Blog entries from Philip Roy

2010 - The year that was

Philip Roy — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:09:04 +0100

This is likely to be the last "Year that was" from me, with NZMac.com and NZiPhone.com up for sale. Looking back on last year's post (see here) I was about to start numerous days of writing to finish my Masters (all done!) and after that, I'm pleased to report I finally got the proper holiday I had been hoping for. Of course my trip to the UK included a few visits to Apple stores in London. Unfortunately I let myself down by stating in last year's post that I would commit to more podcasts and...

The all singing, all dancing, h-ypocritical Phil

Philip Roy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:44:34 +0100

It seems that Darryn took exception to my last blog post, which was a response to his earlier blog entry. Unfortunately, he decided to respond on his website (you can read it here) and unfortunately, he obviously took my comments personally, despite me trying to make sure I didn't criticise him directly but his opinion, even signalling this in the opening intro. Unfortunately, in response, I think he's decided to get a little personal...speaking of a tirade of comments from me, of being hypoc...

Why Darryn got "the tech pundits" wrong

Philip Roy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:54:47 +0100

This started as a comment response to Darryn's blog post here, but I then (as usual) began to ramble...so I'm going to post this as a blog post. Darryn, sorry if this offends, but I continue to be staggered by your selective logic...and this from someone who deals with computers every day! There are three sections of your post that I want to deal with....Multitasking, Camera and Flash.

Multitasking
You begin by stating a definition of multitasking..."the simultaneous execution of ...

iPad - lots of hits and a few misses?

Philip Roy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:26:48 +0100

I have to stress that I'm writing this as I see the news come in about the iPad. Some of the things I might comment on may be due to the fact that I haven't researched enough. I'm really impressed by the iPad, disappointed also...and a bit surprised. I'll start with the disappointment. Adobe Flash. It's evident Apple's out to make sure that Flash isn't part of their platforms these days. Regardless of what sort of processor this thing has, it could, I speculate, handle Flash easily.

<...

2009 - The year that was

Philip Roy — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:48:44 +0100

2009 for me will be forever linked to two non-Mac and non-iPhone related things, study and illness. I won't bore you with details of the latter, other than to say it's not been a fun year (nothing life threatening)....and that it impacted both on my study and my attention to NZMac.com and NZiPhone.com, which had to come last on my list of priorities. I am hopeful that as I finally conclude my Master of Education at the end of January 2010 (woohoo!!), that I might also be able to look forward ...

One to One in Two

Philip Roy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:05:50 +0100

I've spent the past week in the United States, at the Adobe Headquarters in San Jose. Having been appointed as NZ's first Adobe Higher Education Leader, it was great to be able to attend their Summer Institute for Education Leaders and meet some very talented people. It was also great to see the sharp and welcoming contrast I received from Adobe (spending 5 days in their building and meeting their staff) compared to my two attempts to visit Apple HQ in recent years...both as a writer for NZ M...

Evolution of the iPhone

Philip Roy — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following has also been published as an audio podcast as part of the NZMac.com podcast series. Click here to subscribe in iTunes, and here to access the RSS feed.

It seems strange to view a presentation suggesting cut and paste or MMS (multimedia messaging) will only appear after two years and in the third iteration of a smartphone's operating system. But it shows that whilst the speed that Apple might work at with regards iPhone development might be questioned, the meticulousness ...

Switcher's Uncle

Philip Roy — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

So, a Mac miracle happened recently. Not that any of you would have noticed, as it was a family miracle and not one broadcast across the net. My eldest brother after years of using a PC, decided to buy not one Mac, but two. To me, after years of using Macs and going on about how great they are...it was pleasing to know that he...well, never listened to a word I said.

This is because I should point out that his email contained two gems of info. One, that friends had been convincing him ...

Apple's prices are questionable

Philip Roy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Someone's not doing their maths right!! Or if it was someone in the States that did this...they're not doing their 'math' right!

In this news item....http://www.nzmac.com/news/apple/apple-introduces-ilife-09.html, site user Whitty and I have been having a chat. I confess I didn't really think much of the issue of price until I went and did some hunting around about previous versions of iLife and iWork and the exchange rate at the time....so well done Whitty. I knew that times are tough,...

2008 - The year that was

Philip Roy — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It's great to be sitting here writing this and to look back at my 2007 post and what a lousy year that was, and to think how times have changed. I'm not going to say I'm over the moon jumping for joy...that will happen when I turn an actual profit or be bought out for a huge amount of money (I'm allowed to dream)....but all in all, it's been one of the funnest years I've had with the site. And also the most completely exhausting-est!

NZMac.com is an incredibly busy site. Over 2008, it h...

Shame on you Google!

Philip Roy — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I have absolutely no problem with software installing update checkers. Adobe, Apple, M$...fine...not a problem. Mostly, because if they annoy the heck out of me, I'll disable them.

Well the other day they released a Google Earth plugin (http://code.google.com/apis/earth/) for the Mac...cool! I installed...and since then have been getting dialogue boxes from "Google Software Update" telling me that there's an update for Google Talk to install....a service I don't use.

What a sad day!

Philip Roy — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

What a difference 24 hours (or less) can make.

* I’m Phil.
* I’m a Mac user
* I’m around wireless networks virtually all the time (at work and at home).
* I love music and have it running non-stop...at work and at home
* I’m not an iPod owner
* I’m not an iPod Touch owner
* I miss not having music with me all the time, but I can easily take a break from it

In fact, I’ve not bought many of those things above b...

What a great day!

Philip Roy — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I emailed a friend about a technology I introduced into the University today that looks as though it is going to be centralised and available to everyone in the institute. I said that “my baby” was all grow’d up and learning to walk by itself and that it was time for me to cut some of the apron strings....even though that’s a tough thing for me to do.

It’s funny how a piece of technology can become ingrained in to your life so much that you feel like you ...

Wow Adobe - Part 2

Philip Roy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I was under a Non-disclosure agreement so couldn't say much about what I saw in Kuala Lumpur related to Acrobat 9, but the big emphasis with the next version of Acrobat (announced yesterday) is multimedia...without a doubt!

In particular, the digital ePortfolio functionality of their Acrobat Professional product is staggering...considering this is all delivered in a PDF...just writing that staggers me...I never saw PDF as a multimedia delivery platform at all.

I wo...

When Windows is actually useful

Philip Roy — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I think I've probably gone through 3 cheap scanners in my time as an OS X user. Not so much that I use a scanner a lot (the one next to me hasn't been turned on in over a year)...but because the fact that many of the previous scanners would only work up until a certain version of OS X.

So tonight I desperately needed to scan something. The drivers would only run in 10.3 and below...so the answer? Boot into Windows, where the drivers for this old scanner continue to be maintained...

Wow Adobe !!

Philip Roy — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Greetings from Singapore. I started this post on a fairly state-of-the-art bus just outside of Kuala Lumpur, with my laptop plugged in to the power adaptor provided at every seat...and am finishing it in a hotel in Singapore with free wi-fi access. Why is it that when you go to amazingly expensive hotels they charge you for broadband, but drop down to a cheaper location overseas and access is often free!?

I'm on a 5-day holiday in Singapore, after being invited to attend and prese...

Thank you so much for your survey responses! Truly!

Philip Roy — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I just wanted to say Thank You so much for those that took the time to complete the site survey. The results confirmed many of the things I had in my own head about the site and also the fact I hadn't communicated other things clearly.

It also pointed out the dilemma web designers face daily...more news/less clutter...more functionality/simplified pages...more news/less text....etc etc....you get what I mean? I've always said that NZMac.com is a work in progress and 5 years on, ...

2007 - The year two words took over

Philip Roy — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

There are two words that for me will forever sum up 2007 on the NZMac.com website. I know you're probably expecting me to say something like iPhone and Leopard, but the two words I'm about to use couldn't be any further from the Mac or Apple-related field. 2007 will always be about two words I never expected to utter on this site - Russian Porn!

It has been a heck of a year (more on the porn later) and an amazing struggle financially, with NZMac.com never coming closer to b...

The timeline - 2 out of 3 apps agree!

Philip Roy — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:27:21 +0100

OK, Darryn and I have been having a bit of a discussion about iMovie 08 and Final Cut Express within the blog area. I wanted (through the use of state-of-the-art images...I joke!) explain what I mean about the issue related to the way of working (note - I had a habit of saying 'anology' when I should have said 'metaphor' in my last post).

There's one phrase in Darryn's reply that really struck a chord. And for me, it sums up my surprise and concern at what Apple has done....
...

The timeline does matter - to me and Apple!?

Philip Roy — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:00:00 +0100

I'm only just starting to get to play with the copy of Final Cut
Express 4 that Apple recently sent me. I decided to start by taking a
quick look at the Apple site to find out what had changed, and one page
really caught my eye. Take a look at this page...

http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/

On the page about what is new is a movie showing how you can import
iMovie '08 projects into FCE. Take a good look at it and what struck me
the most was how...