(You're reading all posts by Leander Kahney)
About Leander Kahney
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)
Bring-Your-Own-Mac Is Fueling Big Gains For This Enterprise Software Company
Mike Evangelist, chief marketing officer for Code 42 Software, says companies are finally embracing the consumerization of IT.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — Here’s a story we’re hearing a lot at MacWorld: the business world is finally starting to embrace the consumerization of IT.
Take Code 42 Software, which has seen a lot of growth from its enterprise customers recently. According to Code 42, corporations have given up fighting employees who bring their Mac to work, and are now supporting them instead.
“Companies are realizing they can’t fight the tide anymore,” said Mike Evangelist, chief marketing officer. “People like their Macs better and they’re taking them to work. Companies are reacting to that.”
This One-Piece MacBook Stand Is Made In Same Factory As Apple’s Unibody Macs
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 – Rain Design’s new one-piece MacBook stand is made in the same factory that makes Apple’s unibody Macs, says the company.
Quick Look at Silo Ink’s Refillable Ink Cartridges
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 21012 — Silo Ink’s refillable ink cartridges are the last inkjet cartridges you’ll ever buy, according to the company. It offers a lifetime replacement guarantee to back that up.
Once installed, the cartridges are refilled from bottles of ink, which cost about $15 and are good for 10 refills. A special chip that makes the cartridges appear as new to the printer after a refill.
A set of refillable cartridges cost between $100 and $200, depending on how many you need for your printer.
Here’s a quick look at the system, which is being showcased here at Macworld.
Hands On With the Uber-Useful Launch Center, An Automator For iOS [Macworld 2012]
Here’s a quick look at AppCubby’s $0.99 Launch Center app, a very cool and useful app launcher that’s like Automator for iOS.
The app allows you to set up all kinds of actions and schedule them. Version 1.1 adds actions to iOS’s Notification Center. Take checking your Facebook messages, for example. This normally takes several steps: searching for the Facebook app, launching it and finding the messages tab. In Launch Center, you can set it up to check your messages every morning from just one finger-tap on the Notifications screen.
The app can be configured to work with a ton of apps and perform pretty complex actions, like calling your mom every week or adjusting the screen brightness down every night. Today’s update has prope and is already in the App Store’s Top 100. Here’s the app’s creator, David Barnard, showing how it works.
New Yorker Writer Susan Orlean Threatened Divorce To Convert Her Husband To Mac [Macworld / iWorld 2012]
![New Yorker Writer Susan Orlean Threatened Divorce To Convert Her Husband To Mac [Macworld / iWorld 2012]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Photo1-640x480.jpg "Photo1")
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD / iWORLD 2012 — Talking on stage about her love of technology and gadgets, New Yorker writer Susan Orlean rhapsodized her iPad, and told how she converted her husband to Apple technology.
A self-confessed geek, Orlean told how the iPad solved all the problems she had with working and traveling with technology. She had a Danger Sidekick, but would go nuts taking notes on it. She finds her MacBook too heavy to carry all day.
She also not afraid of losing or damaging her iPad. “I can it take with me to take notes but it won’t have my life on it if it gets lost or stolen,” she said. “It solved all of my problems.”
And her favorite app?
Why Macworld Is Being Rebranded As iWorld
Above: Macworld organizer Paul Kent on why the show is being rebranded as iWorld 2012.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — In an era when trade shows are almost extinct, Macworld is a dinosaur. And that’s in a good way.
Now in its 28th year, Macworld has survived when other trade shows haven’t. That’s largely because the show has been quick on its feet, switching focus and venues as times have changed. It’s transformed from a business-to-business show into a consumer-oriented one.
This week, the focus is entirely on end users, as Macworld attempts to rebrand itself iWorld. It will be about the Apple-oriented lifestyle, highlighting apps, art and music. Attendees can see what people are doing — or they can do themselves — with their devices.
In the video above, organizer Paul Kent talks about the transformation into iWorld. Below, he explains what to expect at the show this week.
Should Apple Make Its Products In The U.S.?
The New York Times on Sunday published a provocative piece asking whether Apple has an obligation to make its products at home in the U.S.
The article describes how, in 2007, just before the iPhone hit stores, Steve Jobs angrily discovered that its screen was easily scratched. He ordered the plastic screens be immediately replaced with scratch-proof glass ones.
New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.
A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.
“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”
The Times notes that General Motors in its heyday employed 400,000 U.S. workers. Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas. An additional 700,000 workers build and assemble Apple’s products, mostly in China.
With iPad, You No Longer Have To Learn Board Game Rules [CES 2012]
![With iPad, You No Longer Have To Learn Board Game Rules [CES 2012]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Ticket_To_Ride.jpg "Ticket_To_Ride")
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – For Christmas, I bought my kids the immensely popular board game Settlers of Catan. We haven’t played it though, because no one can be bothered to learn the rules.
iPad versions of popular board games solve this problem, as I learned talking to the makers of Ticket To Ride.
Marvel At The Shamelessness Of These MacBook Air Knockoffs At CES [Gallery]
![Marvel At The Shamelessness Of These MacBook Air Knockoffs At CES [Gallery]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CES_Ultrabooks_12.jpg "CES_Ultrabooks_12")
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple must be feeling very flattered. Also ripped off.
Many of the new Ultrabooks here on display at the Consumer Electronics Show are so similar to the MacBook Air, they can only be described as knockoffs.
Not only do the they rip off the basic design premise — lightweight, portable laptops with long battery life — they copy the same wedge aluminum casing, wedge shape, chiclet keyboard, large, button-less trackpad, and the selection and placement of ports.
See for yourself. Here are just a few of the MacBook Air knockoffs on display at Intel’s massive booth.
Steve Ballmer’s Final CES Keynote A Letdown, Despite Good Software [CES 2012]
![Steve Ballmer’s Final CES Keynote A Letdown, Despite Good Software [CES 2012]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/DSC_6440.jpg "DSC_6440")
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Oh the irony! Microsoft showed off some of its best software in years at its final keynote at CES.
But just as Microsoft seems to be getting its act together, it is pulling out of the U.S.’s largest technology show.
Steve Ballmer didn’t dance around like a monkey. Bill Gates didn’t make a cameo, and there was only one of the goofy, funny videos that Microsoft is known for.
Overall it was a letdown, despite software that looks like it might really give Apple a run for its money.
