More Than Peripheral Interest

One measure of Apple's apparent resurgence is that high-volume peripheral makers have decided that the market is big enough to warrant Mac-specific desktop sets.

Admittedly, it's not that much of a step. Most Windows keyboards and mice long have been Mac compatible. It always has been a source of amusement that Microsoft hardware did a better job of accessing Mac features than Apple's own products did. Cupertino stubbornly insisted until last year on offering only single-button mice even though the Mac OS long has had right-click options (accessible as an option key/mouse click on single button mice).

Still, keyboards and mice are not Apple's strongest suit. falling short in both usability and ergonomics. Apple's venture into multi-button mice, the Mighty Mouse and it new cordless version, rates as just so-so. Options are nice, especially when they are available from the market-leaders, Logitech and Microsoft.

Logitech was first to unveil a new Mac offering, with last year's roll out of its Cordless Desktop S 530 Laser for Mac (below). It's basically the company's S 510 Windows desktop redone in Mac white and silver, but with Mac-specific keys and a matching-color version of Logitech's MX 610 laser mouse. The keyboard uses Logitech's "zero-degree tilt" approach to ergonomics -- which is a fancy way of saying that the keyboard is very flat (the bottom row of keys is only slightly lower than the top) so you can keep your hand and fingers relatively straight. The mouse is a right-handed item that molds to the hand. A nice touch is that the wireless transmitter is a stick that can go right in the USB port of a desktop or laptop. An extension cord and stand for the transmitter is provided if you need to fiddle with placement.

One thing that makes the Logitech product a big deal is that the company for a time had discontinued its support for the Mac and stop updating its Mac drivers. But now the company is fully back into the Apple peripherals market.

Microsoft followed suit this year with its first Mac-specific product -- its Wireless Laser Desktop for Mac (below). This one is a straight out copy of the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 for Windows with the addition of Mac-specific keys and new Mac drivers. There was an amusing little flap over the fact that Apple did not grant Microsoft rights to use the Apple logo on the keyboard's "command" or "Apple" key -- where the "Alt" key is on Windows boards. (Logitech's desktop has it.)

As with the Logitech bundle, the mouse is a right-handed multi-button laser unit. The keyboard is Microsoft's "comfort" design. It's flatter and less curved than its full-tilt ergonomic designs (such as the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000) and seems to be intended for those who find the ergonomic keyboard's curved and shaped approach too radical. Color scheme for the desktop set is silver and a translucent white. It comes with the basic oval Microsoft wireless transmitter in matching color.

One of the most important aspects of the Microsoft set is the updated drivers, which now allow users to custom map virtually all the keys and buttons on the mouse and keyboard.

Current street prices are under $70 for the the Logitech and around $80 for Microsoft.

Of course, true Mac support would mean making the desktop sets Bluetooth compatible to take advantage of the Apple's built-in support for that wireless technology and eliminate the need for giving up a USB port to a transmitter. A Logitech spokesperson acknowledged that cost considerations ruled out Bluetooth. Neither Microsoft's nor Logitech's Bluetooth desktop sets for Windows will work with a Mac.

The best you can do in the way of a Bluetooth input device is a mouse from Kensington -- the full-sized PilotMouse (below top) for desktops and the PilotMouse Mini for notebooks (below bottom).

Both are ambidextrous designs, which I favor and both have a rubberized coating on the grip areas to make them easy to maneuver. Downsides are that they use the cliche blue color scheme peripheral makers seem to love for Bluetooth input devices and neither is laser or high-resolution. That may be an issue for gamers, but I had no problem using them. I recommend them, especially to Apple notebook users.

Acessorize Your Treo

Three things can help enhance your Treo 700p experience: an adapter plug, a leather case, and some software.

First off, although Treos come with music player software and use SD flash memory cards to allow flexible storage of music files, the headphone jack is inexplicably a 2.5 mm microplug rather than the standard 3.5 mm minijack used on virtually all player headphones. Palm will sell you an adapter for 10 bucks to let you use regular headphones.

Nuts to them.

If there was some technical reason requiring the odd-sized jack, on an item with a list price of $500 ($400 with a cell phone contract), they could bloody well have included the adapter as a standard feature. Head off to Radio Shack or any other electronics parts store where the adapter will cost you only three or four bucks.

On the other hand, given the lofty price, you can pretty much justify a high-end leather case. I have two suggestion: Argentina's Vaja and California-based Sena.

Vaja has the ultimate item: its i-Volution T7, priced at $94 (and higher if you add options). This series of cases (which also includes ones for the iPod) is a protective plastic shell wrapped in fine leather -- so you get both the protection of a hard case and the elegance of a leather one.



Vaja also makes a more lower priced case all-leather Treo in its Classic line (starting at $64). Sena makes a $40 clone of this called the LeatherSkin. It lacks some of the Vaja's touches (for example a simple open hole over the speaker instead of Vaja's mesh covering), but the price is attractive and the quality is good.

There are downsides to these designs, though. Unlike the i-Volution, they offer minimal protection from the dropsies and require a strip of leather below the screen to hold their shape, which interferes with the Treo's navigation wheel. Further, one annoying design feature of the Treo 700 is that the reset button is inside the battery compartment, which means to do a reset you have to take the Treo out of a case, open up the battery cover, then reverse the process -- and these tight skins can make that a chore.

You may do better, then, to leave your Treo "naked" and keep it in a horizontal or vertical pouch in standard cellphone style. Here Sena has the edge with pouches of both designs ($40 for the horizontal; $50 for vertical). And if you are totally indecisive, there's a $60 combo package of a horizontal pouch and a matching LeatherSkin.





Last item on the accessory list is for Mac users. Palm's software for syncing data between your computer and handheld (this applies to all Palms, not just the Treo) is fairly decent for Windows, especially if you use Microsoft Outlook to keep your contacts, calendars, and tasks. However, the Mac version is pretty lame.

A better choice is Mark/Space's Missing Sync software ($40 download; $50 on CD). It provides integration with iTunes and iPhoto to let you put music and pictures on your handheld -- plus it lets you get around Palm's limitations on multiple addresses and multiple emails for your contacts.

Apple, a Success at Stores, Bets Big on Fifth Avenue - New York Times

A particularly interesting passage is:

At first glance, some of the company's moves seem, in stark financial terms, to be costly indulgences. Almost half of the store staff is there not to sell but to provide free help on how to use Macintosh computers, iPods, software and third-party accessories like digital cameras. Nearly all of the computers have Internet access, and the stores are crowded with people checking their e-mail, browsing the Web or listening to music on the iPods."

In my view this speaks to one of the key reasons why Apple is reasserting itself with individual users: better customer service. You can go to an Apple store and talk to an actual person about problems with your computer. Dell used to own the support market. Arch rival Compaq (now part of HP) traditionally had more sophisticated technology, but you could count on Dell support. Then Dell started cutting back and outsourcing support, leaving consumers and small businesses to fend for themselves.

Apple, a Success at Stores, Bets Big on Fifth Avenue - New York Times

Succumbing to Apple's Allure

One of the trade secrets for writing a newspaper column is: all life experiences are fodder for potential topics. (This is the very basis of blogging, of course.) Thus: how to switch to a Mac.

My current dabbling with Apple started largely to research a column when MacWorld briefly returned to Boston and was the opening act at the new Convention Center in South Boston. It progressed beyond dabbling when over time I found Macs really were less annoying to use than Windows PC. Finally, when in the course of my day job, I prepared a presentation on the Mac and realized it handled that job much better I was sold. And so this spring an iMac (the one-piece desktop where the circuitry in hidden in the monitor) became my primary computer.

Judging by Apple’s quarterly financial reports, I am not the only one making the move. Apple’s market share has been growing for more than a year (although bear in mind that with a starting point around 5 percent, we aren’t exactly talking world dominance here). One sign that the platform is gaining ground: leading peripheral manufacturers are developing Mac products again. Logitech, which had dropped out of the Mac market, recently introduced a new Mac keyboard and mouse set, and Microsoft, whose Windows keyboards and mice have always been Mac compatible, now has its first set customized for the Mac on the way.

Making the change wasn’t very hard. Apple has a series of “Mac 101” lessons on its web site to guide you through it (http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/) and (http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/). I will focus here on some of the things you don’t read in the standard how-tos.

First of all, you need to get your data from your PC onto your Mac. Apple is largely correct that this a piece of cake. Most PC files including document, spreadsheet, and multimedia just simply need to be moved from one machine to the other via a network or removable media such as CDs. But there is one huge exception: if you use Microsoft Outlook, all its mail, contacts, calendar items, and so on cannot be directly transferred to a Mac, leaving you bereft of crucial information.

Fortunately, you can remedy that for 10 bucks with O2M (formerly “Outlook2Mac”) from Little Machines. Install it on your PC and it will convert your Outlook data into files that can be imported into the Mail, iCal, and Address Book applications that come with Mac and also with Microsoft Entourage, the Mac counterpart of Outlook. If you are an Outlook power-user who employs its more sophisticated features such as categories, groups, and custom fields, you may want to invest an additional $20 in Paul Berkowitz’s Export-Import Entourage AppleScript (a Mac programming tool) package, which will capture pretty much everything.

The second point on switching to a Mac is that you are going to need new software. Windows programs won’t run on a Mac. (Well, that’s no longer entirely true, but let me leave this to the blog.) The good news is that most of your familiar programs from Windows exist on the Mac – or the Mac has better alternatives. The bad news is that there are no “trade-in” deals; you will be buying new software. The cost of replacing your software may be the biggest practical obstacle to making a move from Windows to a Mac.

Apple’s iLife suite, included on Macs, provides the iTunes music software, plus video, photo, DVD, and web tools that cover most of your multimedia needs. For the writing and numbers crunching tools provided by Microsoft Office in Windows, your Mac option is – doh! – Microsoft Office, which on the Mac consists of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the aforementioned Entourage.

Apple’s iWork suite is not a true alternative because includes only Pages (a word processor) and Keynote (presentations), but no spreadsheet. However, iWork is worth taking a look at (trial versions are included on Macs) because, unlike Office, the templates were created by designers who actually have good taste. Apple needs to either take the next step of creating a full office applications suite or just turn this bundle into a set of templates for Microsoft Office.

Microsoft’s Access database is not available for the Mac, but then, Access is impenetrable to users without an IT department to support them. The “real people” alternative is FileMaker Pro, which is cross platform. The new iWeb component of iLife is workable substitute for FrontPage, or you can go with the higher end solutions from Adobe: Contribute and Dreamweaver, also cross-platform.

The OmniGraffle business drawing program from the OmniGroup nicely fills in for Microsoft Visio while OmniOutliner is the counterpart of Microsoft’s OneNote program, and both are less expensive. In the later category, though, I personally prefer Mariner Sofware’s MacJournal – OmniOutliner works best if you prefer to keep your notes in a hierarchical outline form; MacJournal is more free-form and also supports blogging and podcasting.

Among other key commercial software products: Toast is Roxio’s Mac version of its DVD/CD burning software. Adobe’s Photoshop Elements comes in a Mac version that integrates with iLife. Allume Systems’ Stuffit, another cross-platform product, is the leading Mac archiving and compression program. Fetch is a very nifty Mac-specific FTP program (for uploading and downloading to web sites, among other things).

There also is a rich variety of shareware and freeware programs for the Mac, which will greatly ease the financial drain of switching. For example, Stunt Software’s On the Job handles the always-critical job timing and billing function for a budget-friendly $25. HairerSoft’s $30 Amadeus II is a great value for audio editing with features that match software costing three times as much. WireTap Pro from Ambrosia Software will capture audio from any source that plays on your Mac and is a valuable tool for recording from a Mac’s built-in microphone. Utilities for the iPod are a huge segment in themselves; the latest and greatest is PodUtil, which is available for Mac and Windows and – a nice touch – can be installed on your iPod itself to allow you to access your music on any computer.

There is even rich fodder for geeks like me. Naratt Software, for instance, offers Lauch Items X and Move Items X, which cures one of the few deficiencies of the Mac interface compared to Windows: a lack of file manipulation options when you right-click on a file. Naratt also makes Iconizer Pro and Folder Icon X, simple little tools for creating custom icons for programs and folders on your Mac.

Lastly, AppleScript offers users a vast array of ways to add custom functions to your applications. Good sources to check: MacScripter and, for iPod tools, Doug’s Scripts. Plus, check in with Apple’s own software catalog.

There may not be as much software for Macs as for Windows PCs, but not so you would notice. Your biggest challenge in making a switch is more likely to be limiting your software purchases to suit your budget.

WinMac: Who Wins? Who Cares?

Suppose a computer company announced that it was making available a beta release of a dual-booting tool. Your reaction would be: (a) Oh wow! (b) It will change the face of computing! Or (c) Huh?

It can be safely guessed that somewhere between 95 and 99 of all computer users would go with “Huh?”

Yet when Apple announced on April 5 that it was releasing a beta of “Boot Camp,” a tool to allow users of Macs with Intel processors, it made worldwide headlines everywhere from The New York Times (on the front page, no less) and Wall Street Journal down to the smallest blog. Theories were flowing freely ranging hand from the assertion that Apple might eventually move to Windows all the way to the exact opposite: that this is a key step toward the resurgence of the Mac platform. There is such a thing as over-analysis -- and this looks to be a case of just that.

In the immortal words of Joe Friday, “Just the facts, ‘mam”:

• Dual booting has been largely a geek thing, and is likely to remain so. So is beta testing. Boot Camp is unlikely to loom large in the marketplace until it is incorporated into the next version of the Mac OS, expected some time next year. Even then, it is hard to see it as a mainstream product.

• That said, the traditional advice tech writers give on choosing between Mac and Windows is that for most common tasks, Macs are generally easier to use and a good choice for individuals and small business that don’t have IT departments to support them. BUT if you use specialized applications that are Windows-only or are a hard core gamer, you need to go with a Windows PC. Clearly, Boot Camp does change that equation dramatically.

• Edgar Allen Poe was right -- the best way to hide something is right in plain sight. At MacWorld in January, Microsoft and Apple announced an agreement under which Microsoft would continue to make Mac versions of Office and -- little noticed at the time -- Apple would not obstruct efforts to run Windows on Intel Macs. Apple also has lined up commitments from a long list of key software vendors that they would continue to produce Mac versions of their software. Accordingly, for at least the next release cycle or two of applications crucial to the Mac market there should not be any retreat from the Mac platform.

• There are, however, some applications for which a Mac version will never make sense. Apple’s current market share is around 5 percent. Even were the share to double, Windows PCs will outnumber Macs about 9-1. If you are making software that is a small niche product to begin with, you are unlikely to recover the cost of creating a version to be a niche of a niche. And if you are a big company (e.g., Microsoft, whose Access database and FrontPage web site tool are Windows only), titles that are unlikely to be popular with Mac users are unlikely to be profitable. Thus, a Windows-on-Mac solution does expand the range of software available to Mac users.

• The idea that someone would purchase a Mac with the intention of using it as a Windows machine seems silly. Apple isn’t going to undersell Dell. There might be a few people who love Apple’s designs so much, they would want an iMac or MacBook as their Windows computer. But let’s face it, if cool design was such a big deal in the marketplace, Mac’s market share wouldn’t be in single digits, would it?

The Bottom Line: Apple wants to sell Macs. Microsoft wants to sell Windows. Anything that accomplishes both is likely to be agreeable to both sides. At this point, making anything more of the situation than that is reaching.

Backdoor Price Hikes

Here’s one way to create a niche product: redesign or repackage your old unit so that a key feature is missing, then sell it as an extra-cost option.

In giving Bose’s new Wave radio an otherwise favorable review (July 10, 2005), I worried that the minimalist design – no control buttons on the unit, only a credit card sized remote control – would be a problem when groggy users were groping for the “snooze” button. Long-term experience proved just that: a tiny button on a miniature remote is not an ideal control when you are half asleep.

It seemed inevitable that some enterprising company would come along and solve the problem by making a remote control with nice big buttons, including a prominent one for snooze. A company did: Bose.



It now offers the $40 Wave Music System Premium Backlit Remote Control. It’s a nicely designed, silver toned unit that includes a handy cradle for placing it conveniently at hand on your nightstand. Perhaps I am being a little churlish, but I can’t help but note that Wave owners now pay extra for the same kind of buttons that used to be built into the chassis of the original incarnation of the clock radio.



Bose has some history on this score. The original version of the Wave did not have a headphone jack (the new ones do). When the first Wave was introduced, Bose had not yet begun to sell its upscale Quiet Comfort and Tri-Port headphones. Coincidence? I think not: when Bose headphone sales took off the company released an adaptor that let users hook headphones up to the old Wave.

Apple is another company prone to this kind of behavior. Several generations of iPods shipped with an a/c adapter (for charging), docking cradle, a wired remote control, and a moderately useful carrying holster. For the new “5th Generation” video models and the Nano, those now are extra cost options that add more than 100 bucks to the pricetag, and a chintzy plastic sleeve has replaced the holster. Nor is there any special “bundle” deal if you want to buy these accessories along with a new iPod. Mind you, you do get extra features for your money. The remote adds FM tuning capabilities while the new cradle is a “universal” design that can be used with all the various flavors of iPods. But there is no excuse for failing to include a charger.

Saying, as Apple does, that you get video with the 5G at no increase is flat-out deception.

In its computer lineup, Apple has pulled the built-in dial-up modem from its sleek iMac desktops and substituted a $50 USB modem. OK, you can make a case for that, everybody else makes modems extra cost. However, Apple is now doing the same thing on its flagship MacBook Pro notebooks, and you can’t make a case for that. Steve Jobs may think the dial-up era is over, but business travelers would beg to differ.

Where an accessory adds a feature to a product, then it truly is an extra. For example, cables to hook your iPod to a stereo or to play the video on an external TV legitimately fall into that category. Also, there are third-party products in most of these categories to give Apple and Bose a little price competition. However, when a standard feature ceases to be standard, what you have is a backdoor price increase.

Bose and Apple are two of the most innovative consumer electronics companies around in terms both of developing new product concepts and stylish design. Unfortunately, however, both companies also have a certain institutional arrogance. There is a fine line between legitimately improving corporate economics and ripping off your customers. Too often these companies are on the wrong side of that line.

Neither company is by any stretch of the imagination the worst offender in the marketplace. But both companies make their independent, creative identities a key part of their marketing. And both companies charge a price premium for their goods. Consumers legitimately can expect better from them than we get.

Some Strings Attached

There is something new in the world of input devices these days: cords. You know, those things with wires inside plastic coatings that used to run from your mouse and keyboard to your computer. Wireless connections became all the rage and most premium input devices used that method. It appeared that wired devices were going the way of floppy disks.

But while it was convenient to get rid of some cords from the tangle surrounding your computers, there never is a free lunch in technology. Wireless keyboards and mice use the same frequency as WiFi wireless connections, wireless telephones, and other electronics. So the input devices can cause, or be subject to, interference. Plus they don’t respond as quickly as wired units, and they cost more (generally, a 20%-30% price premium).

Lo and behold, when Microsoft’s hardware division unveiled 10 new keyboards and mice recently half of them came with cords, including top-of-the-line devices such as the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, the Laser Mouse 6000, Comfort Optical Mouse 3000, and Notebook Optical Mouse 3000. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, bringing back cords allowed the company to offer a wide range of features and lower purchase prices.



Of course, cords aren’t the only feature of the new units. The 4000 keyboard is the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s curvy keyboards with the most sculptured shape so far. It looks a little weird when you first try it, but in use is very comfortable. The desktop mice are now have higher resolution optical sensors (making mouse strokes more precise, important in working with graphics) and incorporate a convenient screen magnification tool.

Some companies always have been faithful to corded devices. Kensington, which makes the definitive trackball – the Expert Mouse – has offered consumers the choice of corded or wireless versions of all the trackball’s various incarnations. The current version is a stylish black with four customizable buttons and a ring around the trackball that serves as a scroll wheel. The previous generation Turbo Mouse Pro, also corded, still is available as well.

But it is good to see that other manufacturers are also going back to bases. Choice is good for consumers – even when there are a strings, err, cords, attached.