Did I somehow miss the announcement of new Mac Minis at Macworld?

While I was writing up the Macworld keynote address for StarterTech, I was anxiously awaiting to hear all about the new models of the Mac Mini.

… I’m still waiting.

The Mac Mini is a Mac that comes with no keyboard, mouse or monitor and is perfect for people like myself who want to transition to Mac, but don’t want spend over a thousand dollars on an iMac.  The Mini was last updated in August of 2007 with two models that ran $599 and $799 respectively, and are still available in the exact same configurations that they had at that update.  So, now you are paying the same price for hardware that is woefully out of date as seventeen months might as well be a decade in computer component terms.

Over the past two weeks I have suffered two vicious malware attacks on my work PC that have cost me a combined total of 20 hours to repair.  I was all set for an updated Mac Mini, as just about every Mac rumor site agreed it was going to happen today, but, alas, it didn’t.  There wasn’t one word spoken about the only true entry level Mac computer.

I know I have said in the past that I was finally ready to switch to a Mac out of frustration, but this time I actually had my money at the ready… literally.  I had been saving for a new Mac Mini and was ready to order it this afternoon when it was announced, and yet it never came to be.  Why in the world has this poor, forgotten child of the Mac family been looked over yet again?

Apple continues to boast about how their market share has grown, and thay sold a record number of Macs last year, but they continue to forget about those of us who are nervous about switching.  With Windows Vista now being about the only option on new PCs, and Windows 7 looking as another iffy system, now is the time for Apple to strike and gain a huge portion of the installed user base.  Yet they continue to churn out $2800 laptops like the 17″ MacBook Pro they introduced today.

People always tell me that when you work out the math that Macs don’t cost that much more, but I decided to do a comparison.  I tried to rebuild a 20″ iMac as a Dell computer.  I went with a Vostro 220 Mini Tower, and copied the processors, the  amount of RAM, the hard drive size, one optical drive bay and so on.  When I was all done, the iMac was $1,199 and the Dell I configured was $679.  Gee… which wins?

In these economically difficult times, we need the Mac Mini, or something similar.  Apple is going to have to continue to have an entry level unit for the converts and the totally new customers alike.  I know Apple makes good stuff, I own multiple iPods, but as someone who is responsible for multiple computers, I have never been able to rationalize spending the money that Apple wanted me to.  If they want to continue to keep their growth going, they are going to have to consider what they can do to lure in budget minded buyers.

I’ve often speculated that maybe Apple fears growing too big, but with the success of the iPhone, and it now being introduced at Walmart, that is a difficult argument to stand by.  I have also wondered if they did this as to make their buyers feel like they were members of some elite club… again I point to Walmart and the iPhone.

So what is it, Apple?  Why do you shun the Mac Mini like it is the child you never wanted, and meanwhile you also shun your average day buyers who are cost conscience.  Wake up and smell the coffee, Apple, you could have a market share that dwarfs your current one if you would just try to remember the lower end purchasing market once in a while.

Well, the Dell Vostro 1500 I got in late April had something go wrong with the hard drive on Wednesday, and it is completely fraked.

I went home on Wednesday afternoon to do some work, turned it on and was greeted by a blue screen of death. After several attempts, I couldn’t even get it to boot into safe mode, so I called Dell support for some help. They couldn’t have been nicer, and tried everything under the sun to get me up and running, but the final conclusion was that it was a physical error and hopeless. They expressed me a new hard drive that arrived on Thursday, and I was back up and running.

I took the old hard drive to a local tech company, and they couldn’t get the drive to do anything, so all my data was lost. Luckily this isn’t my primary computer and what was lost was fairly trivial stuff, but still a huge pain in my behind to set up a computer from scratch again so soon after having done it.

The most disappointing thing was that just two days before I had signed up with a new off-site backup service, and I was in the early stages of backing the entire system up. I’m a bit concerned since this happened only 2 days into the process that it might be to blame, so I am just foregoing installing that again and will ignore what ever was saved. I am not going to name the service since I can’t be sure that it was the cause, but I had never used them before, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and not disparage their name on this blog.

So, now I’m stuck. I tried installing another off-site companies software, and it wouldn’t properly install. DocSyncer, which I’ve used to back up documents to Google Docs, is calling it quits on June 20th, so that won’t even be an option for me. I’ve always been nervous about backing up stuff to a hard drive in my house because if there is a fire, I’m still out of luck, so I’m not sure what to do at this point.

How does everyone else back up their files? Do you do it locally, or do you do it off-site?

Well, the party is over.

Microsoft had finally upped their offer to $33 a share from the $31 they initially offered, but it seems Yahoo wanted $37 a share.  Steve Ballmer finally decided it wasn’t worth the games, not the protracted fight it was going to be, so he has opted to move on, leaving Yahoo to their own devices.

Where does either company go from here?  Who knows, probably plodding along on the same paths they already were.  I still can’t quite grasp why Microsoft wanted this deal so bad, but that si for them to know and the rest of us to never learn.  I for one am just glad this is over so it won’t be in the news every five minutes.

It seems that computer makers have decided that I, amongst many, many others, am right about Vista not being the be-all, end-all of computing. HP, Dell and Lenovo computer manufacturers are all formulating plans for how they will continue to sell XP well past the June 30th cutoff set by Microsoft.

The plans consist of HP providing XP recovery discs to business customers who wish to downgrade from Vista for an undetermined amount of time. Lenovo will be stick with XP recovery options through January 31st of this year. However, Dell is taking the cake and promising XP, for possibly a small extra fee, through 2010, when Windows 7 is expected.

This information may end up being moot as Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, hinted to a conference in Belgium on Thursday that Microsoft may just extend XP themselves if customers demanded it. Um… I could be wrong, but when the computer manufacturers start telling you that customers want it, you may have the consumer vote you’ve been waiting on.

While many commenters on my previous Vista posts have been telling me it’s all about how the users use it, I think that is part of the problem. XP, for all of its flaws, was pretty straight forward for the common user, and, sad to say, but you need to design for them still, they are still a large portion of the consumer base.

I think of the other huge problems was the lack of computability with older peripherals. Notice I said above that HP was going to be doing this for their business customers? Well, think about a large corporate office. Printers… scanners… networked drives… UPS supplies… peripheral after peripheral, and Vista not being compatible with that many of them. Many people said, “Oh, just buy new!” Er… I’m glad you think companies have never-ending tech budgets! As a small business owner, I have 3 printers in my office alone, and my key one, an HP LaserJet 6P has served me well for years… and would not work with Vista. So if I buy a Vista-based computer, I have to also budget for a new printer? I think not.

Microsoft thought of no one but themselves when it comes to Vista, and I think that concept is now biting them in their collective behinds, just as it should.

Well, the new laptop is here. I did go with the Dell Vostro 1500, which I talked about back in February.

So why did I go with this system?  Numerous reasons.

- Windows XP was available on it.  That was a huge reason.

- Dell Vostros ship without trialware, making for a much more pleasant experience.

- Kick ass screen.

- Did I mention it comes with XP?

- Dell had an amazing sale on this model last week.

So, what all did I get done to it?

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
• 15.4 inch Wide Screen SXGA+ display with TrueLife LCD
• 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
• 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability, w Roxio Creator

It also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, built-in webcam, SVHS out, 4 USB 2.0, Ethernet port, etc, etc… and for the price of a MacBook Pro, I could have bought two of these.  So, sure, it is still Windows based, but for the price I got this at, it was hard to pass it up.  Oh, and I love the keyboard, it has great action.

So, there you have it, another PC laptop, and I am turning my old one, which still has some life in it, in to a media streamer for my D-Link DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player, which I will be reviewing soon.

Earlier this week I wrote a diatribe about Windows Vista that got some… passionate… comments from Vista users. The feeling seems to be that it is fine once you fiddle with it, and that you need to “learn” how to work with it. It would seem that Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, shares a similar view as he referred to Vista as “a work in progress” this past Thursday at a technology conference.

“A work in progress”?

You spent five years in development and you have one year of real world release under your belt, but it’s still “a work in progress”.

Wow.

I instant messaged my ever-allusive friend, M, since she was the one who had the issues that set off the article the other day that I wrote. Once I filled her in on Mr. Ballmer’s comments, she replied with ‘”this car that you are driving down the highway … it’s a work in progress” -crashes into divider-’. I had to give her points for the analogy.

Could someone else tell me when something that is this mission critical to the way something works is allowed to be released to the public as “a work in progress”? Mr. Ballmer has basically told you that you are working with a Beta version of the program, but they let you pay for it. How kind of them.

I really cannot understand why people are not more outraged by this. Is there any other time in your life you would accept a sub-par product that costs hundreds of dollars, and you allow the manufacturer to describe it as “a work in progress”? Somehow I doubt it.

M made another very valid point when she said to me today, “but that’s exactly the point, a computer is like a car. The only difference is that instead of maintaining your life, the computer maintains your livelihood, and there’s a big connection between livelihood and life, so the difference is very minuscule.”

For me, this couldn’t be true.  Every cent I earn is earned via the computer.  Whether it be my online store, my eBay auctions or my writing, my entire livelihood is derived from being on a computer, and that means “a work in progress” is not acceptable to me.  I should not have to “learn” to do tweaks, I should not have to turn off features so it will work in an acceptable manner, I should not have to sacrifice a chicken to it to get it to boot, and it certainly should not be “a work in progress”.

One thing people have to remember is that the majority of computer users are not like the people who have no problems with Vista.  The people I know who say this are computer savvy individuals, but you have to remember we are the minority.  Why do you think places like Geek Squad exists?  It’s not for us, it’s for people like M.  Mind you that she is an exceedingly intelligent person, and talking to her sometimes makes me feel like I’m about 10-years-old because I can’t comprehend some of the things she discusses, but when it comes to computers, the roles reverse.  She is indicative of the common user; they don’t know this stuff, and I’m sorry, it’s not their place to.  Your operating system should be the most basic thing possible because everything relies on it, if it starts acting up, you have a very expensive paper weight, so how about making sure you take those people into consideration and you don’t release “a work in progress”?

For those new people out there, “M” is real, she just prefers her name not to be spread all over the Internet… it hinders her nefarious plans

My ever so-secretive friend, known only as “M” round these parts, called me from her super secret lair, high in the mountains of Transylvania today… with yet another tale of woe in regards to her laptop that sports the evil known as “Vista“.

Less than a year ago she needed to replace her aging Sony Vaio, found a good deal on an HP, but, alas it sported Windows 6 AKA Vista. Biting the bullet, she took the plunge and… regrets every minute of it. It runs slow… it crashes… if it sits idle too long, it tells her she improperly shut down, and, worst of the worst, today it ate her paper that was due in hours. She purchased it from Staples near her old apartment (somewhere in the Himalayas, I think), and swung by another branch closer to her current abode. Immediately upon telling the tech desk that her computer was being naughty, they replied with, “Is it running Vista?”

Is this a good sign for an operating system that spent five years in development? If tech people are rolling their eyes at the latest iteration of the venerable Windows brand, shouldn’t this tell Microsoft that they got it wrong? Not just wrong, but horribly wrong?

Already Microsoft has answered one consumer outcry for an extension of Windows XP sales, but that new date is quickly approaching (June 30th), and people are again crying out for it to not go away. You would think Microsoft might realize that this really is what consumers want when they have even caved to the idea of releasing Service Pack 3 for a six year old operating system. Consumers want XP… why not give it to us?

Microsoft blew it, and they blew it in such a monumental way that I am not even sure there is anything to compare it to. Many people bring up the disaster that was Windows ME, but it was always meant as a bridge between Windows 98 and XP, it was fairly well known it wasn’t a fully realized OS. The difference with Vista was it was supposedly the be-all, end-all of the Windows universe. XP was to be immediately forgotten and everyone would, once again, flock to the loving arms of Microsoft and embrace the latest release as the second coming to the computer world!

Instead we got a resource hogging, sluggish pile of trash, foisted off on to the unsuspecting public that now leads tech support guys to ask, “Is it running Vista?”

I can understand why Microsoft doesn’t come out and just say, “Our bad, hold off until Windows 7 due in 2010!”, but to kill off XP, which, despite its flaws, actually works, is just wrong. As of July 1st you will have a minimum of 18-months of sales of nothing but Vista on new computers, and, to me, that borders on criminal. Mind you, that is 18-months MINIMUM, knowing Microsoft and their delays, it will probably be years.

If Steve Jobs was smart… well, smarter than he is… he would come out with some “Introductory Macs” right now. Yes, the Mac Mini is “affordable”, but it is somewhat underpowered compared to the PC market, and at a starting price of $599 with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor, it still seems high to the average consumer. If he was to strike during these proposed “Vista Only” months with a Mac that anyone could afford and get behind, the market share for Apple would sky rocket, giving Microsoft the kick to the teeth they so richly deserve for this debacle.

(Before anyone even says it, no, Linux is not an option here. Linux is cute, and a great boon to the homebrew PC crowd, but it is not ready for mass sales of this scale)

Do I think Jobs will do this? Unlikely. He likes his luxury/elitist image of Apple products. Heck, I would love to jump to MacBook Pro, but starting at $2,000, it’s not happening. And that’s where this all comes back around to my recent laptop hunt. I’m ready to buy, and I am going PC again, and I am going XP again. How sad is that? I’m one of those supposed “early adopters”, someone who lives on the forefront of the tech scene, and I’m going to buy a new computer… with a six-year-old operating system. Even I have to give myself an “Extreme FAIL” award for that one.

So, what’s it going to be Microsoft? Will you allow XP to live on, offering the computer world a minor olive branch to somewhat offset your follies? Or will you continue down this road of peril, possibly causing people to either switch to Mac, or using rapidly aging equipment, hurting the sales of equipment manufacturers? Microsoft has the ball firmly in their court, let’s see if they serve it wisely.

In the meantime, I know one Vista user who would like to shove her laptop firmly where sun doesn’t shine of one Mr. Bill Gates.

Yesterday I posted two April Fools jokes: The knitting list and “a Muppets video“. The video was an afterthought because as the day wore on, and I saw more and more people getting “Rick Roll’d“, I decided it was an excellent opportunity to explain and discuss the idea of “Internet memes” to those readers of my site who aren’t familiar with them.

I know I have many web savy/2.0 types who come by now due to my work at Mashable, but I also have a large number of readers and friends that come by and have no clue what it is we in the tech business are talking about sometimes. As fun as working in the Internet realm can be, I think we sometimes forget that not everyone who uses the net is privy to our own brand of English we have developed, nor are they “in” on a lot of our little jokes. Last night I had to explain “Rick Roll’d” to a very good friend of mine, who also informed me she had just discovered ICanHasCheezeburger, (”I just learned about this place ..I think it’s the same place the satanic verses prophesize”) and that made it abundantly clear to me that we may be getting a bit presumptive with some of our jokes.

So, before I go further, an Internet meme is any video, image, text or hyperlink that gets passed around from person to person until they reach a point where it seems like everyone is in on the joke, with some of the leaking into mainstream entertainment. The first time I can remember a meme going mainstream was the “Dancing Baby” videos that eventually worked themselves into a recurring character on Ally McBeal in 1997. That was one of the first times I can remember thinking, “Oh crap… the Internet is going to be one of the biggest things ever…”

There have been hundreds, if not thousands of memes since the dancing baby: Numa Numa kid, Star Wars kid, Hampster Dance (this one may pre-date Dancing Baby… not sure), and on and on, but I think as of yesterday, Rick Rolling took on a whole new level. The basic concept is that you trick people into hearing, or seeing the video of, Rick Astley’s 1987 hit song, Never Gonna Give You Up. You typically hide the video in a “blind” link, such as saying “I think this may help explain the quarterly reports better”, the person clicks the link, and it’s Mr. Astley singing away. The Muppets one I posted yesterday is a bit more devious in that it is “mashup” (a combination of two things on the Ineternet), so even though the YouTube preview shows Beeker from the Muppets, you hear him singing the song, hence, a Rick Roll.

Quickly leaking out to the offline world, Rick Rolling first appeared about a year ago, and, for reasons beyond my comprehension, has become popular at rallies against the Church of Scientology, with people playing it over boom boxes in front of church sites. What made me realize it has reached insane proportions was when YouTube set a trap for users so that whenever they clicked on a “Featured Video” on the site’s front page, they were, you guessed, it Rick Rolled. This is what made me questions the whole thing because YouTube has millions and millions of users from all over the world, different age demographics, different languages… how many people didn’t get the joke and just thought the site was screwed up?

Rick Rolling works best when people understand the joke, when they don’t, it just seems odd. This is a lot of the reason I posted the Muppets video because I knew some of you would be scratching your heads, thinking I had lost my mind. My hope is maybe the Internet will re-think things for next April 1st and pick a more universal joke than one only those of us who live our lives on the Net will get.

It’s that time again… computer buying time.

For the most part, my Compaq Presario V2000 has served me well, but I am in to so much heavy blogging work in the evenings now that I am starting to see a lot of sluggishness. Also, if I want to stay with Windows XP, I need to do this before they stop selling it on June 30th. So now comes the age old question of what do I go with?

I’m leaning towards staying with Win XP only because A) Vista will give me headaches and B) Mac Book Pros START at $1,999. For now I’m looking at a Dell Vostro 1500, but I am open to suggestions as to make and models. I’m thinking Dell because I’ve been happy with the last two desktops I bought from them, and I like the idea that the Vostros come with with no pre-installed trialware.

So let’s hear from you! What brand do you swear by? What model? How would you configure a new laptop? Yes, I’ll even entertain thoughts on talking me into a $2,000 Mac Book Pro, hit me up with all of your thoughts!

More and more companies are turning to Internet downloads to deliver media in to our homes, but, for now, you mainly have to watch them on your computer. While this may be okay for watching something as short as a YouTube video, it’s not always the optimal way to watch a feature length film. So, how do you get all of this wonderful content on to your television? Mind you I am focusing on your standard computer user and not the higher-end users who know all about media centers and strapping a Mac Mini to the back of a television.

Apple TV

Though some critics have referred to the Apple TV as the “iFlop“, due to it’s sluggish sales, there is no denying how easy this device makes getting content to your television. The only problem is the content you are limited to, which is mostly Apple downloads via their iTunes Store. You can, however, stream home movies and photos from your TV with it, making that time family picnic show up on your TV with just a few clicks.

With the recent “Take 2″ update, you can also now rent movies and make purchases from Apple directly on your TV with no need for a computer, and YouTube videos can also now be streamed directly.

Buffalo LinkTheater Wireless A&G Network Media Player

The Buffalo LinkTheater will do wireless and wired network streaming of video over your home network, but at the expense of responsiveness or support for popular file formats. There’s limited music streaming support, and it won’t play iTunes files if they are Digital Rights Management (DRM) protected or not, which seems silly considering how prevalent iTunes has become thanks to the iPod.

Considering some of the reviews the unit has gotten, it’s probably best to avoid it, but it needed to be included here so you were at least aware of it.

D-Link DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player

The D-Link DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player device is fairly new, and not available in the United States yet, but it is expected to be fairly soon. For those of you in the United Kingdom, you can enjoy streaming your DivX content over your home network to this device, and then enjoying it on your TV. It supports DivX, Xvid with MP3 or PCM audio, WMV9 (transcoded on PC)MP3 (up to 320kbps), MP3 Playlist, WMA (transcoded on PC), JPEG (grayscale, RGB & YCbCy only), JPEG 2000 BMP (non-compressed)

The DSM-330 uses either Ethernet or Wi-Fi for the streaming from computers, and has no local storage on the device, so you’ll need to make sure you network is up to snuff to handle such intense streaming.

UPDATED 10/11/08: If you would like more details on the DSM-330, please listen to episode 2 of Scattercast, my personal podcast, where I interview Bruce Lidl from DivX about it.

Microsoft Xbox 360

It may surprise some people to know this, but you can actually stream videos to your Xbox 360. The reason it is not that well known is that it’s not always the easiest thing to do. People have been doing it for ages if they have the Windows Media Center operating system, but people who have Windows XP, the far more common flavor of Windows, have some problems getting it to work. The other problem is that it only natively supports WMV (Windows Media Video) formatted files, which is far from being the most popular of file formats.

There are solutions out there for transcoding your files to work with the 360 such as guides and tools, and you can also buy some movies and TV shows directly from the Xbox Live marketplace. With far easier solutions out there, this should rank pretty far down your list as possibilities if you’re just starting to look into doing videos on your TV.

Netgear EVA8000

The Netgear EVA8000 will give you wireless and wired network integration, but besides focusing on streaming all of your video and audio formats, it also gives you the ability to pull up portions of your desktop such as a web browser or your email, and access them right on your TV screen.

Overall, the Netgear device aims to be more of a true hub for your digital life with the ability to play content from most major online services, play DRM protected WMV files, plug in your camera and other gadgets, and playback your AVI files. There doesn’t seem to be much this device doesn’t aim to do for you.

Sansa TakeTV

From SanDisk, the TakeTV takes only three steps to get your MPEG4, Xvid and AVI files displayed on your television.

1. Plug the device into your computer to move the files to it.
2. Plug the device into the cradle connected to your computer.
3. Play.

It is super easy to use no matter what level of computer user you are, but if you are an experienced user, it is almost scary how quick and easy it is to use. The only problem I have found is a couple of Xvid videos that played on my computer with no problem, did not play at all on the TakeTV, but it seems to be a very small minority of files. You can read my more detailed thoughts on this device here.

Sony Playstation 3

Besides being a game console and a Blu-ray player, the Sony Playstation 3 is able to connect to your network and play back Divx and Windows Media files.

Though the system has been around for some time now, these functions didn’t show up until recently when they released the 2.10 firmware update late in December 2007. While it is fully certified by the DivX company, some people have found problems with some of their XviD encoded files. Usually the two video codecs are interchangeable, but it doesn’t seem to be always the case with the latest in the line of Sony game systems.

TiVo

The TiVo is currently limited to videos you acquire through the Amazon Unbox Service. When you download the files, you are given the option of having them delivered to your Internet connected TiVo, but you can’t do the choosing from the device itself.

There are ways to play other types of files on TiVo, and there are instructions on how to do so, but don’t be surprised if it violates some portion of your warranty.

Your Laptop

Most people don’t know that you can actually connect most laptops to your TV and display your screen in full-sized glory. Once you’ve done this there is no need to stream content to another device, or have any go between, you are simply turning your television into a giant monitor to display whatever content it is you feel the need to show, whether it be movies, music videos, YouTube or anything else. The only drawback to this method is it pretty much sacrafices your computer to do nothing other than showing the media you’ve selected.

To do it you’ll usually need a S-Video cable, and something like the Belkin produced cable I pictured here. You plug the 2.5 mm end of that cable into your earphone jack and the audio ends into your TV input. You then run the S-Video between the corresponding jacks and switch your video output to an external source. Each computer is slightly different in how it does these steps, so make sure to consult your setup guide.

So, which solution is best for you? It’s all a matter of preference and if you want the device to do more than one thing for you. You technically can get started right away with just a couple of cables if you want to just use your laptop, or do what I did and set up an old laptop just for showing files. I then chose to personally to go with the TakeTV due to its compact size, but the solution that works best for me may be totally different from what works best for you, so weight your own needs accordingly.

And this is certainly not a complete list of every solution out there. Do some searches, visit forums, read up on the subject, and you may find you have something sit in your house already that will work for your needs. Leave a comment and let me know what worked for you!

Computer gaming enthusiasts are an interesting lot.

Case in point was a comment I found on this post on Engadget about how people are still flocking to Windows XP, even though time is running out. One commenter mentions how he’s skipped Vista as he prefers a more stable OS to work with. He then received the following reply from another poster that said “Let me know how that works out for you when all games require DX10 in the next year or two.”

The original poster came back and stated that he doesn’t game on his computer, and there was no reply, so I imagine the issue is dead. Still, this is a common attitude I run into all over the web from computer gamers that they simply can’t comprehend how anyone can be satisfied with a computer that is anything below a top end gaming rig.

I’ve played my fair share of computer games back “in the day”: Master of Orion II, Civilization 1, 2, and 3, several Star Wars games, I loved the Mechwarrior series and so on. What stopped me was a combination of things, but namely my unwillingness to purchase a new video card every time I turned around. The games constantly expect you to be upgrading and upgrading to keep up with them, and, I’m sorry, but I’m not made of money. Mind you, this was several years ago, and from what I know of the current crop of games, it’s only gotten worse.

As I’ve gotten older (ugh), I prefer the simplicity of console gaming. Sure I have to buy a new console every few years, but when I buy a game for a specific system, I know it’s going to work. I’m not going to put it in, fire it up and be told I need a more powerful video card… or more RAM… or a new sound card… you get the picture.  I just prefer the ease of enjoyment that a console gives me over finding out I can’t buy a game because I don’t have the WillyWooly 256X Video Card with the Slushee attachment in my PC.

So, I have nothing against computer gamers, knock yourselves out, have a ball and enjoy it if that’s your hobby, but why is their this attitude that those of us who don’t are somehow lesser? I have had many conversations with one gamer in particular who just can not comprehend how I am satisfied with run-of-the-mill video cards, he can’t understand how I enjoy any games with my current computer. No matter how many times I tell him I don’t do computer games, he still doesn’t get it.

To each their own I say, just remember, now all of us are using our computers for gaming, some of us actually use them for work!… and porn… can’t forget the porn.

I know everyone is excited about the MacBook Air, and I hate to steal its thunder, but I have come across some top secret photos of the next iteration of the MacBooks!

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, let me introduce you to the MacBook Paper!

This is how I think the presentation might go.”The MacBook Air was amazing, measuring only an astounding 0.76″ thick, and that was quite an accomplishment, but we were sure we could do even better. So, today we’re introducing the MacBook Paper. It measures in at a mere .004″ thick.We had our designers working over time on this, and I just can’t believe what a quality job they did, this truly is the most exciting MacBook yet.With MacBook Air, we were all excited about bringing in the weight at 3 pounds, but even that was just too heavy. I wanted it lighter, I wanted to barely know I was holding it, so this comes in at… 1 gram. I really don’t know how we can get any lighter, but we’ll be trying!

Now, the screen size was an issue, but we got it worked out, and it’s truly a full-screen, 8 & 1/2″ X 11″, there’s not a millimeter of space that isn’t occupied by this display… it’s amazing.

Interface has always been an issue. Too many keys, QWERTY is a thing of the past, I’m bored with it. So, I looked to the iPhone and iPod Touch, one button, that’s all we needed, so why not have one interface for the entire Paper?

We’re going old school with a stylus folks. That’s right, you’ll be able to write on the MacBook Paper, making this our first tablet Mac!

-hold for roar of the crowd and widespread adulation-

Thank you… thank you… and for those of you wondering where the stylus fits since it’s thicker than the Paper, we’ve come up with a universal holder you can take with you anywhere. The iCarrier will come free with the MacBook Paper, but because it’s just so good looking, you’ll be able to buy them today at the Apple Store for $29.99.

I really don’t know how many more features I can announce on this but there’s even more. Battery life. It’s always been a problem, running out of power just as you’re finishing a document in Pages, so, again I went to the designers, and we think we’ve done it… the iBattery. If you’re awake, it’s on. I was up for 48 hours straight with the thing, and it didn’t die on me once!

Now, we did find storage space a bit tricky, I’m not going to lie. Hard drive designers just couldn’t keep up with us. So, it may sound a bit crazy, but… we’re selling them in bulk. You’ll get 500 MacBook Papers at a time.

-random heads in the crowd explode-

It’s okay, there’ll be clean-up crews moving amongst you, we planned for this. They’ll be using the new iVacs by the way, that guy from Dyson got on my nerves, so we designed a vacuum with 50% more power than his.

So, to recap, full-size screen, unlimited battery, one touch interface, the iCarrier comes with it, 500 in a package, you can order yours in the Apple stores today for $999. We may have actually gone too low this time, but we view this as a great introductory level Mac for the novices.

Oh, and one last thing, we’ve gone completely green with this one, it’s 100% recyclable.”

With all apologies to Fake Steve Jobs… because that really isn’t the vibe I was going for.

I had to buy a new keyboard last week as my much beloved Microsoft Natural met with a cup of coffee. It had given me a lot of good years, but I was still sad to see it go. I did have a back-up, but they had changed the cursor keys to this insane design that I have no clue how anyone uses them comfortably. So, off I went on a hunt for a new keyboard and decided to go with the Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000.

Why do I keep going for Microsoft hardware? Well, I think their software pretty much sucks, but, oddly enough, they make really good peripheral hardware. I have no clue why they do, but they just seem to.

So, I was a bit nervous about liking this keyboard due to a few new buttons in odd places, and seemingly more real estate for your wrists. In short, I don’t like this keyboard… I freakin’ love it!

I didn’t realize the black wrist areas were padded when I purchased it, but that makes for a much more comfortable experience when typing. I do think the web browser buttons (zoom and the back/forward keys) are a bit of a waste, but oh well. The buttons along the top are a very welcome addition though. Quick access to my mail, five of my websites I use every day, a quick launch for the calculator (HUZZAH!), and my absolute favorite… quick volume control keys! I love my iTunes, but trying to shut it down sometimes when a call comes in is a real pain. Now all I have to do is hit a button, and no more music! Loving that.

The only thing I’m not thrilling to is the space bar. Not sure why, but it is a bit cumbersome for me. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time though. All of the other keys have really good, smooth action though, and I think are actually letting me type a bit faster with less mistakes.

Overall, I was nervous, but a great purchase, and one I highly recommend!

I was cleaning my desk during this whole computer saga (the tower is back… it was wiped and is working fine), and I noticed something: Why do I still have a huge pile of blank 3.5″ floppy disks?

I haven’t had a computer with a 3.5″ drive in years, yet I have a stack of approximately 30 blanks that I’ve been moving around from office-to-office with me.

It just made me think about how important this format used to be to the computing world.  Everyone would have spares of these laying around, cataloged full ones, and so on.  And when you think about it, they only stored 1.44mb each, not even enough for one MP3 file.  Now I carry around SD cards that can store 2GB, and if I dropped them, I could lose them forever for not being able to find them for being so small.

Just makes me ponder where we will be a few years from now.  Will I look at my 2GB thumb drive and snicker?

I swear I’ve gotten to the point I just despise computers.

This is exactly what my Dimension 5150 looks like, even down to the card reader.  Now, as far as I can tell, what’s going on is NOT Dell’s fault, but… Windows XP is just totally screwed up.  And I mean BADLY screwed up.  To the point the computer is going in to the shop and being wiped clean and everything reinstalled.

Now, yes, I thought about saying “Screw it, let’s go Mac”, but, this computer is only a little over a year old, and the XP install has always been a tiny bit funky.  So, I figure it’s worth the $90 I’m paying some techs to do all this (they’re also going to use an air compressor on it, and run some hard disk checks), and see if this one can be salvaged.

But I am just so darn fed up with computer problems.  They seem never-ending.  I will, however, say this has probably been the least stressed I have ever been over a computer crash due to my automated back-up, Carbonite.  I’ve talked about it before, so I won’t bore you, but what a peace of mind knowing my most important files are already backed up and just waiting to be put back in their proper homes as soon as I’m ready.

Never the less, it’s going to be a fun couple of days reinstalling everything.  The joys of technology.

Does anyone else find it as funny as I do that Microsoft just can’t seem to escape the specter of Windows XP?

Originally Windows XP was just to disappear, but then consumers demanded it go back in to factory built computers again.  They conceded and said XP still would end sales in January 2008.

Well, now they’ve had to back off of that, and it is now going to be June 2008 before XP goes the way of the Dodo bird.

This really should come as a surprise to anyone because, let’s be honest, Vista is a disaster of an OS.  Five years of development, and it is still a bloated piece of crap.  I only know one person who speaks positively of Vista, and considering he and I agree on next to nothing, I’m not shocked.  However my other friends who have dealt with it are all telling me to stay the hell away from it.

Microsoft blew it, as seems to be their standard operating procedure, but instead of admitting they released a stinker of an OS out in the wild, they cling to it being wonderful.  Tell me this, does anyone remember when XP came out, did people cling to Windows 98 in droves?  No.  They didn’t.   I don’t think I’ve ever seen people cling so desperately to a LAST GENERATION product!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think XP is the be all, end all of OSes, but at least it’s somewhat more likable than Vista.

Well, I can’t copy exactly what I said, but check out this entry and this entry on mac.blorge.com for all the details.

Rumors are abounding, but Apple has announced one of their big press events for August 7th. This always means new products, but it seems it will be Mac centric and this means the new retooling of the iMacs are almost certain, but the iPods are the big question.

Time is running out for the holiday shopping season, and I find it highly doubtful Steve Jobs is going to allow Apple to go into the all important fourth quarter without a new “hot item”, and that’s not going to be a shiny new iMac.

So, next Wednesday, since I have to cover the story for MAC.Blorge.com, I will post a link here to the story instead of my usual rundown. Oh how I love these “Come to God” events.

I got an email today from Dell about their new small business line, Vostro. Not quite sure what the name has to do with anything, but I don’t rightly care.

The whole point of the new line is to be geared to the small business, and in doing so, they have made two very tasty offers.

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee on hardware purchases.
If you’re not satisfied with your system within 30 days, just return it to Dell with no restocking or shipping fees.

I would need to see this in action to believe it, but I love the idea.

No Trialware.
Vostro systems come without annoying trialware, so you only get the software you want.

OH THANK GOD! For those unfamiliar with it, “trialware” is all that annoying software that comes on your PC when you purchase it . They try to suck you in with their tasty “30 Day Free Trials!” that you always forget to cancel and end up giving them some money for. I despise trialware, and this alone would make me consider going with the, oddly named, Vostro line.

Two lessons here for the world:

1. To all other PC Makers - Cut out the trialware and I’ll consider you again.
2. Apple - Come out with something between the iMac and Mac Pro. Small businesses would use you more if we didn’t get a stunted version of your system, or have to go all out for a monster.

This is a good day for PC users, hopefully we will see more of this happening.

I think I have found my dream backup method… finally.

Couple weeks ago, I heard about a backup service I was unfamiliar with named Carbonite.com (link takes you to a free trial page). The basic premise is you download the software, tell it which files you want to backup by right-clicking them, and walk away. That’s it. Approximately ten minutes after you select a file, the software will automatically encrypt the file(s) and upload them to the Carbonite servers.

Now, say you’re doing your entire My Documents folder, and the next day you open a spread sheet up, revise it, and close out. Again, ten minutes after you close it out, up it goes to the servers.

The Pros:
Automatic - Once you pick the files, it truly is automatic, it does the work for you with no effort on your part. One of the biggest reason people never backup their files is too much work.

Colored Icon Marks - The files you pick for backup get color coded dots on them in Windows Explorer. Yellow for waiting, green for backed up. Parent folders get a blue dot telling you at least one file inside the folder is being backed up.

Unlimited Storage - Who knows if this is true or not, but they claim the space is unlimited.

Price - $49.95 a year… yes… a year. $89.95 if you buy two years. I signed up only for one year so far.

There are some cons I’ve found, so let’s be fair and mention those:

The Cons:
Speed - The initial upload took forever. Why, I have no idea, but it is only about 1gb per day. I fear when I finally go to move my music folders, we’re talking weeks.

No Versioning - I think they are working on this, but it’s not done yet. For those unfamiliar with versioning, that is saving multiple versions of the same file, so you don’t over-write it.

No support for external drives - Right now, it’s only working with internal drives, but sometime this summer they are supposed to add support for external hard drives and network drives.

Yes, there are cons, but for $49.95 a year, it was worth it just to backup my My Documents folder really. I figure anything beyond that is a bonus to me. So, give the free trial a look, it last for 15 days, the only thing you can’t do during that time is backup video or audio files, everything else is fine.

Ah, it’s that time again. Time for Steve Jobs to make me wish I was made of money. One of his infamous keynote speeches was today, and, as always, it made me weep like a little girl… um… made me weep man tears of joy. For the record, all my info is coming from Engadget and MacRumors.

First off, Mac users can rejoice, the game publishers are coming back! (bout freakin’ time from what I hear from my Mac lovin’ friends) EA is back in July, and ID Software is working on a bunch of new stuff.

Then he moved on to Leopard. For whatever reason, when Apple started with OS X, they got obsessed with big cat names, who knows why. Leopard is the upcoming release, and it’ll have, according to Steve, 300 new features, 10 of which he showed today. Some of it boring, some of it exciting. Being a PC user still, I’m not sure why everyone was so hot and bothered over the new feature named “Stacks”, it’s supposed to clean up your desktop, but I am sure Luis will be better able to explain it than me.

The second feature was an update to their in-computer search function, “Finder”. It sounds an awful lot like Google Desktop to me as you can search more than just your computer now, but all computers on a network. It will all be done in a similar fashion to iTunes Cover Flow (where you flip through the album covers) and can be done on other machines