Microsoft keeps trying, and trying, and trying. The new Laptop Hunter ad [YouTube link] features Sheila, who wants to do some video editing. She has $2000US to spend. Sounds like a natural for a MacBook Pro, eh? Nope. She settles for an HP HDX 16t.

She passes on the Mac because it has only 2 GB of RAM, while the HP has 4 GB of DDR2 (slower) RAM. She gets a screen that maxes out with a video resolution of 1366x768, while the MacBook Pro has 1440x900. Worse yet, she will get Windows Movie Maker instead of iMovie, and she can never run Final Cut Pro or Express, which she may want if she goes professional or semi-professional.

Of course, the Microsoft ads are pushing price, not features and quality, and there is some talk that Apple, seeing the recession take hold, is increasingly interested in some lower priced -- but hopefully not lower quality -- products to sell.

While there are certainly millions of buyers for whom a Windows PC would be a reasonable choice of computer, it's worth noting the long-standing mild irony that Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the ad agency that created this campaign for Microsoft, is (like the majority of advertising agencies) pretty heavily invested in Macs. Chances are, for this ad, the video editing that Sheila aspires to do was completed on a Mac. If you have an idle moment, check out this profile of the agency on the web and click on the office shots. I especially like the shot of Alex Bogusky's desk with two MacBook Pros sitting there. Different strokes for different folks.

HP is reporting that they've updated the software for the HP MediaSmart Server to provide video streaming to remote devices.

We covered the introduction of the MediaSmart Server at Macworld Expo 2009. The device is a Windows-based media server that also works with Macs. Now the system can convert videos, including unprotected DVDs, to both a high-resolution version that streams to Macs and PCs on a network and a lower-resolution version that can be played on iPhone and iPod touch.

To view the video streams, access your pictures, and listen to the music collection stored on the MediaSmart Server, you'll be able to download an iPhone / iPod touch app called iStream for free from the App Store. At publication time, the app was still pending approval by Apple.

HP announced that the updated software also provides an improved Time Machine configuration, a better HP Media Collector, and the ability to have both public and private albums in the Photo Viewer. The MediaSmart Server ex485 (750 GB of storage) retails for US$599, and the 1.5 TB ex487 sells for US$749. The device can be expanded to a maximum of 9 TB of storage.

Microsoft is really working hard to get potential Mac customers to either buy or stay with Windows-based PCs. After the initial "Lauren" ad -- see BusinessWeek's take on her choice of a poorly-rated HP model, and TechFlash & Apple 2.0 on her oddly extensive acting career for someone who supposedly answered a Craiglist ad for market research -- a new ad [YouTube link] in the series launched today.

Our new shopper, Giampaolo, looks at a Mac at a computer store and says it is "so sexy," but then adds that "Macs are more about aesthetics than they are about computing power." [Check Harry McCracken's detailed side-by-side of 17" laptop hardware comparisons to debunk the "Apple Tax" and performance arguments.]

He winds up with an HP laptop which is within the $1500 dollar budget Microsoft gave him. The model he chooses is a Pavilion HDX 16t. We hope he enjoys it!

It's a strange campaign. Microsoft is spending a lot of time and money promoting HP, while saying not much at all about the advantages of Windows Vista... which is, after all, the product Microsoft sells.

Is it effective? Is it giving you second thoughts about buying Apple products, based on cost considerations? (Is this a rhetorical question?)

Well, the new ad blitz from Microsoft has begun. Advertising agency Crispin Porter + Boguksy is back at it with a new web video and click through banners that tell the story of Lauren, a Los Angeles woman (and member of the Screen Actors Guild) who was recruited from Craigslist. She supposedly didn't know she was in a Microsoft ad, but instead thought she was in a laptop marketing test.

She was given a thousand dollars after saying she wanted a 17-inch laptop with a good keyboard. She tried an Apple Store, but couldn't find anything at the price she wanted. She wound up with an HP Pavilion (here are the specs) running Windows Home Premium and a pretty slow AMD processor. She has minimal screen resolution and about 2 1/2 hours of battery life if she's lucky. All in all, not a bad machine, but certainly not a 17" Mac which would have been a lot more money.

Of course the laptops were not comparably equipped, so the cards were stacked in Microsoft's favor. That's what commercials do. Microsoft has been pummeled for more than 3 years by the extremely popular Mac vs. PC guys. Microsoft responded last summer with the Mojave ads, where people were tricked into believing they were seeing a brand new OS from MS, when in fact they were just seeing Vista. They were told about the features, and loved them. What they weren't allowed to do, however, was actually use Vista, or try to install it on their own PCs. Those were telling omissions.

Microsoft followed up with the Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates ads. They were fun to watch, but had no discernible message. Interestingly, Vista was never mentioned.

Now we come to the new ads, which doubtless will be followed by more shopping trips. In the first ad, Vista is never mentioned, just like in the Seinfeld commercials. Interesting. MS does not make computer hardware. Instead, their main product is an OS which is currently Vista. Yet in 2 out of 3 'expensive' ads, not a word about the flagship operating system.

If you were one of the many people who were expecting Apple to announce some sort of Mac mini-based home media server yesterday, you weren't alone. We talked about another media server solution, HP's MediaSmart Server, a small Mac-compatible device that can be used for Time Machine backups, iTunes and iPhoto library storage, and more.

I visited with Rick Spillers, HP's Mac-connect Worldwide Product Manager, at the HP booth yesterday to talk about HP iPrint, printer and scanner solutions, and other products from their Mac group. Also on the video is Glen Roberts, who discusses the MediaSmart and how it works well in homes with both Macs and PCs.

The video is after the break.

How would you like to be able to shoot photos on your iPhone, and then immediately print them on your HP printer?

HP has a new product called iPrint Photo (click opens iTunes) available in the App Store that makes it very simple to print your iPhone pictures. The free download opens to a list of photo albums that looks very similar to the list in the Photos app on the iPhone. Tapping on a photo brings up a Print Photo page with a large Print button on it (see photo at right). If you only have one networked printer available, just tapping the Print button sends a 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) print job to that printer.

If more than one HP inkjet printer is on your local Wi-Fi network, tapping on a printer search icon brings up a Chooser-like list of printers that you can select one from. This is an excellent free app -- it took no setup and I was able to print a picture immediately after downloading the software from the app store.

Between this software and HP's announcement of their Mac-compatible media server, it looks like HP is starting to play nice with Apple!

Check out the gallery below for a few more photos of this app in use.

Earlier this week, HP announced the availability of two new home servers, the MediaSmart ex485 and ex487. It's true that both are based on Microsoft's Windows Home Server platform, but the interesting thing for Mac users is that they're recognized by Time Machine as backup targets, and they can act as an iTunes server. At $599US for the ex485 (750GB of storage) or $749US for the ex487 (1.5TB), that's not a bad deal.

Other specs include a 2GHz Celeron CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA jack and four internal HDD bays. Note that total storage on these units can be scaled up to 9TB.

HP will begin taking pre-orders in January for shipment in February.

For now, I've got a G4 iMac in my basement acting as a home media server, as it were, to the Apple TV. Two external drives are attached -- one for Time Machine and one for a SuperDuper! clone, scheduled to update weekly.

A third, pocket-sized drive is updated via SuperDuper! weekly and lives off-site (read: my wife's desk in her classroom, don't tell!). Do you have a home-spun backup and streaming solution?

[Via Engadget]

Talk about being slightly touched. Arik Hesseldahl's BusinessWeek article, published today, says "...as of Nov. 19, Hewlett-Packard has beaten Apple to the punch, announcing the first multi-touch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2. I can't help but wonder whether Apple just lost an important race."

Not only did Apple not lose an important race, the tx2 isn't the first multi-touch notebook. Engadget points out that the Dell Latitude XT, which offered multi-touch technology, came on the scene back in July of '08. But even that wasn't first, because the MacBook Air was introduced on January 15th of 2008 with a multi-touch trackpad.

"Well," you say, "there's a difference between a touchable trackpad and a touchable display." You're right: one's meant to be touched and one isn't. The reason the trackpad on the MacBook Pro and he MacBook has gotten larger, smoother and glassier is because Apple is (and will continue to) inviting you to do more with it than tap and click. Multi-touch gestures on a notebook ought to be delivered via the surface that's made to be touched, not the surface made to be viewed. On the iPhone those surfaces are one & the same because there's no other option.

But really, the notion that Apple "lost an important race" by not being first is the biggest error here. Apple wasn't the first to release jukebox software, a portable music player or a mobile phone. Yet, iTunes, the iPod and the iPhone are the most successful examples of each. Apple's greatest strength is patience.

The designers and developers at Apple know you want a fully touch-enabled laptop. So do the folks at HP. The difference is that Apple's staff are patient and careful enough to execute it in exactly the right way, not just the most obvious way.

[Via MacDailyNews]

Shares of Apple stock closed higher today, among a widespread buying spree that pushed the Dow Industrials up a record-breaking 936 points.

AAPL closed at $110.26 per share, an increase of $13.46. Nearly 55 million shares changed hands.

Microsoft, Dell, Google, HP, Sun, and AT&T also posted double-digit percentage gains for the day.

Analyst firm Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Apple stock to "outperform" this morning, saying the company's short-term prognosis looks good, despite the dip in the market. Bernstein did, however, cut its price target by $50 to $135.

AAPL was up slightly in after-hours trading.

Mitch Haile shared this set with our Flickr Pool to show us the ridiculously awesome setup he has in his office.

From what we can tell, he has:

• a 24-inch Intel iMac
• a 15-inch MacBook Pro
• a Mac Pro with six (!) monitors
• several PCs
• a couple of Kinesis Freestyle keyboards

The six monitors include four HPs, one ViewSonic, and a 30-inch Apple Cinema Display. The Mac Pro has three video cards. The whole shebang is served by two APC uninterruptible power supplies. Nice.

Me, I just want a reason to keep an ice bucket on my desk.

Thanks, Mitch!

Apple just released an update for HP Printer support in Mac OS X. The update weighs in at a whopping 405.1 MBs and includes "latest drivers for printers you have used on your system."

In order to download the update via Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update), you must have the affected printer connected to your computer, or have a print queue already setup. You can also download the installer package from the Apple Support downloads site. This software works on Macs running OS X 10.5.3 or higher.


Thanks, Ed!

America's favorite ex-con (that's Martha Stewart, not her dog Sharkey, as seen above) just loves her new MacBook Air, according to her blog. Like most MBA owners, she's "amazed" by how thin it is, and is thrilled that the trackpad "works much the same way as the Apple iPhone" -- in fact, her whole writeup reads exactly like an ad from Apple, complete with the link to the Apple Store at the end. Who knew Martha was such a Mac-head?

Although she does settle that debate about whether the book counts as a laptop or a laptop support unit: Martha still keeps her HP right next to the Air, not only because she likes to keep up with both platforms, but apparently because when aides come by her desk to work, she wants them to have choices. And we all know what choice is: a good thing.

Back on July 10th I mentioned the likelihood that Apple's market capitalization might soon surpass that of the original Silicon Valley success story, Hewlett-Packard. (I also implied that both Steves once worked at HP; apparently Woz was full-time, but S. Jobs was more of a summer intern.) Well, as of this morning Apple's total value comes out to about $127 billion, and HP is at about $124 billion. If this holds through the close, it will mark a generational torch passing into the hands of the future... or something like that.

Who's next on the market cap hit list? Well, believe it or not, dear readers, that mom & pop semiconductor basement operation Intel has a valuation around $141 billion; not out of the realm of possibility, if some of the more glowing, write-Apple's-name-on-your-trapper-keeper analyst predictions ($200 a share? $250?) become real.

Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek writes today about his shock at seeing MacBook Pros used at a business meeting. Macs, he says, are a rarity in his world, which is a festival of Dells, Thinkpads and other PCs.

Hesseldahl relates his experience where a person's MacBook Pro caught the eye of some HP execs. "That notebook you've got there is a challenge to us," CEO Mark Hurd reportedly said. He promised to send someone down to see the MacBook owner to talk about HP notebooks and had some business cards dropped off.

MacBooks might not be de rigeur in Wall Street financial circles, but I'm surprised at how surprised Hesseldahl and the HP folk were to see people actually using them in work-related situations. Maybe these PC-folk just need to get out more.

Computers, in general, are not cool. They are just silly machines, however, Apple manages to make theirs cool. Now, HP wants a little slice of the cool for themselves. They have hired a former Apple marketing exec to launch a revamped advertising campaign to get the kids thinking that HP is cool.

I, for one, have always enjoyed HP's advertising. I think that for the most part their commercials are cool (and this finger soccer blog is lots of fun) but how many HP products do I own? One (I have an iPaq that I no longer use), and that's not too good for HP.

Here's hoping they can get their cool commercials to give their products that 'lust factor' that Apple's have.

Thanks, Shoaib.