The Cat Convention

Here’s a Thursday morning question for you.

For those of you in the media business (specifically small business)… what offsite backup solution do you use? Why?

The Achilles heel of offsite backup is gigantic media files that are gigabytes in size. If you’re into the terabyte range, how do you handle offsite backups of that data?

I’m interested to hear your feedback. Please comment below.

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It’s been two weeks since Steve Jobs came on stage in front of the media and gave us a short rundown on what they’ve been cooking up for the Mac. It’s probably time I get this off my chest.

I was underwhelmed. Underwhelmed but hopeful.

I shouldn’t expect much in the way of announcements for OS X Server or under the hood improvements in OS X… yet. This was clearly a speech aimed at the consumer and let’s face it, they may not be ready to talk about those hidden improvements yet. I get it. I’m fine with it. Really. Deep breath.

iLife 11

This was perhaps the most underwhelming portion of the event. Normally I love the iLife suite and I’m happy to plunk down the money in a heartbeat. This time I just didn’t see the point. iWeb and iDVD did not receive any love at all. I can understand iDVD getting lost in the shuffle, but iWeb needs a little bit of attention. I know people who still use that one, man. iWeb is also an important selling point for people who are looking at a Mac for the first time.

The improvements in iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband do seem quite nice but I do not make enough use of these tools to get all that jazzed. I manage photos with Aperture 3 and edit video with Final Cut. I do work on family home videos with iMovie but I haven’t felt that iMovie 09 was missing anything. GarageBand… ugh… let’s just say that program is a complete mystery to me anyway.

My wife might get a little more excited about iPhoto. Frankly though, I doubt she cares.

Underwhelming. I’m sure I’ll buy it anyway.

Thinking back on this it would seem that Apple threw a lot of resources at the iOS business and let iLife ride. Hopefully they won’t give iWork the same treatment. I’m quietly wishing for some competition from iWork in the Office apps arena because Office 2011 for Mac sucks bad. There’s a clear opportunity there. Let’s hope Apple takes it.

OS X Lion

This was the most exciting portion of the presentation to me. Yet when it became clear where they were headed I started to cringe. I wanted the rumors of iOS integration to be false. I really did. I was hoping this was one last vestige where OS X could be the strong and powerful operating system that I was used to running.

As the demonstrations began I started to panic. No, really. Then I took a deep breath and remembered that Apple has invested a tremendous amount of funds in OS X Server and the architecture in general. I had to put aside the silly hysteria and accept that the iOS stuff coming back into the operating system makes sense from a halo effect perspective.

As long as they do not replace the operating system with iOS I’m quite okie. I actually do not see myself using the home screens on my Macs, but we’ll see.

Mac App Store

I’m pretty excited about this. I think this is a huge development for small developers and users alike. It’s a win. I also think it’ll be interesting to see Apple’s applications carved out of bundles.

There’s not much else to say about this. It’s a win all around. I don’t think anyone disagrees on that.

FaceTime

What a neat little app. It’s simple. It’s clean. It works well.

It duplicates effort.

Why isn’t it part of iChat? I suspect we’ve not seen the last chess move on this one.

Macbook Air

Wow. What an awesome feat of engineering. This is clearly where Apple wants to take the laptops. Fast, mobile, durable and no moving parts. I suspect we’d already be there if there wasn’t a flash memory shortage.

One More Thing…

I’m intrigued by the reports surfacing today regarding iOS 4.2 and how it appears to link your Apple ID with MobileMe. That is very, very interesting. It bears much watching.

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Now that we know Apple is refocusing its efforts on OS X, perhaps it’s time to reflect on OS X 10.5 and 10.6 and build up anticipation by way of wishful thinking.

These are the kinds of things I consider while spending idle time in a Thinking Chamber. I thought I would start the discussion by passing along the flotsam that arrived on my mind’s shore this fine afternoon.

Remember, this is a wishlist, not a list of predictions. I’ll also throw out a simple rule of engagement. Let’s make wishes that are plausible, not ridiculous or emotional.

Well, okie. You can still be somewhat emotional and fall into the plausible category.

OS X 10.7 client wishlist:

• Video chat with Facetime integration (with iPhone 4)
• More connectivity options in iChat (Windows Live, Yahoo, etc.)
• Better kerberos management
• Quicksilver or some type of Quicksilver-style OS integration
• Free MobileMe for all Mac owners (maybe that’s what the NC Data Center is for, yes? Not just iTunes…?)
• iDisk syncing replaced with DropBox, which is now part of the free MobileMe service
• Better CalDAV integration with iCal
• Better Exchange 2007/2010 Support (this list is long, so I’m generalizing)
• Push notifications actually work in Apple Mail with OS X Server
• iWeb improvements (i.e. multiple sites, better publishing with other hosters, etc.)
• Some type of improvement or re-engineering of hard drive encryption (FileVault is nice, but the Time Machine trade off is huge)
• ZFS!

OS X 10.7 server wishlist:

• High availability clustering for iChat Server, Address Book Server, iCal Server, Web Services (wiki, blogs)
• Improved wiki and blog management tools
• ZFS!
• Push Notification actually works and meets expectations
• Some type of server backup mechanism that isn’t hacky and doesn’t hose Open Directory
• Improved client management capabilities
• Open Directory improvements and stability enhancements
• iCal Server delegation
• Address Book Server sharing

I’m sure we’ll think of more, so let’s get to talkin’… again, don’t be emotional, think what’s actually possible. Think about what plagues you on a regular basis. What would you like Apple to do about it? What do you think they could do to extend OS X’s reach to the general populace?

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There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re well informed on the Macbook Pro updates that hit the market this morning. There’s also no doubt in my mind that you’re excited about the updates if you’re into that particular class of machine.

Apple‘s promise of integrating the i5 and i7 chips into the Macbook Pro line has been fulfilled and it couldn’t be any sweeter. The initial benchmarks (Gizmodo) are in and there’s lots to drool over.  Combine these processors and graphics chips with 8gb of RAM and you will have one seriously mobile powerhouse.

As usual, I suspect we’ll see much more on the “hidden” features of these beauties over time.  One of these hidden gems has already been tweeted – the possibility of an HDMI adapter for the mini DisplayPort.  That brings all sorts of possibilities to the table.

I’d like to research the graphics chipsets and capabilities a little more.  There are squees(!) of glee over the “automatic switching” offered by the sales literature on the Apple website.  I’m somewhat skeptical of that type of power management, but I’d sure like to try it.

I’m sure there’s much more to come on this later, but all in all… it’s a great day to blow money on some Apple hardware, isn’t it?

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• New MacBook Pro models are out now (tuaw.com)

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