5 Reasons Not To Buy The Macbook Air

Now, just for the record, I’m not an Apple (or PC) hater. I think Apple is an innovative company that makes some cool products. I’m even writing this up on a Macbook. I do, however, think that Apple can make some pretty dumb products sometimes and the Macbook Air is a good example. The Macbook Air has the same dimensions as a normal Macbook, but is one third of an inch thinner (at its thickest point) and 2 pounds lighter. In order to shave off this space, a lot had to be given up. Too much. Below is a list of the top 5 reasons to avoid the Macbook Air:


5. No Removable Battery

What is it with Apple’s continued insistence that we are never allowed to remove the battery from its devices? It’s one thing on an ipod, but being able to swap out a drained out battery on the fly seems to be a really important feature for a lot of laptop users. Imagine a long flight or bus ride with only a single battery charge. Or the dread felt in 6 months when your battery dies early and the only way to get a new one is to ship off your whole notebook. This just seems like it’s a sly way to force users to pay to have official OEM battery replacement, or even worse, to buy a whole new laptop once the battery finally quits.


4. No Optical Drive

Apple shipped the original iMac without a floppy drive in 1998, and it annoyed the hell out of a lot of people. It’s 10 years later and they’re still making the same mistakes. Apple says its no big deal since you can use their new remote disk software to stream a disk’s contents from your desktop wirelessly to the Macbook Air. Isn’t breaking away from your desktop the point of having a laptop? Apple suggests if that doesn’t work you can always buy their USB superdrive which of course means more money spent, and more to lug around.


3. Weak Specs

The maximum sized hard-drive is 80 gigabytes. The fastest processor available is 1.8ghz. The graphics card is integrated. There is only 1 usb port and no ethernet port! This is not a powerhouse by any means, and it feels like a laptop from one or two years ago and not a brand new prestige model. The argument could be made that the configuration is similar to other "sub-notebooks", but the Macbook Air, is thin but not small. The specs wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for…


2. No Upgradeability

Ok, so laptops aren’t known for their amazing abilities to upgrade components, but almost every laptop allows at least minimal upgrade. Not the Macbook Air. There’s no adding a higher capacity battery, or a larger hard-drive or even adding a few more megabytes of ram (There are initial reports you can replace the hard-drive, but this requires opening the case and will void your warranty). What you buy is what you get… forever.


1. The $1800 price tag

At a price as high as the Macbook Pro, this laptop seems targeted towards business users. Yet, as we’ve seen, the Macbook Air is missing some really critical features that businesses need. Smart consumers with the cash to spend would probably opt for another laptop with much more bang for the buck. Apple might be more successful if put the same configuration in a normal sized case and sold it as a cheap entry level “disposable” laptop. For now, the Macbook Air might be a fun toy to show off, but in the long run it just isn’t functional.

5 Media Programs We Love To Hate

We use a lot of different programs to view a lot of different types of media files. Some programs do a fairly good job of delivering information. Unfortunately, a lot of programs do nasty things like spy on you, hijack your system or just plain bug you. Below is a list of top 5 media programs we all use that you can only love to hate:


Adobe Flash

Ok, Flash isn’t all bad. It has been a great platform for amateur animators, and it certainly is a popular way to deliver streaming video cross-platform. Flash becomes a problem when entire websites are created using it. In the age of Web 2.0 no one likes being forced to watch opening animations or waiting for elaborate menus to glide into place before being allowed to click on them. Especially problematic is the inability to right click anything which takes away the ability to download most webpage elements. Flash is unsupported on most mobile devices as well. Hey web designers, do us a favor and leave Flash for goofy videos on Youtube and make your webpages functional.


Quicktime (For Windows)

Quicktime for Mac OSX does a fairly decent job. It integrates into the OS and plays most media files with little effort (especially when outfitted with flip4mac). Quicktime for Windows is a different story. It’s nearly impossible to find a way to install it without also being forced to also take iTunes. Inattention during the install process allows the program to hijack almost all media types from other programs. Once it’s installed it sets up shop in the system tray even when not running. The program itself is slow and lacking in features. It’s no wonder PC users don’t want to switch to Macs. And by the way Apple, you can quit asking us EVERYTIME we load the program, we never want to upgrade to Quicktime Pro.


Adobe Acrobat Reader

It’s somewhat ironic that the creators of the PDF file format also make the worst viewing software. Acrobat Reader is painfully slow to load. Nothing sucks more than watching your system grind to a halt as you realize that link you just clicked on is a 2 page PDF. Adobe tried to fix this by loading a part of the program into memory on windows startup, but now it just means you can have Adobe Reader around slowing down your computer all the time! Once loaded, the reader nags you to update it nearly every time it loads. It also seems strange that a program simply designed to view PDFs needs to constantly phone home. Geesh.


RealPlayer

Good luck trying to find the free version for download. Once you do find it, RealPlayer will automatically load at startup and randomly pop ads up through its “message center”. Both can be disabled but they always seem to turn back on somehow (kind of like adware!). Like Quicktime, failure to pay attention during the install results in RealPlayer hijacking the playback of all your media files. To top it all off, RealPlayer seems to be more concerned with including a webrowser, burning DVD’s and selling its monthly subscription than actually playing media files.


Microsoft Internet Explorer

It does it’s job well enough, but even with the touted upgrades, you just can’t help getting the feeling that using Internet Explorer is like putting a big sign on your PC saying “I’m a Giant Security Exploit! Attack Me!”. Of course IE is a big target because so many people use it. Unfortunately, those who want to break away from Internet Explorer and use better alternatives are all to often forced back into using it on websites that are only designed to be viewable using IE (www.windowsupdate.com being a prime example). Its a vicious circle: People can't break way from IE because websites require it, websites require it because people keep using it.

Top 10 Stupidest USB Gadgets

USB has come a long way. You're no longer stuck with connecting only boring old printers and web cameras to your computer. Slowly, non-computing peripherals started to get added to the list of USB-Compliant devices. First came somewhat useful mug-warmers and night lights. Then came less useful Christmas trees and missile launchers. Today the market is filled with hundreds of bizarre devices of questionable utility. Below is our top 10 list of the stupidest (but still potentially quite fun) USB-compliant devices:

10. Mii Stor Ice Flash Drive

This little gem has 456 5ct diamonds set in a platinum case. There's no storage capacity listed, but I'm sure anyone willing to spend the cash to get one doesn't really what it stores. Here's hoping you don't leave this thumb drive on top of the photocopier just like the other 2 you lost.

Available At: miistor.com $30,000

9. USB Stress Button

When you get really stressed just whack this molded plastic button and all your stress will melt away as your watch your computer screen countdown and show an animated explosion. I sure know nothing de-stresses me like rebooting my computer after this poorly designed software freezes it up.
Available At: usb.brando.com.hk $17.00

8. USB Mini Humidifier

This one is interesting since it doesn't really look like it's big enough to actually make any difference whatsoever. That's probably a good thing since the last time I checked Computers + Moisture = Badness.

Available At: USBgeek.com $35.00

7. USB Thumb Ionizer
Many are convinced the full tower sized ionic air cleansers don't really do anything and can even cause more harm than good (see wikipedia). Even if you are a believer, it's hard to imagine this tiny thumb drive makes any impact on air quality at all. It does come with a fancy built-in blue LED though.
Available At: kleargear.com $14.99



6. Rechargeable USB Shaver
As many men have learned, sometimes shaving with a cheap electric razor is no better than scraping one's hair out with a dull butter knife. This shaver could be the exception and really high quality, but something really creeps me out thinking of bits of me being connected via USB to a computer.
Available At: usb.brando.com.hk $22.00

5. USB Humping Dog
Its sole function is to use up a USB port and hump it to oblivion. 'Nuff said.
Available At: thinkgeek.com $9.99






4. Warmmi USB Heating Knee Pads
Just strap these puppies around your legs, string the cords through your pants, find 2 empty USB ports and you're all set for toasty knees. I can't really say I know many people afflicted with cold knees, but somebody out there was itching for 5 volts of warmth. Don't forget to unhook yourself from the computer upon getting up, we don't want any accidents now.
Available At: vavolo.com $19.99/pair




3. USB Pole Dancer

Nothing adds class to a computer desk than adding this bikini-clad plastic doll spinning around a pole to "I'm Too Sexy". The whirring of the motor only adds to the ambiance. It's a complete steal at $40. Plug this one in at the office. I dare you.
Available At: stupid.com $39.99




2. Tidy "Tippist" Doily Tablecloth Keyboard
This USB keyboard has some ridiculously cool features. It's flat, can be rolled up, and is even machine washable. But why oh why did it have to be shaped like a freaking doily?!! "Hmm, we're going to make a keyboard on the cutting edge of technology, so naturally it's important it appeal as much as possible to the elderly." Clear marketing genius.
Available At: toniawelter.de (Only Available In Store - Germany)



1. USB Powered Air Conditioned Shirt
By drawing in air through 2 fans, these shirts extreme computer programming sessions. You might not actually be cool wh claim to keep you cool even under the mostile plugged in, but you sure would look cool all puffed up in these stylish shirts. Unfortunately when you walk away from the computer all your left with is a shirt with 2 holes in the side and a bunch of dangling cords.
Available: Hopefully Never

5 elements that have dissappeard from modern gaming

Gaming has been greatly enhanced by new technologies. It wasn't that long ago that we had to go all the way to the store, rely on the advice of a geeky salesclerk and spend hours playing games alone (Ok, so most of us still do that). Today, however, we can research games, download demos, buy games, get hints, and connect with others from all over the world without ever leaving home. Because of these abilities, some once-common sights in the gaming world no longer exist. Some of these disappearances are a good thing, while others are sorely missed. Here are 5 elements that have disappeared from modern gaming:


5. Complete and perfectly working gameplay (without the need for patches)

There are far too many examples of modern games shipping buggy or even broken. Some game producers seem to rush games out the door with a "we'll fix it later" approach. Nothing is more frustrating than buying a new game, installing it and finding out it doesn't work without hunting down a patch. Before the internet, game developers had only one chance to get it right. Console gamers have even been caught in the phenomenon with many PS3 owners being surprised to find their newest games like Call of Duty 4 or Heavenly Sword won't run until a mysterious mandatory "update" is downloaded and installed.


4. Really overpriced 1-900 hint lines

Before the advent one stop game walkthrough sites like GameFAQs, early gamers without access to the internet really could get stuck in a game and render their $40 investment useless. That's why most (especially adventure) games included a standard page near the end of their manual that read something like "...for recorded tips 24 hours a day call 1-900-555-1212 ($0.95/min) for live help call from 8am to 5pm EST 1-900-555-1213 ($1.95/min)". Today you'd be hard pressed to find a company still offering a live help hint line (or anyone willing to call at those rates for that matter).


3. Big boxes with lots of things in them

Instead of the standard size boxes nearly all current computer software comes in today, game boxes used to come in a wide assortment of shapes and sizes. While these boxes didn't fit quite as neatly on a shelf as today's games do, they did allow for some pretty cool stuff to come in the box. Wall-sized maps, laminated reference cards and big thick manuals with lots of pictures all easily fit into these boxes. Perhaps the best example was the "feelies" included with classic Infocom text-adventure games. One could find humorous references to their game such as postcards, sunglasses or even a genuine zorkmid.


2. Registration Cards (And cool stuff for filling them out)

Long before nag screens that prompted you every 10 minutes to register your game over the internet, most software included a physical card to be filled out and mailed back to the game creator. In return for providing this valuable marketing data, game companies would often offer valuable physical incentives. Gamers could expect to get disks with bonus content, free shareware titles, coupons, subscriptions to in-house magazines, (another relic sadly missed) and even clothing like cheap t-shirts and hats. While this may not sound like a lot, getting something in the mail was always exciting for young gamers. It is certainly better than the "special promotional offers" (spam) that most companies provide today.


1. Shareware Discs

In the early 90's, you could easily find rotating racks filled with dozens and dozens of games and software shareware floppy disks. These displays were found not only in computer stores, but also in bookstores, grocery stores and even gas stations. For a dollar or two one could pick up a floppy disk containing a (usually quite crippled) piece of software that would require sending a full payment by check or money order through the mail in order to get the full version. If you didn't like the game you could pass it on to a friend or erase the disc and then load on a pirated game for a friend. At any rate, these disks could be an easy way to buy a single floppy disk without having to shell out for a whole box.