Category Archives: Geek-Speak

Geeky spaces lie within — be careful where you step!

Apple Existence, Entertainment, Geek-Speak

Apple, Netflix and My Backside

While we were in Fraser, I got word that my AppleTV was shipping from China. I fully expected it to arrive in St. Louis after me, but somehow, it blazed a path from China, cleared customs, and made an attempted delivery within about two days time. FedEx rocks. After a call to FedEx to hold the package, I finally got home to pick it up from the local FedEx office today.

When I unpacked the thing, I was really taken by the physical size of the thing — slightly bigger than a hockey puck, with only a power cable (no power brick or wallwart) coming with it. I’d stopped at MicroCenter to pick up an HDMI cable — that’s all the little device has a video output — so with my cable bridging the gap between my AppleTV and the Sony, I cranked it up. Set up was dirt easy, just like so many other setups I’d gone through with Apple gear. It found my wireless network easily, and after a couple of short miscues, I had it streaming my iTunes library from the iMac. Even sending the stream wirelessly, the video and audio quality were terrific.

@braddog had been extolling the virtues of Netflix for quite a while, and I’d just happened to get a free trial offer before we left on vacation. With the AppleTV supporting the Netflix streaming model, I felt like there was nothing to lose by giving the trial a try. Big mistake.

I started surfing through the AppleTV the pretty dang big storehouse of streaming treasures at Netflix, and began watching one thing after another. Cartoons to regular TV to movies… I was being pummeled by a tidal wave of video gooeyness. Manohmanohmanohman…

I’m fairly confident that my backside might never leave the comfort of my La-Z-Boy again. But if it does, I can watch Netflix on my iPad, MacBook Pro, iMac, probably even my phone. It’s so doggone ubiquitous and platform agnostic, and it’s all you can eat for only $9/mo. I just can’t imagine how Netflix is pulling that off for that price, but I’m certainly sold. If it gets quiet around here, you’ll know why!

Next week, the last element of my reversion to a cave-dweller arrives — our UVerse installation! I may never see the light of day again. 🙂

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak

Uncle Steve Speaks!

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Today at noon (our time, anyway), Apple put a black t-shirt on Uncle Steve, and like Willy Wonka, he proceeded to extoll the virtues of all the new things we didn’t know we needed.

First off, let me start by saying that I want a guitar like the one they used for the signature image from the keynote:

Now on to the fun stuff. Beck, @braddog and I went to lunch — regular Wednesday occurrence for us — knowing that during lunch, Uncle Steve would begin the presentation. As it ends up, the place we frequent has apparently put in a wifi hotspot. Score!

Apple had announced that they would stream this event live, so with the discovery of wifi, I set up my iPad to watch the keynote live. Jay had his iPad following the Engadget live text feed from the auditorium floor, and I did the same with my iPhone. Yes, it was geekapalooza.

So what’d Steve announce? Well, in no particular order…

New iPods were all over the place. There was a refresh of the iPod Shuffle announced. Apple decided that the pill/hairclip/borg-implant format of the now-previous version of the Shuffle wasn’t exactly a big hit. I mean, there were no buttons on it anywhere. Aside from providing a mystery for our childrens’ childrens’ children when they cull through the landfills we left behind, there’s really no use for a device with no obvious interface. Enter the new Shuffle… or, is it the old Shuffle? It was really a back-to-the-future moment to see the new Shuffle rolled out, looking almost exactly like my old trusty red Shuffle. It’s a tad bit smaller left-to-right, but still sports the great big ol’ alligator clip on the back. Hurray! Nothing new for me though. Mine’s a 2GB, and I think the new one will go to 4GB. For what I use it for, there’s not much need for the extra capacity, Voice Over, Genius Playlists or any of the other new little things.

The refresh of the iPod Nano was definitely a cooler machine… kinda. About the size of an iPod Shuffle, the new Nano has no click-wheel, with everything controlled through a touch-screen interface on a teency screen. This one also has an alligator clip on it, which I think is a great addition for something that small. But — and there’s always a “but” — there are some missing features. The new Nano does not have a camera, leaving the Nano 5G as the oddball of the line for having one. I’ve also been led to believe that you can’t watch video on the new Nano. These are both kinda big things — philosophically — for me. Uncle Steve sold us on a Flip video killer last year with the 5G Nano, with the ability to shoot 640×480 video, as well as watch video shot with the thing or imported from iTunes.

My guess is that the drop of the whole video concept has a lot to do with the success of the iPhone 4, and the introduction of the new iPod Touch. The new Touch has a front-facing camera for FaceTime video chat, as well as a rear facing camera (although my understanding is that it’s not as high resolution as the one in the iPhone 4). Cameras have been rumored for a looooong time on the Touch, and it’s nice to finally see them show up. The Touch also gets a high-resolution Retina display, just like the iPhone 4. I was disappointed though that the capacity wasn’t really increased from the current top end of 64GB. If I remember right, the original introduction of 64GB to the Touch happened mid-model year, so maybe an increase to 128GB will happen a little later.

And to support all this, iTunes 10 was announced. Frankly, these are normally just updates to handle the new devices, but this time, there’s the addition of a social networking element to sorta tweet your music purchases, preferences and likes to an opt-in community of other music fans. This sounds kinda cool, but until I see it, my jury is still out. You see, I kinda expected to come home tonight, and be able to download it. No such luck so far. Even the iTunes site at apple.com is still sporting iTunes 9.2 with a “coming soon” for version 10. Uncle Steve probably said something about it not being available yet, but I missed that.

Another cool announcement was for iOS 4.1, which is available next week. Instantly, I thought my iPad would finally get the benefits of multi-tasking and folders, but this was not to be. That’ll come in iOS 4.2, which is due in November. Bummer. However, Uncle Steve threw us a bone. Along with bug fixes, iOS 4.1 will add an HDR feature to the Apple-supplied camera application. This is cool, cool territory, and definitely a bit of a trendsetting move. Basically, it’ll take three shots in quick succession — not three images from the same pixel capture on the sensor, apparently — and then blend the underexposed, properly exposed and over-exposed images into a single image with a broader range of light captured than a single image can produce. This has been easy to do in software on the desktop for a while, but the addition of this into iOS 4.1 will really rock. Can’t wait until next week to try it out. (Privately, my prediction is that by the end of 2011, it’ll be hard to find a camera that doesn’t have this feature built-in.)

The last big announcement — the “one more thing” moment — was an updated version of AppleTV. This product’s been around for a while, and has sorta been the stepchild of everything at Apple, being called the “hobby” by Uncle Steve. Well, no more. Basically, the new device is a streaming device for your TV, letting you rent streaming content (films and TV episodes) to your TV, stream content from iTunes on your computer, stream photos from iPhoto, and apparently loads of other new things. No storage, a quarter the physical size of the current Apple TV, and no power brick (man, everyone should get that message!), all for $99. No subscriptions, no contracts. Way cool. And yes, I ordered one. It’ll be here in four weeks. At that price, it’s hard to make a mistake in picking one up, even if the thing is incredibly crappy, which I’m not expecting.

Yeah, I know I haven’t mentioned AirPlay yet, but frankly, I’m not sure I understand enough of what it does to describe it yet. One thing it does seem to do is allow you to stream video or audio from your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to your TV through the AppleTV unit. That’s as much as I know about that one so far.

So… what’s the score?

  • Thumbs up on the return of the old iPod Shuffle design.
  • Thumbs down on the dropping of video and camera from the iPod Nano. (And because of that, my iPod Nano will now be relegated to the “don’t get rid of it” pile here at the Deauxmayne.)
  • Thumbs up for the cameras on the iPod Touch, and…
  • Thumbs down for not increasing the capacity on the Touch.
  • Thumbs up for HDR in iOS 4.1.
  • Thumbs down for not bringing iOS 4 to the iPad until November.
  • Half a thumb up for the new iTunes 10.
  • Thumbs down for not having iTunes 10 available now!
  • Two thumbs up and a toe for the new AppleTV.

I think Uncle Steve wins!

EDIT: iTunes 10 is available for download now!!!!!

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak

Six Hundred Thousand Folks Can’t Be Wrong

This past Tuesday, like so many other folks, I spent spare moments trying to get an iPhone 4 pre-ordered for delivery on the 24th. Unlike many, I was able to finally get one on order through Apple around 6.30pm Tuesday. Apple ran out of units for delivery on the 24th, as did AT&T. Six hundred thousand units were reported to have moved on Tuesday, and in the next sixteen hours, the next batch were sold, due to be shipped around July 6th. And now, if you pre-order one, it’ll ship by July 14th. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see it be August or September before you can walk into a storefront and walk out with an iPhone 4.

After having sold two million iPads in its first two months, and following that up with these massive sales figures, I’ve gotta think it’s gonna be a good year in the Jobs household.

As for my iPhone 4, it’s leaving Hong Kong today, and I fully expect it to be here on Thursday. I can’t wait!

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak

Spy vs. Spy

Tomorrow is the iPhone 4 pre-order day. A choice of white or black is in the cards.

Now, I like the black phones, especially with the new iPhone 4 “pancake” design. It’s industrial, and white just doesn’t hit me with the same industrial feel. Unless…. one takes a look at some of the Apple gear over the years that’ve sported white enclosures. Those have sported an industrial look and feel from time to time.

So what will I pre-order tomorrow morning? I dunno. But it’ll be an iPhone 4, and it oughta be pretty dang cool.

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak, Photography

Big Upgrade Day

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve already heard that iPhone 4 has been announced today. And I want one. Period. AT&T was “nice” enough to move up my upgrade date, so I’m eligible for an upgrade immediately.

So what do I like about the new iPhone? Well, the design is really industrial, a look I really love. Video calling — “FaceTime” — looks quite cool, although the reliance on wi-fi for that seems like a bad thing. I suspect that it is bandwidth intensive, and that’s keeping the 3G use of it at bay. At least until Apple thwoks AT&T about the head and shoulders. 🙂

I like the new camera, along with the capability to record 720p HD video and edit the video right on the phone. That’s way cool. And then there’s the big ol’ display. Well, it’s not actually bigger, but it’s got well over twice the pixel density of the old phone. Shweet. I’ve gotta think that come June 15th, I’ll be pre-ordering.

Now if I can just find someone who wants my iPhone 3G….

The other upgrade just released tonight is Lightroom 3. This has been in beta for quite a while, and it looks like it’s finally ready for primetime. I’m thrilled, and need to look into that upgrade, too. More on that later.

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak, Rants

AT&T Gives Apple Customers the Raspberry

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So I go to Colorado for a week, and AT&T seems to have lost their mind.

OK, so those two events aren’t actually connected, but… I stand by my conclusion.

When the iPad was announced, Steve Jobs proclaimed, to the jaw-dropping gasp of everyone in the room, that the iPad would have a month-to-month all-you-can-eat plan for $30. And the throngs rejoiced.

Scarcely a month into the availability of the iPad 3G, AT&T has now pulled a Darth Vader, and changed the terms of the deal with Apple’s customers. Ya see, after promising the availability of the world for $30/mo atop a bandwidth hungry platform, AT&T now cried “uncle” and soured the deal to 2GB of bandwidth monthly for $25. For a device that folks were praising as the second coming of computing, AT&T has now clipped its wings, and made it harder for the iPad to live up to its hype.

The good news is that I bought my iPad 3G when I did, and will be grandfathered in with my all-you-can-eat plan… supposedly.

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak

An iPad Enters the Fold

I’ve been thinking about the iPad of late. It’s been a real quandary for me. While, I’ve loved what I’ve read about the thing, and seen some really great ponderances about how it could be used as a photography tool, I just hadn’t quite found the killer use for the thing.

I still may not have.

However, yesterday, I found that one of our local Best Buy’s had the 64GB iPad 3G in stock. This, after the same store told me a week ago that they had no idea if they were ever gonna get any, and that when they did, they were always gone before they landed. I left in a bit of a huff, feeling like they were calling me a fool for having asked after one. Well, yesterday, the moons aligned, and one landed in my lap.

I’ve gotta tell ya, I really like the thing. It’s convenient, fun to use, and really beautiful when displaying photos. It does video well, and both the 3G and WiFi (802.11n) seem to work quite well. For me, though, the biggest part I enjoy is the physical size of the screen. It’s ginormous, at 1024×768, and full o’ color.

It’ll be a while for me to figure out how I’ll best use it, but I’ve been putting loads of apps on it, and intend to find its niche in my life!

Apple Existence, Geek-Speak

Landlocked and Near Calamity

So, things have been pretty quiet from the Deauxmayne of late. Why? Read on…

Since December, I’ve been doing all my work on a “late 2008” vintage MacBook Pro. Nice machine, and while I knew it wasn’t gonna be the same kind of horsepower I was used to on my eight-core MacPro, but I figured I could make it work. And I did, for a while. However, with bigger images out of the 7D, and bigger memory footprints needed for bigger Lightroom catalogs, I found myself landlocked. It was obvious that I needed more memory to crank everything through, but my sad little MBP was maxed out at 4GB. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Some folks have had success putting 6GB in ’em, but it’s an unsupported configuration, and as hard as I was stressing the little machine, I figured I’d probably run into trouble.)

How bad was it? Well, for some images, I would try to do an edit in Lightroom or Photoshop, and have to wait minutes between edits. It was bad, bad, bad. And for Lightroom, I couldn’t run with everything in the same catalog, which was hampering my ability to find my images easily.

I’d been looking at the new quad i7-based iMacs, and figured I’d start saving my pennies to get one later this year. However, my laptop was really struggling, and it was taking the joy (and practicality) out of working with images from my camera. It was bad, bad, bad.

Darla came to my rescue on Wednesday, taking me to the Apple Store at West County Mall, and putting a new iMac i7 in my hands! Absolutely wonderful! Now, the default memory complement of the iMac is only 4GB — which is the same as the laptop — so I knew I needed to enhance that almost out of the box.

I spent a lot of Wednesday and Thursday getting the iMac up, and beginning to migrate applications and data from the laptop. I’d decided to install everything fresh, rather than migrating apps from the laptop. This would be the first clean install I’d had in years. Yeah, that’s one big task, but it was mostly done by Friday.

On Friday, OWC graced me with another 8GB of memory, taking me to 12GB overall. I could not believe how well Lightroom and Photoshop CS5 ran under those conditions. I was even able to re-combine my Lightroom annual catalogs together again, making searches across my whole catalog once again possible.

Woo-hoo!

That brings us to the near calamity part of this story. Saturday, my external FW800 drive started failing. I tried different cables, and different power supplies, and nothing seemed to help. I extracted the drive from the enclosure, and dropped it in my Thermatake BlacX. And the drive just churned. I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. I do have a backup strategy, but because of the fiasco with the performance of my laptop, I hadn’t been keeping it up to date over the last few weeks.

The drive eventually came to life, but of course, I didn’t trust it. Becky suggested that we go out this morning, and figure out a replacement strategy. Overnight, I researched the Drobo, thinking that’d be where I’d land. However, I saw some info that implied that there were some folks having problems with them staying mounted on iMacs, and that the performance might not be quite what I was hoping for.

I landed on a pair of 2TB My Book Studio FW800 enclosures, one as a work drive, and a second as a Chronosync’d clone. So today has been spent copying data from my original 2TB drive to the first of the new twins. In retrospect, I’m not as convinced that the old drive was in as much danger as I thought, but getting away from a cobbled-together solution will help me peace of mind.

So… New iMac, and new storage. It’s been a big week at the Deauxmayne!