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Apple’s brilliant new operating system, Mac OS X Leopard has done in 5 days what Mac-lovers everywhere could only have hoped would happen over the next five to ten years. Well, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but numbers don’t lie.

Japan, arguably the technology capitol of the world, has one of the most stunning stories. Apple accounted for 53.9% of all OS sales in the month of October, meaning more new Macs were sold to Japan than Windows or *nix-based PCs. This is of course, due to Leopard, which was only around for 5 days in October.

Of course, for this to happen, someone else’s numbers had to fall. Microsoft took a massive hit this time, with OS market share dropping practically overnight from 75.3% to 28.7%!

If this is what 5 days of Leopard did to an entire month’s OS market share, I can’t wait to see November’s numbers. The world is changing for the better, and it’s doing it even faster than anyone could have hoped! This is the start of a wondrous thing, folks. This is the beginning of the new computer world.

I’m surprised how many people are upset about the recent price drop on the iPhone. Being the technology field, anyone spending that much in the first place should be well aware that things change quickly. A lot of people use that as an excuse not to buy things…”it will just be cheaper in a year”. Personally I don’t buy into that, because you can say the same in a year. If you can justify it, buy the iPhone when you want it! Don’t wait because it’s going to change in the future, unless you’re waiting for something that has already been specifically announced.

So, yes, I’m afraid the iPhone’s price was bound to drop rather quickly. Like I stated, this is technology we’re talking about. You bought it at the opening price on opening day (or some time in the three months after) because you felt it was worth it. Nothing has changed, the iPhone is still a WONDERFUL little machine, and if the price hadn’t dropped you wouldn’t be complaining now. Are you really so jealous and regretful that you’re going to let this ruin your idea of Apple?

Apple even did something that I consider incredible. They offered you a $100 credit to the Apple Store. That is just overly generous. They didn’t have to do that, it doesn’t help them any as a company. It reinforces my opinion that Apple is one of the only big companies around today that ACTUALLY CARES about their customers!

Quit complaining. You don’t deserve a reimbursement. You don’t deserve an upgrade. You deserve to have enjoyed the iPhone for three more months than everyone else, and that’s how everything in this new world in flux works. Realize that the feelings are only jealousy, and that what other people get the iPhone for doesn’t matter, all that matters is that YOU were willing to pay $600 for it, and it WAS worth it!

If I buy an iPhone in the next few months, or perhaps an iPod Touch, I will do so knowing full well that the price is going to drop, the technology is going to get better. I will do so not knowing how long it will be, but fully accepting the idea that it might be a week or it might be years.

In case you haven’t already heard, there’s new iPods from Cupertino today. Here is a very quick rundown! The shuffles got a color refresh, the Nanos are much smaller and differently shaped and doubled their size from 2 and 4 gigabytes to 4 and 8 gigabytes, the iPods are now called iPod Classics and are 80 and 160 gigabytes (HOLY CRAP!!!), and there’s a new kid on the block! The iPod Touch is basically an iPhone without the Phone That includes wireless internet, Safari, YouTube, etc. Very nice. To top it all off, the iPhone is 200 bucks cheaper than it was (4gb is no longer offered). Also, you can buy from the iTunes store on your iPhone or iPod Touch. If you want more info, see the Apple site (I suggest watching Jobs’ presentation, it’s very entertaining…or it was for me) and TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog).

Any regular readers here know that I’m a huge fan of Apple, and a lot has been going on lately. Yesterday there was a Mac conference, which, as usual, I watched in its entirety as soon as it was made available on Apple’s site. So what’s new? Well, like I said, a whole lot.

The biggest thing for most is the new iMacs. They got a pretty sweet processor upgrade, and lots of new expansion options. More RAM, better graphics, and -FINALLY- a Firewire 800 port. I gotta say, they look pretty sweet too. I’m a fan of the new Apple style - Aluminum + Glass + Black. At first I was a little upset — traditionally I have disliked the black Mac products such as the black MacBooks and iPods. Still, the way they are implementing it on the new products (so far iPhone and these iMacs) is far better than what we’ve seen in the past.

But I digress. Apple also released both iLive and iWork ‘08. I’m pleasantly surprised to see a spreadsheet app added to iWork - Numbers. However, from what I have seen it is still more about presentation than actually keeping data…for that, fellow Mac-users might need to resort to OpenOffice, or…heaven forbid…Microsoft Excel. I already told you how happy I was about the new iMovie - completely revamped - and now that I’ve seen the presentation I like it even more. I’ve never been a big fan of iPhoto, but the updates are welcome. Garageband doesn’t seem to have gotten too much added to it, except for Magic GarageBand, a feature which, quite frankly, seems rather childish to me. Still, surely some will find it useful.

On the less hyped side of things, the Mac Mini got a refresh, just in time for my friend Archie to make the leap! Is it time for you, too? Also, Mac Pro now has a raid card upgrade option, which is nice albeit very expensive.

Last but not least is the new keyboard. Although I love the look, I am severely frustrated at a few things. One, why did they move so many of the function keys around (eject, volume, dashboard, exposé)? They were already in decent places, and I really, really don’t see how this is an improvement in any way. I’m not alone. A lot of people are very confused as to this change. Aside from the top row of keys, which I’m sure I’ll get used to, I do like the new button style (though I haven’t actually tried it yet, it is supposed to be very similar to the MacBook, which I have tried and absolutely love).

Here’s the most frustrating thing though. The bluetooth version of the keyboard is condensed, like a laptop keyboard. all the keys are squished in, there’s no numpad, things like that. Jobs’ reasoning behind this was that people with wireless keyboards tend to move the keyboard around more, from their lap to their desk, and therefore would enjoy the lighter weight. I really don’t mind the option, it seems decent, but here’s what I do mind! I am not the only one in the world who likes a FULL keyboard! I like my arrow keys to have plenty of room around them for games, and for keys to be reasonably spaced out so my hands don’t get cramped using them! And I don’t like wires any more than the next person. There really, really needs to be an option for a wireless version of the full, stretched-out keyboard. I don’t see any excuse not to have one.

Enough with my griping. All-in-all, I don’t think anything revolutionary has happened here, but some decent upgrades/updates from Cupertino. Thanks, Apple!

I’ve been negative about Apple in the last couple of posts, but they certainly do a lot of things that I like. The latest of these is a patent they have reportedly registered (thanks enGadget). Apple has been knocked on for the lack of a “real” right click, but if you ask me, what they’ve got is superior to the common PC mouse, and I like the right clicker on the Mighty Mouse quite well.

The exciting thing about this patent design is the replacement they have for the scroll ball. The ball was a little weird for me, but I got used to it and I love it. However, the patent shows touch-sensitivity in that area! Like the touchpad of a laptop - except just for scrolling. I think it sounds amazing.

What’s even better is the speculations that you will be able to perform different movements with your fingers and bind actions to them….if I understand this correctly that means I could draw an X with my forefinger and have it launch Firefox (or whatever I wanted it to launch). This would be an amazing feature. I also venture to guess that Apple plans on incorporating their oh-so-precious multitouch, which they announced with the iPhone. I guess we’ll see.

It was necessary at some point in time…I need a scanner/printer to work. So I bought one at the Apple Store yesterday, using the money that I was going to buy RAM with (since MacDocs had sold their last moments before I walked in). So for about the same price, I got a surprisingly good Canon Pixma Scanner/Printe/Card Reader. It’s even Bluetooth capable, if I ever get around to giving that upgrade to my Mac Pro. It is also visually stunning, and fits very well with my Mac Pro, monitor, and JBL Creature Speakers, and hopefully soon my Func Mouse Pad (which still hasn’t arrived).

There isn’t much to say about the beast. It’s a low-cost solution, so you can’t expect anything amazing about it. I haven’t ever been in the market for a scanner, and to be honest this was sort of an impulse decision based on the fact that the Apple Store always sells quality stuff. I can’t compare it with other scanners, but I can say that it scans better than I expected. Without squinting I could hardly see a difference between the original Apple receipt and the one created by this machine. Mind you, that was just black and white. Color doesn’t look nearly as good, it’s what you might expect from an ordinary printer.

Sure, nothing special, but it looks awesome and does the job. Now I can scan in sketches to draw over in Flash, and print out directions to the new LAN center downtown. That is, after all, what I need it for.

Peace.

I upgraded my Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon X1900 XT…they gouged me for it at $450 (its PC counterpart is around $200, up to around $300 for the best quality) but the performance increase is certainly noticeable. I have seen some bad reviews for this card, which say that it craps out during gaming. Having spent around 6 hours playing World of Warcraft with the card, I think they’re crazy. It functions very well. When looking at the smoke of the fire in Orgrimmar or the visible disease emanating around the undead, my 7300 GT fizzled, but my X1900 XT keeps up even with raised visual settings.

On the other hand, I certainly enjoy and appreciate the added performance, but was it enough to justify $450? That’s a lot of money. It could buy a second monitor…although without a better video card, that would actually decrease performance…It could buy a fabulous set of speakers, although I’m very, very happy with my JBL Creature Speakers at the moment. It could pay for my soon-to-come RAM upgrade, but that’s not a huge investment. It could almost buy an iPhone! Now that’s where I’d like to put my money. I haven’t used the card enough yet to decide if I regret this purchase, but at the moment I’m considering requesting a refund. This is something I hate to do, because the people at the Apple Store are incredibly kind and helpful. Nevertheless, they will be paid either way I’m sure. I will play a few more days and consider.

I just called Apple and their terms involve a 10% restocking fee. Seems more than fair to me. I took the hardware, I used it, and now it’s used, it would probably go on eBay for about 40% less or more. This is something I will consider. I can sell my iPod to get an iPhone, but since I also use my iPod as an external drive, that would require I purchase an external hard drive as well. The money has to come from somewhere, and I’m opposed to saving up for months at this point

Any advice would be muchly appreciated, and I shall be pondering whilst I play World of Warcraft.

From the sleek design to the wicked fast innards, the Mac Pro is a work of art.

I’ll start with design. The silver casing is made unique by a cheese-grater like front and back, and intriguingly shaped handles on the top and bottom of the case. A tasteful white dot tells you whether the computer is on, asleep, or off.

The inside is organized well, and makes simple upgrades simpler, while still allowing access to the more advanced parts of the computer and direct access to the logic board.

The quad core Xeon setup is awesome for multitasking. If you want sheer speed, go for the 3.0 ghz, but if what you need is mega-multitasking, all you really need is the 2.0 ghz model.

.mac, which offers a free 60 day trial, makes it easy to sync between two computers; even if one’s a PC.

iLife that comes with all new Mac computers is far superior to any software that comes native on a PC.

The OS is fresh and not preloaded with spyware and viruses like eMachines, Dell, HP, Vaio, and others do.

Basically, it’s amazing.

I have purchased a Mac Pro, which I will of course be reviewing, although I can tell you right now it will be a good review.

I also purchased a mouse pad from Func, which I hope will be a very good mouse pad. My Ice Mat is gone with my old computer, but Mac Mighty Mouse doesn’t go with it very well anyway. Hopefully they like this one. I’m sure they’ll like the picture on the mouse pad (custom designed by yours truly):

It seems I mistakenly overwrote the image. Sorry about that.

I say goodbye to my computer some time within the next 5 days.  I will receive $915 for it.  That is for my computer, all of my games, my monitor, my speakers, my keyboard, my mouse, and my Icemat.  Not to mention all of the packing material.

It’s a ludicrously low price.  Of course, it was ludicrous for the auction to end during the super bowl as well.  Maybe it was ludicrous not to set a reserve, but I couldn’t fathom that it wouldn’t sell for at least $1500.

Oh well.  It’s all done now.  I’m saying my goodbyes.  I’m blogging for probably the last time on Discover Seattle.  I’ll always remember her.  I have the video footage of her.  And I’ll never forget glancing over at the whirring fan, looking behind it to a large blue OCZ heatsink.  Glancing at the shiny motherboard, from which protrudes a slick graphics card and two sticks of RAM covered by a nice blue ram-fan.  Looking over it all is a prismatic power supply, black mirror sides showing distorted perspectives of the rest of it and bouncing more blue light through the case.

Goodbye.