In my never-ending search for the perfect mini-laptop, the Series 9 is looking like a mighty contender to the MacBook Air. Originally, I compared the MacBook Air to the MacBook Pro and iPad 2 to find out which device held up as a better “portable” computer, but it looks like a new competitor has stepped into the ring: Samsung.

From the looks of it, Samsung has a great product and by all accounts it appears to have the Air licked, but after looking closer, it might seem like you get more for your dollar with Apple. When have you ever heard anyone say that before?!

Design

Both of these lightweight computers are designed to be as thin as possible. While I still love the design features of practically all Apple hardware, the Samsung Series 9 is very close in style and material to the Air. In fact, it’s even .04 inches thinner than the MacBook at its thickest point. I know .04 inches is nothing, but I’m sure there are some people out there that might raise a fuss about it!

One major complaint I have about the MacBook Air is that unlike its Pro counterpart, it does not have an edge-to-edge glass screen. The silver border around the screen is actually a separate piece above the screen and this allows dust and grime to accumulate at the edges. Ironically, Apple has veered away from designs like this on every other one of their product partly for this reason.

Features

Take a look at the comparison between the two. While the Samsung has more than the Air on many points below, I still can’t see how they justify their pricing.

Comparison: (Series 9 is compared to base 13-in MacBook Air)

Apple gets beat out in almost every category except for size and weight (although these two factors are not likely to be dealbreakers for most consumers). Not only does Samsung have Apple beat on everything listed above, there are also two other major differences. The first one is that the Series 9 has a backlit keyboard and the second being a 3-year warranty. On the Air, you can’t get the backlit keyboard and the only way to get 3 years of warranty service is to buy AppleCare for another $249.

My two cents

If we’re comparing the lowest priced 13 inch MacBook Air to the Series 9, the Series 9 has Apple beat, however you’ll be paying $350 more for it. If you bring up the MacBook Air to the same 3-yr warranty coverage, you would have only a $100 price difference with Samsung still be the more expensive device.

Another thing to remember is that Apple also has two 11 inch models to consider with prices going as low as $999. My opinion is that the huge difference in price doesn’t seem to justify the small differences in features except maybe the processor and more memory. I’d say if you’re thinking about the Series 9, maybe it’s more of a comparison to the 13 inch MacBook Pro except in thickness and you might want to take a look at where you money is being spent.

The last major difference is obviously the operating system. Although I love Windows 7 and how much better it is than previous versions of Windows, I still love my OSX much better! Plus, if you get the MacBook Air, you can still install Windows on it so you can have the best of both worlds.

If you’re considering spending $1649 on the Series 9, you may want to consider a MacBook Pro. If you’re just looking for a mini-laptop and don’t have the heart to go all the way down to a netbook, check out the MacBook Airs.

Directly on the heels of developments revolving around Apple’s iOS 4 privacy concerns, Google is now up to bat. Only this time, there’s a lawsuit involved. $50 million to be exact.

Now, $50 million seems like a drop in the bucket for the likes of Google, but as with most lawsuits, it’s the point that’s more important and this case is no different. According to Wired.com, “Detroit area residents Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski filed a class action lawsuit against Google over concerns that the location data that Android devices send to Google “several times per hour” is tied to a unique (though random) device ID.” What this tells me is that people are becoming more and more aware of just what kind of personal information is getting out to the world. The irony of this is we also live in a world where we’ve never been connected more.

With Facebook, Twitter, and personal blogs and the ability to “check-in” to practically all these, does it really surprise you to find your name on Google? If we learn anything from movies these day, we should all know just how traceable the cell phone world is, so does it also surprise you that your smartphone is sending data to the companies that run the software?

Of course not! In fact, it’s not even personal data that’s being transmitted (or so they say). It’s simply location data. Naturally, when you hear such a term, your first thought is a horror story about how Google (or Apple) will always know where you’re at. This is just not the case. At least in Apple’s story, they were collecting location data in the form of cache that allows them to reduce the amount of bandwidth required to pull the same data off the same cell towers everyday. To put it in English, if you are using an app that uses location mapping, your phone has to contact each local cell tower and download some data in order for your phone to know where you’re at. Part of the process includes your device uploading some data to that cell tower. Apple was basically storing that data for you so the next time you accessed it, the desired results would come to you much faster.

The other major concern in both of these cases was how accessible such data could be should your device fall into the wrong hands. In other words, if your mortal enemy got a hold of your phone, could he/she download files that would tell them where you’ve been? It would seem that in Apple’s case, that was true—this was fixed in the latest software update. In Google’s case, the data remained on the phone in an encrypted state that could only be accessed through a root connection (which on Android phones, it’s the equivalent of jailbreaking).

Lastly, the class action lawsuit is claiming that Android devices are collecting this data every few seconds and then transmitting it back to Google every hour or so. Google claims that this data is transferred with a unique (and random) ID number that in no way allows Google to know what device the data came from or who owns it. I for one, am not worried about this. Well, actually my only real concern would be the likelihood that my battery will die much sooner with all those “extra” connections.

Since it’s Friday, I’m taking some liberties with today’s post. Every so often, I check out The Onion and I always find myself laughing at some of the stuff they come up with. I especially like the Apple “news” because it’s so easy to make fun of almost everything they do! Because of this, I decided to search their website for anything Apple and came up with the 5 I liked most.

iLaunch

March 2007 – Apple launches the iLaunch—a revolutionary product that revolutionizes how innovative technology is unveiled. For the low price of $12,000, you too can have a product-launching product that launches your product with almost no human interaction! Steve Jobs’ new product is poised to take down any other competing product-launch product with features such as automated keynote creation and presentation, the saving of a significant product feature for the end of the presentation to WOW audiences and its simplicity. Jobs said it’s so easy, “Even an intern can use it.” Read more about iLaunch.

iHand

February 2011 – Finally you can now cut off your hands (or even just one) and install the latest prosthetic appendage from Apple! This new revolutionary device will revolutionize how you use your hands. You can now hold simple, light-weight objects, wave to your family and friends with ease and give high-fives to other Apple fans. Later models will allow you to write and poke people on Facebook. Hackers have already stepped in and are looking for ways to allow the iHand to display the middle-finger gesture should the need for that arise. Read more about iHand. Watch the iHand video.

iPhone 3GI

July 2009 – It’s about time, loyal Apple customers! You can now get the new iPhone 3GI—the new iPhone that’s only visible to you…the real fans. That’s right, non-dedicated Apple customers and other device owners will be jealous beyond normal levels when you walk into the room with the new invisible iPhone. According to Apple, the screen resolution is the finest ever made for a phone. The new iPhone 3GI comes in black, silver and white. Features include the ability to run dozens of simultaneous apps at once, never a single lost bar of signal strength and one-tap video editing using Final Cut Pro. Again, the phone is only available to those who believe in the company more than anything else in the world, and who would never, ever dream of questioning it. Read more about iPhone 3GI.

Apple Friend Bar

July 2010 – As an addition to the already popular Genius Bar available at all Apple Stores, the Friend Bar offers a special place for Apple fans to sit and chat with Apple experts about the latest technology and how they use it. You can discuss anything from how Safari is superior to Firefox to how much time you spend editing skateboarding videos with iMovie. If you can’t get your fix during store hours, Apple has also setup up the Friend Bar to be accessible 24/7 via a toll-free call center. Apple has already announced they’re going a step further by offer the iStore, a $6,000 product that allows you to setup up your own miniature Apple Store inside your own home. Other fees include the monthly salary for your personal Apple employee as well as any products you purchase from your store. Watch the Friend Bar video.

Think Different

February 1999 – For years, Apple has touted their superiority using slogans like “Think Different”, but for one Apple employee, doing just that cost him his job. Brent Barlow was one of the unfortunate individuals to learn the hard way that thinking different at Apple was only for the customers. He was fired after heavily modifying his workspace including the installation of hooks above his desk to hang a mountain bike, using an unapproved desktop image featuring Jim Henson and replacing the familiar Apple startup sound on his computer with that of a portion of “Imagine” by John Lennon. Barlow has stated that the personalzation of his workspace has inspired him to “think outside the box”, but his boss responded, “If he wants to think that different, he can do so on his own time.” Read more about Brent Barlow.

Visit TheOnion.com for much more tech news and have a few laughs at the expense of the industry.

It would appear that a newly discovered un-encrypted file located on iOS 4 devices has been storing location information since it launched back on June 21, 2010. What’s not entirely clear is exactly how Apple is using this information, if at all. The file is called consolidated.db and it works by downloading latitude and longitude information taken from triangulated cell phone towers as you move about various locations.

As you would imagine, the iPhone and the iPad are the only iOS 4 devices that this could possibly affect, however there are no indications that any of this information is being sent to Apple. Some believe it’s just an easier way for iPhoto to correctly tag information to pictures taken on the devices while others think it may have to do with the new free MobileMe feature called Find My iPhone that allows you to find the location of a lost phone with the added benefit of being able to send a direct system message to the device and/or wipe its contents remotely.

Of course, this new information is likely to only upset a small handful of users seriously concerned with data privacy issues and anyone developing any new concerns should be reminded that the information collected in this file is the same that any phone company can obtain from their own data-collection processes. With cell phones, it’s possible for any law enforcement agency to find out your previous GPS history—with a court order of course.

As far as protecting you and your device from unwanted eyes, the best thing you can do besides turning your device off is to simply encrypt your iTunes backups.

Finally, for anyone wishing to complain to Apple (or anyone else), understand that all of this information was divulged to us in a long EULA that we all generally fail to read on just about everything with buy! Here’s a direct quote from Apple’s terms:

Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services.

I, for one am not worried about anything—for two reasons—1. I’m doing nothing wrong and 2. There are plenty of apps out there that use location tracking as their primary function.

So, to answer the stated question directly, no, Apple is not watching you! But at least it’s nice to understand how your device works a little bit more, right?