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Monday, March 03, 2008

My MBA: A Follow-Up

A li'l mistake was to be found in my recent "My MBA…" blog post.

Indeed, instead of:
(…) I'm now pretty sure to end up buying the next revision of MacBook Pro!
one should have read:
(…) I'm now pretty sure to end up buying the next next revision of MacBook Pro!

Sometimes, a single word says it all…

(And yep, I'm once again sorry for those who still believe I'll see the day where I buy another Mac :/ !)

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Now, let's take a break…

A couple of months ago, I blogged about my successful dive into the marvelous AAPL world.  Today, the opportunity to go a bit deeper into it was too huge to let it go.  And in an additional bunch of months, I hope I could blog about how I've managed to grab a shiny, brand new MacBook Pro… for free ;) !

AAPL
Now, it's indeed time to take a break…

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

My MBA…

Me: "Finally. Got my MBA!"
You: "Really??? From which school?"
Me: "From Apple."
You: "What?!?"

OK… Now that the joke is over (sic), let's get serious :) ! By "MBA", one should understand "MacBook Air", of course ;) ! And by "joke", one should get that… I still haven't ordered what will be my next Mac :/ ! I know, I know, I owe you some explanation. But let's start with a "quick" sum-up of the previous episodes…

In December '05 (ouch!), I "gave" my old+beloved Power Macintosh G3 (B&W) to my sister (snif…) I was pretty sure Apple would release some new, amazing, Intel-based laptop as soon as January, during Macworld '06; and of course, I was plain right (sic). *BUT* I didn't plan them to only release a 15" model… Yep, their new MacBook Pro indeed was a-ma-zing; but I was ready to buy the "small" version, the follow-up to their great PowerBook G4 12". I wanted something I could grab+carry everywhere I'd go (read: at work too). So, I then decided to wait for Apple to migrate their entire offering so that it's 100% Intel-based. (Note: This waiting has only been possible thanks to my dad buying a new, Intel-based iMac in February '06… Without that, I would have failed waiting for so long, that's for sure!)

When Apple introduced its new MacBook line, it also took me a while to decide… that it wasn't good enough for me :( ! The size+weight were great, but the graphics chipset was too limited. As a user, it was OK for me: I just use my Mac to browse the Net, send e-mails, and above all… to (X)code. *BUT* I wanted my new machine to fully handle Leopard's forthcoming Core Animation technology; not as a user, but as a developer who crafts apps for some other users. Argh! I then waited for some more, hoping I wasn't the sole customer to expect a small, yet powerful Apple laptop ("Hi Japan!") Later on, some evidence (yes, patents) appeared that Apple was working on such a beast. Till Macworld '08…

So less than a week ago, Apple completed its, ahem… already-complete laptop offering (sic) with MacBook Air… I was once again A-right and almost choked while listening to Steve, announcing its specifications ("OMG!") *BUT* when I calmed down, I realised it alas wasn't the dream machine I was waiting for :( ! I'd like to apologise for those 2 years of soft "complaints" and doubts, but please let me explain you why…

In September '07, my employer abruptly ended my contract for, ahem… economical reasons after 6+ years of loyal devotion. (Life is hard when huge benefits are coming quarter after quarter, isn't it? But sorry, I digress…) Since then, I'm working on building my own software company (hint, hint) *from home*. I'm however still 100% sure to want a laptop, even though I'm not as mobile as I used to be. Yes, if I look back at the previous months, I could have lived with a desktop: I wouldn't have taken my laptop with me in Iceland, and I nicely handled my egyptian trip w/o one either. *BUT* I probably would have planned some more stays in the French Alps if I could have brought a laptop with me! I would also have found some occasions to enhance a couple of visits here and there thanks to my new mobile friend, etc.

But why not MacBook Air? I do plan to go on watching my DVDs. I still prefer listening to CD-quality music (and I own 500+ CDs I'd rather like to *use*.) I'm not that fond to put 1699 € into a great, but somewhat limited laptop (1.6 GHz?!? 80 GB?!?) when I could grab something way more powerful for less money (iMac) or for just a bit more (MacBook Pro). And since I still plan to bring my Mac with me, you know what remains… So yes, I'm gonna buy a Mac soon. Yes, it will be a laptop. No, I'm not A-OK to put 1699 € for MacBook Air. And after waiting a couple of years, I also think I can afford buying something a tad more pricey than MacBook ;) !

Conclusion: Today is almost historical 'cause I'm now pretty sure to end up buying the next revision of MacBook Pro! I can't wait :) !

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Thursday, November 01, 2007

AAPL

Today is just historical to me because another dream of mine came true! Some might say it was too easy a goal to achieve, but I can assure them it was not (and for a couple of reasons, really). I've tried to tick this check box in my Dream List way before today, and recurrently! But, let's get back to the exciting news 'cause, as some may have guessed from this post's title, I now own… a chunck of Apple, Inc.! No less :) !

AAPL
If I've always (pro)actively promoted Apple's fantastic products around me (can provide references upon request… and at will ;) !), I've been rather passive all these years as a trader ("thanks" to some rigid French banks, I have to admit!) People were often amazed about my *huge* motivation to "sell" them the latest Apple goodies—from early morning to late at night (sic)—, and often thought I was an Apple employee and/or one of their shareholders. That was not the case… until today!!! (*)

(*) If I briefly was an Apple employee, I alas no longer am :( ! But I'd give anything I have to work there again. So Apple, don't hesitate to send me your offer :) ! Thanks.

Sure, it may have been a *huge* argument to convince them ("Why does this guy want me to buy a Mac then? What would he earn in doing so???") But it's time to think a bit about myself (and a li'l bit more about Apple as well, of course ;) !) So I recently decided to move to the next level, selected a new bank, opened an account, and today bought a nice share of Apple stocks. Yay! I'm happy :) ! Now, let's get prepared to buy a cute iPhone, plus one of those perfect MacBook Pro 13.3"… (Yep, this thin/slim/sub/whatever version to hopefully come soon ;) !)

Disclaimer: Yes, I (now) am an Apple shareholder :) !!! So from now on, I might virtually earn some money from my natural, ongoing, still strong propaganda :P ! You've been warned ;) ! (Note to self: Really have to learn to stop using smileys…)

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Friday, May 11, 2007

Ah, ah, ah!

Copied/pasted from CNBC.com, a brand new golden quote from Steve Jobs during yesterday's shareholder meeting:
Finally, another shareholder recognized that Apple's R&D budget is steadily declining, now 4% of revenue. And he worried that major revenue-generating projects could be delayed, or missed all together. (…) Jobs said research is a lot more about people and quality engineers than it is about the money.

 I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check, said Jobs. If that were the case, Microsoft would have some great products. 

And the crowd cheered again.
;)

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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Now I know it's true!

Time has passed since my initial post on this topic (see "I still can't realize it's true! (Part 1)"). That's why I'm now convinced it really happened. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a photo showing a detail of my ol' "friend":

apple //e (DSCN0988)
Yep. All this buzz was about a very old computer. To be more precise, it's all about… an Apple //e (sigh). But this is not a common Apple //e; this is the Apple //e I've extensively enjoyed using during my childhood. Indeed, I've managed to get my hands back on it, so many years after letting it go…

You're right, it may just be a machine. But it's a machine that learnt me English while I was not 11 years old yet. It's a machine that initiated my (still-alived, and very strong) passion for Apple—and, in a broader sense, for quality. It's a machine that made me dream while being a child, that built my desire to become a software engineer while being a student, and it's still it which is the reason why I today earn my money happily working in this industry. So yes, it's just a machine, and I'm deeply glad it's back at home.

I'll finish this post by thanking my father for turning me into an Apple boy years ago, and all the people who've been involved in helping me get my ol' friend back today; they know who they are… I've just made another dream come true. Next :P !

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Hmm…

It's Showtime
We'll be back soon
Update: It's over now. So here are the new goods brought by Apple: the new iTunes Store, a revised iPod, a completely remastered iPod nano, and a reduced iPod shuffle. Plus iTunes v7.0, Front Row v1.3, and QuickTime v7.1.3. And finally, a sneek preview of "iTV", a brand new device slated for Q1'07 allowing one to wirelessly stream content to, ahem… TV. 2 comments: it's odd to see Apple pre-announcing this; and the price point seems to be quite high ($299). To be continued…

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Saturday, August 12, 2006

Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" previewed at WWDC '06

OK, so a couple of days later, I'm posting a quick blurb re Apple's preview of its forthcoming new major version of Mac OS X, the world's most advanced operating system known on Earth to date :) !

Leopard
I may provide some more personal thoughts on some aspects demoed this past monday later, but for today I just wanted to redirect people to 2 opposite "reviews": on my left, Paul Thurrott's initial thoughts about the Keynote and its content; on my right, the perfect response from Roughly Drafted.

Or how to just simply endlessly ignore future posts from SuperSite for Windows website. Too bad, but now so obvious… Well done, Daniel!

Update: Oh, and while you're at it, read also Daniel's follow-up re Thurrott's pitiful attack against Time Machine ;) ! Well worth the read…

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Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Xcode v2.3 comes with some, er… changes

I'm going to skip the exciting part (Xcode v2.3 is out. Yay!) to go straight to the "odd" thing…

Here's what one can read in the "Read Me" file:

Xcode v2.3
Argh! I'm not quite ready yet to such a change… (Hint: Boot Camp)
Hopefully I'll go over this quite quickly, I think.

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Sunday, May 21, 2006

Uschi Lang, I LOVE YOU, Will you Marry Me?

WTF?!? If you've found the topic intriguing, just read on for an explanation…

Last Friday (May 19th, 2006) was the Grand Opening of the most advanced Apple Store to date: Apple Store, Fifth Avenue (New York City). For this huge event, Apple recorded the very first 24 hours by putting a camera at the entrance of its new store, and published the result as some small QuickTime movies on its website.

It's now obvious it didn't go unnoticed 'cause at around 5:00 AM… Ah, ah, ah ;) !

Will you Marry Me?
(And if you follow the link to the QuickTime file, it all starts at 00:00:19.)

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Thursday, May 18, 2006

Topics of my Unpublished Posts

In the previous month, I would have posted about the following news.
I may post additional comments on some of those topics later… or not.

. David Lynch's new film, INLAND EMPIRE, is not ready for Cannes Film Festival. So disappointed :( !
. They're back! Yep, Radiohead are back!!! (And Arpeggi is da bomb!) I'll finish this item with a fresh comment from GIGWISE.com: "… and this is reason number 28 why Radiohead are miles above their peers."
. [Details] Thom Yorke's got a big surprise for us all: it's called The Eraser, it's coming as soon as July 10th, and I'm more than excited :) !
. Apple has just unveiled its brand new MacBook. As always, a stunning computer: very affordable, fully loaded with software and "gadgets", sporting a new+sleak design, etc. The perfect laptop for Mac users and… for former PC aficionados too ;) !
. Oh, and Apple also slightly revised its MacBook Pro: more power, more choice, same price!
. Also, Björk announced her new Surrounded box set: all her albums with 5.1 digital sound, videos, bonus, everything.
. At last, Flickr's interface has just been drastically revised, for the better. Sweet!

Voilà… I may have forgotten some items: they'll be added later, or covered in a future post.

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Friday, April 07, 2006

Boot Camp

What a better thing to do, for celebrating its 30th birthday, than bring the last missing piece for Apple to grab some points of market share :) ? (Advice: Buy some AAPL shares now!)

Boot Camp
For the ones that were in a desert the past days (sigh), Apple's just introduced Boot Camp, i.e. a neat, effortless technology to run both Windows XP and Mac OS X applications on a single machine at full speed (and even more…)

I too think that Daring Fireball's post of today does a very good job in analysing the situation. And here's what I consider the best part of it… at least, for the next round ;) !

"This is a move of supreme confidence—Apple relishes the comparison between Mac OS X and Windows XP, and Microsoft has shown enough of Vista via its widely-available beta seeds that Apple quite obviously isn’t afraid of that comparison, either."

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Saturday, April 01, 2006

Let's Celebrate!

Today, Apple is 30 years old. So Happy Birthday, Apple!


Thanks for the journey so far. And may the next 30 years be as exciting as the previous ones ;) !

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Friday, March 31, 2006

WebKit+Safari is still getting better

Kudos to Apple and its engineers!

As seen today on Surfin' Safari: "We have recently switched over to use an engine-based implementation for <input type="text">.  (…) initial measurements indicate a significant speedup in load performance for pages containing text fields."

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Friday, December 24, 2004

The Graphing Calculator Story

Just noticed a short section in this great article I needed to blog:

"I asked my friend Greg Robbins to help me. His contract in another division at Apple had just ended, so he told his manager that he would start reporting to me. She didn't ask who I was and let him keep his office and badge. In turn, I told people that I was reporting to him. Since that left no managers in the loop, we had no meetings and could be extremely productive."

No comments…

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