The Great High Priest of Cupertino has ascended. iPhone 4S supposedly meant iPhone for Steve. It has SIRI. Perhaps Steve is not so absent as we think. Steve Is Really Inside iPhone 4 Steve.
The power of Ascension. It makes people complain about having to taking time off work to purchase the "best iPhone ever" on the first day.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
WWDC 2011
D-Day
It's a military term, and also a reference to a very important date in history without which, life as we know would not exists.
Jump forward to the year 2011, to a gathering of 5200 in San Francisco, the "D" takes on a totally different meaning.
Taken from The Online Slang Dictionary
Watching the Keynote, I cannot help thinking "Duh" to so many things. Lion's full screen app functionality springs foremost to mind. Full screen apps have been around the days of the Commodore. I still remember Apple worshippers use to say "why the need for full screen web browsing?" My answer has always been why not? Finally the gods of Cupertino agree. Duh!
There were a lot of "new" things introduced in this gathering of the highest ranking members. Many many more things that were not highlighted.
A lot of it consist of things that should have been in the first place, and a lot of it mainly to catch up with the up coming competitor. (Or plural if Microsoft can catch up). Admittedly Apple does make the improvements look cool and easy to use.
Here are just a few of the Duh moments.
1. Mail in OS X
Finally, finally a decent mail program or app for the "desktop". It is so much easier scanning mail on iOS devices and also they work for Yahoo Mail, something not possible currently unless you pay. (Poor Yahoo! will be just so sad and poorer if it works on the desktop)
The new interface looks just like the mobile version, but hopefully even more powerful. Currently it simply sucks.
2. iMessage
Still think the "i" thing is getting way overused, but hey thats consistency for you. Apple took away Whatsapp from iPod Touch users who paid for it without an explanation, and gave iMessage as a consolation. It also keeps everyone in the ecosystem, swim out of the pond and you are dead.
3. Reader in Mobile Safari
First thing first, Android uses open source Safari. Safari is open sourced?
Never mind that, let me just say Reader is a good idea and pretty amazing to see in demo action. That's the one cool innovation I have seen.
4. PC free iOS
This deserves the biggest DUH award of the year. What else can I say... Duh.
iCloud
Clearly they have spent all their creative energies in the actual product, saving little for names. It just reminds me of the old Tarzan shows: "iCloud, uDumb..uh uh uh awwww yeee awww yeee aww"
The Temple of Cupertino is finally ascending to the realm of cloud computing, or rather directed active virtual storage. Computing implies mathematical labour to produce something.
They have been doing that on MobileMe with contacts and calendar, then failed miserably with file storage and photos. Now they have expanded the functions and polished it up to the speed and simplicity of Dropbox. (Supposedly for a seamless experience, they still call each function Apps)
Top it off, the service is now free.
At least I know what the MobileMe subscriptions were for, simply R&D funds for iCloud free service. A bit of a Duh moment, but I must say when they get it, they do it pretty well.
To play the Devil's Advocate, I do see a negative side to this new found convenience.
First is to consider the number of iOS users. Then consider how much these users are using the camera function alone. Then imagine the trigger happy users filling up the bandwidth a myriad of photos flying back and forth to all linked devices. Then finally multiply by the 9 functionality "apps" and possible third party apps. Simply mind boggling to imagine. Worse when you consider the "eco friendly" data centers (The actual quote is "Eco friendly as data centers can be", thats like saying non-radioactive as nuclear plants can be) needed to support all these whizzing bits and bytes
Recently electronic giant Sony was hit at least three times by concerted hacker attacks. Vital private data and trust were lost. Sony is still wheeling from the debacle.
Now imagine these same hackers targeting Apple, which is possible since they like to boast how safe they are from viruses and spyware. That is a scary thought.
All in all, Apple delivered their beliefs with typical unwavering conviction, they are the best and likely only one to grant seamless digitization of your life. You no longer need to look outside beautifully constructed iOS village.
I have to admit they make a compelling reason to stay with their ecosystem. Doh!
Happy Duh and Doh Day people.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Dinosaur still roaring
Nokia the old familiar giant maybe falling out of favour with the "in" crowd, but they are still hanging around. Working on their not too recently purchased Symbian OS, they now nickname the user interface Anna. Why Anna I have no idea, probably of Russian origin to mean something sexy?
Being a long time Nokia user, I am pretty okay with their interface, but I noticed with newer phones it gets annoyingly lagged. Frankly I don't fancy a smartphone, my phone is basically a phone to receive calls and sms, maybe an emergency camera. The smart part I just defer to the iPod Touch.
So how are the new batch of Nokia's going to fare? Well the one thing I like is the very long battery life that they offer. The E6 has a standby time of 1 month. Wow. My current phone the E52 can go without charging for about 5 days to 1 week, with light phone calls and sms. Not as much fun as iPhone users but I don't have to worry about the phone dying in the middle of a call.
The other aspect is the physical keyboard. I prefer something I can touch press. Wish I could touch type, but too bad, have to settle for touch press. Much easier while driving and not needing to look down. Also I am a sucker for QWERTY keyboard, despite my speeling handicap.
So, maybe I might just stay with the Dinosaur on the brink of extinction for a while more. Who knows, 2012 is just around the corner.
Being a long time Nokia user, I am pretty okay with their interface, but I noticed with newer phones it gets annoyingly lagged. Frankly I don't fancy a smartphone, my phone is basically a phone to receive calls and sms, maybe an emergency camera. The smart part I just defer to the iPod Touch.
So how are the new batch of Nokia's going to fare? Well the one thing I like is the very long battery life that they offer. The E6 has a standby time of 1 month. Wow. My current phone the E52 can go without charging for about 5 days to 1 week, with light phone calls and sms. Not as much fun as iPhone users but I don't have to worry about the phone dying in the middle of a call.
The other aspect is the physical keyboard. I prefer something I can touch press. Wish I could touch type, but too bad, have to settle for touch press. Much easier while driving and not needing to look down. Also I am a sucker for QWERTY keyboard, despite my speeling handicap.
So, maybe I might just stay with the Dinosaur on the brink of extinction for a while more. Who knows, 2012 is just around the corner.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Fire away
Mozilla released Firefox 4 just recently and hit over 6 million downloads so far. It promised speed and security, so far the speed part is pretty evident. It took just one bounce on the dock and the window appeared. Website loading appears to be fast, it matches Chrome's rendering power.
The UI is more streamlined now almost like Chrome's minimalist design, very useful on Macbook Air's smaller screen estate. It is also capable of running full screen, with a smoother transition than Chrome.
In my short experience with Firefox, I think it is a good alternative to Chrome, especially on the Mac OS platform. There are a couple of sites that don't render well on Chrome, so hopefully they run on Firefox.
Hope I can truly snowball Safari which frankly doesn't appeal to me, never has. Apple gives you a nice big widescreen but insists it is silly to view the internet in full panorama.
The UI is more streamlined now almost like Chrome's minimalist design, very useful on Macbook Air's smaller screen estate. It is also capable of running full screen, with a smoother transition than Chrome.
In my short experience with Firefox, I think it is a good alternative to Chrome, especially on the Mac OS platform. There are a couple of sites that don't render well on Chrome, so hopefully they run on Firefox.
Hope I can truly snowball Safari which frankly doesn't appeal to me, never has. Apple gives you a nice big widescreen but insists it is silly to view the internet in full panorama.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thunderbook
A new nickname for the Thunderbolt enabled Macbook was seen circulating on Macrumours forum pages, sounds cool, maybe apropos for the new machines sounding all fury with no actual lightning?
Reports that the Pro version of the notebooks are failing have started trickling in. So how does this new star fall? Apparently it crashes under specific load on the system, the OS just freezes when the system is stressed to a certain point. Well every system has its limits, so the question is just how commonly is the supposed critical load level reached by power users. Funnily one of the application involved is Photo Booth which is suppose to "fly" on the new iPad. The other programs seem to involve development programs which would definitely overload a lot of machines, especially mobile units. Would be interesting if someone was running photoshop and processing several large photos and it crashes, then it would be something for Apple to be concern about.
Unless they run more regular applications as opposed to development heavy programs, most regular people would still buy the Thunderbook.
Reports that the Pro version of the notebooks are failing have started trickling in. So how does this new star fall? Apparently it crashes under specific load on the system, the OS just freezes when the system is stressed to a certain point. Well every system has its limits, so the question is just how commonly is the supposed critical load level reached by power users. Funnily one of the application involved is Photo Booth which is suppose to "fly" on the new iPad. The other programs seem to involve development programs which would definitely overload a lot of machines, especially mobile units. Would be interesting if someone was running photoshop and processing several large photos and it crashes, then it would be something for Apple to be concern about.
Unless they run more regular applications as opposed to development heavy programs, most regular people would still buy the Thunderbook.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Crapple
iTunes.
Cr-App, they should call it that.
When you use the Mac App store, it remembers your purchases, even the iOS app store remembers. But iTunes is amnesic with your purchases, so you could probably end up paying for the same app twice if you forget. I did a quick experiment with a free app which was already on my Touch. In the App store, I clicked the buy button and iTunes merrily started to download the program after getting the right password.
I would think it should work like Mac App store, once logged in to the same account it should hold the info. It even worked perfectly when I shifted from my Macbook to the Air without having to migrate using any wizard. Just log on in the App program with the correct account and ta-da! Previous purchases intact.
No...not iTunes.
It started when I updated and synced my Touch, suddenly it reported that the Air is not authorised to accept the Whatsapp app on the Touch. So I obediently clicked to authorise, since it threaten to delete the app if I didn't. Strange since it has been working for the past year. Then iTunes declared "Hey Silly, your computer is already authorised".
What the f***?
The Genius in iTunes has dementia?
Then I tried to reinstall the App by deleting it and re-syncing it. It refused to stay after syncing.
Finally it dawned on me, the App has somehow been disabled for Touch. I could not see it in the iOS App store when searching. Also I remembered that after the last direct update on the Touch, syncing has been glitchy, there was even a graphical glitch on the Touch passcode page.
So much for iOS 4.3 "bug" fix.
Ironically, had I not deleted the app directly, it would still be running on my Touch, but it made syncing annoyingly difficult. The worse thing is Whatsapp is a paid app and now it is disabled without any warning. Why? Then the crap app of iTunes goes into a convulsion instead of solving the problem.
Great way to crap on paying customer. Got an App for that?
Cr-App, they should call it that.
When you use the Mac App store, it remembers your purchases, even the iOS app store remembers. But iTunes is amnesic with your purchases, so you could probably end up paying for the same app twice if you forget. I did a quick experiment with a free app which was already on my Touch. In the App store, I clicked the buy button and iTunes merrily started to download the program after getting the right password.
I would think it should work like Mac App store, once logged in to the same account it should hold the info. It even worked perfectly when I shifted from my Macbook to the Air without having to migrate using any wizard. Just log on in the App program with the correct account and ta-da! Previous purchases intact.
No...not iTunes.
It started when I updated and synced my Touch, suddenly it reported that the Air is not authorised to accept the Whatsapp app on the Touch. So I obediently clicked to authorise, since it threaten to delete the app if I didn't. Strange since it has been working for the past year. Then iTunes declared "Hey Silly, your computer is already authorised".
What the f***?
The Genius in iTunes has dementia?
Then I tried to reinstall the App by deleting it and re-syncing it. It refused to stay after syncing.
Finally it dawned on me, the App has somehow been disabled for Touch. I could not see it in the iOS App store when searching. Also I remembered that after the last direct update on the Touch, syncing has been glitchy, there was even a graphical glitch on the Touch passcode page.
So much for iOS 4.3 "bug" fix.
Ironically, had I not deleted the app directly, it would still be running on my Touch, but it made syncing annoyingly difficult. The worse thing is Whatsapp is a paid app and now it is disabled without any warning. Why? Then the crap app of iTunes goes into a convulsion instead of solving the problem.
Great way to crap on paying customer. Got an App for that?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Lightening in a port
The Thunderbolted MacBook Pros are available for fondling and scrutiny in the stores.
It seems the flash based disk in the Air makes a lot of difference. Tried starting iTunes on both machines and the Air flies ahead with just 2 bounce compared to 5-7 for the Pro. The supposed raw power would probably be apparent when crunching videos and fitting a dog's head on your enemy's. Imagine outfitting the Pro with a flash disk, woo hoo, it would rocket overhead while wallets would lie below withering of malnutrition.
The FaceTime camera is a very visible improvement over the Air's iSight but doesn't detail your loved one's facial flaws too much.
Otherwise, the refreshed Pros looks decidedly the same and unremarkable.
It seems the flash based disk in the Air makes a lot of difference. Tried starting iTunes on both machines and the Air flies ahead with just 2 bounce compared to 5-7 for the Pro. The supposed raw power would probably be apparent when crunching videos and fitting a dog's head on your enemy's. Imagine outfitting the Pro with a flash disk, woo hoo, it would rocket overhead while wallets would lie below withering of malnutrition.
The FaceTime camera is a very visible improvement over the Air's iSight but doesn't detail your loved one's facial flaws too much.
Otherwise, the refreshed Pros looks decidedly the same and unremarkable.
The Aluminium City
I had just witness the magic of the Temple of Cupertino.
Personally I am not overly fond of the Apple Cinema Display, one for an LED backlit display it is not slim. Second is the limited funds I have. So it is with great pleasure I observed how a friend was seduced by the promise of visual clarity and expanded vision. Now officially he has more Aluminium than I have.
Oh the excuses we give ourselves to justify owning a blessed Aluminum piece, I know, I am terribly guilty of it with getting the Air. Now you my friend are officially on the dark side of the force.
Personally I am not overly fond of the Apple Cinema Display, one for an LED backlit display it is not slim. Second is the limited funds I have. So it is with great pleasure I observed how a friend was seduced by the promise of visual clarity and expanded vision. Now officially he has more Aluminium than I have.
Oh the excuses we give ourselves to justify owning a blessed Aluminum piece, I know, I am terribly guilty of it with getting the Air. Now you my friend are officially on the dark side of the force.
Monday, March 7, 2011
I breathe therefore I can be
The future is looking more amazing and frighteningly like the movies. Cylons, Terminators or Avatars.
Humans.
End of line.
Comes with Thunderbolt port. It can hold 1 Pentabyte and has a natural cooling system.
Humans.
End of line.
Comes with Thunderbolt port. It can hold 1 Pentabyte and has a natural cooling system.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
iPad Pro
After a whole week of Apple bashing, I shall balance it off with a little love.
Of course this is just another excuse to exercise my "Air fondling" as my friend would jealously claim. He unfortunately has not much time to do so. (Don't deny, given time you would too. Pot. Kettle.)
There are two aspects of the Macbook Air that I like. The hard and the soft. (Go on, run that dirty movie in your head).
Of course I am referring to the 11 inch. Not 13 inch Air. The 13 inch is just too large and budget blowing. (Mind totally in the gutter yet?)
The Hard part is the physical dimension. It is portable, feels lighter than the iPad while physically larger. Other than e-book reading on a public transport, there is little advantage of the iPad over the Air. The full size keyboard is way more natural than the virtual version.
Incidentally, the chicklet keyboard is not has good as the older keyboard on the Titanium Macbook Pros. The previous version is more like firm sponge, with a nice supportive rebound. The current ones reflect the energy back to your wrist, I can feel the tension while typing. (Engadget's Nilay Patel called the Thunderbolted MB Pros "the still-best-in-class keyboard", really? Watch the Ambrosia please.)
Breathe.
Back to love. Back to stats baby. The Air has holes that I can..er...sorry ports that I can connect and expand the love, including the post PC iPod Touch. Transferring photos from a camera is easier and in multiple choice, less restrictive than the iOS design. I can bypass iTunes and iPhoto altogether.
The CPU is actually quite powerful and I can do even video conversion, though it would not be my first choice. Want to hear the Air mimic a jet engine? I ran the free App Miro Video converter to down scale a 30 minute AVI file to an iPod compatible mp4 recently. A fan near the ESC key I wasn't aware of started whining away when it was near 90% to completion. Took another 20 minutes before it stopped complaining. It is also capable of playing 720p MKV files and HD QuickTime trailers. I didn't notice any heating problems as yet, but cuts the battery life a little.
Battery life is fairly decent. If you are just surfing, being a You-Tuber, it gives you enough time to loiter at Starbucks and be a nuisance to people waiting for a table. Some times the Air reports it has 8 hours of battery life when woken up from deep sleep, but I sure it is just a little groggy, mostly it's about 5 hours. After a month of usage, however I think the battery life is a little shorter than originally. An almost imperceptible reduction or just my imagination.
The trackpad, down where I do most of the fondling, is nice to use. The multi-touch, multi finger gestures are quite easy to use with a bit of practice and nice real estate for people with larger appendages.
(Oh stop blushing, you do your fingering in public on your iDevices too.). Something I noticed, if you stick on a trackpad protective cover, (mine is a Moshi) it becomes noticeably less sensitive. Response is not as good naked, but I feel safer.
Let's get to the Soft part.
My main use of this machine is to surf the internet, minor photo management and iWorks. Other than iWorks, I could have used any Windows based machines, but so far very few fit the physical aspect. With iWorks mainly Pages, that limits my choice to OSX. Tried running OSX on a MSI netbook, but it could not handle transferring photos nor You-Tube well and iWorks was a pain to use.
What seems impressive for now is that Lightroom 3 runs a little better than on my Windows desktop which is decked out with 6 GB Ram. Although that could be it is not optimised and the Ram are a mixed lot. Still the Air ran smooth, with 4 GB Ram. The screen is however a huge compromise, you simply cannot compare it to a 24 inch screen. The flash based drive is another concern, will working with multiple huge files wear it down faster?
The other advantage as I mentioned before is the fast sleep and fast wake modes. You really don't have to wait much. It is quite fast even from a cold start. So it feels like a iOS device, every ready. With the flash disk, I have less worry if it drops. Not that I would ever want it to drop. One negative about such beautiful sleek machines is a tiny dink looks horrible, it brings out the vain monster.
In the never ending argument about Mac vs Windows et al, there is no true winner, I believe it's all down to personal preference. Mac OS has certain advantage like less complicated program installation process, made even easier with Mac App store. It talks to users in a simpler language, although I have found it stubborn and dismissive at times. Plugging in external storage devices is a fast transparent process, Windows sometimes muck about and refuse to let you eject the device. Printers however are another story, there are just so many USB printer that the Mac refuses to recognise or at least be very condescending too. Of course the manufacturer is also to be blamed for not releasing the drivers, but is it them or Apple's walled garden policy. Unfortunately, there are also a few indie programs out there that do not work on anything but Windows. Not quite ready to subject the Air to virtualisation as yet.
Before this love of mine, I had considered the Alienware 11x as it can run Lightroom and my Windows games. But it is way heavier and 3 times thicker. So very few 11 inch options, and worst if I put iWorks into consideration.
Why iWorks? Well it's because I was put into a position where I had show off my fake desktop publishing credentials. I had used CorelDraw and fiddled around with other similar programs, so it was like riding a bike, Pages is really easy to use as page formatting. Unfortunately now I am officially stuck with the position, so Pages is stuck. Can I do it on an iPad? Probably not considering the amount of typing I have to do.
The last thing I love about my Air. It really looks good. No denying how sleek it looks. Currently I can carry it around and pretend I have the new iPad, clamshell version.
So that is my love, the true iPad Pro, my MacBook Air.
Of course this is just another excuse to exercise my "Air fondling" as my friend would jealously claim. He unfortunately has not much time to do so. (Don't deny, given time you would too. Pot. Kettle.)
There are two aspects of the Macbook Air that I like. The hard and the soft. (Go on, run that dirty movie in your head).
Of course I am referring to the 11 inch. Not 13 inch Air. The 13 inch is just too large and budget blowing. (Mind totally in the gutter yet?)
The Hard part is the physical dimension. It is portable, feels lighter than the iPad while physically larger. Other than e-book reading on a public transport, there is little advantage of the iPad over the Air. The full size keyboard is way more natural than the virtual version.
Incidentally, the chicklet keyboard is not has good as the older keyboard on the Titanium Macbook Pros. The previous version is more like firm sponge, with a nice supportive rebound. The current ones reflect the energy back to your wrist, I can feel the tension while typing. (Engadget's Nilay Patel called the Thunderbolted MB Pros "the still-best-in-class keyboard", really? Watch the Ambrosia please.)
Breathe.
Back to love. Back to stats baby. The Air has holes that I can..er...sorry ports that I can connect and expand the love, including the post PC iPod Touch. Transferring photos from a camera is easier and in multiple choice, less restrictive than the iOS design. I can bypass iTunes and iPhoto altogether.
The CPU is actually quite powerful and I can do even video conversion, though it would not be my first choice. Want to hear the Air mimic a jet engine? I ran the free App Miro Video converter to down scale a 30 minute AVI file to an iPod compatible mp4 recently. A fan near the ESC key I wasn't aware of started whining away when it was near 90% to completion. Took another 20 minutes before it stopped complaining. It is also capable of playing 720p MKV files and HD QuickTime trailers. I didn't notice any heating problems as yet, but cuts the battery life a little.
Battery life is fairly decent. If you are just surfing, being a You-Tuber, it gives you enough time to loiter at Starbucks and be a nuisance to people waiting for a table. Some times the Air reports it has 8 hours of battery life when woken up from deep sleep, but I sure it is just a little groggy, mostly it's about 5 hours. After a month of usage, however I think the battery life is a little shorter than originally. An almost imperceptible reduction or just my imagination.
The trackpad, down where I do most of the fondling, is nice to use. The multi-touch, multi finger gestures are quite easy to use with a bit of practice and nice real estate for people with larger appendages.
(Oh stop blushing, you do your fingering in public on your iDevices too.). Something I noticed, if you stick on a trackpad protective cover, (mine is a Moshi) it becomes noticeably less sensitive. Response is not as good naked, but I feel safer.
Let's get to the Soft part.
My main use of this machine is to surf the internet, minor photo management and iWorks. Other than iWorks, I could have used any Windows based machines, but so far very few fit the physical aspect. With iWorks mainly Pages, that limits my choice to OSX. Tried running OSX on a MSI netbook, but it could not handle transferring photos nor You-Tube well and iWorks was a pain to use.
What seems impressive for now is that Lightroom 3 runs a little better than on my Windows desktop which is decked out with 6 GB Ram. Although that could be it is not optimised and the Ram are a mixed lot. Still the Air ran smooth, with 4 GB Ram. The screen is however a huge compromise, you simply cannot compare it to a 24 inch screen. The flash based drive is another concern, will working with multiple huge files wear it down faster?
The other advantage as I mentioned before is the fast sleep and fast wake modes. You really don't have to wait much. It is quite fast even from a cold start. So it feels like a iOS device, every ready. With the flash disk, I have less worry if it drops. Not that I would ever want it to drop. One negative about such beautiful sleek machines is a tiny dink looks horrible, it brings out the vain monster.
In the never ending argument about Mac vs Windows et al, there is no true winner, I believe it's all down to personal preference. Mac OS has certain advantage like less complicated program installation process, made even easier with Mac App store. It talks to users in a simpler language, although I have found it stubborn and dismissive at times. Plugging in external storage devices is a fast transparent process, Windows sometimes muck about and refuse to let you eject the device. Printers however are another story, there are just so many USB printer that the Mac refuses to recognise or at least be very condescending too. Of course the manufacturer is also to be blamed for not releasing the drivers, but is it them or Apple's walled garden policy. Unfortunately, there are also a few indie programs out there that do not work on anything but Windows. Not quite ready to subject the Air to virtualisation as yet.
Before this love of mine, I had considered the Alienware 11x as it can run Lightroom and my Windows games. But it is way heavier and 3 times thicker. So very few 11 inch options, and worst if I put iWorks into consideration.
Why iWorks? Well it's because I was put into a position where I had show off my fake desktop publishing credentials. I had used CorelDraw and fiddled around with other similar programs, so it was like riding a bike, Pages is really easy to use as page formatting. Unfortunately now I am officially stuck with the position, so Pages is stuck. Can I do it on an iPad? Probably not considering the amount of typing I have to do.
The last thing I love about my Air. It really looks good. No denying how sleek it looks. Currently I can carry it around and pretend I have the new iPad, clamshell version.
So that is my love, the true iPad Pro, my MacBook Air.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Sorry we screwed you, here's a hundred bucks
The price slip of the iPad 0.5 recently caught some buyers, who apparently have been living under a rock, off guard. So Apple kindly confirmed they would definitely refund, if you beg for it. Just simply trudge to the nearest temple of glass or offer supplication on their celestial line.
That is generous, I guess. Wonder how the person who bought 15 days before would feel?
Er..what about the Air or the Macbook Pro? The Air was the biggest surprise since it is still a relatively new model, but then again it is not unprecedented. Not sure if they have a refund policy for that. So maybe it is a Post PC World after all.
That is generous, I guess. Wonder how the person who bought 15 days before would feel?
Er..what about the Air or the Macbook Pro? The Air was the biggest surprise since it is still a relatively new model, but then again it is not unprecedented. Not sure if they have a refund policy for that. So maybe it is a Post PC World after all.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Post PC world
Engadget's chief envangelist, he who leans towards Apple, has just posted an editorial.
It is a bit of a surprise to me, as you all (whoever you are) know my bemusement of his gushing over shiny aluminium. Perhaps it's like sobering up after a drunken party, his piece wasn't about the High Priest or the new uni-cast aluminium block. It was the future that Apple is looking to.
(Incidentally, Mr Topolsky sounded like he was sobering up after drinking in all the Apple ambrosia when he describe the iPad 2 as "an iteration on an already existing product". Actually what I felt too.)
Post PC. What does it really mean?
The PC world which actually includes Apple was defined by the machines that people work on. Built, sold and marketed by geeks (no offence since I revel in geek-dom) it was all about how more powerful this machine compared to that other one. Apple in a way did move away from, but could not avoid it. (Remember PowerPC).
Apple's vision is summarized in the last bit of the March 2nd Keynote. Standing at the corner of Technology Street and Liberal Arts Avenue, it wants to bring easy access to technology for everyone.
In principle, I do agree that technology should not get in the way and the iOS platform has achieved it more successfully than others. Most of humanity won't and won't want to understand Ghz, Mb/s or Ram, they want to write a blog, call someone face to face, make their photos look better and even make music easily by themselves. No need to call some genius to make it work.
In real life, however, the geek is still needed. Take for example a piano, the physical non virtual version. It is an amazing piece of tech back then too, and you still need a tuner. The iPad is no different, why else they have geniuses populating the various temples of glass around the world.
While admirable the philosophy of no specs no tech, I suspect Apple is also hiding behind this to deflect accusation of charging a premium for a lower spec machine compared to the others in the PC world. If specs were not to be an issue, why stress on the A5 chip, the doubling of processing power and 9 times graphic capability. (The keynote would have been much much shorter and all about apps.)
The competition should fight more on the human experience with their machine. Apple being a provider of hardware and software makes it easier to produce something coherent. But there are others who don't like to play in a walled garden, so the PC world is still thriving. Mere humanity is making up the numbers for Apple... for now.
PS: Echoing a comment on some forum, in this post-PC world, why the heck do we still need to connect the magical devices to a PC with a umbilicus cord to do basic stuff like transferring music and video files. Worse is iTunes is the only portal possible. Not my favourite app.
It is a bit of a surprise to me, as you all (whoever you are) know my bemusement of his gushing over shiny aluminium. Perhaps it's like sobering up after a drunken party, his piece wasn't about the High Priest or the new uni-cast aluminium block. It was the future that Apple is looking to.
(Incidentally, Mr Topolsky sounded like he was sobering up after drinking in all the Apple ambrosia when he describe the iPad 2 as "an iteration on an already existing product". Actually what I felt too.)
Post PC. What does it really mean?
The PC world which actually includes Apple was defined by the machines that people work on. Built, sold and marketed by geeks (no offence since I revel in geek-dom) it was all about how more powerful this machine compared to that other one. Apple in a way did move away from, but could not avoid it. (Remember PowerPC).
Apple's vision is summarized in the last bit of the March 2nd Keynote. Standing at the corner of Technology Street and Liberal Arts Avenue, it wants to bring easy access to technology for everyone.
In principle, I do agree that technology should not get in the way and the iOS platform has achieved it more successfully than others. Most of humanity won't and won't want to understand Ghz, Mb/s or Ram, they want to write a blog, call someone face to face, make their photos look better and even make music easily by themselves. No need to call some genius to make it work.
In real life, however, the geek is still needed. Take for example a piano, the physical non virtual version. It is an amazing piece of tech back then too, and you still need a tuner. The iPad is no different, why else they have geniuses populating the various temples of glass around the world.
While admirable the philosophy of no specs no tech, I suspect Apple is also hiding behind this to deflect accusation of charging a premium for a lower spec machine compared to the others in the PC world. If specs were not to be an issue, why stress on the A5 chip, the doubling of processing power and 9 times graphic capability. (The keynote would have been much much shorter and all about apps.)
The competition should fight more on the human experience with their machine. Apple being a provider of hardware and software makes it easier to produce something coherent. But there are others who don't like to play in a walled garden, so the PC world is still thriving. Mere humanity is making up the numbers for Apple... for now.
PS: Echoing a comment on some forum, in this post-PC world, why the heck do we still need to connect the magical devices to a PC with a umbilicus cord to do basic stuff like transferring music and video files. Worse is iTunes is the only portal possible. Not my favourite app.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
It's thinner and faster than a speeding supermodel
It is thinner and more comfortable. Twice the absorption ...er.. oops wrong device.
Well it has gotten thinner. Or to quote Engadget's top Apple Picker "...the absurdly thin new iPad 2"
Again Mr Topolsky gushes absurdly. Consider the Air, THAT is absurdly thin. The iPod Touch 4 is dangerously anorexic compared to the clunky iPhone 4. The simple fact is that this should have been the actual size of the iPad from the beginning, evidenced by tear downs of the original tablet showing lots of space.
It is also faster than before, "insanely fast", "blazingly fast". Hmm, wait, the first was blazingly fast. So how is the new cerebrally doubled new A5 CPU also "blazingly fast"? Again Mr Topolsky sounds like the company that he loves. It's the best device EVER.....like the one you tempted us with before? EVER! It is great that they put in a dual core CPU. They should since everyone else has announced dual cores in their "copycat" product.
Curiously, the Great One, no no not the Picker, the High Priest himself, said the iPad 2 will be "the first dual core tablet to ship in volume". Hmm didn't you just compare yourself to Tablet PCs earlier? Think there were quite a lot of dual core Tablet PCs around way back. Also isn't Motorola's Xoom commercially available in stores, definitely a two head device also.
Ok I nitpick too much at the Great One and the other great one, only because they annoyz me. While they laugh their way to the bank, I shall shout from my little hovel.
Looking through the specs, my take is that this is the real iPad. Early adopters were paying to be the beta tester. Finally a mature product and hopefully a more mature iOS on the way too.
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| iPad 0.5 |
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| iPad |
Singapore the third class customer
The second magical device will be bestowed on us lower mortals starting 11th of March. Those on the land where the famed Temple of Cupertino reside will get first dibs, followed by a second release on the 25th to the citizens of the other Western kingdoms. The very kingdoms that almost brought the world economy to a standstill.
We in the east, where we slog and pay out debts on time, and where workers (China) un-magically slave away simply have to wait for the scraps to drop.
The US online stores show the new black and white iPad as available, while Singapore shows the old overweight first born. Magically the price slipped quietly by almost $200. Amusingly they did not drop the price of the refurbished units (which was listed as magically limited time offer: Hey presto time's up, you are screwed royally for believing)
How fortunate I wasn't tempted when it was a limited time offer. Now it's second hand at a premium of $80. Duh!
Update 4th March.
Singapore's online store just refurbished it's refurbish section. Now the pre-owned units reflect the global slip in price of the original iPad. Starting at $468, it is really tempting to own the beta iPad. At least you can get a taste of the future, even if it is a little old chunky.
They didn't even bother to excite us about the new iPad 2 on the local Apple site. In case the natives get restless.
We in the east, where we slog and pay out debts on time, and where workers (China) un-magically slave away simply have to wait for the scraps to drop.
The US online stores show the new black and white iPad as available, while Singapore shows the old overweight first born. Magically the price slipped quietly by almost $200. Amusingly they did not drop the price of the refurbished units (which was listed as magically limited time offer: Hey presto time's up, you are screwed royally for believing)
How fortunate I wasn't tempted when it was a limited time offer. Now it's second hand at a premium of $80. Duh!
Update 4th March.
Singapore's online store just refurbished it's refurbish section. Now the pre-owned units reflect the global slip in price of the original iPad. Starting at $468, it is really tempting to own the beta iPad. At least you can get a taste of the future, even if it is a little old chunky.
They didn't even bother to excite us about the new iPad 2 on the local Apple site. In case the natives get restless.
Second of March Two Thousand and Eleven
The High Priest of Cupertino makes an appearance on the high holy day of Apple worship.
It is good to see him looking the same as the last time, hand to heart. Despite my undisguised disdain at times, I do think he is incredibly good at what he is doing, and I only wish him success in his battle with the terrible disease that afflicts him. Update: Just watched the keynote presentation, he visibly tires faster.
Back to the event.
Already the arrogance disguised as confidence is not oozing but pouring from every pore. Numbers thrown about are in the millionth and billionth. For the amount of time for human gestation, 15 million iPads were sold, which makes it more than all Tablet PCs ever sold, 90% of the market. Hey wait, now the iPad is a PC? Tablet PC sold previously were all running full desktop operating system. iPad took 90% basically because there were no comparative device out there. If any they would have to compare with iPhone/iPod which makes sense. The closest competitor was the Galaxy Tab, which mimicked the iPad and obviously Apple had a head start way way before anyone else. That was their true advantage, plus their strong foundation of a sensible UI from the iPhone. Criss Angel is scarily magical even though logically we know its all an illusion. So Steve sorry, it is still not magical, it was simply simple and unique
65 000 apps for the iPad. Most were ported over from the iphone, many are variations on a theme and largely games. Honey, Honeycomb is a new born compared to the more mature iOS market.
Yes Apple has made a device that is truly simple and fun to use, hey even a half year old baby knows how to swipe to unlock. It has also made George Romero's apocalyptic vision partially come to life. How many times have we encountered seemingly human person moving in a daze and repeating the same motion over and over again. Go on a public transport and you can see so many oblivious people, people focused on fingering their precious at the dining table. I admit I am one of those i-zombies, the social idiot, but I am a little self aware.
One screen shot of the keynote showed pilots handing off an iPad. New plane design : Fly by Pad.
Unfortunately Apple's arrogance is how they achieved the current success. Confidence breeds arrogance and absolute confidence makes absolute arrogance.
It is good to see him looking the same as the last time, hand to heart. Despite my undisguised disdain at times, I do think he is incredibly good at what he is doing, and I only wish him success in his battle with the terrible disease that afflicts him. Update: Just watched the keynote presentation, he visibly tires faster.
Back to the event.
Already the arrogance disguised as confidence is not oozing but pouring from every pore. Numbers thrown about are in the millionth and billionth. For the amount of time for human gestation, 15 million iPads were sold, which makes it more than all Tablet PCs ever sold, 90% of the market. Hey wait, now the iPad is a PC? Tablet PC sold previously were all running full desktop operating system. iPad took 90% basically because there were no comparative device out there. If any they would have to compare with iPhone/iPod which makes sense. The closest competitor was the Galaxy Tab, which mimicked the iPad and obviously Apple had a head start way way before anyone else. That was their true advantage, plus their strong foundation of a sensible UI from the iPhone. Criss Angel is scarily magical even though logically we know its all an illusion. So Steve sorry, it is still not magical, it was simply simple and unique
65 000 apps for the iPad. Most were ported over from the iphone, many are variations on a theme and largely games. Honey, Honeycomb is a new born compared to the more mature iOS market.
Yes Apple has made a device that is truly simple and fun to use, hey even a half year old baby knows how to swipe to unlock. It has also made George Romero's apocalyptic vision partially come to life. How many times have we encountered seemingly human person moving in a daze and repeating the same motion over and over again. Go on a public transport and you can see so many oblivious people, people focused on fingering their precious at the dining table. I admit I am one of those i-zombies, the social idiot, but I am a little self aware.
One screen shot of the keynote showed pilots handing off an iPad. New plane design : Fly by Pad.
"Hey Bob, get those pigs for me while I land the plane".
Unfortunately Apple's arrogance is how they achieved the current success. Confidence breeds arrogance and absolute confidence makes absolute arrogance.
The circle of an apple's life
Here we go again. In just a little over 4 hours another proclamation from the Temple of Cupertino. This time is a new iPad. So what can they improve? Actually quite a few things.
Firstly it needs to lose weight, it is actually heavier than the Air. For something that is meant to be held like a magazine or paperback, should weigh only as much. There are rumours of carbon fibre framework.
Secondly, straighten your back. What's with the Quasimodo back? This particular curvaceous look is not sexy and impractical while typing on a table top. (Sure get a cover, I would agree as much. Still the curved back is silly.)
Front camera at least, FaceTime is a good thing to keep up with family. Back camera for large crowds would be nice, but I definitely am going to ROTFLMAO for anyone taking pictures with their hands.
Can Apple start using micro-USB connectors for goodness sake? Unless they really go crazy and do Thunderbolt only. What about SD slots or Micro SD? But that would mean a file manager of sorts for iOS.
Orientation lock. Why lock only in Portrait mode? Can't we lock in either?
Frankly with the Air and iPod Touch, I am not particularly fond of the iPad. I would like to introduce it someone who is gadget phobic and totally clueless to even things like the DVD remote. But I do love my mother very much, so I figured the iPad might open a window to the internet, or a can of worms, whatever.
Say what thou great gods of Cupertino, my purse lays ready to present its offerings.
Firstly it needs to lose weight, it is actually heavier than the Air. For something that is meant to be held like a magazine or paperback, should weigh only as much. There are rumours of carbon fibre framework.
Secondly, straighten your back. What's with the Quasimodo back? This particular curvaceous look is not sexy and impractical while typing on a table top. (Sure get a cover, I would agree as much. Still the curved back is silly.)
Front camera at least, FaceTime is a good thing to keep up with family. Back camera for large crowds would be nice, but I definitely am going to ROTFLMAO for anyone taking pictures with their hands.
Can Apple start using micro-USB connectors for goodness sake? Unless they really go crazy and do Thunderbolt only. What about SD slots or Micro SD? But that would mean a file manager of sorts for iOS.
Orientation lock. Why lock only in Portrait mode? Can't we lock in either?
Frankly with the Air and iPod Touch, I am not particularly fond of the iPad. I would like to introduce it someone who is gadget phobic and totally clueless to even things like the DVD remote. But I do love my mother very much, so I figured the iPad might open a window to the internet, or a can of worms, whatever.
Say what thou great gods of Cupertino, my purse lays ready to present its offerings.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sneak peeks to the next Mac OS Lion. Small change to the user interface, but makes a huge difference.
Finally Apple makes resizing windows like Windows. Way overdue Apple, hope the minimize and maximize buttons work logically now too.
The fading scroll bars are adds a cool touch to a good idea. Now they are making good use of the trackpad functions. When you have something good, maximise!
Friday, February 25, 2011
One Dollar
A dollar is nothing for us living in luxury. But to quote
Of course I am no altruist and the reason for the complaint to follow is I am a Grouchy Grinch Scrooge. The Ebenezer in me screamed when they announced FaceTime for Mac will cost $0.99, MORE?! (Sorry mixing up Dickens here). And the gall to claim it is all because of accounting, regulatory crap that they have to pinch your wallet a little. Loyal followers of the Temple of Cupertino just simply have to bleed a little every time the All-i bestow you with a gift. Ours is not a benevolent god.
The problem is this App is included free in the latest Macbook Pro. No luck to you stupid saps for purchasing a day earlier or a month earlier and a different model in my sorry case. Keeping my fingers crossed the beta version will not be disabled anytime.
Interestingly the FaceTime app was ranked number one the instant it was announced. I suspect the app store ranking ranks of nepotism.
What can you buy with $1? If you live in a developed country, the answer is 'not much.' A movie ticket, a book, a bite to eat at the school cafeteria: they all cost more than $1. But for millions of people, that dollar has to last the entire day. In developing countries, 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day, and 1.1 billion scrape by on under $1.Something to consider when we are clicking that BUY button.
Of course I am no altruist and the reason for the complaint to follow is I am a Grouchy Grinch Scrooge. The Ebenezer in me screamed when they announced FaceTime for Mac will cost $0.99, MORE?! (Sorry mixing up Dickens here). And the gall to claim it is all because of accounting, regulatory crap that they have to pinch your wallet a little. Loyal followers of the Temple of Cupertino just simply have to bleed a little every time the All-i bestow you with a gift. Ours is not a benevolent god.
The problem is this App is included free in the latest Macbook Pro. No luck to you stupid saps for purchasing a day earlier or a month earlier and a different model in my sorry case. Keeping my fingers crossed the beta version will not be disabled anytime.
Interestingly the FaceTime app was ranked number one the instant it was announced. I suspect the app store ranking ranks of nepotism.
Great Thunderbolt
I am looking forward to the day where El Cheapo mini-displayport connectors are available. $44 for a display connector...No thanks.
I am also predicting a whole group of people struggling to plug in the power connector and wonder why it won't fit or power-up. Isn't that a power symbol? Or "Hey that fence is Thunderbolt enabled, let's plug in" ZAP!
Update:
The transfer rate on this little thing is faster than anything we have seen commercially. This Engadget writeup has a video of the thing squeezing video and data simultaneously. Sure it has a pesky 6 device limit, but face it after getting a Mac, there is not much money left to buy that many devices right?
Up your bum
The phrase above is perfectly right while drinking with an Aussie.
Buy a Mac, chances are you might feel like it happened literally.
Of course this is extremely trivial compared to people whose world literally shook apart or simply killed for trying to voice their displeasure about lack of basic necessity. So I am acutely grateful to be able to grouch in luxury.
Grouchy because I mis-calculated Apple's pricing strategy. This is unfortunately my more painful second time. Buying anything Apple is an art of timing, like going into the stock market, except you try to buy low but can never sell high. So far I have always aimed at getting last season Apple, until the Air. I just couldn't resist it's oh so slender profile and I still love it. Except it is now $200 less. Bright side, I had a month to play. Stings less, but still hurts. Pity the person who got it a few days ago.
Need to pet my MBA now.
Buy a Mac, chances are you might feel like it happened literally.
Of course this is extremely trivial compared to people whose world literally shook apart or simply killed for trying to voice their displeasure about lack of basic necessity. So I am acutely grateful to be able to grouch in luxury.
Grouchy because I mis-calculated Apple's pricing strategy. This is unfortunately my more painful second time. Buying anything Apple is an art of timing, like going into the stock market, except you try to buy low but can never sell high. So far I have always aimed at getting last season Apple, until the Air. I just couldn't resist it's oh so slender profile and I still love it. Except it is now $200 less. Bright side, I had a month to play. Stings less, but still hurts. Pity the person who got it a few days ago.
Need to pet my MBA now.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Lucky 13
Aluminium. Atomic weight 13. Vessels of sweetened nectar. Armour of i-devices
Confession time. I have gone over to the dark side, or more appropriately the aluminium side.
I finally succumbed to the followers of the All-i and squandered my life savings on the 11 inch Macbook Air. It is really useful as a Netbook, (Yes NETBOOK, in your face Steve..er..yes here is my wallet) and far more portable than a Macbook.
You don't have to worry too much about leaving it on or waking up from standby mode. Hibernates well as compared to Wintel Machines. Battery life is pretty decent from 3-5 hours on the run, the charger stays at home basically, but I am not a road warrior so I cannot attest to how good the battery is. It is however really good for couch potatoes surfers and saves turning on a 600W computer just to ride the internet waves.
One side effect of owning a Mac is you start obsessing about keeping it pristine. Day 1 I spotted a smudge next to the Apple logo, barely perceptible, but it really bugged me. Strange since I couldn't care less about the dust bunnies populating my desktop. Quickly I squandered even more life savings on protecting the Air, hard casing for the external, keyboard protector, palm rest protector and trackpad too. I stop short of a screen protector somehow.
I would recommend those whose livelihood depends on running around with a computer to get a Macbook Air. It would reduce the chance of expensive future orthopedic surgery for a dislocated shoulder. Unless you are using apps, sorry programs that won't run Mac OSX, or you prefer to invest your life savings. The iPad is currently still heavier and less versatile with heavier computing needs.
So is my blog still relevant? I may have converted to the Temple of Cupertino, but I still see the weakness in the Aluminium fortress. As I fondly caress my MBA, I shall still criticize. Think my soul is still safe for now. (Thunders rolls in the distance)
Confession time. I have gone over to the dark side, or more appropriately the aluminium side.
I finally succumbed to the followers of the All-i and squandered my life savings on the 11 inch Macbook Air. It is really useful as a Netbook, (Yes NETBOOK, in your face Steve..er..yes here is my wallet) and far more portable than a Macbook.
You don't have to worry too much about leaving it on or waking up from standby mode. Hibernates well as compared to Wintel Machines. Battery life is pretty decent from 3-5 hours on the run, the charger stays at home basically, but I am not a road warrior so I cannot attest to how good the battery is. It is however really good for couch potatoes surfers and saves turning on a 600W computer just to ride the internet waves.
One side effect of owning a Mac is you start obsessing about keeping it pristine. Day 1 I spotted a smudge next to the Apple logo, barely perceptible, but it really bugged me. Strange since I couldn't care less about the dust bunnies populating my desktop. Quickly I squandered even more life savings on protecting the Air, hard casing for the external, keyboard protector, palm rest protector and trackpad too. I stop short of a screen protector somehow.
I would recommend those whose livelihood depends on running around with a computer to get a Macbook Air. It would reduce the chance of expensive future orthopedic surgery for a dislocated shoulder. Unless you are using apps, sorry programs that won't run Mac OSX, or you prefer to invest your life savings. The iPad is currently still heavier and less versatile with heavier computing needs.
So is my blog still relevant? I may have converted to the Temple of Cupertino, but I still see the weakness in the Aluminium fortress. As I fondly caress my MBA, I shall still criticize. Think my soul is still safe for now. (Thunders rolls in the distance)
Beware the ides of March
It's not the 15th of March I know, nevertheless is it still the date of "demise" of non-Apple tablets? Rumours are such that it may actually be an interim release rather than the next jump ahead. So many false prophets out there, who do we believe? Oh the terrible wait til the good news is proclaimed.
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