A fresh analysis argues that new iMacs introduced Tuesday already compare quite favorably with their Windows-based counterparts.

The Oppenheimer analyst also used his report Tuesday to perform a side-by-side comparison of the new iMacs against all-in-one desktops from Dell and HP. He found that the mid-range $1,499 model sports faster CPU and RAM while delivering better or comparable graphics than its rivals while still coming in $100 to $250 cheaper.

The difficulty Apple has here is that it’s always simpler for people to say “I don’t care about that feature” rather than “I don’t care about the price.”

(Via AppleInsider.)

I don’t think so. It’s a beta, people! Remember, the time where product features get tested prior to release? That’s all that’s happening here. Quicktime’s pro features out for testing. There’s absolutely nothing that suggests Apple will change their current marketing model in that.

And contrary to at least one article, there is no difference in the Quicktime binary – all that’s ever been needed is a key to unlock the Pro features. All that needs to be done is for that key not to be installed in the release version

In fact, I’m pretty sure this situation is no different from previous betas – those of Leopard and Tiger. I’m sure Quicktime was included with the Pro features enabled during the beta process then too.

So what’s the fuss here? People seem to be making a mountain out of absolutely nothing.

Google announced yesterday that Google Sync is now available for the iPhone, adding it to a list including the Blackberry, Windows Mobile devices, some Sony Ericcson and some Nokia phones. The iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices will synchronise calendars as well as contacts in the address book. Is this enough to replace Mobile Me if you have a Mac as well as an iPhone?

Mobile Me is a paid-for service (£69, $99 per annum) that enables the near real-time synchronisation of calendars, contact information and a number of @me.com email addresses. It’s built into OSX and the iPhone and (after initial teething problems) has proven to be a reliable way to keep the information on your Mac in synch with your phone. But even with its other perks – 20Gb of internet storage, email addresses – it’s expensive. Can Google Sync now be used instead?

The answer is yes, but there are compromises here. Firstly, you lose those perks. Secondly, if you’re using Activesync on your iPhone already it simply can’t be done – Google Sync requires Activesync and there can only be one Activesync configuration. Thirdly, it’s nothing like seamless. You need to set up Address Book, create new calendars, move data around and back up regularly – this is a beta after all.

However, if you wish to replace Mobile Me, or if you use one of the other Smartphones that work with Google Sync, this is an interesting opportunity. At the very least, I hope it will cause Apple to revisit the pricing of Mobile Me. I’ll pay for simplicity of configuration, but I don’t think I’ll be the only one who will think “is this worth it any more?” when my Mobile Me subscription rolls around again.

This isn’t the promised release with audio-video messaging for non-corporate users – that’s still to come.

Google has a vested interest in net neutrality. They don’t want to be forced by ISPs to pay a premium in order for the ISPs not to slow down traffic to them. Being the biggest site on the internet, they’re a sitting duck for this sort of tactic.

But Google believes that users also don’t want their internet traffic to be messed around with in order to squeeze money out of content providers. So it has created Measurement Labs, a server platform and a series of software tools to measure broadband speeds, whether or not your ISP is filtering or prioritising traffic.

By fighting politics with information, Google believes that the competitive disadvantage of being seen to filter traffic will be enough to keep the net neutral, by default.

(Via GigaOm.)

The major problem is that all you’re actually doing is moving your data from one physical location to a different one. A different one where you have less control – you have no say how your data is being maintained. How, or even if, it’s being backed up. What it’s being used for. How you can get it back. How it can be deleted. Your company’s data is the very essence of its existence. Surely you must do everything to preserve it?

A few days ago I wrote about people being locked out of their Google Apps accounts. Commonly used services, for example Google Notebook, cease development. And a couple of days ago, Ma.gnolia, a major social bookmarking service provider, suffered major data loss and has gone offline. The people fighting with Google Apps finally got access to their documents again. Ma.gnolia users may not be so lucky – at over 48 hours’ downtime, it could well be the site is gone for good – along with all its users’ bookmarks.

So how can a balance be struck between the convenience of data being stored in the cloud, universally accessible, and remaining in your control? A few simple rules should cover it.

The responsibility for your data remains with you.
It’s your stuff. Your data. What you need, use, and find useful. Nobody wants to be in the situation that Ma.gnolia users find themselves this weekend – potentially several years of accumulated bookmarks inaccessible and probably never to be retrieved.

Don’t use a service that doesn’t allow for easy import and export of your data.
Leaving aside keeping ongoing control of your data, your IT needs grow and change over time. What happens when your needs get met better by a new service in comparison to your existing one? You need to be able to migrate. If your current service doesn’t allow for exportation of your data in an easily-accessible format, you’re using the wrong service.

Synchronisation is better than import/export
Like it or not, most computing is still done locally. Where Cloud Computing can come into its own is where it integrates seamlessly with the data you have locally, for example calendar sharing or address book synchronisation. Services using data synchronisation, not data moving, are going to be the big winners in the next few years.

Free services are a false economy
When something goes wrong, what can you do? The free services out there have no service level agreement with you whatsoever. If something goes wrong, tough. This is simply not feasible in the long term – something that Ma.gnolia users are finding out this weekend. While the SLAs for paid services are hardly any better, at least they offer the chance of getting support at the end of a phone if something untoward happens.

While Apple and nVidia have previously denied that any MacBook Pros containing the nVidia GeForce 8600M GT processor were affected, Apple now has a programme for the replacement of affected models – and a refund programme for people who have previously paid for repairs.

The affected machines were manufactured between May 2008 and September 2008 and include the following models:

• MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz)
• MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz)
• MacBook Pro (Early 2008)

Details are at this Apple Knowledgebase article.

(Via Macfixit.)

A mere six hours after they were announced, and probably a good twelve before they’re available in the shops, Apple have released a Macbook, Macbook Pro Software Update 1.2, improving compatibility with external displays and “including other software fixes”.

Version 1.2 already though? That, given Apple’s numbering scheme, is the third update for machines that haven’t been released yet!

Technorati Tags:
Macbook, Macbook Pro, Software Update

The obvious feeling with this release is that it’s much snappier. Gone are the delays in the Address Book application, and I’ve been pushing Location Services quite hard to see if I could stall the phone again, with no luck. Also fixed are some other niggles that I came up against – Apple seemingly had broken Time Zone support again, which of course I only found out about when I was 8 timezones away from home.

Apple, of course, have not released a full list of fixed bugs, so I can’t tell you exactly what it fixes. But it’s certainly worth a go to see if it improves whatever small thing was bugging you about your iPhone.

This functionality may have been recently removed, however. While testing network connectivity today using our favourite wLAN graphing software, AP Grapher, we noticed that our maximum bandwidth was 130Mbps. Yet we still had wide channels selected. We’re unable to find a way of getting 300Mbps right now, using the current 7.3.2 Airport Extreme firmware.

Can anyone else confirm they’re having the same issue, or is it unique to us?

Technorati Tags:
Airport Extreme, wide channels