Mac

Apple TV gets HBO GO and WatchESPN

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Apple on Wednesday updated one of my favorite and most used products—Apple TV. In a software update released today, Apple added a number of new “channels” to the including including HBO GO and WatchESPN.

The Mac Pro from an audio pros perspective

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I really like the new Mac Pro and since I use mostly external rack units and other gear, the lack of expansion slots is fine with me. Many studios won’t be upgrading right away, and when they do, there will be a lot more gear that supports Thunderbolt and other I/O options. Peter Kirn has a nice look at what the audio industry thinks of the Mac Pro.

OS X Mavericks

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I don’t think there is any surprises with the new version of OS X. Some desktop improvements and deeper integration with iOS. That continues a move Apple began with the last version of OS X in bringing the two OSes together in a way that makes it easy for users to sync and share data. Maps, Notifications, iBooks and iCloud Keychain are all going to be great additions to OS X.

Mac Pro

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The idea of the Thermal Core on the Mac Pro reminds me a lot of the Cube. I wonder how much of that technology Apple looked to for the Mac Pro. Overall, this looks like an incredible system—lots of power and expandability is just what the pros were looking for.

OS X 10.8.4 released

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OS X has been updated with lots of fixes. The download is available in the Mac App Store — just check for updates.

WWDC Expectations

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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is only a couple of weeks away and everyone is wondering what the company will unveil during the keynote address. As much as we all have long wish lists for what we would like to see, I think it’s important to balance those with realistic expectations for what’s likely to happen.

Tech gear and saving money on energy

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Jeff Bertolucci for The Saturday Evening Post:

Beware. Your tech gear is costing you money while you sleep. Sure, the stuff looks innocent enough: cable box, HDTV, computer monitor, and sundry other electronic gadgets that consume power even when in “sleep” mode. While their energy-sucking ways may seem harmless, they cost you big bucks over time.

It all adds up.

Consumer Reports: Apple is tops in tech support

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Consumer Reports talking about Apple:

The company scored far higher than the other big companies for the elements that make for successful online and phone support: ease of contacting staff, clarity of advice, technical knowledge, patience, and time for follow-up.

And here is what they said about Windows-based companies:

Clearly, there’s room for improvement in tech support: 24 to 40 percent of respondents who sought phone or online help from makers of Windows-based computers said the staff’s patience, knowledge, or clarity was fair at best.

Making money

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I saw Bill Gurley say that you can only make money by being right about something that most people think is wrong. His logic was that you can’t make money by being wrong. And you can’t make money by being right about something everyone else knows. So you have to be right about something that most people think is wrong.

Sounds a lot like what Apple does.

Amazon to compete with Apple TV

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As it works to build all types of connected devices, that leaves a natural next step: a television set-top box. The e-commerce giant is planning to introduce a device this fall dedicated to streaming video over the Internet and into its customers’ living rooms.

This makes a lot of sense for Amazon and it would certainly be a bigger competitor than Google.

Macs vs. PC on campus

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We often hear about how popular Macs are in schools or business from market research firms, but it’s interesting to hear from the students.

Apple comments on hacker attack

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Apple on Tuesday admitted to being the victim of a hacker attack by the same people that went after Facebook last week. Apple said it is taking steps to help it’s customers, including releasing an updated Java malware removal tool. […]

Apple’s consumer technology revenue

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Apple’s revenue [19.9%] easily beat out rival Samsung, which came in second with 9.3 percent, up from 7 percent in 2011. The rest of the top five saw their share of revenue fall in 2012: HP dipped from 8.9 percent in 2011 to 8.2 percent last year, while Sony and Dell both slid to 4.4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

That is an incredible number.

Apple’s rumored TV-related event in March

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Apple is gearing up for a special media event next month related to its television initiative that may deliver the tools developers will need to prepare applications for a formal relaunch of the company’s Apple TV product, analysts for Jefferies Equity Research said Wednesday.

Nope.

Stream HBO Go to your TV over AirPlay

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Speaking at our D: Dive Into Media conference on Tuesday, HBO’s Eric Kessler said “effective today we will be enabling AirPlay” for HBO Go.

HBO still say they’re coming to Apple TV.

One in six PCs shipped in Q4 2012 was an iPad

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Some staggering numbers from market research firm Canalys on Wednesday. There were 134 million PCs shipped in the fourth quarter of 2012, with one-third of them being tablets. […]

Apple TV updated

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Apple updated its Apple TV software on Monday adding a number of new features. […]