Blog Entries

Battery Life

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +0100

The biggest complaint many have about the iPod is that it lacks a replaceable battery. Personally I don't think this is an issue and I'll tell you why... toothbrushes, in particular electric toothbrushes.

I know that might sound a bit weird but it occurred to me when I was brushing my teeth that no one ever complains about the lack of ability to replace the battery in a rechargeable toothbrush, especially when they use NiCd batteries. These batteries develop a memory that would [...]

Why are computers so dumb?

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0100

I'm a firm believer that artificial intelligence will never happen, at least not human level intelligence. For it to occur a massive shift in the way computers think needs to occur.

Computers work in binary which is nothing more than 0's and 1's. Essentially all computer decisions are based on whether or not a switch's state is on or off, true or false, yes or no. This is not intelligence that's merely reasoning which is not intelligence per se. Merely being ab [...]

Apple trends

b_jordan@xtra.co.nz — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0100

We had a video presentation the other day at work and it showed some interesting trends of the oil reserves and their relationship to exponential growth. It was fascinating! After the video showed, someone said that not many companies would continue expanding at those sorts of rates for extended periods.

My obvious Apple biases leapt to the fore and I made some extravagant claims about Apple. Well I was challenged (predictably) to show the facts. I trotted out the usual Apple s [...]

What a sad day!

philip.roy@nzmac.com — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +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@nzmac.com — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +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@nzmac.com — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +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@nzmac.com — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:00:00 +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 [...]

Predictions for WWDC

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

Well it's that time of year again when the Mac world contemplates what Apple has in store for developers. As always there's those that don't get the concept of a Developer's Conference and naturally assume that Apple is going to release updated Macs and iPhones.

The gimme is that Apple is going to fully release the SDK for iPhone as well as v2.0 of OS X which is not to be confused with Mac OS X which is the version of OS X for the Mac not the iPhone/iPod Touch. Confused [...]

UI

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

One of the things I love about working on the Mac is how efficient the User Interface is, however it's far from perfect. There is one thing that irks me about UIs and it has to do with user interaction with the environment.

I'm right handed and I tend to have a visual path leaning to the right. My mouse is to the right of my keyboard as is most right handed people's mouse. This means to access things like the Devices or Folders on the Finder we have to travel a reasonable di [...]

Wow Adobe !!

philip.roy@nzmac.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:00:00 +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 [...]

Think Different with Certification

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:00:00 +0100

I work for a company called Datacom and we mainly deal with corporate and government systems. As you could imagine we are mostly a Windows based support company with a few Linux/Sun machines we support.

For years I was mocked and goaded because I own a Mac but it's interesting that those idiots that mocked me are now in fact Mac owners. It's even more interesting that my manager is also a Mac owner and due to a chance meeting at the Developer Conference a couple of years ago wit [...]

Why can't all ISPs be this good?

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:00:00 +0100

So my flatmate left over the weekend and before doing so he got the Phone/Internet/TV cut off and due to a stuff up on my part I can't join Telstra for another couple of years (long story). So I haven't had the Internet for a week or so nor have I had a phone (not that that gets used much anyway).

So I took the plunge and tried Orcon and ended up speaking to a chap by the name of Stefan. The whole process was smooth, quick, and helpful. All my questions were answered and althoug [...]

The importance of future proofing

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:00:00 +0100

You may have heard about the new Lotto ticket checkers that are going in around the country that allow customers to check their own tickets. Well I'm involved in the project so if you're in the greater Wellington area and you see a short red head guy with a big sod off drill drilling holes in the counter then that's me. If it's a middle age guy with grey hair then that isn't me.

Anyhow, one thing I've noticed during this project as well as the numerous office mov [...]

I'm going to patent stupid

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:00:00 +0100

If you've been reading the news about Apple you'd know that over the last few years Apple has been hit with numerous court cases regarding patent disputes. Apple has in fact settled on some, most notably the Creative case where Creative reckoned it had the patent on the iPod's menu system.

You may remember during the launch of the iPhone Steve Jobs said Apple had patented the hell out of it. It's an interesting situation because up until this Apple hadn't really take [...]

iPhone/iPod Touch becomes next computing platform

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:00:00 +0100

So on Thursday Apple supplied developers the tools to create native apps and in doing so made the iPhone and iPod Touch the next computing platform. One of the most interesting aspects of this is that both these devices can now become what Palm and Windows Mobile have failed to achieve, truly great portable platforms. Don't get me wrong, Palm and Microsoft have been around for a long while and have huge development resources but clearly have a long way to being great multipurpose tools. [...]

Who analyses the analysts?

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:00:00 +0100

One of my favourite sites I keep coming back to, aside from this of course, is Roughly Drafted . The reason is how the site's owner constantly brings to light the flawed accusations that many so called analysts bring to light in their blogs. It's amazing to read how flawed these accusations are.

The current round is fun because these muppets seem to think that Apple isn't on track for selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year based on the sales of iPhones curre [...]

Open door security

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:00:00 +0100

There's been a few remarks by so called security "experts" that say Google's Android, and to a certain extent Apple's iPhone - once the SDK is released - saying that these opensource phones are going to be a massive security risk.

Are these people morons? Seriously look at the phones that have viruses - Symbian and Windows Mobile. These two platforms are the ONLY ones capable of easily getting viruses and both are CLOSED SOURCE.

Linux phones and Apple's i [...]

The power of doing nothing

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:00:00 +0100

It's an interesting thing being a Mac user in a PC world. I used to get mocked for owning a Mac and one of the main culprits was a guy who used to be one of two of my team leaders who I have a problem with one account of him seeming to have a problem with me for no real valid reason. Needless to say we have never seen eye to eye and so it was no surprise that he'd try and take me on with regards to my choice of computer.

I used to bite like a rabid wolverine as well trying to de [...]

Look mum no media

loweded.wookie@nzmac.com — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:00:00 +0100

The MacBook Air is an interesting development. Sure it's been done before but the thing that is interesting more than what the MacBook Air has is what it has left out. The DVD drive.