I’ve been watching iPad comments and reviews from Pundit-Land with ongoing interest and some laughter. Here’s my hit on how the iPad will impact current Mac sales.

I work with and talk to a lot of new Mac users. Many are in their 50’s and older. Many of these have come to computing as a result of pressure from friends and family to use email. This leads to exploring the internet and sometimes on to managing some Photos. They may want to write an occasional letter.

The problem they face is the complexity of the Mac OS. They need to learn a whole new visual and technical language. Then there are all those mouse movements. On top of this, many don’t type well — a definite handicap on a computer.

The iPad is a perfect solution for these people. The function set is a perfect fit. The OS is perfect. This is going to be a huge success with this group of people and cut MacBook sales to this user segment.

Another segment of current Mac owners I think the iPad will impact are people with an iMac and MacBook. Many of these people will be content and maybe better served with an iMac and iPad.

And then there are current low-end Macbook users who do email, internet, photos and writing. When it’s time to replace their computer, many will choose the iPad. It’s more feature rich via the App Store, costs less, is easier to carry around and totally meets their needs.

None of this takes into account the vertical markets where the iPad will be huge: education, publishing, medicine, sales, etc.

I can’t wait to be able to play with one!

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Wyn Matthews is new to the FoleyPod Digital-Life Coach eZine. He comes to us with decades of Mac and PC troubleshooting experience, and is an expert on both systems.

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From the EXCELLENT Macgasm.net Blog

Author Credit: Gerard Lagana

In this on-going debate of whether a Windows computer is cheaper than a Mac computer, you need to take two things into account.  First, the upfront cost of each of the computers. Second, the total cost of ownership, or TCO for short.  For the sake of this article I’m going to compare a Dell and an iMac.  First I’ll price them out as stock without warranties; then, I’ll configure the Dell to match the hardware and software specs of the iMac.  Finally, I’ll look at the total cost of ownership for both.

Dell Inspiron 560s and the 21″ iMac

I configured a Dell Inspiron 560s with a 21.5” LCD Display, an integrated webcam and microphone.  I also added anti-virus software; which is something that is needed to protect a Windows computer from Viruses.  I tried to match the hardware and Software as close as possible to the iMac that I will be talking about in just a bit.  The total price of the Dell Inspiron 560s was $1,136.50.  This price was after discounts that were applied.  The original total price if Dell did not include discounts would have been – $1,420.75.  This is a $284.25 difference.  The thing with Dell’s discounts are that they change weekly.  So, if you don’t act quickly on the configured computer, you could be paying that extra $284.25.

Next, I configured an iMac 21.5” 3.06GHz computer.  The only thing I added to the iMac configuration was iWork to match the Office Productivity software from the Dell Inspiron 560s.  The new iMacs come standard with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard and Magic Mouse.  In contrast to the Dell Inspiron 560s, it only comes with a wired USB keyboard and mouse.  The total price of the 21.5” iMac configured was $1385.68.

As you can see the Dell Inspiron 560s costs more than the equivalently configured 21.5” iMac without the discount on the Dell computer.  The Dell is actually $35.07 more than the iMac.  However, the iMac is $249.18 more than the Dell with the discounts applied.  Basically, if you can get the Dell with the discount, it will be less than the iMac.  However, if you don’t get the discount, it will end up being more than the iMac.

Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO)

I would now like to talk about Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).  If this phrase is a new concept to you, here’s a quick and dirty example.  Total Cost of Ownership is what the total cost of the computer would cost you during the time you own the computer.  Maintenance and repairs are included in this.  One of the biggest costs for Windows owners is Virus and malware annual software subscriptions.  Generally, you can use free malware removal tools, as well as anti-virus applications.  But for anti-virus software you’re probably going to want something with a subscription.  With that said, you’re probably going to pay annually about $60.00 to $70.00 to protect your Windows computer from being attacked.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at the EXCELLENT Macgasm.net Blog.

Here’s a horror story from the field, made un-horrible with a just few steps:

You buy a new computer – and your iPhone is synched to the old one. Bummer. It can only belong to one iTunes library and iTunes now wants to erase your iPhone.
Now what?  These simple steps will move your iPhone to a new “home”.

When you connect it to a new iTunes library it says  “Hey, this is a new phone! Do you want me to automatically sync Apps, Contacts and Calendars? This is fine if it’s truly a new phone with no info on it. But it it’s a well used iPhone there’s lots of other data that you don’t want to loose.

Here’s the trick…

First make sure that other data you want to sync TO the iPhone is complete on the new computer, i.e. addresses, calendar, music, podcasts, photos, etc.

Second, take a screen shot of each of your iPhone screens, email them to yourself, then delete them from your Camera Roll. You’ll need them later.

Third, before you connect your iPhone to the computer, open iTunes. Under the iTunes menu select Preferences. Click the Devices icon in the Toolbar. Click the checkbox next to ”Prevent iPhones and iPods from automatically syncing to this computer.“ Click OK.

Now you can connect your iPhone to the computer. After it shows in devices, select it.

1. right click on the iPhone and select Transfer Purchases.

2. right click and select Back Up.

Now you have a backup on your new computer!

Quit iTunes.

Restart iTunes.

You’ll be asked if you want to setup your iPhone as a new one or Restore from a backup. Since you now have a backup, you can choose Restore from a backup.

When this is complete your iPhone will have all (with a couple caveats below) it’s data restored, plus be now paired with this instance of iTunes.

Caveats: the only music, podcasts, etc. that will sync back to the phone are those that exist on this new computer. (See First above.) The other thing you’ll have to do is rearrange your App locations. Here’s where those screen shot you emailed to yourself come in handy for setting up your preferred App arrangement.

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Wyn Matthews is new to the FoleyPod Digital-Life Coach eZine. He comes to us with decades of Mac and PC troubleshooting experience, and is an expert on both systems.

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DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN?
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I generally stay very clear of politically charged issues on this eZine, but something has occurred which holds a particular significance for the futures of both freedom of speech and expression in a great county, and for the globalization and democratization of the internet.

Google found, while investigating repeated espionage attempts (some were successful) on their systems, that the targeted accounts were held by several Chinese human rights activists.  Further investigation led Google to discover that their security breaches were part of larger, co-ordinated offensive that included other high-profile companies in sectors other than technology.

Google’s response to this matter is to discontinue their policy of applying censor filters to their incoming search queries, as is required by Chinese law.  This decision may very well lead to Google’s retreat from China.

Below is Google’s official statement on the subject in its entirety.  

You can visit http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ to follow the story as it unfolds.

~ Chris

A New Approach to China

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.

We have already used information gained from this attack to make infrastructure and architectural improvements that enhance security for Google and for our users. In terms of individual users, we would advise people to deploy reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on their computers, to install patches for their operating systems and to update their web browsers. Always be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails, or when asked to share personal information like passwords online. You can read more here about our cyber-security recommendations. People wanting to learn more about these kinds of attacks can read this U.S. government report (PDF), Nart Villeneuve’s blog andthis presentation on the GhostNet spying incident.

We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech. In the last two decades, China’s economic reform programs and its citizens’ entrepreneurial flair have lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty. Indeed, this great nation is at the heart of much economic progress and development in the world today.

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.”

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.

Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer