DygiScape

AOL Releases ‘AOL Desktop for Mac’, Bringing Parity to their Mac Users

For a while now, AOL has been working steadily on their updated Mac client, AOL Desktop for Mac, to bring parity with their Windows counterpart. The software was released on May 6th, 2008 on the Mac@AOL Blog, including video and screenshots depicting the software in action. More »

Tags: aol, apple, Mac, OpEd, Software

Apple Dominates Techmeme for Product (Re)Release

So, I wanted to see what happened today in technology. To my surprise, the only thing that happened was Apple’s MacBook Air release, which subsequently broke Twitter, and Engadget discovered that the battery is not self-replaceable. I’ve chronicled Apple’s Techmeme dominance below:

Personally, I think it’s good that Apple is working on refining their technology, but I believe this product release was weak, since it merely is a re-release of the MacBook, just lighter and thinner. I’d rather have a powerful laptop than a light one, especially when laptops these days are lighter than they were several years ago. Oh, and Netflix uncapped their online video rental service to compete with iTunes’ offerings.  Clearly, Apple is trying to hold their ground as consumers demands rise.

What do you think about today’s Apple news?

Tags: apple, internet, News, social news

‘Maxed Out’ Mac Pro for Only $27,340

What do you do when you’ve got an additional $27,340 laying around? Buy the best of the best of Mac Pros. [Link via StumbleUpon]

Tags: apple, Funny, Mac, technology

What Apple Does Right (and Wrong)

Many innovators could tell you about the challenges Apple faced some time ago and how they overcame them to be one of the best-known computer manufacturers. Just as important as the strength of a company, are their weaknesses that people tend to forget.

What they do right:

• Apple is customer focused. A majority of their products, services, technologies, have all been in favor of the end-user — both new and their existing customer base. While I may personally dislike iTunes, I can definitely see the value it provides for people, as well as making amends with the media industry. People love their iPods, MacBooks, Mighty mouse, Mac Mini, and other popular Mac products.
• Apple makes their products available to the market effectively. These days, if you don’t make your product out to market in an aggressive time frame, you fail. I am very impressed with Apple’s innovations and the short time they took to make them available to their consumers.
• Apple is quality-focused. Not many Mac users ever complain about conflicting software. Why? Apple makes reliable, tested, durable products that can withstand the demands of their users. I imagine they probably lab-test with a combination of professional users as well as inexperienced ones to see what’s up.
• “Innovate or Die” is Apple’s other motto. Years ago, the tech giant was facing bankruptcy among other challenges, faced gaining poor reputation among users, industry insiders and investors. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak challenged the industry by improving the basic functions that consumers wanted — and did a damn good job of it.

What they do wrong:

• Not transparent enough. Apple has gained a reputation by means of fan-boys being egregiously gullible to company rumors, especially among bloggers. Whether they are legitimate or not, the company doesn’t do good enouigh job communicating to users and the industry. I suggest they could do a blog with a team of folks who handle user, industry, and press questions and respond accordingly.
• Inching closer to the dark side. I strongly believe Apple does have their customer’s interests at heart, but I think their success is becoming like a snowball — if they can’t achieve phenomenal numbers from the previous quarter, they are viewed as slowing down and imploding on innovation. Because of this (coupled with the obvious — they want to stay on top), they cooperate with the industry too much. For instance, the iPhone, they restricted it to just AT&T and continued to pursue DMCA notifications against the authors of the unlocking software. This isn’t cool, and is proof they are edging closer to the dark side.

That’s pretty much it on what I believe Apple does well and what obstacles they face as they go forward. I presume that as an elitist technology company, a bit of mystery is good which is why they probably keep their mouth shut about their products as it drive bloggers and columnists wild when they release innovative technologies.

Surely that can’t be all the things Apple does right and wrong … share your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: apple, bad, consumers, good, innovation, internet, products, Rants, technology

Why I’m Not Getting an iPhone

For the past two weeks, Apple and AT&T have received a lot of press lately because of the release of the iPhone. I disagree with the hype simply because of my cynical view of popular technology reaching the masses without adequate benchmarking. Hear me out on this, I love Apple products, but I am just not purchasing an iPhone and I explain.

For the longest time (since OS 9 era), Apple has made it very clear they needed to offer compelling features if they wanted people to invest in them. Essentially, they went from almost extinct to a elitist brand that everyone buys. Well, that dramatic transformation has led to their own benchmark — they must meet their users existing needs before expanding into unfettered territory such as cell phones (or Windows if you look at iPod users).

That said, I was disappointed at how Apple sold its contract to AT&T. The telecommunications conglomerate, formerly Cingular/Southwestern Bell/Pacific Bell/Bellsouth/Etc., has never had a positive note in my book. I’ve spent hours with their poor customer service porting my old cell phone number to competitor T-Mobile. This narrow-minded approach in offering proprietary services and features is the primary reason why I refuse to purchase an iPhone with AT&T service. As with any great company, you can usually tell if they’ve got it together if their customers are satisfied and/or at least if their customer service is helpful.

To AT&T’s credit, I understand that cellular service is a tough market to win any satisfaction in. However, their network is not optimal for broadband communication (trust me, even text messages took minutes to receive). The iPhone thirsts for network-intensive tasks such as YouTube and more. Why in the world did AT&T bid on the iPhone if they didn’t intend on making their network broadband-capable.

Much like the cable and [landline] telephone companies — they finally understand that it’s the speed, not corporate acquisitions and takeovers, that win consumers over. Comcast offers 12Mb residential service (which probably no average user would ever really consume). I am doubtful AT&T is not overselling their features.

Apple should understand that users like interoperability. You’ve done it with OS X for Bootcamp, iPod for iTunes, and Safari for Windows. Why not make the iPhone compatible with more than one carrier? The question the Cupertino giant needs to ask themselves is not, “How can we get the most money in the bid,” rather, “How can we split royalties from two or more cell phone networks, leveraging the power of two cell phone networks and satisfy the most people to make even more money?”

I know, I know, maybe the FCC would give push back to the idea of a phone using two telcos. Oh, wait…

Here’s ten more reasons why I am not going to get my hands on the iPhone

1. It’s proprietary (which may or may not be such a bad thing for Apple)
2. It’s ball-and-chained with an activation mechanism similar to that of Windows.
3. Users have reported slow speeds when using the Web.
4. Users reported activation hassles.
5. Spending $60/mo on a two-year agreement with AT&T.
6. You’ve spent $500 - $600 and you can’t avoid the big blue ball.
7. The first generation of anything has its problems.
8. The second or third generation usually introduces price drops and firmware updates.
9. You can count on #8, because Apple historically has been impressive at their keynote events
10. AT&T Customer Service.

Even though I’m deeply biased against the iPhone and AT&T I can respect the folks who did get one. I want to know why you bought an iPhone or why you’re not getting one. Post it in the comments.

Tags: apple, cell phones, internet, OpEd