Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category


Apple WWDC keynote was kind of… meh

Monday, June 11th, 2007

I’m often a fan of the keynotes that Steve Jobs gives at either MacWorld Expo or the WWDC, and the one today has left me with a lot of mixed feelings. Either way, no matter what happens at these events, you expect something to wow you. Big or little, I usually feel like something cool just happened.

Today, I just didn’t get that feeling.

Ok, I am not forgetting that this is the “World Wide Developers Conference”, so these guys are concerned about hardware as much as they are the lines of code that they can manipulate and build cool software with, so I wasn’t expecting much in the way of product updates and launches.

Jobs, instead, gives us a demo of the really cool features that Apple is excited about and think will be uber sweet for us, the consumers, to get our hands on… again. I mean, there were a few, new neat things announced, but we saw this same keynote in January. Left me feeling a little let down, but there were some interesting things announced today that made me chime into the “cool” vibe that Steve was touting.

The next version of Mac OS X is $129 across the board, for all flavors. Boot Camp will be built-in, so you’ll be able to run XP and Vista out of the box. A new Finder, but that gives me reason to pause in that I’ll have to relearn a few things, no biggie. Anything that helps file management and work flow is a great concept to me.

They also announced a Windows version of Safari, and I am debating with myself as to how I feel about it. As cool as Safari looks, there are elements about it that I can’t handle when it comes to making it my default browser. Maybe version 3 will change my mind, but I’m still resisting the urge to download the beta for now. Bottom line, Safari beach-balls on me too often for me to go back to it, but my mind remains constantly open.

On top of that, Apple launched a redesign to their website. It has a heavy Web 2.0 look and feel to it now, complete with fun AJAX things here and there. Looks nice.

Other than that, not too much else sticks out to me. iPhone still sounds cool, I hope it works well when it’s released, and making software for it sounds pretty easy if you are skilled at making web applications in general. I think I’d be more excited about the outcome if this new OS was coming out next month and not October, but the waiting is half the fun. Kinda.

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Filed under: Apple, Geeky, Tech News

Back into the desktop lifestyle

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

New Toy Our recent addition to our home has been this monolith, 24-inch iMac, and I think I am finally getting comfortable with fitting it into the overall scheme of things. Since about April of 2003, I’ve been a laptopper, getting one of the first versions of the 17-inch Powerbook[wiki] when they came out. It’s still going strong, but the processor, hard drive, and screen real estate cannot compare to what I have in front of me right now.

Having two machines to work with can increase your productivity greatly, but I find myself getting increasing concerned with not remembering what is where. I’m slowly discovering the little tricks that the Mac OS can do to handle this, but there isn’t a lot of time to spend on learning everything, not to mention the downtime to undo what you could potentially hose your whole operation with.

The big thing that was bugging me with this machine was being able to turn the screen off. You can have the computer automatically shut off the monitor after a period of time, without going to sleep or shutting down, but I need this at my fingertips. Thinking green, I like to help cut down on energy consumption as much as I can.

I found this really nice widget for Dashboard on your iMac. Sleep Display does exactly what the name says. One click, wait three seconds, and the display turns off. You can adjust a few settings, and I can sleep easier now.

Photo by: miss604 on FlickrNo, seriously. If you leave the display on in our apartment, the display is so bright that the light shines slightly annoyingly into the bedroom. This widget actually allows you to sleep, especially while the machine is busy downloading our “entertainment” overnight.

In my IT/RF days at WSUI/KSUI, I was pretty used to bouncing between desktops and laptops, not to mention the PC platform that prevailed there. When you toss the personal factor into the mix, it throws you for a loop. I’ll get used to it, but the Powerbook will always be that saving grace when it comes to being mobile.

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Filed under: Apple, iMac

Truly free music

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

Steve Jobs[wiki] has posed an open letter that calls for the end of DRM by the music industry. Crazy idea? No. Crazy to be hearing from Steve Jobs? Perhaps a little, but that’s because we’ve been subjected to DRM[wiki] controlled music being sold by Apple since iTunes first came about.

It’s that stuff that prevents you from copying a purchased song file a certain amount of times. For those who download their music illegally, this isn’t a problem, and that’s why they do it. You can copy and move that MP3 where you damn well please. If you are going to be restricted by buying the copyrighted version of what you can already get for free, you’re not going back once you’ve tasted the sweet, sweet candy.

On top of that news today, I find it incredibly fascinating that Ozzfest has made the following announcement.

That’s right, OZZY and SHARON OSBOURNE and tour producer LIVE NATION broke the news today at the Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles that their 12th annual hard rock spectacular–a 25-date extravaganza launching July 7 in Los Angeles–is pulling the plug on ticket prices and giving the power back to the fans calling this summer’s OZZFEST “FreeFest.” The other OZZFEST cities as of now are San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Nashville. Note: a final confirmed list of cities and dates is forthcoming. [ozzfest]

That’s right, this sucker is going to be free. I’m not a huge fan of the Ozzfest, but this is pretty substantial. If you can get there, you get in for nothing. Actually, I see this being like one huge commercial all over the place with music intertwined, not to mention a ton of metal-heads. The food, water, booze, and merchandise will probably still be overpriced, but if you can survive without it, you get in for free? Great concept, but I feel like there is a catch in there somewhere. Very forward thinking though.

I like the idea of a trend starting. DRM-free music and free concert festivals. It’s not the light at the end of the tunnel just yet, but something is stirring.

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Filed under: Apple, Music Industry, Music News

iPhone is coming to Canada, possibly sooner than later

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

Rogers customers rejoice. The iPhone is coming to your provider, and this might happen before Europe gets to play with them.

Rogers Wireless today announced that it will serve as the sole provider for Apple’s iPhone in Canada, according to an e-mail message sent by the company to some of its customers. Confirming early investigations, Rogers said that it alone will offer the iPhone in the country and that it was actively working with Apple to speed the launch. Wording in the e-mail may also point to a sooner than expected release, according to Electronista. Canada traditionally trails behind the U.S. by several months for high-profile phone releases, but Rogers’ email said that the iPhone will first be introduced in North America, raising the possibility that the handset may ship to Canada in advance of an expected October European launch. Rogers is closely associated with AT&T, which will be the sole provider to offer the iPhone in the U.S. [macnn]

I had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be too long after the U.S. introduction that Canada would get a shot at the iPhone. Most buzz north of the border were complaints that it would take forever for it to get here, so I hope Apple pulls through. Still not crazy to get my hands on one, but good news nonetheless. I’d much rather see an Apple Store in Vancouver first.

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Filed under: Apple, Canada, Tech News, Vancouver

iPhone is hot, but it doesn’t even exist yet

Sunday, January 21st, 2007

iPhone popup adIt has appeared to the world at MacWorld Expo, and I’ve watched the keynote to know that it’s freaking sweet. The fact is, you can’t buy one yet. That’s why I find this pop up ad incredibly interesting, even though the sucker seeped through Firefox. “Sign up now to win something that no one can get their hands on yet!” Sounds like… fun?

The iPhone is hot even before anyone can actually buy one. I even made Rebecca watch some of the keynote, and though it was a bit torturous for her, she’ll admit that what she saw was pretty cool. Who knows when we’ll be able to get our hands on one in Canada, but the hype is a bit over the top for me.

2 megapixel camera, music, movies, pictures, calendars, contacts, web browsers, and a phone. Now that’s not all that it has, but the biggest hard drive you can get on it is 8GB, not to mention battery life? I’m not totally sold on wanting one until the storage gets bigger and the power supply lasts longer.

I realize that my iPod mini and Nokia 6682 are completely lacking in comparison, but it can work for me right now. However, if it came down to getting a Blackberry or an iPhone for professional needs, I’d go with the Apple product.

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Filed under: Apple, Internet, Technology

I’m a sucker for the Apple hoopla

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007

For years now, I’ve been a slave to the keynotes that Steve Jobs[wiki] has been putting on nearly every six months. I think it’s safe to say that Rebecca will soon become a switcher, but that will have to wait until this freaking country says I can have a job. Let’s also hope that I won’t be making a double dip for her next birthday of multiple Apple products, but she got a good account of what it’s like on keynote day with me.

Because I know that there are other Apple heads out there who don’t follow the bleeding edge like I do, here’s the major bullet points of what was unleashed today.

  • The iPhone was officially announced; shipping in June (freaking sweet)
  • Apple Computer, Inc. will drop their middle name, now known as Apple, Inc. [macrumors]
  • iTV is to be officially known as Apple TV; shipping in Febuary
  • Paramount Pictures is now offering their catalog of movies on iTunes [macrumors]
  • Not in the keynote, but Airport Extreme with 802.11n compatibility released today

The keynote will be available for viewing on Apple’s website later today[apple]. And for the most part, this I can handle. Not pressing hard for a new cellphone right now as much as I’d like to upgrade my laptop into the Intel world. I think Rebecca will be the first one in our home to get one though. Aside from me saying that just because it’s her birthday, but she’s put up with me for this long? Yeah, I’d say that she’s deserving of some new toys.

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Filed under: Apple, Geeky, Tech News

iChat Update 1.0

Friday, January 5th, 2007

For the past few months, I’ve been having problems with iChat connecting up with my family back in the states. Bandwidth issues are one thing, but these errors would give me headaches because no solutions seemed to work. Quiting out of all other applications, deleting certain preferences, and running on a non-wireless connection would give me nothing. Every time that the connection would error out, I’d hit that button to send a report directly to Apple.

Yesterday, Apple released iChat Update 1.0. These are the only details.

This update renews the .Mac certificate required by iChat for encrypting text, audio, and video conferences.

This document will be updated as more information becomes available. [apple]

That’s it? I can’t be sure if this solves the problems I’ve been having but am really hoping so. I won’t even get into the fact that the speakers on my Powerbook just decided to stop working about six months ago. Combine these two issues and I’m a little peeved.

Is anyone at Apple keeping track of all the problem reports I’ve been sending in? I’m not the only guy doing this. My godson has sent in numerous on his end when he has had problems syncing up with me over iChat. It’s annoying, and I’m banking that this helps with what I’ve been so desperately trying to figure out.

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Filed under: Apple, Instant Messaging

How small the new iPod Shuffle really is

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

PC World recently posted a story about getting their new iPod Shuffle that started shipping this week. About half the fun of getting a new product from Apple is the unpacking of your new toy. Harry MacCracken added this video on YouTube to the article. I was pretty amazed at just how small this thing is.

My favorite part is how he tries to stuff it into an empty box of nerds. And that’s nerds the candy, not a box full of people much like myself.

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Filed under: Amusing, Apple, Geeky, iPod, YouTube

The seven phases of owning an iPod

Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

I caught this on Podcasting News and had to pass it on. Drivl.com posted “The Seven Phases of Owning an iPod – An Illustrated Journey“, and I laughed.

My parent's new iPod NanoThe 7th is completely true. My green iPod Mini has served me very well, even though its battery life is starting to dwindle. I’m content with living in the old school age for now. You cool kids with all your fancy color LCD displays and long battery life can go on enjoying what you got.

Speaking of, my parents just got a new iPod Nano. Adding even more to my jealousy, my dad even picked up the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo for it. I doubt he’s going to start podcasting anytime soon, but that’s a setup that I could easily use for my ventures. He’ll use it more to record voice notes for himself.

This is what we do in my family. We try to out geek each other.

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Filed under: Apple, Blogs, Geeky, iPod, Portable Media

This is the MacBook Pro that I was looking for

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

Apple MacBook Pro 15-inchActually, I’m really torn. I love my 17″ Powerbook G4, but the processor is getting closer and closer to the low end of things. I’m probably on borrowed time until the hard drive starts to give me fits, so if I’m going to replace the whole thing, then I’m going to stick with the notebook way of life.

Just today, Apple launched some new models of the MacBook Pro that I am very interested in getting my hands on. The big thing for me is FireWire[wiki] 800. Processor speed, graphics, and memory kind of come second. However, the specs on these suckers are looking sweet.

Apple today announced that its entire MacBook(TM) Pro line of notebooks now includes the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor and delivers performance that is up to 39 percent faster than the previous generation. All MacBook Pro models now offer double the memory and greater storage capacity than the previous generation, as well as a FireWire(R) 800 port for connecting to high-speed peripherals. [macrumors]

When you go with a laptop, your hard drive is never going to have enough space on it for you. As space gets cramped, much like on mine, you need to think external. At the same time, the speed of your hard drive is critical, and very rarely do you get anything above 5200 RPMs. Why? Heat and power consumption. It’s all correlational.

With the amount of audio editing that I like to do, I have to have my external, 200GB hard drive. FireWire 800 makes it really easy to make backups and copy files really quick like, but the best part is actually doing all my recording and editing to it. Before this, the fan on my Powerbook would spin quite a bit, not to mention programs hiccuping from time to time because the internal hard drive couldn’t be accessed quick enough. The software was outdoing the hardware, but life is better when you work on the external and allow the processor more room to breathe.

Now that FireWire 800 is apart of all MacBook Pro models, it has me thinking about moving away from the large screen screen world of Apple notebooks. I know that the 15″ is not that much smaller than the 17″, but it can start to matter when you think about simple portability. Bags and protective cases for large laptops are a bit of a specialty, not to mention that you can forget how big that laptop in your bag really is from time to time. The door can and will hit you on the way out if you forget that it’s there.

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Filed under: Apple, Computer Tips, Geeky, MacBook
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