Reality Distortion Field – n. A field exuded by Apple founder Steve Jobs that causes those around him to believe whatever he wants. There are some who say that Steve Jobs exudes a Reality Distortion Field (RDF), but new evidence has just emerged suggesting that others in the industry have a Self Delusion Field (SDF).…
Bryan Chaffin
Bryan Chaffin is the cofounder of The Mac Observer and currently serves as Afternoon Editor. He has contributed to MacAddict and MacFormat magazines, and co-authored the last two updates of iPad and iPad Pro for Dummies with Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus and Ed Baig. You can find out more about Bryan at his personal site, GeekTells, or find his Twitter link below.
Articles by Bryan Chaffin
Apple Hot Deals Updates For ClubMac, OWC, IMG, & MacZone
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for ClubMac, Other World Computing (OWC), Inside Mac Games (IMG), and MacZone at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product Guide features several Mac retailers and…
Apple Hot Deals Updates For Publishing Perfection, B&H, & CDW
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for Publishing Perfection, B&H Photo-Video, and CDW at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product Guide features several Mac retailers and special offers that one can…
Apple Vs. Dell For 130,000 Michigan School Laptops
I tis Apple vs. Dell. In the beginning, Dell CEO Michael Dell dismissed Apple as having more value to its stockholders by simply selling its assets and giving the money to its shareholders. Lo! And there came the days of response, where Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed a large picture of Michael Dell with a…
John Sculley On Apple Today, & HyperCard Regrets
C|Net has published an interesting interview with former Apple CEO John Sculley. Mr. Sculley left Apple in the early 1990s after overseeing some of Apple’s headiest expansion, and is somewhat credited with both the failures ad triumphs of the Newton, as well as a variety of other things beyond the scope of this article. The…
Apple Releases 10.2.8 Update, Again (Updated)
[ Update 4:18 CDT: TMO has received a statement from Apple concerning the new Mac OS X 10.2.8 update. The statement addresses the previous issues mentioned in the original article below. From Apple: Apple has posted a new release of Mac OS X version 10.2.8 which includes an updated ethernet driver for 450/500Mhz dual-processor Power…
2003 Damages From Windows Viruses Tops 9/11 Insurance Claims
U K security firm mi2g is suggesting that reliance on Microsoft could be a threat to the global economy. According to a statement received by TMO, global damage during the 3rd quarter, which ended in September, from malware (viruses and worms such as Swen, SoBig, and MSBlast) topped US$64.5 billion. This includes lost productivity from…
Apple Hot Deals Updates For MacMall, MacZone, & "New Arrivals"
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for MacMall and MacZone, as well as the "New Arrivals" section at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product Guide features several Mac retailers and special…
Virginia Tech Rep Comments On Why G5 Super Computer Is Important
I DG News Services has published a story about Virginia Techis G5 Super Computer. The Super Computer was announced earlier this month, and will be built from 1100 dual processor 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5s, each with 4 GB of RAM, for a total of 2200 CPUs and more than 4 Terrabytes of RAM. The…
Security Firm Says Mac OS X & BSD Least Breached Servers In Last 12 Months
S ecurity is an issue of concern to many people of late. The Mac Observer has recently published many stories on both the security problems of Windows and the relative lack of security problems for Mac OS X. A new study released by UK security firm mi2g is showing once again that the Mac platform…
Steve Wozniak Speaks On Mac Passions & Mac Viruses
Y esterday, we reported that Steve Wozniak was to speak at a Rochester, NY college. The Democrat and Chronicle, the same paper that tipped us off in the first place, covered the event in an article titled “Macs called virtually virus-proof.” That title comes from comments from Mr. Wozniak, who was talking about the relative…
Apple Begins Delivery Of 5,205 iBooks To Illinois Elementary Schools
T hereis lots of education news for Apple of late. The company scored a major super computer contract that will use 1,100 Power Mac G5s clustered together, and that deal was the subject of a BusinessWeek column this morning. We also reported this morning on two different Alaska school districts that have made major iBook…
Apple Releases 20 GB, 40 GB iPods, "10,000 Songs In Your Pocket"
In a surprise move, Apple bumped the mid-range and high-end iPod models, just four months after the last revision to the product line. The company has replaced the 15 GB and 30 GB iPods with 20 GB and 40 GB units, respectively. Pricing for the new units remains the same as the previous units (US$399…
BusinessWeek: The Time Is Now For Windows Version Of iTMS
Alex Salkever of BusinessWeek says that Apple’s best window of opportunity (pun ours, and mostly intended) for the Windows version of the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) is now, this Fall. In the latest Byte of the Apple column, Mr. Salkever says that if Apple wants to capture the hearts, minds, and dollars of college music…
Fred Anderson Speaks: Education & Consumer Market Share Gains, More Government Sales, & Much More
Fred Anderson spoke today at the 2003 Technology Conference, hosted by Citigroup and Smith Barney. The audience was comprised of analysts, and the presentation was Webcast through Veracast in order to comply with SEC regulations regarding disclosure of information to investors. During the presentation, Mr. Anderson covered a variety of issues, including new information not…
Apple Hot Deals Update For CDW
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for CDW at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product Guide features several Mac retailers and special offers that one can only get, at least in…
IDG Moves Macworld Back To Boston, Apple Says "No Thanks"
Remember the nonsense earlier this year heading into Macworld New York? IDG World Expos announced the show was moving back to Boston in 2004, and Apple then announced it would not be going. In fact, said Apple at the time, we may not even go to the 2003 New York show. IDG responded with a…
Apple Sued For Rendezvous Trademark Infringement
[ Update 1:56 PM CDT: Apple has officially given us a comment of “We donit comment on pending litigation” in response to our questions on this story. – Editor] Apple knowingly stole the Rendezvous name, according to a lawsuit filed against Apple by a company called TIBCO. In a press release today, TIBCO says that…
Ars Technica Offers Comprehensive Mac Browser Smackdown
Ars Technica has published a comprehensive Mac browser smackdown, as the site put it. The piece is very solid review and breakdown of the nine browsers available for Mac OS X, including a look at performance, rendering accuracy, and overall user-experience. From the review: For the first year to year-and-a-half of OS X’s existence, one…
Macromedia Goes Toe-To-Toe With Microsoft With Flash MX Pro 2004
In addition to upgrading Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash, Macromedia has announced a pro version of Flash called Flash MX Professional 2004. This product is designed to allow users to create Internet-based applications, including apps that are tied in to back end server functions. This is a new arena for Macromedia, and one that puts them…
The Back Page - HP To Open Store-Within-A-Store & It's Good For Apple
The market is following where Apple trailblazed, once again. In a BusinessWeek story about HP’s recent less-than-stellar quarter, we noticed that HP was going to be opening a store-within-a-store at some general electronics retailers. This is similar to Apple’s store-within-a-store at CompUSA, save that all the products will obviously be HP products. The kicker is…
The Rolling Stones Offer Music Downloads, At Last, But Not Yet With iTMS
S teve Jobs canit get no satisfaction, at least not initially. The Rolling Stones, one of the great holdouts in the online music distribution business, have announced an exclusive deal with RealNetworksi Rhapsody service. Rhapsody is Realis subscription service (it requires a monthly subscription fee) that allows for streaming of Rhapsodyis entire online catalog of…
Infoworld Likes G5, Says Xserve More Manageable Than Linux, Cheaper Than Windows
I nfoworld has published a very complimentary pieces on Appleis server offerings, Xserve and Xserve RAID, as well as a separate article on Appleis new Power Mac G5. Infoworld is a print magazine aimed at IT professionals, and has recently begun to feature expanded coverage of Appleis Unix-based Mac OS X offerings. P. J. Connolly…
Apple Says IBM Doing "A Great Job" In Supplying G5 Chips
T hough last weekis power outage in the North East US and South East Canada shut down manufacturing for two days at the plant where IBM makes Appleis G5 processors, an Apple exec says that things are going well with IBM. The plant in question is the East Fishkill, NY fab, which is one of…