mac

Apple outgrows PC industry 4.5 years straight

At the Apple Special Media Event this past week, the Apple slogan was “Back to the Mac”.

We found out that the Mac makes up 33% of Apple’s revenue stream which is equal to $22B. If Apple spun the Mac division off, the Mac division would instantly rank as a Fortune 110 company. Last year, Apple sold 13.7M units which is three times as many as in FY 2005 with an install base now just shy of 50M users.

Additionally, year over year growth has standard PC growth around 11% while Apple is growing at 2.5x the market rate at 27% growth and the Mac has outperformed the PC for the past 18 quarters straight (4.5 years). Apple is on a roll as their stock price demonstrates.

Finally, developers have are coming to Apple as there are 600k registered developers releasing titles including Afterlife, AutoCad and Office 11 with Outlook. Game developers have finally started to come back to the Mac platform after nearly disappearing in the 90s.

There are 318 Apple stores in 11 countries (and the Beijing and other China stores are the busiest) with 75M visitors. 2.8M Macs are sold in the stores and about 50% of the Macs sold are to consumers NEW to the Mac.

Anonymizer Universal

Review: Anonymizer Universal, Privacy and Identify Protection

Anonymizer UniversalThe Geeks received an invitation to test Anonymizer, Inc.’s new consumer-based online privacy and identity protection service called Anonymizer Universal which was released in June. Anonymizer Universal creates a secure and encrypted VPN tunnel between the user and The Anonymizer Network to prevent interception of identifiable information, or “packet sniffing.” The technology protects the user by replacing their personal IP Address with an anonymous IP Address daily. One of the differentiators from other anonymizer’s that are browser-based, Anonymizer Universal works for all Internet activity including accessing the web, obtaining email, streaming music, instant messaging and playing online games.

In addition to traditional Windows and Mac Operating Systems, Anonymizer Universal also protects a user’s mobile Internet activities. For example Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch devices use a “Connect/Disconnect” interface that runs silently in the background to establish and tear down the VPN session. The service only requires a simple download, and can be up and running immediately. Anonymizer Universal’s retail price is $79.99 (U.S.) per year, and is available via the company’s website (www.anonymizer.com) and select Anonymizer Authorized Resellers which provides a license good for one computer and one mobile Apple device.

This video was created to demonstrate the service:

Read the review after the jump

How to Convert Cassette Tapes to MP3s for Free on a Mac

My wife recently was deep cleaning and ran across a few tape cassettes that she remembered she really liked and asked if I could convert or digitize the tapes to MP3s for use in iTunes and on her iPhone. I figured it wasn’t a big deal so I told her I could before I thought through the process (that’s fairly typical for me). In any case, converting tapes to MP3s using a Mac ended up being simple enough. After the jump, you can read my step-by-step how-to on converting cassette tapes to MP3 on a Mac.

Apple Releases new Mac mini

Mac Mini Yesterday Apple announced a completely redesigned Mac mini which features up to 2x the graphics performance using the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor, a new HDMI port, new SD card slot and industry-leading energy efficiency in a unibody aluminum enclosure. The new Mac mini is priced at $699 and comes in two options including preinstalled with Mac OS X and iLife or with Apple’s server software – Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server.

What do the Geeks think? Basically the upgrade to the Mac mini is a miss. Apple has implemented an HDMI port and created a very energy efficient device perfect for the family room or living room using the TV as a display but neglected to include a Blu-ray drive opting instead for Apple’s standard Superdrive as Steve Jobs apparently still thinks Blu-Ray is a “bag of hurt”. Apple has skin in the HD movie and TV options with iTunes and apparently will continue to count on the digital media option rather than Blu-Ray. At least Jobs allowed HDMI on the Mac mini even with it’s “limited” resolution.

EyeTV Hybrid – TV Tuner for your PC/Mac. Pause and Record Live TV

eyeTV hybridSure, it may look like only a USB Thumb Drive, but the EyeTV Hybrid is a TV tuner stick for either PC or Mac. That means it can let you watch over-the-air TV (both analog and digital) on your computer.

It also acts as a DVR, letting you pause and record live television (including HD TV). It can also capture video from a VCR or set-top box (like cable/satellite TV boxes).

Additionally, it comes with software for editing and managing your recorded content, as well as an IR remote control and a 1-yr subscription to TV Guide.

Buy now!
Price: $134.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Apple’s Magic Mouse features multi-touch surface, single button, and Bluetooth wireless

One of the new, notable items that Apple released this week is the Magic Mouse, the first multi-touch mouse. The Magic Mouse will come standard with new iMacs, but you can get one for your existing Mac for $69.

The multi-touch surface covers the whole Magic Mouse, just one smooth surface that can sense things like swipes, scrolls, etc from your fingers. The entire mouse is a button. It can also tell when your hand is just resting on the mouse.

The included software lets you re-assign gestures, and assign handedness. Magic Mouse is wireless Bluetooth and has a 33ft range.

You can see a video of the Magic Mouse in action at Apple’s website.

PCs vs Macs – is the ‘war’ back on? So says this poster

Artist Reece Ward has re-imagined the ‘war’ between Macs and PCs as a poster promoting a prizefight. Can’t say I agree. Macs have more in common with PCs than they ever did, and we’re practically at the point where PC really does stand for Personal Computer, what with most Macs, Win32 and Linux boxes running on PC architecture, in particular Intel-compatible x86 chips.

Either way, it’s a nice piece of popart. You can buy either a poster or a T-shirt with the image on it.

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