Back to back Sunday Posts? I know that’s never happened before and there is a very good reason for that. But first.
Recent addition to my quiver is the 13″ Macbook Air. I looked really hard at the 11″, aka the iPad Pro, but decided the larger screen and SD Card reader were a worthwhile $100 upgrade. Timing couldn’t have been better either as I picked it up barely 24 hours before I had an event to cover with a fair bit of travel. Here are a few quick notes.
Fast – Did I say fast? Yes, fast. The best way to describe how fast is by using iPhoto. On my 13″ Air, from click to fully loaded is less than 2 seconds. On a brand new 13″ Macbook Pro (with roughly the same number of photos) from click to to fully loaded was 12 seconds. The speed makes itself known everywhere too.
Battery life – I’m not sure about how long it will actually last, but I think the 7 hours claimed is pretty close to being accurate. Not to mention, when the lid is closed, this baby is sleeping and sleeping hard! Over night battery useage with the lid closed so far has been zero.
Portability – It’s not as light as the 11″, but close enough. And it’s thinner than my iPhone. Yet, it doesn’t feel flimsy or cheap.
The Screen – Something you don’t notice right away, but after you use it for a bit, you start to notice that the screen on this is pretty great.
Comments are open if you have any questions about the Air.
And, for the first time, really, I actually used my iPhone during an event. Now that I’ve had it for a few months and have my groove down, it’s the perfect device for that kind of work. I was able to do things mobile that I always had to rely on external devices to do. For the first time I went to an event with only 3 devices (and it could have been two); an iPhone, my Canon DSLR and Macbook Air.
I’m excited to see what I can really do with these in the field this year!
About an hour before recording the latest episode of White Roof Radio, I was trying to get everything setup and in place to do a live-to-the-internet show. I’ve done it before without any issues, so I thought I’d start early and get listeners lined up before everything started.
Open up uStream.tv. Get logged in and select the channel I’m going to use for the live show. I’m then prompted for the Flash Security stuff. And that’s as far as I got. The browser didn’t crash, but at the same time, it didn’t do anything. I tried multiple times without success. So I tried again in Firefox.
Oh yea, right. Lion doesn’t come with Flash. And the uStream broadcast thing only works with Flash for how I needed to use it. Next step to most would have been to shuffle off to Adobe.com and get Flash for OSX Lion.
I did not.
Chrome has it’s own, built in intepreter for Flash that seems to work perfectly fine on almost everything I need. Considering that I have gone almost 2 weeks before I realized I didn’t have Flash installed, I’d say it’s hit that mark.
I’m going to try to go as long as possible. I think I can go forever without having to install Flash on my Mac. Since the Chrome version appears to work ok, no need to clutter up my system with rubbish Adobe Software, right? I don’t like or need Flash. But for when I do, I’ll use Chrome, even if I break up with it like I mentioned above. But that’s for another post.
When it comes to operating system upgrades, I’m usually the guy that waits a month or so until everything gets sorted out before I jump in. Not a ‘wait-for-service-pack-1′ wait, more like ‘wait-for-the-first-updates’ wait. As much as I would like to be an early adopter on that stuff, there are still apps and other pieces that I rely on day-to-day to actually produce stuff, for which people give me money. So a short wait doesn’t usually kill me.
When it does come to upgrade, I’m also the guy that does the full install, from scratch. Format the hard drive, install the OS, reinstall all apps and restore all documents. After working technical support for a few years and watching Windows upgrades completely bork PC’s, I think it’s the way to go.
Until Apple released Lion. (Read on…)
A little more than a year ago I typed up a DIY for PC Users on how to tune-up your PC. It still applies today, even on Windows Vista and Windows 7! But what about the Mac.
I was recently contacted about a Mac running slow. Made me think that maybe I should do a quick DIY Tune-up guide for the Mac. If you have an hour, this is all super easy stuff that will make your Mac run better. Ready? Let’s do this!
That should have you running pretty good. Finally, one more bit of maintenance that you should do.
Now would also be a great time to check the status of your backup to make sure everything is running as it should. You are backing up, right? With Time Machine or Super Duper to an external drive or Carbonite to the internet? Say both and you get a gold star for the day!
Questions? You know what to do!
The following was typed on an iPad 2 at my local Apple store
Still trying to find a mobile computing solution. I have narrowed it down to apple products at least. Currently looking at either the Mac book air or the IPad. My biggest problem so far with the iPad is the onscreen keyboard. Since the air has a verY nice keyboard already, I know it wouldn’t be a problem.
I’m try ping this at the apple store on a white ipad2. And I’m not sure about the keyboard yet. So far I have accidentally hit the screen with a stray finger taking me away from the post screen 4 times.
I’m sure I could would get used to it, but a Bluetooth keyboard would help. Already I don’t like having to find parens or brackets on the on screen board.
That bit took me about 10 minutes to type. The hardest part was typing the HTML tags. Hunting for the < and > was unpleasant and for my normal use, a deal breaker. Sure I could use a bluetooth keyboard, but the whole point is to be mobile. With the iPad, at least to get any serious work done, I would have to carry 2 pieces of gear with me.
There is also the current state of development apps on the iPad. I’ve tried a couple of them and I was less than blown away. They seem to work ok, but not in the way that I work. That just about rules out the iPad for my portable computing device.
Looks like it’s time to keep an eye on the refurb shop again. Bet I can find a 13″ Macbook Pro for a smoking price there!
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