I would like one of these for Christmas
Why do I want one?
Just because I can. Would love to take it to a conference and use it in the main auditorium.
What do you want for Christmas?
Christmas is coming….
Christmas is coming…. Wonder what new tech I can buy from Currys?
Snow problem…
Much of the UK is covered in snow and unlike virtually everywhere else in the road, the snow plays havoc with our transport infrastructure. As a result lots of people are forced to work from home, or find their schools and colleges are closed. This increases the demand for the internet and places additional strain on the internet infrastructure in the UK. Snow can also cause problems with moisture creeping into wiring and cable boxes.
So is your internet speed slowing down?
Updated the Apple TV
I have updated my Apple TV to 4.1.
I’ve not really noticed any different as I haven’t been using it much before I updated.
Having used it a little more recently I have found that it is much faster than Front Row on my Mac mini for moving between media from the iMac downstairs. As a lot of my media is in standard definition the 720p resolution hasn’t been much of a problem. Also all my iTunes HD content is 720p so the fact that it can’t play 1080p content at 1080p is at this time not so much of a problem. I wonder for the future whether this would be a software upgrade or (more likely) Apple will release a new model of the Apple TV.
It’s a pity that BBC iPlayer and other similar services aren’t available on the Apple TV, I personally would like to see 4OD on the Apple TV.
So will we see Apps for the Apple TV in the future, one can hope.
Yes it was
So the big iTunes announcement was that the Beatles were coming (finally) to the iTunes store.
Good news for Beatles fans who don’t already own any Beatles music on CD then…
Beatles on iTunes?
So this afternoon Apple have an iTunes announcement.
Rumours indicate that this is probably going to be an announcement that the Beatles will now be available in the iTunes Store.
Another rumour indicates that Apple will announce live streaming for iTunes.
I wonder if the wording of the “invitation” is significant? It does say iTunes and not iTunes Store. Does that make a difference?
EyeTV Netstream Sat
Elgato have announced a new version of their Netstream device, the EyeTV Netstream Sat. This allows you to stream, watch and record free-to-view satellite television on any Mac or PC in the house, in full HD. If your home has an existing Wi-Fi network, you can watch live satellite TV wirelessly on a portable computer anywhere in your home or garden.
If you live in the UK then it can access the Freesat signal allowing you to access Freeview and Freeview HD channels available on Freesat.
I do quite like the fact that
- Stream live TV over the home network to an iPad – even when your computers are turned off
At the moment I need to leave the iMac on to do this. Now I don’t actually have satellite, so would need to use the EyeTV Netstream DTT instead. However as that does not support Freeview HD and so I have decided at £230 it is more of a luxury than essential, so I don’t mind going downstairs to turn the iMac on to watch TV on the iPad or via the Mac mini on the TV.
Hopefully one day Elgato will bring out a device that supports Freeview HD
Apple TV
Though I have had my Apple TV a few weeks now, however I have not really used it, nor have I streamed any rented films either.
Now this is not because of any problem with the Apple TV. It’s partly that I haven’t watched that much television over the last few weeks and haven’t had the time to sit down and watch a film either. When I have wanted to watch something I have relied on on my EyeTV or the Mac mini that is currently under my TV. The Mac mini won’t be here forever and when it goes I am sure that the Apple TV will be used more.
Replaced my Airport Express
After another session of “not working” I have replaced my aging Airport Express. Though I would like to have replaced it with a new model, I used one that I had got for AirTunes but in the end found wasn’t needed. So it was still sealed, as I hadn’t got around to opening it, or selling it on eBay.
Configuring it was pretty simple using Apple’s Airport Utility, though did forget to put it into Bridge Mode so at first it didn’t work.
Bridge Mode was necessary as my Airport Extreme is the router on my network, which broadcasts at 5GHz 802.11n. I use the Airport Express in 802.11b/g mode for legacy and mobile devices. As the Airport Extreme acts as the DHCP router, adding a second router on the network would mean that devices could connect to the wifi, but wouldn’t be able to access the internet or “connect” with other devices on my network.
The reason for two wireless networks is that the 802.11n network can work at the full 300Mbps speed, whilst legacy and mobile devices will work just fine on a slower network. If I had a single wireless network it would be “slow” for all devices. This usually isn’t too much of a problem, however I do stream video across my network, and when I use to do this in the past (with standard definition video) on an 802.11g network, I found that due to network congestion I would get buffering which was annoying. With 802.11n I can stream high definition video easily across the network to my Apple TV or my iPad. It also works well in moving large files across the network.
802.11n also makes much more sense when using FTTC (fibre) for internet with its higher speeds.
The main problem I was having with the old Airport Express was that it just stopped working and “vanishing” from the network. As a result it would need to be power cycled to get it working again.
So far so good.
MacBook Air, yes please…
Finally managed to get my hands on a real life 11.6″ MacBook Air at my local Apple Store (trying to remember what I did before there were lots of these in the UK). So there I was in the shop and I touched, used and felt the weight of the 11.6″ MacBook Air, I have to admit I pretty much well ignored the 13″ model as I have see the previous version, and to be honest if I was going with a 13″ MacBook, I would go for the MacBook Pro.
So back to the smaller MacBook Air brethren. The first thing that struck me, was how gorgeous the screen was, the high resolution makes for a really sharp display. As I started Safari (very snappy) and entered an URL, I noticed how nice the keyboard was too. One of the problems I have with small laptops (and I have used a fair few in my time) is that the keyboards can be too small for anything expect peck and touch typing. The MacBook Air keyboard felt full size and I could quite easily see myself typing up long blog posts and other things using it. I was impressed with the speed of the Air, for something that isn’t really a true powerhouse when it comes to processing power and memory.
Having lifted it up, it was lighter than I thought it was going to be. It felt much smaller and lighter than the iPad even though it is 50% heavier.
I do quite like it, would like to get one, but probably won’t as at £849 it’s a little expensive for what for me would be more of a toy than a serious workhorse.