Tag:Apple

March 16, 2017
Max Life, Technology , ,

At Sixes and Sevens

The term ‘at sixes and sevens’ means being in a state of confusion. It was used a lot in our family household.

For the last few months I have been torn over wether or not I wanted to trade my iPhone Six in for a Seven.

On paper the iPhone Seven is little more than the 6s should have been. The camera is better, the processor is faster and the home button redesigned to no longer be a button. It looks like the 6 too. In fact the only way to tell them apart is the lack of a headphone socket on the newer one.

I had pretty much decided that I did not need to upgrade.

So the 7 is rubbish then ?

Well no. It’s really rather good. It is considerably faster than the 6. So much so that I am still quite amazed every time I use it. The camera a is not a hit just better, it is way better. Every photo is better. The software that takes advantage of the new camera module is smarter. Smart software and higher resolution. What is not to like ?

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November 6, 2015
Max Life, Technology , , ,

The Perils of (public) Beta Testing…..

HealthyI have always been an early adopter. As far as I can remember, I have always been at the forefront of tech stuff. Quartz watches – check, Compact Disc – Check, MiniDisc – Check, DAT decks – Check, Home computers – check, Android – check, iOS – check, early releases – check, tubeless mountain bike tyres – check, pretty much everything – check.

Friends and colleagues nearly always ask my opinion on things, simply because they know that I will have got it first and they want to know what something is like.

Quite often, it has bitten me, but this does not seem to stop me. 

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October 14, 2015
Max fitness, Life, Technology , ,

Apple Watch – A longer term review

I grew up in a very small village, apart from weekly games of cricket, there was very little excitement available. Due in part to the lack of local entertainment, I immersed myself in comic books and science fiction novels from the local library.

Most of the comic books available were American imports, a local newsagent had a small selection for sale, but that selection would vary, so it was never really easy to follow multi-episode story arcs. I would perhaps get Superman issue 487, then the next one available might be 512.

One day I was looking at the import comic shelf and one caught my eye. Somehow the newsagent inadvertently stocked a run of Dick Tracy comics that covered a decent sized story arc. I will admit that I was more a fan of superheroes than a mortal detective. But the chance to follow a whole story, rather than disjointed episodes meant that I spent rather a lot of money on six precious Dick Tracy comic books.

Dick Tracy had several gadgets, but his most famous was his two-way radio (later video) watch. 

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December 30, 2011
Max Life , , , ,

Why am I using an iPhone 4 ?

2011 was a crazy year for cell phone technology, I began the year with a HTC Aria running Android. I had replaced my iPhone 3GS with this on release of the iPhone 4. The Apple ‘walled garden’ finally pushing me back to Android.

The Aria briefly had a cousin in tow. I got a Samsung galaxy tab which I utterly adored. Unfortunately this was trashed and I replaced it with a nook color which is a hacker delight.

The Aria gave way to another HTC, this time a large screen Inspire. Which within a couple of weeks gave way to a Samsung Infuse with an even larger screen. The size of the screen matters as you get older.

All of these android devices gained custom roms. Wherever possible I use CyanogenMod ROMs as they are fast, minimalist and close to the standard Android experience than it is possible to find elsewhere.

My major gripe with Android is that the combination of carrier and manufacturer customization often make the android experience worse than the standard.

The Android OS is utterly fantastic. The standard UI is brilliant, the deep integration with google services rocks harder than Mötorhead in their prime. The variety of devices and screen sizes pander to everyone. Virtually any combination of carrier, screen size and speed is available.

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October 4, 2011
Max Life, Technology ,

Applebook vs Amoogle vs Netflix ?

Forget the iPhone 4s that was announced today.

It is not not really that relevant.

The new 4s is an incremental upgrade that sticks rigidly to the Apple design briefs, Launch a product, refine it then redefine it. The iPhone 5 will be the redefinition, the 4s is the 3g or the 3gs for the current cycle.

The new iPod touch in white is nice, the new 64GB capacity is nice, but for $399 I will pass for a while.

There was nothing in that product launch that stood out as ‘new’. The one thing that did stand out for me is that Apple is continuing the battle for the living room. Allowing you to pair your phone with an AppleTV and effectively play a movie or other content on a big screen.

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April 14, 2010
emaren Life, Technology ,

Do I want an iPad ?

My current laptop is a fairly old and beaten PowerBook G4 and recently it has been showing signs of age more than ever. I also have an Acer Aspire One Netbook, that runs ChromiumOS, but this is too small to use for anything beyond uber casual surfing.

Desktop computing is handled by an AMD powered, Quad core machine with lots of memory and plenty of disk space that dual boots Vista (ugh) and Linux.

Having migrated my e-mail, contacts and calender to google services I have little need for a ‘local’ e-mail, just a really good browser and access to my domain’s. Or alternatively a really good e-mail program that copes with imap or exchange services.

Chrome browser support would be great, then I get the plethora of pluggins and bookmarks sync, which is something I never knew I wanted, but now cannot imagine life without.

Battery life is not a huge thing to me, but a decent display is. My Powerbook does 1280×854, more screen real estate would be good, or a decent ‘pinch-to-zoom’ would be cool I guess.

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