devolute.net

First things first, I think Apple make some great stuff. Work recently put a 24″ iMac on my desk and it’s great to work with. Sure it’s not exactly crash-proof (although this is more Adobe’s fault) and the keyboard is awful, but the Apple/OS X experience is pretty good, especially with that lovely vibrant screen. I was recently in the market for a new laptop and was going to buy a 13″ Macbook. In the end a friend of mine stepped in and let me have his old 13″ Sony Vaio for much less, so I bought that instead. I think maybe in his wisdom he was trying to save me.

This trailer for an upcoming film about Mac users called ‘Macheads‘ is terrifying. I’m a pretty huge geek who uses a range of Windows, Linux and OS X machines, but the thought of getting quite as attached to a computer as any of these people makes me glad that I only use a Mac during office hours. As someone with a keen interest in design, I can sympathize a little with someone who collects old Macintosh boxes, but lines like “I have never knowing slept with a windows user” are just disturbing.

At least in the old days (before the iMac) all the hardcore Mac users had beards so were recognizable. Now they have started shaving. God help us all. I still want to see the film though.

See the trailer in question here (found via Gizmodo)

Here in the UK, the iPhone arrives in approximately ten tears time. When we finally get it, the crippling restrictions that will be put on it in terms of bandwidth and connectivity by the traditionally stingy mobile phone providers will render it almost useless. It’s smooth, rounded, shiny and you could probably loose it if you sat on one too quickly, but all that is irrelevant if the absence of network support renders it useless. Could someone please tell the BBC this? Listening to the radio this afternoon, it seems that not only are they determined to advertise a product (someone should take a flick through these documents, perhaps?) but they are advertising one that isn’t even available to people in this country! It’s worth pointing out that other equipment is available that does what the iPhone does (well, almost). I think that perhaps the (alleged) generous 20% discount that Apple gives British journos may have something to do with the constant repetition of Apple-propaganda which is very, very boring. We expect this crap in some places, but on the BBC?

Maybe they just feel guilty for what they’ve done to Apple elsewhere? In short: Don’t believe the hype, Auntie Beeb. np: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

There have been rumours about this floating around for a while but it just happened! As soon as Jobs ended today’s WWDC keynote (yes I did follow it live, yes I do need to get out more) a beta release of version 3 was made available, for Windows as well as OS X. I’ve tried it and to be honest, I don’t particularly like it. The interface is too clunky. However; that’s pretty irrelevant. As a developer this is great news. I can test my sites double quick to make sure they work in Safari. It even uses Mac-like font smoothing. The prospect of more developers being able to test their work thoroughly has got to be great news for Mac users. Way to go Apple.

The other good news is that OSX will support ZFS (presumably this will lead to better interaction with linux machines) and they finally got rid of that horrible brushed metal effect. It always reminded me of my primary school serving counters at lunchtime. Ugh. I used to shudder as cheap cutlery slid across the surface. Regardless, I’m thinking of doing that unspeakable, bighting the bullet and buying a Macbook so although I feel a little dirty, all this Mac progression is all good. I just got to make sure I don’t turn into one of those Mac rumour-mill fan-boy types.