As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always owned a PC. I started out working PC’s, helping PC users connect to the Internet, building PC’s, networking PC’s, and now I work in a professional setting with a whole bunch of PC’s. However, the more access I have to Apple products, the more I feel that they are the better option for personal computing. Apple computers are fast, the operating system is intuitive, computer performance is solid, and the user experience is beautiful. In addition, I hardly ever hear about any Mac users having problems with their equipment…and when they do, things get taken care of quickly and effectively.

I’m becoming a fan of Apple and the Macintosh more and more every day. Software compatibility is getting much better, especially with the new version of Microsoft Office for the Mac. I believe that compatibility has been a (if not THE) major issue and the reason why people were hesitant to switch to the Mac. Now that Apple switched to the Intel architecture, their performance has increased even more and it also made it possible for people to run Windows on the Mac, therefore getting rid of the compatibility issue.

Now that the Mac can run Windows and Windows applications, there is no reason for people not to buy a Mac. With the price of entry so low, your next computer can easily be a Mac. Mac Mini’s pack a nice punch and cost roughly $600. You provide the mouse, keyboard, and monitor and you’ll be ready to roll.

I think that Apple will continue to grow its audience and users, but I believe that it could really experience exponential and explosive growth if they would release Mac OS for the PC. Although the software would cost less than a new piece of hardware, they could instantly grab millions of users who want to try out the Mac OS for themselves. The Mac operating system is already running on the Intel platform, so why not make it available to those of us who still have a PC? I believe that if Apple were to to this, they would become the number one software giant, hands down. Computer users don’t want another version of a bloated software that hogs more resources and requires more attention to use (Vista, anyone?). Computer users are at a point now where they need something fast that allows them to run applications securely and reliably. I predict that in the near future, Apple will release a version of their OS for PC users. What do you think?
[poll=7]

Yesterday it was announced that Starbucks will be airing a national TV commercial in the near future. My question is, simply, does Starbucks really need a commercial or do they just have so much money to burn that they figured a commercial was a good idea?

In an effort to “to reach out to a broader audience”, Starbucks CEO Jim Donald said that the commercial will try to get people to go back to Starbucks and buy another over priced, over roasted (IMHO) ginormous cup of coffee. Starbucks has done a good job at marketing so far; it seems that its stores along account for a majority of the marketing. I’ll admit that I go to Starbucks once in a while for a quick shot of espresso and I’ll even go to study once in a while. The atmosphere is not bad and the smell really is pretty good. Given that there are approximately two Starbucks per American lining our streets, I think that a commercial is a bit foolhardy. A Starbucks commercial is the equivalent of a commercial for the sun. We all know the sun exists…we all feel the power of the sun, we all see its light. It’s the same for Starbucks. We all know it exists. We see its logo even from afar (if it’s possible to get far enough away from one) and know what the logo is for.

Rather than wasting using their money on a TV commercial campaign, I think Starbucks could do a lot better for themselves, as far as boosting sales, with a long-term project of some sort where they interview their coffee farmers and highlight the fair treatment of the farmers and the benefit that Starbucks brings to the poor communities.

This summer I had the opportunity to live with a family of coffee farmers in Nicaragua for 2 months and I learned a lot about the coffee business. This family acknowledged that even though there is a long way to go, Starbucks is their best client and the ones who pay them the most for coffee. The farmers, I found, only got paid $90-$100 per 100lb bag of coffee. That’s $1 per pound at best. For how much does Starbucks sell a 1lb bag of coffee? Think about it.

Although a TV commercial might help Starbucks sell a few more lattes this winter season, if I were the CEO I would be looking at long term growth and would try to cleanse my mental palette so that I can be a better leader for my company and in return, give a great return to my shareholders. After all, when it’s all said and done even the sun will run out of gas someday.

[poll=4]

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use Google. Especially as a graduate student, I find myself on their website more often than I’d like to admit. I’ve even stopped taking notebooks to class and use Google’s notebook to take notes instead. With so many features, it’s no wonder that their share price has spiked in recent months.

I do think that, as a user, Google has a lot of good things to offer and this is a list of my favorite things I get from Google.

Gmail

Gmail has really changed the way in which I do email. I used to have 5 or 6 email accounts that I looked at daily. It was quite a pain to switch from website to website, enter lots of passwords, and fight all that spam in my mailbox. Not to mention that whenever I had to find a certain message I’d have to waste a lot of time finding it. Additionally, I’d almost always be running out of space with those email services of old.

With Gmail, I am now able to manage more email accounts in a much more efficient manner than ever before. For starters, all of the domain names that I own have email addresses associated with them and I’ve set it up so they go directly to Gmail. Secondly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to run out of space on Gmail. Thirdly, finding messages is a snap. If you don’t have Gmail, you’re missing out.

Google Search

As a curious person, grad student, web developer, webtrepreneur, and web jockey, I must use Google’s search engine at least 50 times per day. With Google, I really don’t think there is much that can’t be found online. Not much more needs to be said about this, so if you’re not using Google search, you’re missing out.

Google Notebook

Google Notebook is one of those things that a lot of people I know don’t even know exist. It’s one of the features that at first I thought: “huh, that’s nice” but now find that it’s very useful. Google Notebook lets you create a seemingly unlimited number of “notebooks” and write as much as you want in each book. I use my Notebooks for class notes, business ideas, plans for blogs, to-do notes, to paste interesting things I find online, and whatever else I can think of.

Google Notebook also has an extension for Firefox that allows you to cut and paste into the notebooks much more efficiently (right click > send to notebook).

Google Documents

Google Notebook’s big brother, Google Documents is a productivity suite that keeps growing. With Docs, it is possible to create Microsoft Word like documents, Excel like spreadsheets, and PowerPoint like presentations. In addition to being full featured, Google Documents is completely free and the best part is that you can share your documents and work in a collaborative environment with others (as long as they also have a Google account).

Google Maps

I gave up using Mapquest a long time ago. Mapquest always seemed to get me lost and turning at the wrong place at the wrong time. Their descriptions weren’t very good either…one time it told me to drive “slightly straight”. I mean, what the heck does that mean? That’s why I was so glad when Google launched their alternative to Mapquest. Since then, my driving directions have been more accurate and nearly fun to get. The map interface is detailed and using it is a breeze.

Bonus: Google Reader

RSS Feeds have become a daily part of information getting and analyzing for me. It’s so simple to go to one place and find my favorite sites’ contents all in one place. Google reader is full featured, easy to use and organize, and with me wherever I go. If you have Google Reader or are about to, make sure to subscribe to my RSS feed!

[poll=3]

Even though I’m not a big NFL fan, I know that today is the “game of the year”. The Indianapolis Colts will play the New England Patriots. Who do you think will win?

[poll=2]