Check out this video and let me know what you think!
The Future of Mac
The titan battle between Mac and PC wages on stronger than ever before. The numbers are mixed, the advertising budget have been massive and the branding has been impressive. In light of it all, where is Apple taking their fame and is it the right direction?
It’s impossible to not have noticed the ride that Apple took a few years after their undeniable success with the iPod. They first convinced every youth that they had to have one. Then they expanded their age bracket and dare sold us on the idea that we had to have two each, one for more music and more games and another for working out. They used that brand recognition and large customer base to bring MacBooks to the masses. They improved looks, OS, software and increased their marketing budgets to nearly Microsoft numbers. Of course, then came the iTunes Store, the iPhone and the App Store.
A lot of their success in computers today can be attributed to their decision to move to Intel chips and i86 architecture followed by their promotion of BootCamp which convinced us all that we could have a Mac and a PC. Apple stores were flooded while their market share rose only slightly.
The Apple of today is very different than even 5 years ago. They have more store, more “geniuses” and more profit centers. Like printers and ink, they have capitalized on selling us hardware only to then sell us “consumables” in the form of entertainment and software. It’s all-to obvious with every upgrade in iTunes they want us buying more and more music from them and it’s no wonder, as the profit margin is fantastic for them. The same exact same is true for the App Store.
Their laptops and desktops seem to have taken a back seat over the last 2 years. They only saw minor face lifts, no break-thru innovation and all-to-late addition of SD card readers. This latest improvement parallels their renaming of their biggest seller, the 13 inch MacBook which was already a spitting image of its larger brother, the 15 inch MacBook Pro. Now, the little laptop is called a MacBook Pro as well, now bringing the Pro lineup to 3 different machines and leaving their $999 white MacBook all alone. A year ago, it appeared as if that machine was drop off the charts but it’s staying power hints at Apple’s plan. The economic down turn and a slew of price gouging ads by Microsoft have taken from some of Apple’s market share gains. They are appealing, but hurting. Their new re-branding of a laptop cuts a hole in their lineup where a more price competitive model can squeeze in.
The online rumor mills are churning out constant evidence supporting a low priced tablet Mac that will be based on the touchscreen success of the iPhone and iPod Touch, yet have the computer power of a full laptop or at least of a modern netbook. With all the allure that Apple has, yet the failing sales, it’s an easy business decision to bring in a product that’s more affordable. Whether it is a tablet, a netbook, a lower cost notebook or any combination has yet to be determined, at least outside of the Apple headquarters.
Sin City’s Heavenly Nature
Many people are unaware of the splendor that exists all around Las Vegas within short 4 hour drive radius. From Red Rock Canyon to Hoover Dam, and Mount Charleston to the Grand Canyon. There is a whole world of outdoor goodness right out our doorstep.
Red Rock Canyon is the nearest “nature spot” to the Strip. It’s NW of central Las Vegas and is technically a National Conservation Area. The free drive through the canyon can take 20 minutes and is entirely desert beauty. You can also opt for the 12 mile loop for a few extra bucks. In the “it’s not deadly hot” months the road is riddled with bicyclists, motorcyclists, joggers and the lucky ones gallivanting in their half-naked convertibles. There are plenty of hikes for every experience level there. My favorite is Ice Box where you can sometimes find a waterfall at the end, but that is typically only in early spring.
To the east of Las Vegas is the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River has bore a national treasure that is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide and averages a mile in depth. A drive over Hoover Dam is awe inspiring, partly for the magnitude of human ability and partly for the traffic. The adventurous can choose any number of hikes up, down or in between the canyon rims. Those wishing for an equally spectacular, yet altogether different view of the canyon can pay for Hummer or even helicopter tour of the canyon.
You probably know that the byproduct of many dams is the formation of lakes. Las Vegas is happy to have Lake Mead only a short 40 minute drive away. You can see may local driveways filled with boats and wave runners. The lake is down well over 10 feet from previous years and is becoming quite a scare for conservationists and watersport junkies alike. It is still open and ready for your adventure sport fix.
Further North West of town is Mount Charleston. With it’s own lodge and slopes it is the only real winter sport destination in this arid, desert area. It has an average annual snowfall of 120 inches, 11 trails and 4 lifts. Season passes are just over $500 for adults with discounts for kids, students, seniors & military.
Beyond these short distances one can find many other outdoor activites. Less than three hours west is Death Valley National Park where there is plenty of fun in the sun, as long as you bring plenty of water. Five hours west are lie the beaches of southern California. Four hours north-east one can drive into Zion and Bryce National Parks for some amazing forest and river camping.
Google - You still don’t know how great it really is!
Although I consider myself to be quite the techie nerd (as far as amateurs go) there seems to be something new I learn weekly that just blows my mind. Wether it’s a time saving tip or just the latest and greatest Web2.0 link, the surprises seem endless.
Today, Google takes the cake. If you’re online for more than 5 minutes a day searching stuff then surely you’ve already made the switch to Google as your primary search engine. If not, then go to www.Google.com and then make that the homepage of your browser. If you use the search bar found in the upper left corner of the top 3 browsers, make sure it’s set to use Google. Yes, professional techies, I know that it’s gotten a little bloated over the years and they are putting more and more paid-for sites at the top of the list, but I still feel that Google has a higher success rate than any other engine.
Now, the tip that instigated this post. Visit http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html and you will be able to see for yourself.
Adding keywords like “movies” before your search term will put special results right at the top that are probably what you’re looking for. My favorites are:
1) Weather - type “weather” and then the city, zip code you’re curious about.
2) Movies - type “movies” and the movie title or zip code you’re in and see some perfect results. Click the links to hone in on the movie, theater you’re looking for.
3) Time - type “time” and the city (anywhere in the world) to see the exact time there. Perfect after studying abroad in Germany. 
4) Flight Status - (REALLY!) type the airline name and flight number. You’re .002 seconds away from knowing if you’re kid’s flight is delayed 45 minutes.
Scroll down the list on the provided link to learn about more of them. Everyone seems to use different ones.
Sure, try to memorize the most common ones so that, like trained Olympic wrestlers, you can type it in without even thinking about it and get the results faster than anyone else. The trend you should find, however, is that you really don’t need to memorize anything. When you’re confronted with some small bit of information that you want to look up just put this thought process in your head:
1) What information do I want to find?
2) If it’s on the web Google probably has the info readily available?
3) What keyword would I put in front of my search term to let someone know what I’m looking up.
4) try it!
The whole point is that Google is the Phelps of gold medals in search engine simplicity. They’ve made it “grandma simple”. So next time you’re searching, try these shortcuts and see how many precious seconds it saves you!
