Are you curious as to how much faster the new MacBook Pros are? The folks over at Primate Labs have run Geekbench on the new models compared to the ones from 2009, and the results show some significant speed improvements. Check them out for yourself.

http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2010/04/macbookpro-benchmarks/

Were you as glad as I was with the announcements of the new MacBook Pros yesterday? It's not that I'm in the market for a new laptop; it's just that I'm glad to see some love for what I maintain is still Apple's most important product line: the Mac.

A lot of pundits see the iPad as more evidence of Apple's plan to move to a "post personal computer world." I don't think that such a world is coming because: a) the iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, etc., are actually offshoots of the personal computer, even running a variant of Mac OS X, and b) none of those devices can replace a full fledged personal computer for many tasks.

That said, I do believe that iPad-like devices will replace some computers (mainly netbooks and entry-level laptops, to some extend). But those devices will still be spokes in a digital hub. The center of that digital hub will be the personal computer. And the personal computer occupying that center spot will increasingly be the Mac.

In 2008,...

Several Apple patents have popped up at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 7,697,283 is for an enclosure foot assembly and manufacture. Wall portions, such as wall portions of electronic device housing components, are provided with one or more foot assemblies. A foot assembly can be formed by creating an internal cavity in an internal surface of the wall portion, an external cavity in an external surface of the wall portion, and a hollow passageway extending through the wall portion and between the cavities. The foot assembly can be completed by inserting a foot at least partially through the external cavity and hollow passageway and into the internal cavity, such that an external portion of the foot is at least partially contained within and contacting the surfaces of the external cavity, and such that an internal portion of the foot is at least partially contained within the internal cavity. A portion of the foot...

f Apple really wants to sell an additional boatload (or a thousand boatloads) of iPhones, it should be eyeing China -- and TD-SCDMA.

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (http://www.strategyanalytics.com), China’s 3G TD-SCDMA handset shipments will grow 600% during 2010. Yep, 600%. With the backing of the world’s largest mobile operator, China Mobile, TD-SCDMA will be one of the fastest growing mobile technologies in the world, making China an important 3G market.

Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, says the surging volumes of TD-SCDMA handsets will mean no major phone maker can afford to ignore China. "If Apple eventually chooses to launch a TD-SCDMA version of its iPhone, then we believe this would ignite the market and provide considerable upside for Apple in China," he adds.

Of course, this would take some work on Apple's part in conjunction...

Touchscreen desktops and laptops won't be the norm for several years, but I think Apple will, not surprisingly, be head of the curve.

In fact, I think by late 2011, if not before, we'll see Macs with touchscreens running an operating system that merges features of the iPhone OS and Mac OS X. Apple is already prepping us for this with multi-touch on its laptops and the multi-touch features of the Magic Mouse.

Touchscreen Macs will first gain ground among young end users, move onto small and home business owners, then -- dare we hope? -- the enterprise. Research from the Gartner research group backs this up.

"What we're going to see is the younger generation beginning to use touchscreen computers ahead of enterprises," says Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner. "By 2015, we expect more than 50 % of PCs purchased for users under the age of 15 will have touchscreens, up from fewer than 2% in 2009. On the other hand, we are predicting that fewer than...

I find it hard to believe that Apple is planning a mini tower desktop with the iMac being such a raging success, but a new Apple patent (20100088450) at least hints at the possibility. The patent is for a component retention mechanism and could also reflect an upcoming revision of the Mac Pro, though the wording makes that seem unlikely.

Apple says the invention relates generally to "personal computing devices" (which would seem to differentiate the computer in question from the pro-oriented Mac Pro workstation) and more particularly to the facilitation of increased modularity with respect to various components of such personal computing devices. According to the patent, a component retention mechanism facilitates improved installation, retention and removal of hardware components (e.g., PCI cards) on a personal computer. The retention mechanism includes a locking component, support member, and release mechanism coupled to each other. The locking component can be a steel...

Take this one with a grain of salt, but "DigiTimes" (http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20100407PD226.html) says Apple is reportedly scheduling a smaller 5- to 7-inch version of the iPad that is expected to launch as soon as the first quarter of 2011, according to research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo.

Kuo, citing talks with upstream component sources, said Apple's smaller-size iPad will be priced below US$400 and will target the highly-portable mobile device market and consumers that focus mainly on reading and do not have a high demand for text input. He may be right, but that seems counter-productive to me, giving the various uses of the iPad.

We've got our Macs, iPhones, iPods and, now, our iPads. That's all well and good, but we still have to be careful or we lose our ability to communicate. Admittedly, that sounds like a contradiction.

However, a new report was published this week by high tech entertainment firm Bowen Research, which has studied high technology products since 1992.  The study, "Fragmentation of the Modern Mind" (http://www.fragmentationofthemodernmind.com), revealed that American’s are slowly losing the ability to communicate and connect with each other -- and technology seems to be the main cause. Among the key findings of the study:

° 42% of people think others are talking faster compared to recent years.

° 49% think other people interrupt more in conversation, compared to recent years.

° 68% think we are more rude.

° 60% think we are less kindly.

As you've doubtless observed, the iPad is getting a TON of coverage. Here's a few of the interesting iPad quips I've come across.

"There has only been one iPad ad shown (during the Superbowl) and the amount of free advertising this thing is getting is nothing short of amazing.  Wherever you go and whatever you read has coverage of the device. "

“I’ve never seen people come downstairs so fast. I don’t even ring the bell and they’re at the door.” -- a UPS driver on the Saturday morning iPad deliveries he’s been making.
 
"Remember, this is a two-part launch. There are many like myself waiting for the 3G models to arrive. I’m sticking with my 10-15 million sales in its first year. The viral marketing on this device is off the charts."

Also, I was asking a friend who received his by UPS yesterday what his favorite feature was. He responded: “not sure what the best thing is, but going back to use the iPhone becomes depressing.” When I suggested that the...

Think there are lots of computer modems and routers now? Think again as that number is going to explode in the next four years.

According to a study by ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com), mobile data traffic from personal computer modems and routers will increase fourfold between 2010 and 2014. This year some 2,000 petabytes of data will be sent and received, a figure that will rise to about 8,000 petabytes in 2014. The regional distribution of this traffic demand highlights global economic trends as well.

“Today, and for most of our forecast period, modems and routers in Western Europe will generate the highest levels of mobile data traffic, but by an ever-decreasing margin," says Jeff Orr, senior analyst, Mobile Devices, comments. "In 2014, we expect the Asia-Pacific region to overtake Western Europe as the largest source of demand for this traffic.”

The largest contribution...

I'm a bad person, I admit it. I'm going to visit Mom this Easter weekend. But there's a part of me that wants to stay in town, pick up my iPad (which I pre-ordered) at the local Apple Store, and play with it.

Evidently, I'm not the only want wishing to spend Easter with an iPad. Although predictions of early sales are all over the place, I suspect the number of units shipped will exceed expectations.

One techie says the obvious interest in the iPad shows the growth of the tablet market.
Mark Holleran, president of Xplore Technologies (http://www.xploretech.com), which makes tablet PCs, sees the launch of Apple’s iPad as an indication that the tablet PC industry is poised for wider acceptance and accelerated growth.

“With Apple and other consumer PC companies embracing the tablet format, I think the potential demand for a full-size mobile computer, with more interactive...

Seventeen Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 20100083383 is for a phishing shield. According to the patent, a mechanism for notifying a user of an internet browser that a requested web page is undesirable, and for protecting the user from the web page by disabling it. An internet browser detects a load request for a web page and retrieves the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the webpage. The internet browser displays the webpage associated with the URL and, upon determination that the URL matches a URL from a list of undesirable URLs, alters the appearance of the webpage and disables the web page from receiving input or taking action. The inventors are Darin B. Adler and Kevin Decker.

Patent number 20100083158 involves a feed for enhanced web browsing. Via the patent, user input is received to create a bookmark in a web browser for a non-feed Uniform Resource...