iPod Drive Failure: Culprit May Not Be the Drive, Fix May Be Free

Apple’s iPod has been wildly successful; even though it was neither the first handheld MP3 player (models such as the Diamond Rio were first with flash players) nor the first to feature hard drive storage (Creative’s Discman-sized Nomad Jukebox predated it), the iPod’s combination of clean design, easy to use software both on the player […]

2nd Generation iPod shuffle

Where the first iPod shuffle had been the size of a pack of chewing gum, the 2G iPod shuffle was barely large enough for its controls and a headphone jack. It had a built-in clip so you could attach it to your clothing, and you could pick from five different colors.

5.5G U2 iPod

The 5G iPod was updated with a brighter screen, improved video playback time, and a larger hard drive on 2006.09.12. The U2 Special Edition was updated at the same time, also receiving a $50 price reduction.

Putting Apple’s Intel Transition in Perspective

2006 – It’s hard to believe that’s its been over a year since Steve Jobs dropped the Intel bombshell at WWDC 2005. The announcement sent shock waves throughout the industry, and as soon as Steve Jobs walked off the stage, speculation was rife as to how the Mac line would be altered.

Core Duo Macs

When Apple made the switch from PowerPC CPUs to Intel in 2006, the state-of-the-art CPU was Intel’s Core Duo processor, which was based on Intel’s 32-bit Pentium M architecture, which was originally designed for mobile use. The Core Duo was Intel’s first dual-core mobile processor, and it was used in all first generation Intel Macs […]

iMac (Late 2006)

Industry watchers had been anticipating Apple moving the iMac to Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, which is “up to 50% more powerful” (according to Apple) than the Core Duo used in the Early 2006 iMac. As if that wasn’t enough, Apple added the biggest iMac to date to the line, a whopping 24″ model with […]

Mac mini (Late 2006)

Kudos to Apple for abandoning the Intel Core Solo used in the original entry-level Intel Mac mini. With the September 2006 revision, both models have Core Duo processors. Oddly, these are the only second-generation Intel Macs not to use Core 2 Duo CPUs, something we’ve never understood.

24″ iMac (Late 2006)

Industry watchers had been anticipating Apple moving the iMac to Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, which is “up to 50% more powerful” (according to Apple) than the Core Duo used in the Early 2006 iMac. As if that wasn’t enough, Apple added the biggest iMac yet to the line, a whopping 24″ model with a 1920 […]

20″ iMac (Late 2006)

Industry watchers had been anticipating Apple moving the iMac to Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, which is “up to 50% more powerful” (according to Apple) than the Core Duo used in the Early 2006 iMac. As if that wasn’t enough, Apple added the biggest iMac to date to the line, a whopping 24″ model with […]

17″ 2.0 GHz iMac (Late 2006)

Industry watchers had been anticipating Apple moving the iMac to Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, which is “up to 50% more powerful” (according to Apple) than the Core Duo used in the Early 2006 iMac. As if that wasn’t enough, Apple added the biggest iMac to date to the line, a whopping 24″ model with […]

17″ 1.83 GHz iMac (Late 2006)

Industry watchers had been anticipating Apple moving the iMac to Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor, which is “up to 50% more powerful” (according to Apple) than the Core Duo used in the Early 2006 iMac. As if that wasn’t enough, Apple added the biggest iMac to date to the line, a whopping 24″ model with […]

The Good Old Days of Computing

Bong! . . . :-) . . . Welcome to Macintosh! For this article, I decided to take a little detour and write about what’s become of computers and computing in the modern age. This was a little rant I wrote up earlier this year in the hopes that one day I’d be able to […]

The Cortland Index

Cortland, named for a type of Apple, is a column about computer history, especially Apple and the Macintosh. These articles were written by a student in the United Kingdom who has studied Apple for years and enjoys writing about lesser-known Apple related topics.

The Apple vs. Microsoft GUI Lawsuit

Microsoft was deeply involved in the development of the Macintosh. Microsoft had been the first outside developer to get a Macintosh prototype. The prototype was promptly nicknamed SAND (Steve’s Amazing New Device) by Bill Gates and Charles Simonyi. Microsoft developed productivity software that the Macintosh desperately needed to make the Macintosh a contender in corporate […]

Writely, Google’s Free Word Processor: What’s the Catch?

I’d been away in New Hampshire with no Internet access, and I recently returned to the world of modern conveniences. One thing I noticed while I was offline was how much we depend on the Internet for access to many of the resources that we use on our Macs, such as games and photo management […]

Embed a Blogger Feed in Your Web Page

I have a small collection of web pages for my various projects. Some of them have an associated blog. Try as I might, I cannot get my students to click on a link on my class web page to take them to the blog. “I can’t find it,” or “There’s too much stuff on your […]

Welcome to Macintosh

Tommy Thomas lives in the Upstate of South Carolina. He says, “I’ll save the long version of my bio for another time, but I guess you’re wondering what it was I liked about the Mac, what drew me to it? Well, I’ve been using the Mac since 1999 and full time since 2000. I loved […]