Matthew Rothenberg

Like a frugal Amish farmer, any columnist worth his byline welcomes every opportunity to roll up his sleeves and milk a promising topic for all its worth. This week, Apple Computers announcement that it will raise the price of its new iMacs to offset parts shortages lends new juice to my recent musings on Mac […]

Remember Steve Jobs “sand” concept for the creation of personal computers? About the time he lent his star power to the creation of the original Macintosh back in the early 80s, Apples founder famously described his dream factory: an oceanfront site that would haul raw beach sand in one end, cook up its own silicon […]

Since leaving the late, lamented MacWEEK back around the turn of the millennium, Ive had many occasions to doubt the currency of my enduring interest in Apple and the Mac. Out here in the general tech press, Windows rules the desktop with an iron fist encased in a velvet glove. Microsofts ubiquity in corporate Americas […]

If Apple Computers Macworld Expo rollout of its next-generation iMac was the marketing equivalent of a 21-gun salute, this weeks introduction of the companys first gigahertz systems most closely approximates the bursting of a paper bag. A damp paper bag. Sure, the company issued a press release announcing that its Power Mac G4 line now […]

Is Apple Computer an anachronism? Its a charge thats often been lobbed at the Mac maker by the PC majority–with some justification. As the last company to roll its own vertically integrated hardware and software for individual consumers, developer of the last commercial desktop OS to offer any real challenge to Windows decade-plus hegemony, and […]

Prognosticating about Apple Computers next moves, like hunting bear, can be a treacherous two-way street: Sometimes you get the drop on new Macs, and sometimes new Macs get the drop on you. In that vein, I think I emerged from the product announcements at last weeks Macworld Expo/San Francisco slightly the worse for wear. Sure, […]

A confession: When it comes to larger-than-life, highly animated characters, “Jimmy Neutron” and Chuck E. Cheese each claimed more winter-vacation brain cycles chez Rothenberg than did Steven P. Jobs. Nevertheless, I did manage to have my well-worn Carnac the Magnificent turban cleaned and blocked, and Ive spent some quality time shaking the Mac grapevine like […]

Even for self-styled Mac pros, the introduction of the consumer-friendly iMac remains a watershed event in the history of Apple. Between its striking industrial design and appealing specs, the entry-level desktop system proved that master marketer Steve Jobs was truly back in Apples saddle: The all-in-one systems distinctive aura of one-button consumer cool recalled the […]

Of all the symbols of the Mac ecosystems proud independence from the status quo, the timing of Macworld Expo/San Francisco is one of the most durable. Falling during the first weeks of January, this venerable trade show has complicated the holiday schedules of Mac developers, enthusiasts and journalists alike since the platforms infancy. At the […]

Right on schedule, the Mac OS X-native version of Microsoft Corp.s Office suite hit store shelves on Monday. The Office X suite, has been tuned to the Carbon APIs in Mac OS X, Apple Computer Inc.s Unix-based operating system. It carries a price tag of $500, and upgrades are $300 each. Until Dec. 31, Microsoft […]