Field Guide to Programmers » Hardware

MacBook Air Baffles TSA

jamiegrove — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:19:34 +0000

I just got back from a trip and I had to post this one. Hilarious.

They pull my laptop, my new laptop making its first trip with me, out of the flow of bags. One takes me aside to a partitioned cubicle. Another of the endless supply of TSA agents takes the rest of my bags to a different cubicle. No yellow brick road here, just a pair of yellow painted feet on the floor, and my flight is boarding. I am made to understand that I should stand and wait. My laptop is on the table in front of me, just beyond reach, like I am waiting to collect my personal effects after being paroled.

[Via: Wide Awake Developers]

MacBook Air Ad:

Dell laptop tries to lose weight after watching Air launch video:

Why Apple Works

jamiegrove — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:33:41 +0000

Reg Braithwaite has a brilliant piece about Apple as a purveyor of hardware as opposed to software.

Apple is in the hardware business:

People who think of the argument as being Apple vs. Microsoft think of the two companies as being in the OS business. But Apple is not in the OS business, and hasn’t been in that business since Jobs returned and quickly killed the OEM Macintosh market. Think of an iPod touch. Would anybody argue that when you buy an iPod you are buying a copy of OS X with a dongle that happens to play music attached to it? Seriously? is anybody complaining that they can’t transfer their copy of OS X from an iPod touch to whatever lame music player Microsoft is peddling this week?

[Via: raganwald]

Yeah, so what if I’m a fan boy too.

XO Laptop – A Real Machine

jamiegrove — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:15:06 +0000

The XO is definitely not a toy.

ScribeMedia.Org » This is Not a Toy: The Little Computer That Could:

The XO laptop is packed with features that make those of us with MacBook Pros, Toughbooks and HP Tablets a bit jealous. XO has a screen that you can use in direct sunlight, it’s light, compact and strong. It consumes so little energy that it can be charged with solar panels, cranks and foot pedals!

The OLPC team is headed by Nicolas Negroponte (the founder of MIT lab) and consists of leading mathematicians, programmers, psychologists, engineers, musician/activists, businessmen and humanitarians.