I managed to get back over half of the posts I had because Flock saves them all locally as you publish. Thanks flock.
Monthly Archive for May, 2006
I like the new .net
I switched to bluehost today, for a couple of reasons.
- They include a domain name in the subscription which is cool and means it works with no problems.
- It’s fast
- It’s well known for good service
- You can install things like Drupal, Wordpress, phpbb and more by just clicking pretty much. You get 50 databases so you can do almost anything without worrying about what happens if the database breaks because you can back them up individually.
- It’s just cool.
Ok I think that sorts that. I have tons of other stuff to blog about so I’ll try to catch up with that sometime later.
These things are cool, and I wasn’t expecting them until thursday when they open the new store in Manhatten.
There are really well priced too, starting at £750 or around $1000.
Check them out at apple.com
I just went out for a walk. I sort of knew I wouldn’t be able to get that far judging by my recent poor health and lack of exersize.
I’m starting to feel like I’m not meant to feel normal and be able to test myself physically like I used to be able to do on an almost constant basis.
You know those people who say they miss their youth (spose thats everyone). I feel like that but I’m still there. At least I have that going for me. But what I really resent is smokers who destroy their lungs being able to walk with a confident fast stride, while I just plod along at comparitively snails pace.
Just gotta keep plugging away I guess.
They’ve just recently seperated odeo into two sites instead of te former 1.
I sort of like what they’ve done, but at the same time, its a problem and a slight inconvenience. They now have odeo.com, the main site for listening to podcasts, and odeo studio, for creating and linking to audio for inclusion in podcasts.
I was used to using the former studio to record audio, then send it to my contacts. Now you can’t do that, so I have to remember to click on the send me an odeo link for a user to send them a message now.
Other than that I like the changes. It helps to simplify the site and make it appear more minimalist, which I like.
I think maybe Windows Live Local is a worthy opponent for Yahoo! and Google’s Maps services.
Ok, I’m going to rate each of them on two things, style (navigation, special effects, general looks) and content (quality of the maps, detail in images, usefulness, browser compatability).
Style
- Yahoo - Y! has the best navigation, and the sidebar can be hidden easily.
- Google - I like the standard google minimal style, but the sidebar can’t be closed as easily as with yahoo which wastes space.
- Windows Live - I like the partly transparent header, and the clickto close windows (although to be honest the draggable windows don’tneed to be there in the firstplace). I also can’t find how to switch between map, satelite and hybrid.
Content
- Google - Google I find provides the best information, best searching, best map quality and ease of use.
- Windows Live - Windows live is good, it has good info and very detailed mapping.
- Yahoo! - Y! has the best interface, but the worst content. There are no roads listed around where I am in the UK, whereas the other two have very good mapping for this area.
This post is a follow on of my former comparison of yahoo maps vs google. I formerly went for Google over Yahoo because of content, My overall order now would be:
- Windows Live
- Yahoo
When Yahoo makes their mapping better they would probably leap over windows live but until then they’re last for me. However, these three services are very similar so there isn’t much between them.
New Store
I only mentioned this last week, the release of the new Mac laptop. It was reported by a few sites last week that it would be released last tuesday, nothing happened.
This thursday, they are opening Apples new flagship store in New York. The store opening in manhatten is apprently where steve jobs may unveil the new MacBook, and also a new iPod model. Possibly a video ipod nano with more storage.
However, who knows with Apple, but they have to release it sometime.
Colours
There is also speculation about colours. Apple were known in the late 90’s through to 2002 for their iMac with various plastic covers as well as several other products. The G3 iBook and more recently, the iPod mini have been clad in various colours.
More recently, Apple have just stuck with white plastic and aluminium for their macs and ipods.
However, after the success of the iPod Mini and the black versions of the two main iPods, they may be considering making a black version of the MacBook. They may also decide to go back to their colourful past and make the notebook in various brighter colours.
There is a problem with this though. Obviously there is a big risk. They can’t afford for one colour to be the most popular and have some that don’t sell. Will enough people buy a pink Mac? Ok that will appeal to a lot of people, but the same people will also buy a white mac without any fuss, so why take the risk? Not only that, reselling a pink laptop second hnd will be difficult, because there will be less interest in that colour than a neutral white or black one. If I had one and came to selling on ebay, I know which colour I would rather have.
Personally, I like the current mac styling, the white and metal is cool, the colours I was glad to see the back of.
One thing it does have in its favour though. And that is identity. Because macs aren’t custom, (at least not on the outside), people would want to maybe be able to do this, and colours are a way of doing that. Ok maybe, but why not just put a few stickers on it?
Price
It has been rumoured that the new macbook will sell for $999. That isn’t very much for an apple laptop as far as I can tell. Even if it sold for £100 more in the UK than in the States, it will still be a reasonable price that a lot of people will be prepared to pay. Around £600 or slightly more. I have a feeling thats wrong though. I was always expecting a price of £800 in the UK.
Just the waiting game to see what happens with all of this stuff.
I saw the band We Are Scientists on later with jools holland the other night and they really impressed me. So much so that I bought their album off itunes the next day. I’ve been listening to it almost non-stop since then. It’s one of those albums that are completely addicting. Almost every track is a classic.
The one that keeps me coming back most of all though is The Great Escape. It’s one of those songs like plug in baby, hysteria or fix you that always sounds fresh no matter how many times you listen to it.
Get their album if you don’t, its one of the best I’ve got in a long time.
Japanese news agency Nikkei is reporting that Apple and new Vodafone Japan owner Softbank are working together to develop cellphones capable of downloading and playing music from the iTunes store. Details are, of course, very slim at this point, as we don’t even know whether to characterize this as a “true” iPhone, or simply a ROKR-like model featuring only software from the iPod manufacturer powering a non-Apple handset. However, Nikkei is quoting sources that say the phone, which may be released as early as this year (and which is definitely NOT pictured alongside this post), is expected to sport both Softbank and Apple branding, which may indicate that Cupertino will have a hand in developing the hardware as well. Whatever they’re working on, we wanna know about it, and we won’t rest until we have a ton of specs and pics for you.
Apple said to be working with Softbank on “co-branded” handset - Engadget
This sounds good, a sleek, silver phone with an apple logo on the back is what I’m envisioning. Still, this may be a japan only product, or like the article says, a similar thing to the motorola rokr which had itunes on but no apple hardware input.
Either way, it sounds cool.