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Published On: Oct 30, 2006 02:28 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Oct 30, 2006 02:28 PM
Mon - July 10, 2006
Macbook Pro 17"
Regular readers will know I've had my eye on
a Macbook Pro ever since his Steveness brought the first 15" model down from the
mountain top earlier this year. You may also remember the extreme discipline
shown by yours truly as I decided to wait on the 17" model. Well the new baby
is here and it was worth the
wait!
Once I decided to order it I contacted my local FPT distribution staffer and signed a purchase order. Four weeks later I brought it home. If you are in the market for a Mac in Vietnam, do give FPT distribution a call and they will be able to help you. They are also the local Apple service centre. If you want contact details feel free to drop me an email message.
Anyway I brought the new Mac home and booted it up. The first thing I noticed was the speed of the machine. It's fast alright. It goes without saying it's the fastest Mac I've ever used. It probably is exceeded by a Quad G5 Mac for some tasks but you would expect that. The next thing I noticed was just how similar it was to my old (now Emma's gratefully received new) 17" Powerbook. Check out the photos Below:
This of course is no bad thing as these are the most beautiful laptops ever made.
In use the new laptop is amazing. The engineering achievement here is substantial. Apple have managed to entirely switch architectures but made the user experience seamless. This looks and feels just like a Mac, just very very fast. The "universal" binaries run very quickly indeed, blowing away the previous machine by a wide and visible margin. The emulated PowerPC binaries are slower than the Universals but even they feel at least as fast as they used to on the G4 laptop. The exceptions to this are floating point intensive applications such as Photoshop. Until universal binaries are available for that, it is actually a better performer on a G4 or G5. In all though, for my uses the Macbook performance ranges from as fast as the old machine to ridiculously fast! This is a remarkable job from Apple. I was around for the 68000 to PPC transition and I thought THAT was well handled. This has been even better.
From time to time there is a need to run that "other" operating system, Windows. I need to run Visio at work from time to time and whilst it feels archaic and inflexible next to the excellent Omnigraffle sometimes I just have to run it. For this I need Windows. On the G4 I used to use Virtual PC and whilst this was functional it was as slow as the proverbial molasses. On the Macbook I use Parallels and the performance is stunning. I'm pretty confident that my Macbook running Windows under Parallels is the fastest Windows box I've ever used too. Very nice for occasional Windows use and keeps it all in a sandbox under the control of the seemingly bulletproof OS X. Parallels does not give you access to the 3D graphics card in the Mac but for 99% of Windows applications it's a non issue. Great work to the guys from Parallels.
I'm delighted with the new machine. It's fast, beautiful and the screen is gorgeous. I say this every-time I get a new Mac but it's the best machine I've ever owned.
As a side note it's also worth mentioning Apple's migration assistant. I used it for the first time to migrate Emma from her old laptop and it was amazingly easy. You connect the two laptops via Firewire and the new Mac copies all the user data, applications and settings. It was as easy as it sounds right there. The most simple computer transfer I've ever done. Very nice.
If you have any questions about the MacBook Pro or Apple in Vietnam in general please let me know!
Once I decided to order it I contacted my local FPT distribution staffer and signed a purchase order. Four weeks later I brought it home. If you are in the market for a Mac in Vietnam, do give FPT distribution a call and they will be able to help you. They are also the local Apple service centre. If you want contact details feel free to drop me an email message.
Anyway I brought the new Mac home and booted it up. The first thing I noticed was the speed of the machine. It's fast alright. It goes without saying it's the fastest Mac I've ever used. It probably is exceeded by a Quad G5 Mac for some tasks but you would expect that. The next thing I noticed was just how similar it was to my old (now Emma's gratefully received new) 17" Powerbook. Check out the photos Below:
This of course is no bad thing as these are the most beautiful laptops ever made.
In use the new laptop is amazing. The engineering achievement here is substantial. Apple have managed to entirely switch architectures but made the user experience seamless. This looks and feels just like a Mac, just very very fast. The "universal" binaries run very quickly indeed, blowing away the previous machine by a wide and visible margin. The emulated PowerPC binaries are slower than the Universals but even they feel at least as fast as they used to on the G4 laptop. The exceptions to this are floating point intensive applications such as Photoshop. Until universal binaries are available for that, it is actually a better performer on a G4 or G5. In all though, for my uses the Macbook performance ranges from as fast as the old machine to ridiculously fast! This is a remarkable job from Apple. I was around for the 68000 to PPC transition and I thought THAT was well handled. This has been even better.
From time to time there is a need to run that "other" operating system, Windows. I need to run Visio at work from time to time and whilst it feels archaic and inflexible next to the excellent Omnigraffle sometimes I just have to run it. For this I need Windows. On the G4 I used to use Virtual PC and whilst this was functional it was as slow as the proverbial molasses. On the Macbook I use Parallels and the performance is stunning. I'm pretty confident that my Macbook running Windows under Parallels is the fastest Windows box I've ever used too. Very nice for occasional Windows use and keeps it all in a sandbox under the control of the seemingly bulletproof OS X. Parallels does not give you access to the 3D graphics card in the Mac but for 99% of Windows applications it's a non issue. Great work to the guys from Parallels.
I'm delighted with the new machine. It's fast, beautiful and the screen is gorgeous. I say this every-time I get a new Mac but it's the best machine I've ever owned.
As a side note it's also worth mentioning Apple's migration assistant. I used it for the first time to migrate Emma from her old laptop and it was amazingly easy. You connect the two laptops via Firewire and the new Mac copies all the user data, applications and settings. It was as easy as it sounds right there. The most simple computer transfer I've ever done. Very nice.
If you have any questions about the MacBook Pro or Apple in Vietnam in general please let me know!
Posted at 07:30 PM
Tue - April 25, 2006
Apple dealer in Hanoi
Speaking of things Mac, while we were on
Le Nam De we discovered a new Apple only dealership. Great news!
They are called NGD and can be found at 37 Ly Nam De. Their phone number is +84 4 747 3820.
I’ll certainly be looking to support these guys with the 17” MBP when it becomes orderable here.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
They are called NGD and can be found at 37 Ly Nam De. Their phone number is +84 4 747 3820.
I’ll certainly be looking to support these guys with the 17” MBP when it becomes orderable here.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Posted at 08:02 PM
17" Mac Book Pro Announced
Well, the wait is over and Apple have
released their new Core Duo 17 Inch MacBook Pro . I can’t
wait until I can get my hands on one of these and the finance committee has
approved the purchase. (Though I'm pretty sure the finance committee has their
eyes on the "old" 17 inch
G4!)
Dual core processor at 2.16Ghz, decent mobility graphics, gorgeous screen, I’m drooling at the prospect.
This is made all the more enticing by the release of the virtualisation product from parallels . This is just a dream come true. Mac OS X and Windows and/or Linux running in sandbox at almost full speed. For those of you who have lived with Virtual PC on PPC PowerBooks (convenient but slow) this is great news indeed.
So, what’s all this about "boot camp", and virtualisation and emulation?
Emulation is the old Virtual PC way of doing things. It’s like an English speaker translating every word of Vietnamese with a VN-English dictionary. Very slow but can be done.
Virtualisation is the parallels way of doing things and provides fast Windows XP in a Mac OS X window. It’s like a native English speaker who also knows Vietnamese so well that lookup is not necessary to translate. It’s much faster but the dominant language is still English.
Boot camp allows the Mac to actually boot into Windows. The catch is you are running in one OR the other. This is a bit like being able to forget English completely for a while because you can speak Vietnamese like a native.
It’s a very rough analogy but it’s close enough for this blog!
For those of you that must deal with Windows, the new MacBook Pros offer the best of both worlds.
If you are one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to deal with Windows, this is simply the most awesome Mac laptop yet regardless of the Windows compatibility options.
Dual core processor at 2.16Ghz, decent mobility graphics, gorgeous screen, I’m drooling at the prospect.
This is made all the more enticing by the release of the virtualisation product from parallels . This is just a dream come true. Mac OS X and Windows and/or Linux running in sandbox at almost full speed. For those of you who have lived with Virtual PC on PPC PowerBooks (convenient but slow) this is great news indeed.
So, what’s all this about "boot camp", and virtualisation and emulation?
Emulation is the old Virtual PC way of doing things. It’s like an English speaker translating every word of Vietnamese with a VN-English dictionary. Very slow but can be done.
Virtualisation is the parallels way of doing things and provides fast Windows XP in a Mac OS X window. It’s like a native English speaker who also knows Vietnamese so well that lookup is not necessary to translate. It’s much faster but the dominant language is still English.
Boot camp allows the Mac to actually boot into Windows. The catch is you are running in one OR the other. This is a bit like being able to forget English completely for a while because you can speak Vietnamese like a native.
It’s a very rough analogy but it’s close enough for this blog!
For those of you that must deal with Windows, the new MacBook Pros offer the best of both worlds.
If you are one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to deal with Windows, this is simply the most awesome Mac laptop yet regardless of the Windows compatibility options.
Posted at 08:01 PM
Tue - March 14, 2006
G4 Powerbook power supply replacements to VIetnam
Well, you know I love most things Apple but
the power supply for the G4 Powerbook is pretty ordinary. It looks great but
it's longevity leaves something to be desired. Check out the picture of my
deceased power supply. You'll notice one of the clips has come off and the
cable is clearly wrecked.
The cable coming out of the power supply caught fire - right before my eyes. Yes, smoke, sparks and flame. The thing is, this is the second power supply that we have had this problem with. The first was Emma's and this time mine went. I imagine that the problem is that the cable is too flimsy and the design encourages you to wrap it around the clips. I think this just serves to weaken the cable further. Anyway whatever the reason, this is the second one that has ended badly.
Last time we ordered a replacement for Emma through local Apple distribution channels and it took ages. This time we decided to go with a third party supply. We ordered a power supply from other world computing and I'm glad we did. Without a U.S. credit card they need a wire transfer of the cash upfront. Once we did that though it only took 3 days from the U.S. The power supplies look a lot more robust than the original units and we got 2 for the price of 1 from Apple. So now we have a spare. So far, highly recommended.
The cable coming out of the power supply caught fire - right before my eyes. Yes, smoke, sparks and flame. The thing is, this is the second power supply that we have had this problem with. The first was Emma's and this time mine went. I imagine that the problem is that the cable is too flimsy and the design encourages you to wrap it around the clips. I think this just serves to weaken the cable further. Anyway whatever the reason, this is the second one that has ended badly.
Last time we ordered a replacement for Emma through local Apple distribution channels and it took ages. This time we decided to go with a third party supply. We ordered a power supply from other world computing and I'm glad we did. Without a U.S. credit card they need a wire transfer of the cash upfront. Once we did that though it only took 3 days from the U.S. The power supplies look a lot more robust than the original units and we got 2 for the price of 1 from Apple. So now we have a spare. So far, highly recommended.
Posted at 08:30 PM
Thu - March 9, 2006
Hanoi WIFI Cafes
A few days ago, a friend asked if we knew of
a nearby internet cafe - and we DIDN'T!
So we thought it might be a good idea to start an ongoing post of wi-fi cafes around Hanoi.
1. Intello Cafe - 59 Van Mieu Street
* Across from the Temple of Literature
* Okay food, okay service, nice decor and comfortable to sit for a while upstairs
2. A Li Cafe (front part of A Little Italian , who, BTW, have the best waiter in all Hanoi) restaurant and next to the Eden Hotel) - Tho Nhuom Street
* Not far from Hanoi Towers
* Little Italian is a great find. The service is amazing for Hanoi! The food is good and the prices reasonable.
3. New Window - Ly Thuong Kiet?
* More info needed
4. Aqua Cafe - Nguyen Thai Hoc
* This cafe is along Nguyen Thai Hoc, on the left hand side when you come towards the intersection of Hang Bong Street, Nguyen Thai Hoc and Cua Nam Street.
5. Cafe 8x - We think this is on Hang Bai
* More info needed
6. Cafe Wifi - 117 Mai Hac De
7. Cafe My PDA - 20 Tran Quoc Toan
8. Fortuna Hotel - 6B Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh
9. Guoman Hotel - 83A Ly Thuong Kiet, Hoan Kiem Dist.
10. Relax Bar - 60 Ly Thuong Kiet.
* Just a *tad* on the sleazy side, but an okay bar.
11. 11A Hai Ba Trung
At the Opera House end of HBT.
12. The Red Window - 11B Tran Quoc Toan
13. The Press Club - 59A Ly Thai To
If you know of any others, please comment or email skingsley@mac.com. Thanks.
So we thought it might be a good idea to start an ongoing post of wi-fi cafes around Hanoi.
1. Intello Cafe - 59 Van Mieu Street
* Across from the Temple of Literature
* Okay food, okay service, nice decor and comfortable to sit for a while upstairs
2. A Li Cafe (front part of A Little Italian , who, BTW, have the best waiter in all Hanoi) restaurant and next to the Eden Hotel) - Tho Nhuom Street
* Not far from Hanoi Towers
* Little Italian is a great find. The service is amazing for Hanoi! The food is good and the prices reasonable.
3. New Window - Ly Thuong Kiet?
* More info needed
4. Aqua Cafe - Nguyen Thai Hoc
* This cafe is along Nguyen Thai Hoc, on the left hand side when you come towards the intersection of Hang Bong Street, Nguyen Thai Hoc and Cua Nam Street.
5. Cafe 8x - We think this is on Hang Bai
* More info needed
6. Cafe Wifi - 117 Mai Hac De
7. Cafe My PDA - 20 Tran Quoc Toan
8. Fortuna Hotel - 6B Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh
9. Guoman Hotel - 83A Ly Thuong Kiet, Hoan Kiem Dist.
10. Relax Bar - 60 Ly Thuong Kiet.
* Just a *tad* on the sleazy side, but an okay bar.
11. 11A Hai Ba Trung
At the Opera House end of HBT.
12. The Red Window - 11B Tran Quoc Toan
13. The Press Club - 59A Ly Thai To
If you know of any others, please comment or email skingsley@mac.com. Thanks.
Posted at 09:59 PM
Mon - February 20, 2006
test
ha haaaaa!
For so long I have been thinking that the pictures come out so badly on our blog. Everything looked really nice in iPhoto but then really grainy and awful in iblog. But I then actually got off my butt (or rather, sat down on it at the laptop) and did a little research. Lo and behold, I think the problem is solved. I'm pretty happy with this pic which was just the first thing I clicked and imported. Seems that sizing needs to be done BEFORE importing, and then, instead of using the Photo menus in iblog, the best thing is to drag and drop the image so that iblog doesn't try to do its own resize and just takes the photo (that you have already "perfected"*) directly into iblog.
I learn something new every day.
For example, this morning, I learnt (from Russell) that a new show called Conviction is being released through iTunes BEFORE being shown on TV! Interesting! And it's only 7.50am!
* Note: I say "perfected" because on the iblog forum site there is a list of actions that many people do before importing their pics, but I literally clicked, imported into iPhoto and then dragged onto iblog. But my goal is to learn the delicate craft of Photoshop.
For so long I have been thinking that the pictures come out so badly on our blog. Everything looked really nice in iPhoto but then really grainy and awful in iblog. But I then actually got off my butt (or rather, sat down on it at the laptop) and did a little research. Lo and behold, I think the problem is solved. I'm pretty happy with this pic which was just the first thing I clicked and imported. Seems that sizing needs to be done BEFORE importing, and then, instead of using the Photo menus in iblog, the best thing is to drag and drop the image so that iblog doesn't try to do its own resize and just takes the photo (that you have already "perfected"*) directly into iblog.
I learn something new every day.
For example, this morning, I learnt (from Russell) that a new show called Conviction is being released through iTunes BEFORE being shown on TV! Interesting! And it's only 7.50am!
* Note: I say "perfected" because on the iblog forum site there is a list of actions that many people do before importing their pics, but I literally clicked, imported into iPhoto and then dragged onto iblog. But my goal is to learn the delicate craft of Photoshop.
Posted at 02:28 PM
Wed - February 15, 2006
Go Team Xe Maybe
Russell has us both signed up for
ClimatePrediction.net. This is a program which uses your available processing
power (computer - not brain - thank the Gods) to contribute to research into
climate change.
What this means to me is that, when I am not using my computer, there is a cool globe screen-saver. But in fact, this screen-saver is modelling years of Earth's weather patterns.
The results of mine, Russell's and many thousands of other people's screen-savers is to allow ClimatePrediction to view the effects of various aspects of global weather, and therefore plan for the future. As I remember a history teacher telling me: if you can't learn from the past, you will fail in future. This way, these guys can help us learn from the past so we don't all fail in the future.
So, if you want to help and want to join our team (Team Xe Maybe), then go to the Climate Prediction site and join our team. We don't get anything out of it, but Earth does, and it would be a shame to waste all those CPU cycles.
What this means to me is that, when I am not using my computer, there is a cool globe screen-saver. But in fact, this screen-saver is modelling years of Earth's weather patterns.
The results of mine, Russell's and many thousands of other people's screen-savers is to allow ClimatePrediction to view the effects of various aspects of global weather, and therefore plan for the future. As I remember a history teacher telling me: if you can't learn from the past, you will fail in future. This way, these guys can help us learn from the past so we don't all fail in the future.
So, if you want to help and want to join our team (Team Xe Maybe), then go to the Climate Prediction site and join our team. We don't get anything out of it, but Earth does, and it would be a shame to waste all those CPU cycles.
Posted at 10:43 PM
Sat - February 4, 2006
Hidden Word Options
Here's an amusing piece of humor from thedailywtf.com.
It's a faked up dialog box of hidden MS Word options.
I found it funny...
It's a faked up dialog box of hidden MS Word options.
I found it funny...
Posted at 10:14 PM
A Geek isn't just for Christmas...
or Tet for that matter, it's for life. If
you think you can just buy some poor soul a 12" iBook (good start!) and be done
with it, think again!
I was reminded of this when Russell - who, I'm pleased to say, suffers little from tech-envy (not hard living in VN although not as easy as you might think) - pointed out to me on the bus to Kanchanaburi the other day a guy who had:
1) a new Sony PSP
2) a new video iPod
And then came the sad-eye look... "Ems, why haven't I got these things," it seemed to say. Heartbreaking, really.
See, a geek a is a delicate and finely honed creature requiring CONSTANT upkeep to maintain them in peak condition.
Therefore, later on that day when Russell informed me that he simply could not EXIST (EXIST, I tell you!) another minute without an iPod Nano armband, noise-cancelling earbuds for both iPods and a pod speaker system for the bedroom, I HAD to put them on the shopping list.
I was reminded of this when Russell - who, I'm pleased to say, suffers little from tech-envy (not hard living in VN although not as easy as you might think) - pointed out to me on the bus to Kanchanaburi the other day a guy who had:
1) a new Sony PSP
2) a new video iPod
And then came the sad-eye look... "Ems, why haven't I got these things," it seemed to say. Heartbreaking, really.
See, a geek a is a delicate and finely honed creature requiring CONSTANT upkeep to maintain them in peak condition.
Therefore, later on that day when Russell informed me that he simply could not EXIST (EXIST, I tell you!) another minute without an iPod Nano armband, noise-cancelling earbuds for both iPods and a pod speaker system for the bedroom, I HAD to put them on the shopping list.
Posted at 04:14 PM
Sun - January 15, 2006
Swings and Roundabouts and Macworld Expo
Apple has made the switch to Intel chips and
the impact is felt in Vietnam where we are now, and Adelaide where we came from.
It's a small world. Freescale have made 145 jobs
redundant at their Mawson Lakes operation in Adelaide.
Interestingly, Intel has announced a manufacturing
plant for Vietnam .
How are these related?
Freescale provide the G4 chips for the current generation Apple Powerbooks and iBooks. G4 chips will be phased out in favour of Intel chips throughout 2006 leaving Freescale without one of it's major customers.
Bad news for Adelaide, good news for Vietnam - the globalization roundabout in motion.
How are these related?
Freescale provide the G4 chips for the current generation Apple Powerbooks and iBooks. G4 chips will be phased out in favour of Intel chips throughout 2006 leaving Freescale without one of it's major customers.
Bad news for Adelaide, good news for Vietnam - the globalization roundabout in motion.
Posted at 09:14 PM
Wed - January 11, 2006
Macworld Expo
Well, today was Macworld expo day and what
an expo it was. His Steveness is beginning to wear the mantle of industry
leader with dignity but managing to maintain the sense of excitement that was
required while Apple was still on the comeback trail. Well the comeback trail
is a long way behind in the rearview mirror and the days of being labeled
"beleaguered" are just a fond memory echoing in the minds of Michael Dell and
Bill Gates.
This was a great keynote from Steve Jobs by any stretch. Certainly the excitement meter in our house was bumping around at record levels as the "geeking of Emma" moved into high gear. She clapped, she cheered, she exchanged high fours with the dog! I was in fear for my life at one stage. Anyway here's a summary of my thoughts on what I thought were the highlights:
Sales - Apple have just had their biggest quarter ever with over 5 billion dollars in sales. Now if you think that's not important then think back to the days when people didn't buy a Mac in case Apple were going out of business. Well 5 billion dollars in a quarter completely erases any of that sort of negativity! Apple's financial foundations are the foundations for the Mac platform. I don't really care if they made that money selling iPods, iTunes, iVideos or iAnything! This money is the engine for the Mac platform - well done Apple!
iLife - Is this the best 79 bucks you can spend on software? I think so! iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, iTunes, and now iWeb. Apple are realising in full, the vision that Steve Jobs articulated back in the days when PC users were still trying to install drivers to get USB devices to work properly. In regards to the new addition iWeb, stand by for another move of our blog because Emma was in raptures over it. "Honey can we have a new-new blog? I know it's some more work, but Steve said..." Seriously, iLife is one of those great reasons to use a Mac. It comes free with the Mac and it provides a digital life experience that PC users can only wish for - at any price. This is Apple at it's finest. Anyone who saw Steve Jobs create and publish a podcast in minutes will know what I'm talking about. Cutting edge technology in the hands of ordinary users, excellent.
iWork and MS Office- Well, Keynote and Pages are both cool but I imagine they have achieved the real purpose and that is to get Microsoft to commit to office development for the Mac for the next 5 years. Mission accomplished. This was announced a bit later in the keynote when the always amusing Roz Ho gave the crowd the good word. She was met with polite applause as always. Seriously though, it must be tough being a Mac fan working at Microsoft. It's a dirty job and someone has to do it. The Mac NEEDS office, well done to those guys, really.
The iMac goes Intel - well this one surprised me. The iMac G5 was already high on horsepower and features and has been a huge seller. I was amazed to see it get the Dual Core Intel treatment so early. What a great buy it is though. 20 Inch LCD Screen, dual core CPU, built in iSight, FIrewire 800 etc. Very nice. Of course be careful of the numbers. Lies, Damned lies and benchmarks. In the early days of the platform the bottleneck will be Rosetta performance. Having said that, out of the box, everything running on the machine (OS X, iLife, iWork) are universal binaries so they will go very well. Don't expect Word and Excel to run at 2-3X faster than the G5 though because those apps are not in universal binary format yet. If that all sounds a bit geeky look at it this way: the Intel machines will start off fast and get faster as you upgrade your apps to the latest universal binary versions - nice.
The MacBook Pro - The PowerBook replacement is an absolute beauty! This WILL give immediate speed benefits over the current powerbooks and over time will be even faster again. My only disappointment was the lack of 17" version. I'll have to wait for the upgrade now I guess. Emma, who has been eyeing off my 17 inches (screen that is) will have to wait a few more months. For those of you who think 15" is fine, get your order in now. This is a great upgrade. Emma was particularly taken by the magnetic power supply system. Great idea. Her TiBook has already suffered from becoming airborne thanks to a maniac dog getting caught in the power cord. The new power supply system looks great. The dual core processor, huge caches and high throughput memory bus will make these things absolutely fly! If you are looking to drop a couple of thousand on a notebook - this IS the one to get. Magnificent job Apple!
This is going to be a great year for the Mac, I'm sure of it. Steve, well done.
This was a great keynote from Steve Jobs by any stretch. Certainly the excitement meter in our house was bumping around at record levels as the "geeking of Emma" moved into high gear. She clapped, she cheered, she exchanged high fours with the dog! I was in fear for my life at one stage. Anyway here's a summary of my thoughts on what I thought were the highlights:
Sales - Apple have just had their biggest quarter ever with over 5 billion dollars in sales. Now if you think that's not important then think back to the days when people didn't buy a Mac in case Apple were going out of business. Well 5 billion dollars in a quarter completely erases any of that sort of negativity! Apple's financial foundations are the foundations for the Mac platform. I don't really care if they made that money selling iPods, iTunes, iVideos or iAnything! This money is the engine for the Mac platform - well done Apple!
iLife - Is this the best 79 bucks you can spend on software? I think so! iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, iTunes, and now iWeb. Apple are realising in full, the vision that Steve Jobs articulated back in the days when PC users were still trying to install drivers to get USB devices to work properly. In regards to the new addition iWeb, stand by for another move of our blog because Emma was in raptures over it. "Honey can we have a new-new blog? I know it's some more work, but Steve said..." Seriously, iLife is one of those great reasons to use a Mac. It comes free with the Mac and it provides a digital life experience that PC users can only wish for - at any price. This is Apple at it's finest. Anyone who saw Steve Jobs create and publish a podcast in minutes will know what I'm talking about. Cutting edge technology in the hands of ordinary users, excellent.
iWork and MS Office- Well, Keynote and Pages are both cool but I imagine they have achieved the real purpose and that is to get Microsoft to commit to office development for the Mac for the next 5 years. Mission accomplished. This was announced a bit later in the keynote when the always amusing Roz Ho gave the crowd the good word. She was met with polite applause as always. Seriously though, it must be tough being a Mac fan working at Microsoft. It's a dirty job and someone has to do it. The Mac NEEDS office, well done to those guys, really.
The iMac goes Intel - well this one surprised me. The iMac G5 was already high on horsepower and features and has been a huge seller. I was amazed to see it get the Dual Core Intel treatment so early. What a great buy it is though. 20 Inch LCD Screen, dual core CPU, built in iSight, FIrewire 800 etc. Very nice. Of course be careful of the numbers. Lies, Damned lies and benchmarks. In the early days of the platform the bottleneck will be Rosetta performance. Having said that, out of the box, everything running on the machine (OS X, iLife, iWork) are universal binaries so they will go very well. Don't expect Word and Excel to run at 2-3X faster than the G5 though because those apps are not in universal binary format yet. If that all sounds a bit geeky look at it this way: the Intel machines will start off fast and get faster as you upgrade your apps to the latest universal binary versions - nice.
The MacBook Pro - The PowerBook replacement is an absolute beauty! This WILL give immediate speed benefits over the current powerbooks and over time will be even faster again. My only disappointment was the lack of 17" version. I'll have to wait for the upgrade now I guess. Emma, who has been eyeing off my 17 inches (screen that is) will have to wait a few more months. For those of you who think 15" is fine, get your order in now. This is a great upgrade. Emma was particularly taken by the magnetic power supply system. Great idea. Her TiBook has already suffered from becoming airborne thanks to a maniac dog getting caught in the power cord. The new power supply system looks great. The dual core processor, huge caches and high throughput memory bus will make these things absolutely fly! If you are looking to drop a couple of thousand on a notebook - this IS the one to get. Magnificent job Apple!
This is going to be a great year for the Mac, I'm sure of it. Steve, well done.
Posted at 11:17 PM
Mon - January 2, 2006
The Geeking of Emma
Russell is an IT Network Engineer,
Consultant, Evangelist and
Guru-Extraordinaire.
It's fair to say that when we got together, I did understand this about him. It's not just "something he's interested in", it's his PASSION.
I mean, Russell gets up every morning and - even before switching on the kettle for coffee - HAS to check his email and do a quick recon of his main "news" websites. When I say that he has to check his "news" websites, this means IT news. His essential websites, in order, are:
1. slashdot (homepage) - news for nerds, stuff that matters
2. maccentral - mac news
3. macnn - mac news
4. osnews - operating system news
5. network world.com - network world magazine online
For example, if some country was bombed into a squillion pieces, Russell wouldn't know. But he CAN tell me every single time Apple are planning on releasing a new iPod, everytime the RIAA takes some unsuspecting American teen to court for downloading a song, and the latest and greatest techy news coming off the press.
And "un"fortunately, the old stereotypes about nerds and geeks are so true. Does he obsess about computers? YES! Does he love Star Trek? YES! (well it depends on which series!). Does he mark important dates by whether they are before or after the next Steve Jobs keynote speech? YES!
But I have to say that being with a geek is the coolest thing ever! Note:
1. Do you have highspeed wireless internet at home in a developing country? And did your partner set it up himself?
My answer: Yes and Yes
2. Do you have 400 albums at your fingertips, categorised depending on style, artist, preference, rating, etc.? And, "sub-question" (for High Fidelity fans) do you have these available over the (above) wireless system to your, "oh, I forgot to mention" top of the range stereo system (Yes, geekness doesn't just include computers but also music, music systems, and more!).
My answer: Yes and Yes
3. Do you have the complete photographic history of your relationship available on slide-show and DVD at a second's notice?
My answer: Yes
4. Do you have a cool t-shirt that says "I love my geek"? And is this sentiment accurate?
My answer: Yes and OF COURSE!
5. Did you mock the latest revision of Battlestar Gallactica, and roll your eyes at your beloved whilst they watched and raved about said show? Only to then deign to watch said show and become hopelessly addicted to same said show?
My answer: Yes and... ummm.... Yes
6. Do you find your partner "perving": looking at others when they should be looking at you? Do you then see that they are not, in fact, looking at women, but at the iPod store to see if they have the latest video iPod in? Do you ever - actually - find your beloved looking at other women?
My answer: Yes and Yes and Never :-)
7. Is your job in the relationship to be the "window on the real world"?
My answer: Yes
8. Does your partner's predilection for the LATEST PowerBook mean that you receive (tragically) the hottest hand-me-downs ever??! Are you about to get a "second-hand" 12 month old, 17" G4+ PB?
My answer: Yes and Yeeeeeeaaaaaassss!
9. Do you have to choose your holiday destination by: a) the location of the nearest Apple Store and b) the closest DreamThreater concert?
My answer: Yes and Yes (but I can deal - see #8 ;-)
to be continued...
It's fair to say that when we got together, I did understand this about him. It's not just "something he's interested in", it's his PASSION.
I mean, Russell gets up every morning and - even before switching on the kettle for coffee - HAS to check his email and do a quick recon of his main "news" websites. When I say that he has to check his "news" websites, this means IT news. His essential websites, in order, are:
1. slashdot (homepage) - news for nerds, stuff that matters
2. maccentral - mac news
3. macnn - mac news
4. osnews - operating system news
5. network world.com - network world magazine online
For example, if some country was bombed into a squillion pieces, Russell wouldn't know. But he CAN tell me every single time Apple are planning on releasing a new iPod, everytime the RIAA takes some unsuspecting American teen to court for downloading a song, and the latest and greatest techy news coming off the press.
And "un"fortunately, the old stereotypes about nerds and geeks are so true. Does he obsess about computers? YES! Does he love Star Trek? YES! (well it depends on which series!). Does he mark important dates by whether they are before or after the next Steve Jobs keynote speech? YES!
But I have to say that being with a geek is the coolest thing ever! Note:
1. Do you have highspeed wireless internet at home in a developing country? And did your partner set it up himself?
My answer: Yes and Yes
2. Do you have 400 albums at your fingertips, categorised depending on style, artist, preference, rating, etc.? And, "sub-question" (for High Fidelity fans) do you have these available over the (above) wireless system to your, "oh, I forgot to mention" top of the range stereo system (Yes, geekness doesn't just include computers but also music, music systems, and more!).
My answer: Yes and Yes
3. Do you have the complete photographic history of your relationship available on slide-show and DVD at a second's notice?
My answer: Yes
4. Do you have a cool t-shirt that says "I love my geek"? And is this sentiment accurate?
My answer: Yes and OF COURSE!
5. Did you mock the latest revision of Battlestar Gallactica, and roll your eyes at your beloved whilst they watched and raved about said show? Only to then deign to watch said show and become hopelessly addicted to same said show?
My answer: Yes and... ummm.... Yes
6. Do you find your partner "perving": looking at others when they should be looking at you? Do you then see that they are not, in fact, looking at women, but at the iPod store to see if they have the latest video iPod in? Do you ever - actually - find your beloved looking at other women?
My answer: Yes and Yes and Never :-)
7. Is your job in the relationship to be the "window on the real world"?
My answer: Yes
8. Does your partner's predilection for the LATEST PowerBook mean that you receive (tragically) the hottest hand-me-downs ever??! Are you about to get a "second-hand" 12 month old, 17" G4+ PB?
My answer: Yes and Yeeeeeeaaaaaassss!
9. Do you have to choose your holiday destination by: a) the location of the nearest Apple Store and b) the closest DreamThreater concert?
My answer: Yes and Yes (but I can deal - see #8 ;-)
to be continued...
Posted at 07:10 PM
Mon - December 19, 2005
Flat out busy
I've been so busy over the last week. Early
in the week I presented to the engineers about my philosophy on consultancy
driven business and other things I often ramble on about. Despite a prolonged
session in English the guys seemed to really enjoy it. They asked me to present
twice a month. Well, I don't know about that but maybe once a quarter. There's
only so much twaddle even I can trot
out.
For the rest of the time I've been working 16 hour days preparing a bid that the boss put me on. A bid that needed at least 5 weeks, in five days. I must say at times the pace here is leisurely but every now and again it actually gets crazy.
Many times I get "be patient Mr Russell" for weeks on end followed by , "it's got to be finished tomorrow, quick!"
The IT scene is fascinating in Vietnam, there's so much growth and such a high level of technology adoption but quite often not the maturity of approach to go with it. It feels like it's going where I've already been in many regards. Similar but not quite.
It's very different to Australia but I feel I'm both teaching and learning much, what more could you ask really?
For the rest of the time I've been working 16 hour days preparing a bid that the boss put me on. A bid that needed at least 5 weeks, in five days. I must say at times the pace here is leisurely but every now and again it actually gets crazy.
Many times I get "be patient Mr Russell" for weeks on end followed by , "it's got to be finished tomorrow, quick!"
The IT scene is fascinating in Vietnam, there's so much growth and such a high level of technology adoption but quite often not the maturity of approach to go with it. It feels like it's going where I've already been in many regards. Similar but not quite.
It's very different to Australia but I feel I'm both teaching and learning much, what more could you ask really?
Posted at 10:54 PM
The DT Pilgrimage Begins
Emma and I were deciding on a location to
escape Tet in Hanoi this year. It turns out that my favourite band Dream Theater is playing in
Bangkok at that exact time. Amazing coincidence. They play Thailand the week
before Tet and we got our tickets on the day they went on sale, it's the first
step of the pilgrimage.
We'll be taking two weeks to tour Thailand and Emma's doing the planning right now. I think she's getting a little frustrated that I'm not helping out with the thinking in that regard but I just can't see past getting to Bangkok to see DT.
In fact it's only because DT are playing in late January that I can even see past Macworld Expo in early January. Em is snoozing on the couch right now but she'll be rolling her eyes when she reads this I'm sure. The truth is she's such a great tour guide and holiday planner, I'm happy to follow her lead. It's always great.
P.S. Emma's Addendum: You know the Aussie thing about men "perv-ing" (i.e. checking out women)? Well Russell is a geek-perv. There are a few stores: an ipod shop, high-end stereo equipment place, etc. and whenever we ride past, Russell goes all vague and distracted and I look at him and he's "ogling" the shop! It is SO tragic (but of course, SO Russell)! :-)
We'll be taking two weeks to tour Thailand and Emma's doing the planning right now. I think she's getting a little frustrated that I'm not helping out with the thinking in that regard but I just can't see past getting to Bangkok to see DT.
In fact it's only because DT are playing in late January that I can even see past Macworld Expo in early January. Em is snoozing on the couch right now but she'll be rolling her eyes when she reads this I'm sure. The truth is she's such a great tour guide and holiday planner, I'm happy to follow her lead. It's always great.
P.S. Emma's Addendum: You know the Aussie thing about men "perv-ing" (i.e. checking out women)? Well Russell is a geek-perv. There are a few stores: an ipod shop, high-end stereo equipment place, etc. and whenever we ride past, Russell goes all vague and distracted and I look at him and he's "ogling" the shop! It is SO tragic (but of course, SO Russell)! :-)
Posted at 10:41 PM
Mon - November 21, 2005
New BBSpot Stories
Brian continues to publish my stories over
at bbspot.com.
The first story is about a much needed patch for the Iraq War 2.0 game .
The second is about a great new RIAA money saver for file sharing families.
I really shouldn't need to say this, but these are satirical.
The first story is about a much needed patch for the Iraq War 2.0 game .
The second is about a great new RIAA money saver for file sharing families.
I really shouldn't need to say this, but these are satirical.
Posted at 11:06 PM