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!

One Dollar

A dollar is nothing for us living in luxury. But to quote

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

Why Thunderbolt? In honor of a Norse God? Apparently it's a close collaboration between Apple and Intel. So will it surpass USB? So many questions. Clever of Apple, while being a year ahead of everyone else, the port is still perfectly functional for legacy display. Unless of course you are well-heeled to own both a Mac and a Lacie.

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.

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)

Beware the ides of March

It's been how long since the iPad was launched? At least 7 months since it landed on our shores. Since then tablets of all variety have been popping up like some crazy pharmaceutical garage sale. The strongest challenge now comes from Android based devices, all on the verge of starting their own growth explosion. Most look and feel like the incumbent, but early demos do show they worked on eliminating the weakness of the iOS/iPad combo. This of course is the week before the Temple of Cupertino proclaims it's new iLust device.

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.