tinfoil, whiskey, and computers

How long have people been waiting for Delicious Library 2?  A long damn time.  It was delayed.  Delayed.  Then delayed some more.  Then it was Leopard only.  Then Leopard was delayed.  Then Leopard was released.  Now it’s 3 months later and Delicious Library 2 still isn’t out.

But they’ve won an Apple Design Award.  I find that interesting, considering it’s not even a product yet.  It’s vaporware as far as I’m concerned.  Until it’s out in the wild, it’s nothing.

The “new” features they are touting with DL2 have existed in the Pedias for a while.  I made the switch a few months back when it was obvious DL2 wasn’t going to ship on time, if ever.

• Let’s see, it’s code new barcode scanning.  Yippee.  So do the Pedias.
• It has the ability to store items as files.  The Pedias have had that for a while.
• HTML export.  What?  Really?  Finally.  It’s about time they caught up with the year 2000.  The Pedias have this, and it’s simple to customize.
• It has .Mac integration.  Great, for the 6 people who actually use both .Mac and DL2.
• Um, that’s about it

So, really, what’s “new” in DL2?  Nothing!  Nothing because it’s still not released.  And nothing because the “new” features have existed in a competing product for quite some time.  DL2 might be more lickable, but it’s less functional…and you still can’t buy it anyway.

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I always look forward to Macworld.  It’s an exciting time for Apple fans like myself.  New, innovative technologies always are introduced.  This year’s Macworld, however, was disappointing.  Let me run down why.

• Movie rentals
• We expected these, and his Steveness delivered.  Unfortunately it’s almost as bad as everything else out there.  What we got was a mix of pricing, $2.99, $3.99, and $4.99.  That’s for catalog, new release, and HD movies.  That’s very disappointing.  The beauty of iTunes is that it’s 99 cents for every song (that is until they introduced the DRM-free stuff.)
• There is a 24-hour watch limitation.  That sucks too.  We already have that horrible limitation with the Microsoft DRMs out there.  What’s the purpose of a 24-hour limitation?  Let’s say I have an Apple TV, my laptop, and an iPod.  I want the option to watch on each, which I will have.  But there is no guarantee I will be able to watch within a 24-hour artificial window.  I am regularly on the road for work and sometimes it’s just not possible.

• New iPod touch software
• It’s $20!  WTF?  Since when did Apple start charging for these types of upgrades?  It should be free for iPod Touch early adopters.  The only reasonbly significant addition is Mail.  That’s really for of an omission from the first release than a “new” feature for the second.  Come on, Apple, do the right thing.  Reward your loyal early adopters with software that should have been in the first release.

• Time Capsule
• This is cool.  I like it.  My only question is, can I use my current Airport Extreme base station with my own external drive and finally have it work with Time Machine?  Is there a software update that makes this possible?
• Apple’s page for Which Wireless Are You?  seems to indicate I can’t use my current base station with Time Machine.  If that’s the case, then screw you, Apple.  You promised it would work in Leopard and had it in release candidates.

• MacBook Air
• This is maybe the biggest “oh well” of the lot.  It’s thin, sure.  But it’s too big.  Yes, too big.
• Thin is nice, but 13.3″ still makes it “huge” compared to what it could be.
• Why no SSD standard?  I realize there is a cost associated with SSD, but Dell sells a notebook with a 32GB SSD for $1600.  Apple could do the same.
• Why not do something truly innovative and use a small SSD combined with some NAND flash for storage?  That would have driven costs down.  Limit the SSD to, say, 8GB, and utilize the NAND for storage as in iPods.
• Battery life is a HUGE disappointment.  5 hours?  Big deal!  I get that on my 15.4″ MacBook Pro
• Let me get this straight, less battery, slower CPU, slower HDD, ugly and fat bezel.  Fantastic.  I see no tremendous advantage.  The new touchpad is cool, but not that cool.  Thin is cool, but not without everything else.  I need more power, I need smaller, I need solid state.  Without that, it’s just another MacBook without an optical.

• Apple TV
• This, I liked.  Simply a free software upgrade with some much missed features.  Frankly, these were features that should have been in the first version.  And it’s free.  You hear that, Apple?  Free.  Not like the iPod Touch missing features which cost $20.
• Price drop.  Not only is the update free, the cost of the product went down.  Sounds good to me!  Sign me up!

Overall, not too happy or excited with this Macworld.  I expected movie rentals to be innovative.  They aren’t.  I expected the Macbook Air to be innovative.  It’s not.  I didn’t expect Apple to charge for a simple software upgrade of missing features.  They did.

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I forgot to post this (probably because I’ve been kind of absent lately).  I recently got myself an Intel Mac.  How long has it been?  A 15″ MacBook Pro to be exact.  LED backlit.  2GB of RAM.  Running Leopard.

I got it the week Leopard was released.  I was simply waiting for the new OS to buy.

Mini-Review:

I love it!  It get fantastic battery life (4-5 hours).  It’s got loads of processing power.  It’s Intel so I run WINE on it and can run a lot of Windows programs pretty darn well.  I run Internet Explorer to access my company’s web-client.  It runs an ActiveX control and it works nearly flawlessly.

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Tangerine is a tasty looking new app from Potion Factory.  It scans your iTunes library and gets the beats per minute (BPM).  It do so quickly.  What’s nice about this is that you can make playlists based on the song tempo, perfect for upbeat songs for working out.

The app looks like it belongs on a Mac.  It’s gorgeous and simple.  It includes Growl support.  It’s laid out much like iTunes and perfectly ccompliments it.  I’m going to run it against my entire library in the next day or two so I can put together a new workout list…well, multiple lists.  I especially like fast music for running and lifting…and doing math for some reason.

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The nipple wheel of the Mighty Mouse is officially renamed the clicktoris.

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I took the expensive plunge and bought a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. I got a bluetooth Apple keyboard in a nice little exchange for an old Xbox. I had no way of using it since my Mini didn’t have bluetooth. I was tired of using my very crappy Microsoft Executive Elite Super Monkey Team Go wireless (non-bluetooth) keyboard and mouse. They keyboard was big and clunky. The mouse was big and clunky. The wireless reception was crap.

I had plenty of reasons to look into something new. I decided to finally take that step and install the wireless option in my Mini. I could have saved $30 and ordered it from LA Computer Company and installed it myself, but I visited my local Apple Store and had them do it for me, a $99 venture. I also plunked down $70 on the BT Mighty Mouse.

The lack of seperate right and left buttons intimidated me. I wasn’t sure if I would actually like the feel of the thing. I am happy as hell Apple finally introduced a mouse with right-click capabilities though. Like all things Apple, the design is fantastic. It’s minimalist and sexy. The scroll ball feels like a nipple. Nipples are sexy…unless they are those huge, silver dollar pancake nipples. So not sexy.

First, I freaking love bluetooth. It’s so much better than all the 2.4GHz junk out there. Second, the Mighty Mouse feels great. It’s a far cry from the original puck mouse on the first iMacs. The no button right and left click is surprisingly easy to use. The scroll ball is fantastic. There is even a middle click. It’s got exactly what I want in a mouse.

Overall I would highly recommend this mouse to anyone with a Mac. I would also highly recommend a Mac to anyone who wants a computer. It wasn’t cheap but I am very happy with my new mouse and wireless awesomeness.

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The Macbook was released today. As expected there is a black model. It’s the high-end model. I haven’t seen anyone address the pricing yet. The lowest end model is a bargain if you ask me. True, it’s $100 more than the previous low-end iBook, but it’s a huge upgrade with a larger screen, insane battery time, larger HDD, more RAM, a Core Duo, optical in/out, bluetooth, Front Row, remote, among other things.

That is a hell of an upgrade for $100 and I think very justified. However, the top-end Macbooks leave a lot to be desired, specifically the Blacbook (as I’m going to now call it).

Take a look at the tech specs on the bottom of this page. Near as I can tell there are precisely TWO differences between the white Macbook and the Blacbook. The obvious one is the color. The other one is obvious too and that’s a 20GB larger HDD. The larger harddrive is certainly worth a modest bump in price.

How much more is the Blackbook? $200! Two hundred bucks for a $50 harddrive upgrade. You can get a white Macbook with precisely the same specs for $150 less than the Blacbook.

The Blacbook carries a $150 premium for nothing other than the color.

Go ahead, be a sucker.

Am I missing something with the pricing? I’ve looked it over and that’s the only difference (the color and harddrive) I can see between the two high-end models. Is having a Blacbook worth an extra $150 to you?

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