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Apple/Pixar Love Fest

So, you may have noticed that Apple and Pixar are somewhat unofficially associated with one another. Well, that’s because they are. In a sense, they are brother companies. You see, they share a parent: Steve Jobs. After Jobs was booted out of Apple in the 90s, he founded Pixar Animation Studios. If you think about it, the two companies have a lot in common: Both are in the tech category; both have anticipated regular annual release dates (e.g. Apple’s annual iPod updated line, or Pixar’s annual Disney/Pixar major motion picture, such as this year’s Toy Story 3), both have a similar logo style with the white background and simple, familiar picture, both were founded by Jobs, both are highly successful, among many other things such as business styles, etc. Is Steve Jobs not only a tech genius, but also a business genius? I don’t know. But here are some solid examples of the Apple/Pixar love fest:
-Disney Pixar’s Wall-E: the robot’s charging sound is the same as the Mac startup sound
-Apple’s introductions of just about any product with video within the past year have showcased Disney/Pixar’s Up
-In Toy Story 3, the younger sister is shown with an iPod
-In Toy Story 3, the toys clearly use Safari browser on an iMac to map out a route on the Internet
-Many more. . . just search it in Google.

All in all, this whole deal raises the question of how each company benefits from such benefits, and did Jobs plan this? Apple has always had a way with the media. What do you think of this unofficial partnership? Leave a comment below.

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Update 6/17/10 A Win and a Fail

Get updated on Apple iPhone sales: Both a Win and a Fail.

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Safari 5?

Safari 5

At the WWDC last Monday, in addition to iPhone 4, Apple released Safari 5. What’s different in Safari 5? At first, it appears that not much is new. . . visually. But, it turns out that Safari now includes some features that may determine the future of surfing the Internet. (By the way, notice how I capitalized the ‘I’ in Internet? That is because Internet is a proper noun, and thus, it is grammatically correct to capitalize it. Yes, it’s true. Weird, but true.) Anyway, what has been supposedly the world’s fastest browser just got faster. That’s one of the non-visual things in Safari 5. The other is better HTML 5 support including full-screen view/closed-captioning for video and geolocation.

Then there are a couple visual things. Let’s see, there is now a tab on Topsites that allows you to quickly switch to full history search mode. And the Google search bar in the upper right corner now works with Yahoo! and Bing as well. Oh, and they brought back to old blue loading bar, which kind of annoys me. But, perhaps most noticeably and importantly, there is a new feature called “Reader.” Reader allows the user to view a ‘quick-look-esque’ enlarged view of an article on a webpage without the clutter of ads and graphics. Safari 5 automatically detects when a webpage has an article and displays an icon in the address bar that says “reader.” If you click on it, you can read the article in a front-and-center view. It’s very nice. For a demonstration, visit the download page to download safari, then revisit this site and continue reading this article in Reader! The other nice thing about Reader is that you can download the article while in Reader mode with the click of a button. Could this type of viewing be the future of Internet surfing?

Well, to conclude, the reason I included a question mark in this article’s title is because I’m not sure if this updated version of Safari deserves its own number. Perhaps Safari 4.5 is more fitting. However it is a worthwhile update and I urge you to download it. After all, it’s free!

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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Apple Releases New Mac Mini

Though most hype today may revolve around the ability to pre-order the new iPhone 4, Apple also gave us a new present-a unibody Mac Mini. From comparing the specs of previous models to the newly released unibody Mac Mini, they crush the previous generations and give current line models such as the iMac a run for the money. With the new slick design of the Mac Mini, the model looks extremely stylish and finds it way home to the unibody MacBook Pro. Here are the specs:

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
320 GB hard drive
$699

or the “server class” Mac Mini:

2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
Dual 500 GB hard drive
$999

Additionally, the new Mac Mini sports HDMI and an SD card. The new Mac Mini could fit comfortably instead of your current DVR. Could we expect HDMI to come in future updates? Also, unlike previous generations, the RAM is now more easily accessible. Twist the panel from the bottom of the Mac Mini and your good to go.

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The iPhone 4 Antenna Fiasco

Apple is now saying that their antenna issue on the iPhone 4 is only a software issue and will be fixed with a software update. Apple announced that the problem was not with the antenna placement, but by the formula used to calculate how many bars your iPhone really has. They said the miscalculation could show you have two extra bars. They are going to be switching over to AT&T’s formula to calculate the bars in the next update, which should be rolling out in the next few weeks. I’m guessing you can expect the update in two weeks, but this is only a guess.