The Tech Night Owl — Cutting-Edge Tech Commentary

The Apple and AMD Rumors Persist

So when Steve Jobs was asked once about whether Apple was committed to the PowerPC some years back, he replied yes, but added Apple always wanted options. Well, it’s certainly clear, in retrospect, what he was actually talking about. At the time he made that pronouncement, Apple was evidently negotiating with Intel to move to [...]

So is iPhone Jailbreaking Now a Good Thing?

Up until this week, if you attempted to jailbreak your iPhone — which means unlocking it and making it possible to use apps from sources other than the App Store — you might be regarded as a rogue, maybe even a lawbreaker. You might wonder if Apple might actually show up at your door and [...]

At Last! Apple Revitalizes the Mac

Now that the notorious Antennagate scandal has apparently died down, the tech media can return to talking about Apple’s “other” product lineup — the Mac. Yes, there’s finally news that disproves the unfounded rumor that Macs are playing second fiddle these days, which is why they allegedly don’t receive regular upgrades. After ongoing rumors of [...]

Update! So is the iPad a PC?

According to the conventional wisdom, Apple is selling more and more Macs every quarter, but remains far behind on the global market, with just a slim single digit market share. The real issue, however, is whether the well-known surveys are seriously understating Apple’s success. You see, in addition to selling 3.47 million Macs this past [...]

Newsletter Issue #556: Welcome to the Ministry of Silly Apple Rumors

If you can believe reports from the mainstream media, Apple was poised to announce a software fix for the iPhone 4 antenna problem last week. I’m not referring to a more accurate display of signal strength — meaning fewer bars in many instances — but an actual method to compensate for the effects of using [...]

Consumer Reports Can’t Be All Things to All People

If you accept the conventional wisdom, Consumer Reports is the best product review publication in the U.S. The reason is that it’s run by a non-profit corporation that not only doesn’t accept advertising, but actually purchases the items it tests, most often from regular dealers. In other words, it’s incorruptible. So how can you beat [...]

Yes, Folks, Macs Are Still Successful!

Some foolish blogger the other day wrote an inane piece claiming that I said that the Mac Pro would soon be history. For the benefit of those who haven’t read these columns regularly, and even for those who have, I have never made such a claim. I have said that there may be a time [...]

So is Apple Under a Cloud?

You can almost see how the 24/7 cable news talking heads are handling the situation. Apple Inc., after being at the top of the mountain several years, is now once again a beleaguered company as the result of the Antennagate scandal. Both customers and the press have lambasted the company and mercurial CEO Steve Jobs [...]

Smartphone Makers Caught Lying About Apple!

As I speculated in yesterday’s column, the makers of competing smartphones are trying to mirror Adobe’s approach on the Flash controversy with smoke and mirrors responses to Antennagate. Whether HTC, Motorola, Nokia or Samsung, the spin control reads the same, using near-identical talking points playbooks. They know all about antennas, and Apple doesn’t, and is [...]

Newsletter Issue #555: Antennagate: Facts Don’t Mean a Thing

You could argue that the iPhone 4 antenna debacle was unfortunate, accidental, and that Apple probably brought it on themselves by not responding to customer and media complaints quickly enough. The story got way out of hand, and when 24/7 cable news channels began to make headline hay out of it, you just know Apple’s [...]

Update! The iOS 4.0.1 Report

When someone predicted Apple would release that highly-anticipated fixer-upper Thursday for at least some antenna-related issues on the latest and greatest iPhone, I was skeptical. How could anyone outside of Apple possibly know. Yet a Greek-language site, iPhone Hellas, had it right on, all the way. Now unless I’m missing something, the only advertised fix [...]

Serving the Interests of Apple’s Competitors

As all the bad news about Apple and the alleged iPhone 4 antenna problem piles up, I fully expect that the company’s competitors are cheering loudly, not to mention people who already prefer other mobile platforms. And I am loathe to refer to this episode as Antennagate, as some have done. Certainly, Apple’s stellar success [...]

Surviving the 24-Hour News Cycle

The problem with a massive oil spill in the Gulf remains unresolved, there’s the usual partisan political bickering (make that shouting), and the economy is still in the toilet, more or less. You just know that actor/director Mel Gibson is one bigoted and abusive maniac on the basis of those widely-circulated telephone recordings. Considering all [...]

Apple Gets on the Bad Side of Consumer Reports

As if Apple doesn’t have enough PR problems what with the alleged sensitivity issues surrounding the latest and greatest iPhone, now Consumer Reports, the most respected product review publication in the U.S., has, as a result of their own testing, given the hot new gadget a negative rating. In the original blog on the subject, [...]

Newsletter Issue #554: Is the Public Turning Against Apple?

So I talked to a local hair stylist the other day, someone whom I regard as reasonably tech savvy, and he told me why he would never buy an iPhone 4. “Too many problems,” he said, although he wasn’t able to name anything specific. He wasn’t alone in expressing that viewpoint. My wife said she’d [...]