Here I am at SXSW, and it's now fully transitioned from the tech geeks (and marketing flacks) attending the Interactive festival to the music geeks attending live music showcases at night and catching a few panels during the day.

There are writers who understand Apple. They've been covering Apple for years, decades.  Some of them are very smart and accomplished at research and analysis. Other writers just write about Apple to earn some money and see their name in lights. Is there a war emerging between the two?

Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985) was an American science fiction writer who, amongst his many achievements, also noted that "ninety percent of everything is crap." Coined as "Sturgeon's Law", it applies to fiction, but has come to be applied to most anything else. From what John Martellaro has been reading, it also applies to current day writing about Apple.

At one time, all we had was the 9.7-inch iPad, and many observers thought that was the perfect tablet size. Time, technology and market forces have shown that the tablet market is actually in some flux. Where the tablet makers go from here includes scattering the market with size options and some shrewd guesses. Even then, no one knows how tablets will settle out.

Google's latest surprise, the Chromebook Pixel, is a beautiful piece of hardware with one of the best displays ever seen on a consumer laptop. But is Google's effort to distinguish Chromebooks from cheap netbooks worth it to end users, or is the Pixel just a "$1,300 Web Browser?"

"Spaces" was a great virtual desktop tool first introduced in OS X 10.5 Leopard. But when Apple replaced Spaces with Mission Control in OS X Lion, many features were lost. We'll show you how to revive your love of virtual desktops with a handy third-party app: TotalSpaces.

Over the last few years, The Mac Observer has reviewed many different styluses for Apple's iDevices -- or any capacitive touch screen, in fact. Here’s a summary of those reviews, the ratings and prices, all in one spot for handy references. We’ll update this summary as new stylus reviews are published.

The Mac Observer has reviewed several iPad mini cases in the past few months. Here’s a summary of those reviews, the ratings and prices, all in one spot for handy references. We’ll update this summary as new case reviews are published.

Long ago, Microsoft decided that it would compete in the tablet space with a next generation Windows, called Windows 8.
The design compromises Microsoft had to make for this to happen may end up further stalling Microsoft's progress in the post-PC tablet era, causing the company to fall further behind.  It's the technology bet of the century.

During Apple’s Q4 Earnings Report, Tim Cook reiterated that Apple would never make a 7-inch iPad, thus fulfilling the prophesy of Steve Jobs. But wait. Didn’t Apple just announce a 7-inch iPad?  Not according to Tim Cook.