Chuck La Tournous

Like many of you, Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous installed the first over-the-air update on his iOS devices yesterday. But it was a different update that gave him that “living in the future” feeling and got him wondering: have mobile devices reached First Citizen status?

Following the passing of Steve Jobs last week, Your Mac Life host Shawn King gathered up his friends and colleagues in the tech community to share their thoughts and stories about Apple’s co-founder. The Mac Observer columnist Chuck La Tournous was among the people Shawn spoke with for the special “Tell Me a Steve Jobs Story” show.

“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?” Thirty-some years after he asked the question it’s clear Steve Jobs didn’t just change it once, but several times: computing, music, movies, mobile phones and now the tablet are all vastly different because of one adopted kid from the orchards of Silicon Valley. Now that Jobs is stepping down from his role as CEO of Apple, Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous posits that Apple’s success in a “post-Jobs” era all comes down to one question: Is Steve Jobs Apple or has Apple suceeded in becoming Steve Jobs?

Is that a recording studio in your pocket or are you just happy that IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube iRig means no more lugging the amp up from the basement? Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous finds the iRig and its companion app makes playing so convenient, it just may be time to get the old band back together.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Now you can use an iPad app to track a deadly asteroid as it hurtles within a hair’s breadth of Earth. Sky Safari’s latest update will let you keep tabs on 2011 MD and if you hurry, you can do it for half price.

On the heels of  “Towel Day,” it seemed fitting to title an article on Mac malware after one of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books. Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous takes a brief look at the recent outbreak of Mac malware and concludes that it’s still the user connected to the keyboard that poses the greatest vulnerability to the Mac.

Is Apple’s new MacBook Air just a hypocritical me-too answer to the netbooks the company’s mocked in the past? Not quite, says TMO Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous. Apple is answering the net book makers alright. Butwhat they’re saying is “you’ve been doing it wrong.”

Tired of choosing between lousy hotel programming on a big flatscreen TV or limitless content on your laptop? Newer Technology’s Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter gives you the best of both worlds — if you’re willing to pay the price.

It’s the geeks who waited in line to buy the iPad, but it’s the mass market that’s making it a runaway hit. TMO Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous realizes that the “killer app” he was looking for on the eve of the iPad’s introduction was there all along: Apple turned a computer into a toaster and replaced technology with magic.

Not only did IDG World Expo achieve what critics said was impossible, they may have created an even better Macworld Expo. TMO Contributing Editor Chuck La Tournous looks at the Cinderella Story of the tech year, and why the exhibitors who sat out this show to play it safe may have made the riskiest move of all.