FEATURED SPECIAL | 04/10/09 – 04/17/09

_Dear Friends,_

It was a historic day in Vermont on Tuesday as the Vermont Legislature overrode the governor’s veto and became the first state to legalize same sex marriage without a court mandate. I was down at the state house testifying on a different issue (the sales tax holiday for 2009) but had an opportunity to talk to the main sponsors of the legislation and the Speaker of the House. It was a giddy and emotional atmosphere with a lot of joyful crying and hugging. I am so proud to be a Vermonter that I might even forget about the long winters and mud season for a bit.

Speaking of mud season, my road is a disaster with a series of gigantic mud bogs on my 3 miles of dirt (mud) road. Only four wheel drive vehicles can make it and only those with some good ground clearance, at that. We have some warmer weather coming up so that will first make it worse and then as the road thaws out enough to allow drainage, the roads will be passable again. Meanwhile, as I look out my window down the Mad River Valley, I see the fields turning green and buds forming on the Apple tree.

There were new Xserves introduced this week as Apple continues to release products from their development pipeline. I think this spring and summer are going to see some amazing new toys coming from the gang in Cupertino. We have some outstanding buys on iMacs now with a good supply of the recently discontinued models at the best prices ever and some attractive bundles that include printers and AppleCare, too.

I do not normally purchase extended warranties, but AppleCare is different. If I had my druthers and it was not such a price-competitive market, I think all Macs should just come with AppleCare, however it is a competitive market and this added protection and peace of mind is an inexpensive add-on that is a must-have for all Macs. While your new Mac comes with a one-year warranty and 90 days of free Apple tech support, after the first 90 days you will start paying for support. After that first year, anything that breaks on your Mac will cost you more than the AppleCare would have cost you in the first place! AppleCare gives you three years of both. AppleCare is one of the most outstanding bargains from Apple!

Say it with me: “NAH – HAY – LEM”

Today Apple introduced an all-new Xserve line that reportedly delivers up to two times the performance of the previous generation while providing enhanced energy efficiency. Based on next-generation Intel “Nehalem” architecture, the new Xserve features a single-die quad-core architecture, a fully shared 8MB L3 cache design, and a three-channel integrated memory controller with up to 12 slots of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC memory.

The new Xserve introduces new storage capabilities, including an optional 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) for use as a boot drive, SATA/SAS drive support with support for up to 3TB of internal storage, internal second-generation RAID card option with 512MB of RAID cache, and cost-effective dual- and quad-port Fibre Channel cards for external storage connectivity.

The new Xserve is based on a green design that delivers improved performance per watt for reduced energy consumption, eliminates toxic chemicals, and a high-efficiency power supply.

Starting at $2999, Xserve also includes an unlimited-client license of Mac OS X Server as part of its standard configuration (a $900 value). Now you can easily set up and manage servers, add new clients to the network, share calendars, schedule meetings, and more. Leopard Server also offers incredibly smart and efficient services for your network, including iCal Server, Wiki Server, and Podcast Producer. Mac OS X Server Leopard also features enhanced multicore performance.

The standard $2,999 configuration includes a 2.26GHZ Quad-Core Xeon 5500 processor. Build to order options include dual 2.26 GHz, 2.66 GHz or 2.93 GHz Intel Xeon processors.

“Click here to read more about the new Xserve!”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|Xserve

I’m going out on a very sturdy limb to predict that in the next 18 months, the rise of netbooks will have a major impact on the computer industry. I think this will be reminiscent of the impact of cheap cell phones on the traditional telecommunications industry (though not nearly as profound).

In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a netbook is an inexpensive ($200 – $500) ultra-portable notebook computer with a 10-inch or smaller screen. They’re typically powered by a special class of low-power processor (for example, an 1.6GHz Intel Atom). They are specially designed around wireless communication and access to the Internet, and are often targeted at cloud computing users who don’t require a powerful computer. Most netbooks run Windows XP or some variation of Linux, installed at the factory. Indeed, 80% of netbooks run Windows XP. Netbooks don’t have optical drives.

The New York Times reports that netbooks “are the big success story in the PC industry, with sales predicted to double this year, even as overall PC sales fall 12 percent, according to the research firm Gartner. By the end of 2009, netbooks could account for close to 10 percent of the PC market, an astonishing rise in a short span.”

I love the netbook concept – an energy efficient, inexpensive machine you can bring anywhere. There is a niche for such a device. The iPhone is almost there, but is still a little too small for long-form typing. Standard notebooks are overkill for many tasks, and also may be inadvisable to use in certain situations.

For the past week, I’ve been testing an Asus EeePC. It’s about the size of a hardcover Tom Clancy novel (or Danielle Steel, take your pick). It has a 10-inch screen, 1.3 megapixel webcam, 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and 2GB of RAM. It came with Windows XP. I promptly installed a special netbook-friendly version of Linux called Eeebuntu (which is by far the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done).

Overall, I’m impressed with the EeePC. It’s fine for very basic tasks. I’d gladly it to a library or coffee shop, out to the park, or even on a short trip. It’s also great to use around the house for websurfing and research. That’s what it’s designed for; not image editing, DVD-watching, or even advanced word processing. The netbook is a great second or even third computer.

I admit that it was a relief whenever I went back to using one of my Macs–even an old, battered and sloooowwwww 12-inch PowerBook. Part of that was using better hardware, especially the screen, keyboard, and trackpad. Most of the relief was from using OS X, which truthfully is far superior to the other OS’s I had on the netbook.

Many people hope that Apple will eventually release a true netbook (including me). This would be distinct from the MacBook Air, which has a 13.3-inch screen and emphasizes thinness over small size. The elegance of OS X could scale wonderfully to a sub-10-inch screen–much better than XP. Apple’s netbook probably wouldn’t be as inexpensive (cheap) as the other models, but it would probably have much better hardware and a few unique “gee-whiz” features.

Currently, Dell, HP, etc. are selling netbooks without cannibalizing notebook sales. At the same time, netbooks have razor-thin profit margins, and all netbook makers are currently locked in a race to the bottom of the barrel in terms of price and features. Apple never tries to compete in that space, instead offering middle and high-end computers with premium design and features. A premium netbook from Apple might help other netbook manufacturers by disrupting their current dead-end race, and reemphasizing features and design. I’m really hoping Apple adds their own unique contribution to this exciting new field.

The success of the iTunes Store is undeniable (it’s the #1 music store in the US). It has proven that people are willing to pay for digital music, movies, TV shows, and games, as long as the content is priced fairly, and the purchase process is fast and easy. I appreciate the iTunes Store and make purchases there almost weekly.

Effective today, iTunes is even better, as the record labels have finally allowed Apple to drop DRM (digital rights management) from all music tracks offered in the store. From now on, there are no DRM restrictions on any music purchased from the iTunes Store. Other content (movies, TV shows) may still have DRM protection in place.

Also, from now on, all tracks are available in 256kbps AAC encoding, which Apple claims to be virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. In my own testing experience, 256kbps AAC encoded-tracks sound great and truly are virtually indistinguishable from CD quality-tracks. 256kbps AAC encoded-tracks strike the right balance between sound quality and digital file size.

Also, the iTunes Store is abandoning the fixed 99 cents price-per-song in place since its inception in 2005. Apple has adopted a new pricing scheme that includes offering songs for 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29, depending on factors including popularity. Apple has announced that there would be more 69 cent songs than $1.29 songs.

I’ve read several opinions that the new pricing means that the iTunes Store will lose sales. I don’t think it’s possible to know this until we know how many 69 cent songs are available. Also, without DRM, tracks purchased from iTunes can be played on non-iPod music players, potentially expanding the iTunes Store’s reach.

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In iTunes, it’s very easy to end up with duplicate songs. There are many ways this happens, but recently many people are ending up with duplicate songs as they upgrade their old iTunes Store purchases for new iTunes Plus tracks (see below about this). There are several ways to permanently remove duplicate songs from iTunes. This will save hard drive space, and can make it easier to browse your iTunes library.

It’s worth noting that some tracks appearing to be duplicates may actually be different songs; for example, a live version vs a studio version. Be careful not to delete these. Otherwise, it’s very easy to remove duplicate items in iTunes with built-in management tools.

Apple has a knowledge base article about this “which you can read by clicking here.”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1417

Some people use third party apps or applescripts to weed out duplicate tracks. Take a look at Tidy Up!: http://www.hyperbolicsoftware.com/TidyUp.html and Dupin: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php

Also, here’s a virtually unknown keyboard short cut: in iTunes, hold down the Option key and click “File”. This will change the menu entry to “Show Exact Duplicates”. Show duplicates only displays tracks with identical titles, but selecting “exact” will only display tracks where ALL fields are identical.