Apple corps

Apple corps

Missed this last week -- not enough time. Apple is having trouble keeping up with demand for the Mac Mini. Big surprise? Not around here. If you want one of these little (tiny?) computers, give Apple the extra $100 to double the disk size and increase the processor speed a bit. The Mac Mini isn't the right choice if you're a video or graphics pro, but it's a great way to find out what makes Apple tick.

Speaking of small stuff, there are reports that Apple will soon ship a larger Ipod Mini. Seagate is reported to be the supplier for 1-inch drives with a 5GB capacity. Until now, Apple has used Hitachi's 1-inch drives, but Hitachi's limit is currently 4GB. Hitachi is working on larger capacity drives and hopes to ship 8GM and 10GB 1-inch drives by the end of 2005.

That's news in its own right: can you imagine a 10GB drive that's an INCH wide and about the thickness of three credit cards? If you're old enough to remember 10MB disk drives the size of washing machines, this might be a bit difficult to comprehend.

Sources say the next generation Ipod Mini will be silver (like the PowerBook). And speaking of PowerBooks -- there's a chance that Apple will ship a G5 PowerBook later this year. That should be a real lap warmer. The G4 PowerBooks get too hot to be held on the lap, so one has to wonder what will happen when there's a G5 processor in there!

Where all the children are above average
If you're familiar with Garrison Keillor, you know that all the children in Lake Woebegone are above average. If you've ever spoken with a bad driver who caused a wreck, you've probably been told it was "the other guy's fault." Should we be surprised by research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project that says 92% of Internet users feel they are confident about their ability to use search engines even though only 38% are able to tell the difference between paid and unpaid results and less than 20% of search engine users can always tell which results are paid and which are not?

Actually, I am a bit surprised. It makes me wonder how many people who listen to WTVN are unable to tell the difference between the drivel Joe and I put forth and the advertisements people pay to have played ... how many people can tell the difference between "Entertainment Tonight" and a commercial for Buddy's Carpet (well, OK, maybe that's a bit of a stretch) ... or how many people can tell the difference between an editorial in the Dispatch, news coverage, and ads.

This week I received a forwarded message from a highly intelligent professional who fell for a hoax that's been around the Internet since the mid 1990s. It's one that could easily have been checked and debunked with a 30-second trip to the Urban Legends website.

The lesson? Caution. Don't assume that just because it appeared on a website that it's true. Don't assume that just because someone you consider to be intelligent sent something to you that it's true. There's a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there. If the nation is to survive, we need more skeptics.

Oh, by the way, have you heard -- they took "gullible" out of the dictionary!