Monthly Archive for May, 2006

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Official: No 12-inch MacBook Pro

Published on Monday, May 22, 2006 in Apple and Technology. 2 Comments

12inch powerbookJulio, from ‘Your Tech Blog‘ has answered the question whether Apple would release a 12-inch MacBook Pro. The wording on Apple’s website has eluded to him to that there won’t be one: “Meet the family, now complete“. This sentence shows that Apple has completed the MacBook line of products, and it is full. However, Apple has been known to play tricks and add/change things when people don’t expect it. This may not seem difinitive, so he phoned up Apple:

If you have any lingering doubt, [Apple] just told me on the telephone that a 12-inch MacBook Pro ain’t gonna happen.

It’s a real shame to see the 12-inch go, because I know a lot of people that really would have liked an Intel version of it, because it is so small and portable. I think Apple should make a 12-inch MacBook Pro, because there is still a huge mass of people that would buy it, and some people just find that 15-incher way too big. I personally wouldn’t mind the 15-inch, but it still seems rather ginormous (I know the 17-inch is even bigger – who on earth could carry such a beast!). Because of the widescreen display, the 15-inch MacBook Pro, and even the 13.3-inch MacBook is quite big, well bigger than their pre-decessors. Please bring it back Steve, please?

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Apple has NOT closed the Intel-based Darwin Kernel

Published on Monday, May 22, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy, PC, Software and Technology. Closed

os x unix based logo

It has been reported that Apple is closing down the Intel version of the Darwin Kernel so that hackers won’t have such an easy job to make OS X work on normal Windows boxes. Ernest Prabhakar, Apple’s Open Source and Open Standards product manager, has stated in the Fed-Talk mailing that they have not closed down the Darwin kernel, they just haven’t released it yet. People were speculating that because the PowerPC version of Darwin was released, and the Intel version hasn’t, that Apple won’t be distributing it anymore. But people got wind of this story and the didn’t mention the fact that it was, and still is, a rumour!
This is a sigh of relief for the hardcore geeks that love to tweak the kernel and re-compile it for their benefits. It is also good for OS X in general, because it raises its status above Linux as the kernel is open-source and people can fiddle with it, but the OS is a lot better in its design and functionality (though this is debated). If the kernel was closed down, then it would only be above Windows, which is not open source in any way.

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Updating the Blog: Part 2

Published on Saturday, May 20, 2006 in General. 5 Comments

I have been using the K2 theme for WordPress and I downloaded the SVN in hopes that all the cool new features would work. I tested it out on my apache server on my mac mini with no problems, but now none of the ajax features work. So I have to down-grade backto the previous version and re-style the site. So many problems ;)
Anyway most of the site should look like this when it is finished, the problems are with the features that make the site pleasant to use. Feedback for the site is welcome!

Note: Because of some problems with the menu bar, it may show up out of aligned in Safari and Firefox for Mac (but should be fine on Windows) and in IE. I am working to fix this, but I hope the menu is still accesible and useable.
This problem has now been fixed: However if you are using Firefox on Mac you will continue to have a miss-aligned menu bar, for some reason Firefox on Mac displays it different to Firefox on Windows.

the mini Blog Version 3: Coming Soon

Published on Friday, May 19, 2006 in General. 2 Comments

I am in the process of re-designing the blog, and it should be released soon. Hopefully it will be a lot cooler and more unique!

Sony goes crazy: PS3 to be sold for £425 in UK

Published on Thursday, May 18, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, Technology and TV's. 4 Comments

ps3 stock photo
This time Sony has gone way over their head. I mean when I heard the price I thought that it was a joke, but no, Sony is dead serious. How can they honestly think that family’s can afford to shell out so much money for a damn console, I mean you can buy two 360 Core Systems with £11 left over! We always pay more in the UK, for everyting, because of that damned VAT (Value Added Tax – 17.5%). The pricing can be compared as follows:

  • For the US, they pay $599 for the ‘Premium’ PS3, which is around £316. If you take £316 away from £425 you get £109. So we pay £109 more than the US pays for the PS3.
  • For the rest of Europe, they pay €599 which is around £405. Take £405 away from £425 to get £20. So we pay £20 more than the rest of the Europeans.

That is the pricing with other countries, now compare it to the price of the 360 and you can see how ludicrous it becomes.

  • The 360 ‘Premium’ is £279. Take away £279 from £425 to get £146. The UK PS3 costs £146 more than the UK Premium 360!
  • The Core 360 is £209. Take away £209 from £425 which leaves you with £216. The UK PS3 costs £216 more than the UK Core 360!

See? I honestly don’t understand how they can think that people will pay so much. You can’t use the whole High-Def gaming excuse for the UK because HDTV marketshare is so low, and HD content is aswell (High-Def satelite only just launched) that the people who would want to buy it won’t be able to take advantage of the PS3′s ‘awsome’ graphics. Most people will just buy it for the games. I am a part of a few families in our town that actually have HDTV’s (our Sony Bravia can only support 720p native – 1366 by 768 resolution), and even if you do it probably wouldn’t support 1080p or 1080i natively, so it would have to downsample the image, which ruins the whole point! To top that off, a Sony rep actually says that it is a bargain! This is an outrage, people in the UK don’t think that £425 is a bargian, in fact they consider it a bloody fortune ;)

“I don’t think it’s an expensive machine; I think actually, it’s probably a cheap machine … If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be GBP 600-700, and we’re coming in at just GBP 425 – it’s a bargain.“

NOTE: I forgot to mention that Sony will not be releasing a lower priced version of the PS3 in the UK. The £425 PS3 is the only version that will be available to buy. So the situation is even worse, only a high-priced PS3 of which most people won’t be able to use that 1080p resolution anyway!

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MacBook Disemboweled

Published on Thursday, May 18, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed
macbook opened

Kodawarisan has already got his brand new MacBook, and the first thing he did was disassemble it! His site is devoted to taking apart Apple products, with a lot of pictures and annotations. He was also the first person to take apart the MacBook Pro, and probably will do the same for future Apple machines. Just to point out, you can see the hard drive bay and the RAM modules, under that keyboard, showing how easy it is to remove and replace them.

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NYC Apple Store Cube Revealed

Published on Thursday, May 18, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed
nyc cube store
Photo Credit: Dave Thorup

In Manhattan, Apple have been busy constructing a new Apple Store on 5th Avenue. But this is not a normal Apple Store. As you can see from the image above, it is a huge glass cube, that then leads people underground! Dave Thorup was lucky enough to see the unveiling of the store, which is scheduled to be opened on Friday. He posted all of his images on Flickr.
I think it looks like a pretty cool store, but apparently there will be no theatre and it won’t be carrying photographic equipment. However it will be open 24/7/365 days a year, so there should be some cool geek celebrations during the new year!

You can now also find some better pictures of the whole thing, including a spiraling staircase downward here (with some additional details).

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Behind the MacBook’s Battery: Video

Published on Thursday, May 18, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed
macbook battery hdd

As a little update to the previous post I made about the MacBook’s HDD and memory being easily replaceable, MacWorld has posted a video showing this. The link to the article and the YouTube video can be found at the end of this post.
I feared that if the HDD was over the battery, then it would heat it up, but now MacWorld have revealed where it is actually hidden. To get to the RAM modules and the hard drive, you simply remove the battery using a coin to turn the lock, as in previous iBooks and PowerBooks. Then using a normal Philips headed screw driver you remove three screws that are on the side of the battery bay. You can then remove the protective plate that was covering the bays. To remove the RAM modules, there is a little lever which you push that then ejects the modules. The hard drive (as shown above) can simply be pulled out from its slot using a white tab attached to the drive. Ta-da, you can now spend less money than Apple would charge you, to replace the RAM and the drive.

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I’m going to see The Da Vinci Code!

Published on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 in Movies. Closed
da vinci code

It’s official, the tickets have been ordered and I just need to see it now! The first airing at our cinema (theatre) starts at midnight tomorrow. Well the movie starts at 11:40PM, but we have like 20 mins of adverts here in the UK (but the time difference means I get to see it before the US :P ). It’s awfull, I practically run out of drink by then! I read the book last summer and I loved it, and I’m in the process of reading Angels and Demons now (also a great book). The movie is 2:29 hours long, so I will be going sleep quite late. Expect a short-ish review on Friday.

Shoplifting from the Apple Store…

Published on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed
take down at the apple store
Image Credit: Scott Ard / CNET

…is not a good idea! As you can imagine from the image above, it is not a wise idea to shove some iPod accessories in your pocket, on the day of a big item launching (the MacBook). But that is exactly what one guy did. CNET News.com editor Scott Ard witnessed the event and said: “a man strode directly in front of me, stooped down to the floor and appeared to tuck a few boxes of iPod accessories into a coat that was too large and thick for the balmy weather.” The guy then headed for the exit, where Apple employees confronted him and removed the boxes. He then tried to run for it, but his coat got the worst of him and was taken down by Apple employees just outside the store.
So think before you try and shoplift from Apple, and don’t do it when a major product has been released (or just avoid shoplifting altogether!)

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