Category: stuff

Software, toys, gadgets and computers

Applying common sense to what you read

As has been mentioned many times on the blogs already, The Apple v. Apple lawsuit ended in favor of Apple Computer.

And to everyone who claimed that that Apple Corps were sure to win, I’d like to point out more of us need to do a common sense parse of the news we read.

Look, if Apple Computer actually expected to lose this lawsuit do you think they would have merged their countersuit in California (home turf) into the one in Great Britain (enemy turf)? Did you miss the part where Apple didn’t “lose” the last two lawsuits, but settled? That because they were settled, people could only deduce the implications of the settlement and nobody besides the two Apples and the judge actually could actually be qualified to make a ruling?
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Posted on by tychay 0

17" MacBookPro is a good deal

The 17″ MacBook Pro was announced today at NAB for $2800.

17

It has the following differences from the high-end 15.4″ MacBook Pro ($2500 retail):

  1. 17″ 1680×1050 display vs. 15.4″ 1440×900 display (my current 1.5Ghz Powerbook G4 is a 17″ 1440×900 display).
  2. Firewire 800
  3. an extra USB port
  4. 8x dual layer SuperDrive instead of a 4x single layer SuperDrive
  5. 2.16 Ghz Intel Core Duo instead of 2.0Ghz
  6. 120GB 5400rpm HD instead of 100GB 5400rpm HD

Here is a strange quirk. If you build-to-order the latter with the last two additions (2.16Ghz processor for $300 and 120GB HD for $100), it ends up costing $100 more than the 17″ computer. So you can get a larger screen, firewire 800, dual layer higher speed burner, and an extra USB port for $100 less!

(I figure the Firewire 800 addition is because the better heat dissipation qualities of the larger notebook. If that is the case, I wonder if they stopped underclocking the video chip in this model. I’d have thought the dual layer burner in a 17″ would only be because it was thicker than the 15.4″, except that it isn’t—they’re both 1 inch thick. This specification may have a lot to do with the target market (video) and their penchant to be willing to pay for the top of the line.)

This means that the 17″ MacBook Pro is a good deal (or the 15.4″ MacBook Pro is a bad one).Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 7

Aperture 1.1 out

Aperture 1.1 was released as a free update today. If you own Aperture, see Software Update. (My comments about it are here.)

In my original review of Aperture, the only real complaint I had was the price, which was too close to PhaseOne CaptureOne. I felt that Apple should undercut them like Final Cut Pro did to Avid. Well, if you own Aperture 1.0 like I do, you can get a $200 coupon good for future Apple Store purchases (Academic users get a $100 one).

By the way, this also means a $200 price drop to Aperture to $300 from $500.

Now how is that for service?Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 2

The Origami hype-machine

Pity Microsoft sometimes.

What possess them to send out hype announcements just before a Steve Job’s keynote/event? I know Apple has a tiny marketshare, but in the geek world, their mind share is huge. This is why Apple’s announcements top Google News Sci/Tech section even after a mediocre product announcement.

More is the pity because Origami is actually a very interesting device.

(Be warned, the Origami website linked is pointless.)

Microsoft’s Origami

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Posted on by tychay 10

Mac Mini switches to Intel

It wasn’t more than a year ago when I wrote in my OSCON bio:

Terry Chay is the only Mac user at Plaxo, where he develops the web-based version of their product (they tolerate him because he stinks at CounterStrike).

A few weeks ago, IT purchased a couple of Mac Minis to ramp up Mac support now that Plaxo Mac Beta has been leaked. QA has decided to make support for Safari on peer with Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6+ for Windows in all future bug listings. Plaxo has gotten serious about the Mac and it looks like that part of the bio is now very, very false—well, at least the part about sucking at CounterStrike is still true.

Well when I heard they ordered it, I said, “Why not just wait until March, April at the latest, and get Intel Mac Minis? They’ll come out just after the MacBook (iBook replacement) gets announced at the end of February.”

Looks like I was wrong. Apple introduced the Mac mini replacement using the Core Solo and Core Duo.
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Posted on by tychay 11

Back to Palm…again

Palm Treo 650

Michael at work just got a Treo 650 and because I have a Palm T|X (review roundup), he was wondering how to get up using the Palm features.

In my opinion the two are not the same product, there are a lot of cool things that I could do with a PalmOS that are too inconvenient when spread across two devices. The fact is, I bought my Palm T|X as a stop-gap measure for the stuff that I used to keep on my Palm m505 years ago. These apps are probably outdated now, but I figure I can coast a while with it until the cell-phone and PDA integration wars end.

Instead, a much better source for him will this blog series I found of a Windows Mobile user who purchased a Treo 650. It’s a fresh perspective from someone whose primary interest is having a Treo for the things the Treo does well.

Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 2