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 moves I've had to do in my career is

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 taken out a lot of patents on

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.

With most sub-notebooks the drive is not internal but external but it is included however with the MacBook Air it is not. This might be more telling than you think and highlights a possible future sans physical media. A future I'd be glad to see come. Here's why...

CDs and DVDs are namby pambys:

CDs and DVDs

Daniel over on Roughly Drafted posted his list of possible annoucements for MacWorld but the one that caught my eye the most was his idea of an XServe Mini:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/12/29/ten-big-predictions-for-apple-in-2008/

To quote him:

Xserve mini. I outlined a plan for a personal server back in 2006. The new Mac OS X Leopard Server now delivers on the software side with an entry level setup that is nearly ready for a basic embedded server box. Create a new appliance box along the

So you've got yourself a beast of a machine, all ready for the latest and greatest games. Or you've got the PS3 or XBox 360 and you're going to play the latest and greatest games. Pity then you're a dupe suckered in by a superficial industry who thinks that games are all about the graphics all the while forgetting the one thing that gaming is all about... playing games.

While the graphics are being pushed the actual game itself is being left behind. Gone are the days where the story was the game, or the emphasis was on playability. With all the computing power we have

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In my last entry I spoke about NIFE and DFTSOD. Of the two NIFE is the only excusable form of design because they had the best of intentions. Of course they say "The road to hell is paved with best intentions" so I guess Microsoft's headstone would read "He meant well but he's in Satan's arms now".

One aspect of PC design that irks me as an engineer has to do with weight. My Mac Mini with its half inch steel perimeter and it's power supply laying on top weighs less than many laptops out there. WHY? The Mini is a desktop machine (yes okay it uses lap

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I've been on this planet for a while now and during my tenure here I've seen many examples of the most insidious forms of idea development ever. NIFE (Nice Idea, Failed Execution) and DFTSOD (Design For The Sake Of Design). The latter is pronounced "daft sod" on account of that's who came up with the idea in the first place, some daft sod.

I'm a fan of neither as they make life a pain to live. For example, and this is going to get a bit gross, one example of DFTSOD was when I helped my mate move. After the shift I had to christen the dunny and  

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One of the things I love about Macs is their longevity. It's not at all rare to see a 10 year old Mac (or older) still being used. With Apple's continued move towards industry standards, I suspect this trend will continue, as hardware and peripheral options remain available.

Starting with the PCI based Macs (the likes of the 7200, 8500 & 9600 PowerMacs) Apple opened the door to such popular options as USB and FireWire upgrades. Neither of these were found on Macs of the day