Wasted Continuum

Ok, I’m a few days late on this post, but my database server was down. There’s already a lot of coverage on everything that was announced at the keynote at MacWorld 2008 so I don’t need to go into details about everything. Here’s my quick take on the announcements. Continue Reading »

MacWorld is here again. Steve Jobs will be taking the stage for his keynote Tuesday morning. The big banner this year says “2008. There’s Something in the Air.” This has obviously sent everyone into mad speculation mode. Google that phrase if you want to read through all the rumors.


Here’s my prediction of what will be announced:

• An ultra-mobile MacBook (9 to 5 Mac thinks this will be the MacBook Air)
• Updates to iTunes and iPhone
• Cinema displays that look more like iMacs with buil-in iSight

What I really want besides the ultra-mobile MacBook is a 64GB or greater iPod Touch. That’s not likely, but it’s what I wanted for ’07 MacWorld which never happened.

I finally had to go a get a new phone to replace my dying Razr. I’ve had that phone for four years now. I’ve been doing some phone research for a few weeks now and I don’t like anything I’ve seen so far. I want to wait for the Android-based phones to appear before I buy a new one. I tend to buy phones that are worth it and last many years. Since there aren’t any really cool phones out right now, I went to Target and picked up a T-Mobile Pay-As-You-Go phones for $29.99. It’s a Nokia 2610. I swapped in my SIM card and it was good to go. It’s a super slow phone with very little functions. The worst thing about it is that it has no T9 capability for texting. This sucks because I kept messing up when I was trying to twitter with it. I guess I’ll have to get used to it. The only cool phone I’ve seen so far is the HTC Touch Dual, but it’s not cool enough right now to warrant it hefty price tag.

I think right now I’m going to try to stick with my Razr and carry the Nokia with me as backup.

Flickr has just partnered up with Picnik, an online photo editor. Now you can edit your photos that you’ve already uploaded onto your Flickr account. I just added the feature to my account. It looks like you can auto-fix, rotate, crop, resize, adjust exposure, adjust colors, sharpen and remove red-eye. There’s also a whole batch of pre-built effects that you can apply like sepia, vignetting, posterize, and the Paris Hilton night vision effect. Looks useful. I’d probably only use it in a bind. Maybe if I needed a quick crop and I was at home.

Nothing unexpected here. But it’s officially announced now. The big question is what is going to be announced. The only rumor going around is an ultra mobile laptop. That bodes well for me. I want apple to announce one so that I don’t end up buying the Asus Eee PC. As much as I want to buy that right now, I feel like if I do, Apple will announce the perfect laptop for me and I’d be kicking myself again. I did buy the last-gen Nano a month before the current one was released. I’m not too pissed at that, but a notebook would be different. Even if Jobs doesn’t announce a ultra mobile, an updated MacBook would work too. Something a little lighter and more powerful than the current generation. It’s time to update that line. I don’t really give a crap about a new iPhone, unless they release a 64GB, 3G, unlocked version. The big keynote is on January 15th, 2008. I’ll wait and see. It’s weird how there’s so little rumors flying about.

One of the biggest topics in the computing world is the newly released Asus Eee PC notebook computer. Everyone and their moms has written up something about it. So why the frickin’ buzz you ask? If you don’t know what the Eee is, it is an ultra-portable 7″ laptop. What’s cool about it is that it is a flash NAND based computer. Right now, there is a 4GB and a 8GB model. It’s also preloaded with Linux. It has a built-in camera and wireless b/g. It’s installed with OpenOffice, Skype and other software. The Eee is aimed for someone who’s on the go and does not need a laptop with tons of memory. Instead, you can throw it in your bag, go to a local wifi coffee house and blog about pointless issues for four hours before you have to plug in the tiny adapter that it comes with. The thing that gets most people excited is the fact that it costs only $399 (4GB).

So all of that would make a lot of geeks run out to get one. What’s got my attention is this little article that was posted a couple days ago on Uneasysilence. Someone actually loaded OS X Leopard on one and posted the tutorial for it. For $399, I’m really getting tempted. I guess I should wait until MacWorld Expo in January to see if a new MacBook is announced before I jump the gun.