The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
11
iPhone – Next iPod or Next Newton?
Filed Under Computers & Tech on January 11, 2007 | 2 Comments
I had promised in my immediate MacWorld 2007 keynote reflections that I’d do a more in-depth article on it later but on reflection the Keynote really was just the iPhone so you’re getting this article instead!
In the buildup to his big announcement of the iPhone Steve Jobs showed us a time-line with other great Apple innovations, he was very selective though. Probably one of Apple’s most revolutionary products was the Newton, the first PDA, and it was a flop! On the other hand, the iPod with it’s really simple UI was also a great Apple innovation, and it has taken over the world! So much so in fact that the terms iPod and MP3 player are interchangeable in many people’s minds! Regardless of what happens I believe we will look back on the iPhone as something new and something special. The question is, will it be looked back on like the Newton, revolutionary, great, ahead of its time, but ultimately a failure, or like the iPod, a revolution that took over the world?
[tags]iPhone, Apple, iPod, Newton, MacWorld[/tags]
Jun
25
MBP Update – Gets a Little Warmer Than I First Thought
Filed Under Computers & Tech on June 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Just a quick follow-on from my initial review of my new 17″ MacBookPro. In my initial review I had said that the MBP does not get very hot but that is not entirely true. It is true that when just running on the battery it gets significantly less hot than my old Pentium 4 Fujitsu-Siemens LifeBook however, while it is charging it does get annoyingly hot. Still not quite as hot as the LifeBook but the battery it self gets hot enough to be un-comfortable on the legs. However, the base of the 17″ MBP is more than big enough so you can easily sit it on your lap in such a way that the hot bit is not resting on your legs!
Jun
19
The Black MacBook – Disappointing
Filed Under Computers & Tech on June 19, 2006 | 1 Comment
Following on from my review of the 17″ MacBookPro yesterday I got to play with a 13″ Black MacBook today. I was, to say the least, underwhelmed. The black is horrible and tarnishes instantly. The machine I was playing with had had nothing more done to it than have it’s initial setup done and it already looked like it was a few years old. I could get over the look of it but the screen is just too small for me with too poor a resolution and the keyboard is terrible. It looks ‘unique’ which I can live with but then I tried to type with it and was not at all impressed. On a more positive note it is not too heavy and feels much more sturdy and robust than the old iBooks. It’s also very fast to boot and apps load quickly (as you’d expect from a CoreDuo machine). I guess if you had an iBook the MacBook will feel like an upgrade but if you had one of the small PowerBooks you’ll really feel like you’ve gone down in the world. Having said that I only got to play with it for a few minutes so this should be taken as nothing more than ‘first impressions’, this is FAR from an exhaustive review.
Jun
18
17″ MacBookPro Review
Filed Under Computers & Tech on June 18, 2006 | 2 Comments
I’m typing this in a swelteringly hot terminal in Valencia Spain waiting for my plane to arrive and hopping that the thunder and lighting in the distance stays in the distance long enough for us to get outta here! Anyhow, I’ve had my 17″ MacBookPro for a week and a half now so I think I have enough experience with it at this stage to go a head and give it a review! BTW, the machine I got has the standard 1GB of RAM, the glossy 17″ monitor and I opted for the smaller but faster 100GB hard disk. Read more
Mar
1
Musings on the New Mac Mini
Filed Under Computers & Tech on March 1, 2006 | 1 Comment
Well I was about half right with my predictions for yesterday’s Apple announcement. New Mac Mini’s are a reality but no super video iPod and, as I expected, no iTablet. What we did get instead was an iPod stereo. I have zero interest in the iPod stereo so I’m just going to talk about the new Mac Mini.
Nov
30
Mighty Mouse – Mighty Disappointment
Filed Under Computers & Tech on November 30, 2005 | Leave a Comment
So, I got my very shinny new PowerMac (dual 2.0Ghz G5 with 2GB RAM) today and I’m just blown away by just about everything about it (it’s FAST, the Apple Cinema Display ROCKS) but one thing has proved a real disappointment, the Mighty Mouse that came free with it.
I have been playing with the settings for ages and all I can’t get the right "button" to do ctrl+click (right click to non-mac users) like any PC mouse will do when plugged into a mac. I can get it to do "Button 2" which is ctrl+click sometimes but only sometimes! The side buttons are useless and the only thing I can see them doing is giving people RSI! "Just squeeze" is what Apple say, gimme a bloody vice and I might have a chance! I don’t have particularly big hands and I can tell you now I’d do myself an injury if I had to use that "button" a lot.
Thank heavens there is a Logitech Comfort Cordless Desktop winging it’s way towards me as I type!