A few weeks ago, reader – and now first-ever TechNest Weekly Report (TNWR) podcast participant – Lizette Gagne asked me to find a solution that would work to cool off her laptop.  Lizette has a last-generation MacBook Pro and (as you might have heard on the latest TNWR #4), the notebook’s temperature gets so hot that it’s unusable on the lap.  On top of that, the heat causes the notebook to perform erratically: the Mac begins to – all of a sudden – zoom in on whatever application is open.  This tends to happen when Lizette is running just a few apps.  To prevent this from happening, the geekanista has resorted to a DIY cooling method that she calls “icing” – it involves placing zip-lock bags filled with ice on the underside of the Mac, which cools the notebook enough to turn off all fans (check out the gallery below to get the full effect of Lizette’s MacBook Pro on ice).

That is a rather extreme solution to decreasing the temperature of a notebook and one that isn’t sustainable in some instances (try placing ice cubes in zip lock bags under your notebook at an office meeting and see how many “weirdo” stares you get).  Thankfully, a few companies have realized that notebook heat can be a big problem and have created a series of products that help with the issue.  The products in this market go by many names, including “notebook cooling pads” and “laptop coolers.”  The folks over at NotebookReview.com have recently posted a review of just such a product from Belkin that has effectively decreased all temperatures of the tester’s machine by at least a few degrees all around.  Hit the Read More link for the bigger picture in notebook heat.

The bigger picture

Fact: notebook sales exceed desktop sales.  This trend will continue as more and more people switch from desktop computers to the more portable notebook computers. This simply means that more people will own a laptop.  Duh!

I see a problem when thinking about the fact that some notebook owners (like Lizette) simply must use an accessory to cool off their machine.  The simple fact that a market exists for such devices brings me to the conclusion that some notebook manufacturers aren’t doing a good enough job in designing the cooling aspect of their products.  To top it all off, the market for these notebook devices doesn’t simply “exist,” but is growing quite rapidly.  It seems that every company that makes some kind of an accessory for a notebook computer has released a “laptop cooler” of some sort.

In my experience, Apple is the biggest culprit in this area: the company makes extremely sexy, slim, and visually-appealing notebook computers, but having such characteristics sometimes leads to a huge downside when it comes to the operating temperature of such devices.  In some cases, notebook computers aren’t “lappable” – a term I coined that simply means that laptops can’t be used on a lap (for the simple reason that their temperature is too darn hot to the touch).  Apple might not be the only culprit here, but in my experience, it seems to be the biggest.  I think I can speak for everybody when I ask that:

1. notebook manufacturers need to design better mechanisms for cooling their products
2. a new standard in measuring the desirability of a notebook computer should be it’s “lappability factor” (as I’ve coined it).  After all, a laptop should be able to be used on the lap (comfortably).

In retrospect, laptop heat is really getting to be an issue that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.  Some use their notebooks on surfaces that don’t allow for very efficient or effective cooling (such as a bed sheet) that prevents a notebook from being cooled properly.  In those cases, education is the best solution.  It’s like driving your Lexus into a lake: people know better and don’t do it.  But for those rare instances that notebooks overheat on normal surfaces (such as tables), notebook manufacturers need to up the (cooling) game.

Anyone with me?  Let me know in the comments.  I promise to respond to every single one.

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For years, Apple has been known as the true innovator in the technology space.  Their innovation spans far and wide and has conquered the hearts and minds of many.  Just ask any Mac user or anyone with an iPhone why they love their Apple product, and you will hear words such as “simplicity, elegance, style, usefulness, reliability, and the “hip factor,” among others.  Users of Apple products love their products.  Period.  They live and swear by them.  And even though the Macintosh market share has been steadily increasing over the last few years, Apple Mac computers will never be leaders by this metric; not if the company sticks to the same business model as it utilizes today.

On one hand is Microsoft: a technology company whose product is difficult to escape in everyday life.  Whether you’re on the web , at home , at the bank , or in the car , chances are Microsoft had a hand in designing the software which powers those items.  However, it is widely opined by tech analysts and experts that users of Microsoft products aren’t as enthusiastic about their products as users of Apple gear are.  Most of them “just use it,” as I had a friend explain to me why he uses Windows (or rather, a Dell PC with Windows pre-installed).  And as far as I can see, Microsoft will not be letting go of their software dominance.  Quite to the contrary, actually: they will grow the market share of their current market-leading products, and expand into new territory – and be dominant there as well.  Just to be on the same page, however, allow me to review some general marketing and business concepts before we delve into the good stuff.  Here we go.

Rule : A company’s market position influences its focus.  For tech companies, this is especially true.  Market share leaders focus on attracting new potential users, whereas smaller firms focus on attracting current users away from the market leader.

Interpretation : From that sentence, we can substitute some words with actual company names and come out with: “Microsoft, a market share leader in desktop, server, mobile, automobile, and embedded operating systems, focuses on attracting new potential users, whereas Apple, a smaller yet “more-loved by its users” technology firm, focuses on attracting current users away from the market leader (Microsoft).

Such market forces can be observed most prominently in Microsoft expanding into new, yet untapped geographical markets, and consequently attaining new customers/users there.  For example, efforts by Microsoft such as the availability of Windows XP on the OLPC XO and the availability of Windows on low-cost miniature (yet useful) notebooks such as HP’s Mini-Note and Asus’ EeePC give the company a chance to be the first official supplier of computers to technologically undeveloped nations.  That was a mouthful so let me break it down a bit.

Unrealized profits in the developing nations

Until now, Microsoft has not been achieving to the fullest potential the sales of the company’s cash cows – Windows and Office – to third-world nations.  That is, most commercial software that is being used and sold in such nations is pirated.  Microsoft is using a combination of forces to change this.  Windows Genuine Advantage is first to come to mind.  With the infusion of the aforementioned low-cost PCs and a new, low-cost, version of Windows (Starter Edition), Microsoft is making their software more financially appealing to residents of these countries.  Having access to low-cost and genuine software will allow tech users of these regions to choose such products and benefit Microsoft financially instead of the software pirates.  (As an aside, this has worked very well with music conglomerates and artists in the U.S.  The “overly-complicated” strategy is to make content easily accessible , affordable , and to treat your customers with respect - not with the automatic assumption that they are thieves and will do anything to steal your content.  Only then piracy will be eliminated.  Video companies still have not caught on to this ingenious marketing and sales technique).

OLPC

Out of the low-cost PCs mentioned above, one deserves some more discussion.  The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative is a non-profit organization that designs, manufactures, and sells the $100 XO laptop (pictured above).  The goal is to bring computing (in the form of the OLPC) to children in third-world countries.  Governments of such nations can purchase these sturdy, usable, and fun laptops for children and students.  Donations are also accepted on the OLPC site.  (My explanation is simply underwhelming compared to what the OLPC initiative’s goals and practices are.  Check out the OLPC project, located at laptop.org, to find out more about the OLPC initiative.)  Back on track: children in third-world nations will be able to use these low-cost, functional computers to better their education.  The huge detail that has to be noted here is the following: these children will be brought up using the OLPC.  Microsoft just partnered with the OLPC initiative to provide Windows on these laptops.  The end result is that an entire generation of children will be brought up using Windows.  If the light bulb hasn’t turned on yet, think about how much attachment and/or dependency these children will have on the Windows OS as they grow up.  Moreover, in five to eight years, Windows desktop OS market share worldwide will be growing exponentially from these two complimentary forces:

• Windows OLPC sales today and in the future
• Students using the Windows OLPC today will be buying and/or using another computing product with Windows in their future (after completing schooling and entering the workforce)

Meanwhile, Apple’s Mac will still be hard at work trying to chip away at its measly single-digit marketshare in the U.S., but doing absolutely nothing about third-world countries and those children’s computing education needs.

Say what you will about Apple:

• that it is a smaller, more concentrated company serving a differentiated and/or more concentraed market;
• that it would rather compete in the space of higher margins rather than the market share game;
• or that, by Steve Jobs, there are certain price points Apple will never compete in (the lowest ones, obviously)

Thus, the fact still remains that the desktop OS market will be, just as it is today, dominated by Windows.  Apple’s Mac may conquer the hearts and minds of its users, but when only a small fraction of the world is using the Mac, there is something to be said for the “numbers”.  (Hint: numbers tell most of the story).  All this will occur unless Apple makes a paradigm shift in their Mac business model.  But this topic is for another day.

Additional notes – please read this before leaving your comments and sending me any kind of mail

I wrote this post putting other third-world country topics aside.  I realize very well that basic needs such as food, shelter, and water (in no particular order and among others) must be met before questions about computing even begin to be discussed.  I, however, firmly believe that if computing is brought to a nation that has never been exposed to it, the nation will be on a more even playing field than it has been before.  Surely, computers and technology alone won’t make it fair: technology education is a requirement.

I’ve been researching notebooks (since I’m in the market for one) and haven’t been discriminating between brands – PC or Mac, Dell or HP, etc.  (My gripes with certain manufacturers’ product lines will be up later.)  One of my feature requirements of a notebook is to have gigabit ethernet.  Why would I need that?

Well, I need it to back up my 100GB media collection (that’s currently stored on an external drive) to a NAS.  When I get my new notebook, I expect to place my entire media collection on it.  And it so happens that my NAS has gigabit ethernet and makes these backups – which are performed daily (by the night) – much more speedy, leaving time in the night to back up my local system.  In total, I’m looking at about 150GB to back up every night.  I also expect this number to grow about 20GB per year.  

How surprised was I when I found that none – let me repeat that none – of the major pc vendors (read: Dell, HP) have gigabit ethernet hardware in their consumer notebooks?  Very.  What’s even more surprising to me is that one of Microsoft’s first hardware Windows Home Servers (WHS) – the HP MediaSmart series – has gigabit!  Now for those who haven’t done their reading: gigabit transfer rates require that both ends of the transfer have Gigabit hardware.  

I would file this under the “one more negative point in having another company be in charge of the hardware your software runs on.”  It’s obvious that Microsoft intended for WHS hardware to have 10/100/1000 networking.  It might not seem crucial at first, but when one considers the WHS in a family environment with multiple computers – all doing backups at night in a limited 8-hour timeframe – speed becomes very important.  Thus, data that will be transferred won’t be in the gigabytes; it will be in the terabytes.  Think about it.  Example: 3 users, each with 300GB of media plus 50GB of other files.  That’s just over 1TB each night! 

But what baffles me even more is that HP – the maker of the MediaSmart line of WHS hasn’t added Gigabit to their consumer notebook line (yes, consumer, since the Windows Home Server has the word “HOME” in it).  Ironically, Apple is currently the only PC manufacturer to have Gigabit ethernet across their entire lineup.  Yep, you read that right: every Apple Mac has Gigabit – from the $600 Mac Mini to the $3000 Mac Pro!  (Read that with emphasis on the Mac Mini).

Just to compare how long it would take me to transfer all of my data using 10/100 and 10/100/1000.  Keep in mind that these calculations are just for my data.  In my household, I’m the one with the most data.  But for families with more than one child (who has a 60GB iPod full of music), and with parents who have amassed large media collections, a problem will be seen in backups due to the limited time frame.  I’ve included the theoretical speeds and cut them down in half since we all know that theory doesn’t always carry over to reality – especially when it comes to bandwidth.
 

It’s best if companies – especially close partners who depend on one another for product creation (read: Microsoft, HP, Dell) – have a closer relationship and plan accordingly.  I can’t believe that none of the bright people at either company realized or foresaw this issue.  Again, this is one of those cases that shows the benefits and efficiency of a vertically integrated company – like Apple.  Personally, Gigabit networking is a must-have feature for me and thus I will be waiting out for a new lappie from the PC vendors.  

I understand that it might not be in HPs best interest from a manufacturing perspective to include a gigabit networking chip.  But that’s what separates great companies who care about the consumer from those that have bottom-line pickers make the ultimate decisions.  How large of a price increase do you think it would cost HP to change its current networking chips to ones with gigabit speeds in terms of production changes and materials costs?  I’ll leave it at that.

Coming tomorrow: my Apple predictions for MacWorld 2008 and my current gripe with Apple’s notebook line-up.  Stay tuned and I’ll see you all next time.d

MacDailyNews.com is reporiting on a TheStreet.com article that Apple is selling Macs at a record pace. They estimate that Mac sales could beat analyst estimates by almost 400,000 units. They estimate that this could bring in an extra $600 million in revenue.They are also reporting on the much-rumored ultra-portable notebook that will weigh “less than 2 pounds” and have either a 10 or a 12 inch screen.

That’s it for the news, now the commentary! (Aren’t you excited?). First I’ll tackle the sub-notebook. It’s great that they are working on this (or at least are rumored to be) and I think demand for these ultra-portable notebooks is increasing. It must be noted here, however, that this notebook must be usable – great battery life, and an overall balance of portability and general computing power are essential. I still haven’t made up my mind about having an optical drive built-in, but knowing Apple, they will probably figure a way to get it in there. Now is where I have another minor problem with Apple: there aren’t enough notebooks in their current lineup (and won’t be enough with the ultra-portable notebook either) to cover the great range of consumers. Their only “consumer-level” offering in the notebook space is the MacBook 13″ that starts in price at around $1100. The next step up is the 15″ MacBook Pro model – obviously targeted at the professional level. Is Apply implying that as a non-pro consumer, I only need 13″ of screen real estate on my notebook? Dell, HP, and every other PC manufacturer thinks differently and it is reflected in their respective notebook offerings. To me it is also blatantly simple: get a 15″ MacBook out for the regular consumer – not the “professional”. It can be plastic (as opposed to the Pro line’s aluminum) and doesn’t need to have the high-end GPU or CPU options that the Pro model has. Offer it for a starting price of $1300-1400 and they will have another hit on their hands.And while I’m on the subject of re-thinking the portable line-up, let’s offer some BTU stand-alone GPUs in all portable Macs. Don’t limit my GPU choices, especially when it comes to the MacBook Pro line. The non-pro line can have an option of the Intel GMA or a mid-range dedicated GPU, but the Pro models need to have more than one option for graphics processing.

And now to the other part: sales. Apple is picking up pace in its computer sales. The iPod, iPhone and iTunes are great catalysts in this. The brand recognition is high and people aren’t afraid of the word “Mac” anymore (or at least less afraid of it than they were ten years ago). Assuming this continues at an accelerating pace for the next few years (at it most likely will, unless Apple makes some really bad decisions), the Windows PC vendors will need to find a way to differentiate themselves not only from one another, but from Apple. Apple has one thing that no other PC manufacturer has: OS X. They also have very well-designed products (let’s talk computers here, though) and their store experience is unbeatable. The offer “the whole package”. Consumers will be drawn to that over the years, since more and more software services become web-based and platform-independent and thus Windows will begin to play a smaller role in the type of software we will be using.Thus, PC vendors will need something that’s much more intriguing than a shiny copy-cat PC design (think: Dell – an almost blatant, albeit poorly-executed, knockoff of Macs) to get the vote of the customer. What will it be? Price? Something else? An openness to Linux? No crap-ware preinstalled? I’ll be following them closely and as soon as I smell a change in the winds, I’ll let you know.In the mean time (if you still have time remaining), go to Audible and subscribe to an audio book. I recommend Harry Potter… or whatever you like.

This raging debate has been trampled, stomped, and overrun by tanks for the last, well, as long as I’ve been alive (or can remember). There have also been cases of soap excretion from the oral cavity during these discussions as well as an instance of iPhone vs. Zune light-saber geek-star fights. Let’s not be this way here. Let’s have a fun and friendly conversation.While for some the choice is no choice at all (like for those who are handed a computer at work with no questions asked), others are left to decide what side of the Microsoft-Apple fence they will be painting (and possibly crawling/jumping over).Personally I still am of the mindset that it doesn’t really matter what the average home user is running. There are some great differences, however, between who that average user is. Being a tech-geek, I semi-automatically took on the role of being the IT guy of my family’s great collection of two computers. We have had Windows computers since Windows 95 (in 1995, by the way) but as I grew older and more cognizant of other platforms, I couldn’t resist the call of the Mac (especially during that time when Vista was not out and being delayed every month, and XP looked so user-unfriendly compared to OS X). That’s when I made the decision (a major one, for me) to sell my month-old Gateway notebook and get a Mac.Having used my first Mac, I couldn’t help but wonder how much easier my life would be if my parents were using one. Let’s start off by saying that my parents are not computer-illiterate. My mom works for a Fortune 500 company and uses her Windows PC for everything work-related. She is what I like to call a “spreadsheet, email, presentation and collaboration power user”. My dad, while not having to work with that many spreadsheets and presentations as mom, uses a computer at work as well for email, browsing and doing work-related product and sales analysis/comparisons. At home, all they need is a internet-connected computer capable of browsing the web, sending emails, composing a few documents, printing, loading up their digital media players, and possibly loading pictures from the camera onto their computer.So after having the Mac for some time, I began to realize that if my parents would be using it, I wouldn’t need to perform the almost-daily run over to our home office room to let my dad know how to get rid of that annoying “virus program window” that had no “x” button and/or reboot the computer when it got slow. At the time, they were using an old Windows PC I built myself (for myself) back when Pentium 4 was the hottest potato in the kettle.And while I knew that with a little education and hands-on tutorial time, my parents would cut down on the questions, I still insisted that they get a Mac when their Alex-built PC’s power supply (my diagnosis) went caput. And so they got a Mac. Here’s my current scenario: I don’t need to run to their office when they have a question about what they should do about McAfee AV popping up and asking them what to do next with the updated virus definitions; I don’t need to tell my dad to wait a few and open a magazine while the PC restarted (since it has been on for over a month without going to sleep – thanks to Windows XP’s poor power management functionality). I don’t need to do a lot of things. I actually go to the home office room on my own now to play around with the blazing fast Intel Core Duo iMac 24” they purchased.Then Vista came out… I haven’t used it that much. I hope (and hear) that much has been improved in terms of security and functionality – like power management. But I still hear that it’s a rehash of old code that it’s just like putting on a new coat of paint on a rusty car (and yes, I know that many “stacks” have been rewritten for Vista. I’m not a programmer and I won’t pretend I am one either so I don’t know for sure). However, I still am of the mindset that it doesn’t matter what the average user is using – Windows or Mac – as long as they abide by the general common-sense practice of computer usage (don’t open attachments, so on and so forth). Moreover, for the sake of simplicity, the Mac is an obvious choice. The iMac has one cord – the power cord! Compare that to the consumer-targeted desktop computers from PC manufacturers: Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway, and others – their comparable and similarly-targeted products have at least three cords:1. Tower power2. Monitor power3. Monitor – tower VGA/DVI cordAdd to that the lack of built-in 802.11, the count rises to four cables the user needs to plug in to get up and running. Now I know that for some there is nothing more simple than to set one of these configurations up. But for many (including my parents), it could be a challenge. Granted, directions are provided, and an effort has been made to simplify the common “Getting started” guides, but nothing is as simple as “plug the power cord into the wall, plug the other end into the computer; press the power button and enjoy” – the iMac’s directions (not in exact words).While on the subject of simplicity for the average user, why not mention the pointless bloat-ware that is bundled with almost every Windows PC? This is something that Microsoft, to keep their respect levels up, should forbid (although they can’t because of antitrust issues). There needs to be a solution to this, or at least an option to remove it all with one click or not to install it in the first place at the factory.It is the non-average, (semi-) power users that are able to pick their technology tools with a certain set of needs/wants. However, it’s becoming increasingly common (by the ALG analyst predictions) that developers prefer to use Macintosh computers because of their newly-found versatility (running 3 OSes under one roof).However, there are many segments that Apple hasn’t yet gotten around to luring into their stores. Here we can name the gaming segment and the very portable segment. Here is a brief discussion of the two:Gaming: in my dream set-up of geekery, I would have my portable and my desktop gaming machine (besides all the other prized gadgets like a phone and a super-duper blue-lit LED mouse and golden-throne chair). The notebook I would take with me everywhere I went: to take notes, attend meetings, sit at Starbucks (not that I do much of that last one anyway). But at home, I would either dock the notebook and output the display to my widescreen monitor or sync the data (coming in a later post as to how this should be done) to the desktop and work on that machine). Regardless, the main purpose of the desktop would be to play the plethora of games available for the Windows platform. Now before you leave the caps-locked comments and recommend for me to get a console: I am a very big non-proponent of playing HL or CounterStrike with a controller – those are mouse-required games and I’d be playing them the most. I would also like to upgrade my hardware. So where is Apple here? They’re lacking in two fronts again:1) No user-upgradeable hardware. Sure you can buy a $2500+ Mac Pro (no monitor included). And then what happens when you want to pop in those sweet new Intel Core 60 Quadros? You’re outa luck. The iMac – being too upgrade-limited for our purposes – can’t even take a new graphics card. A side note: in my opinion, PC manufacturers should all build iMac-like machines for the average user and only sell the towers+display combos to those who prefer them for upgradeability reasons. Let’s see how many average users will opt for plugging in four cords instead of one.

2) No Mac-native games. So I’ll use Windows to play them on the Mac using BootCamp. But does that not defeat the purpose of purchasing a more expensive Mac if you are going to run Windows on it (add the cost of a Windows license to that as well).On top of that, they’re not doi
ng much to lure game developers to code for the Mac. Where is Apple’s Direct-X? Nowhere! They’re focusing on the iPhone.Portability can be argued to death as well but I want an ultra-portable notebook. No, not a UMPC running a desktop OS – a real notebook with a tiny display. Sony has some great ones; so do Toshiba and HP (the ones from Sony are the most attractive, albeit expensive). Where is Apple’s long-rumored mini-MacBook? The 13.3″ MacBook doesn’t cut it. Just look at Japan – it’s ultra-portable notebook galore there.So finally (are your still reading this?), let’s end this tiresome tirade: both Macs and PCs are fine for the average user. Specific uses and personal preference are ultimately what make the choice. Apple needs to develop some important areas to lure some hard-core users and PC vendors need to throw some cash at design to sell a consumer-friendly iMac-like mainstream computer; big space-consuming towers are for those who really need the expandability (the Dell mini-towers don’t count as design/simplicity; one still needs four cords to get them up and running).Disagree? Have something else to add? Talk to me in the comments.Next-up: Apple notebook wishlists!