Boulder Computer Repair

Apple: Bring Jobs Back to America

2009-03-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

With Apple making billions and billions in profits (even in a bad economy), you'd think they could afford to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.A. and still make a decent profit. Once a company like Apple has more than $25 billion dollars in cash on hand, that tells me they are either charging too much for their products, or they could make a little less and invest in American manufacturing facilities. I think you can make money, be competitive, and do the right thing - all at the same time.

Intel is investing $7 billion over the next two years to improve U.S. based manufacturing facilities, and in the process will create 7,000 new high-wage jobs in this country. The only question will be - can we find qualified workers in the U.S. to fill these high-tech jobs? I certainly hope so. If the United States is to stay economically competitive, we need more than service jobs. We need high-tech manufacturing jobs. It is time for Apple to follow Intel's lead and bring some of these jobs back to our own shores.

And please don't tell me it can't be done...that companies *need* to manufacture overseas to stay competitive. That is a load of crap. You can buy a quality espresso maker made in Italy that costs only $100 more than a crappy one made in China. You can buy an electric toothbrush (Oral-B) made in Germany for the same price as one made in China. And you can still buy a few things made in this country that are well made and priced competitively.

Apple, please "think different" and consider investing more in America. You'll share some of your obscene wealth with American workers, and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time. Imagine if your labels said "Designed and Assembled in California". How cool would that be?

Time-Saving Mac and Windows Shortcuts

2008-09-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

We all appreciate time-savers. Typing less ultimately means less work, and more play. If you're a Mac User, Here are 10 Essential Shortcuts Macworld believes everyone should know:

Come on PC users, don't get discouraged and drown yourself with more coffee. Here are helpful shortcuts you can use too:

One more helpful hint for Mac users (PC users, more to come for you), if you're tired of repeatedly typing out the same text, like addresses or other long forms, Macworld recommends a couple of Text Expansion programs that will do the work for you. Riccardo Ettore's TypeIt4Me 4 is only $27 and can be purchased on Ettore's page. Or, you can spend a few more bucks and buy TextExpander 2.

Kick your feet up and have a great weekend!

Apple: Environmental Record Improving

2008-09-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Nonprofit Climate Counts, rates Apple as “stuck” when it comes to taking meaningful action on climate change. Apple receives a mere 11 out of 100 on the Climate Counts scale, and is criticized for having “no publicly available information on efforts to measure its companywide impact on global warming”. Apple did make an effort in May of 2007, when Steve Jobs posted his “A Greener Apple” memo. Even GreenPeace showed praise with regard to Jobs’s promise to phase out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), stating “That beats Dell and other manufacturer’s… Way to go Steve!”

Although Climate Counts recognizes “Apple has completed analysis of the impact that many of its products have on global warming”, it seems the company’s lack of promised annual updates is keeping them at the back of the pack. Compared to IBM’s score of 77 and even second to last Nokia, with a score of 37, it would seem Jobs has some ground to make up.

As a consumer of Apple products, and one who considers myself a conscious consumer at that, I was gravely disappointed to read about Apple’s lack of follow through when it comes to being transparent about environmental policy. I do appreciate the company’s history of environmental practices, I would however hope to hear more from Steve Jobs about the next steps his company will take to reduce their impact.

Take Action Now and encourage Steve Jobs to follow through on his promise to keep consumers informed of Apple's environmental efforts!

** UPDATE MARCH 2009 **

I feel Apple has made legitimate efforts in the past year to become more environmentally conscious. Part of their problem in this area has always been secrecy and lack of a policy stance. If you analyze Apple's most recent products, most of them are made with more recyclable materials than their competitors. Additionally, most of their notebook displays now use mercury-free LED backlighting (non-LED backlights are not even an option). Printed circuit boards, electrical components, mechanical parts, and internal cables are BFR-free and PVC-free.

Skip Windows Vista

2008-06-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista is a disaster. I have been in the computer business since 1991, and I have never seen such resistance to an operating system - and for a good reason. To put it plainly, Vista is garbage.

I can make this definitive statement not because I have ever installed Vista on one of our machines, but due to the fact that I've been forced to work on it for some residential customers. These unfortunate souls were force-fed Vista when they went to Best Buy, Circuit City, or other retail outlet to get a new computer and XP was not an option. Little did they know about the hell they would be going through with Vista.

Here are a few reasons I dislike Vista so much:

Outrageous hardware requirements. Based on thousands of reports from users, XP runs faster on much older hardware than Vista runs on new hardware.
Driver incompatibility issues. Printers, cameras, and other devices that worked fine with XP often have problems in Vista.
UAC (User Account Control). UAC bothers you with an Allow/Deny window WAY too often...for example, simply adding a printer will present you with a window asking for your permission to complete the task. Note that you can turn off this intrusive security "feature", but if you are going to defeat Vista's numerous security enhancements, why not just stick with XP?
Instability. With two minutes of working on a client's Vista machine, I got the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
Confusing user interface (UI). Again, I have been in this business for a long time, and simply finding where I should go to connect to a wireless network was a major hassle. The UI is too busy and translucent Windows and other graphic elements are distracting. Microsoft seemed way too focused on the "cool factor" here, and copying OS X, but they did not do a good job at either task.

What to Do?

WAIT. Simply wait until the next version of Windows arrives ("Windows 7" is due to be released sometime in 2009-2011). Don't laugh to hard at this estimate. Microsoft is used to releasing major OS revisions every 6 years.

What If You Already Have Vista?

If you are not frustrated with Vista - stick with it. Some people have told me that they are "happy enough" with Vista, and they only browse the web and check their email. Perhaps some people just don't know what the appropriate level of performance should be for their computer, so they have no reason to be dissatisfied. However, if you are confused by Vista, hate its performance, or have compatibility issues, then consider upgrading to XP (if you can still find it as of this writing).