Leopard
I've finally got Leopard and installed it - although the scene at Regent Street was a little, er, intense. London Underground shut Oxford Circus because the platforms were 'overcrowded' - no comment on whether they were overcrowded with nerds getting off the trains, or folks trying to get away from Regent St!
But there's more news
A while back I mentioned that I was writing for Download Squad. Well, I'm very excited to announce that I'm now also going to be found writing for The Unofficial Apple Weblog (sister site of Download Squad). You can find my own posts on this page and adding /rss.xml to that URL will give you a handy RSS feed of my posts over there.
U can haz LOLiPhone!1!
No more are we limited to LOLcatz, LOLruses or any other kind of LOL-animal (although the image above is clearly showing *some animal*). David Chartier and I decided the tubes needed a somewhat humorous look at the impending iThingy, and so LOLiPhone.com was born! We're accepting submissions too, so if you've got a OMG FTW AWSUM!1!! capped image to share, please head over to the site and let us know!
You can digg LOLiPhone.com here
iPhone Mania
eBay has, for months, had links for iPhones that would be available. But now we go one better: the email address free_unlocked_apple_iphone@yahoo.com is being sold on eBay. Not even a case, iPhone or other accessory - a free Yahoo! email address. Somewhat more worrying is that it's actually selling, and currently going for $23.
"Can We Please Stop this Bullshit?"
There's been plenty of talk recently by the iPhone nay-sayers in the U.S. It's bizarre. If the iPhone delivers on its promises, I very much believe it will be one of the most successful products ever seen in the mobile industry. However, recently, there's been a heavy influence on not only US flamers, but also about the future of the product over this side of the pond. Let's look at some of the hit-grabbing stories that have been posted, admittedly to the rumour sites.
iPhone European roll-out 'may be delayed'
OK, so Apple's driving a hard deal. If they have a killer handset that delivers, unlike my crappy Nokia 6280 which fails even the basics, then they have every right to drive a hard deal. They'd be mad not to - remember, Apple knows what it'll take to make a successful product (unlike the networks, whose software is notorious for causing issues on phones) and they don't want to compromise that - there's too much at stake here. The networks love the idea of branding, simply for the sake of throwing a logo in your face, whereas Apple seems to care about creating a product that creates cachet purely through use and sublime coolness, not poorly implemented phone-based software. The mobile market is, at the moment, somewhat like the PC market in the late 90s. Everyone was starting to catch the licensing bug: Windows Mobile, Symbian are all licenced. Like a PC manufacturer loads a PC with trial software and money-making links, the networks then load the phones up with software that promotes their own content and services never mind the end-user nightmare that it causes. The iPhone is the mobile-market's Mac, not just in presence, but in spirit too - as you'd expect from Apple perhaps. Anyway, onto the next fodder:An Analyst for investment banking firm Piper Jaffray warned Wednesday that Apple’s European iPhone launch "may be delayed". Analyst Gene Munster claimed the planned European wide roll-out later this year may face problems. "European wireless carriers are citing strict terms of the partnership with Apple," Munster said. (Link)
Apple struggling to reach iPhone deal with European Carriers
"Several were adamant that they will never offer the iPhone." My oh my, that sounds awfully like the protestations about DRM-free music. And now that's not doing all that badly at the moment, is it? If ever there were such a fine example of analysts talking out of their rear-ends, this is it. For the record, I'd still buy an iPhone 'unlocked' or retail only (so long as it delivers on its promise), but sans Visual Voicemail, and any kind of network partnership, the end-user experience is hardly going to be what Apple desires it to be.[A] report, issued Monday, notes that wireless provider Orange should be a shoo-in for the iPhone contract in Europe as it's the only operator with significant EDGE coverage in the region. "But early indications are that Apple may be forced to go retail-only in Europe," wrote analyst Avi Greengart. Several European operators reportedly advised Greengart that they had spoken to Apple and found the company “unbelievably arrogant,” making demands that “simply cannot be justified, no matter how hot the product is.” "Several were adamant that they will never offer the iPhone," Greengart wrote. Therefore, he suggested in his report that "early indications are that Apple may be forced to go retail-only in Europe." (Link)
The incredible 'pick a network out at random' game
Just two days later, Shawn Wu claims Vodafone is the most likely partner, attributing this to the
Gotta love consistency."200 million subscriber base (compared to 61 million for AT&T, its USA partner), broad country coverage, and investment in advanced technologies make it a strong fit for Apple." (Link)
Now all this would be considered fair analysis, and the networks that apparently were so anti-iPhone would be justified. Were it not for the fact that there's considerable demand (already) for the iPhone - at least here in the UK. 56% of mobile users apparently know of the device, and perhaps more amazingly one of my technophobe female flat mate agreed to queue with me (whatever time) when I get my iPhone, purely on the basis of being shown the incredibly clever Calamari advert - the appeal of those ads is clearly far reaching. So what on earth will, over the next few months, persuade the networks that y'know, the iPhone IS a good idea?
Wait, Brits Actually Want an iPhone!?!
There's so very little to say about this - the facts speak for themselves about a product we still know fairly little about (although the day of dissection is coming upon us). Apple's done a fantastic job of educating us in their ways. What network wouldn't want a huge queue outside their store on launch day, or publicised shortages like the Wii's having (still)? AT&T is seemingly preparing for total pandemonium over one handset, and yet the European networks are not interested? Jesus. Despite being a music student, I'm clearly not the one in need of a Supply and Demand bootcamp.Research from mobile market analyst M:Metrics shows 56 per cent of UK mobile phone users are aware of the device, and a large proportion of them (30 per cent) also have a strong interest in buying one....Brits are more inclined to buy an expensive mobile as smart phones are twice as popular in the UK than in the US. (Link)
One final thought, almost, before I leave the tubes in peace for the night
The W950 may be a very competent handset. But to compare like-for-like, especially on an un-released product is somewhat unfair on the Sony. It lacks the Apple UI, UX and iTunes integration. It likely is more hasslesome to sync, and the fact that it's from Sony almost guarantees that some jackasses from their digital music efforts thought it'd be a mighty fine idea to include some kinda of terrible Windows app that Sony really shouldn't make, not to mention that it's probably had the network's finest* technicians add their own buggy software to try and create supposed extra value. But above all you have to remember this: having roughly the same feature set as an iPhone doesn't make it an iPhone, or an iPhone competitor.Sony Ericsson’s W950, he noted, has offered European consumers a touchscreen smartphone with 4GB flash memory and music and Web capabilities – plus UMTS – for nearly two years. (Link)
*Where by 'finest' I mean: most willing to toe to a company line of forcing a network's portal and branding into our faces at every possible moment.
"Wish I was there".... WWDC Keynote Kit
Tomorrow's the day folks. Seriously. I can't recall a year where I've been so excited about what a Stevenote holds in store for us (and I know nothing of what's instore, by the way!). So what can we do to celebrate? Well, short of getting on a plane, TUAW's got a few tips. But that's not going to quench our thirst for news - well, at least not mine. So I've prepared a few things for us non-San Francisco-bound folks to behold. Firstly, an iChat room. The name of it is: wishiwasthere. How to get there? Simple. Hit Apple + Shift + G and enter wishiwasthere in the box under 'AOL Instant Messanger'.
You'll also want to play Bingo, and check the time zones below for when you need to be awake / opening tabs discreetly / otherwise with us:
7:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
1:00PM - Eastern
5:00PM - GMT
6:00PM - London
7:00PM - Paris
2:00AM - Tokyo (June 12th)
Now, finally, where on earth would you want to find yourself come coverage? Well. There's tonnes of sites out there offering coverage. So I've condensed 10 into a single Applescript launcher, and added a top icon from Florian over at CocoaGrove (merci beaucoup!) so all you need to do is put this baby in your dock and it'll open the 10 sites in your default browser. Please read this before running it!
Grab it by clicking the image above, and please, go see the rest of the (free!) icons at Cocoa Grove. One final link before I try and get off the WWDC Kool-aid - ReloadEvery. It's a server manager's nightmare (so please use responsibly) but it might be worth setting to refresh every say 30 seconds, in case you really want to be up to date. It requires Firefox / Bon Echo 2.0+. See you in the chat room from T-minus 60 minutes folks!
Update #1: A new prompt has been added to remind folks about the Safari tabs issue. If you want this new version, it's live on the servers now:
Update #2: We're also going to be live in irc.krono.net #wwdc (thanks Alec!)
How Times Change
With the summer coming around, and an exciting WWDC just over a month away, I thought it was time to share this video. Almost 10 years ago Apple was in a different position, the RDF was coming into operation, and Bill Gates even made an appearance at MacWorld. A fascinating video with the hindsight of the last 10 years, especially given the recent palarva at PCWorld magazine - Colin Crawford (who clashed with PCWorld editor Harry McCracken over recent articles) opens the video with a painful speech at the start of MacWorld 1997. Other gems include the fact that crowd back then hates Internet Explorer (something that's not changed ;-) ) and Steve Jobs says "the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I'm concerned". He's changed his tune......
The Fratellis: Live from London
I Hate Macs
The ads are adapted from a near-identical American campaign - the only difference is the use of Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them), but a curious choice in another, since they are best known for the television series Peep Show - probably the best sitcom of the past five years - in which Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur. So when you see the ads, you think, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.
Nice guy, Charlie Brooker. Macs are smug preening tossers? OK, so the article is pure flamebait, but it does just cause more ruckus over the ads, making more people exposed to them. But seriously, 'Fisher Price activity centres for adults'? C'mon. The rant about 1 button mice is now hideously out of date - desktop Macs (except the Mac Mini) ship with a two button Mighty Mouse. He then berates the Mac for not being suitable for 'fun stuff'. Sorry, but to me photos, music and video are fun stuff. Games, well I simply don't have the urge to play those (and if I did, I'd get a Wii or Xbox 360 that's designed for the job, just as my Mac is designed to run Aperture, iPhoto et al, not a jack of all trades, master of none system). OK, so Macs aren't suited for everything (or, clearly, everyone), but I've found that my Mac was pretty well suited to everything I did, and after a while was perfectly suited to everything I did as I took advantage of what the Mac offered.I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don't use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.
Too bad.This week: Charlie ...... listened to the Windows startup jingle every 10 minutes as his PC repeatedly rebooted itself.
Update: Simon Liu of BitCartel software picked up on this too, and provides a link to yet another flamebait article.
Adium 1.0
This evening saw the release of Adium 1.0 - a massive release, as you can tell from the release notes above! For those of you unaware of Adium (where ya been? Living in a cave?) - it's an open source, multi-service IM client. And it rocks. Get it for Mac OS X here!
Look at Me!
Swiped.
- The Shopping. MacBookPro. Bought, Loved, setup and ready for Flickr duties just as soon as I've got internet sorted for it (I need to de-activate the MAC ID for the iBook and nominate the MBP as my computer to satisfy some IT desk jockey's duty at the Uni). It's worryingly easy to simply enter your Chip'N'Pin Pin in the Apple Store, I should know. Especially now.
- Photo-shoot. Friend's jazz band. I'll be Flickr-ing some of the shots soon. They're in the workflow, as well as being moved to a new machine. Expect them sometime soon.
Susan has already posted about the MacBookPro. Insane.
Download the Keynote. Now!
iTunes Store Link - the movie is from Apple directly, so no worries about copyright etc!
iLust
So. The iPhone is coming. And buying it I will be. There's a size comparison compared to other smartphones, plus Apple has put a really slick site online for the phone. I'm looking forward to seeing the stream. Fraser Spiers' comment during the keynote was perhaps the epitome of everything to do with the iPhone. It's not coming til Q4 here in Blighty. My contract to the less than satisfactory Nokia 6280 is ending in September (yes, cunning planning on my part that shall be explained in a later post) so iPhone at any price. I'm not kidding. I want that bitch. Gestures, and such a slick outfit? I'll take one at almost any price given that it syncs perfectly with Mac OS X. And if there's FlickrExport somewhere down the road, then I'm buying it. No questions.
My only qualms with the Keynote were that there was little Mac stuff (my thoughts being iLife 07 relies on Leopard), and I really don't like the new Apple ads. The iPod ads frankly ruin a very excellent song by a favourite band of mine: The Fratellis. I love the original silhouettes, old-skool cool! Ah well. iDrool. Yes. That is my next phone.
Aunty Spreads the Word
In 5 years watching Apple events, I've never be so unsure of what's coming. As MacWorld quotes Shawn Wu, Apple seems to have really stopped the leaks this year, all adding to the mounting speculation....The annual Apple-fest is something of a cult among Apple fans. Steve Jobs can be guaranteed to provide plenty of surprises and entertainiment and his band of loyal supporters are likely to cheer even the most mundane announcements. "Apple is incredibly good at keeping things under wraps. Steve Jobs will definitely make it a good show and there will always be that one last thing that no-one expects at the end,"
Twas the Night Before Stevemas
The Night Before Stevemas - A Poem by Nik Fletcher
Twas the Night Before Stevemas.
And the stage was set.
For MacWorld was now ready,
and we'd all made a bet.
From phones, to Macs, to software,
Mac Rumors had it sussed. (C'mon, ThinkSecret just isn't acccurate!)
They knew of every item
that would whet Apple fans' lust.
Apple told us all to wait,
for 2-k-7 we would not hate:
"the first 30 were just the start" they cried,
"Windows - Dell - they'll all be fried
For we've got more than iTV -
Bill's Urge has only MTV!"
And so we move on to the day,
where Steve and Co blow us away....
The RD field was set to go,
just after Steve started off the show:
we'd all be hitting our favourite pages,
to see new sources of Apples wages.
"And Boom" he'd shout,
with calm, cool, clout,
"It ships today
So order away!"
"We've got these Stores,
they're no Dell bores,
they're just so great,
openin' up at such' rate.
"It's shame France shows us no amour:
pour nous-ne-desirez-pas-un-magasin-a-Paris - anymore"
But not to worry, we've got a plan,
For I'm Steve Jobs. And I'm the man."
"I invented the friggin' iPod, ya know
but this is not the iPod show"
So let's get on with the talk of the day,
and do computers the Apple way."
iLife 07, iWork too,
they're some of stuff that Apple had new,
HD, videos, music, and more,
filled to the rafters was the iTunes Store.
MacBookPros with an all new case,
that push the Mac Pros when they race,
without a doubt the computers flew,
but all we asked was 'What else is new?!'
Of course there was just one more thing,
the keynote wasp now had it's sting,
"In Leopard, brushed steel windows died"
and around the world, no-one cried.
Of course, twas no keynote without a game,
and one lucky user found quicktime-stream fame,
their H.264 shout of "Bingo!"
brought about by iPods signed 'Ringo' (Ouch!!)
And so, with all the visitors thanked,
A-A-P-L really tanked,
for it was not the show Wu had hoped,
all around, the Mac web moped. (Not the motorcycle, duh)
But still the Macs and Pods were sold,
the story of MacWorld oh-seven was told....
for never was there a tale of such glow,
than that of Apple, and her Keynote show....
Alternate Ending: "Into the valley of Moscone ran the six hundred (plus)...."
Truly terrible but a little light relief before MacWorld is just what I needed. I might be in self imposed isolation until after the Keynote as I really don't want to know what Apple will bring us until the stream is up - so have a great MacWorld! Credit to those who get any of the few references in it. I'll start with the obvious ones: As far as I recall, Apple stock fell immediately after the Steve Jobs keynote at MWSF06... and Fake Steve still deserves soo much readership!
News Reader Resolution
MWSF Predictions
- Dead Certainty iLife '07 and iWork '07.
- D'uh Available same day or within the week following MWSF.
- Logical Progression iPhoto '07 will be a better little brother to Aperture. The likes of the Nikon D40 mean that an affordable RAW setup is much needed with the huge cost of Aperture to newbies, and iPhoto's RAW handling has to be better anyway. (I don't have a dSLR, however after having played with a few sample RAWs on my iBook - yes, slooow - it has to be improved!).
- Not Holding my breath iWeb 2 less tied to .Mac (which maybe will finally be worth the moolah - although I doubt it). It should be noted that I don't use iWeb, and have not since January last year.
- Makes Sense API for iWeb plugins.
- iWork will finally ship with Numbers or a similar spreadsheet programme.
- Dead Certainty Shitloads of iPods sold last quarter. (FWIW I'm going with John Gruber's prediction of 24 million. Especially given the Red Nanos, and the uber-popular Shuffle.)
- Almost Certain A Feature Complete description of Leopard with demo - (with a 'still on track to ship this quarter' message. I don't think we'll have a date, but Steve might hint towards 24th March as it's OS X's
5th6th anniversary of launch - I'm still in 2006 mode!) - Almost Certain Roz Ho will embarass the hard-working folks from the MacBU by opening her mouth. (But hopefully, we'll be too busy oooh-ing and aaah-ing at the MacBU's implementation of the 'Ribbon' from Office 2007 and then wow-ed by the rest of Mac Office 2008 to care. Until after we've seen the stream.) Yes, I'm no fan of Ms Ho. I just cannot stand her.
- Almost Certain iTV will fully unveiled (Perhaps be way more than SJ showed it off to be - Flash HD for buffering for example). I would say 'definite' but iTV was Q1 2007, and whilst that may mean MacWorld, it could just as easily mean an Apple event later in the quarter.
- Probable More Videos available on iTunes US, with a re-iteration of the 'hopefully International this year' message.
- Out on a Limb Firmware update for Intel Macs to enable 802.11n on Airport Extreme for iTV.
- Wildcard (No more brushed metal in Leopard.)
- Wildcard (New designs for MacBookPros and perhaps iMac)
- Wildcard (6th Generation iPod.)
- Purely Wishful Growl be incorporated into Leopard.
- Purely Wishful Finder Re-write. Quicksilver is now Apple IP, and is in Leopard.
- Hmmmm iPhone. Much as I'd love it, for sooo many reasons, I just don't think we'll see it.
Update: This post marks post number 300 even thought it's internally known as post 369 to Haloscan and RapidWeaver. I'm suprised I've reached that number of posts, and have now realised why RapidWeaver can be a bit slow to export and re-upload the entire site - it's effectively doing a 350+ page site export with 512MB of RAM. Ouch.
Coming at ya Arndale!
It's all on the Apple systems with a long case number etc., but has anyone else received this error? Surely I'm not alone in this? As far as I can tell, it seems to be related to not syncing the iPod for a while. Last time, the Nano 'forgot' it was linked to my iBook and the iTunes library on it - despite showing all the playlists I'd synced with it. Hmm. Either way, I guess this means another trip to the store before MacWorld (something I didn't want to really do as I'll be spending hours drooling and buying after the keynote). However just when you think that's necessary, it 'works' again. Several resets and iTunes re-installs later, it decides just to work. Thankfully I video-d myself plugging in the Nano, and the error appearing so even if it's not going to break in front of the geniuses, I can time-shift and show them that it is, seemingly, broken. Last time I visited the store, the iPod started working miraculously at the Genius Bar (thanks for the patience with that, David!). Seems the threat of a trip to Cupertino was enough to scare it into working. The really annoying fact was that I didn't even shut the computer off. It just slept, and yet the error message disappeared. Bloody weird.
Before this post ends on what some may consider a sour note, I'm not actually that angry about this. Any anger I have is directed at the iBook and iPod, not the service I received at the Genius Bar. The staff at the Arndale store are always welcoming, polite and helpful when I've been in there to browse, get my own (or someone else's) iPod fixed or buy. If the Genius cannot see the flaw being demonstrated, then they're under no obligation to fix something that, as far as they can tell, ain't broke. That, in my book, is fair play. Thankfully the iPod isn't completely dead, otherwise the trip north would be horrifically quiet.
To the Arndale Store Staff: Expect a visit from Uncle Nik just as soon as I can get back to Manchester - although with me being sat in Hampshire now (and until 3rd January) I guess this blog post gives you a bit of a head start to research and offload the problem ;-)
MacSanta
MacSanta - Giving you 20% off Mac software!
Nobody wants a Zune for Christmas!
Another Classic
2 Year Lookback: Part 1
Read it here
MacHeist
Geeks Rejoice!
Firstly, a BIG shout for a Flickr group or two that 'became' today thanks to some mad commenting and Gmail-ing (quite why it wasn't done over IM I don't know!). Firstly, the 'I Love My Mighty Mouse' group. Most people hate their Mighty Mouse, but I don't, and neither does Susan, so let's get this thing going and say I <3 My Mighty Mouse!
Secondly is a far bigger group: Apple Peer Pressure Group. Description: "This is where you show off your Apple purchases and get to blame the people who made you do it. The idea is you upload a photo of your Apple Geekery and add a small photo from your Peer you felt Pressured by in the comments. Have a look at a couple of photos in the pool to get the idea. Photos without "backward" links will be deleted! Please put them in the description area!"
So far, it's just myself, Susan and (geek-cred here) David Chartier from TUAW.com who've posted, but go on. Run over there and join and post! Now!
Right, now back to Jack Bauer..... talking of the legend that is Jack Bauer, here's a T-Shirt I'm hoping will arrive soon!
Unexpected Gift!
(L) iPod Shuffle in New Packaging (R) The Rear of the Player
First Impressions:
It's tiny. Absolutely tiny. It absolutely epitomisises Apple's brilliant industrial design - for example whilst the actual iPod goes into the (included! woo!) dock upside down, Apple have put the status LED on both the bottom and top of the player so you can see the status whichever way the player is inverted:
(L) Top of Shuffle (Status LED on Left) (R) Bottom of Shuffle (Status LED on Right)
And the FCC certificates and Serial number are conveniently hidden behind the clip. It really is light - so light you could forget you're wearing it - for what it's worth, I've laid down a bet it will be a week before it in advertantly goes though the washing machine! The clip, whilst not being the strongest will likely hold the shuffle in most situations (it's so light a heavy clip is hardly needed!) but running, I'm not sure whether I'd trust it entirely.... we'll see about that.
As people may be aware, I like the idea of docks for iPods - it keeps it safe and also ensures you know where the iPod is! Thanks to the abnormal method of charging and sync-ing the new shuffle (through a channel on the headphone jack!) Apple has bundled a dock. Whilst people don't like the lost ability to use it as a USB pen drive as a result of this re-design, I'm not fussed as the old shuffle was too wide for a single USB port on my iBook anyway.
The Wow Factor
In the brief time between returning from the Apple store and going to a concert at the college (Dvorak Carnival Overture, Strauss Oboe Concerto, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder & Janacek Sinfonietta) I showed the new Shuffle to about a dozen people. After the initial "What is that?!" people were just amazed by it. In fact, of the dozen or so people who I showed it to, at least half of them wanted one for Christmas (and one of my flat mates has asked me to see if she can transfer her music into iTunes 'just in case she decides to get one' from SonicStage) and people were describing the Shuffle's size as "just ridiculous".
It seems fair to say that Apple has scored yet another home-run with the Shuffle. At £55 it's going to be a very tempting Christmas present for children, adults and students alike. I just hope Apple has enough inventory to see them through the holiday season!
Update: One thing that escaped my memory was the new 'Hold' feature that is rather clever. Basically, if you want to put the player on hold whilst music is playing, you hold the play / pause button for 3 seconds and it then locks the buttons. Neat. Another press for 3 seconds unlocks the buttons. The power button on the bottom is a really welcome addition (is this the first iPod to had a dedicated power button?!).
iTunes 7.0.2 and Nike + iPod
In other news, my pouch for the Nike + iPod tab arrived from the USA! Now I've got it attached to my (cheap!) trainers, I can track my running (or as Apple likes to say 'Tune Your Run').
Third Time Lucky
The one thing I'd love to know is whether we'll ever see an autobiography of Steve Jobs (I suspect not but if there came a time where he fancied making another few hundred million, I'd buy the autobiography along with numerous others). So far, I'm enjoying this look at the other Steve - it's a bit interupted in places (lots of dividers between sets of paragraphs) but a fascinating read.
iPod Turns 5 Today!
iPod Red
iPod Nano RED Coming Soon?!
Not Convinced
Take a look here. Don't laugh at my Music Taste. Just Apple's silly software.
How Much Disk Space?
Point and laugh here.
So I get an email....
1. Daring Fireball by John Gruber ('Mac Nerdery, ETC')
John Gruber is a genius. I've not been a paying subscriber to DF for as long as most people have (I only joined in May), but I simply love the commentary and objective technology-related articles and links he provides. They rock, and I would not hesitate to recommend DF (I'll be renewing when the time comes without a doubt).
2. Roughly Drafted by Daniel Eran
I Digg Roughly Drafted almost as much as Daring Fireball. Daniel Eran is a logical guy who makes RSS enjoyable to read. Recent articles on iPod and Zune and so much more make this indispensible.
3. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs by Steve Jobs
Fake Steve is perhaps one of the best comedians I've read of. Harsh words for Greenpeace, Microsoft and so many more make this simply side-splitting fun.
4. The Unofficial Apple Weblog by Weblogs Inc.
There aren't enough hours in a week-day to read about all the Apple-related news. So TUAW is perhaps the first place I check in when looking for fun new things to read about. It rocks, and I love reading it.
5. Scobleizer - Robert Scoble
Former Microsoft technology evangelist's blog.
So there's 5 I love. More soon - and perhaps I'll put an OPML file online too so people don't have to hunt for the necessary RSS links!
Wireless Mighty Mouse - First Thoughts
Arndale Update
Live and Reporting from the Arndale Grand Opening
The iBook is on Flickr Explore (at least for now!)
Behold the iBook with a retro logo!
The photo below has become one of my own instant favourites so check out the Flickr set here and take your pick!
Update: iColours.Ca has featured my iBook in their Gallery!
iTunes 7
Download the very new (but highly inconsistent and frankly ridiculously slow) iTunes 7 at your peril. Not only have there been problems reported, but one minor feature changed. The Command 1 & Command 2 shortcuts are gone! This may not be a big problem to many people, but to me it is. I live off of keyboard shortcuts, and find that I now cannot use iTunes effectively. The library loading feature sucks - it's far too slow, and really ought not to be there (6.0.4 worked just fine). WHY Apple feels the need to ignore their own Interface Guidelines, and use so many custom UI elements is beyond me. It's something that makes me wonder:
- What on earth do we call this type of interface? Brushed Steel, Unified, Plastic etc.
- Is this gloomy interface something that we're going to be seeing more of in Leopard (something I sincerely hope is not the case)
- What's wrong with the normal tick boxes and scroll bars?
I'm still not convinced by iTunes 7. But I'm going to give it time and see what happens. Incidentally, if you're wondering why I've not posted as regularly recently, then have a look here. Enjoy!
*OK, the keyboard shortcuts have not disappeared entirely, they're actually being used for something else (video playback) but come on Apple. Can we please have a keyboard shortcut for showing and hiding the iTunes Window?
CocoaDevHouse London Write Up
Thanks to sponsors Wired Up & Fired Up and RealMacSoftware for their support of the event.
Read it here
CocoaDevHouse London
If I had a bank account with £1400 in it......
...Apple would have made me a poor man (yet again). Behold the bloody massive 24" iMac that Apple just launched without a special event today. It looks just stunning. Hopefully the Regents' Street Store will have one when I'm up in London this weekend. Flickr watch out - I'll be throwing those photos your way!
iBook Hacking Soon!
Apple, Arrogant?
We'll see what comes about in the next 10 days or so. In the mean time, I've away on holiday again from tomorrow (to Sweden) so I'm sure I'll think of plenty to post before I return on Monday!
ROTFLMAO
After the Keynote
I'm very excited about Leopard, so go have a look at it!
There's a hilarious John Hodgeman Get a Mac-inspired intro to the stream of the entire Keynote, so watch the entire Keynote and relive the funny introduction here!
Leopard Predictions
- No more brushed metal!
- QuickSilver as part of Leopard. OK, a little far fetched perhaps, but Spotlight that is faster than an asthmatic tortoise would be a start. I don't keep many programmes in my dock, and used to use Spotlight, but it's just not quick enough. How long should it take to find Safari and Firefox when it comes to testing sites?!
- MSN & Yahoo in iChat (obviously sans Brushed Metal).
- iCal / Address Book / iChat finally merged.
- FindR improvements and re-writes.
- iSync with more options such as FTP
- More speed on PPCs too!
- and PLEASE a version of Safari that has all the AJAX capabilities of Mozilla and more. Safari's fast, but only on a few sites (of which GMail isn't one as it's not supportive of gChat in the browser). This would be my MAJOR complaint about Tiger, so here's to hoping it gets fixed!
There's more, but I can't really remember them all... I'll add them into the comments if I get a chance!
WWDC Predictions
Software:
Mac OS X Leopard / 10.5:- Features & Rough Ship Date (well before Vista)
Release update to Tiger (possibly last?)
Hardware:
Mac Pros using Intel Chips (duh)
Cinema Displays with Built-in iSight
Other Assorted Possibilities
Apple iPhone Announcement - Not necessarily the hardware, but more of a 'Platform' being announced for developers with 'test' devices being available 'shortly'
Whatever comes at WWDC, I'll be unimpressed should Apple decide to rejuvenate the iPod lineup. iPods are not for WWDC - leave them til September Steve so I can watch the Keynote at Apple Expo Paris ;-)
Adium ROCKS!
RapidWeaver 3.5 Public Beta 2 is here
Video to watch!
What is Mac?
Who is it from? Post a guess in the comments on Seb's blog. It really sums up the Mac, and it's quite a powerful quote."Appreciating Mac is not about admiring a machine. Making best use of a Mac is not glorifying or vilifying a personal computer. A Mac is not a machine. Mac is the passion inside of you that is waiting to come out - the personal computer is your tool of change. Without Mac, you are just any ordinary person, doing ordinary thing. With Mac, you are special. You can let your passion to take, you, drive you foward to change the world"
In other news, that fantastic piece of kit known as Flickr Export 2 is now available as a final release. Congratulations to Fraser Speirs on the release.
Why do you love Mac?
If you want to see Expose in action, Apple have a video on Apple.com that'll show it to you in more detail - check it out. (Requires Quicktime)
Apple cuts UK prices
iPod price points are always contentious (and I'm not interested in iPods) but the move to get a Mac Mini for less than £400 is a good one. As with the cheapest Nano, these prices are probably about marketing points more than actual price drops. However, with the prices now this low, it's hard not to recommend getting a Mac. Students still get their educational discount too (about £25 on the bottom of the range Mac Mini), so get buying!
Buy a Mac mini Online Now!
Mmmm Cocoa
Having never done any programming before, it's slow progress, but I'm still making progress. I'm understanding far more than I was previously so it's definitely a start :-)
Apple Regent Street - Bleurgh
Also, the staff were a little more pushy than those I've encountered before (including at Regent Street) which is a shame as Apple's retail 'ethic' is normally very 'hands-off' and genuinely happy to talk about Macs even if you may not buy something. Looks like I'll pop in on Monday, pay for an iTalk and will RLH* to get out of there. Although if I want a BTO MacBook, the woman said I'd be able to get HD upgrade done within the hour instore with the RAM (I'm sceptical so will ask someone else on Monday - but it could just be the Trafford Centre isn't big enough for the extra upgrade service whereas the flagship offers more posibilities, a logical conclusion!).
*Run like hell ;-)
An amusing link strictly for those who are not offended by coarse language: Tube Song! (Not Work Safe)