tech, news, productivity, views and stuff
My 802.11n Airport Extreme base station is starting to be a little unreliable over the last few weeks.
I bought it in 2007 and it has worked pretty much flawlessly over that timeframe.
The only real difference to my network is that I have started using my iPad on the network.
Is this the cause?
Who knows!
Now this is an interesting concept.
A 10″ tablet that underneath runs Darwin. As a result though the tablet can run both Windows and Linux, you can also run Darwin on the device too. This means that if you wanted to and were willing to breach Apple’s EULA you could install Snow Leopard on the device quite easily!
The tablet has a front facing camera, three USB ports, an SD Card slot, display port, wifi, Bluetooth and GPS.
Though the key for this device on whether it is any good is whether the touchscreen is as good as the sort of touchscreens that Apple uses.
At $750 (£480) this is quite cheap, but will be interesting to see whether the device will move from concept to production.
Writer and broadcast Stephen Fry is to appear in a one-man show in London scripted by submissions from his Twitter followers.
Read more.
Cool video, all recorded using iPad applications.
An interesting article from LA about how some coffee shops are not just getting rid of free wifi, they are getting rid of wifi full stop!
Coffee shops were the retail pioneers of Wi-Fi, flipping the switch to lure customers. But now some owners are pulling the plug. They’re finding that Wi-Fi freeloaders who camp out all day nursing a single cup of coffee are a drain on the bottom line. Others want to preserve a friendly vibe and keep their establishments from turning into “Matrix”-like zombie shacks where people type and don’t talk.
I do like to go to coffee shops and have been known to use the wifi. I agree though that sometimes you go into some coffee shops and everyone is huddled behind their laptops using Facebook or similar. Coffee is about the conversation.
Photo source.
One of the reasons I like the iPhone (and my O2 contract) is that it gives you free wifi access when you are in the vicinity of a wifi hotspot.
From O2
You can use Wi-Fi at home or in your office if you have it, or at any of BT Openzone and The Cloud’s hotspots.
This has the potential to be really useful, especially with data limits when using 3G.
The problem is too often these days this happens.
So what’s the solution. Well you have to revert to 3G.
The new Apple Store in Covent Garden in London.
I am still evaluating a Mac mini under the TV and decided to give Plex a go.
Plex bridges the gap between your Mac and your home theater, doing so with a visually appealing user interface that provides instant access to your media. Plex can play a wide range of video, audio and photo formats as well as online streaming audio and video. The real power of Plex is found in its library features: Organize your media into versatile libraries, automatically retrieve metadata from the Internet, and display your libraries using one of the visually stunning skins.
One way I have heard it described is, Front Row on steroids!
To get the most from it though I do need a much faster internet connection, one day soon I hope.
It installed fine and I immediately installed BBC iPlayer. Hoping to get more done with it over the next few weeks.
There are quite a few Apps that are not available in the UK iTunes Store that I know I would find useful, so I got myself a free US iTunes Store account.
Launch iTunes.
Select iTunes Store from the left side panel options, you will then see the iTunes Store home page.
Select United States as your location from the country selection drop down menu available at the bottom of the page by clicking the Union Jack icon and then clicking the American flag.
After choosing the country, search for BBC News (though that is now available in the UK).
When the application’s page is loaded – click the Free App button, and the login window will appear.
Click on the Create Account button.
Fill out US address details and click on continue. If you don’t know any valid US address you can use Apple US retail store address by pointing your browser to http://www.apple.com/retail/ and choosing a store from the list available in the page.
Beverly Hills 90210 is another useful address!
After submitting valid US postal address details, iTunes Store registration takes you to payment mode page. Here choose the option None and finish the registration.
You will now see the congratulation page.You’re done! Your iTunes Store account is created without credit card and from now onwards you can download all the free applications available to US users.
Apple has updated their iMac range.
Though I do like the idea of having a dual drive 27″ iMac with the main hard drive been an SSD that would result in improved speed and performance.
However we still are not seeing any Blu-Ray drives in any of the new iMacs.
I think I need to stop hoping and forget about Blu-Ray on the Mac. It’s too obvious that Apple believe the only way to get video is through the iTunes store. I wouldn’t mind so much, but… I still can’t buy HD movies in the UK iTunes Store. I can rent them on the Apple TV and the iPad, but I can’t rent them (or buy them) on my Mac.
I can buy HD TV shows (and I did like Doctor Who in HD) so it’s not a technical reason, it’s a rights problem.
So with no Blu-Ray and no HD films, I can’t watch HD movies on my wonderful 27″ iMac screen.