MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Jul 12, 08 - 09:56 am Comment from: Wandering joe

Maybe they read your critique and changed their views?
When MDN talks, people listen....
Sounds like an old ad from the 70's

Jul 12, 08 - 10:06 am Comment from: bdb

@Wandering Joe: I remember those EF Hutton ads!!! Wow, I feel old...

Jul 12, 08 - 12:38 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

I had the Vista Anti-Virus thing try to take me over this morning. This is the first time it has ever happened to me, and I have been reading this site for years.

So what I did was to use the 'contact' link at the top of the page to notify MDN. I received an email from the Webmaster (who is pretty cool, by the way) that all pop-unders have been suspended.

Instead of just bitching and condemning MDN, why not take a little time to inform them of a problem. They actually do listen.

If you people detest Mac Daily News as much as you say, then please just stay the hell out and leave it for those of us who appreciate it.

Jul 12, 08 - 12:45 pm Comment from: Sixvodkas

@Sir Gill Bates.

Yeah!

BTW, it'll never happen.
There will always be people that'll be unhappy (nay, ANGRY!) that everyone doesn't think, act and say exactly the things that they think they should.

Jul 12, 08 - 12:48 pm Comment from: Brau

To those suffering Safari getting high-jacked: Use the contact link to send MDN a notice with the URL you are being redirected to. They will chase it down and may even send you a "thank you" note. That's what they did for me ... but then again ....I didn't blow them off as assholes in the comments section first.

Jul 12, 08 - 12:50 pm Comment from: qka

I have no idea what all these folks are complaining about.

I suggest they visit http://pimpmysafari.com/ and see what is available to help them with their problems.

Out of interest exactly how many editors does PC Mag have? How can one day it not be then the next it is. Weird.

Jul 12, 08 - 01:07 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

Six Vodkas: Oh so true.

Brau: Amen.

qka: Sweet!

For the best control over the garbage of the internet. Install a hosts file to the bottom of your /etc/hosts file using sudo pico /etc/hosts , arrowing down and copying then pasting the host text file you see on the link below. Then control x, y to save changes and quit terminal. You'll need to update it every few months or so but it blocks parasites from ad servers.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Basically this tell your computer the DNS number for bad web sites is 127.0.0.0 (your own computer!!) So it never connects to the hostile sites!! From ANY web site!

Great for blocking sites you don't want your kids going to anymore.

I like the Tuner program in the App Store, for $5, which lets you listen to your favorite radio stations on the iPhone. For me in Seattle, that would include KEXP, NPR, and BBC World.

I wrote most of both reviews.

It's not rocket science. We have a lot of EC categories, but then again, we look at a lot of products (somewhere between 100-150 in the mobile categories each year.) The EC award for "mobile operating system" is separate for the one for "AT&T;smart phone," which is the one that the iPhone 3G won.

The people on this board obviously don't need me to explain why the iPhone 3G is the best smart phone for AT&T;. Of the range of smart phones available from AT&T;, the iPhone 3G is the best one.

But it sounds like you could use some explanation of the OS review, which may have confused some folks around here.

The short answer is that an OS which is only available on devices with one form factor and from one mobile phone carrier in the US can't win the OS EC, because a large part of the criteria require that people across the US have a choice of devices and carriers that run the OS.

That EC is designed to help, for instance, business people who are looking to standardize on an OS. I can't in good conscience recommend that they standardize on something that doesn't let them bid carriers against each other, or something that doesn't offer devices with physical keyboards. Yes, I know that the people around here hate physical keyboards. But there are a whole lot of people who demand them. An EC OS has to enable that choice.

So the iPhone OS has enabled one of the single best smart phones in the world. The iPhone 3G, as an individual smart phone, is excellent. But for Apple to dominate as a broad platform, they need to offer their products on more carriers than just AT&T;, and potentially with more form factor options.

Here's another form of that explanation, on a board that I check regularly:

http://discuss.pcmag.com/forums/1004403812/ShowThread.aspx#1004403812

sasha: people once demanded buggy whips, too.

Sent from my iPhone 3G

Jul 12, 08 - 02:24 pm Comment from: JAYGEE

@ Sir Gill Bates

I had that Vista anti virus thing pop up as well, and I contacted MDN about it. The Webmaster said the same to me.

Sr Bill Gates(wannabe) said: "So what I did was to use the 'contact' link at the top of the page to notify MDN. I received an email from the Webmaster (who is pretty cool, by the way) that all pop-unders have been suspended.

Instead of just bitching and condemning MDN, why not take a little time to inform them of a problem. They actually do listen. "

MDN contracts with someone to run their ads. They have to as tech savy - or more so - than most other websites out there. They should know full-well where the ads come from, and testing their own site constantly.

If they're not A-Holes, then they're just plain lazy.

Take your pick.

Just cause they sucked up to you (or are you one of them ghosting as a user) doesn't mean they are being responsible.

Mr Hagan the writer said: "So the iPhone OS has enabled one of the single best smart phones in the world. The iPhone 3G, as an individual smart phone, is excellent. But for Apple to dominate as a broad platform, they need to offer their products on more carriers than just AT&T;, and potentially with more form factor options."

Sometimes people don't know what they want until someone gives it to them (Obama's Marxism is an example). I don't think Apple is in the "phone" business so much as they are in the "Intelligent OS Design" business. The iPhone demonstrates that you don't need a variety of "forms" to satisfy divergent users. It's the accessibility of the OS that makes the iPhone so attractive.

Not saying it can't be improved.

And really can't argue about more carriers or better pricing to penetrate market and make their brilliant OS more widely available (ever see an ad for the Mac Mini in the last year?). Jobs doesn't want poor people walking into his precious Apple stores, or to see his product at a Wal-Mart. He's a snob.

Volume volume volume. The more you produce, the cheaper you can make it, the more profit. However, a company is less exposed to the fluctuations of the economy if their product pricing stays in a comfortable middle ground of the bourgeois and upper crust of buyers. Reduce availability and only certain players can join the game.

Apple/Jobs doesn't want to be big. Apple has never been able to meet increased demand and never will until the company shifts its thinking to WIN more than the Best OS award - like being Number One in sales.

Jul 12, 08 - 03:01 pm Comment from: freefromdesign

Still waiting for the Airtunes app for iPhone, who needs Remote?

Jul 12, 08 - 03:07 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

Handsome Smitty,

"Sr Bill Gates(wannabe)"

Hmmm. Not only a jackass, but a dyslexic jackass.

Tell us Handsome, are you admiring yourself in a mirror right now?

@Handsome Smitty

"Jobs doesn't want poor people walking into his precious Apple stores, or to see his product at a Wal-Mart. He's a snob."

Um… you are aware of the fact that iPods are sold at Wal-Mart, right?

"Apple/Jobs doesn't want to be big."

The iPod has ~70% of the portable music player market. That's certainly not small.

In my comments on the MDN post covering the "other" PC Magazine Editor's Choice award that went to Windows Mobile, I theorized that many tech journalists base their opinions on two flawed assumptions: "Apple = niche" and "Microsoft = dominant". I was incorrect to pin this exclusively on tech journalists, though, as it seems to be more pervasive than that.

Apple can be mainstream enough and big enough without having to go for Microsoft-style total dominance. Apple makes their money on hardware – even though it's their software that truly differentiates them from their competitors, there's no money in licensing their OS know-how to other hardware makers.

Microsoft's dominance of the PC industry was a fluke – Windows Mobile is clearly showing that that fluke won't be repeated. Nobody wants to be so pathetically beholden to any one software company in the way that PC makers have been beholden to Microsoft.

So even if Apple offered to license their OS, hardware companies would be very, very cautious about giving Apple too much power in the arrangement, which would very likely make such arrangements unprofitable for Apple to pursue in the first place.

Jul 12, 08 - 04:29 pm Comment from: Chuch

It might be a great product, but there are none to be had. I traveled (not just for this reason) from Charleston WV to Evansville IN. I stopped at every At&t;store along the way, hitting Huntington, Lexington, Frankfort, Louisville, and about 3 small towns between. Not an iPhone in any of those stores. Looks like someone seriously underestimated demand.

Jul 12, 08 - 05:00 pm Comment from: Dialtone

>I like the Tuner program in the App Store, for $5, which lets you >listen to your favorite radio stations on the iPhone. For me in >Seattle, that would include KEXP, NPR, and BBC World.

Some more good ones: wwoz.org, nv1.org, kpfa.org, gulchradio.com

Jul 12, 08 - 05:20 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

@Dialtone

Never met a left wing liberal crap bucket transmitter ya didn't like, huh?

kpfa...

lmfao

How's the weed in Seattle?

Jul 12, 08 - 05:27 pm Comment from: Olmecmystic

That Vista Anti-Virus bullshit tried to jump me, too! Happened yesterday. I just restarted my Mac and it went away and hasn't come back.

Don't click on those things.

Peace.
Olmecmystic

The Vista anti-virus came on my MPB also. I've been contacting MDN for a couple of months concerning this crap. The webmaster sent me the following:
"Also, If you wish, you can simply opt-out of receiving the ads here:
https://admin.valueclickmedia.com/optout/index.html

Thank you"

It seems to have worked, so far. Anymore of these and I'm outta here. That would be too bad as otherwise MDN is a great site.

Emeryville, CA Bay Street Apple Store 6:30pm today. I was not allowed entry into the store. I was told only those on line for the iPhone may enter tonight. I said I was just going to look at the display iPhone and buy at another time. No entry allowed. I asked if can I look at a MBP or Mac Pro system ondisplay. No entry allowed. I told him I was a shareholder and it seemed wrong not to let customers look at merchandise or, god forbid, buy a high margin MBP or Mac Pro system. No entry allowed. All store resources are being used for the people on line for iPhones.

Has this happened anywhere else? Do you think this policy is fair? Couldn't they have 2 or 3 staff dedicated to other Apple customers? The non-iPhone buyer or browser was out of luck in Emeryville, CA tonight.

Jul 12, 08 - 11:12 pm Comment from: Arnold Ziffel

@Mike,

I went to the Apple Store at La Cantera in San Antonio

yesterday, and they were perfectly OK with me entering the store

to look at iMacs even though I was not buying one of the new

iPhones [have a first generation one and am waiting

until ATT gets 3G going where I live (not in San Antonio) before I

purchase a 3G].

THE KOST IS BACK

Jul 13, 08 - 01:42 am Comment from: nekogami13

@Mike- At The woodlands, TX store they allowed people in to look at and buy stuff.

I got my iPhone yesterday-several people at work have stopped me to ask about it. I demo multi-touch, google maps, pandora, surf to a web page and show a video.
Same response every time-"I have to get one of those!"

As if the MobileMe name (not service/features) isn't gay enough, the MobileMe hard drive icon when you connect via Mac is a faggy purpleish-pink, replacing the cool blue .Mac icon!!! WTF Apple!!!

@NOFX ... Why hello big-boy!

Would NOFX be your homoerotic nom de plume around the gay villages?

@NOFX

No F*&ks;... yup. The name says it all.

MDN: position <snort, guffaw, knee slap.... hee hee> The jokes seem to write themselves, these days.

Got my wife an iPhone yesterday at the Alderwood Mall (Lynnwood, WA) Apple store. They let anyone into the store and were helping out those interested in other Apple products. It even looked like one guy was doing one-to-one training with one of the staff. Initial indication was that I might be about last one getting a phone based on their inventory at the time but that they would be getting several more shipments during the day. By the time I left the line was out the door. The Apple rep that took my order said that they line extended from the store, though the plaza, past the Borders bookstore and around the corner which would have made for about 400 people or so.

Ok, my current favorite app is Pandora. It's a free radio app that creates personalized "radio stations" based on your favorite artists. In this way, I've created about 20 radio stations for myself. If enough people buy iPhones, this one free app alone could significantly slow the subscription growth of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio.

Jul 13, 08 - 12:38 pm Comment from: Grifterus

WOW, WOW, WOW!! Hold it right there, Mac!

Two days ago, it was a niche player, by the same cats of PC Magazine.

Now it's Editor's Choice.

What the hell is going on here?

What's next? Human sacrifice? Dogs and cats living together? Mass hysteria?!?!?!?!

Jul 13, 08 - 03:36 pm Comment from: Ferf Muckmeyer

Well, I've been commenting on this site for awhile, and I can tell you that I don't think it's worth upgrading to the 3G if you already have the original iPhone. 3G is only available in certain spots, and I've noticed that speeds in some cases are much better, but in most cases not too much better than EDGE. This has been a MAJOR disappointment for me. I live in an area where 3G is live so that should not be an issue. As an Apple enthusiast and follower, this should have been a better effort. Maybe I am the only one having issues, so if not, it would be great to hear some experiences.

I called AT&T;and complained about the 3G dead spot where I live. According to the coverage map I should have 3G, but I don't. The technician created a ticket to have my tower upgraded. Everyone should do this. I'm not sure how seriously they take those tickets, but if you're disappointed about 3G coverage somewhere, dial 611 and let AT&T;know.