Steve Jobs announced a revamped Mac Mini running on Intel’s single-core chip.
Updates:
- The new single-core will be upto 3x faster
- a dual-core version will be available
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Frontrow included
Archive for February, 2006
23
Feb
Google Page Creator
Not bad for a beta of a web publishing application. There are a decent amount of templates and there’s 100MB of space to publish your pages and photos. The only problem is that you can’t publish anywhere outside of Google’s domain. It’ll be interesting to see if Google allows people to use their publisher to publish on other sites, support AdWords, and integrate at all with Blogger .
Read more at pages.google.com
technorati tags: google, google-pages, homepage, html, htmleditor
21
Feb
MS Office Live … NOT
Microsoft recently unveiled the highly anticipated MS Office Live Beta. There are 3 packages available.
- Microsoft Office Live Basics - Free
- Microsoft Office Live Collaboration - Free during the Beta, $29.95/month thereafter
- Microsoft Office Live Essentials - Free during the Beta, $29.95/month thereafter
Not too shabby for the SMB Market. But guess what, MS Office Live is NOT a true online collaboration application like JotSpot. It is not cross platform, it DOES install software on your PC, and it is completely locked into Microsoft operating systems. IE 5.5 with Service Pack 4 is required along with Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. Certain features also require you to have at least MS Office 2000 already installed on your PC
MS had an opportunity here to do something innovative and in the best interests of users but they stayed true to their nature and found a way to lock-in their users.
technorati tags: microsoft, office, officelive, collaboration
edgeio-key: 121b1222ca734154fec28cad01b9b89fff70bf7e
I’ve tried to be patient with Ubuntu and there are things I really like about it such as it’s ability to pick up hardware like an Intel Centrino, and it’s package management. However, I still find the network switching to be flaky at best. I use my Thinkpad T40 at Home and at Work, as well as other places. I mostly use the wireless but I also use the gigabit Ethernet adapter in some instances at work and home. At home, I have no DHCP server. At work, I have DHCP for the Wired and Wireless network (these are two separate networks). Ubuntu has been a nightmare to switch between the various profiles. It’s almost as if the network-admin app doesn’t properly save the settings. It would also be nice to set the network profile at boot time much how Fedora and SuSE allow you to do it. So far, I haven’t been able to find any kernel parameters that would do the trick.
I’m still not giving up yet on Ubuntu but so far, I’m not seeing any compelling reason to switch distros.
technorati tags: ubuntu,desktoplinux,linux
edgeio-key: 121b1222ca734154fec28cad01b9b89fff70bf7e
I just finished installing the Breezy Badger and started configuring it. I’m sharing it through a dual boot on my IBM ThinkPad T40. So far, I’m not sure what exactly people love about the Breezy Badger. It’s a decent enough Linux distro but I think SuSE 10 is an easier configuration for newbies and advanced users alike. The fact that there’s no root user enabled in Ubuntu reminds me of OS X. I just feel that OS X handles it better and almost eliminates the need for the root user while Ubuntu still needs the root user to perform certain functions.
I’m sharing my home directory with both distros through a separate /home partition. So far, it’s working pretty well and no conflicts yet.
I haven’t made Ubuntu my primary OS just yet, partly because the ability to create different networking profiles seems a bit flaky to me. Maybe I’m just not using it properly but it’s more complicated than SuSE or Fedora.
apt and the synaptic package manager work GREAT! People love apt but I can’t see any major advantage over yum. Why can’t Novell ditch YaST???
technorati tags: novell, suse, ubuntu, linux
edgeio-key: 121b1222ca734154fec28cad01b9b89fff70bf7e
No surprise here. The question is if Google will keep MeasureMap into independent of Google Analytics, integrate it into the free Google Analytics, or offer it up as a premium service. Whatever they do, I just hope it works better than the original Google Analytics launch and maybe I can finally register with MeasureMap and check it out.
Read more at googleblog.blogspot.com…
technorati tags: google, google-analytics, adaptivepath, measuremap, blog-analytics
Google is now offering hosted email as a beta. Feel free to read through all the other blogs about competition, etc but the question I ask myself is what kind of risks does a company or individual take on while having your email hosted by Google who may again be subpoenaed by the DoJ or any other gov’t agency….
Read more at googleblog.blogspot.com…
13
Feb
3G iPod and Dead LCD
My 3G iPod still works but the LCD died after about 18 months of use. 18 months is an inordinately small amount of time for a device that I paid $399 for to be dying. I used the device every day, dropped it a few times but never abused it. The LCD casing is fine, it looks like the LCD cracked inside. I can still listen to music, I just don’t know what music I’m picking.
My sister is complaining that the headphone jack in her 4GB iPod mini is having problems - another 18 month old device.
Are Apple iPods built to last or are they built to last less than 2 years?
This is a great little article about *nix basics. Very useful to newbies and for reference.
Read more at www.cs.usfca.edu/~parrt…
It is truly amazing how Verizon and all the other telecom companies can’t get their act straightened out. The still can’t accept the telecom is a commodity and that their monopoly over telecom is being diminished by alternative providers, i.e. cable and wifi. It is going to be priced as a commodity and if you force companies like Google to pay an additional fee to provide services upstream that the telecom customers on the other side (i.e. Google users) are clamoring for, and already paying for, you are going to choke the market and kill innovation.
Google, for all it’s problems, has pushed innovation on the web and provided good services to users at a cost that is affordable (free in most cases). Microsoft, Yahoo, and thousands of other businesses have been forced to innovate and push the envelope because of Google, directly or indirectly.
The truth of the matter is that though they’ve been commodotized, the carriers businesses are more important than ever. They understand that companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are at their mercy and they’re looking to extract a ransom for services that they’re already getting paid for. Building out a fiber optic network is something that Verizon must do to stay competitive with other telecoms. Investing in your business is the only way to grow a business. Investments come in many forms and for a telecom company, it must come in the form of capital expenditures.
Rather than Verizon, AT&T and others getting permission from the government to effectively tax all Internet users and Internet businesses, Congress should be looking at the inefficient, beauracratic, regimes at these companies. Congress should force them to make themselves more nimble, innovative, and efficient or give customers choice in picking a different carrier.
Let’s face it, Internet access in this country today is analagous to phone service in the 1950’s. It was getting widespread adoption amongst all strata of the population and it was a necessary tool to facilitate communication, foster innovation, and grow the economy, thus resulting in inceased national security. Governments should focus on providing unrestricted access to the Internet for all citizens…and eventually the whole human population.
Wake up Verizon!
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com/…
technorati tags: verizon, verizondsl, broadband, google, microsoft, yahoo
