Mac users have long viewed their machines as relatively “safe,” but new data indicates that the Vista operating system might be even more secure.

Jeff Jones, who works within Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, “published a report claiming that in the first six months of the Vista life cycle fewer serious security vulnerabilities have been found in Microsoft’s newest OS, compared not only to Windows XP, but also all major enterprise Linux distributions and Apple’s MacOS X,” reports TechSpot’s Jose Vilches.

For a sort of rebuttal, I’ll direct you to an article by Robert McMillan. I imagine a few of you will have comments of your own, as well.

Sun’s Charlie Hunt has a little screed posted about his experience with a shiny new MacBook Pro. It’s not going to replace Solaris for him when it comes to Java development, but then what would you expect a NetBeans evangelist to say? Besides illustrating his travails with his Christmas present:

But, my experience has been much less than what I would call good. During the first 3 months I had the MacBook Pro, the OS would crash (complete machine reboot) on average about once every 8 hours of usage. And, it would lock up on average about every 4 times coming out of a hibernate. And, I had several web sites that I visited frequently which would not open with Safari, (I even tried using Opera and FireFox too). Not what most of you reading this would have expected from Mac?

Sounds like Charlie needs to spend some time with Dear Leader and have his outlook on the MacBook Pro adjusted.

In my job, we have hundreds of customers that are tech savvy and are nearly all heavy computer users. During business hours, we make ourselves available via iChat and we prefer the customers contact us that way. Most of them do and it works great.

Also, our company is stretched from Canada to Texas to Pakistan so iChat is the best way to keep up with each other.

The reason I like iChat is because I can talk with multiple customers and potentional customers at once. Also, if they have a question and I need to remind myself of the answer, I can do a quick look-up with nearly no delay in the conversation. It’s also a conenient way to send and receive files.

Even though the list of “buddies” gets long and sometimes the chats are numerous, Chax and improving typing skills makes it a great tool to use for business. In fact, iChat is an absolutely essential business tool for me.

So, why does it feel so strange to ask someone for their “AIM buddy name.” To me, “AIM” and “buddy” just has a juvenile connotation to it. It is even worse when their answer is something like, “babyroxx97.” It just feels so strange. It’s the way I use to flirt with girls in high school.

I’m hoping that some of you can help my change my view and see iChat as a big-boy tool. What are your first thoughts when you hear “instant messaging” and “buddy lists.” Does anyone else use iChat for business? Does it increase your productivity? If you don’t use it for work, how often are you chatting for fun? Do you feel that your Mac “buddies” are more prone to use instant messaging than your PC “buddies?”

Oh, how the Macworld cycle turns. While everyone else is making predictions about what will be released at Macworld, I give to you my predictions on what will really happen. You are (almost) guaranteed on these:

1. In the next few days you’ll see sites announcing that they’ll “have live coveraged from the Steve Jobs Keynote.” Of all those that are announced, half of them will be able to get the means to do it. Of the half that will have means, most of those will not load within a few minutes of the show starting.
2. One of the next generation products will have stripped a feature, port, or ability of it’s predecessor. This will cause an outcry on blogs and Apple websites. We’ll have all forgotten about it a month later. The “mistake” by Apple will turn out to be just fine and probably a hit.
3. Steve Jobs will use the phrases “Boom”, “We have some exciting things to show you today”, “We’re really excited about this product”, and everyone’s favorite, “There is one more thing.”
4. We’ll wonder if Jobs is retiring soon because a) he looks ill b) he’s grooming a replacement on stage or c)he’s going to become a CEO of another company. (e.g., Disney) Later, we’ll realize that we were once again being a little crazy.
5. The evening after the Keynote, someone will post online that they had “inside information” that a key product was pulled at the last minute. The source will usually be an “Apple employee I met at the party.” Everyone will want more, wondering if they should spend their money now or wait until the “next thing.”
6. The line for the keynote (that will get growing at 4am) will have three things happening. First, everyone will be regurgitating the rumors even though all of us read the same sites. Second, everyone will be parading their iPods and laptops even though in an hour they will look very outdated. And lastly, everyone will be cordial and friendly for the few hours you’re together, but when it comes time to go from the North Hall to the South Hall, it’s a regular stampede. Whatever you do, take the stairs and not the escalator. Trust me on that.

Did I miss anything?

Like the rest of you…I can’t wait for all of this to happen. I’ll be at Macworld with Macminicolo.net and I’ll be enjoying every minute of it.

I read a post this morning about why the new Mac ads don’t work. I suppose it was an interesting article. It’s basically a PC guy saying that PC guys don’t like to be made fun of. I suppose that’s fair.

(Note: Although I do think the ads are good. I’ve had more friends ask me about Macs than ever before because of these commercials.)

But, it got me thinking about advertising and public relations in general. Not counting the continual great advice from Seth Godin, it’s mostly a sad state.

I am offended when marketers and PR people think their audience is dumb. Marketers will tell you that you want their product, and if you don’t than you aren’t thinking straight. ( Example: The LG Chocolate phone has had incredible marketing, but it is still a cell phone with bad reception and hard to use music options that cost too much and keep you tied to a two year contract.) When a sports figure does something inappropriate, his public relations person will try to spin it for the public. (Example: Terrell Owens and his ridiculous public relations agent.) A politician tells you how well they are doing their job and how the other candidate wouldn’t be able to do the job. (Example: Read anything about Las Vegas politics and you’ll know. Scandal after Scandal.)

This makes me wonder if it has something to do with human nature. I think that most humans feel that they have something to teach and that others may not know as much. I think this is a prerequisite for marketers, public relations agents and politicians.

Just for kicks, please participate in this poll:

My wife and I have been wanting to purchase a video camera for a while now. We knew we wanted digital and that we wanted it to play nice with iLife. Other than that, I was open to anything.

One of the cameras that had some promise was the Sanyo HD1A. (Pictured above.) It has small and clean and it records 720 HD videos. I searched around the web looking for some nice sample footage from a real user. I found some on HD1A.com and it looked pretty good.

The other thing I wanted to know was how it played with a Mac and iLife. I wasn’t able to find that anywhere. I ended up ordering the camera from Amazon.com and it was here the next day. Long story short, the video I shot in regular day to day things wasn’t as impressive as what I saw online. I think you are sacrificing function for form. The videos I took in our home were quite grainy and my wife had a hard time holding that little camera still enough to really enjoy the HD product.

The videos do import to iLife 06. You just have to be sure to start your project with the 720 HD option. At that point, you drag and drop from the camera to the iMovie window. It imports at about real time.

I understand that this review isn’t really in depth. I guess I wasn’t really going for that. I just wanted to let other shoppers know that it does indeed work fine with iMovie. I ended up returning the camera for a full refund because the HD picture just wasn’t that great for everyday use. I think we’re just transitioning to real HD cameras for consumers, but we’re not quite there yet. I do think it would work ok if you were planning on having it on a tripod or standing totally stationary at a zoo or sporting event.