Category: Fun Stuff

Categories
Blogroll Fun Stuff Technolust Tuesday

27″ Quad Core Intel i7 iMac

imacIt’s not quite Tuesday yet, but for this installment of Technolust Tuesday, we will be drooling over the new 27″ quad core Intel i7 iMac.

I will be ordering the 27″ 2.8GHz quad core i7 iMac with 8GB RAM. If I can swing it, I’ll be ordering on Black Friday. If not, I will be ordering it the following week.

As soon as it arrives I will be posting a detailed review of everything from overall aesthetic appeal, to screen details, to port lineup and layout, ease of upgrading memory, and fine-tuned benchmarks. How fast are these things really? How do everyday tasks compare? Is Safari, iTunes or even plain old file browsing any faster? Is the screen bright enough? Is the glare bearable?

Then, for fun, I will be posting a head-to-head Geekbench benchmark comparing the new iMac to my current iMac: a 2006 model 20″ 2GHz Intel Core Duo with 2GB of RAM. Then we’ll pit it against a late 2007 model 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 2GB RAM.

I can’t wait to see hands on how this new quad core iMac shreds through my daily work flow. Stay tuned…

Categories
Dev Stuff Fun Stuff

Snow Leopard vs. Leopard – Real World Speed Tests

Snow Leopard is fast. It really is. Benchmarks can’t really show this, as they primarily only measure hardware speeds. Unless you got a new Mac with your new Leopard, the best way to compare speed is by timing a task several times and taking the average of it. This is what I did.

A few Mac review/blog sites have posted benchmark comparisons, but these don’t show off the true speed increases you’ll achieve with Snow Leopard. Here are some real-world tests I’ve done on my own on my two personal machines.

* note that for this experiment, both machines had completely wiped hard drives and fresh installs of Leopard and then Snow Leopard.

imac2GHz Intel Core Duo iMac 20″
Western Digital Caviar Green 7200rpm 1TB HD
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
2006 model, 3+ years old

With 10.5.8 Installed

Full Boot: 48 seconds
Launch Photoshop CS4: 7.4 seconds
Launch xCode: 21 seconds
Launch REALbasic: 1 minute 22 seconds

Copy 750MB of files in Finder: 2 minutes 54 seconds
Empty 2GB from the Trash: 1 minute 19 seconds

Wake from Sleep: 3.5 seconds
Activate REALbasic from being hidden in the Dock overnight: 40+ seconds
Load apple.com: 4 seconds
Login to MySpace.com: 9 seconds
Login to PayPal.com: 14 seconds

Max download speed from ISP News Groups using Panic’s Unison (as reported in Activity Monitor): 642KB/sec

Shut down: 26 seconds

With 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Installed

Full Boot: 27 seconds
Launch Photoshop CS4: 3.9 seconds
Launch xCode: 14 seconds
Launch REALbasic: 54 seconds

Copy 750MB of files in Finder: 2 minutes 12 seconds
Empty 2GB from the Trash: 58 seconds

Wake from Sleep: <1 second Activate REALbasic from being hidden in the Dock overnight: 1.5 seconds Load apple.com: 2.8 seconds Login to MySpace.com: 6.5 seconds Login to PayPal.com: 11 seconds Max download speed from ISP News Groups using Panic's Unison (as reported in Activity Monitor): 714KB/sec Shut down: 3.5 seconds macbookpro 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 15″
Western Digital Caviar Green 7200rpm 250GB HD
2GB DDR2 SDRAM – 2006 model, 3+ years old

With 10.5.8 Installed

Full Boot: 39 seconds
Launch Photoshop CS4: 6.9 seconds
Launch xCode: 17 seconds
Launch REALbasic: 1 minute 4 seconds

Copy 750MB of files in Finder: 3 minutes 7 seconds
Empty 2GB from the Trash: 1 minute 12 seconds

Wake from Sleep: 2 seconds
Activate REALbasic from being hidden in the Dock overnight: 30+ seconds
Load apple.com: 5 seconds
Login to MySpace.com: 10 seconds
Login to PayPal.com: 15 seconds

Max download speed from ISP News Groups using Panic’s Unison (as reported in Activity Monitor): 628KB/sec

Shut down: 14 seconds

With 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Installed

Full Boot: 29 seconds
Launch Photoshop CS4: 3.5 seconds
Launch xCode: 11.5 seconds
Launch REALbasic: 51 seconds

Copy 750MB of files in Finder: 2 minutes 4 seconds
Empty 2GB from the Trash: 49 seconds

Wake from Sleep: <1 second Activate REALbasic from being hidden in the Dock overnight: <1 second Load apple.com: 3 seconds Login to MySpace.com: 7 seconds Login to PayPal.com: 11 seconds Max download speed from ISP News Groups using Panic's Unison (as reported in Activity Monitor): 708KB/sec Shut down: 2.9 seconds The Results: Snow Leopard Runs Circles Around Leopard in Every Task

As you can see, Snow Leopard is A LOT faster in just about every basic task. Some tasks, such as waking heavy apps from being open but inactive for 12+ hours, are just insanely quicker. Other tasks are just a smidgeon faster, but multiplied by a few times each day over a couple of years, the time saved adds up quickly. Getting info on a big folder to figure out its size, searching within Mail.app, Spotlight indexes and searches, everything feels genuinely snappier.

The speed increases alone are enough to warrant an upgrade to Snow Leopard, but add all of the additional new (albeit small, but very welcome) feature enhancements, and more importantly, the foundation for future potential that this operating system promises. In another year or so, expect many apps and common tasks to fly at much quicker rates than my modest 3 year old Apple hardware can currently achieve; meanwhile, I’ll enjoy my 15-35% speed increase throughout.

Go Snow Leopard!

Categories
Fun Stuff Technolust Tuesday

MinoHD Review (Part One)

5/5 stars – you’ll want one!

Well, I’ve had the MinoHD for about 2 weeks now. Unfortunately the first week I had it I was terribly sick with strep throat. However I have had quite a few days to play with this nifty little device and I must say I’m pretty impressed.

The footage isn’t *amazing*, however it is incredibly impressive given the size and weight of the device. I must say I’ve become quite attached to it. I bring it everywhere.

I went to our local Circuit City and got a carrying case, a tripod, the extension cables, and an action mount. All four accessories were $15 each but thanks to Circuit City’s store-wide going out of business sale, I picked them all up for a cool $25. Three days later I went back and all of the Mino accessories were gone. Perfect timing!

I’m going to break this review down into three sections.

1. The Footage

The footage is really pretty great. The colors are a tad washed out at times and in low light there is some grain, but that’s to be expected. In well-lit environments (such as outside on a sunny day) the video quality is really amazing though.

Keep in mind that HD footage takes up a lot of space! In the 2 weeks I’ve had the device I’ve recorded almost 40GB of video. I would recommend picking up a 750GB external Western Digital drive ($109 from NewEgg) or, you can go my route and buy 200 blank DVD+Rs and a DVD storage system (I got a locking CD File Vault). This way I can archive all of my footage onto DVDs and have them safely stored away from my computer.

The downside to using DVDs as a backup solution is when you want to find your footage or do some editing, you will have to copy the video files you wish to work with back to your computer and work with the footage off of a hard drive. Looking back on it, I wish now I’d just bought another external drive instead of spending almost the same amount of money on blank DVDs and the CD Vault storage locker. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk, right?

2. Editing

I have been testing my MinoHD on a 2GHz Intel Core Duo iMac with 1.5GB of RAM. Unfortunately, when trying to edit my raw HD footage in Final Cut Pro, I get constant frame drops and errors and the edited video does not play through. I can export the footage to a .mov file and it plays just fine. I went online and did some research and it turns out Apple recommends 2-4GB of RAM when working with HD footage in Final Cut. So, I ordered another 1GB RAM chip to replace my 512MB chip bringing my total RAM to 2GB. The new RAM hasn’t arrived yet, but it should be here by Friday. I will update everyone then and let you know if this solved the problem. This is not a fault of the MinoHD.

Currently, my editing abilities are pretty limited, but I will be posting footage in an amended review as soon as the new RAM gets here and I can actually work in Final Cut Pro.

3. Overall Impressions

So far I have not been irritated by the 2 hour battery life and 1 hour recording time limitations. I’ve been able to plug into an iMac or a MacBook Pro and download the footage (which simultaneously charges the MinoHD as well) when I need to, even on the go thanks to my MacBook Pro.

The camera is super light weight and the screen, while admittedly very small, is bright and viewable even outside on a bright sunny Oregon spring day. The interface is very simple, and surprisingly enough, when the MinoHD is held steady or placed on a tripod the image is very stable and useable. You won’t be able to get much pro footage, but really the MinoHD is designed to be a pocket cam that works good enough. I’ve taken it everywhere and it fits quite nicely in my pocket alongside my iPhone. The thin and lightweight casing makes it very easy to bring along just in case, allowing you to capture impressive HD footage of just about anything on the fly.

The camera goes from completely powered off in your pocket to on and recording in about 4 seconds, so you won’t miss much of the action. Just make sure it’s fully charged and the internal drive is cleared before you take off somewhere with it. HD footage eats up space quickly so be sure the device is completely empty each time you want to use it.

I ordered a black standard case design MinoHD. My friend Kelly ordered a customized MinoHD with her personal photo, and that should arrive this week sometime. She saw how cool mine was and had to get her own. I will let you all know how the custom designed case looks when hers arrives in my amended review. Stay tuned for the answer to these questions and more:

  1. Will Final Cut Pro work with the extra RAM?
  2. Do the custom case designs actually look good?
  3. How easy is it to take a Final Cut edited video and burn it to a useable DVD disc to view on your TV?
  4. How will the MinoHD handle being action-mounted to my Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike and taken off the beaten path?
Categories
Fun Stuff

AppleTV + Boxee = ♥

Hi guys! I want to talk a little bit about using Boxee on the AppleTV.

boxee_logo

  • stream your movies, TV shows, music and photos to your AppleTV from computers in your home – no more storage limitations!
  • supports tons of formats (.avi, .vob, .mpg, and many others that AppleTV “doesn’t support”)
  • enjoy bunches and bunches of internet content (Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, Flickr and more)

There are two steps to getting all of this up and running on your AppleTV. The first step is to install Boxee on your AppleTV. The second step is to configure your Mac to stream the files you want to your Boxee-enabled AppleTV. The whole process might take an afternoon, or at least an hour or so if you’re very experienced with Macs and nothing goes wrong (it went wrong for me, so don’t feel bad – it took me 4 tries and almost a full day to get it going, which is why I’m writing this article in hopes that it goes smoother for you!)

Step 1. Install Boxee on AppleTV

  • You need a USB thumb drive. Unfortunately not all of them are going to work. The minimum required size is 512MB, although I have heard that most new large-capacity thumb drives (2GB or larger) will not work. In some cases I’ve heard that a 1 GB SD card plugged into a USB card reader works. 1GB Kingston or Sandisk drives work good. If the drive you tried does not work, try another one. NOTE: all data on the thumb drive will be erased so make sure there’s nothing you need on there!
  • Download the atvusb-creator here – http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/downloads/list (when I wrote this tutorial the file you wanted is called atvusb-creator-1.0.b10.zip. It may change when you read this, but just make sure to grab the latest package for MacOS X)
  • Eject and unplug ALL USB DRIVES – this is important because the atvusb-creator will ask you which drive to format and you do not want to choose the wrong one!
  • Insert the USB thumb drive and open the atvusb-creator application.
  • Change the installation type to ATV-Patchstick and select the Boxee for Mac option (from the popup menu that has the green check and “ssh tools” selected by default).
  • Select the USB target device – if your thumb drive is the only USB drive mounted it should be the only option. You really, really want to be sure your selecting the right drive because you will be completely formatting this USB drive!
  • You can select the Choose a DMG button if you have downloaded the AppleTV update image already. Otherwise the application will download it for you. The file is 2Z694-5428-3.dmg.
  • Click on the “Create Using ->” button to begin the process. If you need to download the update image it will take a some time to finish, especially if you have a slow internet connection. Also, writing the image to the USB will take some time. Grab a snack or do some cartwheels or something. 🙂
  • Once the application is done making your patchstick, you need to unplug your AppleTV (just the little white power cord) and plug in your USB thumb drive. Then, plug the AppleTV back in and watch the fun.
  • If all goes well, you will see a bunch of text scroll past your screen. Don’t be alarmed, this is normal, and should look something like this:

463955010_aa7589b618

  • When the patchstick is done, unplug the USB thumb drive, pull the plug on your AppleTV and plug it back in again. You’ll know when the patchstick is done because the text will stop scrolling and you should even see a message at the bottom letting you know it’s complete. This process should only take a minute or 2, not very long.
  • Now your AppleTV will boot up as it normally does, but when it’s finished you will see two new options: Boxee and XBMC.  I have not played around with XBMC, so for now we will ignore that and just do the Boxee stuff. Select Boxee and install the Alpha. YOU’RE DONE WITH STEP ONE!

That wasn’t so hard was it? Now onto the fun part.

Step 2. Setting Up and Using Boxee

  • Set up an account on the Boxee home page. Here is the link: http://www.boxee.tv/index.php?join
  • Login on your AppleTV by clicking the Boxee app and keying in your username/password
  • You should now see the Boxee interface. Push Left on your remote and the sidebar should open. Scroll down to Options and select Appearance, then find the Video Calibration settings and configure the application to look good on your TV screen.
  • Now, Boxee is only programmed to work under Windows networks (WINS, Workgroups, etc). Fortunately for us Mac users this is not an issue. Simply go to System Preferences, click on the Network pane, and in the lower-right corner click the Advanced… button.

picture-21

  • Click the WINS tab in the resulting sheet window and give yourself a NetBIOS name and a workgroup name. I used these settings:

picture-3

  • Finally, go back to your main System Preferences window and open the Sharing pane. Be sure File Sharing is ON, and under the Shared Folders list add the folders/drives you want to be able to see from your AppleTV.

picture-5

  • Finally, click on Options… in the lower-right hand corner and be sure that “Share files and folders using SMB” is checked.
  • Repeat these networking setup steps on all other computers you plan to share media from, and then get comfy in front of your AppleTV. You’re almost done!
  • Bring up the left-hand menu again on your AppleTV and select the Video option at the top. Move down to the bottom option called Sources. Finally, click on Network. You should see WORKGROUP appear, or whatever the name of your Workgroup is. Click on this and viola! You can now watch all of your media streaming from your computer right on AppleTV.
  • Boxee can do other cool things, and I would recommend visiting their website blog.boxee.tv to learn more.

Congratulations! You have just turned your AppleTV into a whole new beast. Now go get busy watching all your favorite shows!!! 😀

Categories
Fun Stuff Technolust Tuesday

Flip MinoHD Ordered!

Well, I just finally broke down and ordered a Flip MinoHD. I went all over Portland this weekend looking at every mall, department store, camera and electronics boutique I could find, and none of them had one in stock, so I had to get it on Amazon. I did save $20 however and I got free overnight shipping. It won’t be in stock until January 24th though. It’s always something, I swear!

The estimated delivery date is next Tuesday, just in time for another installment of Technolust Tuesday. I will be providing a full review of the camera, as well as using it to create video blogs in the future to keep everyone up to date on the goings on here at AppleSource.

Categories
Fun Stuff Technolust Tuesday

Technolust Tuesday: Myvu

Hey guys, Ian here! It’s Tuesday again, and time for me to share with you something new and amazingly cool! In keeping with the new year in just a couple more days, I think it’s time to review the Myvu Personal Media Viewer, the future of personal media and entertainment.

myvu

Did you ever think “Man I love my iPod but this tiny screen just isn’t doing it for me.”? Welcome to the Myvu Personal Media Viewer. The Myvu media viewer has three options to to fit your lifestyle and needs.

  1. The Myvu Crystal ($299) is the flagship of Myvu corporations portable media viewer line, featuring a slim design for superior portability and comfort, as well as full VGA quality (640×480) Featuring SolidOptex® – the Myvu patented optical system and built in noise canceling earbuds. Up to 4 hours of rechargeable battery life.
  2. The Myvu Solo Plus ($99) features QVGA quality video output (320×240) and similar noise canceling earbuds and battery life (up to 4 hours of rechargeable battery life).
  3. The Myvu Shades  ($160) features QVGA (320×240), noise canceling earbuds, and up to 10 hours of rechargeable battery life.

All of these models feature full screen viewing of your various media types played through your iPod, iPhone, Zune, Archos player, Nokia N95, and pretty much anything else that accepts standard RCA plugs. A nice touch they have added is noise isolating ear buds, so those long flights and loud background noises won’t be an issue when you’re trying to enjoy that new episode of The Big Bang Theory or perhaps that next blockbuster film…

Now do keep one thing in mind: the full VGA video output is going to look a little grainy on most media players as they are usually designed for smaller resolutions (320×240 or so) You will probably want to re-code your video to a larger format or simply begin downloading/ripping higher quality videos.

For more information about this cool futuristic product, check out their website at http://www.myvu.com. Be sure to tune in next week for more Technolust Tuesday!

Categories
Fun Stuff

New iPhone?

Not sure if this is real or not, but a buddy sent this to me this morning so I thought I’d share.

Rumors that Apple’s 3G iPhone is on the way are coming faster by the day (within 60 days is the latest guess), and now images of the alleged next generation iPhone are beginning to surface, too. Apparently the new iPhone will also sport a glossy black back, replacing the satin nickel look found on the current model.

The redesigned iPhone back also drops the black plastic end piece that covers the antenna, and it appears that Apple will continue to offer an 8GB model. I think the plastic design works better with how many antennas are gonna be in the new 3G iPhone.

Of course, rumors are just rumors until Steve pulls the new iPhone out of his pocket.

 

Picture:

 

(You can’t fool me, that’s a photon cannon…)

Categories
Fun Stuff

TimeNet Law Giveaway!

-expired-

Categories
Fun Stuff

Watashi wa nihon ga daisuki desu!!

This blog is all about my personal love for all things Japan. From Sushi to import cars, to the strong history of honor, discipline and art. I have a lot of respect and fascination for the culture of Japan, ever since I was a child I dreamt of going there. I hope to travel there before too long and walk through the Akihabara district, also known as “electric city”. Known for its towering buildings covered in brightly lit neon signs and filled with the newest technology and drool worthy toys. Then onto the Tsukiji market for some of the best fresh fish you can find! If your feeling like sitting down then head over to one of the many popular Sushi bars in tokyo, don’t forget to offer your Sushi chef a drink if he/she is doing a good job.This is only a tiny glimpse of the many amazing attractions in Japan, from Cherry Blossoms to Castles, to the Todaiji Omizutori – Water and Fire festival in Nara and Yokohama Cosmo World. If your looking for something more peaceful and serene head over to Mount Koya, a center of Shingon Bhuddism which was introduced to Japan in 805. If that isn’t your style you can head to one of the many bath houses or massage parlors. Don’t forget to make a stop in Shikoku island, although it is one of the least visited islands it does hold some treasures. Matsuyama Castle, a beautiful coastline and some of the best noodles in Japan to name a few. Well, I could go on and on, im sure I could spend an obscene amount of money on my visit there..and I will!I plan on making regular posts and perhaps a section on Japan. See you all again! Sayonara!

Categories
Fun Stuff

Anyone else as excited as we are!?

The AppleSource team is gearing up for Apple’s big release of Leopard tomorrow! Time to backup all data and install a drool worthy fresh OSX.  I already thought Vista was a bit of a joke compared to the current OSX but with the 300+ additional features such as cover flow, the new spotlight, Ilife and Iwork as well as timemachine…well the list goes on. Check it out for yourself if you already haven’t. Switching over to mac is even more appealing than ever. Go Apple! Also, lets take a look at the current stock market and the vast difference in share value from Microsoft compared to Apple..I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us at the MacExpo. We look forward to making an appearance there this year, meeting lots of people, handing out merch and displaying our newest renditions of TimeNet Pro and Law as well as MOMD and maybe a sneak peek of some other ideas we’ve been throwing around. Maybe we’ll see some of you fellow Mac lovers and Applesource supporters out there!