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Monthly Archives: April 2005

GGRRRROOWWLLLL!!! (Tiger Roar) The San Francisco Experience

Posted on April 30, 2005 by feeling entropy

Today was the largely anticipated, official release date, of Apple Computer’s newest OS X version 10.4 Tiger. Approaching the store in a somewhat power-walking fashion, I noticed a combination of nervous, anxious, and excited stirred inside me.

Our eyes met, I stopped cold and dedicated a moment to admire the apple store in all her beauty. A hoard of people could be seen standing amidst the glass doors behind a green line holder. The masses had beat me there.

The San Francisco Apple retail store closed its doors promptly at 5pm allowing employees one hour to prepare the venue for a 6:00pm arrival of Tiger. I showed my face in downtown San Francisco at 5:00pm to find a line of approximately 100 Mac fans patiently awaiting their entrance go-ahead.

The first person in line had smiles all the way, with “only one more short hour to go” written on his face. After a small chat with him I found out that he only used Macintosh computers (G4 at home and G5 for work), and arrived at 4:00pm to get his hands on the black box where X marked the spot.

The local news had shown up to cover the momentous Apple event. The temptation was irresistible to take a picture of a news van while a curious pedestrian displayed his signature Apple white earbud headphones.

Signs of Tiger’s arrival littered the Apple store internals. Employees dressed in fresh new black shirts with different Tiger themed logos and phrases. The store was a bit empty as most people were waiting outside of the building. Staff members appeared tense yet amped as the countdown continued.

I scouted out the scene for a few minutes, overheard talk of G4’s, Powerbooks, Mac Mini’s, iPods etc, and contemplated standing in line or getting a sub sandwich. The sub sandwich idea triumphed with heavy influence from my lack of lunch. Apple store, “I’ll be back” (in the memorable Arnold voice).

The line was still existent and the store buzzed like a bee hive. I jumped to the back of the line at 7pm, and found myself in the store at 7:05pm. Upon entrance I was given a scratch and win business card piece of paper. “Scratch and Win! Win a Powerbook G4, and iPod, or other prizes”. I won a free iTunes song.

After a quick mosey around the bottom floor left me to an unmanned iMac. I asked a nearby Apple Employee what he personally liked about Tiger. He mentioned “all the new features” and “the new aesthetically pleasing GUI” but his single favorite aspect was the speed increase. “Tiger is just faster than Panther.”

A few Spotlight searches, Automater personalized task setups, and of course the fun Dashboard widgets and I too was a Tiger guru. He said that he had a few hours experience with the operating system and most of the new changes were very intuitive, hence little to no learning curve. I was extremely impressed by the sleek feel of the new OS. Having only about 10 minutes of actual interaction with the Tiger hooked me. I predict entire near future days dedicated to this new bit of software.

Upstairs I jamed to Daft Punk and listened to a projection presentation displaying many of the more subtle features of OS X 10.4. Swimming through crowds of Apple fans later dumped me at a shelf stacked with the reason for my visit. Tiger, OS X, 10.4, the new holy grail for Mac users world wide. To no surprise, the box resembled Apple’s website dedicated to the 4th version of OS X. By 7:25pm the line was no more, and happy customers walked straight into the store with wide eyes and illuminated faces.

My Wrap up for the April 29th 2005 OS X 10.4 Tiger release:

Lines: tolerable
Friendly and Informed Apple Employees: More than enough
Employees actually talked to: 4
Cool New OS’s Played with: 1, Tiger of course
News Cameras: 2
Celebrity Appearances: None
Apple Items I Can’t Live Without: The entire store, 700 or so?
Fun Computer Oriented Gathering: Priceless
Impressive New Operating Systems: One, Very Impressive.

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Ode To Tiger

Posted on April 29, 2005 by feeling entropy


In lieu of Apple’s highly anticipated operating system OS X 10.4 Tiger, which launches today at 6pm, I share a small gem of nostalgia for Apple fans everywhere. Different District hosts every Apple add or T.V. spot I’ve ever heard of and then some. Each clip has a counter on it, and after a quick glance over I noticed that Gwen Stefani’s Pepsi/iTunes add had the most hits… oh that Gwen *melt*

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T.V. Sensory Overload

Posted on April 29, 2005 by feeling entropy

“Our conclusion has been that if you want people to understand the news better, then get that stuff off the screen” . –University of Kansas professor Tom Grimes.

A recent study proved that T.V. gives us too much information at once. We lose about 10% of the facts presented due to banners, scrolling stock tickers, and other distractions. This may be true, but there are many factors that I don’t see in the playing field on this one. I need things such as marquee headlines and cartoon ads to fuel my interest. Watching T.V. is not a means to gather important information, it is entertainment. Forgetting 10% of the facts from a T.V. show is a small price to pay for actually being entertained for the length of the show IMHO (in my humble opinion).

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PC Turn Off What?

Posted on April 29, 2005 by feeling entropy

PC-TOO, an organization that must be completely out of their minds, is promoting a one-week halt on computer use. August 1st through August 7th is deemed PC-Turnoff Week. The motive for such a crazy idea is geared towards the kids. PC-TOO’s goal: “make parents aware of the risks associated with excessive computer use by their children “. –Ha, they don’t want their kids turning into geeks! It’s already too late.
Would I still be abiding by the PC-TOO insanity week if I only used my Mac and left my PC off?

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The Pen Just Got Mightier

Posted on April 29, 2005 by feeling entropy

The pen beat the sword in days of old, when pens were feathers and people talked like a Shakespeare play. This pen would kick those ancient artifacts in the tush, and be able to download it to your computer afterwards. Logitech’s io2 Digital Writing System pen remembers what you wrote, and even types out your written notes and diagrams. The pen is trainable, has 856kb of storage (40 pages), and a USB connection. Now there’s no excuse for me to lose all those phone numbers gorgeous women give me.

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The Hollow

Posted on April 28, 2005 by Guest Contributor

Tom Martin, clever lad that he is, has invented a glass that prevents spiking. Apparently, he got the idea after a friend was sexually assaulted as a result of drinking a spiked beverage.

From what I can tell, the glass is stylish, and cleverly designed. The center of the glass is hollow, and the beverage is contained between the double outer walls of the glass. The walls are so close together, that a special nozzle must be used to pour liquid into them, making it almost impossible to drop a drug into the drink. I hardly ever say this but, I am so impressed. And I bet, because Tom goes to design school in London, that he is probably English. Which would mean he has a sexy accent. Which means he’s completely awesome and gets to be my hero for at least the next two weeks or until I get distracted by something shiny.

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Wi Fi Is Out Wi Fly Is In

Posted on April 28, 2005 by feeling entropy
I recently wrote about how free WiFi is the best thing since sliced bread. Well toss your routers out the window, call your ISP can cancel that $40.00/month bill, and buy some bird seed. Pigeons have been used and, proven to be faster at transferring data via ADSL. The term, as the crow flies will soon be replaced with as the pigeon flies with 1.3GB of data.

The experiment was to transfer 4GB over the ADSL line while simultaneously sending out a few carrier pigeons with the equivalent data. First one to transfer the full 4GB wins! Wouldn’t you know the pigeons won the 100km race. I’m guessing that some people have just a bit too much time on their hands. But then again, maybe they have so much time because they’re waiting for slow downloads?!

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The Wave In Radio

Posted on April 28, 2005 by DigiDave

Podcasts are the thing. So why not take an FM radio station and just make it pure Podcasts, that way you don’t need to pay the DJ? I’ll tell you why, cause it wasn’t your idea, it’s already in the making. KYOU Radio is going to launch in San Francisco and will be completely supported by Podcasts.

DJ’s could be out of a job. Then again, somebody has to sit around at the station to make sure it all runs smoothly. I for one applaud the idea, technology makes for an exciting time in music.

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Professional Crastination?

Posted on April 28, 2005 by feeling entropy

When I was 19 years old and in college, I procrastinated by watching TV, talking to dorm mates, playing sports, or just plain old napping. Our buddy Ben Horowitz is nothing like me. He breaks from research papers by creating a website. iProcrastinate is the name of his domain, and he’s assisted thousands of other college students in their quest to put off homework. MTV has taken note of the site and goes into depth about the features and functions of iProcrastinate. Ben had a different view of the phrase “procrastination is like masturbation, it feels good when you do it but in the end you’re just screwing yourself.”

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Return Of The Atari

Posted on April 28, 2005 by DigiDave

Some games never do go out of style. Then again, after a quick revival, they get boring real fast. Atari, the first home video game maker is re-releasing a classic. Forty classics really. The refurbished game console will come with 40 of your favorite early 80’s crappy video games. It’s only $30 and in many ways its worth the nostalgia.

Personally, I want a new original Nintendo. You can still find people with them, but most are very moody, like cranky old retired men. The old blowing in the game cartridge trick doesn’t work like it used to. Please Nintendo, take a lesson from Atari and make some new classic units.

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TiVoing your life

Posted on April 27, 2005 by Jeremy Toeman

I am willing to wager that I was one of the first 1000 TiVo owners. I had an original Philips 14 hour unit when they first hit the shelves (although it was back in 1999 or 2000 when I was pretty much buying everything online using a bajillion free coupons the etailers were throwing around, courtesy of brilliant venture capitalists. But I digress), and I am definitely one of the ‘converted’. TiVo has changed my life.

Not necessarily for the better, mind you. I used to watch TV quite infrequently, I followed NO shows religiously, and didn’t really mind re-watching Days of Thunder on TNT every other weekend (it IS a new classic, after all). Fast forward to today (do-doo, do-doo, do-DOO!) and I have a couple of dozen Season Passes, and commercials cause me physical pain. I cannot (I will not!) watch TV without the ability to time-shift.

Now I want more. I want the handy little peanut-shaped TiVo remote to have some control over life events. I’d like a 30 minute buffer. Now of course the ideal would have me able to make changes once I’ve rewound, but I’m not greedy. With the buffer, I could plan to do a few things time-shifted. For example, I could skip through bus rides. Or waiting in line at the doctor’s office. Now I run the risk I might miss something interesting (for example: Apparently here in San Francisco, when a bus is driving through Chinatown, instead of the standard $1.25 fare, a can of pineapple juice works in lieu of payment. I would never have guessed such a thing, but it’s true!), but I’ll take my chances.
Continue reading →

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The A380 SUPERJUMBO!

Posted on April 27, 2005 by Guest Contributor

Airbus, maker of regular airplanes, has just made it possible for potential purchasers of planes to supersize their order. That’s right, they’ve created the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380.

The A380, to summarize here, flew around for awhile and then landed in Toulouse, France. I found the entire procedure technologically impressive- they got 308 tons of plane off the ground, and back on the ground again. I’m sure it took a lot of work.

What concerned me about the article I read on the topic however, was the headline “‘Superjumbo’ A380 lands safely”. I’m of course, pleased the plane landed safely, BUT WHY ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH WAS THIS THE SPECIAL PART OF THE FLIGHT? It’s supposed to land safely! What’s next, “‘Oversized’ car with four wheels drives around in a circle without event”?!

I’m sorry, but if they want a pat on the back for landing a plane, which in general, is supposed to have the available feature of safe landing, then I want an article written about how fabulous it is that when I woke up this morning, I continued breathing as I had throughout the night. The plane lands safely really got me thinking though– do they make some planes that don’t land? Is this plane a marvel because Airbus made the biggest plane, or because long ago … perhaps when they designed the Airbus A330 prototype… engineers from the company decided they could save time and money by delaying the addition of the ‘plane is able to land’ feature to a later model?

Some cool features Airbus apparently isn’t going to delay much longer include passenger planes with cocktail bars, double beds and massage parlors. Ok I’m disappointed. Who makes a luxury plane with double beds?! Ca-learly that should be kingsize beds! It’s a superjumbo jet for chrissake. I want to speak to their designer immediately!

Crazier potential features include jacuzzis and mini-casinos. Because there’s nothing more entertaining than being next to a passenger who’s airsick AND having to share a jacuzzi with him at the same time. Except maybe being next to an airsick passenger in a mini-casino at a poker table…. “Um, I… bloorch!” … “The puking guy is bluffing, there’s NO WAY his hand could be that bad. I’m seeing his bet and raising…”

The most hilarious part of the article I read however, was the closing line, where the fuel efficiency of the superjumbo means, ha ha, that the tickets could be cheaper. Yes they COULD BE, except they went and added casinos and beds and other likely Austin Powers-esque features such as shag carpeting and whirling colored lights, which they’ll then have to charge us more for of course.

Want to complain/other? Email thetechdiva@gmail.com.

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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