Up until late last year I think I am ashamed to say I had only ever heard the name Carl Sagan, I knew of him and had seen a little of him but knew nothing of what he had done. I actually feel quiet sad that I could get so far through my life and only find out about him now.
“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring”
- Carl Sagan
First gen iPad probably should be skiped, but it does look good
Today the iPad has gone on sale for pre-orders. I know a BGR’er who is definitely tempted, and I hope I can dissuade him a little.. at least long enough to wait for the second gen version to come out.
Tablet computing is an interesting area that has not yet had its day. Its been on the side lines for a long time and never cracked the main stream. Largely due to the technical challenges with making this type of hardware, but also due to the total lack of vision in the field. If anyone can break that its Apple, and from what we have all seen the iPad will be a great success. But I think there are going to be much better platforms that will leave the iPad standing.
Continue reading
So finally Google is making its push onto the desktop. But not just the desktop, as has been speculated for a long time now they want to make their own operating system. It is time for them to push Microsoft and Mac out of the way and take their place as the gate keepers of the internet.
They have released a wonderfully simple looking and very well done video to introduce you to the concept.
You have to hand it to Google, they make a wonderful pitch. Continue reading
Convert to Linux, you will not be disappointed
I have been living away from Windows in the wild country that is Linux for a couple of years now. Windows still infests my day job (in a good way) but Windows has been banished from home PCs for a long while.
This week saw the release of Ubuntu 9.10 and I am already running it. One of the things I love most about Linux is its ability to partition almost everything in clever ways Windows just has not caught up with. This time when I installed my system I setup my home drive on a separate partition. Installed Ubuntu and it pulled in all my settings as if nothing had happened, even my background wallpapers were integrated into the new ones.
In the scheme of things its only a minor thing, but it just makes going from version to version almost effortless. Continue reading
The future of the desktop?
This week Google finally entered the operating system market. It has been much talked about for a long time. In many ways it is a logical step for them, they run everything from Linux based machines, and with that amount of know-how and the availability of excellent distributions like Ubuntu, why not release their own?
There are very few companies with the power to taken on Microsoft, even fewer still who would have the inclination or a reason to do it. But Google are one of them. With their world famous reputation and massive pots of money to back them up, I think we might finally see something that can topple Microsoft’s grip on the desktop.
Is that a good thing? In my mind yes… but it has a price. Continue reading
This week the tinterweb has been alight with news of the new Shuffle from Apple. You have to hand it to Apple, they certainly think outside of the box. The new shuffle is tiny, but its much more notable for its lack of controls. They have been moved onto the headphone cable, so they are always in easy reach.
But all is not as it appears, this is not about giving there customers a new way to interact with the player. This is about making a grab for the after sales headphone market. I think Apple are setting a dangerous precedent, and should not be allowed to muscle in on a market where there obvious intention is to drive up prices and exclude competitors they don’t happen to like. Continue reading
The Internet is bound by unspoken rules you have to learn and follow so you can play nice with all the other web kiddies out there. These rules make you “polite” and “sociable” in this free space, where in actual fact you could to anything you want. But of course you run the risk of be ignore or booted from what ever it is you are doing.
No one likes the idiot who runs around SHOUTING at everyone, or someone who won’t shut up when you are trying to play Quake. Most of the time the rules are obvious, as long as you are not being annoying or upsetting someone then its OK.
But sometimes a new technology comes along that is a little different. Something that looks a feels like it is something you know, but there is something else to it that does not make immediate sense. Continue reading
The prettiest little laptop in town
I have finally managed to lay my grubby mitts on a netbook. I have been after one for some time, and now one is mine.
The Acer Aspire One is my machine of choice. A great combination of look, performance, and price. There are now a number of machines you could go for, all offering about the same features, all for around the same cost.
But I think the Aspire one stands out as the machine of choice (at least for the geeks out there). Not because it is the best, but because it is one of the cheapest, and one of the best performers.
The Samsung is also worth considering, but at almost twice the price it really is not in the running.
With my new PC built it was time for the troublesome task of picking which OS, I have a prehistoric version of XP (SP1) I could use officially but that wouldn’t use all 4gb of RAM and still leaves problems like the hassle of securing it and spending 4hours doing every update, or I could go the pirate route and grab Vista (ain’t no way I’ll pay for that crap – I’ve already had to fix 2 laptops and a PC that were supposedly secure thanks to a combo of Vista and various anti-virus and firewalls but which were still laiden with adware. I don’t have time to deal with that crap and won’t pay for it if it’s still that weak).
With my anicent old Pentium refusing to play HD mkv files I finally had to splash some cash on some new parts to build a new PC. Sure I could have gone to Dell but they never have the balance of quality and price I demand.