Mac
If you can make the iPhone bigger, you can make it smaller
Sep 1st
Music is my boyfriend
Music is my girlfriend
Music is my dead-end
Music’s my imaginary friend
…
Music’s my king size bed
Music’s where I meet my friends
Music is my hot hot bed
…my music is where I’d like you TO TOUCH
One More Thing
Mar 24th
Over the last few weeks things have happened that made me think. My life has changed a bit and I wanna keep riding the wave of change. Well looks like as if this wave with me riding it is headed toward the Mac world. You see the thing is I like Macs. Nice machines eh? But right now… I don’t feel the thrill anymore. What? The Mac person has no fun with Macs? Waitaminute!!
I mean, don’t get me wrong… Macs are fun. The software is nice and cool, sexy and smooth. Aqua definitely has its advantages, the object-oriented framework Cocoa certainly makes for rapid application development. You see the thing where it comes down to me right now is the “Plays well with others” part. I think there’s a slight problem here.
As you know, in an earlier post I described that I made the switch to Linux and no longer use OS X. That in itself is not the problem… The problem is that apparently Macs don’t play that well with Linux. Ever tried to run Linux on the current generation MacBook? Well good luck… restarting won’t work (doesn’t matter which Linux) and the machine gets much hotter than normal. So… no.
Anyways… since I have too much of Mac and computer hardware anyways, I gonna start selling shit. And that also includes my Mac gear. It’s time for something else. Time to walk down the open road with cheaper hardware.
I’ll keep watching the Keynotes (no longer Stevenotes, mind you! Philnotes maybe?). And I’ll still probably be amazed with what Apple came up with again, and go oooh and aaah like the people in the keynote in Moscone West. I am not an angry user or something, I just decided for me it’s time to leave this thing as an active member of the Mac community.
So yeah… that’s all I wanted to say today. The only thing that remains with me of Apple will be an iPod nano 4th gen. You know, Shake To Shuffle and shit. I have to say that is pretty amazing =D
Time to walk the open road.
Ubuntu’ed
Feb 18th
This is the end, my only friend: me, the Mac die-hard, no longer uses Mac OS X. LOLWUT? Yeah, it’s true. After having closely followed the development on the open road for a while, I have seen that there are in fact superior applications out there. For free. I always had an eye on Ubuntu, I think it’s one of the best Linuxes around (what’s the plural of Linux? Linii? Linae? Linuxes?).
After having seen the programs listed on the page for Mac switchers, I came to the conclusion that it is time at last, to adopt Tux full-time. So I backed up all my data to another drive, and started installing Kubuntu, as I don’t really like GNOME which ships with Ubuntu. 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is the version I got obviously.
The default appearance of KDE 4′s Plasma, its new desktop engine
Install was smooth, no issues whatsoever. BUT: there is a problem when it comes to booting an Intel iMac which no longer has Mac OS X installed. You see the Mac Bootloader is ‘blessed’ during the install of Apple’s system, which means it is certified and readable by EFI – which is the equivalent to the BIOS in all Macintoshes. However, most of the time an Ubuntu is not installed on a Mac – and this proposes an interesting problem.
The machine will not boot when it doesn’t have a blessed bootloader on either the MBR of the drive, or on one of the partitions. That results in a big folder icon with a question mark, telling you it has nothing to work with. However if you boot with the Kubuntu CD, and choose ‘Boot from first hard drive’, it will work.
Obviously I don’t wanna boot with the CD all the time, so what’s there to do? Well I remembered this tool called ‘rEFIt’ for OS X, which lets you boot as many systems as you want on a Mac. So I checked if there is something like this available for Ubuntu, and of course, there is – in the Universe tree.
So what you have to do if you want to use a Mac without OS X and Ubuntu instead, is this:
1) Install Ubuntu or Kubuntu (or Edubuntu, or Xubuntu) – whatever you are fancy
2) Use the entire drive, wipe OS X
3) After the install, re-insert the CD and choose ‘boot from first hard drive’ in the boot menu
4) Log in, open a web browser, and go here:
rEFIt for Intrepid Ibex 8.10
http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/i386/refit/download – and choose a location near you.
This will download a .deb file at the location you choose.5) Open a file browser, navigate to the .deb file, open it – the package installer will come up and you will have to enter your administrative password
6) Once installed, open a terminal and enter this command:
#> sudo /sbin/gptsync /dev/sda
It will also ask you for your administrative password. Also, it will tell you that the bootloader needs to be updated – CONFIRM THIS!! Your non-Apple bootloader is now in fact ‘blessed’ and will let the Mac ‘see’ the install in EFI.
7) Reboot and remove the CD. The machine will boot normally at this stage
I write this down so that if anyone ever runs into this, here is the solution. Note that this is for the 32-bit version – there is no rEFIt tool for Ubuntu in 64-bit yet!!!
Now you can go ahead and install anything you like or want. Compiz for example and so on. Or proprietary drivers (helps for Compiz =D).
Kinda cool eh?
Quick 3D test on the new MacBook
Oct 30th
There appears to be no real 3D benchmarking tool for Macs out there. Or at least I have not found anything like 3DMark for Mac. The only thing that gets kinda close is a tool named “Cinebench” from Maxon. They are the guys who make Cinema 4D. Since this tool is free, I grabbed it and did a little test with it. Well around 3:15 for a super complex render of a motorcycle is not necessarily bad I think (dual core test render – took longer on single core).
I took a screenshot but also a shot with my camera so that you believe that it actually has run on the MacBook. I have no idea what those numbers of the result stand for. Maybe someone can enlighten me. But all in all, I don’t think the 3D performance is bad.
Shot of the results – it’s actually the new MacBook
MacBook-o-matic
Oct 29th
The all-new MacBook. With aluminum casing. Incredible speed and looks. All glass screen and multi touch mouse pad. It’s here, it’s real, it’s amazing. And take it from me… it really is as cool as it looks on Apple’s website and Steve’s demo. Wow.
The new nano is a bit thin…
Oct 10th
So one of my colleagues wanted to buy an iPhone 3G. Now here in Dublin that is a pretty demanding project which requires skill, time, and a very well laid out plan of attack. Other than most countries in Europe where you could in theory buy the Jesusphone in pallets, here you have to be very precise. You have to know when it is where, and then make your move.
He didn’t get one. He got upset. So instead he then went ahead and bought the new iPod nano. I saw it in its new box before, didn’t really believe how small it was. Today I got the chance to have a quick look at it… Shake To Shuffle works! Awesome.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a little comparison between a standard bank card, and the new nano. It’s a bit thin… =D
nano-chromatic. Click to enlarge.
Bruises
Chairlift
Does You Inspire You
Leopard Pro Tip: How to watch porn at work [NSFW]
Oct 4th
When Leopard was released, it came with over 300 new innovations. Today, I wanna share with you how you could use one of those innovations to entertain yourself in the office if you’re bored.
Living on the EDGE
Jul 16th
In my previous post I have spoken about the fact that I have gotten my hand on the second coming of Apple’s smartphone, the iPhone 3G. All in all, I’m really really satisfied with the machine, works all as Steve-ified.
However the 3G coverage in Dublin and Ireland for that matter, is a different kettle of fish. Not in all areas I have taken the device to there was coverage for it, especially outside the city. Interestingly though, in Cavan, about 150 km from Dublin, there is 3G coverage with 4 or even 5 bars. But outside those areas, it’s pretty much 3G-less.
I tested the device on different configurations. Once with Wi-Fi on, 3G on, and check mail every 15 minutes. On top of that I played around with the GPS. Unsurprisingly the battery kissed bye-bye pretty quickly.
Then turned off Wi-Fi, but left 3G on. As it turns out with normal usage like music, some web, some email, and some Maps, the battery still drained fast.
Well right now I’m on a more or less skeleton configuration, which is probably enough for most users. I’m doing almost anything on 2.5G better known as EDGE, which works very well in most cases. Here’s my advise on what to do to get the most of your battery:
- Turn off 3G. Only turn it on when you really need it (App Store, big mail attachments). This will force the device to switch to EDGE. Funny to turn off the one thing what the iPhone 3G is about – but trust me… Battery life will increase dramatically. If you need it for huge downloads, you can enable it at anytime and turn it off once you’re done. Settings / General / Network / Enable 3G / OFF.
- Turn off Wi-Fi. Use it only when required and don’t let the device constantly scan and check for a network if you’re not gonna join anyways. Wi-Fi is a significant drain – however it can be a saver if you use it quite often, so it’s your call. My advise is to leave it off until you need it. Settings / Wi-Fi / OFF.
- Only use the (A-)GPS when you really need it. By the way, a sort of Turn-By-Turn navigation is available when you let it calculate the route and ask it for the steps 
The GPS is using some good juice.
- Set the brightness of the display to 50% (on the centre of the slider) and use the function to automatically adjust brightness. Settings / Brightness / Auto-Brightness / ON.
- Set the mail check to “Hourly” or turn it off altogether if you prefer to check manually.
- The camera processor is using some juice when you use the camera. Only use when you really need it.
Do these things, and you can observe an increased battery life on your iPhone 3G. And to be honest… I made some tests with websites and loading them on EDGE instead of 3G – for me the speed really is good enough, same for email. You are on a mobile device at the end of the day, not a super broadband machine (except on Wi-Fi). If you gonna follow these steps is ultimately up to you, I have found these to work pretty well.
It’s here… the iPhone 3G
Jul 11th
So the Jesusphone with 3G integration makes its debut in the entire world… today. Contrary to previous popular assumption of the stores starting to sell the units at 6 PM, they started doing so at opening of the stores. In my case 9.30 AM.
To be honest I was expecting a bunch of people queuing for the Jesusphone the iPhone at the O2 Experience Store in Henry Street, here in Dublin. Surprisingly, at around 7.30 AM, not a single human soul. Well I had something to drink and checked other shops in the meantime.
Eventually one man showed up, he tried his luck on getting one without prior registering. The manager of the store showed up to do some preparations, and I asked him:
How many iPhone units do you have in stock?
After a little evading the question, he revealed that a whole 11 units were there.
And only who registered would get one today, and only those who got a call from the store yesterday (July 10) would get one. Fortunately for me, I had registered on July 1 and got a call last night. They even asked me which color. I went for black of course.
I felt sorry for the man who also came to get one, we had a good talk. He left after he learned that only pre-registrars would get one today.
Later on I met another older nice gentleman who also hoped on his chances. I told him the same, like only pre-regs and only those with a call. He also went away sad. However from him I learned that Carphone Warehouse also has the iPhone 3G, and people would be queuing there. He apparently went there.
Things got interesting around 8.45 AM, many many people showed up at once to form a queue. Since I had been there for 2 hours already, I was honored the number 1 spot. 
In the queue I met this other nice young guy, who also pre-regged. Well kinda… anyways, we had a good talk
Right. Now for some boring photos. =p
The O2 store in Henry Street, Dublin. Come too early, and it looks like this.
His name is Sean. I met him randomly while I was waiting for the iPhone. Cool guy, we had a good talk. I told him about my blog and he wanted me to put it up. So here you are
Da’ Box man, da’ box.
Open up the box, and the iPhone is straight on top! The other stuff is below. The user manual inside is titled “Finger Tips”. Cool.
Unpacked, connected, iTuned, and showing its glory. Yes – it indeed is OS X iPhone 2.0, as there is the App Store available.
At last. I have it.