I mentioned earlier this week that I couldn’t see much difference in the Macbook/Macbook Pro lines, and this exhaustive comparative article from Gizmodo in some ways confirms my suspicions and makes me wonder whether a high-end macbook is the better choice!...
The rate at which Apple renew their product lines is somewhat exhausting, but I had paid more attention to yesterdays product updates as they were for notebooks, which is on my list of to-buy items this year as my iBook G4 is showing its age and infuriating my wife (still enjoying that novel term!) with a space bar you have to punch to get it to work. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited the unveiling of what was quite possibly my new laptop, and my reaction is well, confusion mixed with disappointment. Saying all of that, I do want to with hold some judgement, as I haven’t physically seen the new notebooks, and there is always a sense in which the rumour mill whips up expectation past a reasonable level, leaving the final release an inevitable let down. The Biggest...
I am back from the time off for our wedding and honeymoon and there will be some blog posts on the way soon, particularly, I hope on South Africa, which I found a fascinating country. But for now I am just pointing in the direction of things that are catching my attention on the web today: Apple are having yet another product release event today (@6pm UK time), greatest anticipation is for the new Apple Laptop range with rumours of a sub£500 laptop and an upgraded line of MacBook Pro’s. I’m looking on with hopeful optimism as they are releasing what I hope will be my next computer purchase (though not until they have filtered into the refurb section!) There are also rumours that Microsoft is looking to buy out Blackberry (RIM) which would make sense as Microsoft...
Clearly the biggest sell for the latest update was the new Nano which has been transformed from its square dimensions to a tall device with curved glass and the all important gimmick the ‘accelerometer’ which skips to a random track when you shake the device. Another notable is the iPod classic which seems to be on its way out possibly? Apple are certainly bucking the ‘bigger is better’ trend by downgrading from 160GB to 120GB. I think this reflects the long-term goal of the iPod Touch becoming the flagship iPod device. And alas the iPod touch has been re-released, notables here are the continuation of the aluminium back instead of the iPhone 2.0 plastic back which initiated a universal sigh from Apple fans, the inclusion of Nike+ which is a nice touch (get it)...
After work today we are driving down to Glasgow for our good friends Martin and Lindsay’s wedding, so I’ve posted the end of week a little earlier than usual. I was waiting for this to happen: so called ‘tethering’ turns your iPhone 3G into a wireless modem with 3G Internet speeds (thanks to an app) where ever you are…What’s that I hear operators nervously applying download caps to their unlimited iPhone data packages? This is a rather geektastic display of the top ten crazy monitor setups. iPhone 3G is going out to more countries, so maybe I wont have to worry about roaming a pick up a PAYG 3G when O2 releases it earlier this year, (not looking forward to data charges though!) Delta are rolling out wifi in 2009 for all domestic flights - Would...
Ive started to browse the newly released Apps Store, just out of interest really, not because I have an iPhone. I stumbled across a few interesting apps, particularly for the guitarists out there - Guitar Toolkit, it includes a chromatic tuner Chord Maps Open Tunings Library Metronome Audible Tones for tuning by ear At £5.99 its one of the pricier apps but it might be quite useful to have something like this on your phone. Screenshots from iTunes below: Update: If you cant find the app store in your iTunes store, search for an app company such as AOL then find an app, go to it’s page, then use the tab on the top left to go to the homepage of the app store. This is either pretty good subversive marketing (probably) or someone is going...
Well, I knew it would be more of a surprise if they didnt release a 3G iPhone than if they did, but somehow whilst reading through the coverage today I am still very excited!Here are what I think are the big additions from last nights keynote (which can be read in full here) New iPhone Operating system called iPhone 2.0 with PUSH service for emails etc (eg. Blackberry replacement!)The well covered 3rd party applications will soon be available, which is likely to introduce some pretty incredible tools for the iPhone, ebay, typepad showed off some pretty uninteresting apps, but Im sure there is some serious software goodness on its way!MobileMe the (long overdue) replacement for dot mac has arrived and looks completely amazing! Check it out at http://www.apple.com/mobileme/...
Well @ 6pm (UK - GMT) Steve Jobs’ WWDC Keynote will begin which is strongly rumoured to be the event which reveals the new 3G iPhone, a moment Ive been waiting for since the iPhone was originally introduced, and a moment dreaded by the thousands of people with 1st Generation iPhones snagged into 2 year contracts have been dreading! You can log onto MacWorld or Engadget who are covering the event live, and then we’ll all rush to the Apple/O2 store tomorrow to see them in the flesh! Similar Posts:None Found...
I noticed this app for iPhone today which enables you to make Voip calls in wifi areas and switch between voip and GSM to save minutes..pretty nifty. I was wondering, surely VOIP software would work on an iPod Touch? It has wifi, and if it was jailbroken then you could install voip apps? Has anyone tried this? If would certainly be a cheap way of having an iPhone if, like me, you are almost always within some kind of wifi network, it could act as a second phone, or even better as an internationally roaming iPhone, without the contract and ridiculous roaming rates I discussed before. Engadget has the low down on the iCall software which looks pretty cool. One point though, do you think they could have come up with a name that is slightly more distinct from Apple’s calendar app...
Probably the first of its kind in the UK, Worship Central, a really superb ministry from Holy Trinity Brompton, has worked with Kings College London to produce an MA in contemporary worship. Tearfund have begun publishing Daily prayer podcasts, though somehow whilst moving house last week I lost my iPod!Trevin Wax writes well on the subject of being ecumenical. A new free (ish) UK service called freesat is being launched which offers digital HD broadcasting and a good number of channels, even to those areas (like up here in the depths of Scotland) where you can’t get freeview.Had I not recently broken my canon SD300 I would be doing this in a second, lifehacker have featured free software which you can load onto your point and shoot canon through the memory card to...
Yet another strong sign that Apple will be releasing a 3G and altogether higher spec iPhone within the next few months, O2 have followed suite from T-mobile in Germany in offering the first price reductions on iPhone handsets seen since its release.O2 Shop is till showing the 8GB model for sale for £269 as off 16:00 15th April 2008.This is the point where O2 hope you scramble on the dirt for your chance to own an iPhone for less than £200 and then releases the 32GB 3G iPhone and makes you feel less than wise!Similar Posts:Behind the hype of the iPhone
iPhone or not?
Internationally roaming with an iPhone
Ever need to change the format of a file
MacWorld Expo: There is something in the Air...
Plenty of News and good blogging going right now, these are in no particular order there is tech, apple, theology and everything else crammed in:The mighty design software company adobe has released a beta version of free web based software called Photoshop Express. It has some great tools for retouching and free storage. Best of all you get your own address .photoshop.com so I snapped up liam.photoshop.com I havent had the chance to put anything up on it, as the most of my photos are on flickr.Maggi Dawn features a link which shows us why not to aspire to look like cover girls (or boys for that matter)Very Interesting post on ex-communication, something the 21st Century Church doesn’t like to talk about. John Piper explains that excommunication although seemingly harsh is in fact...
In
Blogging,
Worship,
Walkin the Walk,
Miscellaneous,
Entertainment,
Music,
Web 2.0,
The World,
church,
Theology Thoughts,
Hat Tips,
technology,
apple
The Desire for an iPhoneAs I have mentioned before, Ive had a fair amout of experience negotiating mobile/cell phone contracts and have tried to share some tips on the blog before, but recently I have more or less stopped following the market due to my unsaitable interest in the iPhone.I set my current phone contract up so that it would expire just at the time when the iPhone was released, as I mentioned back then I expected the price tag for the phone but the UK contracts with O2 were extremely over-priced and so I decided to let the contract price calm down a little before I invested. More recently O2 have adjusted the contracts to make them more appealing and less geared to recouping the expected outlays for unlimited data plans, but on revisiting the idea of buyig an iPhone I am...
UPDATE/APOLOGY: To those reading the RSS feed (who likely wouldnt read this update anyway) I published this before some re-formats and spell checks and so it may look a horrendous mess in the feedreader. …and plenty of it! I have been busy this week, but not to busy to pick up some interesting news, links and posts. Apologies for the massive length of this post, but its two round ups in one as I didnt manage my normal mid week round up this week, enjoy:Apple is thinking about offering subcription-based unlimited iTunes downloads Ft reports: "Detailed market research has shown strong appetite among consumers
for deals bundling music in with the cost of the device, or in exchange
for a monthly subscription, executives said. One executive said
the research had shown that consumers...
In
Justice,
Walkin the Walk,
Miscellaneous,
Music,
Travel,
Web 2.0,
church,
Theology Thoughts,
Hat Tips,
technology,
apple
Heres the round up for this week, but first I am finding a trend in my feed reading, I am consistantly having about 200 unread items in my feed so I may have to make some difficult decisions in terms of unsubscribing from certain blogs. Interestingly it is the blogs that are particularly volumous that I am most tempted to unsubscribe from, maybe quality instead of quantity, I wonder if this is the same for you? It may indicate an interesting message for bloggers.- Jim Martin has an excellent story about a surprise phone call which taught him that people are not easily written off.- Donovan Palmer says we can choose to have a happy heart, this was an encourgement to me yesterday.- An Island 600 miles from the north pole is getting the sun back, I felt just like this a few weeks ago,...
My contract is coming up for renewal, its a contract I took just to bide my time until the iPhone was released.Then it was released and I was thoroughly dissapointed with O2’s outrageously poor allowances with extortionate line rental.But now O2 has seriously improved their contracts to make it much more competitive, so the only consierdation now it whether to buy the phone itself, with the 8GB starting at £269 its not a drop in the ocean.Network World posted a 10 pros and 10 cons here.The biggest draw back for me is the slower edge connections outside of wifi networks, any UK users out there want to comment on o2’s EDGE network? Also I would have to change my iPod mindset from "cram it all on" to "pick the ones you want" to move from my chock-a-block 30G...
A Fun Monday afternoon quiz, I defaulted a couple because I have only owned 1 apple computer, don’t own an iPhone and was taking the quiz on a PC.
58%How Addicted to Apple Are You? Similar Posts:Apple to reduce UK downloads to 74p within 6 months
Half Price Apple Displays
Behind the hype of the iPhone
New iPod Touch - Plans to take over the World?
MacWorld Expo: There is something in the Air...
There has been many thoughts that the macbook air has brought in many of the good thing about a ultra-portable such as external optical drive (a feature which seems to be getting a lot of bad press, but Im for it!), 3lb weight, 0.16" thin (at its thinnest) while keeping the relatively large 13" widescreen display. I guess mac were trying to go portable while keeping the display large for their designer "on the move" niche.In essence it seems people wanted a super slim re-make of the 12" powerbook G4 and the macbook has made trade off’s in both direction which may leave many continuing to put their money in the direction of macbook and macbook pro’s. That being said their will undoubtedly be a good sales rate for the macbook air as it will have...
I have a few posts in the mix but this is me signing off again for the weekend, leaving you with a few commended perusable articles:1) For those of you on the look out for worship music stuff here, mercy me have started a blog, and Im glad to see there not taking themselves too seriously, I wonder if they might post some pedal board pics for us guitar geeks 2) Take your vitaminz posted an interesting quote from Erwin McManus about how western christianity can be revealed as very narcisstic and when all is stripped away there is no heart, no compassion or urgency. take a read, its short, worthwhile and motivating.3) Jason Clark loves Church and so do I, the world is admirably arranged as one person once said. In actual fact though I think Jason has hit a really important balance here...
In
Daily Coffee Reads,
Blogging,
Worship,
Miscellaneous,
Music,
The World,
Politics,
church,
Theology Thoughts,
Hat Tips,
technology,
apple
As a UK blogger I am behind the times on this as it happened in California at 9am, giving stateside (a proportion at least) a day to blog about what they were reading, whereas since about 6pm last night I hadn’t seen a thing. This also gives me the advantage of reading a days worth of reflection, but I particular recommend macrumours.com run down of it, followed by apple.com nice presentation on their website.Before I go on to answer 2 and 3 of my concerns above let me just say, I am a geek therefore I love the following things about the macbook air, 1) I can fit in a flippin’ envelope! 2) It is officially the thinnest laptop in the world, and that means 0.16" at its thinnest! 3) The multi-touch trackpad (iPhonesque technology)A response to the price: Firstly, I’m...
Scot McKnight seems impressed and has taken it upon himself to rename it even!Shawn Blanc has suggested a good review and reviewed reviews!Johnny Baker reveals the iPod was designed in the 60’s! Andrew Jones (TSK) got suitably excited it seems and dressed in job’s apparel for the occasion....
I am swooning over the macbook air, I have a particular attraction for all technological devices small and slim and so when my favourite technology company (Apple for the two of you left guessing) and the thinnest laptop IN THE WORLD are announced in the same sentence I got pretty excited. That was controllably excited, and for this there was a few reasons:1) I was actually about to have dinner with Ian and Deborah Matchett who very graciously and hospitably put me up for the night in Aberdeen so I didn’t have a long drive before my exam today, Ian has a degree in some form of programming, computer science therefore meaning he’s made his speciality being good at stuff on PC’s normal people don’t understand, therefore, understandably the closest he wants to get to a...
Mac Rumours MacWorld Expo Live Blog will be posting updates and photos live from the keynote speech from Steve Job which may include the release of Macbook Air?
http://www.macrumorslive.com/ Story so far: 9:19 am Full Airport Extreme base station with "server grade" hard drive internal.9:19 am Leopard feature: Time Machine. For notebooks, it doesn’t work so well because you have to constantly plug/unplug a hard drive. New product: Time Capsul9:18 am Leopard has also seen some great support from developers. Office 2008 is now shipping. The last intel native app to ship.9:17 am Running down some praises of Leopard from Mossberg, Pogue, USA Today, etc.9:16 am 20% of Mac...
If you know any enthusiatic mac disciples at the moment you may notice that they are shaking in a similar manner to someone who has consumed 5 gallons of coffee, not to worry its just that time of year again for MacWorld Expo, where all the joyful (yet a little excessive) Apple mac idolatry comes out to play.
For those of us who continually pinch ourselves and remember that in fact our lives calendars are not dictated by the Steve Jobs keynote speechs for his next "unaffordable in the UK unless your £30,000 pa+ and single" technological innovation it is still an exciting time.
Exciting because although we are, at the back of our minds albeit, well aware that we won’t be able to afford this new technology for about 5 years when it is "so...
For those of you with a keen eye yesterday who recognise a mac on a tiny highly pixelated image and can recognise matt redman will have put two and two together, but for those you didn’t I just thought I’d let you know.What does it even matter, well another Christian endorsing macs, thats good enough for me, join the revolution! (disclaimer: blog author may be slightly over-enthused about macs currently due to macworld expo) ...
1) This morning listening to Radio 4 heard some interesting stuff on the current funding issues that are coming up in parliament and as Nick Robinson pointed out on the program, the whole reason the system is set up for declaring funds that have been donated is so that the public can make judgements on whether favours are being done in return for cash.The "not quite convincing" answers from the MP’s in the limelight that they forgot, didn;t notice or where unsure unfortunately reveals that the MP’s involved have commitment to transparency and public accountability within their funding on paper but not in reality. Poor show gents. Nick Robinson has more here2)I have been uploading my iTunes library to anywhere.fm for about 3 solid days and am only 800-odd tracks out...
