I think the latest commercial from Apple for the new iPhone represents a distinct break in ideology for the company.
Consider the classic Apple TV spot from 1984, announcing the Macintosh. The message was clear: Apple is an insurgent company, destroying the monotony and drudgery of the IBM world. As the firm that produced the spot says, "The original concept was to show the fight for the control of computer technology as a struggle of the few against the many." Steve Jobs' comments from this period shed more light on the message being conveyed:
It is now 1984. It appears IBM wants it all. Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers initially welcoming IBM with open arms now fear an IBM dominated and controlled future. They are increasing and desperately turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom. IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control, Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire information age? Was George Orwell right about 1984?
The imagery of the latest spot presents a very different picture, one that, I think, corresponds to the different goals of the company. Apple is no longer the outsider, hoping to overthrow the entrenched giants in the industry. Apple now views itself as working within the system, making strategic alliances with those who could be considered enemies, with the long-term goal of dominating the market.
In the spot from '84, a woman with a sledgehammer (representing Apple) infiltrates and destroys a heavily monitored and armed space, freeing the minds of those trapped within. In the new spot, the iPhone is transported in secret through a heavily monitored space. It is not coming to destroy this closed space, but represents the perfect representation of ubiquitous, mass-produced technology. Rather than representing outsider individuality, Apple is now aiming to become the bearer of perfectly realized technology on a global scale.
Posted: June 9, 2008 7:30 pm by Chad Mazzola | 0 comments
Tags: Apple, iPhone, Macintosh, steve jobs
Word, at least, opens more quickly than Word 2004 had, on my Intel Mac.
Word. Had trouble finding the "reviewing" bar. The interface made me think it should be located somewhere other than where it had been. But it's right where it was before: View -> Toolbars -> Reviewing. It seems to work the same way that Word 2003 did, with so much coming through the comments instead of showing the direct markup (like lines through what's been deleted). But I think that may be a preference setting I'll be able to find when I spend more time looking.
Excel. The page break preview is gone. I've always hated page layout. But, whether it's new in this version or not, I found that I could very easily add headers to my spreadsheet in page layout. I always used page break preview to make it so that my documents printed the way I wanted them too--moving page breaks around to use less paper. We'll see what happens when I need to use that function--hopefully there's another way to do it.
I'm just going to keep adding to this post as I go.
Posted: February 5, 2008 11:29 am by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: Macintosh, Microsoft Office 2008
So, I've got Microsoft Office 2008 loaded on my machine. I haven't tried it with Spaces yet.
In some ways the interface looks cleaner. All of the toolbars are attached to the document you have open. Once you start poking around the menus and clicking on buttons, the interface is pretty much the same as Word has been for years and years. The good news is that perhaps that means Mac users will be spared the difficulty of getting used to finding commands in what are often non-intuitive places. The bad news is: are there any new features, really?
I haven't done my due diligence of reading reviews. I'm just jumping in (on behalf of the Simmons community, I'm taking the bullet). But thus far, all I see are old things in slightly new places. I look forward to testing to see if Excel brings with it any of the xml features that Office 2003 brought to Windows (e.g. referring to external data files).
Sew these mismatched images together and you get the toolbar. Note how the toolbar is part and parcel of the document itself. There's also a separate set of toolbars that act like the formatting palette used to. That means what I'm calling a toolbar probably isn't called a toolbar anymore.
Posted: February 5, 2008 8:37 am by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: Macintosh, Microsoft Office 2008
CreativeTechs publishes weekly TechTips via email. I have found some of there "TechTips" to be very useful.
Especially for Adobe applications.
Click below to see the latest TechTip, "Don't crop use Photoshops Trim feature"
http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/dont_crop_use_photoshops_trim_feature.ht...
Click lik below for more information or to sign up for weekly emails.
http://creativetechs.com/tips/
Posted: December 3, 2007 12:15 pm by Janice Canero-Conklin | 0 comments
Tags: Adobe, Mac OS X, Mac Troubleshooting, Macintosh, Tech Tips
In October Apple acknowledged a problem with the new silver iMacs freezing after an update was installed.
Not all silver iMacs need the update, click on the link below for more information:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/11/15/imacgraphics/index.php
Posted: November 19, 2007 5:06 pm by Janice Canero-Conklin | 0 comments
Tags: Apple Hardware, freezing, Mac, Macintosh, update
"When Mac users need to create a database, they turn to FileMaker Pro more often than not. But for less complex tasks—cataloging the media you own, managing contacts, or keeping tabs on a project—an individual user firing up FileMaker is a bit like grabbing a hammer when you need a flyswatter. It’s overkill."
Click the link below for more information:
http://www.macworld.com/2007/11/firstlooks/bento/index.php?lsrc=mwweek
Posted: November 19, 2007 1:02 pm by Janice Canero-Conklin | 0 comments
Tags: Macintosh
Apple has released a new update to 10.4 (Tiger).
Link for PPC Combo updater:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx10411co...
Link for Intel Combo Updater: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx10411up...
Please note that this update upgrades the Safari browser to version 3.0.4. Simmons eLearning has not yet certified this browser for use. I have successfully tested the new version of Safari with the following Simmons online resources:
AARC, WebMail, eLearning (browser check fails but eLearning is useable), Kronos, Simmons IKON Webprint, Online Directories.
I have encountered no issues on Simmons Standard software with the new update. But here is a link to a Macfixit website detailing some issues noted:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20071115082559285
Posted: November 16, 2007 3:11 pm by Janice Canero-Conklin | 0 comments
Tags: 10.4.11, Mac, Mac OS X, Mac Tiger OS, Macintosh
