Monthly Archives: April 2006

Blogging is dead.

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Yes, now that anyone and their grandmother can blog, it’s dead.  Hell my dog can almost blog now with the tools that are available, but that doesn’t mean he should.

Read about it here.  Some big names are getting out of the blogging business.

In order to blog you have to have something to say and that’s not always easy. It takes time, effort and creativity.  There are too many people tossing up blogs, throwing on adwords and other ad mediums trying to make a buck.  They read about the few great successes here and there and want their 15 minutes of fame and a $1200 monthly check from Google.

It’s not that easy and that’s not what blogging is about.

This too shall pass.

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OSX to run Windows Apps?

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I, Cringely:

…I also believe that Apple will offer in OS X 10.5 the ability to run native Windows XP applications with no copy of XP installed on the machine at all. This will be accomplished not by using compatibility middleware like Wine, but rather by Apple implementing the Windows API directly in OS X 10.5….I'm told Apple has long had this running in the Cupertino lab — Intel Macs running OS X while mixing Apple and XP applications. This is not a guess or a rumor, this something that has been demonstrated and observed by people who have since reported to me.

Think of the implications. A souped-up OS X kernel with native Windows API support and the prospect of mixing and matching Windows and Mac applications would be, for many users, the best of both worlds. There would be no copy of Windows XP to buy, no large overhead of emulation or compatibility middleware, no chance for Microsoft to accidentally screw things up, substantially better security, and no need to even take a chance on Windows Vista.

Wow, that would really upset the apple cart with Apple-Microsoft relations.

New Nokia Goodness

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n93.JPGEveryone is talking about the new Nokia phones, but suprisingly, finding a good picture was hard.

So for what it's worth the official site with multimedia goodness is here.  Looks like Nokia is drop dead serious about competing with Motorola, Samsung, Apple, and anyone else that wants a piece of the portable device market.

There's more but the N93 looks interesting enough here are some of the more worthy specs:

Continue reading →

Apple Mac Book Pro 17 vs. Dell Precision M90

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Well it’s here, the new 17” Mac Book Pro.

After careful consideration, I’ll pass. While looking at what I’d use it for, or more importantly. If I were to drop $3k plus on a new laptop what would I choose?

Consider the following:

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Mac Book Pro 17inch Apple Store Price
Configured Price: $3,497
2.16ghz Dual Core.
2gb of RAM
100gb of 7200rpm goodness.
(They both have wireless)
(both have BlueTooth)
Yes, I put the modem on there, because you never know.
And of course AppleCare, because having an Apple laptop without AppleCare is the same as playing Russian roulette.
[Bonus] iSight Built In
[Bonus] iLife
[Bonus] FrontRow (not a bonus)

My alternate choice would be the

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New Dell Precision M90

Configured Price: $3,095
Same processor
2gb of RAM
100gb of 7200rpm goodness.
8xDVD +/-R
Windows XP Professional
17” WUXGA (that’s 1920×1200) why Apple has not used this is beyond me.
NVIDIA® Quadro FX 2500M, 512MB (dedicated), OpenGL
(They both have wireless)
(both have BlueTooth)
[Bonus] Port Replicator
[Bonus] 2 Additional years of Warranty and Support 4 hour next day.
[Bonus] Carry Case

Now comparing the two, Apple has a leg up on the Power Supply connector, way cool.

The iSight? I can count on one finger the number of people I want to video conference with.

iLife, that’s good software, but I can take some freeware stuff, like Picasso from Google and do just fine.
FrontRow? Apple is lucky I don’t dock them points there.

With the Dell I get a dock, a carry case, and 3 years of gold support and warranty. Which means that in two years when I’m ready to move on, there will still be one year of useful warranty life left?

Art Tools? I’ve used the Adobe CS Suite on both platforms. There is no benefit to using the Apple platform here anymore.

Programming? I want the screen real-estate the Dell offers.

Music? I can get iTunes for Windows. Midi keyboard and such? If you use GarageBand then you don’t need a 17” anything. Get a 15” and a monitor.

What about BootCamp? No, Whoopie. I want screen real-estate and before long I’ll probably be able to run OSX on my Precision M90 anyway.

Firewire? For the money saved I can get a card if need be, I have Firewire 400 and 6 USB 2.0 ports on the M90.

Apple you’re close but no cigar.

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Another Example of why Best Buy needs your money.

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 They must defend themselves in this lawsuit:

Winternals Sues Best Buy for Stealing Their Software.

Best Buy was smart enough to admit it and come forth, but then weaseled out like the slime buckets that they tend to be from time to time.

Of course the corporate wheels turn slowly there and apparently they forgot to issue a cease and desist memo to the Geek Squad to stop using their pirated tools.

Now lets face it, everyone participates in a little software piracy-light from time to time, and everyone has extended an evaluation, but if it’s a tool that you use on a regular basis as part of your arsenal to resurrect computers for your paying customers, you are obligated to license that software.

Especially after you’ve come clean and admitted you’re out of compliance. At a minimum you owe for your past sins.

Someone at Best Buy will lose their job over this one.

Make em pay Mark.

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