Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

The BBC Trust has released its provisional conclusions on the BBC Executive’s proposal for on-demand catch-up and simulcast Internet services. Now they want our feedback.

It’s not looking good for Apple or Linux users; from the BBC on-demand proposals:
provisional conclusions (PDF):

The Microsoft-based DRM strategy for seven-day TV catch-up over the internet

The BBC Executive proposes a digital rights management solution which would require consumers to be using Windows XP (or above) and Windows Media Player 10 (or above) to be able to access seven-day TV catch-up over the internet.

Our understanding is that the BBC Executive aspires to offer an alternative DRM framework, which would enable Apple and Linux users to access the service, but has yet to identify a satisfactory solution. In either case, we will expect this to have been addressed within 24 months.

If you’re a licence fee payer, please take a few minutes to let them know that a Windows-only DRM solution is a very bad idea by completing the short survey.

After the ‘all work and no play’ nature of the last month, I decided to treat myself to an 8 gig iPod nano. Bloomin’ lovely it is too. I actually bought it from John Lewis rather than Apple, having stumbled across Hot UK Deals’s voucher and discount codes page (yes, I know it sounds like the sort of site which is one notch up from Viagra on the spam-o-meter, but it is worth bookmarking), which got me £15 off my purchase over £75 thanks to a Telegraph promotion.

Naturally half of my weekend was taken up with deciding what to put on the nano; initially I planned only to put on things I’d listened to in the last year, but I kept uncovering CDs I’d completely forgotten about or just not bothered listening to for a few years (e.g. Lou Reed - Transformer, My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything). Now a stroll to the shops is an exciting voyage of rediscovery and reunions.

I am already starting to wonder whether putting My Way - The Best of Frank Sinatra on there was a mistake though, as I keep finding myself singing along without realising. OK at home, but walking down Regent’s Street yesterday I must have sounded like some sort of deranged care in the community karaoke crooner.

Rob and I popped along to the Mac Expo at Olympia today, hoping to tinker with some shiny new gadgets and software. You know, expensive toys that we could convince ourselves would change our lives for the better. Unfortunately we left disappointed by the show; half the stands seemed to be selling iPod covers and other related tat, and after about an hour we’d pretty much run out of things to look at. At the MacUser stand we were given a carrier containing a free copy of a magazine - great, we thought, until we opened the bag on the tube only to discover that the magazine was an issue of “Poker Room”. Rather summed up the whole event.

Adobe were doing some demos on their stand, but unfortunately there was no sign of Macromedia’s new releases. Apple were also showing off Aperture, which has a great interface and looks like it could be pretty useful.

I did finally get my hands on an iPod nano, but it didn’t do anything to allay my concerns about the scratching issue; after a day and half on display, the nanos on the Apple stand seemed pretty badly scratched. I think I’ll wait for the second generation nano instead.

For us, the highlight of the show was definitely the Solio - a solar powered charger and battery for iPods, mobile phones and PDAs, which the inventor’s charming sister demonstrated for us. It’s such a great bit of design, with 3 solar panels that fan out when needed, and it’s made from recycled and recyclable materials. Would have been perfect for Glastonbury this year.

On the way back through Victoria we were sad to see the last of the Routemasters running on the 38 route. After today, the only remaining Routemasters will be on the 159 run, and they’ll be stopping on the 9th of December. Seems such a shame that a solution couldn’t be found to their accessibility problems.

Oh dear, yet more proof of the stupidity of US software patents, and another reason to stop a similar system being adopted by the EU. Much to Apple’s chagrin, Creative have been awarded a patent that covers the selection by the user of a least one track in a portable media player as a user navigates through a hierarchy using three or more successive screens.

Not sure if Creative will be rushing to patent the idea of shipping MP3 players infected with worms though.

The good news: Apple a giving out free batteries to some iBook and PowerBook owners. The bad news: it’s because the old ones might catch fire.

Models affected are 12″ iBook G4 and 12″ & 15″ PowerBook G4s sold between October ‘04 and May ‘05. More details on identifying the dodgy batteries from Apple. Thankfully mine’s OK.

After touring the Far East and western Europe for an aeon, my 12″ iBook finally arrived this morning (possibly some sort of telepathy on Apple’s part, as I was going to cancel the order if it hadn’t turned up by Monday). Anyway, I’ll save my grumbles about Apple’s poor choice of shipping companies and crap order tracking system for another day. My iBook is here, and I love it.

I’ve also got a McBain’s Baby bag to put it in, and the extra RAM and a two-button mouse are on order, as is another network cable (the only spare one I had was 30 metres long, which does seem a little silly with the iBook sat about 50cm away from my router).

Apart from a few bits of software, the only thing I really need now is a new chair. I’m currently sat on an old folding wooden chair, as one of my new cats has decided that my office chair is the most comfortable place to relax… I’m such a soft touch. Still, can’t really blame Apple for that.

I finally made it up to the Apple store on Regent Street on Saturday, dragging a few friends in tow. Unfortunately I hadn’t considered the mass of students and backpackers using the shop as a free internet cafe, and consequently couldn’t get anywhere near the iBooks. After spending a while trying (and failing) to justify the £2099 price tag of the 30″ Apple Cinema Display to myself, we ended up retiring to a nearby bar for wine and chips.

A wonderfully out-of-it evening ensued, starting off by watching the brilliant Elf, before spending hours listening to FSOL’s Lifeforms and Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden (enough said?). By the early hours of Sunday morning we were ready for Napoleon Dynamite, (which I’d not seen before, and turned out to be so wrong, and so, so funny) and genépi. The night culminated with us compelled to eat chicken soup at 5.30am after watching the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld.

Also worthy of a mention is the lovely Sunday lunch Simon and I had at Le Chardon in East Dulwich the following day. The tuna steak is highly recommended.

Anyhow, I eventually managed to get my hands on a 12″ iBook this afternoon after Rob and I had had our usual post-meeting fry up in Soho. And I have to say I was impressed - it was nice and solid, and had no trouble handling the things I asked it to do in Photoshop. The keyboard and display didn’t feel too cramped, which was my main concern, so I think I’ll definitely get one very soon - with the larger hard drive and some extra RAM from Crucial. We also had a play with the Mac Mini, which really is a nice bit of kit, even if, as I discovered inadvertently, the power lead does come out quite easily.

So with my mind made up, I’m now wondering about a bag or case for my forthcoming 12″ iBook. I’m rather taken with Crumpler’s range - their bags look suitably cool, don’t shout “Mug me!”, and more importantly they’ve got funny names: Mac Bain (my favourite), The 12″ Gimp, Very Busy Man and Cheesey Disco. Crumpler’s site is a particularly mad Flash experience too. Any iBook bag/case feedback welcomed though.

I’m thinking about getting a new Mac, and I also need a laptop. The obvious answer would be to get an Apple laptop I suppose, but I’m distinctly underwhelmed by their offerings.

The iBook is over-priced and under-specced: the cheapest model is 700 notes and comes with a 12″ screen and a 30 gig hard drive. The most expensive is a grand and comes with a 14″ screen and a 60 gig drive. All the iBooks run at a resolution of 1024×768, and come with an inadequate 256 megs of RAM and a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9200. I could probably get a similarly specified ‘PC’ laptop for about half that, so no thanks.

The PowerBook range is lovely, but still over-priced compared to almost every other make of laptop out there. Although great for carrying around, the 12″ screens would be a little too pokey for me, so I’d have to go for the cheapest 15″ in the range, at £1400 by the time the RAM’s upgraded from 256MB. Think I’ll pass on that too.

What I’m seriously considering is buying a cheapish Windows laptop and one of the dinky Mac minis (if I can sort out a reasonably priced KVM solution); that way I get two computers for less than the price of one top-end iBook.

I dunno, it’s so complicated trying to be part of the iProduct generation!