Apparently, the late “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads have been a long time coming. In this ad from a 1996 MacAddict magazine, Apple celebrates the coolness of its users. And just how cool were these 1996 Mac-lovers? Take a look for yourself.
Personally, I love that Seinfeld sported the embodiment of cool hair. And it makes me wonder if Apple is to blame for the unfortunate emergence of Canadian Tuxedos of the mid-90s.
Thanks to Scootinger.net
Using Mac computers on a corporate network is a contentious issue for many business people and their supporting IT departments. Recently, Larry Bodie, CEO of Claris Networks decided to take a Macbook Pro on a thorough test drive on our corporate network as his primary work device. Sure, Macs are incredible devices and make personal computing a breeze for the average user, but are they as diametrically opposed to a Windows based corporate environment as people make them out to be? Larry’s response, in short, is no…and yes.
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I started using a Macbook Pro as my primary work device a couple months ago, for an extended trial. It is a
very clean machine. It's easy to use and took me about 15 minutes to figure everything out. For people that say you need a lot of experience to support and troubleshoot MACs, I say simply, “Hogwash.” These computers are very similar to Windows machines when you boil it all down. You can use them on corporate networks. However, there are some serious drawbacks to using it for my daily driver at work.
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Drawback #1: multiple monitor difficulty. I like to have at least two big monitors on my desk at the office. With my old Dell laptop this was very easy - dock it into the Latitude E-dock and presto, I have two big displays to work from. Turns out that isn't so easy with the Macbook. While it does have a nice Thunderbolt (TB) interface, you cannot daisy-chain two TB monitors together. What a bummer. I tried the Matrox TripleHead display and the Diamond USB to DVI interfaces. The Matrox treats the connected displays as one single display, which I
hated. The Diamond interface worked okay, but had horrible video performance when running windows in a VM environment on the laptop. Why am I running a VM on the Macbook? That brings me to my next disappointment.
Drawback #2: Windows Environment + Apple Software = Really, not great. As it turns out, our company's primary applications are all Windows based. Therefore, I must use a Windows 7 operating system on the Macbook. I know some of you may be thinking "Why not just use Citrix or terminal server?" The short answer is I like working offline with some of the applications. Microsoft Outlook is the biggest example I can think of. The Apple version of Mail and Calendar are not built for the corporate world –
they stink.
Apple Advantage: What has been interesting about this is how I have grown to
love the personal features of the Mac. Recently when I returned from a trip I plugged in my video camera to the Mac and it instantly imported them and presented them for me to view or edit. In the Windows environment this task is seemingly difficult and requires extra software to make it easier.
In the end, I dug out an old Dell desktop from storage to use while in the office and I am keeping the Macbook Pro for travel and some personal use. I think Apple has a long way to go in order to infiltrate the corporate world. They will eventually do it, even if it means people have two platforms to deal with.
Of course, there are many more pros and cons to incorporating Macs on your Windows-based corporate network. What have you discovered?
We get a lot of mobile phones to review here at Claris, and honestly, there’s just not a whole lot that’s been very exciting in the smartphone industry lately. Thus, not many tech reviews. The 4G network came to Knoxville this year, and that was really…well, fast. But it sucked batteries dry in minutes. The tide is turning though. One phone that’s got something a little different to offer is the Samsung Stratosphere. Enabled with 4G, a big touchscreen and full sized slide-out keyboard, it’s no game changer, but is enough different to warrant a full trial. Another resident Claris techie Zac McKinney reviewed the phone and the tech specs.
Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10
The Test Drive
First, I formatted the Stratosphere to look just like my phone and I used it as my primary device for a week. To do this, I linked it with my Google Voice number and was able to receive calls and send texts that way. I had previously been using the Droid X and it's a pretty common phone, so most of the comparisons are based on that device.
Pros
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Screen. The color and resolution are great. It also doesn’t smudge as much as older phones. After using it all day, you can hardly see any fingerprints.
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Full Keypad. I’ve gotten used to the touchscreen keypad, but the full regular keypad is a nice touch. Especially for any Blackberry users who are considering a phone switch.
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Front facing camera
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Battery life. 4G phones are known for sucking battery life. This one is very comparable to any other phone, and lasts for the most part throughout the day without an extended battery pack.
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Fast. It’s got a fast processor and download/upload speed. It’s incredible. 4G is very fast. To illustrate, here is a video that shows how much faster the Stratosphere on 4G is than a 3G Droid X. The video shows me loading a game that’s completely online and very intensive. The stratosphere is on the right. As you can see, it's very fast.
Cons
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Reboot time is ridiculous. It can take over a minute each time (note: I’ve wiped the phone clean. This is as fast as it gets.)
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Bloatware. As with many devices, the phone comes with a few apps that cannot be removed no matter what you do. You’re stuck with them and your phone is slower because of them. I’m not sure if this is a Verizon issue or a Samsung issue.
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Annoying Wi-Fi popups. Any time you come in range of a wireless network, a pop up comes up and you have to manually get rid of it. Even when you’ve said you don’t want to join the network. Not sure if it’s this phone, or this version of Android it’s running (Gingerbread 2.3.5), but it’s definitely not cool.
Overall, the Samsung Stratosphere is a good phone and passes the Claris trial by fire. It's a really fast, really bright, 4G phone.
Ever wonder how to connect a camera to your iPad? Dan Thompson demonstrates how to use a Camera Connectivity Kit to do just that. The kit allows you to bypass a computer and upload photos directly to an iPad. Simply plug your camera’s memory card or camera directly into your iPad, touch a few buttons and enjoy!
Get one at the Apple store for $29
Hidden among the hundreds of “Top 10 Tech Predictions of 2012” you’ll probably find mention of what’s called
the hybrid cloud. If it’s receiving so much hype, we should understand what it is, and what, if any, benefit it offers.
One technology fortune-teller states,
“…Until now cloud computing has been caught between public cloud and private cloud adoption. Public cloud means accessing your firm’s data hosted in data centres via web apps like Salesforce.com or Google Docs, while private cloud means you access your data which is still stored within your premises via cloud interfaces.
Prevailing trends such as desktop virtualisation and greater adoption of remote working policies in firms will mean firms will want the best of both worlds – the flexibility of public cloud and the security of private cloud. Hence the arrival of hybrid cloud services in a big way in 2012.” – John Kennedy, Editor,
Siliconrepublic.com
An article at
CRN calls 2012 “’The Year of the Cloud’…for real this time.” At the top of a list of cloud predictions, he points out the
hybrid model of cloud computing. "In 2012, hybrid clouds will give users the best of both worlds as customers want the security of some resources remaining on-premise while realizing the elasticity of public cloud infrastructure.”
And well, not to say “I told you so,” but, in essence, we did. Claris has been deploying a “hybrid cloud” as its chief product offering for over six years. For us at Claris, 2006 was the year of the hybrid cloud, and every year since then it’s just been getting more reliable and secure. Granted, some readers may still be confused about the whole public/private/hybrid cloud talk. Referencing an older blog, “
What is a hybrid cloud?” here are three reasons businesses choose to use a “hybrid cloud”:
· Redundancy and reliability –With the traditional cloud, an end user loses all network functions in the event of your computer support company’s service outage. It’s the same as if your internet goes down – you’re dead in the water. The hybrid cloud mitigates this risk since the onsite device will maintain a majority of the business’s IT functions during a service provider’s outage.
· High bandwidth is not readily available – We’re approaching a time when gigabit Ethernet connections will be available in every home and office building. But today, especially in rural communities and smaller markets, connection speeds are the biggest limiting factor in cloud implementations. The hybrid cloud eliminates bandwidth limitations with the onsite device.
· No changes from your current IT setup – Today’s users aren’t used to interfacing with their applications in a true cloud solution; a total redesign of the user experience can be very intrusive to the user, or having a new way for users to get to their applications can be a disruptive change. Hybrid cloud computing largely maintains the user experience.
What questions do you have about a hybrid cloud in your business?