Brave New (Digital) World
My brother-in-law John (on the right on the album cover) plays bass in a band - Monkeytin - who released their new album Brave
Before I bought the album I decided to check out Amazon, and I was pleased to see that it’s also availble through their MP3 download service from both the UK
Since I’ve never tried Amazon’s download service (and I’m a cheapskate!) I decided to go with them. A brief download/install of their helper application, the purchase of the album and subsequent download later and all was good. Very impressed, both with the price and the service. I’ll be using them again.
Album review coming soon.
Design Decisions
A comment in my recent post about letting the air out of Air got me thinking about some of the design decisions Apple have made with their new laptop.
Letting the air out of the Air
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 24-odd hours, you will have heard about the new Macbook Air ultra-slim laptop from Apple. Reactions seem to be falling into two categories:
Since everyone else is talking about it, I thought I would join in the fun.
Nokia N800 or Apple iPhone?
Earlier this week I was in New York City (it’s a helluva town), and as well as the usual tourist attractions I stopped by the Apple store in Soho so I could play with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Both devices are very slick – Safari and WiFi access are excellent – but I see little point in getting a Touch when the iPhone is just around the corner in the UK. Even better, the iPhone is exclusive to my current mobile provider.
However, I have a slight dilemma. I like Apple products, and I really want an iPhone when my contract is up for renewal. The problem is that I don’t like the direction Apple is going with shutting out direct access to their devices, nor can I properly sync my Evolution calendar and contacts to the device if I get one. Thirdly, I already have a phone that is pretty good (as a phone).
So I started focusing about what I really like about the iPhone, and apart from the whole shiny Apple experience it boils down to two things: Browser and WiFi. This got me thinking again about the Nokia N800, which also has the added bonuses of being a) open, b) hackable and c) supports VoIP.
What I really want to know from N800 owners is two things:
Answers on a postcard please.
Lenovo + Ubuntu = Apple?
Mark Pilgrim did it.
Then Cory Doctorow did it as well.
O’Reilly has noticed them doing it.
…and now /. (that bastion of journalism) is talking about it.
What is it?
People (whom some would call alpha geeks) are switching from Apple’s OS X to Ubuntu. Noteworthy in itself, but so far I’ve not seen anyone make the connection that both Mark and Cory have switched to Ubuntu on Lenovo kit (the hardware formally known as IBM).
I’m not suprised they chose this combination – Lenovo + Ubuntu is a very good match.
In fact in my office right now I’ve got four pieces of Lenovo Kit:
Installing Ubuntu on the Thinkpad was a dream compared to getting XP running at the same feature level. It’s not just the latest and greatest Ubuntu that works so well with this hardware – before Dapper was released I ran Breezy on the two of the M51s.
Sixth (and final) attempt
Bright blazing sunshine. Hour long lunchbreak. New running shorts. What else could I do?
This post marks the sixth and final attempt to go running. Why final? Because I’m enjoying it enough that I’m no longer attempting it – I’m just doing it.
Sticking to the shorter circuit is paying off. I know that I’ve done it, but I’m not dead after doing it. This meant that I could go the day after my last attempt. I know that’s not advisable, and I probably won’t be doing that when I’m onto the longer runs but I want to make the most of the good weather.
I ran the same direction as yesterday, and the pedometer claimed practically the same distance (just over 2½ miles) although I was quicker today. I still haven’t re-calibrated it – I’m going to drive the circuit (it’s all road based) to see how it compares before I do.
I’ve a now added a few additional items to my list:
Let me explain each of them.
look good