macs

Apple cleaning up in $1,000-plus retail market

Apple's doing well in the high-rent district of the computer industry, according to NPD.

On Friday eWeek published some data confirmed by NPD that reveals Apple now owns 66 percent of the U.S. retail market for personal computers that cost more than $1,000. Its percentage of the U.S. retail market in general is 14 percent, according to NPD.

Apple only sells one Mac below $1,000--the Mac mini--so it's not all that surprising that it would do well in that category, given the momentum behind Mac sales over the past year. By contrast, the … Read more

The Gizmo Airline Report: Virgin America

In a way, this story is left over from CES 2008, where I attended a blogger party hosted by the Parnassus Group and sponsored by, among other companies, Virgin America, the US domestic airline counterpart to Virgin Atlantic.

The party was a lot of fun, and all the sponsors did extensive giveaways. I got a flight suit from Intel and Zero G, a private company that offers "weightless" (parabolic trajectory) flights. Alas, I didn't win a Zero G flight, but I did win a free flight on Virgin America. In fact, I think pretty much everyone at … Read more

Turn your PC into an HDTV with Hauppauge USB tuner, $40.79 (after rebate)

The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950, a "hybrid" TV tuner (meaning it can tune in over-the-air digital broadcasts or standard cable), normally sells for $79. Dell's Home store has it for just $40.79 plus five bucks shipping. That's after a $20 mail-in rebate, but I reckon Dell's good for it.

Hauppauge tuners are widely regarded as some of the best in the business. The HVR-950 comes with DVR software but also works with Windows Media Center. (Also included: Elgato EyeTV Lite, meaning you can use the tuner with a Mac!) You'll have to supply the antenna … Read more

ObjectDock rocks

Power Downloader and I have talked about how useful RocketDock can be, and it is still is. But another excellent program dock to check out is ObjectDock, from Stardock. Besides providing a skinable and extensively customizable Mac-style dock, the free ObjectDock lets users replace the Windows taskbar completely.

Colorful and animated, ObjectDock is so customizable it's impressive. Not only can you choose your own icons to represent programs and documents, set the dock size and location, and configure icon behavior, but you can also set the dock to run faster and take up more RAM, or sacrifice the gloss … Read more

A sign of Macs to come

Nearly three years ago, my company had no Macs. When I joined, I insisted on getting a Mac, and for nearly a year I was the lone Mac user within our small company.

Two-and-a-half years later, we've grown nearly tenfold, and 70 percent of the company uses Macs. Nearly all new employees choose a Mac, and even those who stay with their comfortable Windows box (ThinkPads, mostly), within a year they are asking to swap out for a Mac, too.

Macs are contagious. But they are much more so now that Apple has given its advocates convenient ways to "sell" the Apple experience.… Read more

Gates: Windows 7 won't be nearly as bad as Vista

Microsoft must spend some days gazing around in a stupor. The company continues to print money yet its most recent product launch of Vista fell on deaf ears. Microsoft of course wants money, but it also wants to be thought of as a leader in the software world, and with Vista it is definitely following...but who it's following, nobody knows.

Now Bill Gates has declared that Windows 7, the next release of the operating system, won't be nearly as bad as Vista:

We're hard at work, I would say, on the next version, which we call … Read more

Apple's success drags Microsoft along

With Apple doing so well of late, it's only fair that it's starting to share the wealth, this time with Microsoft, which has seen sales of its Office for Mac 2008 program triple the sales rate of its previous version. For those keeping track, that's the highest rate in its 19-year history.

Microsoft, however, struggled to credit Apple with the success. You really must read the PR contortionist to appreciate it:

"Of course, Mac sales continue to be strong. That alone, though, isn't sufficient...And you know, I think it's just a really great … Read more

Mac Office sales soar on Apple's gains

While Apple's market share gains are cause for consternation for many in Redmond, one unit is clearly benefiting.

Microsoft's Mac unit is set to disclose on Tuesday that copies of the new Office for Mac 2008 are flying off the shelves at three times the rate of its predecessor. The company wouldn't disclose sales numbers, but said the sales are the highest in the 19-year history of the unit. That continues a trend that has been going on for some time.

Senior marketing manager Amanda Lefebvre declined to give all of the credit to Apple, but said … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 722: Print your own drugs

In today's show, we learn that the future lets us print our own drugs, and robots will drive our sailboats for us. Sailboats? Sailboats. Also, Gmail has a new spam problem, the BlackBerry Bold could be the new iPhone of Summer 2008, and the Rolling Stones have rolled their way right off of eMusic. Bummer. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 722

Note: We are making a change to our podcast feed system on Friday, May 16. However, you do not need to subscribe to a new feed. One important thing to know: If you have your podcast … Read more

MacBook Air battery dying within 2 hours--any advice?

Having fixed my previous problem of the MacBook Air not actually going to sleep I am now seeing battery life of no more than 2 hours. It also seems to take about 4 hours for the battery to charge up completely...very strange.

I am not in Safe Sleep mode instead running a custom "quick sleep" setting. My friend is running the MBA with "Better Battery" and is also seeing about 2 hours of battery life.

Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.