The Apple Core

March 17th, 2010

TCO: New research finds Macs in the enterprise easier, cheaper to manage than Windows PCs

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 9:45 am

Categories: Corporate, Snow Leopard, Windows, Windows PC, Windows notebook

Tags: Apple Macintosh, PC, TCO, Windows PC, Desktops, Hardware, David Morgenstern

Shocking: A recent survey of enterprise IT managers that administer both PCs and Macs finds that Macs have a better TOC (total cost of ownership) than Windows boxes, and require less user training and help.

The respondents were given the option to select from a range of cost differences. Not only did the administrators across the board say that Macs were less expensive, in all but one category the majority of administrators who said Macs cost less said they were more than 20 percent less expensive to manage than PCs. Of those who asserted that PCs cost less, the majority always asserted that PCs were between 0 and 20 percent less expensive to manage than Macs.

The Enterprise Desktop Alliance survey took results from organizations that had 50 or more servers or over 100 Macs, what the organization said were enterprises, academic sites and government agencies.

The figures that pop out from the chart are those for the time spent troubleshooting problems (16 vs 65 percent, PC and Macs, respectively), dealing with help desk calls (16 vs 54 percent), training users (16 vs 48 percent) and managing system configs. (25 vs 50 percent).

At the Macworld Expo last month, I spoke to T. Reid Lewis, president of the EDA and CEO of Group Logic, a maker of network software and Mac integration products such as ExtremeZ-IP. He pointed out that important enterprise service and back-end platform companies were coming on board the multiplatform bandwagon. That includes IBM, which joined the EDA in Feb. Big Blue’s Informix database, Rational software delivery automationware and Lotus messaging and collaboration platform support Macs, and the company had a booth at the Expo.

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March 16th, 2010

Google begins selling Nexus One for AT&T, Rogers

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:21 pm

Categories: AT&T, Google, Nexus One

Tags: Google Inc., AT&T Corp., Nexus, 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless And Mobility, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Google launched its Nexus One smartphone in January 2010 with only T-Mobile 3G bands. Today that all changed when it announced a new Nexus One handset that is compatible with 3G bands used by AT&T in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada:

Starting today, an additional version of the Nexus One is available from the Google web store that is compatible with AT&T’s 3G network. This new model can be purchased as an unlocked device without a service plan. In addition to AT&T’s 3G network, this device will also run on Rogers Wireless in Canada. And like the first version of the Nexus One, it can be used with most GSM operators globally.

The announcement puts AT&T in the unique position of offering both the iPhone and the Nexus One. The white-hot Nexus One could be the lifeline it needs and a hedge against its exclusivity expiring and Apple taking the iPhone 4.0 to Verizon Wireless.

The announcement also means that AT&T subscribers will conceivably have the option of switching (upgrading?) to a Nexus One when their iPhone contract expires or when eligible for a handset upgrade. I can almost see the Google “Switchers” campaign now.

The announcement also means that Google is now competing even harder with the iPhone.

March 15th, 2010

Updates that boost Mac searching and content discovery

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 1:35 pm

Categories: 10.5, 10.6, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Software, Windows

Tags: Apple Macintosh, PageZephyr 2.0, HoudahSpot, Desktops, Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, Operating Systems, Hardware, Software, Apple Mac OS

Searching for data with Spotlight and the Finder provide Mac users with a capable base set of tools and features such as Spotlight’s Smart Folders (folders that show files from around your system without moving the files from their original saved locations) and the Finder’s Quick Look (that lets users view the contents of documents without actually opening them in their parent application). However, Mac users who really want to find data quickly may be interested in third-party tools that build on Spotlight’s technology, several of which were updated recently.

Managers who have content in prepress and other professional content-creation applications may be interested in Markzware’s PageZephyr 2.0 announced last week. The $199 Mac product searches a variety of “uncommon” file types (meaning something other than PDF, .DOC or text). PageZephyr 2.0 can index files from Adobe InDesign versions CS through CS4, Quark QuarkXPress versions 4.0 to 8.x and interestingly, Microsoft Publisher versions 2002 to 2007.

What is very useful about PageZephyr is that it doesn’t require you to have the original application to view documents and extract their content. Of course, Microsoft Publisher is a Windows-only app, so its use on the Mac desktop would require a Windows virtualization solution or BootCamp.

Here’s a bit from the company’s PR:

With PageZephyr 2.0, Markzware is essentially releasing 4 products in one: content searching, content viewing, content extraction and content distribution for these unique file formats. eDiscovery firms trying to find that ’smoking gun,’ or companies trying to manage risks while reducing the cost of maintaining content compliance will benefit from PageZephyr 2.0. Companies in various vertical markets having the need to recycle premium content contained in these document types to market their goods or services, especially through the internet, will find PageZephyr 2.0 invaluable.

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March 15th, 2010

AT&T still mum on iPhone tethering

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 12:17 pm

Categories: AT&T, Tethering, iPhone

Tags: AT&T Corp., Palm Pre, Smart Phones, Networking, Wi-Fi, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Wireless And Mobility, Jason D. O'Grady

A reader sent me this email expressing his frustrations about AT&T’s lack of iPhone tethering. I couldn’t agree with him more:

Where the heck is our AT&T tethering!?  I can’t believe that the iPhone still doesn’t have tethering in 2010!  Promise after promise, time just seems to pass with the same “coming soon.” We’ve heard that it will be out at the end of summer 2009 then at the end of 2009 but now it’s all just “coming soon.”

Blackberries do it, Palm Pre does it better (with a wireless hot spot!), my old Sony-Ericsson from 2003 did it. I understand the overwhelmed network argument to a point, since in some locales AT&T is just doomed with infrastructure inadequacies, but it is starting to frustrate.

It is time that they get their act together, with the iPad on the horizon how are they going to handle it? If there is going to be such network demand, that means there is a market for it and I can’t see why AT&T isn’t glad to take our money and run. Make the investment AT&T so we can finally catch up with the rest of the world.

Amen brother.

March 14th, 2010

Forget the iPad, I want a Rolltop

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:32 pm

Categories: Concept, Tablet, Video

Tags: Video, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

It’s obviously a concept, but this video by Orkin Design shows what could be in store for the future of tablet computing. The video reminds me of those futuristic digital paper concept videos that surface now and again.

The device of the flexible display allows a new concept in notebook design growing out of the traditional bookformed laptop into unfurling and convolving portable computer. By virtue of the OLED-Display technology and a multi touch screen the utility of a laptop computer with its weight of a mini-notebook and screen size of 13 inch easily transforms into the graphics tablet, which with its 17-inch flat screen can be also used as a primary monitor. On top of everything else all computer utilities from power supply through the holding belt to an interactive pen are integrated in Rolltop. This is really an all-in-one gadget.

March 14th, 2010

Say Hello to the iBoard (and the iMat)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:08 pm

Categories: Humor, iPad, iPhone

Tags: Jason D. O'Grady

Tip: monorail.net

March 12th, 2010

Hoarding iPads? Here's how to order four

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 6:36 am

Categories: Apple, Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Store, iPad

Tags: Apple Inc., Web Site, iPads, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Channel Management, Blogging, Internet, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

The iPad went on sale this morning at around 8:35am ET via Apple’s Web site. The company limited pre-orders to two iPads, but if you’re willing to drive a little you can really order four. Here’s how:

The iPad pre-order Web site offered two options, a) have it shipped to you on April 3, or picking it up in a local Apple Store on April 3.

While Apple limits each order to two iPads, you can order two via delivery and two for in-store pickup, for a total of four.

What on earth will I be doing with four iPads you ask? As I told my fellow bloggers here at ZDNet: I’ll be taping them together into one giant Super iPad - wait, that just sounds wrong!

How many iPads are you ordering?

March 12th, 2010

Gallery: the iPad pre-order process (updated)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 6:04 am

Categories: Apple, Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Store, iPad

Tags: Apple Inc., Web Site Development, Web Technology, Channel Management, Internet, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

The iPad went on sale this morning at around 8:35am ET (at least by my clock) via Apple’s Web site. The site offered two options, a) have it shipped to you on April 3, or picking it up in a local Apple Store on April 3. Being an Apple freak, I did both.

Apple also imposed a two iPad limit per login, but you could order two for delivery and two for pickup for a total of four, which I did. One peculiarity I noticed about the shipping: after clicking Pre-order > from the online store > 16GB Wi-Fi, the order summary on the right hand side says:

Delivers on April 3rd
Free Shipping

What’s peculiar is that Apple also offers a “2-3 day shipping” upgrade for $12 (or $14 for two). Why on earth would anyone need to pay extra for “2-3 shipping” when the free shipping option “delivers on April 3rd?” Will ponying up the $14 make it arrive on March 31 or April 1? I doubt it, but I chose 2-3 shipping just in case.

If you didn’t already/don’t plan to order an iPad, check out this short gallery to see what you’re missing. If you did place an iPad pre-order today, what model did you choose? Any accessories? AppleCare ($99)?

Shall we start comparing order numbers in the TalkBack?

March 11th, 2010

Fusion vs. Parallels Takedown: The movie

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 10:02 pm

Categories: Virtualization, Windows, Windows 7

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Movie, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 7, Desktop Virtualization, Desktops, Virtualization, 64-Bit, Operating Systems, Software

MacTech recently released a 7,500-word head-to-head comparison of Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMware Fusion, comprising more than 3,500 tests on both single- and multiprocessor desktop and mobile Macs with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows 7. What more could we want?

How about a video of the graphics tests, running on side-by-side machines? Sweet!

March 11th, 2010

iPad pre-orders begin at 5:30am PT, Friday

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:55 pm

Categories: Apple, Apple Online Store, iPad

Tags: Sale, Apple Inc., TUAW, Tablets, Notebooks, Productivity, Desktops, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jason D. O'Grady

Last week Apple announced that it would begin taking pre-orders for the iPad on March 12, 2010 - tomorrow - but it didn’t specify exactly when on the 12th. The devil is, as they say, in the details and the precise time the iPad ges on sale is a huge detail to the cult of Mac. Myself included.

Apple has confirmed (via TUAW) that its first tablet computer will be able to be pre-ordered at 5:30 am PT/ 8:30 am ET:

Customers can pre-order online at apple.com at 5:30am Pacific time on Friday, March 12.

I was kind of hoping that the iPad would go on sale at midnight ET so that I could place my order tonight and be done with it. However an iPad with my Friday morning paper sounds just as good. Just not to my morning paper.

See you in line.