Macbook Air

I think its interesting that apple decreased the price of the least spec Macbook Air rather than increase the specs. I wonder if this was because of the later introduction of the rumored 12 inch retina Macbook Air. Or is the 11/13 inch Macbook Air so perfect that there is no way to improve on it without increasing the price drastically.

I recently bought a 15 inch dell laptop with a touch screen. The only thing new and exciting in the machine was the touch screen. Turns out on a traditional laptop a touch screen isn't that useful or exciting. I barely use the touch screen, or touch features of Windows 8.1. Usage patterns might be different on a 2-in-1 laptop though. Since the Macbook Air is a traditional laptop, I don't see why Apple would add a touch screen.

Even a 2011 Macbook Air is fast and capable enough these days for most tasks. With that in mind, I guess I'm glad that Apple hasn't made any changes to the machine, and has left it perfect as it is. 

Do you trust the operating system that comes installed on your new hardware?

Brand-new hardware -- now with malware pre-installed! 

What Microsoft discovered is that electronics manufacturers' products were being compromised by insecure supply chains. In most cases, the manufacturers were buying, either knowingly or unknowingly, low-cost counterfeit software loaded with malware. Once the counterfeit software is installed, it's ultimately delivered to unsuspecting consumers.

Usually when I buy a new machine, I end up wiping the operating system of the system, and installing a fresh copy of an operating system. Sometimes its because I want to replace the original OS with Linux. Other times its mostly because I want to get a fresh install of Windows without the bloatware. Now there is another reason, though the article says the problem is mostly with vendors in China, its still safer to start fresh.

GigaOm: Data Center in a briefcase

via gigaom