The Pink Mac

lifestyle The Pink Mac

What home phone?

It seems now more than ever that old technologies from not too long ago are being pushed completely out of the way. One dying technology I am interested in is that of the home phone. Only 10 years ago it was the only way for personal communication with anyone instantly in the world. But then cell phones became smaller, and the internet took off, so did e-mailing, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, texting, and I guess now- FaceTime. So many forms of instant communication we are now a forever connected society always on the go. It seems like everyone over the age of 8 now has their own cell phone and multiple social networking pages they check every minute so why bother with being tied down with a home phone?


I myself do not have a phone in my house that cannot fit in my pocket. When people ask me for a number to reach me at, I never worry that I don’t have a home phone for them to reach me at because I have a cell phone with me 24/7. Why even pay X dollars more a month for a home phone from your service provider? Is there any benefit to having a cell phone and a home phone? Just the cell phone works just fine, it has everything a home phone has – it can make and receive calls and record a voicemail. Done.

So the question we have to ask – is the home phone dead seems pretty obvious. Sure it will hold out for maybe a few more decades but eventually just as the last Pinto is rolled out, the last Cassette Tape is recorded, and the last VHS is boxed, the home phone will die out soon enough.

(Unless this is the home phone of the future – in which case, that’d be awesome.
Wait, Steve Jobs… did you travel Back to the Future to come up with FaceTime?)
lifestyle The Pink Mac

In Defense of Phone Books.

The above image has been surfing its way around the internet, and I just thought I would say a few words in defense of the big yellow book that arrives on our doorsteps. Although I agree that the world be a much better place if there weren’t so many phone books sitting around without use, they do have a time and a place.

One day, about 2 years ago, I had moved into a new apartment in a new city. Like most people in the middle of a move, I needed some take out as I was not about to try to cook with a kitchen full of boxes. I walk over to my laptop, open safari, and “Webpage not found” appears. I didn’t have internet installed at the new place yet and these were the days before my blackberry and the ability to tether my phone to the computer. I sat discouraged for a long time, wondering how did people find phone numbers to take out places before the internet? Then it hit me. The PHONE BOOK!
So you see, there are still times when the use of such analog methods is still required. Not to mention, old people still need phone books, and sometimes they come in handy as step stools or doorstops!
lifestyle The Pink Mac

iPad Economics.

This morning as I was driving into work, a thought suddenly hit me. Does the success of the iPad mean the recession is truly over?

After all, we are talking about a product that has sold over 2 million units in its first 60 days of life; 1 every 3 seconds as Jobs himself told us at D8 and WWDC. Now, if you factor in the 2 iPad a person limit, at the minimum, we have 1+ million individuals purchasing a machine that costs at least $500 a unit in just 2 months, and demand for the product is only rising. Apple itself cannot produce iPads quick enough to satiate consumer demand, so I beg the question, are we out of the recession yet? I think we must be at this point. It’s either that or Apple has some secret recipe for success even in bad economic times. I guess both are possible. What do you think?

tech The Pink Mac

Cousy’s Vid of the Week 6/11

As most of you that spend more than 3 seconds on the internet know, the web is a great place to find cool and funny videos of whatever your heart desires. The web as provided a great breeding ground for artists and comedians to share their work with the entire world. That’s why the Pink Mac wants to share with you some of our personal favorite videos we have found on the interwebs in the past 7 days.

No big intro here, just a video mocking the incompetence of BP. Enjoy.

The Pink Mac

Google Bans Microsoft Windows.

In a shocking blow for Microsoft, yesterday it was revealed that Google is now banning the use of Windows on office computers for security purposes. Apparently, Google believes that hackers in China were able to gain access to email accounts due to flaws in Windows security, and to prevent this from happening in the future have approved the use of Apple’s OS X and Linux OS only. Now, I realise this is only one company taking a drastic measure, but I have a feeling that this might cause a slight wave of change for some other tech companies as well. Google, after all, is a giant and if they have taken this step, to me the question is not who else will follow, but how soon?
{Image via Flickr}
tech The Pink Mac

Cousy’s Vid of the Week 5/28

As most of you that spend more than 3 seconds on the internet know, the web is a great place to find cool and funny videos of whatever your heart desires. The web as provided a great breeding ground for artists and comedians to share their work with the entire world. That’s why the Pink Mac wants to share with you some of our personal favorite videos we have found on the interwebs in the past 7 days.

Its a sad day in the Mac advertising world. The popular “Get a Mac” commecials, featuring John Hodges as the bumbling PC and Justin Long as the suave Mac, have finally ended. No longer will we hear the familiar “Hello, I’m a Mac” on our TV’s and computers as Apple has decided to move on. The ads have even been removed from Apple’s website. So this video is a tribute to some of the great laughs and lines this little mini-series has given us. Enjoy.


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Bonus Video of the Week!

In honor of both the end of the “Get a Mac” series and the end of the trip for the Pink Mac staff to Europe, I wanted to share with you all the British version of the “Get a Mac” series. That’s right, Justin Long and John Hodges were not the ones seen around the globe. In England the stars of the ads were from the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb. David Mitchell plays the failing PC and Robert Webb is the ever cool Mac. Most of the commercials were used with the exact same scripts for the US and UK versions, just different actors. However, some were changed to fit in with some of the local lingo and sayings – as extremely evident in this commercial. Again, enjoy!

The Pink Mac

Want a free iPod?

Every year Apple releases a promotion around this time to get college student’s to buy a Mac. This year is no different because I just received an e-mail from Apple announcing the return of the summer offer to students. Starting today, May 25th until September 7th if you buy any Mac computer you can receive any iPod product for free after a mail-in rebate.

Now the ad says iPod Touch but upon reading the terms and conditions it states rebates apply for iPod Touches, Classics, Nanos, and Shuffles. The only difference is the price of the rebate which will match the model you buy. Now while I would recommend getting the better $199 device for free as opposed to the $79 shuffle, its your call and either one will work for the rebate! Also, it turns out you don’t have to be a college student to get this offer. Here is how who is eligible breaks it down:

  • If you are an employee of a public or private K–12 institution in the United States. Also school board members who are currently serving as elected or appointed members, PTA or PTO executives currently serving as elected or appointed are eligible.
  • With higher education – faculty, staff, and students attending, or accepted into a higher education institution are eligible.
  • And even parents purchasing on behalf of their child, who is a student currently attending or accepted into a public or private higher education institution in the United States, are eligible.
So there are a lot of ways for anyone to get this offer, just be smart and bring some proof with you to the Apple store so they believe you. I know first hand as a college student myself that a simple College ID will work. For the rest of the info go here to the Apple Back to School site to find out all the additional information. Also if there are any questions on the right side of the page under the 1 2 3 steps, there is a link to the Terms and Conditions. Happy shopping!
tech The Pink Mac

Cousy’s Vid of the Week 5/22

As most of you that spend more than 3 seconds on the internet know, the web is a great place to find cool and funny videos of whatever your heart desires. The web as provided a great breeding ground for artists and comedians to share their work with the entire world. That’s why the Pink Mac wants to share with you some of our personal favorite videos we have found on the interwebs in the past 7 days.

Okay yes, this post is one day late so it should really be the past 8 days. Sorry for the delay, but it’s been a little hectic around the Pink Mac Office with half of the staff going to Europe for the week. I hope when they get back they have some good post ideas for you all on Euro-tech. We’ll see. As for this week as per usual my attempts to post a video tech-related will probably fall flat on its face. (There is a Macbook in the video… does that count?) This video is from the web-sketch-series-show-thing The Key of Awesome! The Key of Awesome is a part of Barely Political, famous for Obama Girl and Auto-Tune the News. The Key of Awesome, now on its 20th episode (not including behind the scenes) brings us fun and creative parodies of songs, movies, and artists. Whether they are making fun of Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, or Batman, The Key of Awesome does an amazing job being creative, original, and down right funny. This week they parodied Owl City’s song “Fireflies”. Hope you enjoy and please visit their Youtube page to see more awesome videos!

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Bonus Video of the Week!

Okay yes, like every week has a bonus video and the post should be called “Cousy’s Vids of the Week”. I’ll try to cut it down from now on. This week though I wanted to give you guys a song that I love and can’t stop listening to… and it relates to the video above. I love the Postal Service song “Such Great Heights” and was really impressed by the cover of the song by Iron & Wine. I think the Iron & Wine version is a little better in fact. So here is a fan made video using the movie “The Garden State”, which I the song is in (but I’ve yet to see that movie so please correct me if I am wrong). This guy’s video really captures the feeling of the Iron & Wine version and puts it perfectly with the imagery of the movie. Unfortunately the video ends for some reason at then end of the song – nothing really is cut off but it is missing a little. Here is a link of the full song with lyrics. But please enjoy this video too!

lifestyle The Pink Mac

No Apple Gift Cards for the iPad.

Today, I received some disappointing news related to the iPad. I had heard on the news that a woman had gone into an Apple Store planning to purchase an iPad with cash and was turned down. According to Apple’s iPad policy, only credit or debit cards can be used to purchase the product in order to help them track their 2 iPad per person limit. Now, we know why they have this limit in place- people have been purchasing iPads and distributing them overseas for higher costs and Apple doesn’t support this illegal trading of it’s products. I get that, but then why not put a system into place where a cash customer can show ID and their name and address can be used to track them so that they do not purchase more than the limit.
Now, what was doubly disappointing was that in the news broadcast, the reporter said that gift cards to are a no no for iPad purchases, which made me raise an eyebrow. They didn’t mean Apple Gift cards, did they? I have a $100 Apple Gift card that I received for my birthday this year, which I was planning to use to buy the iPad, in the event that I decided to purchase one. I have been saving it for just this purpose, and now it’s usability was being called into question. So, I decided to ask an Apple Expert via the Live Chat feature on the Apple website. This was the conversation, my messages are in pink.
As you can read in the conversation, apparently Apple Gift cards cannot be used to purchase the iPad either, unless you are doing so online. Again, I am disappointed that Apple doesn’t have a better method in place for situations like these, especially since my $100 Apple Gift card would not be the sole payment method for an in-store transaction- I would use my credit card to cover the difference. This makes me not want to buy an iPad!