Two words for the same thing?

You say either and I say either, You say neither and I say neither Either, either Neither, neither, Let's call the whole thing off.

Ultra-portable Apple notebook to splash down at Macworld Expo

You like potato and I like potahto, You like tomato and I like tomahto Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto, Let's call the whole thing off

Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus

But oh, if we call the whole thing off Then we must part And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

Steve Jobs, 10 months ago:

Are you getting it? … Read more

Improving on Walter Mossberg's PC-buying advice

A few days ago in The Wall Street Journal someone with a 5-year-old PC asked Walter Mossberg how to determine when to buy a new PC. The response in the paper was short. Fortunately, this blog lets me offer a longer, more detailed answer.

The first thing Mossberg said in his response was "There's no universal answer to your question." I disagree. The simple answer is that a computer needs to be replaced only when it no longer does something you want or need it to do. This has nothing to do with the age of the … Read more

Artie MacStrawman and the Wii Effect

PAGING ARTIE MACSTRAWMAN. ARTIE MACSTRAWMAN, PLEASE COME TO THE WHITE COURTESY PHONE. YOU HAVE A CALL FROM A MR. KINGSLEY-HUGHES.

What could/should Apple do to take sales and profits to the next level? Simple. Release an Apple branded Windows-based PC. I know, I know, this kind of talk is bound to upset the hardened Apple fanatic...

MR. MACSTRAWMAN, PLEASE MEET YOUR PARTY BY THE BAGGAGE CLAIM CAROUSEL ON LEVEL 4.

Sure, a few lunatics at the fringes who'd be upset, but that's only to be expected.

PAGING ARTIE MACSTRAWMAN. YOUR PARTY IS NOW AT THE SECURITY DESK … Read more

The Last Inquiry Unicorn.

Rob Enderle opines: Changing of the guard: Sony waxes while Apple wanes

Wouldn't that be "Re-changing"? And wouldn't that also be a load of crap?

OK, Rob Enderle has been skewered to death (sadly, not literally) by many an Apple blogger, but sometimes it's nice to fall back on a classic. Something tried and true.

Sort of like returning to an old friend.

Just one that you hate vehemently.

Enderle, as is his wont, throws about 150 unrelated items up on the wall in the hopes enough of it will stick to form the pattern … Read more

A new approach to securing USB flash drives

USB Flash drives are great. Securing them, however, is not so great. They are easily lost and the more you use one, the more likely it will contain files you consider sensitive. Corsair recently came out with a product that takes an entirely new approach to securing flash drives.

Seeing as this is a Defensive Computing blog, it goes without saying that my personal flash drives are secure. I use a free, open-source program called TrueCrypt. There are however, three problems with this approach:

The hassle of installing TrueCrypt and learning how to use it. There is a portable version … Read more

How not to drive Mac market share.

The New York Times' Randall Stross thinks Apple missed a market share opportunity with Microsoft's missteps.

And he's hell-bent on proving it!

The biggest problem here is that Stross largely relies on one source for Mac market share, a source that conveniently places it at its lowest possible threshold, 3 percent. There are plenty of other sources you could use that will give you other results, and this piece comes across as a conclusion in search of the evidence.

That forlorn number looks even worse compared with Apple's peak worldwide share of 14 percent in 1984, the … Read more

What makes a good surge protector--Part 1

Everyone knows to use a surge protector for their computer. But which one? How do you choose? Welcome to surge protector school.

As their name implies, surge protectors prevent voltage spikes from entering a computer (or whatever else is plugged into them). They are available in a variety of types and, to paraphrase the manual that came with a Dell server, usually provide a level of protection commensurate with the cost of the device. In other words, you get what you pay for.

A surge protector is not a power strip, although a low end model may look like a … Read more

Fear not the keyboard

The Macalope had the chance to rub his furred and musky body up against one of the new iMacs over the weekend as he ventured down from the high mountain plains where he makes his home to engage in some shopping and the inevitable frightening of the children at the local mall.

It just comes with having an unusual noggin.

He was mostly interested in doing what he's heard so many Apple pundits say they've wanted to do: "try out that new keyboard". Ah, the trying of the new keyboard! Indeed, it has been spoken of … Read more

Ridicule has its place.

This is going to be something of an "inside baseball" post so if you're looking for news or rumors, you're out of luck.

If, instead, you're the kind of reader who likes snippy disagreements between pedantic Mac nerds, well, read on, friend!

MacJournals News has taken to task the Mac bloggers who openly mocked "Sticker Guy" as he has come to be known -- the reporter who asked Steve Jobs why Apple doesn't participate in the "Intel inside" promotion. According to MacJournals, the revenue the promotion would generate for Apple … Read more