My thoughts exactly…
Browsing Posts in Technology
I know it is just another YouTube video I will get around to writing my own content soon but this is an excellent vid -
Wow what a game, I must say having only played it for 3 hours this isn’t going to be an in-depth review but just merely my first impressions…
This has been on my wish list for some time and I pre-ordered it as soon as I could nearly going home at lunch time to play it but unfortunately a new suit needed choosing instead…
So in my 3 hours of playing I have completed the tutorials and done a couple of missions, the force powers are great this is one of those games that the Wii was built for wielding a lightsaber and force gripping a Wookie before throwing him in disgust or electrocuting a bunch of rebels.
I have dreamed of this…
So the annual Mac fan camp is over for another year so what were the highs and the lows?
Well personally I think this is going to be slightly heavy on one side and most of the highs have low points…
Time Capsule – This was a kick in the backside for anyone who recently purchased an AirPort Extreme because this is basically an AirPort Extreme with a hard disk included. The idea being that you can simply backup automatically over the airwaves. The problem with it is you can’t add any drives to it so you either stick with the 500GB or pay for the 1TB but even then for true, proper backup you should still have something offsite and on rotation. This basically means that every so often you swap a backup out and hold it somewhere else so should something happen you will still have a backup available.
iPhone updates – These were good and useful but not outstanding and seemed like a bridge to stem people unlocking phones by saying we are doing things but at least it was free.
- Maps with location is by far the best app that has been added in this bundle being able to find where you are with one touch and then getting directions for a restaurant you just searched for, very cool.
- Webclips, I don’t really think this is the best name but certainly a useful feature, saving bookmarks on the home screen to your favourite web apps is brilliant especially when it is still the only way to get more out of the iPhone at the moment.
- Customizing the home screen/s is again a great feature as I won’t ever use the stock app and getting that as well as a few others off a cluttered home screen is a god send.
- Sending multiple SMS messages is one of those things you don’t do very often but when you do, you really miss it so another useful add-on.
- Chapters, subtitles, languages and lyrics are all just fluff and not something I can really see anyone using.
iPod Touch updates – Yep the Touch got an update too as well, getting pretty much what you see above (less the multiple SMS option) and a few extra apps including mail, maps, weather, notes and stocks. However the update to the iPod Touch came with a sting… That’s right Apple does it again for those early adopters and is going to charge you $20 (£12.99/ £12.66) for the privilege of getting what the iPhone holders get for free. Will people still do it, hell yeah, I already have!
iTunes movie rentals – This is a biggie. I buy movies but not many, as once I have seen it I very rarely go back and watch them again for quite some time so for me renting is better than purchasing. With rental from Apple we can now watch them anywhere on TV, computer or iPhone, the only downside at the moment is the time constraints. Once you select it to rent you have 29 days to start watching it but once you have started it you only have 24 hours to finish it. Now I don’t know about most but it isn’t often I get chance to watch a film all the way through in one sitting. Hopefully Apple will fix this.
Apple TV – following on from movies, Apple have made some changes to Apple TV. So Apple TV is the platform for watching the movies you rent on your TV and this includes HD movies, you can also now pick up podcasts to watch or listen to and photos from Flickr.
MacBook Air – Well there is no doubting that this was the highlight of the event and what Apple have managed to achieve is phenomenal in cramming so much in but was it worth it? I don’t know anyone who I have spoken to who would buy one, not because it is missing an ethernet port, not because it is missing a optical drive, partly because it has such a small hard disk of only 80Gb which in this day and age isn’t good for much. But mainly because they just don’t need one in their lives and the price… Well if it had just been a little less maybe it would have been something to think about and not just dismiss out of hand.
All in all it seems as though something was missing from this year’s expo – some nice things did get announced but more importantly it sets the stall out nicely for the coming year and the future so in the usual Apple way they leave more questions unanswered than answered but then maybe we are still dealing with the hangover of an iPhone last year.
So it is that time of year when everyone gives you their opinion on what was great about 2007 and what to expect in 2008.
Well what was great about 2007 is probably repeated by everyone:
- iPhone
- Vista – yes you may laugh but despite its faults it still made improvements on the desktop market
But rather than predict what may happen in 2008, I would rather just tell you about what I’d like to see in the hope that someone sees this and can make it happen. 
A 3G iPhone I think we all know is coming in 2008 but I’d like to see this on more carriers in the UK than just O2 who are the devil incarnate. If this doesn’t happen then I can see a lot more pressure to get iPhones unlocked and portable between networks.
I’d also like to see a new Apple notebook based on similar tablets that are available on the PC side which incorporate touch technology similar to the iPhone. I’ve always fancied a tablet but the only one that I have ever come close to buying was the Toshiba Protégé R400 though that is still a disappointment in certain areas and I now feel only Apple could get it right.
I would also like to stop seeing cases like the current Opera browser against Microsoft. I think Opera need to look in the mirror to work out why they aren’t getting market share rather than trying to jump on a band wagon almost and bash Microsoft. Apple package a browser and in either case it hasn’t done anything to hurt Firefox, maybe it is just because the Opera browser just doesn’t work as well. The only good thing that can come out of this case is to see Microsoft becoming standards compliant, which as a developer I stand right behind Opera on.
I’d seriously like to see the Zune challenge the Apple iPhone next year – at the moment Apple is running away with it and that’s fine, they are great products but a little competition has a nice way of keeping people on the straight and narrow which would be ironic for Microsoft
Oh and finally this -
Is anyone else have problems with the iPod touch and its syncing?
I’ve spent hours trying to get it synced:- attaching and re-attaching it, shutting iTunes down and reopening it, shutting the iPod down and restarting it. All to no avail 
I get podcasts daily that I like to put on but it takes weeks to get them on, I am sorely disappointed by the whole experience.
I’ve had chance to play around with the beta for Firefox 3 and so I thought I would jot down a few notes on what I have seen so far this first post will focus on security which is close to my heart.
In short I love it, I’ve always been a fan of Firefox and although the last version had a few issues that wound me up almost to the point of reverting to the previous version this version as far as I can tell addresses those issues and continues to build on what is a really great browser.
With the arrival of the UK iPhone only a week away I was expecting to be a little more excited than I currently find myself. When the iPhone first came out in the US I would have given my right arm to have one so what has changed?
Well a lot, firstly the carrier O2! I’ve never been a fan of their work and vowed never to be a customer of theirs again after my last run in with them and so that is a pretty big blocker. I understand from Engadget that we will be getting jailbreak for the iPhone pretty much as the iPhone lands but I also understand the implications of what jailbreaking means and that isn’t necessarily a route I want to go down.
Then you have all the reviews from America or even more so now the secondary reviews, the comments being made after the dust has settle and people have had a chance to use it a little bit more. The iPhone is still a great device but I don’t think it is quite living up to all the hype it got.
Then there is the iPod touch, this is everything the iPhone is without the phone. Great! So I get a great device to play my music on or my films, I can surf the web and I don’t have the hassle of having to jailbreak it or switch the devil that is O2.
Yeah ok so I have to carry two devices around with me but to be honest I do that now and I don’t complain, in fact I often carry a lot more than that.
I wonder how many other people are in the same position as me and will be making the same decision come 9th of November…
The question at thembid.com’s blog was ‘What are your essentials?’ after a windows re-format, however I want to touch on the actual process and how that can me made easier.
House keeping is one of those tasks I used to love to hate a few years ago but an unfortunate necessity with a Microsoft Windows based machine.
Back then backing up wasn’t an easy task, reinstalling everything took almost a day to get up and running and there was always something that was forgotten or missing or just not quite right.
Over the years I have practiced and perfected my technique and with the software available at the moment it is even easier.
What I have -
- NAS (network attached storage) or USB/ Firewire drive
- Disk imaging software such as Norton Ghost
- VPC (Virtual PC) software such as VMWare
I now have basic ‘build’ for each machine I have whether it be my laptop, desktop or development machine as they all have things slightly different. I also make use of VPC‘s for my development machines to make things even easier.
Part one – how to protect yourself.
Recently I have had the unenviable task of trying to reach a compromise between security and marketing in relation to emails.
It has not been an easy one as is often the case with these kinds of situations. The more secure something is, the less attractive or friendly it becomes which is not something brand/ marketing like to hear. Add to this the fact that often what brand and marketing think is great isn’t always the most accessible let alone secure, particularly when it comes to emails.
However with the increase in attacks coming via email, the need to be secure in our electronic communications is ever increasing. As these attacks increase, the need for companies to not only be secure in everything they do but to try and educate the consumer in how to be secure in the electronic age also increases.
I have often told friends and colleagues that the best way to be secure online is not necessarily by building a fortress around yourself of both hardware based and software based firewalls as well as routers and anti virus/ spyware/ malware or rootkit/ adware hunters etc, but through changing the way they behave online.
