Tuesday Morning Ramblings -- For the Bakken, Skip and Scroll

8. At the Starbucks at Harvard Square, Cambridge, on the second floor, the staff routinely comes by in the morning to offer visitors a small cup of one of their prestige coffee. Today it's a lemony Ethiopian coffee, and something they do rarely, it was accompanied with a small lemon bar. Life is funny. I used to detest Starbucks. But it's the only coffee my wife will drink (if given the option), and over time, I have become a loyal customer for Stabucks. It is amazing what a quality product combined with great customer attention can do. 

7. Wow, this is turning into Apple rambling today. See several paragraphs below. I talked earlier about all the white MacBooks I still see in Starbucks. Actually, I guess I missed this. Apple sold the MacBook from 2006 to 2011. It was their best-selling Macintosh in history but was "quietly" discontinued and "replaced" by the MacBook Air.  (You really have to appreciate a computer company that discontinues their best selling computer of all time. Apple does think differently. But I digress). The reason I am back to this, is because a most attractive person has coincidentally sat next to me and has one of the new (2011) white MacBooks. Incredible.

6.  Well, this is interesting. See if this makes sense to you. As background, the Boston metropolitan area has one of the best public transportation systems in the US. The system is going broke, mostly because "they" paid for the underground automobile complex (known as the "Big Dig") with public transportation funds.  That's my worldview; others will have a different viewpoint exactly how and why the subway/bus system is going broke. But I digress. The important point is that the system is in deep financial doo-doo.

So, today, the front-page, above-the-fold, headline story in the Boston Globe is that the city will no longer charge to ride the "Silver Line." The Silver Line is the bus route that gets one from the city to Logan Airport. Officials are hoping that by offering free rides on the Silver Line, it will relieve congestion at the airport. Okay. The Silver Line costs $2.00 and gets you into the subway system for no additional cost which will take you anywhere in the Boston metropolitan area. So, all those business men and women, in their "Sunday best," on an expense account, will save the $2.00 for an $800 plane ticket, neither of which they would pay for in the first place. For the casual tourist travel, she will save $2.00 for a $400 plane ticket. I could be wrong on this. But for $2.00, there is not a better transportation deal in the Boston area. The deal has gotten better.

The airport will pay the MBTA $100,000, I believe, for this. I don't have the newspaper in front of me.

5. This may seem strange, re-posting a comment (see below) up here in the blog itself, but it's a great comment and I don't want it to get lost; it has to do with Apple again (sorry):

I have a number of Apple products including the Mini. It's my main home media server and my primary way to view TV shows and movies. It's hooked up to our TV in the living room and connected to 6 terabytes of HD storage for music and video. It's small and incredibly fast for what we use it for (we also have an Airport Express in our bedroom and art studio to stream music from it).

To play video we have a free program called Plex (http://plexapp.com/) that manages all of our media and allows us to view all of the media on the Mini from anywhere in the world using the iphone and ipad apps.

While I love the idea of updated macbooks, I'm happy to say I have a four-year-old macbook pro and it still works great, after upgrading the drive to an SSD it's insanely fast. The only "problem" with it is that it still works amazingly well after almost five years so I can't come up with an excuse to buy a new one.

Yes, one of the "problems" with Apple is they tend to "last forever."  I think a lot of readers will appreciate your comments on the "mini." Aesthetically, it's incredible. I would talk about how easy Airport Express is but I've already rambled on this subject too long.

4. Speaking of sports (see below). I called my brother-in-law, an avid golfer, last night to talk about Tiger Woods winning the golf tournament over the weekend. It was another incredible moment in the history of golf. His post-tournament interview included this great exchange:

Q: Do you feel like the "Tiger of old"?
A: I feel like an older Tiger. 

3. Hmmm...the Oklahoma City Thunder -- they certainly surprised me. And I think the Spurs underestimated them. I'm impressed.

2. Speaking of Apple computers (see below), I get a kick out of the increasing number of keyboard docks for the iPad. Over the weekend I saw another such Keyboard at Brookstone at the mall. I'm not sure why one would buy a non-Apple keyboard dock for the iPad. Maybe these docks fit other tablets, I didn't check. What I did notice was that these tablet - keyboard docks were almost identical to net tops. I think net tops had a shorter lifespan than the Betamax.

1. This could be very, very exciting: next week -- Apple may announce upgrades to four of its five non-iPad computer lines. Apple computer has five "computer" lines: two laptops, two desktops, and one mini. The iPad is in its own class.

The MacPro is a tower and for really, really serious computer folks. The chances of me ever seeing an Apple tower under my desk is slim to none.

On the other hand, I have always been intrigued by the "mini." I don't have one and have always wondered who would buy one. I think it's an awesome computer but it doesn't get a lot of press.

The 21.5 inch iMac is incredible. My blog is optimized for the 21.5 inch iMac. I simple love this computer and I would love to get one for my wife this Christmas. This is the one computer that may not get an upgrade.

My workhorse, on the road, is an old -- very old MacBook -- no longer made by Apple. I am surprised to see so many of these old white laptops still in use. Even at Starbucks on Harvard Square, Cambridge, they are commonly seen. But I'm seeing more and more MacBook Airs. If and when my white laptop dies, I will have to get a replacement. If the MacBook Pro is upgraded -- lighter and thinner -- it will probably be my replacement but I keep going back to look at the MacBook Air. So, we'll see.