A few days ago a friend pointed this out to me, it's a little plugin type thing for Safari
that replaces the built in google search with a spotlight-alike search that uses google as its backend.
I, for one, find it quite hot.
That is all.
12 January 2007
11 January 2007
iPhone architectural confusion.
There appears to be a crossed wires situation with the iPhone.
According to Reuters, an Apple Germany representative stated that the iPhone CPU is supplied by Intel, Later in the day Reuters then reported that Intel had denied supplying the cpu for the iPhone.
What the devil could be going on?
Well, one idea that seems to stick is, they're both right, and it uses an Xscale, which was an Intel CPU when the iPhone entered development, but in the meantime that division has been sold to Marvell.
So it has an Intel processor in it, but Intel don't own it anymore, so it's not an Intel processor.
Sadly it's also not an x86, it's ARM, so there's not much hope of getting desktop OS X apps running on it, I can't see Rosetta doing too well on such a piece of hardware :)
Confused? you will be.
According to Reuters, an Apple Germany representative stated that the iPhone CPU is supplied by Intel, Later in the day Reuters then reported that Intel had denied supplying the cpu for the iPhone.
What the devil could be going on?
Well, one idea that seems to stick is, they're both right, and it uses an Xscale, which was an Intel CPU when the iPhone entered development, but in the meantime that division has been sold to Marvell.
So it has an Intel processor in it, but Intel don't own it anymore, so it's not an Intel processor.
Sadly it's also not an x86, it's ARM, so there's not much hope of getting desktop OS X apps running on it, I can't see Rosetta doing too well on such a piece of hardware :)
Confused? you will be.
10 January 2007
Oh boy was I off the mark! (Macworld recap)
So, ilife and iWork '07 were nowhere to be seen..
Nor were any Macs.. except for the iPhone.. which I'd say qualifies on account of running MacOS X
The AppleTV stuff is, underwhelming, mainly on account of the IPTV features Xbox 360 will be picking up shortly (plus those play a mean game of Forza)
but the iphone...
It's not all that small, but it's very very thin, it runs what appears to be a derivative of OSX 10.5, and it's extremely extremely slick.
I am left wondering what the hardware in the thing is though, ARM or MIPS port of OSX? or have IBM/Freescale/Intel come through with a very very low power embedded (embeddable?) PPC or x86 chip?
Nor were any Macs.. except for the iPhone.. which I'd say qualifies on account of running MacOS X
The AppleTV stuff is, underwhelming, mainly on account of the IPTV features Xbox 360 will be picking up shortly (plus those play a mean game of Forza)
but the iphone...
It's not all that small, but it's very very thin, it runs what appears to be a derivative of OSX 10.5, and it's extremely extremely slick.
I am left wondering what the hardware in the thing is though, ARM or MIPS port of OSX? or have IBM/Freescale/Intel come through with a very very low power embedded (embeddable?) PPC or x86 chip?
8 January 2007
MacWorld San Francisco predictions
With MacWorld San Francisco mere days away, I feel compelled that I have to weigh in with some predictions about what we'll be seeing...
So,
iLife '07 & iWork '07 - dead certain, Amazon jumped the gun on them already and rescinded the listings when Apple coughed at them. 100% certainty for MWSF
OSX 10.5 Leopard - will be demonstrated, a release date might be announced, I'd be AMAZED if that were before April however. Also, Steve Jobs will say boom a lot.
Mac Mini with Core 2 Duo inside - I'd give this one pretty high odds, everything else in the lineup is Core 2 based, using either Woodcrest or Merom already. 80% odds for MWSF, 100% odds for the month of January.
New iSights - the old ones (one of which I've got) have been phased out due to non-compliance with some new EU regulations, although the "Macs In The Middle" all have integrated isights now, the very bottom and very top of the range machines don't (that'd be the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro), so I'm sort of expecting a new and snazzy replacement for them, I'll give this one a 50% chance.
Mac Pro Octacore - Intel are shoveling DualDual Core Xeons (Cloverton) out the door at this point, but MWSF is a consumer orientated show, whilst we may see these before the end of January, I'd be really surprised if they were announced in the keynote speech, 15% chance, and I'm being generous.
Apples "iTV" - May be given a new name that doesn't clash with a TV network, may have more features announced, might even be fully announced, given the pressure Microsoft just put on it with the Xbox 360's future IPTV leanings. 40% chance. possibly!
Core2Duo Cube - Apple are not, as of yet, using Conroe in their lineup, anywhere. and it's just begging for a resurrected Cube to be built around it.
Come on Apple, give me 2.93Ghz C2D, a SATA harddisk bay, a PCI-E graphics card and a case that's roughly the size of the original Cube, at a price that isn't 90% of the way to a Mac Pro,which was, in my view the major cause of the original Cubes downfall, proximity in price to the PowerMac, and I'm sold. I'll even let you off if you actively cool it!
Sadly, I'm not so sure Apple want me to give them my money totally readily, and so I'm going to give this one outside odds, 5% chance of me selling a kidney to acquire one.
addendum:
Somehow the much murmured about iPod phone managed to slip my mind, and on that front, I'm pretty convinced it exists at this point, but I'd expect it to get its own launch event, and as such, I give it a 20% chance of showing up at MWSF.
So,
iLife '07 & iWork '07 - dead certain, Amazon jumped the gun on them already and rescinded the listings when Apple coughed at them. 100% certainty for MWSF
OSX 10.5 Leopard - will be demonstrated, a release date might be announced, I'd be AMAZED if that were before April however. Also, Steve Jobs will say boom a lot.
Mac Mini with Core 2 Duo inside - I'd give this one pretty high odds, everything else in the lineup is Core 2 based, using either Woodcrest or Merom already. 80% odds for MWSF, 100% odds for the month of January.
New iSights - the old ones (one of which I've got) have been phased out due to non-compliance with some new EU regulations, although the "Macs In The Middle" all have integrated isights now, the very bottom and very top of the range machines don't (that'd be the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro), so I'm sort of expecting a new and snazzy replacement for them, I'll give this one a 50% chance.
Mac Pro Octacore - Intel are shoveling DualDual Core Xeons (Cloverton) out the door at this point, but MWSF is a consumer orientated show, whilst we may see these before the end of January, I'd be really surprised if they were announced in the keynote speech, 15% chance, and I'm being generous.
Apples "iTV" - May be given a new name that doesn't clash with a TV network, may have more features announced, might even be fully announced, given the pressure Microsoft just put on it with the Xbox 360's future IPTV leanings. 40% chance. possibly!
Core2Duo Cube - Apple are not, as of yet, using Conroe in their lineup, anywhere. and it's just begging for a resurrected Cube to be built around it.
Come on Apple, give me 2.93Ghz C2D, a SATA harddisk bay, a PCI-E graphics card and a case that's roughly the size of the original Cube, at a price that isn't 90% of the way to a Mac Pro,which was, in my view the major cause of the original Cubes downfall, proximity in price to the PowerMac, and I'm sold. I'll even let you off if you actively cool it!
Sadly, I'm not so sure Apple want me to give them my money totally readily, and so I'm going to give this one outside odds, 5% chance of me selling a kidney to acquire one.
addendum:
Somehow the much murmured about iPod phone managed to slip my mind, and on that front, I'm pretty convinced it exists at this point, but I'd expect it to get its own launch event, and as such, I give it a 20% chance of showing up at MWSF.
5 January 2007
It's as if billions of kilobytes cried out at once, and then were silenced.
Hitachi just announced a One Terabyte 3.5" hard disk, which sounded great...
...and then I had what must be the techie equivalent of a war flashback.
You see, Hitachi HGST used to be the storage division at IBM, and those guys gave us.
TheDeathDeskstar 75GXP!
5 platters totalling 75GB in the top model! made of glass! cheap to buy! fastest (or near enough) desktop drive available! ultra-reli... oh wait.
Not that I'm saying that the 7K1000 won't be reliable, statistically it's likely that there will be occasional lemons but most will be absolutely fine. But we geeks are a fickle bunch, and the experience of all but one (I stopped counting the number of dead ones somewhere around 30) of the 75GXP's I've personally encountered.. ever... dropping dead in exactly the same way, has.. what's the phrase,scarred me for life enhanced my caution levels towards anything else from the same stable, am I being illogical? probably, unreasonable? certainly! but THIS sound is etched into my mind, I awaken in a cold sweat some, nay, most nights, at the notion of hearing it live and echoing throughout the room once again.
...And I'm just not sure I could bear it if it were 22x the quantity of data going up in smoke.
But onward! To actually having a point to this entry, exactly where is the boundary line between "I had a bad experience with this product and I'll go elsewhere for the replacement" and unreasonable grudge holding because of a lemon product?
...and then I had what must be the techie equivalent of a war flashback.
You see, Hitachi HGST used to be the storage division at IBM, and those guys gave us.
The
5 platters totalling 75GB in the top model! made of glass! cheap to buy! fastest (or near enough) desktop drive available! ultra-reli... oh wait.
Not that I'm saying that the 7K1000 won't be reliable, statistically it's likely that there will be occasional lemons but most will be absolutely fine. But we geeks are a fickle bunch, and the experience of all but one (I stopped counting the number of dead ones somewhere around 30) of the 75GXP's I've personally encountered.. ever... dropping dead in exactly the same way, has.. what's the phrase,
...And I'm just not sure I could bear it if it were 22x the quantity of data going up in smoke.
But onward! To actually having a point to this entry, exactly where is the boundary line between "I had a bad experience with this product and I'll go elsewhere for the replacement" and unreasonable grudge holding because of a lemon product?
4 January 2007
The HP Laptop with no antenna.. strikes back!
So, yesterday the Dlink Rangebooster N 650 PC Card wireless board arrived for the HP ZE4200 I've had in over xmas and new year.. I installed it, it worked.. no drama. the 256MB of ram that came in the same delivery also slotted in nicely.
And then.. dramatic music please...
the machine hard locks with the wireless card installed if the machine is on battery power, it's completely and utterly stable, with horses and straw and such when running on the mains, pull the power cord and it'll hard lock halfway through booting into Windows... or whilst it's in windows, or just because I took a slightly deep breath
I'm still throwing a battery of 'what the hell man' tests at the machine to try and suss out what's going on... suggestions are welcomed.
No really, anyone? anyone? Bueller?
Update:
Turning off power management, and setting the machine to 'always on' makes precisely NO difference whatsoever, pull the cord whilst the machine is running and you've got maybe three minutes to get to lockville and close the shutters.
Update 2:
At the behest of someone on a forum, who shall remain nameless to protect the indecent (I may have misheard that phrase.), I disabled the Dlink in software, powered down, pulled the mains, and powered up.
It got all the way into windows and is quite happy to sit there being laptop'y
Which leaves me with two possible angles of investigation.
1) for whatever reason, the machine cannot power the wireless card properly without mains power, with the driver unloaded the card isn't powered up and thus isn't drawing (at least not significantly)
2) something in the software messes up the systems power management.
Back to the investigation wheel!
Update 3:
I rang the client and explained what was going on, since they wanted the machine for today.
AND THEY DON'T CARE!
They are apparently completely content to have a laptop that can't even be carried around with a working internet link, I'm flabbergasted.
Oh, and thanks to having the machine in a different physical location, and thus different lighting, I can now see that the LCD backlight flickers in time with harddisk accesses. good grief what a pile of crap the damned thing is.
Oh, there is...
One more thing...
Anyone ever seen PC2300 ram before? the stock Infineon ram it has installed has SPD timings for 142Mhz? what the?
Well that's just bizarre.
And then.. dramatic music please...
the machine hard locks with the wireless card installed if the machine is on battery power, it's completely and utterly stable, with horses and straw and such when running on the mains, pull the power cord and it'll hard lock halfway through booting into Windows... or whilst it's in windows, or just because I took a slightly deep breath
I'm still throwing a battery of 'what the hell man' tests at the machine to try and suss out what's going on... suggestions are welcomed.
No really, anyone? anyone? Bueller?
Update:
Turning off power management, and setting the machine to 'always on' makes precisely NO difference whatsoever, pull the cord whilst the machine is running and you've got maybe three minutes to get to lockville and close the shutters.
Update 2:
At the behest of someone on a forum, who shall remain nameless to protect the indecent (I may have misheard that phrase.), I disabled the Dlink in software, powered down, pulled the mains, and powered up.
It got all the way into windows and is quite happy to sit there being laptop'y
Which leaves me with two possible angles of investigation.
1) for whatever reason, the machine cannot power the wireless card properly without mains power, with the driver unloaded the card isn't powered up and thus isn't drawing (at least not significantly)
2) something in the software messes up the systems power management.
Back to the investigation wheel!
Update 3:
I rang the client and explained what was going on, since they wanted the machine for today.
AND THEY DON'T CARE!
They are apparently completely content to have a laptop that can't even be carried around with a working internet link, I'm flabbergasted.
Oh, and thanks to having the machine in a different physical location, and thus different lighting, I can now see that the LCD backlight flickers in time with harddisk accesses. good grief what a pile of crap the damned thing is.
Oh, there is...
One more thing...
Anyone ever seen PC2300 ram before? the stock Infineon ram it has installed has SPD timings for 142Mhz? what the?
Well that's just bizarre.
2 January 2007
Where's my ultra portable pro laptop Apple?
At the moment, my portable computing needs are, mostly, met by a 1.33Ghz Powerbook G4 12", which I really rather like, the form factor is comfortable to rest on a single forearm, supported by a hand, whilst the machine is useable with the other hand.
Last year (oh my, is it that time already?), They dropped the 12" Powerbook, and didn't replace it with a 12" (or 13") Macbook Pro, instead preferring to let the Macbook, with it's polycarbonate enclosure (which to be fair, is pretty much indestructible, I've seen ibooks and Macbooks take falls that would kill most laptops outright) take up the slack in the lineup...
Except it isn't comparable to the Macbook Pro, but smaller.. there are obvious deficiencies.
Okay, so now everything has gigabit ethernet and all sorts of wireless connectivity out of the box.. But;
1) No dedicated graphics, I want to run Aperture on the thing, that means I want at least an X1300 or Geforce Go 7400, none of this Intel Extreme graphics nonsense.
2a) Glossy screen, These looks absolutely wonderful if you're sat in a dark room with the machine, and utterly hopeless pretty much everywhere else.
2b) Actually, just the general not-so-hot-ness of the panel in general, can we get some small form factor S-IPS loving going on please??? villagers need colour accuracy.
3) They're actually heavier than the 12" iBook and Powerbook were.
I'd even be happy to settle for a 2MB cache 1.83Ghz C2D, if the show stoppers above (pretty much numbers 1 and 2, 3 is just a niggle) were rectified..
And I'm fairly sure I'm not alone here?
as it stands, I feel like I'm being herded towards the 17" Macbook Pro (hey, if I'm going to have to get a new camera bag that it'll fit in alongside the camera kit ANYWAY, I might as well go all out right? :) )
So come on Apple, where's the dinky ultraportable pro machine? graphics gives you a differentiator between the pro and consumer lines, rather than it feeling like an ibook type-R as the PB12" often did... so get on with it!
Last year (oh my, is it that time already?), They dropped the 12" Powerbook, and didn't replace it with a 12" (or 13") Macbook Pro, instead preferring to let the Macbook, with it's polycarbonate enclosure (which to be fair, is pretty much indestructible, I've seen ibooks and Macbooks take falls that would kill most laptops outright) take up the slack in the lineup...
Except it isn't comparable to the Macbook Pro, but smaller.. there are obvious deficiencies.
Okay, so now everything has gigabit ethernet and all sorts of wireless connectivity out of the box.. But;
1) No dedicated graphics, I want to run Aperture on the thing, that means I want at least an X1300 or Geforce Go 7400, none of this Intel Extreme graphics nonsense.
2a) Glossy screen, These looks absolutely wonderful if you're sat in a dark room with the machine, and utterly hopeless pretty much everywhere else.
2b) Actually, just the general not-so-hot-ness of the panel in general, can we get some small form factor S-IPS loving going on please??? villagers need colour accuracy.
3) They're actually heavier than the 12" iBook and Powerbook were.
I'd even be happy to settle for a 2MB cache 1.83Ghz C2D, if the show stoppers above (pretty much numbers 1 and 2, 3 is just a niggle) were rectified..
And I'm fairly sure I'm not alone here?
as it stands, I feel like I'm being herded towards the 17" Macbook Pro (hey, if I'm going to have to get a new camera bag that it'll fit in alongside the camera kit ANYWAY, I might as well go all out right? :) )
So come on Apple, where's the dinky ultraportable pro machine? graphics gives you a differentiator between the pro and consumer lines, rather than it feeling like an ibook type-R as the PB12" often did... so get on with it!
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