple is going to announce on WWDC that the Mac is changing to a more iPhone-like OS or B) OS X is staying the same but desktop application distribution will only be available through the App store.
Based on previous history we would expect 10.7 to be announced in June for release sometime next year.
Very interesting website called PasswordCard that let’s you use very strong passwords just by remembering a combination of a symbol and color. I still prefer 1Password, but this is a great low-tech solution. I wish I could get people I know to use more secure passwords.
(via Lifehacker)
There were a lot of questions about why Apple didn’t put the i5 in the 13 inch machine. My theory was that they wanted to separate the high-end 13 inch and the low-end 15 inch. Prior to the new machines, the high-end 13 inch and low-end 15 inch has the exact same specs except for screen size, but cost $200 more. I suspect that the the more expensive machine was getting cannibalized. But apparently, my theory was wrong:
In the end, engineering constraints led Apple to stay with Core 2 Duo processors in the 13″ MacBook Pro for now. Cramming an i5 CPU into the chassis would have been possible, but it would have required sacrificing either graphics performance or taking a huge hit to battery life. Instead, graphics performance for the 13″ MacBook Pro has improved by as much as 1.8x the performance of the 2009 model, and the 10-hour battery life is on par with the iPad, which is pretty stellar performance for a traditional notebook computer.
This makes sense to me. Chris Rawson goes on to say that it’s very likely the 13 inch with get the i5 with the next update.
Steve Sande takes to defending himself as to why he prefers the iMac to other Mac machines. I waver pretty much constantly about which the best machine is. If the 27-inch iMac had been released before I upgraded my MacBook Pro in October, I likely would have bought that instead. Sande makes some good points and it’s worth taking a peak at if you are ever on the fence.
I waiver back and forth constantly about whether AppleCare is worth it. I made use of it on my last two Apple laptops. I am sure the anti-Apple folk will say that “laptops that expensive shouldn’t break down,” but they do.
Macs, like any other complex bit of electronics, aren’t free from problems. Sturdy as they are, they do tend to break, and when they do, the repair costs can be astronomical. If you luck out and get a perfect, worry-free machine, then AppleCare may not seem worth it. But if you wind up with a problem child Mac like the one my wife got, AppleCare may be the difference between having a working Mac, or falling back on an abacus.
AppleCare extends your warranty from 1 year to 3 years and you have until your 1 year warranty ends to purchase it so you don’t have to decide right away. In the case of Chris Rawson’s wife, it’s apparent she got her moneys worth. I think it ultimately comes down to how long you plan to have the machine. I just upgraded my MacBook Pro in October even though my previous model was less than three years old. I think if you know you are going to replace your machine in about 3 years, save your money and put it towards your next computer in 3 years. If you are planning to have it for 5 or more, it’s definitely worth making sure you can make it through the first three years.
This hits close to home because I went to school that gave everyone a laptop as part of their tuition. This meant that everyone had a computer and most people brought said computer to class. Some professors banned them but most let you do whatever. Most people that had them open during class weren’t using them for notes.
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