Posts filed under "technobable"
Final Fantasy XIII - I don’t do video games. In fact the last game I got into was Final Fantasy VII (still have a copy of that), but this looks UNBELIEVABLE. Damn you Squaresoft (they are still called that right… no wait, what’s the Square Enix rubbish?), I might need to invest in some bloody console just for this…
http://www.brokenkode.com/-final-fantasy-xiii-square-enix-europe
TweetBacks - Great little plugin for WordPress (that will hopefully be making it’s way over to Habari) that bring Tweetbacks. Think of them as trackbacks only made of tweets.
Google Search Box - From the creator of Quicksilver, comes Google Search Box. Kinda explains why he was ok about leaving the Quicksilver development; he was working on something better.
Palm Pre - Never used anything from Palm so I wouldn’t know what to expect based this their latest attempt at. However early buzz from everyone has put this squarely up against the iphone and actually comes on top in certain areas. Although the form factor is smaller than the iphone in general, it’s also much much thicker as well (which is always an issue for me). Lets see how this effects the smartphone market (hopefully proper competition will force Apple to address simple things like cut and paste).
Scathing review of the Apple keynote speech today at MacWorld - Unfortunately I kind of agree. Although I do like the battery idea, it’s still a battery and I don’t believe a word they’re saying about 8 hours. My macbook is meant to give me 5 hours, but the truth is I can only hope to get 4.5 hours that if I turn the screen brightness right down and do some word processing (something with a white background so I can actually see what I’m doing), so really it’s closer to something between 3.5 - 4 hours of actual productivity.
Netbooks compatibility chart - If you’re in the market for a Hackintosh.
Google Chrome is out of Beta - Gmail takes 5 years to come out of Beta and Chrome takes 100 days? Am I the only one that thinks that’s weird? Surely Chrome would come out of beta once it’s available on the other platforms and has progressed to a solid 1.0 release. Either way, I’m still waiting for this on my mac dammit.
Dell Mini 9 and 12 now released in cherry red, pretty pink and designs by Tristan Eaton Designs - It’s taken a while but the red one is finally here.
Together - Interesting little note and file compiling application. Particularly like the web as pdf feature.
Macbook Nano - I’d definitely buy one for £200. I am however starting to sway gradually into getting a Macbook though.
Eventbox from The Cosmic Machine - A Mac only app, which helps integrate a number of social media networks in one single place.
Photoshop interface with real world object - Awesome flickr set that also shows how it was done (via Boing Boing)
http://www.brokenkode.com/photoshop-interface-with-real-world-object
Fedora 10 (Linux distribution) Solar Theme - Although I’m a mac man now, I still do admire the effort that is always going into desktop linux distributions. For a while Ubuntu was the king, however Fedora is definitely pushing the boundaries of good taste with this, their latest offering.
New in Pixelmator Tempo - Awesome set of new additions to the image editor that could. I’m especially excited about the text tools because that’s one of the main things that’s keeping me from making the full switch.
Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex out - Exciting times for those on Ubuntu. I sadly moved over to OS X last year after battling for a year to try and make Ubuntu my primary machine. Sadly the ‘nix is just not ready for my needs, however I still like to support the project and Canonical because the thoughts and story behind this effort are to be commended.
They’re all wrong. Everyone that’s perplexed as to whether or not the new Dell Mini Inspiron 12 is a netbook or not have fundamentally misunderstood what defines a Netbook, while for once Dell seems to have a complete understanding of the concept. What impresses me about Dell is the fact that they’ve done this better than any of the other manufacturers that have jumped onto this bandwagon; and seeing as only Apple and Sony not having joined in on the fun, that’s basically every manufacturer of a computers out there.
A Netbook encompasses a range of concepts for a computer to be classified in this manner:
Size and Weight
This is the “acid test”. Is the netbook light? Can you imagine carrying it around all day? Is it around 1kg? if it’s much heavier than 1kg, is it slightly larger and therefore distributes the weight more? Remember the Macbook Air is heavier than all the netbooks but due to the weight distribution it feels lighter. 12inch is the absolute maximum you can go up to, 9inch is the minimum that you can use without it being bloody annoying. 7inch models are basically too small for anything apart from checking some emails.
Speed and Power
The ultimate specifications of the netbooks is pretty irrelevant. It seems that Intel had brought netbook.com but now it just redirects you to the Intel website. i guess it’s because they realised hopefully that a netbook isn’t a netbook because it’s got an Atom processor. The fact that most of them do again is irrelevant. It’s a nacesent category. The other players haven’t jumped into the ring. They’re still waiting to see if this is all going to fade away. The power associated with a netbook is meant to provide you with the power that is needed to perform the tasks that one would expect from a netbook. I wouldn’t be wanting to render any images, nor do any serious graphic work, nor watch a movie. I’m using this for web surfing, for emailing, for having a look at a couple of pdfs and doing web related stuff. Anything else is noise.
The processor should hopefully reduce the power consumption to a minimum and allows the software to load quickly. I am still waiting for the software to be integrated so much that the waiting is non existant, however that will probably come in time.
Bloat and Affordability
The major concept behind a netbook that is common however to all is the fact that a netbook gets rid of bloat and unwanted items. It strips the computer down to it’s bare. No optical drive is a critical one, because that goes against the concept. If a computer has an optical drive, it’s not a netbook. Storage is really down to preference i guess. In reality you won’t need to have major storage. 20Gigs should be more than enough. The only reason you’d have more maybe is for all your music if you want to listen while doing your other things - but most of us have ipods right?
Which finally brings me to affordability. This isn’t a primary machine. This is a pretty fundamental concept here. You won’t be using this as your work horse, but rather as your secondary throwaway machine. Therefore you don’t want to be spending too much on this because you can’t really justify the extremely steep expense. There is a cut off on general price, which is why the Air can’t really classify as a netbook, because that machine was built to tackle more than just web based activities.
KISS
So why do I think that Dell have understood the market better than Asus, the category generators? The answer is down to simplicity. If you try and get a netbook from Asus, they’ve absolutely swamped the market with no less than 12 different models (and that doesn’t take the XP and Linux variations).
In stark contrast Dell have released their Mini 9 (with an Ubuntu or XP variant) and now the Mini 12. Don’t even get me started on the Swarovski ‘enhanced’ S101 netbook. The industrial design of netbooks should have one and only mantra, KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid.
Only What You Need
It’s the form factor relating to what you are ultimately going to use this secondary machine for. Because based on the above, you’re not going to be using it for anything but sitting in the lounge (or the garden) or about town to do simple stuff with a machine that meets your basic needs, rather than all of your needs, and crucially not more.
Dell Mini Inspiron 12 Review - The older brother of the Mini 9 is out in Japan. There are some factual inaccuracies in the review. The size of the actual netbook isn’t 24mm to 21mm but rather 23(.3)mm to 27(.6)mm. Also I’m not sure where they got the $999 pricetag, because it seems that this will actually be more in the $600 region? Better pictures on the Dell Japan website.
Many Tricks - I’ve only been on a mac for a year so you’ll have to excuse me while i compile my indie software developers list of useful apps.
Cruz browser - the big difference here is the fact that it’s got an API ready for plugins to be developed and installed. Interview also up on Cult of Mac with the developer.
Polaroid software - If you’re on a Mac (and I can understand why you wouldn’t be) then Polaroid is an interesting idea for making your old photos interesting again. I do like the shake to develop the pictures feature.
Anand Tech reviews the new Macbooks - as always love the size of these reviews. Surprising recommendation, wait till next year’s model.
Google’s Android mobile software platform goes open source - what I hadn’t realised is that it’s actually based on the linux kernel, amongst other things.
Dell Mini Inspiron 9 from Vodaphone - You get the computer for free (saving £299) but then pay £25 a month, for minimum of 24 months. That’s £600 in total. The alternative of course is to buy the laptop and get a Three dongle for £10 and save £60 but of course you’ve got the option to opt out since you’re paying it monthly.
These services providers are seriously raping the customer with these prices. £5 for the 1GB allowance would be the sweet spot as this is a frill item at best. This is in addition to your phone, which in most cases you are paying £20-£35 depending on your tariff.
Also I was worried that Vodaphone would have an exclusive on the fire brick red version of the Dell Mini, so maybe that is something we can look forward to.
In case you missed it, Apple released their new line of notebooks earlier this week and as you will imagine it looks like an amazing bit of artwork. As I’m currently in the market for a nice portable computer, of some description I’ve been following the online rumours surrounding this event with a lot of interest, holding my breathe, waiting for the news to come through. Sadly after I play around with one today I can’t bring myself to buy one.
Form Factor There is no denying that the new Macbooks sport some seriously sexy looking shells and have an awesome glass trackpad (which you need to play with to fully appreciate it’s greatness), however this line of Macbooks are missing something for me and the real reason I’d buy a laptop computer at this time. It’s down to what I ultimately will use the notebook for and that comes down to the form factor.
In this context I’m not looking for a first machine, I bought my mac mini last year and I’ve got say that I’m extremely happy with this machine. I’m not a believer of getting equipment that I will never use it’s fully capacity for which i have paid for. So why would i want a notebook? To actually take it around with me. Isn’t that what laptop computers were originally created for? Apart from price entry, I think the reason why netbooks have taken off as a consumer product is down to the actual weight associated with them, they’re typically a little over or under a kilogram and they deliver minimal power for work on the move, with a decent sized screen and a keyboard.
I like well engineered stuff that is beautiful to look at and beautiful to use. Arguably the new Macbooks fit into that ethos. However the thing that these notebooks don’t address is portability. at a little over 2kg for the lightest Macbook (the plastic version is actually heavier than the aluminium version), the weight factor is out the window. They’ve provided the computer at 13.3 inches which is a good size, but again, I would have preferred to have an even smaller thing that I could lug around with me and not really feel it.
The new notebooks feel more like a primary machine that you have in your house, that give you the option to move about the house, but don’t seem to have the makings of a true road warrior. Maybe if you’ve got a car and using that to move you and your notebook around, but in my city slicker mode, I don’t own a car and it’s me who will be lugging this thing around. As such weight is paramount.
Is it Apple’s fault that their latest notebook offerings don’t actually fit in to what I want? To be fair to Apple they have something that more or less fits in with my ethos, get the Macbook Air, at 1.3kg that more or less addresses my weight issue. The only problem with this is that the Air is £1300. That’s £350 more expensive than an already expensive machine (and I doubt the new Macbook Air actually has the glass trackpad which is many shades of awesome).
Sadly like Gruber says, Apple won’t release a netbook for another few years and when they do it’ll be awesome, but it will have a stripped down OS X and will fit my needs now, in 2 years. So what’s a guy to do? What are the available options?
I could either get a Macbook Air, get a Lenovo S10 when it gets here and Hackintosh it or I could get a Dell Inspiron 9 and Hackintosh that. Arguably the second option is much cheaper (by around £1000).