Barack Obama and tech

Barack Obama, in this photo by Peter Yang, grabs your attention in a few ways, but my eyes went straight to the packman eating Apple MacBook. We can only hope he can trade out his Blackberry for an iPhone but maybe that’s pushing it. Perhaps the most tech savvy president to date has a weekly podcast where he addresses the public on plans for America. Catch Barack Obama’s Podcast Here. 

Obama has some great plans for advancing science, technology, and innovation for the future, protecting the openness of the Internet, deploying a modern communications infrastructure, and improving America’s competitiveness in technology. Read more at barackobama.com.

FTP access your Mac

Have you ever wanted to access your computer while your away, just to get a file or two? I recently setup FTP on my home computer and thought it was worth a tutorial. I currently use a Macbook Pro running 10.5.5, which connects to the Internet wirelessly via an Apple Time Capsule, hooked up to my Broadband modem. This tutorial should work on any Mac running 10.5 wireless or wired, and a Time Capsule and maybe an Airport Base Station.

First of all you will need to gather some information about your system and configure some of your Internet settings on your Mac. If you want to access your computer at any time, you will also need to turn off any sleep features so it stays on all the time. With this, I recommend setting your display to sleep and not your computer. I also recommend at least an 8 digit password for all users on your computer with numbers and letters. The Mac is a very secure machine, but you must be proactive for its defenses to work. Read the rest of this entry »

New MacBooks

Being a little disappointed with the last apple conference showing no word on new Apple laptops was a drag. But it seems the web has not quieted down about rumors of new MacBooks. Like BigFoot, sightings and blurry photos have shown up around the net, showing a brushed metal (mackbook pro) looking laptop. Its reported that the new MacBook will be thinner and have a competitive price. October 14th is the speculated release date for the new MacBook.

Also, rumors of a new MacBook Pro where spread around the net last month. Speculations seem to be plausible that the new MacBook Pro will adopt some of the coolest features form the MacBooks and MacBook Air. A thinner design with the new MacBook keyboard. What else could you want from the MacBook Pro besides more power and a price drop.

It would make sence that these laptops come together and share some of the same design elements and parts. Using the same materials accross the notebook family could make manufacturing cheaper. As we have seen with the iPhone 3G. When apple can get them to the public at a resonable price, they fly out of the stores.

If this model is acurate we may end up with some boring computers, as they would all be grey, brushed metal, and that goes for all the machines lately. Even the iMac is heading this direction with its new grey and black design. They look cool, but where are the days of having a Mac in the color you wanted? I guess we have to leave that to the iPods and iStyles for now.

A Sep. Apple Event?

Rumors of an apple event next month are fueling speculations of possible product upgrades and announcements. Apple Insider is expecting to see a new iPod Lineup with possible redesigns, more capacity and generally the same price tags, with the exception of the iPod Touch possibly meeting the iPhone at $199. This seems reasonable and fits Apples trends. iPods seem to change with the seasons so to see some new ones would be expected.

The big news comes with the recent rumors of Apple being heavily involved in researching touch technology and holds many patents which include both technology and gestures for touch pads and screens. The new MacBooks are only starting to see this. The MacBook Intel introduced two finger touch for right click and two fingered swipe for scrolling. The latest MackBooks feature the ability to zoom in and out with two fingers as you would on an iPhone. While it’s rumored that Apples next event may reveal some new laptops, I believe its likely to see only mild upgrades to the way we use them. I would hope for some updates in style for the MacBook which has looked the same for the past two years, and the MacBook Pro which has been solid grey for five years. Even though it looks pretty slick in grey. I gota say I would love to see a touch screen MacBook but I just think it’s a little unlikely this soon. I believe apple will continue to explore touch technology and we may see some touch screens within the next two to three years.

Best Macbook Pro Deal

I have had my Macbook Pro now for about a year and a half (1.8 intel core duo). Its been my favorite Mac so far. My Aunt asked me to help her find a new Macbook Pro as she wants to ditch her AMD tower.

After searching around for a day, this was the best deal I could find. Its a 15.4″ MacBook Pro Glossy Screen - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, 2GB Memory, 120GB Hard Drive. Its new, “not” refurbished, and comes with Apples warranty. Its $1,600 with $150 rebate and MacMall is a site I trust (thats important to me). The deals at Apples refurbished store arrant this good.

If your looking for one right now take a look.