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Last week, in the biggest election in the history of the United States, the electoral system was upgraded to much simpler voting machines. These new machines are better for both the voters as well as the voting staff who have to count the votes because the counting is done digitally instead of having to count each ballot individually, these machines can count automatically and save time and struggle.  The other benefit it that by using a computer to count is it eliminates the human errors that occurred in the 2000 election, with the hanging chads on the Florida paper ballots.

I was able to vote for the first time this Election and at my own polling place, the machine was a panel with buttons on for each party  for each office, it also had a straight ticket button to select all the candidates from one party to save time of pushing all those buttons. I believe, that this solution is the best because if the machines move to LCD touch screens, they will be more expensive and have more things that can go wrong with the machines. However, if they do go towards that solution I would recommend that they use a specialized version of Linux that only does what it has to making it more secure and allows it to do what it needs to the best it can and removes functions that are not needed and could compromise the integrity of the vote.

The problem many people have with using digital voting is that if they are based on computer, computers can be hacked and could result in inaccurate results. That is why I believe that by using a limited version of Linux that would only do what it needs to and would be designed to not be hacked. The other issue is people need to be presumed to be technically literate, or to be capable to using these machines successfully. In order to make the transition to these machines fully successful, would require training sessions for people to make sure they know how to operate the machines.

I also think that another idea that could be utilized is voting over the Internet. That would allow people to vote without having to stand in lines and spend time and would result in a better vote turnout because people would have no reason not to vote. This would require use of specialized PIN numbers and a secure website to prevent voting fraud but, I think that would be the best option because then anyone could vote. Even if the people do not have their own Internet access, they could go to a public place with computers available to vote.

Two weeks ago, Internet Television pioneer, Revision3, laid off nine of their workers much to the up roar of their fans.  They also let go of five of their shows, two of which were a syndication of already popular shows.  The reason given for these drastic actions was because there was not enough of an audience for these shows and because of the current economic crisis, money is tight and they wanted to make sure Revision3 could last and continue to produce high quality videos for their fans.

Due to those circumstances, the following shows met their end: Pop Siren, Pixel Perfect, and Internet Superstar, in addition, the two syndicated shows, Epic Fu and Wine Library TV were also removed from the network line-up. In my opinion the cancellation of some of theses shows were warranted, like Internet Superstar which I though had very little value especially after the reformatting. Pop Siren was in it’s earlier days a great show that  thoroughly enjoyed but, when they moved to the 2.0 format it lost it’s value and lost my viewership. Pixel Perfect in my opinion was at the core of what Revision3 was supposed to be, a Internet version of what Tech TV was, which was high quality, technology programming. By cutting Pixel Perfect, Revision3 took one more step closer to becoming another G4. As for the syndicated shows, it was really unwise to begin the syndication in the first place and they put money in it  that they really should have used that money to invest in developing more high quality shows. Gary Vaynerchuk, host of Wine Library TV, even said that he totally agreed with cutting the shows because it was not the right move for Revision3 to spend resources on shows they do not produce.

With all that said, I think that there are still shows on the network that are not worth continuing and should have been canceled instead of Pixel Perfect. The one show I would cancel is The Digg Reel, although it is easy to produce because it is mostly video off of the Digg Video section, mixed with the host commenting on and introducing the videos. That provides very little value to the viewer and really does not deserve to be produced while Pixel Perfect got the axe.

It is unfortunate that these shows had to be canceled and talented people like Sarah Lane and Martin Sargent lost their jobs however. my hope is that Revision3 uses these cancelations as a refresh of the network. I hope they will go back to their roots and go back to informative shows instead of some of the junk they have been producing in recent times.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and Apple Week is one of those things. I have enjoyed writing about Apple for the past week but, it is time to move on to other topics. However, this will not be the last time I will write about Apple. The reason is as Steve Jobs says “If you want to see the future, look to Apple” I believe that Apple always is doing something interesting and plan to continue to write about it through-out my blogging career. I will definitely keep Apple topics in the mix of all my other articles for the future.

Despite the many years of Windows-Only use, I have realized that now the Macintosh OS is much better than the Windows system. The reason is because the Mac OS is just simply more elegant and looks so much better Windows is just average while, Mac OS looks like are on the machine.  In addition once you start using the mac and get used to it, the mac is much faster to get things done because of the simplicity. Another advantage is that the Mac OS is built on Unix and because of that, it’s security is vastly superior to Windows and it does not have any viruses to wreck your system. Finally, Mac OS has a lot of great programs built in and makes it much easier to get started faster without any extra work.

I know this article is short but those are all of the basic reasons on why Mac OS is superior, and the simplicity and saftey make the mac a much better environment. Also, Apple makes a limited number of systems and because of that, there are not nearly as many compatibility as Windows. The only downside of the Mac is the larger price tag, that goes with buying a Mac but, I believe it is totally worth it!

After the latest round of notebook updates, Apple has made the Macbooks a lot more powerful and could be a good option for the majority of people who want a macbook and allows them to save a lot of money. The Macbook Pro has a few advantages but, now that the Macbook has the multi touch interface, alluminum case, and the backlit keyboard which were originally only availible on the Macbook Pro.

The features that are only avalible on the Macbook Pro are the built-in express card slot. This is needed only if you need to add additional USB or Firewire slots with an Express Card or a memory card reader that you would have to buy seperatly.  Another feature is the larger screen Macbooks only come with 13 inch screens but, Macbook Pros boast a 15.4 inch and 17 inch screens so if you need a bigger screen, then you may want to opt for the Macbook Pro. The Macbook Pro also has faster processor options the Macbook can get as powerful as a 2.4 GHZ processor while, the Macbook Pro can go as high as 2.8 GHZ. The Pro also has an extra graphics card that the user can togle to if they want higher performance and want to sacrifice 1 hour of battery life.  Finally, the Pro has a Firewire port which is used many by video producers to capture video from a camera.

The Macbook Pro’s extra features make it $400 more than the high-end Macbook and has a few extra feature and the Macbook would be a great laptop for the average user. However people who might want to consider the pro are people doing high-end video or photo editing or anything graphically demanding the pro is probably the option for them. Also, if you need Firewire or Express Card the Macbook Pro is for you! Otherwise, save your money  and get the macbook!

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When I got my Macbook Pro, it was the first time I have used a Mac that was my own, and one that I had an administrator account and full access. I loved all the fun things built into the mac that Windows does not come with and the simplicity and elegance is a major improvement over Windows XP.  When I booted up for the first time, I setup the machine and then logged in I was already ready to use within the first 5 minutes. Another really nice thing, is there is no start menu of applications, instead,  you can either put applications on the dock for quick access or they are in the finder under Applications listed alphabetically. Installing Applications is extremely easy too, all you need top do is download the .dmg and then when you open it drag the Applications Folder and it is installed. Another awesome feature of the mac, is it comes with all the drivers set and the hardware is all setup. One thing that my mac did that was a very nice surprise for me is that it came with a built-in PDF reader and Flash Player which usually has to be installed manually. This is nice because although I could install the applications on my own,  it is much easier to just open the computer and get right to work!

Macs also come with some really cool software out of the box that are great  fun and can be used productivly too. Macs come with imovie, video editing, iWeb for web design, iPhoto, a great photo management applications, ical, and photobooth which take pictres ands has a lot of really cool effects. These are nice not just for casual use but, it can also be used for semi-professionals.

All-in-all with all the great features built-in make it much more apparent why people choose the mac over Windows. With everything built-in it makes it much more easy to just boot up the computer and then get right to the work that you need to get done. The Mac OS has elegance, power and speed making Windows look like a thing of the past. These bonus features built in to the OS, paired with it’s elegance and power makes Mac OS worth the major price difference, I reccomend considering a mac when it is time to buy a new computer.

Two weeks ago, you might have noticed that I did not write a Friday post for that week, the reason is that I had just gotten my new Macbook Pro and was busy migrating to it from my old Dell to the Mac and was unfortuantly not able to write a post. I got the newly-updated Macbook Pro, and after using it for two weeks, think it is the best computer that I have used in my entire life.

The Macbook Pro has a gorgeous 15.4 inch screen that is both bright and glossy and make watching video or look at pictures an extremely enjoyable experience. The keyboard is extremely comfortable, and easy to use although, it does lack a home and end key which is nice for when I need to get directly to the top or bottom of a website. Another really nice feature, is that the keyboard has a LED backlight and because of that if there is not enough light then, the backlight will go on allowing you to see the keyboard and get your work done. The built-in super drive makes optical media a simple solution even though it sounds very crunchy and sounds horrible when the drive starts up. The speakers are extremely high quality and equally important they can be amplified to extremely loud volumes. One of the biggest new features is the multi-touch, which has gotten rave reviews both positive and negative over the lack of buttons. I think it works extremely well without the button and allows the users to customize their trackpad to the way they like it. Although the gestures are cool, I have not incorporated them in my daily life mainly because I don’t use the trackpad built-in to any of my laptops but, also because I have not gotten a chance to learn them all yet because there are so many and I do not see them as much of a time saver. Another thing the Macbook Pro has over the Macbook is the firewire port and an express card slot. These are important mainly to professionals who need firewire for cameras and express card to expand their computer, the average user probably is better saving money with a Macbook unless they need faster graphics, express card or Firewire. Another amazing feature is a hardware battery meter which can be used whether the computer is on or off to determine what the battery charge is, previously this was on the bottom of the laptop but, it is now in the much more convenient location on the side of the laptop.

As far computing goes, the Macbook Pro runs a 2.4 GHZ duel core processor which makes computing very fast and also has the option to be upgraded as high as 2.8 GHZ. The Macbook pro comes with 2 GB of the new, faster DDR3 RAM and has been tested to utilize as much as 6 GB of RAM. The other feature the Macbook Pro has over the Macbook is it has two graphics cards and allows the users to toggle between the two cards for the option of better graphical performance or better battery life. The switch can be made simply by selecting option and then logging out and logging back in.

Overall the Macbook Pro and the Macbook, which is really the same computer with a slightly less-powerful processor and smaller screen are both extremely elegant and powerful laptops. I only have two complaints, first is that all Mac notebooks do not have memory card readers which is something that I think every computer needs since, more and more devices use memory cards and a memory card reader is something that every computer should have. My only other complaint is that the new line of Mac laptops use a proprietary display port that require users to buy an adapter just to use a secondary monitor which is plain ridiculous for a computer at that price! Even though I veyr rarley use a secondary display I always like having the option and choice to use it.

I plan to continue coverage of my major switch expirences not only for the remainder of Apple Week but, also throughout the future of my blog.

It seems that when ever Apple so much as updates it’s products or it’s CEO, Steve Jobs, looks a little sick, they make front page news. Apple is the subject of a wide variety of rumor sites and speculation. Everything Apple does ends up being a big deal and why doesn’t Microsoft’s Product announcements or any other company get as much attention when they put out their new products. I believe that there are several reasons that this occurs and this is also why people are willing to pay more for their products.

The primary reason is that they have a “cult” leader, Steve Jobs, that makes product announcements exciting and makes them something people will remember years in the future. He also makes his keynotes by adding his unique style in it and adding humor when necessary.

The next reason Apple has the following it does and why people are willing to pay the extra money for the mac is because Apple products have become a fashion statement and is cool to have them. Apple also has the best advertising campaigns around and by making their products appear to be the best around and by putting their commercials to catchy songs as they usually do, which makes the song get stuck in the viewer’s head and has them thinking of the product all day.

Even though a lot of Apple’s products are not the first of it’s kind, Apple makes it’s products unique and make the consumers want to have the best even if it really isn’t. For example, before Apple released the iPods, MP3 players existed from many other companies but, Apple made their iPod be simple and elegant and the iPod ended up getting a 75% market share in the Mp3 player market. Same with the iPhone, there have been smartphones since the 1990’s but, when Apple released theirs they made it such a big deal that it was able to gain a 25% market share in it’s first year.

Finally, Apple computers cost more than a Dell or HP computer yet many people choose the mac why? It is because Apple’s operating system is more advanced than Windows, is more secure and provides much more simplicty. Mac OS has been a major improvement in my computing life and is probably the best computer choice I have ever made. Apple could put a product that hardly works on the market but, it will still sell because the Apple brand is so powerful.

I have decided that every once-in-a-while, I will do an entire week’s worth of blog posts about a single area of interest. I hope that these theme weeks will allow me to share everything I can about certain topics and allow all my topics to combined under the one encompassing theme. I will not be doing a single theme every week but, I will do it when I have a bunch of topics I want to put together.

I recently got a brand new Macbook Pro and this is my very first mac! I decided that because this is a big change that I would dedicate the next blog posts for this copming week to cover all sorts of Apple topics from software, to an actual review of my Macbook Pro and much more. I hope to express and share my new expirences with everyone and help others making the switch to the Mac.  I hope everyone enjoys Mac week and all the other theme weeks in the future. I will also have a special category for all the theme weeks so that you can read the whole week’s worth of articles with ease.