Tech-Shizzle

Macbook Air Pt. 2

2008-01-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

There you go- Macbook Air is official.

It's catching a lot of heat because it's not what a lot of people were expecting going into Macworld '08. That's ok, though.

It reminds my of the famous thread 500 at Macrumors, where the iPod was declared certain to fail by, well, idiots, who didn't realize the tech world as they knew it just changed forever.

What DOES surprise me is how much bad-mouthing it is getting because it may not fit exactly into everyone's needs.

It's not for everyone, people! If it doesn't fit your mission, don't buy it! But don't pretend that your requirements are the same as everyone else's!

I've debated whether or not to pick one up. What decided it for me occurred when I compared it to my current machine: 1st generation 15" Macbook Pro with 2.0Ghz Core Duo (not even Core 2 Duo!). My MBP is fast enough for me. Madden '08 can really come to a crawl if not configured properly, but it does everything I need otherwise.

So, I don't think I will be giving up any performance by switching to the Air. Obviously, I'm not going to be running Madden '08 on it, but so what? I get equal or better non-graphics performance in a much thinner and lighter package. LED backlight will be a nice change as well.

What I've decided to do is pick up either a 32GB flash drive for all my media and Garageband sample libraries, or, perhaps, a 250GB external drive for even more media (all music and movies I own). The deciding factor will be power drain while in use. For movie-watching, I would probably copy over whatever movie I wanted to watch before watching it just do the external disk (if I go that way) will not continuously spin. Still working on the details. Ok, I'll get both and work it our later!

I've been torn as to how to go about getting the Air: pre-order or wait for it to show up at the Apple Store and buy it then. Perhaps Best Buy since it's only 15 minutes away instead of 2 hours to the nearest Apple Store...

Either way, I should have it as soon as it becomes available (I'm hoping this week), and will post a full review soon thereafter.

Macbook Air?

2008-01-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Wired is throwing out an artist's rendering of what is expected to be announced in about 1 hour from now.

We'll know soon.

But not soon enough!

Newton Round Up

2008-01-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

Alright. Everyone wants the new iPhone/Newton wannabe when/if it's released. Can you say, "Newton wood?" I thought so.

Here are the relevant links:

Appleinsider

And again

Macrumors

Electranista

I can hope, can't I?

Carter's Born

2007-11-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

Carter was born on Thanksgiving! He seemed fine for a couple of days, but later presented with a severely distended abdomen. A trip to the hospital (and a transfer to Children's Hospital in Madera) revealed he has Hirschsprung's Disease. We found out yesterday he also has a heart defect. It's all been very tough on the little guy.

He will be having surgery next week for the Hirschsprung's, and then we HOPE he will be going home a few days later.

I miss the little guy, and can't wait for him to come home...

More can be found here.

I'm Back!

2007-11-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, I swore I wouldn't be gone so long between posts, but, well, you know...

Leopard is out!

Had a few problems with the upgrade (who hasn't?), but all seems to be good now except for the disappearing Airdisk. Apple, won't you fix this so I can move files to the hard disk attached to my Airport Extreme? Pretty please?

Apple v. NBC Universal

2007-09-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

So, NBC Universal announced it would not be releasing any of its new season's shows on iTunes. Then Apple announced it would pull all of NBC's shows immediately.

Clearly, since Universal has elected not to renew its contract with Apple to make its music available online, Universal has decided that Apple has too much power over the distribution of its digital assets.

How important is it to control the distribution as well as what is being distributed? Until 1948, the five major movie studios owned their own respective chains of theaters, which they used to exhibit their own studios' movies. That was until it was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court that the studios should divest themselves of their theater chains and allow independently owned theater chains to exhibit movies from any studio. It was thought this would promote competition amongst film makers/studios.

What if the film maker/television content producer owned the distribution channel as well as the content being distributed, as Universal is attempting to do? Several problems come to mind: differing file formats depending on where you downloaded your content; differing price structures/bundles; varying encoding schemes/settings, etc. Didn't NBC Universal learn anything from Napster? If consumers can purchase the digital content at a reasonable price, they will. If they can't, they'll simply share/download the content via Bittorrent, Kazaa, or other means, and the studios won't get a penny. As Jim Cramer likes to say, "Pigs get rich, hogs get slaughtered."

Let's face it. The real losers are you and me, and anyone who is willing to pay a reasonable sum for convenience and a large catalog of content to choose from. If Apple truly was trying to stay with a universal pricing scheme, then good for them. Either way, this looks like a huge step backwards for the rest of us.

Holy Crap!

2007-08-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

Where have I been for the last month?! What have we missed?

Well, new iMacs, for one. Sweet aluminum enclosures with glass and super-thin keyboards. Can't go wrong there.

We've seen our beloved AAPL drop over $20/share, then gain most of that back, then give it up, then get it back. A rollercoaster, baby!

The Bourne Ultimatum was really cool.

A new iPhone update. Had to restore the OS from scratch thanks to iFuntastic hacking. Well worth it! I'm re-hacked, and looking forward to re-restoring everything once Apple gives us a REAL update... I can dream, can't I?

Fake Steve Jobs was outed. Man, that sucks. I can't even read it anymore. I don't think I'm alone here, am I?

I'm definitely liking the iLife '08 and iWork '08. I don't care about all the bitchin' about iMovie '08-it looks like a great way for people overwhelmed by the old iMovie to get into video editing. I'm also liking web galleries in iPhoto. Nice.

Coming up? New iPods on September 5, for one.

And don't forget Leopard in October! Ohhhh, yeah....

I'll be a little more on top of this in the future. I swear.

iPhone Firmware Updated to 1.0.1

2007-07-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

Finally an iPhone update, although it appears to do little other than patch a few security issues in Safari. There MAY be a few minor changes, but there doesn't appear to be any resolution to the low volume issues.

The update did wipe out all of the mods I had performed (ringtones, carrier logos), but they were quickly replaced after another running of iFuntastic.

iFuntastic Updated

2007-07-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

iPhone Alley has reported that the fantastic iFuntastic has been updated. I use this app, and it works REALLY WELL for changing ringtones, carrier logos, and rearranging the icons on the home screen of the iPhone.

Use at your own risk, blah blah blah.

What the Hell?

2007-07-26T00:29:00.000-07:00

Do yourself a favor-don't read this. Please.

I feel so unclean.

Okay, it's not tech, but it gives me the heebe jeebes anyway.

Morrissey in Bako Found on YouTube

2007-07-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

Just ran across this clip from the show Morrissey did in Bakersfield in June, 2007. The show was awesome, and this song rocked (although the sound is atrocious on the clip).

John C. Dvorak Using a Mac?!

2007-07-25T23:20:00.001-07:00

PCMag's John C. Dvorak, known for many years as an anti-Mac curmudgeon, has actually decided to try a machine that he has always railed against-a Mac. It took all these years of (apparently) uneducated whining, but, holy crapimoly- he liked it! He recommends it to his friends! The sky IS falling!

Now we know who's drinking the kool-aid.

Alright, he's not dumping his Windows machine, but for him to actually use a Mac, and report on his experience from an open mind, brings him up a notch in my book. To quote Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear, "That puts you at notch one."

Welcome to the Cult of Mac, John.

AAPL After Hours Trading

2007-07-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

With the 3rd quarter earnings report, AAPL is up almost $13.00/share in after hours trading.

Yeah, I'm sleeping good tonight!

AAPL Earnings Up

2007-07-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 third quarter ended June 30, 2007. Apple posted revenue of $5.41 billion and net quarterly profit of $818 million, or $.92 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.37 billion and net quarterly profit of $472 million, or $.54 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent, up from 30.3 percent in the year-ago quarter.

More info here from Market Watch.

After the $8.00/share drop yesterday, this should make it a little easier to sleep tonight knowing my shares will be up tomorrow before I am (here on the West coast)...

Zune a Success?

2007-07-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Some knucklehead at Wired says the Zune is "(relatively) successful", and that Microsoft knows how to sell hardware because they are doing so well (!?) with the XBOX 360. And then he goes on to opine that MS might be working on their own PC (ala Apple). Wha?

AAPL 3rd Quarter Earnings

2007-07-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

So AAPL's 3rd quarter earnings report is due on 7/25/07 after the close of the market. I'm a little concerned since the way the stock has skyrocketed in the last year, how can AAPL possibly meet the unbelievable expectations that have surely resulted? This is such an emotional stock, anything other than an A++ earnings report could be seen by emotional investors as a let-down, resulting in a correction.

Cramer is telling everyone to sell now, and buy back after the inevitable dip. That's one sad clown sitting on a dirty linoleum floor...

I like to think he's missed this one, but I guess we'll see.

Box.net

2007-07-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for a great way to store files and whatnot online, but have easy access to them from your iPhone, get yourself over to box.net for a great solution.

Actually, I don't have much need for online file storage with iPhone access, but I know there are plenty of people who do. If so, give Brian over there a try-I think you'll be impressed.

Apple Bluetooth Unboxing

2007-07-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) his the first pics of the Apple Bluetooth unboxing. Looks sweet!

I'm a bit peeved that my appletooth that I ordered on July 4 hasn't gotten to me yet when people are walking into an Apple Store and buying them off the shelf.

Lucky bastards...

I will say that I have always had problems with bluetooth headsets because I keep my phones on my belt on the left side, and put the earpiece in my right ear. The problem is that my reception is always static-y as the signal works its way through my gut. I don't have as much of a gut as I used to, so I'm hoping I get better reception at 215 than I got at 272... Yeah, I was fat.

6G iPod Interface

2007-07-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Video of the interface of the 6G iPod has surfaced. It originally appeared on MacRumors, then it was picked up by DAPReview. Apparently, Apple has asked MacRumors to pull the video, so it sounds like it's legit.

It would be nice if existing iPods could update the OS, especially since it appears that the interface isn't any more processor-intensive than the iPhone interface, and a lot of the video processing hardware is the same on both the iPhone and 5G iPod. But, I'm not really expecting it.

EDIT (7/23/07): Youtube has taken down the video at the request of Apple legal. Hmmm...

Holy Moly!

2007-07-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

Piper Jaffray analysts raised their target price for AAPL stock from $160 to $205!

"A tidal wave is coming in 2009,'' Minneapolis-based analysts Gene Munster and Michael Olson wrote in a report published today. ``One thing we learned with the iPod is that when a device is game-changing, the demand will come.''

Bloomberg article here.

If I have to Stay on Earth..

2007-07-19T22:39:00.001-07:00

Ok. You've decided not to chip in to send me to space. Fine. I guess I'll have to stay in the Earth's atmosphere in style.

The Moller M200G might just be the way to go.

And it' a hell of a lot cheaper!

Donations Welcome

2007-07-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Feel free to support my $100 million bid to go to space. Please. Pretty please?

iPhone Third Party Apps?!

2007-07-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Engadget is reporting that some early third party app-tastic hacking is going on. Fabolus!

AAPL $140.00/share!

2007-07-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, my Apple investment has doubled in 6 months. Sweet! While I try to keep in mind that there is always risk in investing, it appears that we've got a ways to go before we top out. Earnings report next week promises to give us another little bump. And then some, I hope. I think my AAPL may just become my entire retirement plan...

Awesome

2007-07-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Awesome. 'Nuff said.