Published on
October 30, 2008 5:58 PM -
New Ubuntu release hits today. I’m not going to rush to upgrade for a few days at least. Hoping things are a little more polised than 8.04 was initially. PulseAudio caused me so much pain intially, even though I was running it fine with 7.10. I just don’t want sound to break and Wine to work without a hitch and I’m happy. Was just looking at the release notes, and there isn’t nothing major that I’m interested in. The new GNOME features are not amazing since I run E any way. The 3G modem support is interesting if I install on my Eee, but for my main machine I’m not that fussed about that.
Thinking about it I should probably do a major cleanup of my drives since I’m runnig short on space. Also with WotLK around the corner I need the space. I should also probably order a new graphics card before November 13th also. Going to go with ATI this time around, since the mid-range cards seem better than Nvidia’s offerings, plus their driver support has increase 10 fold. HDMI out is the future, though I would need to get a new monitor as well to utilise that.
Published on
October 30, 2008 5:47 PM -
In response to a post on CruchGear :
I do agree in part with the essence of this post. Blu-Ray in part was dead before it even hit the market. However it does have some features that will ensure it is around for a while, and it may eventually replace DVD, it just is not going to happen as quickly as the Blu-Ray Association would like.
Blu-Ray always was going to struggle establishing itself as major format for movies. The jump from VHS to DVD was one of the fastest format adoptions in history. Especially when compared to Vinyl vs. CD. In both of these cases there was a notable difference in both technology and quality of the medium. This is really not as straight forward with Blu-Ray.
An upscaling DVD gives an image that is on par with a Blu-Ray player on a full 1080 display, most people will not be able to tell the difference any way. Also because DVD is still a major revenue for the studios, I can’t see any off them going Blu-Ray only any time soon. In fact the positioning of Blu-Ray has made DVD titles even cheaper. Add to the mix digital downloads, be it in DRM’ed format of plain DivX from BitTorrent provide a perfectly good viewing experience.
The problem Blu-Ray always faced was physically and technically it is still just an optical disk. The capacity and how it works is abstract to most people. Technically it is superior due to its storage capacity. But other than that it does exactly the same thing DVD does. It is because of this perception, adoption is going to take time. Sony’s strategy of using the PS3 to drive Blu-Ray is a stroke of genius without it Blu-Ray would not have even got ths far. Also the use of Blu-Ray in the PS3 has pretty much guaranteed Blu-Ray will be around for a while just because of the PS3’s lifecycle, which is going to be at least another 8 years.
Also the argument about Blu-Ray writers getting cheaper will ease adoption is also mute. In that hard disk recording is becoming the major format for recording. Every major comsumer electronics company already offers HD based recorders. Blu-Ray is more likely to become an archive medium for recordings from a HD recorder, much like how I use my DVD-R right now. The argument that older people understand the DVD interface so jumping to Blu-Ray is trivial is probably correct. However HD recorders have the same interface so they don’t cause a problem for the older generation either. I know this because my parents use a HD recorder and Sky+ without issue.
Another factor also slowing High-Def adoption in general right now is cost for services like Sky-HD, and until free-to-air services go fully High-Def in 2010, people in general are not going to rush out to buy Blu-Ray players. As a storage format use with PC’s is really going to be decided by cost of media, right now it looks like it will be a while before that happens.
Published on
October 15, 2008 5:13 PM -
Well it has happened Apple have unveiled their new MacBook and MacBook Pros.
I want the new MacBook, will wait till christmas I guess though or even the New Year still looks like flying to NYC to buy an Apple laptop still works.
Published on
October 14, 2008 12:56 PM -
Well today Apple is set to announce new laptops finally. There have been rumours of new MacBooks and MacBook Pro for months now. Some people are even expecting an Apple Netbook, however I think that is unlikely. I just want a new MacBook which is cheaper. Though rumours supporting a totally new design for the Pros do seem quiet intriguing when you look at recent patent filings. Going to stay in the office for the announcement. No streaming but the engadget feed should do the trick.
Well Google started hyping up the launch of their new Browser, by posting on their blog yesterday. People said it would happen eventually, and now it has come true. Google is entering the browser wars. Chrome is set to hit today. I just looked through the cartoon they have created as an introduction on their website. Some interesting things, based on WebKit – a good move considering they are using it on Android already, plus it is easier than working with Gecko. The virtualised javascript engine – seems like a great idea. Going to have to use it. Also they go on about they tested the browser which is also pretty cool. I guess being google they do have access to all of the sites easily. We will also see if google give back patches to WebKit, so that Apple(Safari), KDE and Nokia can benefit from some of the technical improvements.
I should have it in my hands so to speak in a couple of hours, can’t wait!
I installed two addons today that have totally changed my WoW experience. Though I’m at Level 60 on my main now, due to time constraints I find it quite hard getting into things for short periods of time. Plus I have not been playing that much the last couple of weeks, it has taken me 2 weeks to get to 30% of level 61. So I was cruising around the WoW addon sites and found Cartographer and MonkeyQuest. And they absolutely rock. In fact they are even helping me level up my alts quickly.
Published on
August 15, 2008 11:47 AM -
The UK gov is going to introduce fees for business which want to hire foreign skilled workers from outside the EU. (For more info see : BBC Article).
I don’t usually get very political on this site, however I don’t consider this to be a good idea. Some genius in Whitehall obviously wanted a pat on the back for coming up with a new revenue stream for the government.
The government will sell it as a form of protection from cheap foreign workers, but actually this is coming too late. Plus also it seems to be for workers from non-EU countries. Our workforce faces the biggest threat from other EU countries. The proportion of skilled workers coming from say Asia or the Middle East is I would have thought a lot smaller than that from other EU states. The quotas introduced last year still don’t conclusivly show any signs of quelling the problems.
In the long run the changes will probably make things worse. It will aid in legitimising illegal entry into the UK for skilled workers, especially for small businesses. Plus I can’t easily see where the resources to police such changes to the immigration laws are going to come from. What about professions like doctors and nurses which we are having to look abroad to fill vacancies anyway. Will the National Health Trusts be exempt from such fees?
Published on
May 23, 2008 5:26 PM -
Well I was expecting great things from Lucas, Spielberg and Harrison, I’m glad to report that I was not disappointed Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull delivers in every way, providing the excellent mix of action, adventure and comedy, just like the original films.
The action starts from scene one and keeps on rockin’ and rollin’ till the end. I think they did really well keeping the main plot line secret, I enjoyed the film more by not knowing. Some bits were predictable, but not in a bad way. It is set in 1957 so a whole 13 years after the last film. Since that time, Indy has been an ISS agent in Europe as well as keeping his teaching job and partaking on his regular adventures.
The film starts with a bunch of Army types breaking into Area 51, to recover an artifact that Jones had previously examined. I thought oh, it going to be the Ark. But no it is not, having said that it does put in a little cameo. Once you do find out what the item is, the rest of the plot does sort of come evident, but you are still going to enjoy how it plays out. A must see, can’t think why anyone would not like it.
I have decided to give XP a go on the EEE, since I figured I could. Linux is great, but due to not being able to hibernate and other little niggles I thought I would give Windows a go. In terms of pure functionality there is nothing wrong with Windows. I find with Linux I can waste a lot of time dicking around with settings and trying things rather than actually getting work done.
I have made the nLite install and I’m going to try installing to the 4GB SDHC card to start with.
Published on
May 10, 2008 7:15 PM -
Tags: WordPress.
Well I have had enough of trying to workout the new archive system from the old one turned out to be more trouble than it is worth. So I fired up WordPress on my Linux box to try out converting this site, and it all worked without a flaw. So I decided I might as well do it on the live site. So here it is. Now I just need to sort out the styling a little and reduce the header it a little.
Will also go back and publish all the blogs from January to now.
Phil Collins was not at MacWorld after all, instead Jobs unveiled the MacBook Air a super lite MacBook targeted at the people that want a super portable but with a full keyboard. The most important feature is the flash drive option, why didn’t Apple standardise on SSD. The default configuration uses a 1.8″ iPod style hard disk.
There is no integrated optical drive, however Apple also unveiled a USB portable SuperDrive. Until I get my hands on an Air and have a play. I can’t really decide if it the right new Mac for me. Since I do need more storage and a bit more power. The Air is clearly not a primary or single machine option. I would have liked to have seen a builtin HSDPA modem, like in the Sony TZ. But I guess they were trying to keep the price down. Also the other strange thing is that it only has one USB port, so that would mean you need to have a hub with you at all times. Hell even the EEEPC has 3 USB ports, and the new X300 from IBM also has 3.
I do want the portable SuperDrive that also got announced, for $99 it is a steal. The new Time Machine capsule is also an interesting idea. Though a cheaper SATA NAS solutions are available that are better value for money. but until I play with Time Machine I guess I’m not that bothered. I still haven’t got Leopard obviously since I really need a new Mac, I thought I would wait until then.
Just came across this on AppleInsider. Either Jobs has convinced Phil Collins to come along tomorrow, or Apple is launching a new wireless device that is not an iPhone. Either way we will know in the next 24 hours or so.
Published on
January 9, 2008 10:43 PM -
I have been giving RockBox the alternative firmware for the iPod ago. I have to say at first I was quite taken with some of the cool things, however its usability is not a good as the standard Apple firmware, even after enabling all of the look and features. Sync whilst simpler is nice, keeping a mixed iTunes DB and playlist folders is proving troublesome. If I blew all of the iTunes stuff away I’m sure it would behave nicely, but right now I think I’m going back to Apple.
Published on
January 8, 2008 10:52 PM -
Well I completed my trial period of World of Warcraft yesterday, and I found more enjoyable this time round. I got to level 11 in about 15 hours of play. I wasn’t playing it all out. But I have decided I will probably get a sub this time and stick with playing it. Lets see how quickly I can progress, Mati will be about to help on the group missions plus also useful to know strategies for some of the quests. I’m only going to use a single character for now.
Published on
January 7, 2008 11:58 AM -
Was out on friday night, and I think I caught a chill on top of which Mati has been sick for most of the last week, with the flu bug doing the rounds. So I managed to dodge it last week, however I’m not out of action. Hopefully I will be well enough for work on monday!
Published on
January 2, 2008 7:14 AM -
First day back today looking forward to it. Even got up extra early! Lets see how much those a-holes at South West Trains have put the prices up by!
Published on
January 1, 2008 2:39 PM -
Well I’m still playing with upgrading the site, however I’m hitting a few problems with the new archive system. I’m sure the new version is better, however I can’t work out a simple things like republishing all of my templates easily. Also the new pages feature seems not to be working for me. I’m sure these problems are just configuration issues, plus the fact that I’m still learning how the whole things hangs together.
