When I think of the ultimate form factor for computing portability what immediately comes to mind is weight, not size. It doesn't seem that Apple agrees with me. Hence, the MacBook Air. The thinnest laptop in the world. At first it would seem to me that being thin would almost surely equal less weight, not so. It is light, there is no doubt but it isn't lighter than other "thicker" laptops out there such as the Toshiba R500 that comes in at 2.2lbs as compared to the MacBook Air's 3.0lbs, not a huge difference but those of us who have had to lug a laptop )or two) through a busy airport know, every pound counts.
While it is beautiful, I know my jaw sagged at some of the pictures, I began to wonder if it is something I would ever be interested in. And if not, then who is Apple marketing this for?
Some facts: it is supposed to be almost completely wireless. I say almost because you still need to charge it, no? Other than that it does not have it's own ethernet port, that comes as a separate dongle you have to purchase. You only get one USB port, one Micro-DVI port and a headset jack. There is also a separate optical drive that can be purchased. In trying to be wireless, it looks like there are an awful lot of things hanging off this thing! To be fair, Apple will be offering software that can be installed on either a Mac or PC which will allow the Air to use that computer's optical drive as though it was it's own. Finally, the battery can only be replaced at an Apple store when you need to purchase another battery, they will do it for you for free plus the cost of the battery.
The only thing that I haven't mentioned about it is what compels me the most: you can get it with a 64GB Solid State Drive for only $999 more! Solid State meaning there are no moving parts in the hard drive, it uses the same kind of memory as that in the iPod nano. That is a pretty hefty addition to the $1,799 price of the base model, bringing that configuration to $2,099. So what is so cool about Solid State memory? It's fast! There are no platters to spin up, no write heads to zoom around and read the sectors. It's really fast. Apart from the 802.11n wireless ethernet, that's the only other thing that is fast about this model. The Air itself comes in either 1.6 or 1.8 GHz flavors, not particularly exciting.
So who would buy this? My wife possibly. Someone who doesn't really care how powerful her machine is as long as it is reasonably fast and, most importantly, looks cool. I don't think she's burned more than one or two CD's for herself since we got her a MacBook last year, she has an iPod nano. Other than doing what she needs she could care less when I tell her about the speed of the Intel chip inside or that it has 802.11n wireless ethernet compared to the 802.11g in my older iMac.
"It's much faster than the current wireless spec if you have a router that will do the same" I told her.
"So it can get on the internet, right?" her eyes glassy and wandering back to the TV.
I sigh, admit defeat and say "Yes, Baby. It can."
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Apple TV "Take Two"
Now that all the hype around MacWorld is over and I can catch my breath from the tons of articles and podcasts showcasing all these new products I thought that I would sit down and comment on some of the ones that I find compelling. Now, I need to come clean on this, I don't have ANY of these products, nor have I seen them yet. So, how is it that I can right an article about them you might ask? Well, I'm going to attempt to come from the typical user stand point. Some one who just saw the TV spot or magazine ad and thinks to themselves "Now that's cool!". Here it goes:
Apple TV "Take Two"
This is one of the most exciting products to come out of Apple in a long time. Yeah, the iPhone is cool and all but I'm NOT going to switch to AT&T nor do I want to void my warranty by unlocking the phone either. Hence the Apple TV, a device with so much promise but unfortunately hasn't been promoted well enough to the general public. In it's first iteration, it was a box that you hooked up to your (preferably) HD Home Theater and could stream movies, music, pictures and podcasts from your iTunes library. Or, using the internal hard drive space, you could sync up the items you wanted to it and watch them locally and not have to worry about your home network delay. It was a good concept but one grave flaw became immediately apparent: it HAD to be linked to your iTunes library, you had no ability to purchase content from the iTunes store itself on it. To do that, you needed to get up, buy what you wanted on your Mac/PC.
With Apple TV "Take Two" Apple has addressed this allowing users to purchase music or movies (and now rent!) from the iTunes Store without having to get up. A great improvement compounded with the fact that buyers of the previous Apple TV will be getting this new functionality free! A simple software update and you are ready. Couple this with the fact they have slashed the price of the device from $399 for the 160 GB model to $329 and the 40 GB model has been reduced to $229 from $299. You also have the ability to watch YouTube videos directly from you TV without having to get up and view them on you desktop or laptop. Is any of this compelling enough to get the general public to want one? I don't think so, at least not yet.
Why? Most people don't care about streaming their content from their computer and if they want a movie they have a Netflix subscription or they rent from Pay-per-View. When I told my wife about the Apple TV and how cool it was she gave me that "Look ho w cute" smile and said "That's nice Baby." She could care less, and she is representative of most of the populace. It's not as compelling for her to get one, especially since we already have a DVR cable box. The last thing she wants is ANOTHER box with ANOTHER remote. She still doesn't understand why I got a PS3, there is no way she'll care about an Apple TV. "But then we can rent movies and not leave the room!" I tell her. "We don't rent that many movies." she replied. I lost and I knew it, she wasn't going jump over to my side so I dropped it.
Finally, a power user concern. There still is no Divx support on the device. Big deal? Probably not, but it's something I would like to have. Still, you can use Handbrake to rip your own DVD's and stream or sync them to the Apple TV so it's probably not as big a deal as I'm making it. All in all, I think this is an admirable advance with the Apple TV and hope they keep on coming so maybe one day I will be able to convince my wife that this thing is cool after all.
Apple TV "Take Two"
This is one of the most exciting products to come out of Apple in a long time. Yeah, the iPhone is cool and all but I'm NOT going to switch to AT&T nor do I want to void my warranty by unlocking the phone either. Hence the Apple TV, a device with so much promise but unfortunately hasn't been promoted well enough to the general public. In it's first iteration, it was a box that you hooked up to your (preferably) HD Home Theater and could stream movies, music, pictures and podcasts from your iTunes library. Or, using the internal hard drive space, you could sync up the items you wanted to it and watch them locally and not have to worry about your home network delay. It was a good concept but one grave flaw became immediately apparent: it HAD to be linked to your iTunes library, you had no ability to purchase content from the iTunes store itself on it. To do that, you needed to get up, buy what you wanted on your Mac/PC.
With Apple TV "Take Two" Apple has addressed this allowing users to purchase music or movies (and now rent!) from the iTunes Store without having to get up. A great improvement compounded with the fact that buyers of the previous Apple TV will be getting this new functionality free! A simple software update and you are ready. Couple this with the fact they have slashed the price of the device from $399 for the 160 GB model to $329 and the 40 GB model has been reduced to $229 from $299. You also have the ability to watch YouTube videos directly from you TV without having to get up and view them on you desktop or laptop. Is any of this compelling enough to get the general public to want one? I don't think so, at least not yet.
Why? Most people don't care about streaming their content from their computer and if they want a movie they have a Netflix subscription or they rent from Pay-per-View. When I told my wife about the Apple TV and how cool it was she gave me that "Look ho w cute" smile and said "That's nice Baby." She could care less, and she is representative of most of the populace. It's not as compelling for her to get one, especially since we already have a DVR cable box. The last thing she wants is ANOTHER box with ANOTHER remote. She still doesn't understand why I got a PS3, there is no way she'll care about an Apple TV. "But then we can rent movies and not leave the room!" I tell her. "We don't rent that many movies." she replied. I lost and I knew it, she wasn't going jump over to my side so I dropped it.
Finally, a power user concern. There still is no Divx support on the device. Big deal? Probably not, but it's something I would like to have. Still, you can use Handbrake to rip your own DVD's and stream or sync them to the Apple TV so it's probably not as big a deal as I'm making it. All in all, I think this is an admirable advance with the Apple TV and hope they keep on coming so maybe one day I will be able to convince my wife that this thing is cool after all.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Will algae beat its competitors to become the king source of biofuels?
Environmentalgraffiti.com » Will algae beat its competitors to become the king source of biofuels?
Pretty awesome idea, to use algae to create ethanol. I have read and heard about the concerns of making ethanol using corn and other crops saying that there wouldn't be enough of the crop to make sufficient bio-fuel for everyone's needs. This is just another one of those issue where creativity and simple elegance can make all the difference. Who says we need to get all our ethanol from corn and sugar cane (like in Brazil)?
Pretty awesome idea, to use algae to create ethanol. I have read and heard about the concerns of making ethanol using corn and other crops saying that there wouldn't be enough of the crop to make sufficient bio-fuel for everyone's needs. This is just another one of those issue where creativity and simple elegance can make all the difference. Who says we need to get all our ethanol from corn and sugar cane (like in Brazil)?
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Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Resigns - NY Times
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Resigns - The New York Times - Politics - Washington - New York Times
Looks like the forces of good and right are gaining some ground!
Looks like the forces of good and right are gaining some ground!
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Make science easier, examiners are told - Times Online
Make science easier, examiners are told - Times Online
Looks like the U.S. isn't the only country that is lowering educational standards so kids will have better "self-esteem". No one cared when I was a child if a test was hard or not, that's why you studied!
Still, there is a podcast about science from the U.K. that I just started listening to that I find extremely informative as well as entertaining. Find it here:
The Naked Scientists
Looks like the U.S. isn't the only country that is lowering educational standards so kids will have better "self-esteem". No one cared when I was a child if a test was hard or not, that's why you studied!
Still, there is a podcast about science from the U.K. that I just started listening to that I find extremely informative as well as entertaining. Find it here:
The Naked Scientists
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Nokia takes on iTunes in digital music market - Yahoo! News
Nokia takes on iTunes in digital music market - Yahoo! News
Going to http://www.ovi.com and downloading the press release, it gives a bit more information than the Yahoo! article, but what neither one talks about is DRM on the tracks that they sell. I couldn't find a reference to that any where. Although, for the price that they will be selling each track (1 Euro = approx. 1.40 dollars) you would like to think it is DRM free, like the EMI catalog on iTunes (1.29 dollars per track). Also, there was no mention about bitrate per track.
One thing I did see that I thought was interesting was the availability of a PC Streaming service for those who subscribe. This would be a pretty nice deal for those with Media Center PC's, but I would imagine that it will be limited to Windows only, as if almost every other subscription service.
Going to http://www.ovi.com and downloading the press release, it gives a bit more information than the Yahoo! article, but what neither one talks about is DRM on the tracks that they sell. I couldn't find a reference to that any where. Although, for the price that they will be selling each track (1 Euro = approx. 1.40 dollars) you would like to think it is DRM free, like the EMI catalog on iTunes (1.29 dollars per track). Also, there was no mention about bitrate per track.
One thing I did see that I thought was interesting was the availability of a PC Streaming service for those who subscribe. This would be a pretty nice deal for those with Media Center PC's, but I would imagine that it will be limited to Windows only, as if almost every other subscription service.
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Miners unearth world's biggest diamond
Miners unearth world's biggest diamond | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
Women the world round are feeling a little tingle in their pants, I think we know why!
Women the world round are feeling a little tingle in their pants, I think we know why!
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Monday, August 13, 2007
My Birthday!
Yup, it's my birthday. And to celebrate being 31 today I took the day off and went to see the "Bourne Ultimatum". It was great! The entire trilogy was fantastic and worth every penny I spent to see it in the theaters. I've only read the first book and was a little disappointed when I realized they hadn't followed the novels but in this last movie they bring all back full circle and returned some to the novel I loved so much.
This is also a momentous occasion because this ends the string of bad movies I seen on my birthday since I was 16! Movies such as:
"Young Einstein"
"Memoirs of an Invisible Man"
"S.W.A.T."
Hopefully this ends the curse.
This is also a momentous occasion because this ends the string of bad movies I seen on my birthday since I was 16! Movies such as:
"Young Einstein"
"Memoirs of an Invisible Man"
"S.W.A.T."
Hopefully this ends the curse.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Another 24" iMac
Lookks like there is a second 24" iMac with a 2.8GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM and 500GB HDD.
Check it out: The Apple Store (U.S.) - iMac
Check it out: The Apple Store (U.S.) - iMac
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Tuesday, August 7, 2007
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