AppleInsider has a nice little article on a recent market analyst meeting Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke at this week.

This all brings me to a post from Daring Fireball, forgive me it is quoted in it’s entirety.

“The NYT:

Mr. Ballmer defended Microsoft’s position in other markets. He laughed off Apple as a minuscule player in the computing market and mocked some of Google’s efforts to develop software to run on PCs.

“Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.””

The children at Fox Noise have pulled another transparent stunt at being “Fair and Balanced”. This time they are talking about Apple, and that means I’m going to war.

John Gruber has written a terrific article outlining the problems facing Microsoft.

“They’re a software company whose primary platform no longer appeals to people who like computers the most. Their executives are either in denial of, or do not perceive, that there has emerged a consensus — not just among nerds but among a growing number of regular just-plain users — that Windows PCs are second-rate. They still dominate in terms of unit-sale market share, yes, but not because people don’t recognize Windows as second-rate, but because they don’t care, in the same way millions of people buy metric tons of second-rate products from Wal-Mart every hour of every day.

That’s the business Wal-Mart wants to be in — selling a zillion cheap low-margin items and turning a profit on volume. That’s not the business Microsoft is in.”

My favorite quote from the article:

“But the best consensus about Windows 7 is only that it’s not going to be a complete and total clusterfuck like Vista.”

Bingo.

This week the Macalope talks about the rumored Apple tablet, CES, and an iPhone security bug. Scathingly brilliant as usual.

Just from what I’ve gathered from reader feedback, the Pre may not on a technical level have multitasking, but on a user level feels like it has multitasking.

This to the end user is a difference albeit a very minor one. Just so long as you can read a tweet, check email, and listen to music at the same time.

Alongside today’s release of Time Capsule upgrades, Apple has also very quietly pulled Shake from the store.

Shake was a $499 digital effects and compositing suite that saw it’s last major update (4.1) way back in 2006. There was also a minor update (4.1.1) in 2008.

After the last update Apple informed customers that they did not plan on any more updates, and so the suite sat dormant until it was pulled this morning.

Going to Shake’s former webpage now redirects to the Final Cut Studio page.

Apple quietly upgraded their Time Capsule product line, in effect doubling storage. For the same $299 and $499, the storage capacities are now 1TB and 2TB respectively. That is compared to the previous 500GB and 1TB models at the same price.

Oops.

I’ve receieved several tweets from people disagreeing with Dilger’s recent post I linked to.

So that raises the question. How do YOU feel about the Pre’s “multitasking”?

Email me at: alex@dayandage.com and tell me what you think.

Here is a nifty little app called BootXChanger that lets you change your Mac’s boot icon.

Make a back-up first, just in case. Worked like a charm for me.

Daniel Eran Dilger:

CDMA (voice) and EVDO (3G data), unlike GSM/HSDPA, can’t perform simultaneous voice and data at once. It also lacks GSM’s inherent ability to conference multiple parties at once into the same call. ”EVDO rev A“ has the technical capacity to handle a voice and data connection at once, but this requires handling the voice conversation via VoIP as data rather than a normal cellular voice circuit, something the Palm Pre can’t do (and apparently no other Sprint or Verizon phones can do either).

This is the same reason both Mr. Dilger and I feel that Apple will stay with AT&T for  at least awhile longer.

Macentstein:

Yes, while in Sci-Fi movies people of the future often walk around holding such a device, performing unknown but apparently important tasks, in reality a 10-inch touch screen tablet would be useful to pretty much no one. How many iPhone users do you know who would ditch their iPhone in favor of carrying around an iTablet with them shopping or to the movies? How many MacBook users would sell their more powerful, keyboard-equipped laptops (which would not be all that much larger than the tablet) in favor of such a device? Finally, how many Apple fans who already own both an iPhoneand MacBook would want to add yet ANOTHER device into the mix that offers nothing they do not already own? (OK, bad question, Apple fans WOULD want it, but how many would BUY it?) In short, there is no way an iTablet could fill the glaring void in Apple’s lineup between the MacBook and iPhone because, quite frankly, there is none.

I don’t necessarily agree with his Dell conspiracy theory, however I do believe he explained perfectly the market for such a device.

MacRumors is reporting that Apple is requesting developers to include keywords in their app submissions. This is an attempt to improve search results for applications. Developers are reportedly allowed 255 characters for their keywords, in actuality its 100 characters.

AppleInsider:

“It is important to enter keywords for all applications as soon as possible so your application can continue to be successfully located on the App Store,” the update from Apple reads. “Keywords can be updated with the submission of a new binary.”

This all follows announcements from last week’s conference call in where Apple officials stated that they were working on better categorization for Apps in the store.

A meme database. Figures they’d have Steve Ballmers crazy ass under the featured section.

Adorable.

Daniel Eran Dilger:

At $143.4 billion, Apple’s market capitalization is now higher than HP ($100.2B) and Dell ($27.3B) combined. Market cap is a company’s outstanding shares multiplied by the market-determined price per share.

Based on figures for PC units shipped in Q2 2009, Dell and HP are the top two PC makers, with just over 50% combined market share in the US, compared to figures of around 8% for Apple, with Gartner reporting slightly higher numbers for Apple and IDC reporting slightly lower.

Most impressive.

Some of these are down right silly.

I don’t think it was meant as an insult, as much as showing us how badly written it was.

Sexy.

Justin Williams has followed up his “Where do I sign up?” tweet. He has written a full-fledged article on his sincere discontent with the App Store.

I haven’t had any personal experience with the store, but I have heard first hand accounts of how horrid it really is.

David Pogue:

Right now, the cell carriers spend about $6 billion a year on advertising. Why doesn’t it occur to them that they’d attract a heck of a lot more customers by making them happy instead of miserable? By being less greedy and obnoxious? By doing what every other industry does: try to please customers instead of entrap and bilk them?

Bill Shatner poetically recites Sarah Palin’s resignation speech.

Poetry.