The Tech Night Owl — Cutting-Edge Tech Commentary

The iPad Report: Now About Multitasking

You can bet the critics were howling when Apple’s press event and product information on the iPad failed to mention multitasking. How, then, do you run more than a single app at the same time? What if you need to integrate the content you create in, say, Pages with Numbers? Isn’t this all a throwback [...]

Newsletter Issue #532: The Waiting for Apple to Fail Report

Humans are strange beasts. I wonder what an alien race might think of us if they come to Earth to observe our society and psychology. Consider how we root for the winner, and then, in an abrupt change of face, fervently hope for their defeat. So consider Apple’s plight over the years. Despite a loyal fan [...]

The Search Engine Report: Hey Apple, Why Not More Choices?

When you run Safari, the search address bar will give you any search engine, so long as it’s Google. With the iPhone, you can select Yahoo! as an alternate. Sure, you might find it only slightly less convenient simply to visit the search engine of your choice, and add it to Safari’s toolbar. However, as you [...]

The 27-inch iMac Flickering Report

In the old days of CRT displays, I never, ever, got a perfect product. Except perhaps for the original 13-inch Apple RGB color display, every one of them was defective in some fashion. Now you can call me obsessive/compulsive, or just picky, but my eyes would discern the minor irregularities in screen geometry, where the [...]

Apple’s Not-So-Secret Plot to Change Technology Standards

No, folks, this isn’t a conspiracy theory, nor do I actually believe Apple’s being especially secretive about the things they do to make you switch from one technology standard to another. But it sometimes takes a few years to comprehend their vision. Take the decision to embrace USB in 1998 starting with the original iMac. Till [...]

Apple’s Other Advertising Partners

The other day I saw what appeared to be an ad for the iPhone, depicting a new app that allowed you to manage your auto insurance policy. But rather than segue to the telltale Apple logo, it turned out that this was actually commercial for GEICO, complete with that lizard-like puppet that serves as the [...]

Newsletter Issue #531: The iPad Report: The Questions Keep on Coming

As expected, the iPad consumed much of the chatter about Apple this past week, but it didn’t stop there. As most of you know, few tech pundits talked about anything else in the weeks leading up to the introduction of Apple’s latest and greatest. At the same time, the official Apple responses to various and sundry [...]

The i-What? Questions Persist About the iPad

Before I get into the meat of this commentary, one thing troubles me, and that’s whether Apple has jumped the shark when it comes to using the infamous “i” prefix for its products. Beginning with the position Steve Jobs assumed when he took over Apple shortly after his return to the company, iCEO, and ending [...]

The iPad Report: Apple Strives to Exceed Media Expectations

Consider your choices. You can spend $489 for an Amazon Kindle DX (unless they suddenly drop the price), which does little more than read books and publications. You can spend $300-$400 for a netbook, which is a pathetic excuse for a notebook computer — or you can, beginning in March, buy a basic Apple iPad [...]

The iPhone, AT&T and Verizon Wireless: What Should You Believe?

Anyone who experiences dropped calls from the wireless carrier that once promised fewer dropped calls must be wondering if AT&T’s exclusive on the iPhone is poised to expire. There are reports now that Apple will announce during their Wednesday morning shindig that the iPhone will become available at more than a single U.S. carrier. Before the [...]

Apple Continues to Make Money Hand Over Fist

The financial community has, in the past year, warmed to the inevitable success of Apple’s business plan, and you wonder why it took so long. For so many years, you see, the words “beleaguered” and “Apple” were synonymous. Whenever Microsoft released a new version of Windows, you just knew that the Mac couldn’t possibly compete, [...]

Newsletter Issue #530: Of Apple Versus Google Versus Microsoft

Depending on which version of the conventional wisdom you choose to believe, Apple is engaged in a battle to the death with Google and Microsoft. With the former, it’s mostly about smartphones, although Google is also working on a desktop operating system. When it comes to the latter, it’s the eternal conflict between the Mac [...]

An Urgent Request from The Night Owl!

Note: I am updating you on the status this urgent plea for the benefit of those who didn’t see it previously, and also to thank those of you who so generously donated money to the cause. If you have already read this post, previously sent a donation, or you’re just tired of hearing about my [...]

The Myths About Apple Keep on Coming

Just the other day, I read yet another commentary from an alleged tech pundit claiming that the reason Apple didn’t conquer the world with the Macintosh in the 1980s was because they opted to keep the platform closed. Thus, there is no chance that Apple can overcome the Google onslaught and not fall behind in [...]

Apple or a Third Party?

Since my recent column, “Does Windows 7 Make a Difference?,” was published, there has been an active debate about a new Microsoft window management feature, where a document is pinned at the edge of the screen a grabs half the display. You can place a second document on the other half of the screen to [...]