Giant Bomb

31 May 2008

Twitter

I'm now fairly regularly Twittering, so here's the link to my Twitter page:

Me at Twitter

I might put the Tweets in the sidebar here. I'm not sure, there's an awful lot of stuff in there...

I'll think about it and get back to you. If you have any input, don't hesitate to comment. I always enjoy comments. They give me proof I'm not talking to myself and the one person I know reads the blog.

You know who you are.

Take me away,
Jens

Update: I went ahead and added it anyway. It's not very big.

I tell you what I love about Twitter: I can post to the internets from anywhere I have mobile phone signal This means I can tweet whilst on break at work and all sorts. Surprisingly fun.

WWDC '08: Steve Jobs Keynote Predictions

It's that time again. I'll be putting all my ideas as to the content of the opening keynote address of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference - to be delivered once again by Steve Jobs, Apple CEO - in this post.

First, Steve will unveil iPhone 2G, which will - humorously enough - be primarily about adding 3G cellular technology. It'll also add GPS and I expect Apple will double the offered capacities from 8/16GB to 16/32GB.

Update: Rumoured pricing (UK) has the iPhone selling subsidised on contracts from as little as free, up through £100. Macworld UK is suggesting the phone will sell unsubsidised on a Pay/Go tariff at the current £269/£329 price points (16GB/32GB or 8GB/16GB).

Rampant internet speculation based on "leaked" shots of the new iPhone's body (Tellingly, no shots exist with the electronics inside the shell) suggests the new iPhone will sport a plastic, glossy rear. I tend to follow more recent and more reliable suggestions that the 3G iPhone will match the existing model in general design and material choice, though it's size may have marginally update: decreased.

On a purely speculative basis, the approximate existing iPhone guts may continue to be offered in these new plastic shells as an iPhone with the nano suffix or something (I speculate iPhone white and iPhone black) - a more budget oriented iPhone.

From there, Steve will move on to the software powering iPhone 2nd Gen and iPhone black/white - as well as existing iPhones and iPod touches. Major update: that OS is now called OS X iPhone. Expect this section to give details on the AppStore as well as new software features. Highly unlikely Steve will go back over the SDK itself, more on that will follow in the sessions.

Expect Steve to announce launch apps including some of those we've already seen.

Finally, Steve will One More Thing .Mac. Update: Expect revamp of look and feel - the web interface I mean - in line with the recent .Mac Mail revamp, expect some more cross-platform uses, possibly a free version, possible capacity bumps and finally, expect integration with OS X iPhone. What form this final integration will take is debatable, likely it is syncing of and access to data - I'm sure you can imagine what forms this will take.

Unclear placement on this next stuff, but from what we see, it is worth mentioning. Mac OS X Leopard has been rechristened OS X Leopard, in line with the new name for iPhone OS, OS X iPhone. This probably means Apple will outline the differences and similarities going forward.

Rumours have suggested Apple may seed an OS X Snow Leopard (Technically, 10.6 under these rumours though I speculate even under that theory, Apple is dropping the 10.x.x numbering scheme in favour of OS X Name Version x.x, or even OS X Leopard Version x.x), an update in the same vein as OS X 10.1 back in the day - focusing on security, stability, general fixes and so on. Additionally, the release is said to drop PPC support and remove or de-emphasise Carbon.

I speculate these rumours are either correct and OS X Snow Leopard is the codename for the first update to OS X Leopard under a new naming
system and release schedule/system or they are referring to a third OS X.

OS X touch would be a hybrid of OS X Leopard and OS X iPhone, combinging the mobile platform's stouch control roots with more of the raw power of the flagship OS for what I am calling iNewton, but you might call Mac touch. Yes, the Mac Tablet. I speculate Apple will reveal the iNewton and its OS X touch OS here, preparing developers for it by talking about it in sessions & the keynote and also seeding a developers' preview ready for a full unveiling and release details/release this comign January. This version would remove Carbon entirely as speculated.

That said, if Snow Leopard is, as others believe, an OS X Mac (As I am now calling the flagship OS as a line in light of the new naming scheme for the OS X iPhone line - to that end Apple would be advised to give individual OS X iPhone releases small mammal names) release, named OS X Snow Leopard, Is till believe it will include pervasive Multi-Touch based on the OS X iPhone line and be destined to power an iNewton ebcase of this. This versio would include the Carbon tools, but Apple's own aps would all move to Cocoa/Cocoa touch.

As for the Mac mini's belated updated, the predictions I initially posted with regards to the update itself remain unchanged, but I now speculate it may occur at WWDC after all. Rumours suggest Apple wished to unveil new MacBooks at WWDC but has been forced to delay by Intel. I speculate Apple will move the MacBook updates to last year's consumer desktop update timeframe (August) in a straight swap with this year's due desktop updates (Mac mini and Mac Pro).

To put it simply, I think Apple was planning to update the MacBooks here and the Macs Pro and mini in August and may now be doing them the other way around.

It remains possible both lines will go without updates.

Update:
Courtesy of TUAW we now have reason to believe the Mac mini could well be EOL'd today, replaced by a similar product using (As speculated previous) an enclosure similar to AppleTV and Time Capsule/Airport Extreme Base Station. No word on pricing, but it would sport an optical drive and be pitched heavily as a new developer's tool.This make sense thanks to the influx of new Apple developers owing to the OS X iPhone SDK - since iPhone apps are made on Macs, Apple needs a new, affordable Mac to be available so they can get making them apps fast and cheap.

Treat this with a grain of salt. I imagine TUAW's images, whilst they may be based o a real product Apple is conceiving (Since it makes a whole lot of sense), are faked.

29 May 2008

Live Blog: The Setup Renovation

http://www.scribblelive.com/Thread.aspx?Id=1031

Update: All finished now. The hi-fi ended up moving up a shelf. The Wii has moved about 8 inches to the right to accommodate the VGA Switcher's new home. Between them is Wii Remote Number 2. On top of the Switcher is the Mouse Dock and Wii Remote 1 in its charging station. Behind the Switcher, angled through the gap at the side of the book case is my USB fan.

Beside the Wii on the right is currently the Eee, but that gap is eventually the Mac mini's home. To the right of that gap are the Wii games. Most of the Wii Accessories moved into the Wii Games' old home, the others have entirely new homes. For example, my 3 wheels (The Ferrari multi-format one and the two Wii Remote shells - including the official Wii Wheel) are in that redundant PS2's old home.

I swapped the power strips so the 6 is at the back powering everything, the 4 now upfront for charging things.

Final big change, I moved the monitor back and the speakers forward, so there's now way more space on the desk.

It's a pretty nice setup. I'll have some pictures soon...

...Maybe.

Updating The Setup

Last post I mentioned my plan to redo the setup here just to unclutter the cables situation. Well I've decided to go a touch more drastic. I'm going to strip everything on the desk and the bookcase beside it out (Excluding some stuff on the bookshelf which will absolutely not be moving). That comprises the PC and all the related devices, the monitor, the printer, the VGA switcher, the Composite > VGA box, the Wii, the hi-fi & its speakers, all of my games & DVDs and the total removal of the redundant PS2.

It'll probably also require the reorganisation of a couple of crates and I'll be moving some of the Wii accessories (Though most will superficially remain where they are - hopefully neater though).

All of this is leading to the eventual installment of my new "desktop", the Mac mini. I put desktop in quote marks because it's actually going to sit on the bookshelf by the Wii, replacing the hi-fi which will move up a shelf or down two.

The other big news is that I might ditch the Dell after all. But only if my parents agree to pay me some money for the add-ons of this year in exchange for releasing it to them (Value £184, I'd hope for £150 from them). To recap, those add-ons are a Blu-Ray reader and a better graphics card.

I'd use the £150 to buy an Elgato eyeTV Diversity (Dual tuner Mac USB TV Tuner dongle) - that would replace the Dazzle*Stick as my TV, I'd let them have that...I hate it anyway. That would only cost £79.95, so I'd spend the rest on a big USB external hard drive - 400 or 500 GB. Half of that drive would be Time Machine for the Mac mini's drive and half would be additional media storage, mostly for TV recordings.

This would basically be me set. Yes, I'd lose Blu-Ray watching in my room, but I would still be able to do it elsewhere - either on the big living room TV or wherver they put the Dell. I'd also lose PC gaming, but the PC games I play most nowadays are things like Grid Wars 2 (Which has a Mac version) and older first person shooters (I keep going back to the First Person Shooters of 2003-2005 for some reason). Even Penny Arcade Adventures will run on the Mac mini!

Plus...I plan on getting a 360 anyway. So between Wii, that and the (Admittedly somewhat limited) games that work on the mini, I'll be set.

Speaking of Wii, MOHH2 is kickass.

I'm thinking of Liveblogging the rebuild from my Eee...Mainly as an experiment with livblogging, but also as a way to vent any frustrations with cables or whatever.

Anyway, that's all for now. Catch you later.

Goodbye papa, please pray for me,
Jens

28 May 2008

Whew

Well folks, it is done.

All published posts on this blog are now tagged. There are probably some errors and misses in there, but whatever. It'll do for now.

I'm really pumped about my Mac mini...I get it 3 weeks today, after doing 7 exams. I was watching loads of videos about it on YouTube earlier. I'm so excited.

Speaking of, I'm planning to strip out the desk area soon, re-wire everything and get the whole setup neatened up. Yes, I'm leaving before mid-August, but the mess back there is just bothering me.

I'm totally going to convince the parents I need a new desk for Scotland. Needs to be bigger for this monitor for one thing - there's just not enough free space on here.

I'll be doing a video unboxing and setup of the Mac mini. Should be fun.

I'm doing my WWDC Steve Jobs Keynote Predictions way early. But the post will get updates as I get more information closer to the event. My big hope? Mac mini update. Not because I'm unhappy with the current specs (Though the HDD could be bigger), more because I want it to be just before I buy so it can't be just after I buy. Which would be a bummer.

Baby bye bye bye,
Jens

23 May 2008

Housecleaning

Switched to a new design you may have noticed, it reflects the gradual change in tone up in here. I'm also currently in the process of tagging all the posts in the archive, and since I don't have any exams until June 3rd now, I should be getting that done in the next week or so.

I'm now on Twitter, dunno what I'm going to do with it, but I imagine I'll find some use for micro-blogging in the future. Follow me if you use it, but right now it's probably not worth joining just to follow me.

I'm hoping to get around to those exam reviews next week, I have some issues with all three I've done so far so stay tuned for that.

I finally enabled Advanced Desktop (Vanilla Xandros) on my Eee the other day, so I've been kind of geeking out. That's how I roll, yo.

Nintendo are bringing a turquoise DS Lite out. Hot damn. That might be the thing that makes me upgrade. That thing is lush.

Rumours abound Apple will unveil a 3G iPhone soon (Like, within 3 weeks) which will go on sale shortly thereafter worldwide. The most exciting rumour is that it may be sold contract-free at the fll price, with carriers offering rebates (Similar to the one offered by Carphone Warehouse and O2 recently) to drive contract sales. Well if I can get a 3G 16GB iPhone for £269, contract-free, then I might just have to go for that instead of the Sony.

I'd be more aprehensive about an 8GB, it wouldn't be a big enough upgrade on the touch.

Right, I'm off to spec up a computer to drool over at VooDooPC's website. I'll finish the upgrades to the blog soon.

Goodbye my Coney Island baby
Jens

06 May 2008

Have a crazy dream

If you're me, then you're writing this blog posting. And if that's the case, you have many ideas for the future, big plans. Cos your a visionary. Insane, yes. But as a result, a visionary. You've got innumerable plans, dozens of ideas.

The least of which is a crowd-sourced games magazine. But there are bigger ideas which springboard off of that one. There are ideas for years in the future. Entertainment. It's all about the entertainment.

See, for me, creativity and grand vision is just a way of life. It's how I roll.

Talk shows on the internet. Books. Businesses merging. Empires spanning so many media. Theme parks. Music. All that jazz.

At the end of the day, it's like being a kid way past when most people stop. But it's about carrying the conviction with me to make my dreams happen. Not just for me though. Almost all of them are for everyone.

But even I can't believe my latest one.

Freesat just launched.

And now...I kinda want a TV channel.

And I think I could make it work too. That, combined with the fact I sorely intend to launch one some day - and not decades from now either - is the scary part.

Have a crazy dream and watch as crazy things happen.

We now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Don't cry for me,
Jens