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| Top Stories in Tech Reviews |
| Upcoming Tech Reviews | | Date Created: Nov 15, 2005, 10:17 AM |
I've been a little remiss regarding tech reviews lately so I thought I'd give a little update.
There are two reviews I have planned over the next few weeks. The first will be for the Logitech Harmony 520 remote control and the other is the Samsung HD-950 upconverting DVD player. |
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| My wife and I have been wanting a DVD player for our bedroom for awhile especially one that could upconvert to HD level 1080i or 720p rather than just the usual progressive 480p output. What drew me to the Samsung HD-950 was the ability to hack it to provide an HD upconvert signal through the Component Video connection. Most upconverters are locked into just HDMI and DVI-HDCP upconvert due to Macrovision and Copy Protection issues. There are others that you can "hack as well" but the Samsung allows you to do it through remote control key codes. Another sidebenefit of the "upconvert Unlock" is that it will turn off region lock as well, allowing me to play the multitude of non US region 1 DVD's (Import Asian DVD's come to mind for FAAF purposes). The features promised for this DVD player were so enticing that I ordered 2, so that I can have one to supplement my Panasonic Home Theater System's 5 disc DVD changer in the living room which only does Progressive output. The huge upside here is that I will be able to have a 720p signal going through component to my Projector in the living room which solves a major problem with watching DVD's I've had. With my current DVD system, I had to manually switch from 4:3 to 16:9 through the tedious Dell Projector's menu system since the 480p signal was usually set to 4:3 for my standard def content. With my 720p HD cable output already in memory for widescreen, I wouldn't have to go to my Projector's menu anymore when setting up for DVD viewing (which would be a godsend to my friends, Faafers, and my wife who've been frustrated with my Dell menu fumbling everytime we wanted to watch a DVD). Hopefully video quality will match what many reviews have been claiming for the unit. I'll be receiving the two Samsung units this week so I'll let you know how it works with a 720p front projector to a 120" diag screen and an LCD HD at 1080i. |
 We've had the Logitech Harmony 520 for awhile now so I have a good basis for that review. Once I program it for the new DVD player I'll be ready to put together the review for it. |
| Apple Invite Only Event... AGAIN!!??? | | Date Created: Oct 14, 2005, 05:20 PM |
 Just a few days since the last "One More Thing" from Steve Jobs, invites are being sent out again to those lucky enough to be in Apple's little black book. This time, it's for an event in NY on the eve of the PhotoPlus Expo on Wednesday October 19. They are asking the lucky few to join them as "we unveil Apple's latest pro innovations."
This event will be exactly one week after the red curtained "One More Thing" event where Apple unveiled the long rumored Video iPod and a new iMac, iRemote, and iTunes 6. Only a few weeks ago, the iPod nano was announced. This time around, there is speculation about the final (or close to final) updates to the PowerMac and Powerbook lines prior to the MacTel switch. No word on the significance of debuting "something" at the PhotoPlus Expo... I can speculate that perhaps we'll see the Pro level version of iPhoto for professional level organization of images (hopefully including extrnal on/offline storage) or perhaps a Pro level photo editing suite to match its Pro video and audio lineup. One thing's for sure, noone can accuse Apple (or Uncle Steve) of being sick of the limelight. |
| Apple Pr0n | | Date Created: Oct 12, 2005, 03:36 PM |
So... lets see:
Video iPod with downloadable music videos, video blogs, Television shows from ABC and Disney Channel? Check! |
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 New iMac with PCI-E video and built in iSight? Check! |
| "Media Center" style application with the new iMacs with included remote control? Check! |
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 MacIntel's? nope... oh well... a few more months... |
| One more thing... | | Date Created: Oct 05, 2005, 05:52 AM |
 The rumor mill is abuzz once again with Apple arranging for a big multi-media press event for next week on Tuesday 10am PT. Apple sent out invite cards yesterday for the Invitation Only event featuring the iconic phrase "One more thing..." over a red curtained background. Tuesdays are the traditional launch days for Apple and "One more thing..." has been Steve Jobs' way of making big announcements at the end of his keynotes. That's actually how he introduced the world to the iMac, iPod, PowerMac G5, iLife, the soon to come MacIntels, and most recently the iPod nano, but to use the phrase and red curtain on the invite itself says this one will be major. |
 Many sites such as Appleinsider are claiming that this will be the release day for the long awaited Video iPod sporting the nano's click wheel, a high resolution display, and the general form factor of the current 60GB iPod except a bit thinner. Also speculated was a video enabled Airport Express to coincide with a new iTunes release that will support both products and a slew of video content including music video and video podcasts. |
 Others on the other hand have speculated that this announcement will bring updated PowerBooks or PowerMacs... the last ones with IBM's or Freescale's PowerPC based chips prior to the MacTel switch.
With the iPod nano released so recently though, I'm going out on a limb and betting that this won't be an iPod release, but will instead be the first MacIntel based mini, iMacs, and iBooks 6 months early and based on the Intel Yonah chips. I'll also guess that this will be the first 802.11n based Airport enabled Macs that should support over 100MB wireless net access when paired with compatible equipment such as MIMO enabled Airport BaseStations to be co-released on the same day perhaps. I doubt they will be PowerMacs or Powerbooks because Steve already stated they would start the transition from the bottom up. Another clue is that Adobe mentioned today that they will fully support the Mac platform "soon" with an updated version of Adobe's Photoshop Essentials even though they recently released the Windows only version last week. They are probably waiting for next week's announcement to co-launch the first "major" MacIntel enabled apps so Steve has some software backing to his announcement. Now I'm not willing to bet a million dollars on it, but if it does work out this way, you heard it HERE first! |
| The Maine Lobster Game | | Date Created: Sep 27, 2005, 12:05 PM |
 I don't know if this belongs in my tech section or what... but....
Boing Boing and Engadget have been abuzz about a Lobster Vending/Game Machine. Like all things Vending Machine, this was thought to only be found in Japan... but now others have been posting links to a company that sells these things in the USA!!!
Check it out here.
It works just like those "move the claw and grab a toy/teddybear" vending games.
So if you have a seafood restaurant and want to make your waiting lobby a bit more interactive... how about dropping a Maine Lobster Game and letting your customers "win" their dinner while earning some more cash. |
| The Nintendo Revolution Controller | | Date Created: Sep 16, 2005, 09:55 AM |
 The new Nintentdo Revolution's controller has been revealed and it looks like.... a remote control. There's a detailed article about the Nintendo demo of this controller along with it's use in various types of games at Gamespot. |
 You can control it with the D-button and aux buttons on the face and a trigger underneath along with a separate attachable analog stick. It also has an inner gyro so you can control games by waving the controller in the air. |
 Up to four controllers will be able to connect to a single Revolution system (wirelessly of course).
I'm curious to see what games the Revolution will use to highlight the idiosyncrasies of this controller. I could definitely see Mario fishing games, and games based on Harry Potter where you swing a wand making extensive use of this controller.
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It will also come in various colors to match the multiple colors that the Revolution will come in.
Will it be enough to compete against the likes of Microsoft's Xbox360 and Sony's Playstation3? Probably not on the basis of pure tech horsepower, but Nintendo has been good at making unusual and popular niche games, so we'll see. |
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| Deluge of Apple News | | Date Created: Sep 07, 2005, 02:53 PM |
| Apple went all out today with a ton of news from the special music event at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. Below I'll list the new stuff: |
 The worst kept secret of course is the Motorola ROKR E1 iTunes enabled Cell phone. Combining iPod Shuffle functionality, an iTunes mobile player, and Cingular service, the ROKR E1 can handle 100 songs (firmware/software restricted not storage restricted). It's available now from Cingular for $249.99 (2-yr contract required). |
 The big release today was the iPod Nano. Much smaller than the previous iPod mini which it replaces, it looks like a squashed version of the new color iPods. It's actually thinner than a #2 pencil and able to hold 1000 songs (for the 4GB model) and/or 25,000 photos and has a full color screen. It will be available in white and black and in all other ways acts like it's larger siblings. It's available immediately for $199 for 2GB and $249 for 4GB. |
| Apple also announced iTunes 5 which has a revised interface, a new search bar, playlist folders, smart shuffle (similar to smart folder or smart playlist for tweaking the shuffle function) and the ability to synch contacts and calendar info from MS Outlook for PC users. |
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| And finally the entire Harry Potter audiobook series is now available exclusively on the iTunes music store. All the books are available individually or as a digital box set that includes a full color digital booklet and readings from author J.K. Rowling. There will also be a Collector's Edition 20GB iPod engraved with the Hogwarts Crest available from the Apple Store. |
| Tech: Help Me Obi-Wan... You're my only Hope! | | Date Created: Aug 17, 2005, 05:46 PM |
 IO2 Technology has finished creating production units of its inovative HelioDisplay. Though it has more in common with the mist-in-air display on Seaquest DSV and Minority Report, it does resemble R2D2's holo display of Leia from A New Hope. It can take input from PC, TV, DVD, HDTV, and Video game consoles then projects it onto a 22" to 42" diagonal image floating above the units. Though it uses lasers, the images aren't 3D holograms. Still this is a pretty cool technology.
One of the coolest parts of the HelioDisplay is that they support in-air touch screen like interfaces... so if you had this connected to a computer, you could grab a window or object and drag it around the floating screen.
No word as yet on the actual price of the production units.
More info at OhGizmo! |
| Tech Preview: Xbox 360 Pricing | | Date Created: Aug 17, 2005, 11:53 AM |
 Official prices have been announced by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 which is slated for a Xmas holiday release. $299.99 gets you the base "Core System" model that comes with a wired controller, the console, and nothing else (including no hard drive).
$399.99 gets you a Premium package that includes:
20GB Hard Drive
1 wireless controller
Xbox Live headset (probably wired)
"Chill" white faceplate
signature metallic detailing
Xbox 360 Component HD-AV cable
Ethernet Cable
Wireless media remote control
Notably absent is any mention of HD-DVD which probably won't make the first release of the Xbox 360.
More info at ArsTechnica. |
| Tech Preview: The Apple Mighty Mouse... Finally Apple goes Multibutton | | Date Created: Aug 02, 2005, 10:09 AM |
To quote a friend of mine, it looks like Hell has frozen over...
Apple has gone multi-button with their mice. The difference here is that it looks like a single button mouse with it's seamless top, but it has touch sensitive regions instead of set buttons, force sensitive squeezable sides, and a tiny trackball (360 degree Scroll Ball) in place of a scroll wheel with multiple functions. Its going price at Apple is $49 and it is both Apple and Windows compatible.
You can check out more at the official website of the Apple Mighty Mouse. Yes, I said Mighty Mouse. Makes me wonder if they'll use a little super mouse in a yellow and red suit for the commercials. |
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 In other Apple news from Engadget: Apple has recently updated their trademark on the iPod from “portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, and audio files” to read “portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, audio, image, and video files.”
Is this a harbringer of the Video iPod? Only time will tell. (disclaimer: image on the right is just a fan made mockup of a video iPod, but the Mighty Mouse pic is real) |
| Tech Preview: Windows Vista | | Date Created: Jul 22, 2005, 11:53 AM |
 Microsoft has announced the official name for what has hitherto been called Longhorn. Microsoft Vista will be the next generation consumer operating system slated for launch next year. Many on the 'net have expressed various opinions of the name, with some comedically claiming the name refers to the far off distance that the former Longhorn OS always seems to be from actual launch. I'd say this were par for course for Microsoft. As far as the actual performance and capability/stability of Vista, I'll reserve judgement until I can get my hands on a final launch version next year for testing and review (though I'm more Mac oriented lately, I still have plenty of low and high-end PC's to test software on). Microsoft has claimed performance increases of around 50% for various functions of the OS, but like all claims made by the manufacturer, they should be taken with a large grain of salt. |
| Maxent MX-26X3 HDTV LCD Review | | Date Created: Jul 14, 2005, 11:15 AM |
 We've been searching for a new TV to replace our ancient el-cheapoTM 13" inch in our bedroom. We already use a Dell Projector mounted to the ceiling and a 120" diagonal screen from Da-Lite hooked up to a good quality Panasonic integrated 5.1 surround system, Zektor Component HDTV switch, our Playstation2 and XBox, and the Comcast Motorola dual-tuner HDTV DVR cable box in our living room. So we were definitely in the market for an affordable, but good quality HDTV flat screen for our sanctum santorum. |
 Enter the Maxent MX-26x3. While stocking up at our local Costco warehouse retailer, we encounterd the 26" HDTV LCD TV. It had caught our eye because it had the best and brightest picture of all the TV's on display. It was at that point that we had to take a double-take when the price came into view. It only cost $799.99. I examined the specs thoroughly to see if there were any deal-breaking catches because that price is pretty unheard-of for a display that showed such a quality screen in person. It supported 2 component inputs, DVI input, RGB DB-15 input and pass through output, S-video and RCA. It even had an RS-232 Control Port (not that I have any equipment that would make use of the serial port). The resolution was 1366 x 768 and viewing angle was listed at 170o. There was no mention on the box about its audio capabilities in terms of virtual surround support. Listed response time was 12ms. It supported NTSC, 1080i, 720p and PC resolutions up to 1280x1024 (the Costco price label mentioned that it was not Mac compatible). After a long time spent examining the unit, my wife had to pry me away so that we could continue with our shopping. I later researched the display a bit online and found out that the LCD itself is actually manufactured by Sampo (there are only a few bulk LCD manufacturers out there with many companies incorporating the same LCD glass in their displays).
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A week later on a rainy day after work, I made the decision to make the purchase. Since Costo only takes cash and American Express (which I do not have), I made a mildly painful ATM withdrawal of $900 (to cover tax and pocket money). Trotting over to Costco, I picked up the MX-26x3 and eagerly made my way home. The installation had to wait though for the wife to get home so we could go to Ikea and buy a nice media table to use as a pedestal for the display.
Once I had finished assembling the table and situating it in its proper place in the bedroom, I got to the real techie joy of the night. The LCD was packed with light styrofoam on the corners and the bottom with a protective plastic static clinging to the front glass. Once removed, the setup was fairly simple. I did peruse the manual quickly to discover some of it's features and anything of note. Interestingly, the MTS Stereo capability of the Maxent does include a virtual surround sound mode that isn't labeled anywhere else, so this was a no-name solution. No SRS or Dolby licensing for this monitor. The speakers themselves were incorporated into the case design so they aren't detachable. Unfortunately the multitude of input/output options didn't include digital SPDIF or TOSlink so I would not be able to connect a Dolby Digital nor DTS source to the monitor.... not that the virtual surround would be able to do the source justice. The case was made of fairly sturdy gray shade plastic. The screen could swivel left/right on it's base, but it could not be angled up or down.
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 I hooked the MX26x3 to the Comcast/Motorola dual tuner DVR cable box via both the DVI and the component inputs. I used regular RCA stereo for the audio. Each input has a discrete RCA stereo audio pair, so I switched the audio between testing each video connection. I wanted the best picture possible so I tested various combinations of HDTV signal and Standard Def settings on the cable box as well as testing between the Component and DVI connections and zoom/16:9/4:3/1:1 settings on the TV. I've read online about various conflicting reports on which connection was better and which built-in scalers were better. Your mileage may vary depending on your equipment, but I found the DVI input to be cleaner and more vivid for the MX26x3 and the Comcast box. Interestingly enough, HDTV content looked much better using the TV's built-in scaler set to 1080i (even though the physical resolution was closer to 720p). This could be due to the higher amount of digital info being supplied to the Maxent's built-in scaler at the 1080i resolution resulting in a better scale-down than a scale-up at 720p to the physical 1366 x 768. Standard Def output also looked better scaled from 480i to 1080i via the TV's internal scaler. I like to keep the standard 4:3 configuration of the Standard Def content, but I also like to fully fill the screen when using 16:9 content, so I relied on the built-in scaler to adjust the content at those settings rather than use the physical 1:1 which would result in black bars around the screen for widescreen content. The Comcast box was set to output all HD content scaled to 1080i and without the 480p forced option (which resulted in double scaler use and muddy pictures in Standard Def). The TV actually remained in one resolution mode of 1080i output even for Standard Def content. This avoided the common problem among certain LCD's including this one where there's a significant delay when changing resolutions. That would have been annoying when channel surfing and waiting 2 seconds between each switch. Luckily the consistent 1080i output was the best setting for the display and avoided the res-switch problem altogether.
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The output itself was as bright and colorful as any I've seen. There were adjustments to be made for the brightness and contrast which were set way too high. Once adjusted however, the screen made HD content pop and Standard Def passable. The 3:2 pulldown helped with the lower-res content but as with all HD screens showing regular NTSC, the older style content looks relatively worse than on a standard def TV. Colors needed no adjusting on the DVI signal and it often made HD content look better than our projector. Very little motion ghosting was visible and there were some grid patterns visible in grey/black gradients, but it is similar to most LCD's where the black levels are not as deep.
Audio had good volume and some depth. Bass response was limited for the built-in speakers, but good enough for a bedroom setting. Interestingly enough there is a Bass RCA output if you have an external amplified subwoofer. With the virtual surround settings on, I only noticed limited expansion of the audio field without any distinct locality of surround effects.
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Once all the visual and audio settings were locked in, I programmed my Comcast remote control to recognize the TV using Sampo settings. Anything to reduce the remote controls I need to use is a plus. I need 3 remotes in my living room for my projector, cable box, and the rest.
For the price of $799.99 before taxes, this is definitely an HDTV flat-screen that's worth more than many of its peers while undercutting the competition. Since it is sold at warehouse outlets like Costco exclusively, Maxent is able to deliver a quality product at warehouse prices. Hopefully the quality is long lasting, but only time will tell. My old 13" clunker is going to Ricky's room to become my chihuahua's TV. Check the Maxent MX26-3 out at Costco when you have a chance.
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| I give the Maxent MX-26x3 4 out of 5 Deathstars |
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| Quickie Review: iTunes 4.9 and Podcasting... FINALLY | | Date Created: Jun 28, 2005, 09:12 AM |
 First of all... yes I'm on vacation, and no we haven't really left home yet... we'll be heading to Washington D.C. for some R & R with Ricky tomorrow. Now off to the mini-review:
So iTunes 4.9 is out today with the Podcasting support. I downloaded the new software via Apple's Software Update feature like a good little mac-head and "walla" I've got my fave podcasts ready to go.
I like the integration with the iTunes music store and how it uses the familiar iTunes directory hierarchy for searching podcast listings. One thing I'm glad to see is that some podcasts which many thought wouldn't be included in the new Podcasting section of the iTunes store actually are there if you perform a search or look through the directory listings (namely Sex based shows and "vulgar" shows). Though I doubt they'll show up on the iTunes Podstore front page anytime soon, it's good to see that Steve and the gang didn't exclude them from the launch like we all thought he would. As originally thought, all the podcast subscriptions so far have been "free" though I expect premium content that will be charged via the iTunes Music Store will become available shortly. The subscribe and download features are much more intuitive than what I previously used in iPodderX. One thing I don't like is the default way iTunes lists podcasts in one Podcasts playlist on my iPod after synching (fixed in an update, check my update description below). You could move them around if you want, but I much prefer separated out playlists for each podcast under a central Podcast listing...maybe under the "Music" top menu item.
The configuration menu for managing podcast synching is merged with the last 4.8 version's synch management for iPod contacts and music playlist settings. You're able to specify if all podcasts are included in the synch, just the latest, or whatever combo you wish.
All in all, this was a successful integration of Podcasting into the iTunes/iPod fold. I've already dragged iPodderX to the trash and will use iTunes exclusively for my choice of Podcasts (This Week In Tech, Inside Mac, Battlestar Galactica if anyone is interested). I'll probably sample some more now that it's easier for me to peruse the different podcasts through the iTunes Music Store.
UPDATE: Okay, I spoke too soon... Apple just released an iPod Update via Software Update that adds a Podcast menu item to the iPod's Music Menu just under Songs. You can manually change the settings on your iPod to allow Podcasts to live on the Main Menu as well instead of having to scroll through Music. It also adds the capability of bookmarking your podcasts as you listen (like Audiobooks). Along with the release of new all color screen iPods today, the update adds the ability to use a Podcast's album cover to display while playing on the new iPods (and the old iPod Photo). There's also reports of the new iTunes enabled Motorola Phone having tons of references within the recently released 4.9 version of iTunes. Check here for more info. |
| Tech Preview: Mactel Development Platform Photos | | Powerpage has some cameraphone photos of the Mac on Intel development platform with the side door removed. It's a custom Intel motherboard (BX?) inside a modified G5 case. Xlr8yourMac mentioned that it has Firewire400, USB2, and SATA-2 but that Firewire800 is missing. They also mentioned that USB boot capability is there but Firewire boot is missing (the reverse is true for the PPC Mac platfrom). I don't see Apple removing Target Disk and Bootable Firewire capabilities, so expect these shortcomings rectified by the time the consumer ready Intel Macs are available. | | Date Created: Jun 08, 2005, 02:43 PM |
| Tech Preview: Apple Pro Apps on Intel | | Date Created: Jun 07, 2005, 04:27 AM |
 There's some late word that not only were the OSX releases co-developed on both PowerPC and Intel...but so were all the other Apple branded apps. From iTunes and iWorks to the entire Final Cut Studio suite... all were parallel developed on the PPC and x86 platforms.
This has yet to be confirmed and there's no actual development details as yet so I don't know if this means that the current released iterations are actually Universal Binaries or if there are Intel versions waiting in the wings. My guess is that actual patches will be made available at a later date that will be Universal Binaries through software update for those applications that won't have new software releases next year.
In other news, during lunchtime at WWDC05, many developers have already been to the "7 labs" filled with Apple engineers to assist with migrating code over and many have actually finished a preliminary migration of their apps/utilities before the lunch was over.... so it's looking more like Steve's Reality Distortion Field is not as distorted this time around as usual.
I'll reserve judgement until this whole shebang is done, but so far so good and it's only day 2 of the "Transition".
An aside...
My favorite quote from Slashdot regarding this transition:
“I felt something, a disturbance in the network, as if a million mac zealots cried out in horror and were suddenly silenced,”
--posted by “m50d,” |
| Tech Preview: Apple & Intel sitting in a tree.... | | Date Created: Jun 06, 2005, 02:47 PM |
 So now that it's confirmed... what will the Apple transition mean to us Macintosh users?
If Steve isn't suffering from his famous Distortion Field... not a hell of a lot other than faster cheaper Macs. If the developers can just recompile in just a few hours or weeks their new software versions (which they release every year or so anyway) and if Rosetta can run PPC apps transparently we should be "good to go".
Intel based OSX has been running internally at Apple for a long time now, and they've made damn sure their own apps are ready for the transition. Will this mean more viruses on the Mac? Maybe not if x86's architecture has been taken into account properly at the kernel level. Does this mean we'll be seeing general cloning of the platform from Dell and others? Probably not because Apple will probably use OpenFirmware to keep OSX running only on Intel based Mac's. Does it mean we'll get the latest greatest hardware goodies that the PC guys seem to get all the time...hell YES!
Even better for the transition is Apple's recent changes to .mac and isync to allow more content to be transferable between Macs. The migration assistant will also help in transfering data over.
Will this move grow marketshare? Possibly... though how much is still up for debate. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments. |
| Tech Preview: Apple and Intel Strange Bedfellows? | | Date Created: Jun 06, 2005, 09:34 AM |
 By now you've probably heard the news from CNet, NY Times, and the Wall Street Journal that Apple will announce today at the annual Developers Conference (WWDC) that they are making a switch from IBM to Intel. Now if you were a longtime mac-head this may seem sacrilege and a sign of the upcoming apocalypse, but if you are old enough to remember how it was in the 80's and early 90's, you'd remember that similar feelings were felt when Apple moved from the 68xx series Motorola chips to the AIM partnership which included IBM (considered the anti-Apple at the time). In both cases, IBM and Intel aren't the true anti-Apple... it's Microsoft. With Longhorn losing features by the day long before it's much delayed launch... and the inherent security problems of the Microsoft platform... Apple's move to partner with Intel will be a powerplay that will further the shift away from the ubiquitous Windows platform.
The Intel partnership can take form in three ways. I'll list them here from the least to the most probable:
- Macs with x86 Based Architecture - I list this as least probable because this would subvert some of the current strengths of the Mac platform. The aging x86 platform has many problems with security (buffer overflows) not just because of Microsoft's shoddy programming, but also because of some inherent limitations in the old instruction set and the need to support backwards compatibility to older x86 code. The x86 architecture has long been disparaged by Steve Jobs so I doubt he'll push a move to it now.
- Macs with modified x86-64 Based Architecture - Unlike the previous example, this move could be more likely due to the ability to run in pure 64bit mode without the legacy compatibility code from the original x86. Apple can migrate the existing NeXT and OpenBSD based Darwin system easily to the 64bit codebase. With Apple's recent moves in Tiger to lockdown the kernel API, any future migration scheme can be made much smoother than the old 68xx to PPC migration and the System 9 to OSX migration. This will still not be ideal in my view because some (if not all) programs will need to be recompiled for the new platform. Though they will not need as much tweaking as previous migrations, recompiling and updating the software for all new Mac purchasers will be painful for the vendors/developers/users alike.
- Macs with Intel made PowerPC's - this is possible because of the AIM partnership. In the 90's, Apple, IBM, and Motorola joined forces to leverage, develop, and design the Power architecture. All three have rights to use the base foundation of PowerPC's in their chips. Freescale (formerly the chip division of Motorola) and IBM make their PowerPC's for embedded uses, servers, Macs (G4 and G5), and now next-generation console systems. In the Apple partnership with Intel, they can leverage their design and use rights for PPC and create a new PowerPC G6 chip that leverages Intel's technologies while maintaining backwards compatibility with current Macs and OSX. There would be no real migration because current programs would continue to work on the new platform. Intel's fabrication facilities and capabilities would allow Apple to reduce the costs of their Macs and at the same time allow cooler and faster running CPUs. Everyone wins (except IBM and Motorola of course). This in my view would be the ideal announcement today by Steve Jobs.
Either way, I don't see Steve announcing a move to allow clones again or a direct move to x86. He knows that the two biggest draws now for the Mac platform is that it is relatively free from viruses and related security problems and that things "just work" on a Mac. I talked about the lessening of security capability in item 1 above (and news items recently about Hyperthreading buffer overflows and viruses that take advantage). The "Just Works" theme for the Mac is largely due to the strict hardware controls that Apple has over the platform and it's components. To allow clones again would take away the very reason people switch to apple.
Other possible Intel/Apple announcements today may involve an Intel XScale based Tablet from Apple that will run an "OSX Lite". I wouldn't be surprised if they announced this tablet in two models (12" and 15") with extensive iSync capability, WiFi, Bluetooth, and even a return of the Newton name.
Another announcement could include the use of Intel chips in new WiMax enabled Airport peripherals.
I'll be watching the internal NBC feed of the WWDC keynote where Steve will make the announcements at 1pm ET. I'll have an update here once the news is out. |
 UPDATE:
.mac services will be down during the keynote timeframe with a "maintenance outtage". That usually means there will be new features announced for .mac during the keynote. If my speculation about an xScale based iNewton or iPad Tablet are true, then we may see a merging of it's functionality with Tiger's new iSync services for not just contacts and mail... but also whole desktop profile functionality through .mac and bluetooth syncing. Idle speculation, but definitely something that could make a definite impact on the PDA and ultra-light laptop markets.
Unfortunately the same .mac outtage will make iDisk access intermittent according to Apple's site and since my website is based on .mac and iDisk, my updates may be hampered during the timeperiod. I'll still try to update the site with whatever I find out from the Keynote as I watch the WWDC on our internal broadcast feed. |
UPDATE 2:
Looks like I there's no internal WWDC feed for this conference which is odd. Looks like I'll have to watch the internal wires and reporter reports on the internal feeds. |
UPDATE 3:
Looks like it was a mix of Option 1 and 2.... ugh.... we'll see how this goes.
OSX has internally been running crossplatform already and now they are transitioning to X86. Recompiles WILL be necessary.... more later.
Rosetta layer allows running of PPC apps unchanged on Intel based Macs without a recompile.... not that slow, but recompile will be better.
Wolfram CEO came out and said that Mathematica 5 only took 2 hours to recompile and only 20 lines of code were changed...
Intel CEO spoke... keynote ended... will have some more analysis once I digest all of this. |
| Tech Preview: XBox 360 - Competitor Compatibility | | Date Created: May 18, 2005, 02:06 PM |
There was a slide during the XBox 360 presentation at E3 that showed compatibility for synching between the new console and iPods & PSP's.
According to Ballmer in an Engadget Joystiq interview, the XBox 360 will support synching of music to the other handheld units as long as they are unprotected (non-DRM) content.
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| Tech Preview: Nintendo Revolution - More info | | Date Created: May 17, 2005, 02:27 PM |
 Info from Joystiq.com:
• Release is sometime in 2006.
• Prototype shown is larger than final unit.
• Nintendo is still determining final colors for the console.
• All-Access Gaming, which refers to backwards compatibility to 20 years of Nintendo games, NES, SNES, N64. We don’t know particulars of how it’ll be accessed or what, if any, the cost structure might be.
• Downloadable to 512MB of flash memory.
• SD memory card slot.
• Wireless controllers.
• Two USB 2.0 ports.
• Built-in WiFi.
• WiFi used to interface with the DS.
• DS likely to enhance future games. |
| Tech Preview: XBox 360 - Compatibility and FFXI | | Date Created: May 17, 2005, 12:06 PM |
 Confirmation is rolling in off of the AP wire that XBox 360 is indeed backwards compatible to the original XBox (not sure how well emulation will be) but only for "Top Selling Titles" meaning that it won't support all of the original XBox's library of titles. You can bet the Halo series, Burnout series, and Rainbow Six series will be on the supported list.
Also announced, Square Enix will be releasing Final Fantasy XI for Microsoft's Platform. Does this mean that Square has jumped ship from Sony's Playstation line or that they are just spreading out across all the platforms? Also an unknown; will this FFXI entry be online compatible with the Sony PS2 and PC versions? |
| Tech Preview: Nintendo Revolution | Not to be outdone by Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has released photos of their next-gen platform the Revolution.
No detailed specs are available yet, but they do say that it will only be 2 to 3 times more powerful than the previous GameCube which it will be compatible with. That's a great deal less powerful than the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (which will be the most powerful hardware of the three), but Nintendo says they will focus more on the gameplay than geewhiz features.
It will use DVD sized media natively, but will also be able to use GameCube's smaller discs to play the previous system's games. Like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 it will use wireless controllers and have network access. Nintendo will have an online service similar to XBox Live and will have downloadable games. All three competing systems can stand vertically or horizontally.
No mention was made on availability or pricing.
More info available at USA Today online
Click on the photos below to view the high-res shots.
| | Date Created: May 17, 2005, 10:53 AM |
| Tech Preview: Playstation 3 | | Date Created: May 16, 2005, 11:49 PM |
| The Playstation3 has been revealed at E3. Engadget and Joystiq seem super swamped with traffic, but you can try checking back later for more info. |
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 It looks like the logo they are using is reminiscent of the Spider-Man font that Sony chose for the two Spider-Man movies. On the back it also looks like it will have 2 HDMI outputs, the "standard" playstation A/V multi-output, a digital optical out, 2 USB 2.0, a straight power plug (no brick from the looks of it), and 3 Ethernet Ports. No telling why it needs 3 Ethernet RJ45 ports or why there doesn't seem to be any Firewire ports. Additional inputs hidden in the front include 4 more USB 2.0 ports, Memory Stick, Compact Flash, and SD ports. The controllers will be wireless just like the Xbox360, but with a more pronounced boomerang shape and use Bluetooth. As previously stated by Sony, the new Playstation 3 is backwards compatible with the Playstation 1 and 2. Specs that were just posted by Sony are below:
CPU: Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
GPU
RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel pipelines
Sound
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)
Memory
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz
System Bandwidth
Main RAM: 25.6GB/s
VRAM: 22.4GB/s
RSX: 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s(read)
SB: 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)
System Floating Point Performance
2 TFLOPS
Storage
HDD: Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1
I/O
USB: Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick: standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD: standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash: (Type I, II) x 1
Communication
Ethernet: (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
Controller
Bluetooth:(up to 7)
USB2.0: (wired)
Wi-Fi: (PSP)
Network: (over IP)
AV Output
Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1
Disc media
CD: PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM
CD-DA: CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW
SACDL: SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD
DualDisc: DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PLAYSTATION 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video (DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW), Blu-ray Disc (PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE)
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Some of the most interesting things I found about the specs is that it will support Wi-Fi connections to the PSP, and it supports full 1080p HD over two channels... now whether this means it will support two full HD screens or just a single 1080p over HDMI/DVI dual pathway connections remains to be clarified.
It also looks like it will come in 3 colors... white, metallic, and black. |
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| A new view from above... |
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| Table view... |
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| MotorZone... looks like BurnOut3 Takedown mixed with Grand Turismo and HiDef PS3 Goodness... |
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| Killzone Pic... check the detail...that's actual gameplay footage at HD 720p. |
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| Tech Preview: XBox 360 Demos were using Macs!!! | | Date Created: May 13, 2005, 05:59 PM |
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It turns out all the Microsoft Xbox360 clips from yesterday's (actually last week's) premiere were using Mac's. All current demonstrations of Xbox360 (until the hardware is fully finalized) are also running on Apple PowerMac G5's. All the demo hardware shown have been prototypes. Odd situation for Microsoft to be in for sure...
More info at C-Net>> |
| Tech Preview: XBox 360 | | Date Created: May 13, 2005, 03:38 PM |
 No, I don't have an insider box to review (yet... ). I know you can probably scrounge the info on the XBox 360 pretty much anywhere now... not the least of which is XBOX360.com. But I thought I would drop a list of features and geeky info anyway.
I don't know when I'll pick up this console. So far there has been no confirmation on whether or not it will have backward compatibility (no mention on Microsoft's sites, and nothing more than speculation on the gaming websites). I really hope there won't be any lag in using the wireless controllers. And the price better not be more than $300.
The most exciting thing for me about the new Xbox isn't the actual games list or the look or capabilities... it's the fact that it uses a custom triple core PowerPC G5 derivative running at 3.2Ghz. With the current Apple PowerMac G5 topping out at 2.7Ghz with two single core processors, how long until Apple gets IBM to provide them with new G5 processors that are at least dual core and over 3Ghz? |
| Xbox 360 System Performance Specifications | | Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU | - Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
- Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
- VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
- 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
- 1 MB L2 cache
| | CPU Game Math Performance | - 9 billion dot product operations per second
| | Custom ATI Graphics Processor | - 10 MB of embedded DRAM
- 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines
- Unified shader architecture
| | Polygon Performance | - 500 million triangles per second
| | Pixel Fill Rate | - 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA
| | Shader Performance | - 48 billion shader operations per second
| | Memory | - 512 MB of 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM
- Unified memory architecture
| | Memory Bandwidth | - 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
- 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
- 21.6 GB/s front-side bus
| | Overall System Floating-Point Performance | | | Storage | - Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive
- 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
- Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB
| | I/O | - Support for up to four wireless game controllers
- Three USB 2.0 ports
- Two memory unit slots
| | Optimized for Online | - Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live features with broadband service, including Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, gamer profile for digital identity, and voice chat to talk to friends while playing games, watching movies, or listening to music
- Built-in Ethernet port
- Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g
- Video camera ready
| | Digital Media Support | - Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
- Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs
- Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive
- Custom playlists in every game
- Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
- Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers
| | High-Definition Game Support | - All games supported at 16:9, 720p, and 1080i, anti-aliasing
- Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported
| | Audio | - Multi-channel surround sound output
- Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio
- 320 independent decompression channels
- 32-bit audio processing
- Over 256 audio channels
| | System Orientation | - Stands vertically or horizontally
| | Customizable Face Plates | - Interchangeable to personalize the console
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Availability: Holiday 2005
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| OSX 10.4 Tiger Review: Note on Pro Apps | | Date Created: May 13, 2005, 03:10 PM |
 I just learned the hard way that the Apple Pro and Prosumer apps will have to be reinstalled after you do an Archive & Install of Tiger. I don't know if a straight upgrade (which has other problems) or an Erase and Migration will require the same.
It seemed after I moved to Tiger a week ago that Final Cut Express HD and DVD Studio Pro 3 worked fine after the Archive & Install... but when I tried to export some edited clips of the Topic [A] with Tina Brown show that we needed for the website, Compressor 2.0 (which is bundled with DVD Studio Pro) was a greyed out option. Launching Compressor directly in Finder also proved a problem... it just winked in and out without even an error message. I've encountered this problem before during a migration to my PowerBook from my old Cube on Jaguar. At the time, it necessitated a reinstallation of my Pro Apps. Unfortunately my installation discs are at home so I'll have to hold off on updating the show website with the last four weeks of show highlights until Monday. Problem is, they're teasing the website's videos on Sunday's show (UGH!). To make matters worse, this will be one of the last episodes of the show since Tina is moving on to do her Princess Diana book. Oh well, they'll have to wait for their videos until the day after the show airs.
In the meantime, I'll be sure to reinstall DVD Studio Pro 3, Final Cut Express HD, and then the Pro App Support 3.0 upgrade from Apple's site. I already re-installed iLife 5.0 on Wednesday so I could get the codec upgrade from Apple. So far I haven't seen the need (yet) to re-install MS Office 2004, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop CS, or any other app. I just hope this won't be the start of a trend... |
| This Week in Tech Review | | Date Created: May 10, 2005, 11:52 AM |
 I've recently "discovered" the world of Podcasts. Essentially they are syndicated recorded programs, usually but not limited to the audio format (mp3, AAC, org Vorbis, etc.) and resemble radio programs. There are a few Video podcasts out there, but I haven't subscribed to any yet. Some are advertisor sponsored while others are donationware. Podcasts use RSS wrappers to enable their "magicmojo" to work. There are quite a few Podcasting programs out there including iPodder (open source various platform), Doppler (Windows), and iPodderX (Mac). My favorite is iPodderX and iPodderX Lite since they are easy to configure...automagically place your podcasts in iTunes playlists, and support BitTorrent based Podcast feeds seemlessly. I actually subscribe to a few choice podcasts to listen to on my iPod during my morning and afternoon commute. They include: Inside Mac (advertiser based...too much advertising if you ask me... almost seems like more advertising than content), Battlestar Galactica (which are running commentary by the producer of the rekindled SciFi series... really adds to the franchise!), and This Week in Tech which will be the subject of this review.
This Week in Tech started a few weeks ago by Leo Laporte of Screensavers fame (and The Spot on MSNBC, Screensavers and Call for Help on Tech TV and ZDTV). This Week in Tech or TWIT was originally called alternatively Return or Revenge of the ScreenSavers before the retarded hell-hounds of G4TV got wind of it. Like it's original name implied, this was to be a weekly series of podcasts that would bring back some of the original ScreenSavers team from the 'ole Tech TV and ZD TV days. Lately that list has included Leo (of course) Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, Robert Heron, Yoshi, and soon to be others (most likely Megan and the rest.. I wonder if they'll include Kate B.?)... they've had/will have cameos and guest appearances by notable notables like John C. Dvorak. Like the earlier ScreenSavers, Call for Help and similar shows by the group, they'll delve into the week's latest geeky stories and anything remotely nerdy that pops in their heads. Unlike the later shows, they won't dumb them down, and they won't be (too) censored. This is the quintesential geek tech show done right and brings back many warm nostalgic feelings for me. I used to love watching the original ZDTV incarnations of the show and hated the direction it was going just prior to the G4TV takeover... I'm not even going to address how badly mucked up the G4 version was.
In the past few weeks they've had contests, refined their show format, and commited to the "donationware subscription" model making any exchange of scratch voluntary (with some incentive, like subscribers getting emailed "stuff" not privy to the free(loaders)listeners out there). Some of the topics covered include OSX Tiger, Skype, Google's latest problems (outtages and the much maligned accelerator), etc. interspersed with some poignant nostalgia about the "good old days" of TechTV.
The podcasts are available in various media formats and delivery methods (regular download, Coral, BitTorrent based RSS feeds, etc.). I personally use the BitTorrent based AAC bookmarkable feed for use with iPodderX and my iPod mini.
You can find more info about the TWITS and get their podcasts at http://www.thisweekintech.com/. If you miss the TechTV of old... and I KNOW a lot of you do... then this is definitely for you! |
| Sony DVP-CX985V Review | | Date Created: May 04, 2005, 10:07 PM |
by Guest Reviewer: MAD Scientist
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I have an addictive and obsessive personality. During my teenage years, I quickly grew attached to two things, comic books and girls. Could have been worse, I could have just been obsessed with comic books.
Worst intro ever.
Let’s start again…so, I just started buying DVD’s. You see, I restrained myself from purchasing DVD’s as A) I didn’t have a DVD player and B) I have an addictive and obsessive personality. ‘(B)’ directly resulted in my collection of 5000+ comic books, accumulated during my teenage years on a typical teenager’s salary at a 7-11. Don’t ask how, I did bad things that my ex-therapist still frets about.
So I started collecting DVD’s and soon after, purchased my first DVD player. A nifty portable with LCD and so forth. Nice for my 27” TV and graduate student lifestyle involving trips around the globe for conferences (as long as the globe only includes Indianapolis and maybe Montreal.) Now, however, I am writing my thesis and am home more often. And lo and behold, my DVD collection is building. In between writing sessions I like to kick back and watch a flick. And each payday I somehow end up at the nearest Target or Blockbuster purchasing a good dozen new flicks to keep me entertained. Like I said, I have an addictive and obsessive personality. Keeping ~200 DVD’s organized started to become troublesome. My cases soon filled up my shelf and new ones just ended up everywhere, since alphabetizing and rearranging my shelf of DVD’s became a nasty chore. I needed my personal space back. So I started to look into some kind of storage unit for DVD’s, you know those ugly metallic towers meant to hold 20-100 DVD’s in all their glory, but would probably serve a better purpose as “modern art” in front of an office building, or courthouse in California where it’d likely end up being the ashtray/urinal for any passerby. Yeah, those things.
Then upon my late night internet searching, I’ve discovered a wondrous invention of modern day laziness: the DVD changer! Behold in all it’s deep space blackness, the color of entertainment technology since the BeeGees were a hit, the storage capacity of several metallurgical sculptures and the convenience of remote technology! But I digress….
Many a late night internet-huntings later, I’ve settled on my DVD changer and below will iterate the thought processes of this addictive and obsessive mind in the choosing of this particular model.
The Hardware:
The Sony DVP-CX985V is big. I mean like three XBOX’s big. Wompingly large. If your entertainment center is less than 22” deep, I suggest investing in a saw. Good thing I use one of those metal-wire put-it-together-yourself shelfing units you can find at most office stores. It does, however, take up less space than my dvd cases, which I now store in my closest. Out of sight, out of mind. In the picture below, you can see that it doesn’t look that big. Perhaps I’m exaggerating, but just think how big something’s gotta be to hold a carousel of 400 DVDs or CDs (yes, it can play CD’s as well with MP3s on them no less!).
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 On the front panel, you can see a turnknob and a directional button as well as an array of buttons for the various actions. The buttons aren’t as confusing as some reviews make it out to be. If you have a cell phone that you figured out without reading the manual, you can pretty much figure this sucker out, well at least to the minimum of storing and playing your dvd’s (More about that in a second). I won’t give a long explanation of how each button works, go read the manual if you want that, but suffice it to say, if you have ever owned a dvd player, this one isn’t that difficult to figure out. |
The carousel door seems sturdy enough and opens in a couple seconds. Whatever DVD/CD you were playing last will be spun up to the front. How to properly load DVDs took me a couple minutes to figure out, I didn’t want to break my DVDs nor my newly acquired hardware now. There’s an ever so slight indentation in front of the carousel serving as a track to place DVDs/CDs into. Takes a bit of practice loading disks in but as you probably will be dropping in hundreds, you’d probably learn quick enough.
I loaded my DVDs ten slots at a time, skipping ten, loading ten, etc. If you have less than 200 disks, I suggest you don’t spread them farther than a ½ disk width or about 20 slots wide. One time while the carousel was spinning all the way around (I put my DVD collection sets, i.e. Star Trek: The Next Generation season disks from slot 390 down and regular disks 2 and up such that I have a gaping hole from like slots 200-300), one of the disks fell off the track and was sitting sideways on the carousel. Luckily I heard it fall and quickly opened it up and fixed the DVD back in it’s new home. Just keep this in mind when loading it up.
The remote is a curmudgeon of buttons arcanely labeled. I suggest either reading the manual or get a universal remote that can list your dvd’s or do what I did and keep a printed list of my DVDs and slot numbers. But the remote is nice enough, not much else to say about that aside from that it can seem confusing, but I’ll discuss how I deal with that below.
Usage:
Installation
The unit is surprisingly light; well, before you load it up with DVD/CD disks that is. And finding a nice spot in my center was easy (move over you stinkin’ DVD cases!) I plugged in the power and then the s-video and audio outputs to my TV (which connects to my sound system). Plum easy. It powered up, and I press the mysteriously named “Open” button and voila it opened the carousel. I started loading the disks with slot #2 (slots are labeled every 5 to keep track) as I use #1 for rentals.
Now if you are the type of person that likes keeping lists and labels and documenting everything, this’ll be like x-mas to you. If you don’t, then suck it up. The ease of having all your DVDs at the touch of a remote is worth it. Well if you’re lazy like me.
Loading all the DVDs took me about 2 hours. Have pen, a list of your DVDs on paper, and a pillow ready, ‘cause sitting on the floor for that long can’t be good for your back. Afterwards, you could set the DVD changer to “Load” all your movies. This means that the changer will look for DVD text on the disks. I didn’t do this because I’ve read that only a few disks will likely have this labeling on the DVD. If it does, it’ll read the title onto the changer, which will be shown in the DVD menu system. Additionally, you can plug in a PS/2 keyboard onto the front of the changer and punch up the title of each DVD, that is if it doesn’t have DVD text as that would take precedence over anything you type in for it, so beware. I’ve read that the “loading” of a couple hundred disks takes the changer a few hours.
After loading, I was ready to go.
Remote
Like I said, this thing is confusing. But if you do what I did, and keep all your DVD’s listed (I use DVD Sphere on my powerbook) and printed on sheets, you can disregard about 80% of the buttons. The ones I’ve been using in the past month of ownership include: normal playback buttons (i.e. play, pause, scan, stop, etc), the number buttons, display, the enter button and menu). All I do is look up what DVD I want, turn it on, press display once, enter, the number of the disk, enter, then display to get out of the menu. That’s all, then my DVD loads up in a couple seconds, I kick back and enjoy. This is much quicker than my few trials of the menu system of punching up the folders, then scrolling through all my disks labeled by number just to find the one I want, and entering that. The menu system in this respect is slow, cumbersome, and just not worth it. I suppose that if you took the time to type in each DVD into the changer, it might be nice, but I like my system…so far.
Of note, I plan on investing on a Pronto TSU7000 touchscreen color remote which I can program myself, menu bitmaps and all. If you know me, you won’t be surprised by the style I’ll be programming this in. What’s cool about this remote is that I can write up macros and include shots of the DVD case or whatever to represent the movie and use those as a button to start it up. All I have to do is click and the macro’ll send all the codes for me. As soon as I muster up the scratch for this $700 luxury, I’ll write up a review with shots of my menu system.
Playback
Honestly, I don’t have the qualifications of a videophile to describe how the video quality is in comparison to other players. I have a pretty standard 27” TV and not much else. HD quality is expected in the update as far as I know. So far I’m quite happy with the playback, it’s as crisp as my last dvd player (a portable as I mentioned) and quite responsive to remote or front-button presses. I do notice on disks with layer changes in the middle of the movie a second or less lag during the layer change. Nothing too bothersome, though some might complain that it takes away from the immersion into the movie. So far, I’d say I’m quite satisfied with playback.
As I described earlier, playing a DVD is very simple as long as you keep your list up to date and well organized with slot number.
One thing that irks me, though, is automatic play from startup. If you finish a movie and turn off the changer, upon startup again, the changer will begin loading the last played dvd. Now this is fine if you stopped in the middle of your movie and want to continue again. This sucks however if you just want to start up another DVD. As far as my internet and manual searches has told me, there is no way to turn this "functionality” off, though you may be tempted to think so from the manual’s section on turning “Autoplay” off. Note: this apparently has no relation. There is a trick to keep the player from starting a DVD all over again, however. From any stoppable part of a DVD, press stop then turn off the DVD changer. So when you are done for the night or want to watch regular TV, just get the DVD to a stoppable part, i.e. the credits. This will allow you to quickly dial up another DVD next time you start up without having to wait for the changer to go all the way back to playing the last DVD you watched. (This won’t be a problem once I get the TSU7000 as I will include this into any macro I write.)
Value:
There are other DVD changers out there with better audio and video quality. Some even supposedly have a functional movie menu system like the DV-F727 Pioneer Changer. However, this sony unit is one of the most if not the most inexpensive DVD changers I could find. As I don’t use the changer’s menu system, nor have a sufficiently high quality audio and video system to warrant HD output, this is the best DVD changer for me. The quality of the changer output is good, and the unit itself gives a sensation of quality. Too be fair however, I haven’t physically compared this unit to other, as Kenwood and Pioneer changers are very hard to find in stores. And this coming from a person living in the NYC metropolitan area!
The convenience of having all my DVDs in one unit is just great. All my DVDs are listed with cover, director, date, and brief synopsis as well as slot number in a nicely printed “book.” All my DVD cases are stashed away out of sight. If I ever feel like watching a movie, I got them all in my fingertips. For some, this may not be a big deal, well, a DVD changer ain’t for them then. For the rest of us, I suggest seriously looking into the Sony DVP-CX985V.
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Synopsis:
The Good
- All DVDs at the touch of a remote.
- Playback is quick and good quality on standard 27” TV
- It’s pretty.
The Bad
- Menu system is a mess. But why use it?
- Autoplay on startup is annoying. Just remember to press stop.
- Remote seems to require at least a Bachelor’s in Engineering to decipher.
- It’s pretty big/deep.
Overall: 85% |
| OSX 10.4 Tiger Review: 15" PowerBook 1.5Ghz 2GB Memory | | Date Created: May 03, 2005, 01:06 AM |
I received my Family Pack pre-order delivered to my workplace at 10:30am on Friday the 29th of April.
After following the precautionary steps I mentioned in the Review Prelude, I installed midday on my 15" 1.5Ghz Powerbook (2GB Memory, 80GB 5400 HD, SuperDrive, ATI 9700Mobile 128MB). There are three settings available for installing to a Mac that already has a previous version of OSX installed:
Upgrade (default) - just replaces the system files that have been upgraded.
Archive and Install with Preserve Accounts and Network Settings - copies the old system folders to a "Previous System" folder and installs a clean system from scratch, but retains the remainder of the disk including Applications and User Accounts.
Erase and Install - Initializes/Formats the disk and installs a fresh operating system from scratch.
You don't automatically see these choices. When you are on the setup screen where you choose which storage volume to install Tiger, you'll see an Options button on the bottom left. It is there that you can make your choice.
To retain my settings and applications I chose the Archive and Install method. Later I realized that I could have had the same effect if I did an Erase and Install and later used the Migration Assistant under Applications::Utilities. The Migration Assistant is used to transfer full accounts, settings, and installed applications from one Mac to another and is usually used automatically as a choice when you purchase a new Mac (i.e., Would you like to transfer files/accounts from your old computer to the new one within the setup).
After you choose your installation method, and choose which storage device to install to, you are given a choice to either do an "Easy Install" with the default modules, or you can customize your install by adding or removing the optional modules (Foreign Language interface files, X11 framework, etc.). I chose to include everything except the foreign language modules (I don't forsee myself using the Chinese Traditional user inteface in llieu of the default American English).
A few notes on the install and initial startup of Tiger:
- Mail - I know I mentioned this in the Prelude, but make sure you remove any mail plug-ins and bundles like http-mail (used to connect to hotmail) before you install Tiger, otherwise Mail 2.0 will crap out and the import of your old messages and accounts will fail. Even if it does, you could recover backed up mailboxes and drag them into Mail 2.0... but better to let it get imported correctly.
- Like previous Archive and Installs... anything with a third party System Preference Pane (MenuMeters, iScroll2, GamePad Companion, Disctop Pro, Salling Clicker, etc.) needs to be reinstalled. Luckily they all work "mostly fine" with Tiger. iScroll2 does need to be reset to defaults and adjusted everytime I reboot though (which after setting up isn't too often). I've already informed the developer and he acknowledges that it is a known bug.
- Best to let Spotlight do it's initial indexing thang before doing anything major after you install... the Spotlight button on the rightside of the menubar shows a glowing dot when it's indexing.
- The desktop eject button for Disctop Pro doesn't work... of course regular keyboard eject and dragging to trash does.
- BlogWave Studio 1.1.8- Crashes when you try to open a new entry. Developers emailed me back and said that they will have a new version out next week that will support Tiger. A day later, 1.1.9 came out claiming support for Tiger. I'm now able to enter my blog entries and modify my site, but when I go to Publish (partial or full), it crashes the application. The files are correctly copied to my iDisk, but it craps out before .Mac is updated. I have to manually sync the iDisk to have my site updated. I emailed the developer again along with the Crash information report provided by Tiger. That's actually another new feature in Tiger; that when an application crashes, a dialog box pops up asking if you want to either retry the last action (which will reload the app and try again), cancel (not loading the crashed application), and/or reporting to Apple the error including memory and core dumps along with some non-privacy violating system information and specs. Within the reporting window, I copied the text area that held the memory and core dump output and sent it off to BlogWave Studio's developer. Hopefully we'll see a newer more stable version soon.
- Carbon Copy Cloner 2.3- has authorization problems. There are work arounds that use sudo terminal strings but you'll still encounter root authorization problems when trying to restore. My opinion, wait for a new version.
- iPodderXLite - download folder wants to be on the desktop even when you specify an alternate download spot in preferences.
- BitTorrent 4.01- Locks up solid after a few seconds. 4.02 was released earlier today and works fine under Tiger.
- VirtualPC - it asks you to rerun the install if you have the VPC helper applications installed in your windows image ("in place" so you don't have to pop in a cd again), then there are some security authorization dialogs you have to swim through... then there's an error for Virtual Switch (just use Shared Networking instead). Then it's back to normal, only a wee bit faster if my senses didn't deceive me.
- DiskWarrior - 3.02 ran from an emergency BootCD prior to upgrade. There's a Tiger ready version coming out next week 3.03 so I won't run it again until then.
- Cocktail - ran 3.5.4 before the update and initial CCC backup prior to installing, and used 3.6 (Tiger ready version) afterwards to clean up.
- Virex 7.5 - deprecated on the .Mac site (only for download in Panther). I already knew about this so I uninstalled before I upgraded. Virex 7.6 is out (enterprise changes) but the Tiger ready version is 7.7 without an ETA. Apple seems to be phasing Virex out. I wonder if they'll replace with another antiviral utilitiy (or if it's needed at this point).
- Stuffit 9.0.1 - The Stuffit Expander wasn't included in the OS package this time around, but I already had Stuffit installed. Unfortunately, the stuffit framework went wonky after the installation. You need to reinstall Stuffit after you install Tiger to get it working again.
Overall everything seems FASTER for me: Finder file redraw, window resizing, application startup, system startup (at least 3 times faster than in Panther), with the speed difference in Safari being the most noticeable. It could just be because it's essentially a new install (Archive and Install) and my Panther install may have been getting bloated with stuff... but the change is too great for it to just be that. I've read some rather mixed reports online about slowness after the Tiger upgrade. My guess is that they either started working on stuff or benchmarked right after the intial boot. This would cause some slowness because Spotlight takes anywhere from 10minutes to 1 hour or so to perform the initial indexing for any attached volumes. For those that just ran the default Upgrade, I suggest you do an Archive and Install or Erase and Install. This will help guarantee a fresh system installation. You can still retain your settings by using the Migration Assistant if you chose the latter.
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 Dashboard is so good, that I chucked Konfabulator (though I miss the desktop metaphor for Konfab in some ways, I now prefer the "out of your way"ness of Dashboard... yes I know about the bug that lets you use a widget on the desktop, at least temporarily). I was using a ton of Widgets all at once (both included and downloaded... wondering what Apple has up their sleeves for the .Mac exclusive widgets which aren't available yet), and used up 379MB of memory out of my 2GB.
Spotlight: getting used to using it... It's much much more than just a search and meta-tag engine. The ability to find files based on arbitrary criteria, even if it's embedded or related to the file in whatever format, is incredible. Regular files (images, documents, applications, folders) aren't the only ones included in the Spotlight search for OSX. You'll also receive results from emails and other more abstract data structures.
All other Apps (MSOffice, Quicken05, Photoshop, DreamWeaver, Flash, FireFox, iLife05, Final Cut Express HD, DVD Studio Pro 3, Toast 6 Titanium) and utilities (MenuMeters, Salling Clicker, SlimBattery Monitor, Gamepad Companion) worked perfectly (so far).
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Another cool feature has to do with the new included Dictionary/Thesaurus application. The new one provided in OSX Tiger is from the Oxford American Dictionary. What makes it so cool is the following:
Go to the Dictionary application in Applications and change the preference for Contextual Menu: to Open Dictionary Panel.
Now go to Safari or almost any other apps (there are some where this won't work)... and highlight a word and right click. Choose Look up in Dictionary. Cool huh?
Now try it with this word: WTF
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 The new Mail 2.0 has been refined from the previous version in both looks and underlying technology. Spotlight search is now fully integrated into Mail and allows you to easily find the email you need no matter how much mail you have archived. Another nice set features in the new Mail is the image handling from within an email. When you receive an email with multiple pictures/photos, you have the option to startup a slide show of those pictures. From within the slideshow, you can view one, scroll through, view them all in a contact sheet like view. The image handling engine in Mail can also assist you if you are about to send an email out with a very very large photo you have as an attachment. The bottom right of the composition window of the email has a drop down that allows you to resize the included image. That should help save quota space on the email servers of your service.
iCal: now has the option to import birthday listings from the Addressbook within a Birthday group (complete with a "cutesy" cake icon).
There are many more features I'd like to mention (including Automator), but that will have to wait for a later installment of this review of Tiger.
I'll also have a ranking system for my reviewed products soon, but will leave the actual rank for Tiger after all the Tiger reviews are posted. |
| OSX 10.4 Tiger Review: Prelude - addendum | | Date Created: May 01, 2005, 11:56 AM |
 Well BlogWave Studio 1.1.9 is now out. It is the updated version that works with Tiger (including support for the new iChat 3.0 status and some bugfixes).
Expect the next part of my OSX Tiger review later this evening.
UPDATE: In anticipation of tomorrow night's review... check out the Tiger Wiki. It's a pretty complete reference guide to everything Tiger and since it's a Wiki (like Wikipedia) it's community driven, i.e. anyone can contribute. |
| OSX 10.4 Tiger Review: Prelude | | Date Created: Apr 29, 2005, 09:58 AM |
 So in anticipation of the arrival of my OSX Tiger Family Pack today, I made sure I followed a few steps to make sure my first installation (my PowerBook 15") goes smoothly.
- Checked all my third-party application and utility's websites, along with MacUpdate and VersionTracker for Tiger specific updates or mention of future updates.
- Cleared out my Applications and Utility folders of "deadwood"; applications that I don't think I'll need, are never used, or are now obsolete with Tiger (in my case Konfabulator, though it has some differences, falls into this category since I know I'll be using Dashboard even more)
- Researched on various early review sites and forums to make sure there are no show-stopping bugs upon installation
- Ran Cocktail to clear the caches, run the cron maintenance scripts, and repair permissions
- Ran DiskWarrior 3.02 from a bootable Emergency CD (a good idea to have at all times) I created after upgrading to Panther.
- Physically removed old data files that weren't needed anymore to clear up some space for the install of Tiger
- Backup to my external Lacie Portable 80GB HD using Carbon Copy Cloner
- Watch FedEx's Tracking website like a hawk
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Some Issues I found out in my research to keep in mind:
- Carbon Copy Cloner has a problem regarding authorization. There are workarounds involving running sudo open /whatever/path/to/Clone.app in terminal that will allow you to launch the application as root, but it will still come up with an authorization error when you try to restore to a target disk in Tiger. Easy solution for me, I don't plan to run Carbon Copy Cloner in Tiger. I can backup partitions before I install and I can restore from an external drive that has Panther loaded if needed. Hopefully Bombich software will have an update soon so i can run CCC in Tiger for later backups.
- Some people have encountered problems with the new Mail application migrating over old mailboxes when they moved to Tiger. So far the two cases I've seen used the Archive and Install method (you have to specify this in the custom install) which essentially copies the old system folders for Panther to a "Previous System" and then installs a fresh copy of Tiger... then migrates your account and apps over if you specify to retain the home directories and accounts. The other two installation methods are Clean Install and the default Upgrade. Upgrade just copies over and modifies the system files that have been upgraded in Tiger. Clean Install does just that; start from scratch. I prefer Archive and Install even with the mail problem since Upgrade is notorious for missing some files (removed system files or files that were replaced by Haxies or drivers) and subjectively leads to a slower bloated system. The two people were able to recover by rebuilding their accounts and getting their mailboxes through the file system. I hope that they are the exceptions and not the norm. We'll find out since Archive and Install is what I plan to do today.
- From the incredibly detailed Arstechnica review I mentioned in the last post, I learned that though Spotlight utilizes meta data embedded in the kernel's file i/o so as to seem seemless, upon initial installation of Tiger, there's an initial index building of any connected hard drive that runs on a low priority background process that may explain some of the application startup and OS startup slowness other less sophisticated reviewers have noticed (they wrote their reviews the day they installed). My take is, I'll install, let Tiger do its initial indexing thing (it can take a few hours) without any apps running, and then I'll get down to business. Initial indexing may also have caused the problems the Mail problems I listed above. These two people opened Mail right after they installed and mentioned slowness on first start and missing mail boxes. The explanation could be that Mail has now restructured mail entries as separate files per message to allow for Spotlight indexing. If that indexing wasn't complete (and it probably wasn't) when you open the new Mail app, you'd probably see missing mailboxes (they are in the process of being converted). It's just a theory, but it sounds right to me based on what I learned of Spotlight and Mail. The lesson: don't startup Mail until all the initial indexing is done.
- Virtual PC: I only read about one bug so far for this even though Microsoft has stated that they will soon have updates for VPC and Office soon after Tiger. VPC on Tiger has a problem with the Virtual Switch network setting... just use Shared Networking. I use that anyway.
- DiskWarrior: Alsoft just announced v.3.03 of Diskwarrior as a free upgrade to previous owners in the form of a download utility to make a new install disk. It solves a few problems with running DW in Tiger and supports the new Access Control Lists and other new filesystem features of Tiger while improving RAID and Journaling support. The update will be available in a few days.
- There's an issue with HTTP-MAIL plugin (latest is 1.43) for accessing Hotmail in Apple's Mail.app. It interferes with the import of old mail during upgrade process to Tiger and doesn't work at all with the new Mail 2.0. It's important to uninstall the HTTP-MAIL plugin before you install Tiger (luckily I found out about this right before I was going to install). Now this sounds like the another plausible reason the other two people had problemns with Mail. Saw this information in a comment on MacUpdate's http-mail plugin listing.
So hopefully now, I should be well prepared for the Tiger installs and my subsequent reviews. I decided to do the Tiger Review as multi-part posts detailing each installation starting with my 15" 1.5Ghz PowerBook, then my wife's Mac mini, then my Mom's eMac. My brother is probably going to install a copy himself on his 12" so it's probably best to let him do his own review that I'll add later (he's already doing a Sony DVD Changer/Jukebox review for me). After that I'll give it a week or so and then I'll add on to the Reviews with my thoughts and experiences of running Tiger. I'll keep adding on in later posts if I learn anything new.
If you have something specific you want me to test in Tiger or questions about the new OS, let me know in the comments below.
UPDATE: I just got the Tiger Family Pack dropped on my desk... WOOP!
UPDATE2: Unfortunately my Blogging software was one of the few applications that has barfed on me in Tiger. I'm editing this update by hand. For now, you can check out some of my comments on the [H]ardOCP Message Board Forums. I should be able to add my review updates soon (the developers of BlogWave Studio emailed me saying there will be a Tiger update to their software this week). You can also check out someone else's first thoughts over at Kaiwai's Blog. |
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