A Brief and Warped History of the Mac, part 7 (Soul of a Mac)

Welcome to the HitchHiker’s Guide to the Macintosh.

Firstly, I want to say thanks to all the people who emailed me or left feedback on the site in relation to my six-part history of the Mac feature. Hopefully many of you will keep reading the column as I move on to other topics.

It is human nature to anthropomorphise the objects around us – we all like to think that our pets have the same sort of thoughts as we do and we like to think that the objects around us have personalities. Can you honestly say that as a child you never looked at a car and thought of the headlamps as eyes and the radiator as a mouth with an expression?

Well, in this column I want to explore the aspects that give the Mac a distinct personality and ask ‘What is the soul of a Mac?’

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Samsonite XT780
This review is on a piece of hardware that is usually given only a slight afterthought. I’m talking about the case your mac goes into. I’ve had a Samsonite XT780 for about 3 months and I’d say its a perfect mac companion. The front semi-lockable (its as if you’re locking a door by turning a knob) compartment holds your chargers and portable mice. The Apple charger fits perfectly into one of the compartments, as does the Apple mouse.

Now, onto the most important feature: the computer. If you have a 15 inch powerbook or 14 inch ibook, then you’re in luck. It fits perfectly. But if you have anything else, it’s not going to fit snug enough to provide adequate protection.

There are pockets galore on the TX780, but many of them I found rather unhelpful. A few papers and a small paperback book can fit into the final back compartment- that much I understand. But there are some pockets I cannot find a use for. For instance, in the front compartment where the charger and mouse holders are, are 3 small pockets less than an inch deep. I can’t even fit my iPod firewire cord in it. Flipping back to the other end of the bag, there is a zipper for a sizable pocket. However, the stitching on the bag (and the fact that its leather) doesn’t allow for expanding, so you’re left with a large pocket that can only hold very wide thin things, I suppose A magazine or ONE legal pad may fit in there.

Overall though, the bag looks smart, and has what I look for in a bag, plenty of pockets. Although some seem confusing and useless.

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050812.mp3 [23.5mb 51:15 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 81. Apple poaching Sony engineers to help build first Xtel laptops, Apple will refund Canadian “iPod tax” money, speculation on 5th generation iPod Specs, Apple fails to get iPod software patent, Microsoft Messenger for Mac 5.0 released, Microsoft is targeting iPod for the Holidays, get subway maps for your iPod, Japanese artist defies label to get on iTunes, new version of BBEdit released as Universal Binary, Apple OS X for Intel, reported hacked to run on non-Apple, Dvorak sees a world with OS X on the average PC, Apple releases PowerBook G4 Graphics update, rumor that Apple has scraped new “switcher” ads and Apple has updated the “Switcher” web site. MacCast interview on Tired Thumbs, cut in Finder tip followup, leaving your Mac on overnight can clear up a lot of issues, launching GarageBand can fix Windows Media issues and searching for the MacCast the lost archives. New music, Wednesday Morning by Slackstring

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Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050811.mp3 [4.0mb 08:36 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Things have been crazy, do this is a short show, but contains a great product review from the guys at thegreatwhitenorth.ca. A new show will also be out tomorrow. Thank you for your patience and remember to vote at Podcastalley.com

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Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050808SP.mp3 [25.8mb 56:13 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. A special edition of the MacCast. My interview with Amber MacArthur co-host and producer of the popular vid-cast Command-N, as well as Call for Help and Gadgets and Gizmos on G4/TechTV in Canada.

Thanks to The Colmination for helping get this interview set up.

Shownotes & Links (thanks Mitch!)
NOTES
Intro
Interview with Amber
Amber’s Past: How she ended up on G4TechTV
Amber’s Mac life and her take on Macs
Windows Vista
Amber’s favorite Mac apps:
Closing

LINKS
OmniGraffle
iRooster
Awaken
Capture
Quicksilver
Waxy.org
Yellow Mug Software
9rules Network
BlinkSale
iBiz
Basecamp
Digg
CommandN
Bamcat
AmberMac.com

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050806.mp3 [16.9mb 36:56 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 78. Apple launches the iTunes Music Store Japan, Amazon may be planning a digital music service, “Trusted Computing” technology not in current OS X Intel developer systems, Apple defines bloggers as “unhealthy”, Sony PS3 UK website hints of OS X support on console and Steve Jobs to deliver Apple Expo keynote in Paris. Mighty Mouse hands on review, more information on uninstalling Apple apps, “Podcaches” Promo, how to move files with “cut” in the OS X Finder, listener review of RapidWeaver. eMacCast delays, sorry. Mac music and audio production related sites, communities and podcasts, listener review of QuickSilver and my interview with Amber MacArthur is happening this Sunday. New music, Heidi by The Bombhappies.

I would never lie. I willfully participated in a campaign of misinformation.

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Listener Steve (reboot98@gmail.com) took advantage of a tax free day for computers, clothes and school supplies in Missouri.

Is a new Mac store opening?
Are they just now releasing Tiger in the Midwest?
Are they giving away Ipods? Well actually yes but only to teachers.

This weekend is a tax free holiday in Missouri, for computers, clothes and school supplies. Looks like everyone was using it to buy Macs.

You didn’t do this mouse dissection in biology class. This is so cool. If you want to get a great look on what makes the new Mighty Mouse tick, head over and checkout this great article on ArsTechnica. Head over and read the full article, it gives more gruesome picts and all the gory details.

Here are some pics of the Apple Retail Store opening at The Woodlands, Texas

Special thanks to listeners Charlie and Eugene for sending these in.

A Brief and Warped History of the Mac, part 6 (in which the Mac rocks)

Welcome back to my column – I imagine that many readers will be wondering when this insight into the past of the Mac will end – well this is the final part of the saga. The story flows much like Star Wars if you’ll allow me to recap with a strained analogy.

The first part of our story was the discovery of computers and the growth of Apple computers with the Apple II. Next came the action packed ordeal of developing the Mac, but this ended in the sad loss of one of the Mac’s parents – Steve Jobs. No clones though, they didn’t attack quite yet.
By part three, things had gone seriously pear-shaped with Apple doomed to financial and technological purgatory.
In part four, a New Hope was revived with the purchase of NeXT. Last week, I covered the story of how Apple took that and rebuilt the Mac OS – and this is largely where the analogy falls down – no-one gets their hand cut off. However, The Mac Strikes Back would be a fitting title for that section.
But in this final part we will see how the story unfolds up to now and word count allowing, even ponder the future. This is the story of the triumphant Return of the Mac.

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