My thoughts exactly…
Browsing Posts in Hardware
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.
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.
Forget Microsofts Surface, Apple have just done one better…
According to Engadget they have filed a patent for a multi-touch mouse which would allow for a buttonless device which knew the position where your hand was, and how your fingers were gesturing on the device.
The whole touch-sensitive/ multi-touch device area is really building momentum as everyone clambers to show what they are working on and get something out.
Well it seem they do have ears and are prepared to listen.
Only? a few? days ago I blogged about the site Dell had setup to capture customers feedback and ideas which it launched mid February. Well it seems they have listened to it as according to a recent statement on the company’s website they will soon be offering Linux as an optional OS on laptops and desktops that are sold.
Your feedback on Dell IdeaStorm has been astounding. Thank you! We hear your requests for desktops and notebooks with Linux. We’re crafting product offerings in response, but we’d like a little more direct feedback from you: your preferences, your desires. We recognize some people prefer notebooks over desktops, high-end models over value models, your favorite Linux distribution, telephone-based support over community-based support, and so on. We can’t offer everything (all systems, all distributions, all support options), so we’ve crafted a survey to let you help us prioritize what we should deliver for you.
Taking a few minutes to complete this survey will help us define our forthcoming Linux-based system offerings. We will close the survey on Friday, March 23. From there, we’ll take some time to analyze your feedback and work to provide the platforms and options you choose.
I’m more hopeful they may have listened to one of mine and seriously think about bringing in a shiny new tablet.
Samsung new MH80 HDDs will be fully compatible with Windows Vista and will offer OneNAND Flash onboard in capacities of 128MB or 256MB. The onboard flash allows for up to 50% faster OS boots, quicker resume times and increases in battery life of up to 30 minutes.
“As a leader in both hard drive and flash memory technologies, Samsung brings to market a unique hybrid hard drive that is sure to revolutionize the notebook computing experience,” said Albert Kim, National Sales Manager, Storage Systems for Samsung Semiconductor. “The MH80 hybrid hard drive provides the ideal solution for two major issues that notebook PC users continually face: faster boot and resume performance and extended battery life.”
Well Dell do…
Dell launched an ideas forum to? capture feedback and ideas from its customers, it is over at www.dellideastorm.com? and having been launched on the 16th of February already has nearly 1000 ideas.
The most popular seem to be around Linux and OpenOffice to be made available as pre-installs. Other ideas range from bringing back tablet designs to removing the overseas support lines.
It is nice to see green issues being suggested, quite how much Dell is going to listen to this or when some of these idea may filter through is unknown I only hope this hasn’t been a huge PR stunt as that would just be foolish for a company like Dell.
Intel have released the technical details of the Teraflops research chip at the ISSCC -
Intel Corporation researchers have developed the world’s first programmable processor that delivers supercomputer-like performance from a single, 80-core chip not much larger than the size of a finger nail while using less electricity than most of todays home appliances.
This is an impressive breakthrough.
Nokia announced a new handset at CES – the N800, which is next in the line of its tablet designed phones, but this was obviously over shadowed by the iPhone.
So? can it compete with the yet to launch iPhone?
The N800 is not a small device by any standards; not as big as some, but still capable of housing a 800 x 480 resolution screen which is crystal clear and touch sensitive. But if touch screens aren’t your thing or maybe you only have one hand available, then there is a four-way rocker switch with central selection button above three other contextual-sensitive buttons.
Sony have announced the release date of the PS3 in Europe.
The PlayStation 3 will at last hit shops in Europe on the 23rd of March and for a measly 599, about £425, for the 60gb version which will be the only version available at launch with the 20gb version to follow.
But the PS3 has been suffering in Japan and the US? with the estimates Sony expected and when compared to the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360 which have been on sale for some months now.
