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Entries from July 1, 2015 - July 31, 2015

Tuesday
Jul212015

The Best Mouse. Period.

I’ve always been perplexed by people who are satisfied using the default keyboard and mouse that came with their computer. Except for Apple, almost all PC manufacturers “include” the absolute cheapest, clunky keyboards and mice possible. Even if you spend a couple thousand dollars on a really high-end machine with a fast processor, upgraded graphics card and hi-res monitor, Dell and HP typically include a keyboard and mouse combo worth less than thirty bucks total. Conversely, iMacs come standard with an excellent keyboard/mouse combo. Were you to purchase them separately, you’d be out $150. Now before you naysayers start screaming about Apple’s overpriced hardware, I will admit their retail price is a little steep, but not at all out of line with comparable products. It’s just that Apple refuses to make or sell cheap junk.

To my original point, what sense does it make to spend thousands (or at least several hundred) on a computer and then skimp on the input hardware. That’s like buying a new Mercedes and driving off from the dealership on retread tires.

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Monday
Jul062015

Retina Display. Apple’s Ploy to Make Other Computers Unusable

Something I read very little about is how absolutely stunning an Apple product with retina display looks. Sure, sure, there’s tons of Windows machines, Android phones and tablets all sporting super high pixel densities, but somehow no matter how many pixels these other devices manage to cram into their displays, few (if any) manage to provide the eye-popping experience of an Apple product.

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Wednesday
Jul012015

The Best Operating System Gets Even Better

Updated on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 at 1:46PM by Registered CommenterJoseph Kelley

The most enjoyable aspect of being a Mac person is using OS X. When I got my first Mac in 2006 it came with OS X 10.3 (Tiger). It was a bit of a homecoming for me. In the late 80s my career as a developer started when VMS and HPUX were dominant operating systems on professional workstations and mini computers used by petrochemical companies for supervisory control and advanced business systems. I wrote many custom applications in ANSI C for both platforms. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) machines ran their own operating system called VMS. Hewlett Packard workstations and minis ran a flavor of UNIX, HPUX (HP UNIX). C was the programming language of choice because of its portability. If a programmer strictly adhered to the ANSI C standard, source code would compile and link on either platform. Well, any platform for that matter. I spent my first five years as a developer working on these platforms before Windows NT came along and virtually swept everything else aside. Like most people in my field, I spent the next 15 years in Microsoft hell. So, when I got my first Mac running UNIX-based OS X, it felt like I was re-kindling an old friendship.

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