The Wonderful (or not so wonderful) life of Greg

As expected, Steve Jobs revealed at MacWorld Expo some cool new things in the Apple Line up.

You can catch the MacWorld Expo Key Note Here!

Sit back and enjoy the over hour long KeyNote, or read my thoughts and summary below.

Exciting news out of MacWorld Expo… drumroll please….. Microsoft Office Mac 2008! Yes, it’s here, it’s shipping and now all the major vendors (Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Digidesign etc) are Intel and PPC friendly

And it just keeps getting better…. Running time machine, sick of the cables, well Apple have done it again. Introducing, Time Capsule! An 802.11n AirPort with either a 500GB or 1TB Server Grade hard drive so that you can now use Time Machine from all your Macs in the house, Wirelessly!
How much is this going to cost me? Do I need to visit the bank manager to get another mortgage… uhhhhhh no! 500GB model will ship for $299USD and the 1TB model for just $499USD! An absolute bargain if you ask me!

A few new things on the iPhone and iPod touch front, some cool new features, including lyrics and subtitles in videos, some more menu screen and in February, the SDK (Software Development Kit). This for the AU market right now doesn’t really mean too much, but the word on the street is that an HDSPA (3G) version will be released soon, and this is when we will see the entry of the iPhone into the Australian market.

I have been lucky enough to play with a US iPhone, and I must say, this is one sexy piece of hardware. People always say to me, “oh, you’re such an Apple fan, What makes Apple so superior to other products?” Well I think it speaks for itself. When you buy Apple, you’re not just buying an operating system like when you buy Windows. And this is the biggest thing that people compare, Apple vs Windows. A Big no no in my book.

Apple don’t sell an operating system, they sell hardware, it just so happens that they ship you a kick arse operating system with it, that just works! No loading drivers, no stuffing around, their hardware and their operating systems just work flawlessly together, and this is what makes Apple Apple. A great solution, out of the box, that’s sleek, stylish, sexy and just works!

Ok, next up is iTunes. And what’s going on here? Well, not only have Apple sold a bucket load of songs over the years, and a hell of a lot of TV shows, well now, you don’t even have to get up to go to the video store, that’s right, introducing iTunes Movies. Working on a 30+24 model, (30 days to start the film, 24 hours to watch it once started), this is going to be great! Just $2.99USD for a older release, and $3.99USD for a new release, Apple will be getting movies online 30 days after the DVD release date so that you can now watch your favourite movies anywhere, any time! And the best thing, all the major film companies are behind it!

Ok, ok, so just when you think it’s all over…. Steve just keeps delivering the goods.

The new Apple TV MKII! MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES! Yes, thats right, as part of the new Apple TV, you no longer need a computer, it’s all independent and you can download straight from the iTunes store, both music, movies, and now HD Movies! How much could a HD movie cost? Just $1USD more than the standard versions! The new Apple TV also features, 5.1 Surround Sound so that your movies sound great and look great! Gimme Gimme Gimme! Not only the new iTunes features, but you can still access YouTube, Podcasts and your music streaming from your PC or Mac over 802.11n!

Now for the best part….. the update for Apple TV…… $FREE! Yes, you heard it right, zip, zero, zilch! And it gets better, Apple TV…. Now….. $229USD! w00t!

OK, ok, so he’s given us all these cool things, so that must be it right? There can’t possibly be any more……

BUZZZ…. WRONG!

Introducing to you the all new addition to the MacBook Family, the MacBook Air. The worlds thinnest notebook, and oh boy, is this thing sexy or what!

All I can say is Gimme Gimme Gimme!

Featuring a full size 13.3″ Wide Screen (LED Backlit), Built in iSight camera and a full size keyboard with ambient light sensor! Yep, Backlit keyboard!

Now, you thought that two finger right click was cool in the new MacBooks on OS X 10.5, now some cool new trackpad gestures! Pinch, Rotate, Flick, Pan Right, Pan Left and the list goes on! This is just too cool!

Ok, gimme the Tech Specs…. 13.3″ LED Backlit Screen, 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 80GB 1.8″ Hard Drive or 64GB SSD (Solid State) Hard Drive, 2GB Ram AS STANDARD! 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and only 3lbs! (1.36kg) Now, there is no Optical drive, but you can buy a USB2.0 Apple Optical Drive for just $99USD!

So, no optical drive? How the hell do I install software? Ahhh, they have thought of everything …. enter “Remote Disc”, you can remotely take advantage of another Mac OR PC’s optical drive and use it via the network. All it takes is a small piece of software either for Mac or PC that you can use to take advantage of the remote drive!

Now how about battery life? 5 Hours! This is fantastic!

Now the price! ……. $1799USD! ($2499AU) and they’re shipping in TWO WEEKS! Click Here to order and see more!

WOW, what a jam packed start to MacWorld Expo!

Hopefully, I’ll have some more to come for you in the next few days!

Cheers,

Greg

Well, how could any musician turn this one down? Free musical instruments!

If you dig air guitars, then you will flip over this (expired) deal. Offered in the UK’s Glasgow City Centre in promotion with a radio station launch, visitors could snag a free air guitar. Hell, they could take more than one. Just look at that huge inventory!

For those who haven’t seen Bill Gates speak before, here is a quick 20 minute interview done by Gizmodo last week at CES in the US.

CES is the big place for the launch of new, fresh and upcoming Consumer Electronics in the US where most of that major vendors go to release their new and upcoming products for the next fiscal year.

This sort of one on one casual interview shows the real Bill Gates, a really genuine down to earth straight forward guy who’s more than happy to share what he’s doing and what’s happing in his life going forward.

Bill Gates steps down out of his day to day role at Microsoft in July of 2008 to focus on his family and the running of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill will still remain as the Chairman of Microsoft and will remain as an advisor on key Microsoft developments.

You can read the Bill Gates Biography Here.

Next week starts the big Mac event of the year, MacWorld Expo which expects to see Steve Jobs launch some fresh new products for the Apple brand in 2008.

Rumored products for Apple in 2008 include a smaller, thinner and more portable MacBook, something along the lines of the old style 12″ Powerbook side, with some big RAM specs, great portability, battery life, LED screen, Solid State Hard Drive and No optical Drive.

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens at MacWorld Expo next week. Check out the MacWorld Expo website for more.

Cheers,

Greg

Well, seeing that the Whitlams Website has been down the last few days, I thought I’d have a mozie through the archives of YouTube scouring for the next Whitlams front man.

My my my, what do we have here? Well, this is Liam, possibly the replacement for Tim Freedman?

Liam, you’re a little champion! Defiantly one of the best covers of Blow Up The Pokies I’ve heard in a long time! Watch out for this kid, he’ll be on Australian Idol before you know it!

Keep up the good work Liam!

G

Ok, confused by the title, well, so was I when I first heard about this product.

It’s been in the testing arena for a while now, but has gone live and best of all FREE!

This is probably one of my first Tech.Blogs that I’ve done, mainly as this has been a personal blog, but this is such a cool product, that I just had to share.

Ok. So let’s give you a bit of a background and paint a picture for you on what I’m on about.

You’re a roaming computer user, you have a home PC and a work PC, and you want to be able to use your work PC as if you were sitting at work, in real time at home, without touching, effecting or doing anything to your home PC.

Well, enter MojoPac!

Ok, so I can see you looking at the screen asking “What the F**K is MojoPac?”, “Will it enlarge my penis?, Will it make me better in the bedroom?” Well, sadly, the answer to most of them is probably no. But alas, MojoPac will do what I explained above!

Welcome to the world of Virtual Computing! What do I mean? Imagine this, you have an Ipod or a USB Flash Drive. Great! You’ve got all the hardware you need to use your Mojo!

MojoPac is a virtual computing experience, that utilises the hardware on the Windows XP computer that you’re using, and runs your computer that you’ve created on your USB device in a Virtual Memory Space, thus not effecting the host operating system of the computer that you’re using!

Ok, now you’re asking how will this help me…. ?

Well, in the home / consumer space, say you are a bit of a fan of BitTorrent or other P2P sharing. These technologies are renowned for Virii and Malware, and how often do they get in and never get out, most of the time, costing you money and time in having to reinstall your system.

Now, enter MojoPac, A completely virtual space for you to run your BitTorrent, which runs in separate memory space and does not touch your host operating system, therefore, infect your Mojo without infecting your actual computer! Cool Huh! Simply load up the apps that you like to use on your Mojo system, BitTorrent, Nero, iTunes and what ever else you like to use, and you’re away!

Ok, now in the corporate world. You’ve got your desktop at work and it’s setup just the way you like it. It’s locked for the corporate network by your IT Department, and you want to work from home.

Now your company does not utilise such Services as RWW (Remote Web Workplace) or TS (Terminal Services), so once again, enter MojoPac.

Take a snapshot of your Corporate Desktop to your iPod, portable hard drive or USB flash drive, take it home to what may be an infected desktop and who cares! Your Work PC is running in it’s own space, completely separate from your home PC! Now just VPN across to your work, and hey presto, you’re back at work and ignoring your family while you finish that important document that’s due tomorrow morning while your wife fills out the divorce papers

Now, at this point, MojoPac is only available on Windows XP, with future releases to support Windows Vista. There is currently no planned support for Mac users like me (bugger!) or Linux/Unix users. If you are a Mac user, there are products such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion that you can use to run virtual PC’s on your Mac.

So, enough of my wrap up of Mojo, time for some links.

Download your free Mojo - www.mojopac.com
Watch how MojoPac works - MojoPac Demo
Review from News.com.au - Virtual PCs add new security, News.com.au 04 January 2008

Hope you all enjoyed this first taste of my humorous tech writing, hopefully some more to come when I come across some more cool technology that grabs my attention.

Cheers,

Greg