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Well having set up one of my new LaCie Poulton 1TB Firewire drives I am installing OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 onto it.
The external drive needed to be formatted for the OS X operating system and the partition map set up to allow me to install the OS onto it. All relatively simple with Disk Utility.
Then I set it to install, said it would take 47 minutes, wonder if those are real minutes or Apple minutes?
I ordered my copy of Snow Leopard earlier this week and was pleased to receive it on day of release at about 7.3oam this morning!
I am intending to install it on a different external drive to the one I currently run Leopard 10.5 on as a fresh install and then install my applications as and when required.
I prefer to do it this way as I don’t have to worry about crowding the drive with unused applications or filling the memory with “helper” applications for apps I don’t run.
Of course the main downside is that none of my preferences are there, so I have to “add” them all back in again.
Following on from the success of the Hood 2.0 Workshop at ALT-C last year, at this years ALT-C I shall be running another workshop, Hood 2.1 – it’s still a Web 2.0 World out there.
Background
Web 2.0 is exciting and innovative, with new services appearing almost daily. These services can incorporate social networking, video and audio production, sharing, collaboration and user-created content. Some will be useful for providing information and entertainment, some will allow us to create innovative learning activities.
This stimulating and interactive workshop will explore new Web 2.0 services that can be used to solve some of the issues facing learners.
Ideas to be explored
During the workshop participants will be shown different learning scenarios and activities that utilise a range of new and exciting Web 2.0 services.
It is expected that the workshop will utilise the newest and most exciting Web 2.0 services out there, but could include: the use of Audioboo.fm for fieldwork; using Jing to create learning resources and web reviews; and using ipadio to allow learners to create a series of work-based podcasts.
Participants will discuss and debate the Web 2.0 service and the scenarios in small groups, covering how they could be utilised within their own institutions.
The groups will also discuss how the pedagogy needs to drive the scenarios and not the technology, and address how Web 2.0 can empower learners to take responsibility for their own learning. Each group will provide feedback through either a blog entry, an audio podcast or a video presentation. These will then be made available online to allow further comment and discussion beyond the workshop, and also allow other conference delegates to participate.
Intended outcomes
The participants will have a greater understanding of the innovative role of Web 2.0 to support.They will have considered how Web 2.0 can be used to redesign the pedagogy, the curriculum, and assessment methods to secure a substantial positive impact on learning.
The participants will have presented the results of their discussion to other participants and to other delegates through the use of a variety of learning technologies and Web 2.0 services. This will allow them to understand which services are innovations of true value, rather than mere fads.
I thought this should be straightforward, but in the end ran the installation application three times before I managed to install all applications and all options.
I am impressed with the speed and efficiency over my older PPC apps and so am well pleased.So far have only run Fireworks and Dreamweaver. Was impressed with the fact that Dreamweaver “found” my sites and I could instantly start using Dreamweaver to edit my website.
After much deleting and arching I have freed up 200GB of hard disk space.
I do consider it strange that I now view 200GB as “small” when a few years ago I considered 250MB Iomega Zip disks as “huge”.
The iMac I use the external drive with only has an internal drive of 250GB, which is why I now use an external 1TB drive as my main startup disk.
The first laptop I was given at work had a “huge” hdd, 20MB, yes MB not GB.
I am going out to buy some more external storage, I have started to look at 2TB drives… I have considered a Drobo, but am wondering about the noise, I do like my quiet Lacie Poulton 1TB drive and will probably get some more of them.
Before installing Adobe CS4 I decided that I better clear out some free disk space so that it will not only install fine, but run fine as well. I had bought it for my new iMac, but that’s on hold at the moment.
So what’s on the hard drive?
Well though my files, photos and music take up a fair bit of space, it is EyeTV recordings which take up the most space. I have been a little lax (because I had the space) in editing and exporting recordings.
Generally I only export the recording in the native MPEG2 format, partly to avoid loss of quality, but in the main as it is very quick. After exporting I might copy the Wi-Fi access version into iTunes so I can then put it onto the iPod pretty quickly, but that’s not always done, it depends on the recording.
Of course if I don’t want the recording, it never gets exported and just gets deleted.
After exporting, I try and move files to an external hard drive, to free up space, but it shouldn’t and it does still surprise me by how much space the recordings take up…
Now I know I could export as a DivX format and reduce the file size significantly over the MPEG2, however then I will have a later problem if I want to export into a different format for a different device.
Until we have a consistent video file format then I would rather maintain the high quality large file size of the native MPEG2 recording then try and mess about with a smaller DivX recording for a different device.
I watch the recordings on a variety of devices, the iPhone and various iPods, the PSP, the PS3 and an Archos PVR device. The iPod h.264 recordings for example would not play on the PSP (always) likewise they would not play on the Archos unless I paid €20 for the “extra” to allow the Archos to play h.264 files, if I was willing to pay that I would pay the €20 to allow the Archos to play MPEG2 files natively!
So at the moment I am editing, exporting and in some cases realising that I am never going to watch that special which went out at Christmas and I am deleting!
After much contemplation, thought and waiting, I have gone out and purchased a copy of Adobe CS4 Master Suite.
I have wanted to upgrade Dreamweaver and Firefox for a while as my previous versions are PPC and have never worked well on my new Intel iMac.
Knowing my luck, Adobe will announce CS5 tomorrow!
According to the German FT (via Techcrunch) Nokia is going to move from Symbian to Maemo for its phones.
Nokia doesn’t trust its Symbian mobile operating system any more and plans to equip many of its smartphones with the mostly open source Maemo operating system it uses in its Internet tablets, according to undisclosed Nokia sources speaking to the Financial Times in Germany (FTD).
Nokia uses Maemo on its internet tablets, and having used the Nokia N810 quite a bit I quite like it as an operating system. Likewise though I also like the operating system on the Nokia N95. Which one do I prefer? Well it’s not that simple, as the N810 is a very different device to the N95 and I use them in different ways.
The Nokia N97 which had huge potential seems to be limited by the Symbian operating system, as Techcrunch report:
The Nokia N97 from June 2009 required heavy tweaking on the Symbian software. It’s touchscreen OS still looks aged and the handling is far from easy and not always logical.
Nokia having seen the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android phone take their market share, they need todo something if they are to remain competitive.
I expect not to see upgrades to existing phones like the N95, but Nokia using Maemo on their new phones.
I was going to order a new iMac this summer. A 24″ model with 4GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD and a good graphics card. It would be an improvement over my current 20″ iMac which I bought in 2006.
However….
Though I knew that new models were coming out in October, I decided I needed it now and wasn’t going to wait.
However….
I then read MacRumors.
AppleInsider reports that the next-generation iMac will see the inclusion of two “compelling” new features, although sources refuse to provide anything more than suggestions as to what those features might be.
One of those features is said to have long been on the wish-lists of many Mac users while the other is expected to cater to the semi-professional audio/video crowd. This is according to cryptic tips from people often familiar with the Mac maker’s future product initiatives, but who declined to elaborate because they were not authorized to discuss the matter in detail.
My guess (based on what I have read) is Blu-Ray and an SD card slot. Though reading both articles indicate it could be anything or nothing.
However…
I really would like an iMac with Blu-Ray capability, I do watch a fair few movies on my Mac and I would like to watch them in HD.
Of course I could be completely wrong, who knows with Apple.
Nice presentation on Twitter.