MacDesign

I'm thrilled to write about the announcement of MacDesign, a new blog focused on graphic design and video production on the Mac. MacDesign will feature daily tips, reviews, and tutorials on applications that will speed up your workflow and give you great results. The MacDesign forums offer a place for professionals and newbies alike to share their own tips and ask questions of others.

Be sure to check out the latest MacDesign article on VoltaicHD, a video converter/manager for Mac.

My "Back to the Mac" Event Prediction

That's right, I only have one prediction. If you were looking for something more, sorry to disappoint you. Basically, I predict that what everyone is saying about a new MacBook Air is false and that, instead of launching a new MacBook Air, Apple will kill it. Bold claims. Below, I will state the sole reason why I think Apple is going to kill the Air: iPad. If this prediction is false, I honestly think Apple would have made the wrong decision.

First, what are the current rumours surrounding the MacBook Air?

1. Appleinsider claims that the new MacBook Air will have upgradeable RAM
2. Engadget has a photo of the new insides. 

The first thing I want to say is Apple has always been about user experience. If the Air has upgradeable RAM, I will guarantee it will be a nightmare to upgrade. Apple would much rather lock you out and charge for an upgrade.

Now let's move on to the main reason why I think Apple would abandon the Air in favour of the iPad. As we all know, the Air is not a practical solution to anything. It's not good even for basic browsing as Flash is still out there, believe it or not, and people still play Flash games. If Flash can't run decently on a Mac Pro, don't expect it to on an Air. When Apple released the Air, it was to show off. It was a proof of concept, if you will. The MacBook Air was like the Cube and the Millenium Mac. It was a fashion statement and didn't fit for anyone who wanted to use their computer, not even a niche market. These computers are all examples of art. Beautiful to look at, but useless. And beauty is their main function.

Now, compare the Air to the iPad: 

1. The iPad is more beautiful than the Air. This may not seem like that important a detail, but when beauty is the best feature that the computer can boast, this is a killer.
2. The iPad is now the best-selling gadget of all time (official). It would be money better spent on marketing the iPad, rather than selling a new Air
3. The iPad is attractive to the consumer, because it's so easy to use and they don't have to worry about little details. I'm not saying OS X isn't easy to use, but comparing iOS and OS X, it's clear who's the winner
4. The Air is very slow and completely impractical. If you want ports, there is the MacBook for that.
5. The Air will undoubtedly still be more expensive than the iPad, if it were released. 

I hope it's clearer now why I think Apple will kill the Air. With no market, the Air just will not sell. Even the thinness and beauty factor won't matter anymore, when the iPad is thinner and better looking. This means the only hope that the Air had left, art collectors, won't bother as well. This leaves no-one to sell the Air to, and with no-one to sell to, there will be no profit. Once again, we, including myself, must be reminded that Apple is a capitalist company and exists for profit.

Cinch for Mac

Cinch, developed by Irradiated Software, is an elegant, mouse-driven solution to window management. Inspired by Microsoft's Windows Explorer, Cinch is based off the idea of "hot-zones". Once you drag a window into one of the zones (either left, right, menubar), an outline of your resized window will appear on the screen. Just drop the window into the hot-zone and the application window will be resized. Cinching to the right or left side of the screen will resize the window to exactly half the screen's resolution. The top hot-zone resizes to will the entire screen. Dragging a window away from its cinched position will restore the window to its original size.

Drag a window to a "hot-zone" to see a preview of the resize.

Cinch automatically resizes your window to the desired length (determined by "hot-zone").

You can download the free version (occasional pop-up), or purchase a license for yourself over at the Irradiated Software store. I will be posting a video review of Cinch on my YouTube channel, which can be found here.

Tek Nation Episode 5: Is the Epic 4G Epic?

Tek Nation is back again. Today's topics were Facebook's new "Places" feature, the Samsung Epic 4G, Intel's purchase of McAfee, and more! Personally I'm not a huge fan of the Places feature on Facebook. I don't really know why anyone would need to use it. There are already other networks for location sharing such as Gowalla and Foursquare. I think Facebook Places will fail. 

Samsung will be releasing the 2nd 4G phone to the US market on August 31, 2010. It's called the Samsung Epic 4G. The first 4G phone to reach the US market was the HTC Evo 4G. The phone features a 4 inch multi touch display with a full slide out qwerty keyboard, front facing camera, and a 5 MP camera with an LED flash. The phone also runs on Android 2.1. Personally I'm getting sick of all these Android phones. It seems like everyday there's a new phone running Android that comes out. 

For more content and previous episodes of Tek Nation, please be sure to visit my YouTube channel. 

iPhone to Verizon? Why it Wouldn't Benefit Me

There has always seemed to be rumors about the next generation iPhone or 4G to be on Verizon service, breaking away from just AT&T, but if that was to happen it wouldn't affect me. I like in an area of the continental United States where there is really not any good Verizon or AT&T coverage! I have AT&T and am in complete white not blue nor red on the coverage map below:

However, if the iPhone did go to Verizon my connection might be a bit better since there is more red around it than blue. One good thing that would come out of the switch would be that I could get a MiFi, which is a mobile WiFi hotspot. Also, if I happen to get bored of the iPhone, which won't happen, I could get a Droid or another great Android phone. 

As always, thanks for reading!