Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I am just not seasoned as a Mac user. I have no idea. But from what I see these are just a few o the mentalities and thought processes going on in the typical Apple users mind. And yes, I own a Mac and love it much more than any Windows computer I have ever used.

1. Stephen P. Jobs is NOT God. (I know, it is truly amazing to me too. He did have family of direct relation though! Great right!?)

2. sjobs@apple.com is NOT Steves E-Mail address. Don’t bother thinking it is him and E-Mailing it just to ask.

3.Apple does not care about it’s customers. (Your customer service rep may, but they don’t. They care about their shiny new Ferraris in the parking lot and the stockholders.

4.You are not “special” for owning a Mac. Get over it.

5. You do not need to throw a party for your MacBook’s birthday.

6. Steve Jobs is not friendly to anyone but the people who can make his life Hell.

7. Putting you iPod in debug mode does NOT mean you are teh u|33r 1337 h4x0r of iPods. It means you can read.

8. People who cannot get their Mac to work should not be condemned to Hell. (Just Apple customer service which is quite close lately.)

9. Not everyone can afford or wants the newest shiny Mac.

10. Not every single new patent means that there is a new Mac/ other random device is to be expected. CHILL!

“Those bastards at Apple have done it again. They’re leveraging their installed base of iTunes to optionally have people download Safari for Windows!
HORRORS!”

Okay, America hello and welcome to Earth again. Apple is a business. They need more users of their software to make themselves more know in the tech market. I guarantee you that 75% of the kids in my school think that the iPod is the only thing that Apple makes. You and I both know they would be wrong, but they don’t.

Those people who think Apple IS iTunes and the iPod are the ones who need to be exposed to Safari. So, as far as I am concerned this is a brilliant move on Apple’s part. Their stockholders should be thrilled. Not to mention the fact that this is not being forced on anyone.

It is set up so that when you open the iTunes update window, you have the choice to also install Safari. But the real problem is how they hide it I guess. I mean I had so much trouble finding it IN PLAIN SIGHT. Come on folks, will you stop looking to pick at every little thing Apple does?

Argument two.  Well, most users do not know that they can unselect the Safari checkbox. Yes they do. Look if you can click or unclick it you have the choice to download it or not. If the user doesn’t look to see what they are getting then most likely they won’t mind having Safari anyway! On the other hand if they are not smart enough to verify what they are getting they don’t need the space anyway because eventually that computer will be virus ridden anyway.

Apple is a big company. Many people like Apple. This must mean that the people who do not like Apple have to say how horrible Apple is. I have one simple idea, Then next time Stephen takes a dump, let’s not analyze whether or not it means that the iPhone will have an update next month. Oh well, I guess the internet makes everyone an expert.

Email me at andrewATcrazydailylifeDOTcom with any topics you would like to see next week.

Pat Phelan has said multiple things about how ridiculous the whole plan from the cell service provider, O2. One of the most interesting things he has said throughout this was that he would be willing to organize a bus system to take people to Northern Ireland to buy their phones up North and unlock them to work on any Irish Network. This, of course, would save many many people a lot of money.

Phelan has also said he believes that Ireland should boycott the iPhone, not because of the phone itself, but because of the outrageous prices on the service. He hopes that o2 will rethink their ridiculous plans. His cellular company has said that they are going to create a guide on how to buy iPhones in the UK or US and unlock them to work on any network.

Th o2 package as I look at it is more outrageous than Phelan made it sound. Just to give you and idea of how bad it is here are a few of the prices. For £35 in the UK you get six hundred texts, five hundred minutes, and unlimited data. In Ireland for £35 you get 100 texts, 175 minutes, and only one gig of data. The data is consistently on all plans capped at 1 G. This is incomprehensibly horrible for any company to even try to pull off.

I don’t know about you but it seems as though the iPhone is causing more problems than it is fixing. Not just in Ireland, but everywhere else too. I think the iPhone is being over-glorified. The iPhone is an awesome device and I am one of the people saving up for one. For Gawd’s sake though, just chill the heck out about it. I know I jumped on the software update bandwagon, but the VoIP was just tooooooo awesome.

Pat Phelan is the CEO of Cubic Telecom who’s main product is the MaxRoam sim card.

    When I got my MacBook about a year ago I had never even used a Mac before. To add on to that I had never even liked Mac’s. I thought they were more of a toy computer. Well, I was hella wrong! I got mine and saw that it did many, many more things faster than a Windoze machine. I was thrilled. But, of course with more power comes more opportunity for a problem. And this inevitably led to a call to Apple customer support.    The first call I made to Apple was regarding the sites folder on my computer and turning on web sharing. I really wanted to set myself up a website and saw the ease of making a website on a Mac a good way to get started on just that. Well, every single time I tried to enable this web sharing, it just went on in a loop. I was getting really tired of waiting so I called Apple with my problem. The person I talked to actually couldn’t help me with that problem besides doing an Archive and  Install. She fell all over herself apologizing and said if I had any problems to just call back with the case number she gave me. I was really impressed with how friendly and apologetic the customer service rep was over the problem.      The second time I had a problem was when I installed updates and my computer got stuck in  loop while booting up. The Apple showed up on the screen and it just stayed there for hours. I decided there was a definite problem. This meant yet another call to customer support, this time around Christmas. When I called in they told me my computer was out of the free support call time. They then proceeded to tell me it was the holidays and I sounded like a was really having a big problem so they would give me one call free! I could not believe how awesome they were about my situation. This problem, just like the previous one, was fixed by doing an Archive and Install. Customer support this time was not only apologetic and helpful but also very very generous.     The final time I called in after installing Leopard and told them I was having a problem with force quitting way to many applications. The support rep’s first response was, “Wow, dude the same ting happened to me right after I installed leopard.” I laughed at how he didn’t call me sir and told him my exact problem. He had that call finished and fixed within ten minutes. I could not believe how awesome they had been. This was when I realized  great support was not just a good luck kind of thing, this was something that was very common with Apple. Ever since I got my Mac I have been thrilled with Apple’s customer support. Everyone is always helpful and they are always very personable. Overall, I can’t say I have ever had a problem other than the voice recognition misunderstanding me and sending me to the wrong person. I do understand that you are paying for this support but I still cannot find a flaw. I hope this post has been a bit of a contrast to my rants from last weekend!

The application can do multiple things, my favorite being the screencap feature. I love being able to select part of the screen to capture and then being able to mark it up with text, arrows, and various other things to point out what I need to get across. Another great feature is the webposting. All you have to do is give Skitch your Flickr info and it will upload your creation at the touch of a button. From Flickr there are many possibilities, you can blog it, embed it, and multiple other things that are wayyy awesome.

Skitch is one of the applications that make you happy to be a Mac user!

I also had the trouble with my MacBook case looming. This was a problem I was not looking forward to addressing. I quit telling the Apple people my age when they ask simply because they then talk down tome for the rest of the call. I don’t need treated like a baby I need my dang computer fixed! So I call them up and give them my serial number. They respond with, “I’m sorry sir. Your MacBook is out of the warranty.” I told them I knew and I was calling regarding a previous repair. He told me that he couldn’t help me because my warranty was out. I was getting really tired of this crap but kept on trying. Finally he said he would help but this was only a special occasion. I just said thanks and got right back to the point. I told him that after my previous repair the case on my computer had popped open to the left of the keyboard. (I just needed them to tell me what to do so I didn’t destroy anything.) His response was, “Oh, you should have told me.” “I tried.” I responded somewhat frustrated.

We got back to the question at hand. He just told me i needed to make sure the screw set in correctly and put a LOT of pressure on the case and screw the screw back in. At this point I was of course feeling extremely stupid. Oh, and the whole time he kept trying to force the Apple Care Protection plan down my throat. The key thing I was getting at above was that Apple is trying to get you o spend a little here and there constantly. Apple Care, converters, and battery replacements are just a few of the things. The battery thing really irks me. You pay two or three-hundred dollars for an iPod and then later on have to pay $100 more to replace the stupid battery. And then there is the fact that Apple basically tells you to fry ice if you need help but have no Apple Care Protection plan. Then the really annoying one is the stupid iPhone earphone converter.

Why? I know Apple is “Thinking Different” but it shouldn’t cost that much. Ever since I got my Mac that has been my only problem with Apple. I’d like tech support for free like with Windows computers. They are clearly making more than just enough in profits each year. how about they show that in their support?

Sightspeed can also call any telephone number. Of course this is with a price. The audio is not even what Sightspeed was about, but the audio quality is great. I love Sightspeed. To join you do have to sign up for an account just like in Skype. But I really think that it is worth it!

First of all WOW! The dimensions on this thing are just awesome. If anything the notebook will be great for travelling photographers to quickly get their pictures on a computer just to be safe. My opinion on the Air has changed several times but I have come to the decision that I like it… A lot. The LED backlighting is great because I find it really annoying when I open up my computer and see the screen flash on the off then on again. On the other hand if I had to choose an absolute favorite feature it would be the back lit keyboard. I use my computer on long trips a lot (another great thing about the Air) and when it gets dark I really wish my keys were back lit. On the topic of input devices however, the machine looks a little underdone as fas as the ports go. There is not a FireWire port to be seen which is a huge downfall for me. The singe usb port however is no problem though, just get a hub. They are really inexpensive. All in all the design and features are great! The only other dilemma that i had was, “what is Apple’s target market with this product”?

At first this seemed like a valid question to me. Then I decided that the Air was looking like a product targeted at the businessperson of sorts. The back lit keyboard is great in meetings for note taking and maybe even giving Powerpoints Keynotes. The small size is for people who fly alot. The wireless optical drives are simple to figure out. If you’re in an office you most likely have other computers containing optical drives. And there is the fact that Apple has been promoting Office from Microsoft for OSX left and right. Either Apple is trying to make their way into the business market or they have some contract with Microsoft to promote the heck out of Office like in ’98.

Way To Go Apple!? Possibly