Mactards. Everyone knows one. They’re not just using an Apple Mac because hey, they just like ’em, they actually think it’s a way of life. They think that because their technology is preceeded by the letter “i”, they are somehow superior. Their operating system doesn’t get viruses. Their MP3 players come in multiple shiny colours. Their laptops will outlast any cheap equivalent. Hah, give it up guys: Apple are pulling stunts lately that you’d normally only expect from Microsoft. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Apple are falling from grace — heaven forbid — but when your favourite news aggregator is reporting several negative stories in quick succession one can’t help but cackle.

Let’s start with the Times Online reporting that Apple have attempted to silence the owner of an exploding iPod with a non-disclosure agreement. Ignoring the cheek of the non-disclosure — apparently this is more common than you’d think — I can’t help but wonder how many others have been affected by similar heat/exploding issues. More than one, that’s for sure:

Interface designer Dustin Curtis posts this on Hacker News:

My PowerBook G4 Titanium overheated and melted. I called Apple support. They took my number and told me to wait for a call.

Ten minutes later, an executive in Cupertino called me and apologized for my “trouble.” Then he made the a similar offer to the person in this story– if I agreed to not talk about the incident, he would send me a fully loaded brand new PowerBook G4 (aluminum model at the time) worth almost $5k, an iPod, and an external hard drive.

I took the deal, of course, but refused to sign anything.

Here’s a picture I sent to Apple HQ immediately after the incident: http://bit.ly/Gv93d

And then a few links for good measure:

• “Im an owner of a macbook pro […] the temperature of the cores is reaching up to 99C – 100C“
• “Lately my Mac Pro has been crashing and freezing with greater regularity […] I had a hunch it was heat related.“
• “Playing Videos Overheat[s] my Mac Book“ (I love that this one is blamed on Flash; I don’t like Flash but my laptop doesn’t overheat if I watch a Youtube vid!)
• “ipod spontaneously combusting“
• iPod suspected of setting Saab ablaze

If melting plastic and exploding components isn’t enough to get you going, how about pulling apps from the iPhone app store for bogus reasons, or expecting developers of said apps to cover the costs when apps are pulled? And the one about the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) getting frisky with Apple because of potentially anti-competitive behaviour? Still with the iPhone, howsabout the news that Apple have admitted that an unlocked iPhone is a terrorist threat? Isn’t that reassuring.

Of course, my favourite is the story about the flaw that could allow ‘hackers’ to steal data that is supposedly encrypted. The amusing part is not that people are open to having their identities stolen — I wouldn’t wish that on anyone — but that the Mac OS users who insist that “macs don’t get infected” are left with egg on their faces. Again.

George Ou reports on a keyboard firmware flaw that, attached to any Mac, can be used to record passwords and re-infect Macs with trojans even after a total harddrive wipe. The worst news? I quote (emphasis my own):

This type of a hack however isn’t something where you can go into an Apple store and have an Apple “genius” exorcise because once the Apple keyboard is infected and locked; there is no practical way of undoing the damage.

Phew. All this in the space of a few days. Apple must be hurting.

Smug? Me? Nah. I’m more than familiar with Microsoft’s multitude of sins. Just glad to be sat on the other side of the fence for once.

So, Apple have released a new MacBook: the “MacBook Air”: MacBook Air is ultrathin, ultraportable and ultra … ..pointless? featureless? useless? overpriced? Yes, I totally agree. It is being piped by Apple fangirls and boys everywhere as the perfect tool for wireless communication and work on the go.. which is great, but I can do… read full entry »