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What I don’t like about my new MacBook Pro

What I don’t like about my new MacBook Pro

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Not much, but since I’m being real:

I prefer to use an attached mouse when I’m working at the office.  An inexpensive USB optical 3 button mouse with a scroll wheel will do nicely.  Please, no 1-button Apple mice.  The convenience of a right button for context menus, and scrollwheel for scrolling can’t be beat.

My workarea arrangement has just enough space for a mousepad to the right of the MacBook.  I also must have a second screen attached.  I don’t like the connections along the right side of the MacBook.  Attaching the DVI/VGA connector interferes with my placement of the mousepad and use of a mouse.  I actually attach the mouse to the USB port on the left side and bring it around the back to the right side.  The ethernet port is on the right side too which also gets in the way.  If the connections could have been placed in the back, all cabling would have been hidden and would have allowed for more work space.

That’s basically it. Certainly a lot more to like than not like.

MacBook Pro first impresssions

MacBook Pro first impresssions

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Yesterday I received my new PowerBook Pro.  It is a $2000 laptop running a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.  It comes with a 120Gig HD, 15in wide screen (up to 1440×900), SuperDrive (DVD burning), Firewire 400 & 800 ports and a built in iSight camera.

There is a program called Photo Booth that uses the camera and allows you to capture photos and apply morphing effects.  It was a big hit with my kids.

David

The keyboard automatically illuminates via light shining from underneath the keyboard.  It is the bomb!  I had my whole family in the kitchen pantry showing off this feature.

The built-in iSight camera is so tiny (2 centimeters square) that I didn’t even notice it on the frame of the screen until I ran Photo Booth and saw the real time capture of myself in the window.  It is the bomb #2!

I had seen it before, but if you’ve never experienced the power chord for a MacBook, that would be the bomb #3!  The power cord attaches magnetically to allow it to disconnect quickly if the chord is tripped over.

I’m not still completely sold on the Mac interface (there are things I like and things I don’t like), especially in terms of it being far superior to Windows, but I am definitely sold on Apple’s latest hardware and the first-time experience of using a Mac.

Update Aug 6, 2007:

I like the fact that the power cord has an extension.  You can plugin without it or with it.  That means that I can keep the extension plugged into my power strip at work and keep the optional prong attachment in my briefcase (or at home).   To pack for home It’s easier to just disconnect the extension and take the power cord with me. A small convenience but worth mentioning.

HDTV: The Facts and Fiction of 1080p

HDTV: The Facts and Fiction of 1080p

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The Facts and Fiction of 1080p

What is better, 720p or 1080i? This has been a topic of discussion for
a long time. If only taking into account the technical aspects, the
answer is simple. 720p is better than 1080i.

720p is better than 1080i in HDTV because the highest 1080 line formats
(1080i60 and 1080p30) as defined in the ATSC standard, deliver only a
few more pixels per second than the highest 720p variant (720p60).

1080i delivers a higher quality visual when static images are
broadcasted. As soon as you have fast changes in the visuals, 720p look
as good or better than 1080i.

Is 1080p essential?  Not really.  If you already own an HDTV, don’t feel that you’ve thrown your money out the window.   
Moving forward, getting a 1080p display that can accept 1080p signals
will be crucial for enjoying next-generation DVD movies and games at
their maximum resolution.

1080p is supported on the XBOX with this XBOX software upgrade.  I don’t have anything that outputs 1080p.  I would have to purchase a HD-DVD drive and game or movies created for 1080p.  My TV doesn’t even support 1080p.  Something to look forward to with my second HDTV purchase!

Is there a browser killer?

Is there a browser killer?

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In Eric’s series where he comments on each of the chapters from The 22

Immutable Laws of Marketing

He offers the following question as a diificult one of our times:

Web applications:  Is this a real long-term 

trend?  Will it ever be possible to create rich apps with 

HTML?  Will Microsoft succeed in using its control of the desktop to

  kill this trend?

Developers simply don’t have many viable options when it comes to a server central delivery system for apps.  I recently came across NewIO.  I support their efforts and hope to contribute to their cause.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista

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So far I’m not digging Windows Vista.  I don’t use it but my mom got her first PC ever and I’ve been helping her with it.

Yesterday I helped her remove all popup windows that appear on bootup.  First there was the McAfee Security Center nagware.  I decided to completely uninstall.  Virus, spam, firewall, everything.  I figured the Vista security features would cover her.  I hate nagware that doesn’t make it easy to disable and I’m at a point where I will uninstall any software with annoying nagware policies.  It’s my computer and I decide what I SHOULD do.

It was not easy finding the Add/Remove programs in Windows Vista.  Why is it so hard to find?  There are tons more icons and commands.  Commands that were more easily available  have been pushed down further in the control panel hierarchy.

Second, her brand new Dell came with some Roxio Drag and Drop service that appears in the system tray.  Windows Vista doesn’t like it and warns about it.  Dell ships a brand new computer and installs crapware that is incompatible with the OS. Nice.  Rather than uninstall it I did a search and found that upgrading it would make the warning go away.

I haven’t completely cleaned up the warning related to the Netgear wireless USB receiver.  I tried adding it to the firewall exclusion list but that didn’t do it.

I had read about the fact that Vista defaults everything to untrusted and forces you to give it permission to run.  How is someone like my mom suppose to decide?  Dell does a disservice by installing this crapware without your permission and not letting the person that ordered choose what to include/exclude on the install image.

Maybe we should have gone with a Mac for my Mom.

Yet Another Photo App

Yet Another Photo App

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Photo applications and websites that create galleries of photos seem to be a dime a dozen; so why is ExpressDigital so successful? 

A key ingrediant is found in Joel’s  MicroISV interview:

Michael:
…If you could pick one tip based on
your experience in going from zero to hero, what would be the thing you
would tell yourself from five years ago if you could give yourself a
piece of advice now to be the one thing not to miss – the one thing you
should do.

Joel: Can I have two things?

Bob: You can have two things.

Joel:
The number one thing is a micro-ISV shouldn’t be one person, it should
be two people at the very least and one of them should have the
business and marketing and sales skills experience.

The second part, and Bob alluded to this earlier, which is my
prototypical example of the photo gallery which is probably nine
million micro-ISVs have made an application where it’s like “Hey,
everybody’s got these digital cameras my application lets you upload
all your pictures and put them on the web and make web galleries.”
There have been about a million of these and a very tiny number of them
have been successful and the vast majority of them have been instant
flops. For some reason this is an incredibly appealing idea for
software developers to do, maybe because they feel like they know how
to do everything, all the steps they’re going to need to do to write
the code to make this work, but for some reason they never really make
it work.

But what I’ve always told these people time and
time again, and they never listen to me, is instead of making the
generic “upload your pictures application” take a very, very small
niche audience – wedding photographers – and make the ultimate
application for wedding photographers. Find out exactly what wedding
photographers need. There’s a lot of money around wedding
photographers, they get paid an awful lot of money, and figure out
exactly what their workflow is. If you need to find wedding
photographers because they’re in the yellow pages and there are
directories of these things. Call them all and find out what they want
and try to sell them your solution.