Max Bleich Dot Com

  “What’s a computer?” I’m a nerd. I collect and restore old iBooks and MacBooks for fun. I built a PC (who hasn’t in 2020?). I own a lot of computers. But there is no computer I love nearly as much as the iPad. And I have had a lot of iPads. I waited in line for the first iPad in 2010, thinking it would be an ideal MacBook replacement, and it fell noticeably short. Beyond not having a physical keyboard accessory that was easy to transport, the original iPad simply lacked the available software and processing power of the Mac and was ultimately not sufficient at the time as a full-on ‘computer.’ I didn’t give up. Becoming particularly enamored with the idea of turning an iPad into a laptop replacement, I tried again, souping up an iPad Mini 1 st generation with a keyboard case (a ClamCase—remember those?!). Again, the iPad was not enough. I tried again, this time with the iPad 5 th generation. I loved this iPad. I managed to get most of my work done during a summer internship wit

It’s time for another transition. For Apple, this is the fourth major transition in its product history, beginning with the shift from Motorola’s 68000 chipset to IBM PowerPC processors in the 90s, to the major overhaul of Mac OS X from legacy Mac OS 9, and most recently with transition from PowerPC to Intel. This isn’t Apple’s first rodeo, albeit it could get messy, especially for consumers who likely aren’t familiar with the differences between Intel, AMD, and ARM processors (although the RISC instruction set is only a small piece of the Apple SoC story). While there has been much chatter from the pundits exclaiming the glory of the Apple SoC, the rest of the world remains unfamiliar with how important this transition is not only for Apple, but for the entire industry.  It is my feeling that the benefits of using Apple’s integrated System on a Chip (SoC) far outweigh translation limitations when porting over apps from Intel, and it feels like Apple really softened the blow with mac

7 A.M, I wake up to a gentle ringing and pick up my beautiful silver Apple Watch from the pseudo-charging cradle that lays beside my bed on a nightstand: it is time for another day with my latest toy and companion. As I shower, watch on wrist, I shift through Bob Dylan and Joan Baez tracks while checking the weather and responding to late night texts I had missed. The watch, although quoted to be water resistant, is in actuality waterproof for short periods of time and ignorant to certain low water pressures. On my drive to the office my watch vibrates with a reminder to call my friend David, who I easily ask Siri to call and I talk to from my watch. Is this real life? Sure is! The sound isn't tinny, it's not booming either, but just loud and clear enough to enjoy the conversation instead of dreading it. Throughout the work day I receive dozens of light taps that don't annoy me the way my obnoxious Pebble did (vibrating so loud it would shake the table under

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT INSTALL THIS ON YOUR MAIN MACHINE UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH BETA SOFTWARE, OS X LIBRARIES, DARWIN, OR UNIX. THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL OPERATING SYSTEM AND IS NOT MEANT FOR DAILY USE UNTIL FINAL RELEASE IN THE FALL.  Mac OS X was released on March 24th, 2001 to Apple customers running PowerPC Macintosh computers in a world before 9/11 occurred, or a war on terror, or iPhones and iPods even existed. Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah was perhaps the most advanced Operating System to ever erupt from a company- way bigger, more intuitive, and much more beautiful than Microsoft's Windows XP, also released August that year. It was the first Apple OS to include protective memory, preemptive multitasking, a UNIX-based kernel, and the ubiquitous and delicious "Aqua" user interface. Here's a picture of what it looked like, compliments of Wikipedia. As you can see, Mac OS X was beautiful back then. And it's beautiful today too. Here's a pictu

A little watch history: In 1983, Casio developed the G-Shock in an attempt to ruggedize the wristwatch for rougher environments. Today, G-Shocks run anywhere from $60-$1700, and have a variety of high-tech features. The latest G-Shock features a low-powered bluetooth chip allowing two-way communication with an iPhone and a select number of Android phones, allowing users to receive calls and play music. The G-Shock is transforming from a watch into a wearable computer. And Casio is not the only company exploring this middle ground. Pebble and Samsung have released true multi-purpose wristwatches, more affectionately named smartwatches. Apple is rumored to be releasing their own unit within the year. Google is on a fast-track to releasing its own wearable computer: Glass, which rests on the head instead of the wrist. Many more companies are rumored to be working on devices users can wear to connect to a smartphone. In fact, the smartwatch could be thought of as the next

I'm a pretty devoted user of Chrome and Chrome OS. I have three machines in my house that run the OS, and a work machine running the Chrome browser. I have made it my goal to use Google's Chrome operating system whenever possible. So far, I have only had one reason to use my old broken-down MacBook, and that was so I could burn a few CDs for my car. Other than that, I have relied primarily on my Chrome OS machines, an Acer Nettop running Chromium OS, an Acer C7 (my main machine) running Chrome OS, and my Samsung Chromebook also running Chrome OS. I have found tons of awesome ways to do what I normally would have done on my MacBook, and I have not missed using it at all. Not being near my Chromebooks makes me miss them. It simply is a better way to compute. Everything from word processing, to blog management, to news, music, movies, and of course, browsing the web, is better on the Chromebook. Yet, the question has arisen: will Chromebooks rise like the Netbook and stay that

What is it? This is the latest update to Acer's line of Google Chromebooks, running Google's own Chrome OS- a super light, super fast, and very focused operating environment that brings web apps and the best browser available to the forefront to be the ONLY application available on the system. Despite this "limitation," the device allows users to do the same things (pretty much) that you can do on a full-fledged desktop. Web, email, word processing, spreadsheets, music management, photo management, social networking, news, movies, tv shows... it's all here, and it works well. Who is it for? This isn't for everybody. Let me repeat myself. THIS ISN'T FOR EVERYBODY. In fact, if anything, this is only for those who can handle the reality that you will ONLY be able to use the device with web apps. This isn't the same as a Mac or a PC. It's very different. But if you're pretty much or completely living your computing life in the cloud (like

If you've been reading my stuff for a while, you'd know that I was one of the thousands of early Chromebook adopters, being sent one of Google's Cr-48 laptops back in December of 2010. I've also used many of these devices since the unveiling of the official first model about two years ago at Google I/O. Since then, I've tried, tested, and used four different Chromebooks. It has taken me sometime to formulate a concrete opinion about the units, but I have since decided that these aren't just toys anymore: they're real, usable, and affordable for what they are capable of.  Needless to say, Google has hit a home-run with the latest rendition of Chrome OS, and the current line up of Chromebooks satisfies almost every sector of the laptop buying market. For the past three months I have been rocking Samsung's Model 3 Chromebook. It is perhaps the fastest, cheapest, and most versatile Chromebook I have ever used. As Chris Zeigler of The Verge put it a

Google Glass is  supposed to be the top-notch futuristic way to communicate in the land of tomorrow. It allows you to carry out many functions that are arguably very useful; such as a built-in GPS to help you get around, Google search everywhere, the ability to make calls and texts hands-free, and the ability to capture every moment you desire in the form of pictures or video. Folks, I think this is going to be a very bad thing for humans... especially with my generation. We grew up with these technologies, and they have been a part of us since the get-go. We have always had a lot of information available to us instantly, and the amount of information we are expected to know by the end of high school is crazy to even think about. Sure, we're smart. But we simply aren't able to keep focused on multiple tasks at hand. None of us are. And what is even more problematic is the reality that we all have very short attention spans. We are all very easily distracted. It isn't our f

Google put a phone in your pocket, maps on your computer, android on your TV, a cheap tablet in your backpack and now they’re trying to take over a new part of your life: your face. Google Glass Explorer is  a new venture to put googly googs on your eyes. Google aims to roll out Glass Explorer in the third Fiscal Quarter of 2013. Units will be available just in time for the holiday season. The price is not yet known. Technology experts from The New York Times and The Verge predict it will run somewhere between $99 to $249. Glass will be a heads-up-display. It will always be in your peripheral vision and always accessible with the simple prompt, “okay glass,” followed by a command: “Okay glass, take a picture.” Boom. Glass takes a picture. “Okay glass, call mom.” Glass calls your mother right away. Glass is thin and light: purposely designed to get out of the way. You aren’t supposed to notice it on your face. The goal is to have the technology there when you need it, and have it disapp

Review Background Ever since I can remember I've been hunting for an inexpensive way to carry out my typical computational needs and desires. Five or so years ago, I thought that was only possible through older machines. So I bought an old iBook Clamshell. It worked... but it wasn't fast, it didn't support some modern software, and the battery life sucked (even after I bought a new one!). Because of this, the next device I purchased was a snow iBook. Same problem. Next! I bought a Netbook. Finally I realized that I wasn't going to get away with buy all these sub-200 dollar devices and having them work very well, so I buckled down and bought a MacBook. It lasted me more than three years before the hardware just wasn't good enough anymore, and the trackpad broke. Now, I have my Dell Vostro 3450- the best laptop I have ever owned. I ran Windows 7 on it for about a month or two before I decided that Ubuntu would work best on it. But I have never been satisfied with a la

Windows has been built onto ever since Windows 2000, 12 years ago. Yeah, I said "built onto" as in, Microsoft has kept the same, unstable, decaying core of the operating system, simply adding on top of the framework new layers. Layers that are unneeded and unpractical still exist. Layers that need updating but are ignored still exist. It's like digging a hole in sand. It just keeps filling up, and you'll never get to where you need to. Windows 8 is bad. Real bad. Microsoft essentially took Windows Phone 7, Xbox's UI, and Windows 7 and mashed it into a bastard child only Steve Ballmer could love. Do you want to know what is wrong with the new Windows? Do you want to know your alternative choices? What about what you can and should do now to prepare? Read on past the break to find out why Windows 8 is a bad idea.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple probably said it best at last weeks' "new iPad" presentation when he said we are now totally immersed into a post-PC world, where Apple is at the forefront, and Apple has reinvented portable computing with it's iPad. But Apple also made a very interesting pun that not only applies to it's new iPad, but also to the company itself in this last year. It's not revolutionary... but rather,  resolutionary. There have been countless huge changes to the company in this last year, but all the while, the company has been able to shift itself slowly in the right direction, making small changes to big things, and doing a great job at it.

Max Bleich is the Editor-in-Chief of thetechtile, who monthly publishes to the website a long-form editorial on the world in consumer electronics. From Apple to Google to Sony and Samsung, just about every topic in the tech world has or will be hit at some point. This month, Max will be commenting on the Apple TV, and it's underlying ambition to rule the living room.  Perhaps one of the loftiest news stories that we've seen explode over the 'net in the last few days has been CBS's public revealing of their denial of an opportunity to work with Apple, who would have brought CBS content to Apple's TV platform. For anybody who isn't aware, the current Apple TV is a $99 device that currently serves as a do-everything streaming box. It connects iTunes content with YouTube, Netflix, user photo slideshows and news. However, despite the low price point, the device still remains nothing more than a "hobby"- which the late Steve Jobs has considered it to be from