Apple Legal and the Nine Year Old Girl

1. Now that’s embarassing… a nine year old girl writes Steve Jobs letter with a suggestion to improve the iPod only to get a stinging rebuke from Apple Legal complete with a link to Apple’s legal policies online. Apparently the lawyer responsible had a very high opinion of this nine year old — why else would he think that she would be able to understand the language it was written in? Is it possible he printed off a template and sent that without due regard to the recipient? Surely not…

2. Anyway, this attracted the attention of the local TV station, which promptly produced a minor PR issue for Apple and no doubt a very red-faced Apple lawyer (who later called and apologised profusely).

3. I wonder how many letters from children Steve Jobs receives in a year? Surely not so many that he couldn’t sign the odd reply….

MacBook Pro Update

1. A few points about my MacBook Pro:

  1. Hooooooot. And that’s hot, not hoot. I’ve read some people bitching that the MagSafe power connecter blows because you knock it and it comes off (duh!), but no one ever mentions that the computer would cook your knees if you had it charging on your lap.

  2. It’s faaaast. That’s a hoot. I put another 512mb RAM in mine (bringing it up to a total of 1Gb) and it’s snappy. And fast. Wow.

  3. That. Screen. Damn, it’s a nice screen. Hurt-your-eyes bright, no dead pixels, crystal clear.

  4. A few nice touches that I didn’t have on my old PowerBook: there are two volume settings, one for internal speakers and another for headphones, which is nice considering how many times I’ve had my ears blasted because I’ve got the speakers cranked and plugged some headphones in. And it no longer burns your palms when typing like my old PowerBook did, so ventilation under the front part of the laptop (by that I mean the part closest to you when you’re using it) has been improved dramatically.

  5. Few things I’m not liking: the Superdrive is slow. It’s less super, more like an okdrive. I know they couldn’t fit the faster drive because it’s 12mm thick rather than 9mm think like this is, but I’d still like a faster drive. This drive also seems a bit twitchy, a couple of DVDs have turned coaster because of some unknown reason. And, lastly, there seems to be an issue with copying from one firewire drive to another firewire drive; for some reason it copies really slowly, but if I turn one of the processor cores off it copies normally. I have yet to really dig into this, I don’t know if this is an Apple bug or whether I’m doing something weird.

  6. Photo Booth is the best program evar. Seriously, there’s nothing funnier than a bunch of pissed guys making stupid faces in front of this program.

Update 10/3/06

1. Oh my, there’s less than two weeks to go and thing are getting very hectic. I’ve finished up at work, which I am glad about because that was one of my milestones (to use a bit of jargon), but I will be missing the people I work with. And today I picked up my visa, so I’ve got all the paper work I need to go.

2. While all the official stuff might be all organised, I still haven’t packed. Or moved anything back to my parents yet. I guess you never realise how much stuff you have until you have to move it all, but the sheer amount of junk I’ve acumulated is truly staggering. Happily most can be thrown away, and the rest fit in boxes. And since I’ll be gone for so long I’ve started cateloging some of my stuff, like my books and CDs and what not, with an awesome program called Delicious Library. if you’re a Mac person you would proabably have heard all about it already; if you haven’t, you should read the ArsTechnica review of Delicious Library, it’ll give you some insight as to why Apple has such devoted fans (and why it’s such a kick-arse program).

3. I’ll be writing a bit more about Delicious Library, and my MacBook Pro, and a bunch of other subjects when things quieten down. Which would probably be months away, but try I must. Until next time then….

Microsoft’s Origami

1. Origami is one of the few Microsoft ideas which has really impressed me, and not just because it’s a very slick promo video. It’s intriguing, moving the focus of tablet PC from business to personal usage, and combining it with a slick UI that seems half MCE and half Xbox 360. It shows that Microsoft is learning a few new tricks, from its Xbox division and even a bit from Apple: sell more than a product, sell an experience. Then again, that device shown is about the size of a Filofax, which is about ten times bigger than what I’d want something like that for (I’d rather get a smartphone personally). And if it is to be as indispensable as the video makes it out to be, I’m gonna want at least two full working day’s worth of battery life out of it — that’s at least 15-20 hours of battery life, with liberal usage of WiFi. Now, where’s my jetpack?

(And while we are on Microsoft videos, check this out: “What if Microsoft designed the iPod Packaging?”

Computer Upgrade

1. In a rare turn of events, the computer I ordered became obsolete before I even received it, because Apple no longer ships my particular model. Instead they have replaced it with an even faster model, at no extra cost. Sweet as! Looks like my shiny new MacBook Pro 1.83Ghz will start shipping next week, which means I can now go and get some sleep :)

UPDATE: Damnit! A speed bump I got, but now it won’t ship until the 28th Feb. I fucking ordered 10hrs after the keynote! I never wait 7 weeks for anything!

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iPod resuffle

1. Minor resuffling of the iPod line, with the introduction of a 1Gb iPod nano at $219(au) and a price drop on the iPod shuffle.

MobileNow?

1. Does anyone else think it’s strange timing for Apple to jump into a totally new business when they are in the middle of a massive platform transition?

In a moment of weakness…

1. …I ordered one.

Ha!

1. Ha! What did I say? New MacBookPro, same form factor as a 15in PowerBook G4, same price as a 15in PowerBook G4.  Intel iBooks (MacBook?) nowhere to be seen.  On a different note, if the 1.67Ghz Core Duo is being used in the new MacBook Pros, maybe Apple will be using the single core chips in the iBook replacements… meaning I might as well break my credit card and buy the MBP (MBP… hasn’t got the ring of PB, does it?) now.  It is a really nice machine, and with the remote and iSight and all that built in it would be perfect for me in Japan.

Things of screws and delicate metals

1. Well I suppose it had to happen sometime, but the hard drive on my PowerBook said it’s last hurrah two days ago. I had noticed that my computer had been running slower and slower over the last few months, but though nothing of it since it was about time for a clean install anyway. Then it slowed to a total crawl. And then it stopped booting. Then, if it could get any worse, it started making a noise like what you get when you stick a pen in a moving fan blade. Which is usually a pretty bad sign.

2. Luckily, I managed to rescue all my files, thanks to a little calm (it seems the days of my breaking things that are already broken are over, which is just as well I suppose) and ingenuity, and a kick arse program. Of course, if I had lost my photos, the scream would echo worldwide. That, fortunately, is on a seperate drive.

3. This still put me in a bit of a dilemma — do I buy a new computer now, or repair this one? I don’t want to spend $3000 on a new PowerBook just yet, so close to MacWorld in January, but I will be buying one in the next couple of months so it’s not worth spending lots on this one. Which is when I discovered a brilliant site called PBFixit which gives you detailed instructions on how to take apart any Macintosh computer, accompanied by excellent photos. So a short trip to the local computer store for a new hard drive and an hour of mucking about and it’s like I have an all new computer.

4. So all’s well that ends well. And because you’ve all been very good boys and girls, you get a treat.

5. Enjoy :)