365 Days Later…

One year ago today, Apple released to the general public the first release of Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”. It was a great example how devoted the Mac Faithful can be: hoards of them lined up at the doors to get their hands on the new OS like a new movie had just come out.

Not many people really worried about the whole “early adoption” issue. Everyone assumed that Mac OS X was now mature enough for that not to be an issue. And for the most part, they were right. There were a few minor bug issues, but looking back on the release, there weren’t many initial issues.

This highlights a uniqueness of the Mac Culture. Apple has created, almost singlehandedly, an entire culture or cult of people rallying around, of all things, a company. Not just through the release of Tiger, but through all most of their products over the past, well, 20 years.

Will this happen again? Absolutely. We’ll almost definitely see people lining up at Apple Stores the world over waiting to get their hand on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5).

6th Generation iPod Mockup

Photoshopper Albert Tan has created an extremely impressive mockup of a sixth generation iPod, complete with keypad, microphone and even a tiny camera. It’s a lot better than most mockups I’ve seen and has a great Apple style to it.

(click the image for full size)

I personally don’t think there will ever be an iPod this exquisite, but if there ever was, this comes pretty close to what it would look like.

Money, Money, Money

Over at Wired’s Cult of Mac blog, they’ve also been talking about our friend Stefan, who’s begging the Internet to buy him a new iMac. However, Cult of Mac is begging the Internet not to donate to this guy:

I blew him off completely when he first contacted me, because, well, he’s a guy who’s trying to get a new 20″ iMac for free off of a bunch of strangers. … Please don’t help this guy, whom I really can’t blame for his optimistic effort.

So what does Cult of Mac recommend that those of you with burning holes in your pockets do with your money? How about donate it to some third graders? The idea was to collect donations to buy a third grade classroom an iMac. However, they’ve since got all the donations they need:

We reached full funding on the iMac before 1 p.m. Pacific — way less than 30 hours after the drive started. … And if you still want to give, or if you’re PC user, explore Donors Choose.

Video: Tekserve iPod Dominos Ad

A new ad for New York City Apple Reseller Tekserve has been making the rounds on YouTube- a line of iPods being knocked over like dominoes. The ad has been a hit on Mac news sites so far, so it only seems appropriate it goes here as well.

The video link can be found here; I would embed the standard YouTube player, but I'm having problems getting that up, so just watch it from their website.

Donations for a Switcher

For over two weeks now, a guy named Stefan from Keller, Texas, United States has been gaining some notoriety and money in the Mac culture. What he’s been doing is posting videos of himself and running a blog trying to convince lots of people to donate to him a small amount of money so he can switch to Mac.

What makes this an interesting example of Mac Culture is not just that he’s attempting this, but that he already has over $900. It makes you wonder if Stefan would’ve ever got that money if he just said “buy me a new computer”, instead of “buy me a new Mac”. This shows, that in the Mac Culture, people are not only willing to pay money to support their favorite company beyond buying their products, but are willing to pay money to help someone they don’t know support their favorite company.

They Got It Right?

Yesterday, Apple released its new 17 inch MacBook Pro at NAB. What made this release of an Apple product unique was the fact that the rumor sites actually guessed it right! Now, they might not have gotten the specifics exactly right, but getting the overall announcement right is more than they usually do.

This is especially significant because before Apple’s last event many rumor sites proudly predicted that Steve would introduce a “true” video iPod. However, only Intel Mac minis, a soon-forgotten stereo system, and $99 leather iPod cases. The Mac Rumor Mill has been getting less and less accurate in recent months, seemingly basing its rumors off hopes, not actual information. However, they may be getting back on track, or maybe they just had a lucky guess this time.