A friend sent me these pics. No need for sides or seconds!
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Kidzui
If you have kids you must check this out. It is free and it is brilliantly done.
www.kidzui.com
Someone has gone to town on the integration of a whitezone firewall and a ultra graphical browser. The implementation is just fantastic.
This is a way of ensuring what your kids view via the internet is safe. Full stop. End of story.
And it is pretty cool in the way it works.
www.kidzui.com
Someone has gone to town on the integration of a whitezone firewall and a ultra graphical browser. The implementation is just fantastic.
This is a way of ensuring what your kids view via the internet is safe. Full stop. End of story.
And it is pretty cool in the way it works.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
MacBook review after 6 months
So I got my 13inch MacBook 6 months ago. So I thought it was time for a real life review.
In summary: DO NOT BUY ONE. I am a full on Mac fan but my "expert" opinion is stay away.
I will tell you the good points. Then the issues. Then tell you why not to buy one and what you should do instead.
The Good Points
The screen is very nice
The keyboard is excellent
The mag plug is a fantastic idea. SO good when you have an infant
The built in camera is very good as is the microphone positioning (no echo)
Speed is good
The wireless is very strong with being N compatible
The battery life is very good.
The magnetic latch works very well
The RAM access for upgrades is easy
The software, particularly the OSX is just the best.
The Bad Points
The case has sharp edges (called suicide wrists). I sanded mine off.
The plastic internal surfaces are weak and break with normal use.
The bumpers for the lid act as knives cutting into the opposing casing (obviously a lack of design understanding and testing)
The internal frame is weak. It bends causing the DVD not to eject. An Apple technician had the nerve to tell me not to pick the laptop up with one hand. IT'S A LAPTOP DUDE!
The fan is noisy
The case itself flexes and seems to be poorly constructed and designed
The white surfaces show dirt
In short, stay away from an MacBook. They just are not well build. Instead... spend the extra and get either a MacBook Pro or Air. The metal case is fully worth it.
Many of us really wanted a small 12inch MacBook and held out as long as we could. In hindsight I should have just gone to the 15inch MacBook Pro and accepted I was not going to have a small laptop. As it is the MacBook is as wide as a Pro so I would not have lost much more.
Apple has missed on the netbook (ultra small laptop) instead pumping the iPhone and iPOD touch. They might be right but I don't think so. One can but hope that rumours of a 10inch tablet are true.
In summary: DO NOT BUY ONE. I am a full on Mac fan but my "expert" opinion is stay away.
I will tell you the good points. Then the issues. Then tell you why not to buy one and what you should do instead.
The Good Points
The screen is very nice
The keyboard is excellent
The mag plug is a fantastic idea. SO good when you have an infant
The built in camera is very good as is the microphone positioning (no echo)
Speed is good
The wireless is very strong with being N compatible
The battery life is very good.
The magnetic latch works very well
The RAM access for upgrades is easy
The software, particularly the OSX is just the best.
The Bad Points
The case has sharp edges (called suicide wrists). I sanded mine off.
The plastic internal surfaces are weak and break with normal use.
The bumpers for the lid act as knives cutting into the opposing casing (obviously a lack of design understanding and testing)
The internal frame is weak. It bends causing the DVD not to eject. An Apple technician had the nerve to tell me not to pick the laptop up with one hand. IT'S A LAPTOP DUDE!
The fan is noisy
The case itself flexes and seems to be poorly constructed and designed
The white surfaces show dirt
In short, stay away from an MacBook. They just are not well build. Instead... spend the extra and get either a MacBook Pro or Air. The metal case is fully worth it.
Many of us really wanted a small 12inch MacBook and held out as long as we could. In hindsight I should have just gone to the 15inch MacBook Pro and accepted I was not going to have a small laptop. As it is the MacBook is as wide as a Pro so I would not have lost much more.
Apple has missed on the netbook (ultra small laptop) instead pumping the iPhone and iPOD touch. They might be right but I don't think so. One can but hope that rumours of a 10inch tablet are true.
Update on Katya
Well we have had some interesting news.
The doctors now think that Katya's hearing and eye issues are linked and they think it is neurological. Basically her skull is not growing fast enough and there is pressure on the part of the brain that deals with sensory inputs. So it is off for a CT scan we go.
This could be very good news as it may address both issues in one hit.
It kind of makes sense for a few reasons:
1. We use to not use the TV because it would wake Katya. If she is deaf, how did it wake her?
2. We would play a mobile to get her to go to sleep???
3. The eye thing is a very recent development. It is not in any past pictures.
So more drama to come.
The doctors now think that Katya's hearing and eye issues are linked and they think it is neurological. Basically her skull is not growing fast enough and there is pressure on the part of the brain that deals with sensory inputs. So it is off for a CT scan we go.
This could be very good news as it may address both issues in one hit.
It kind of makes sense for a few reasons:
1. We use to not use the TV because it would wake Katya. If she is deaf, how did it wake her?
2. We would play a mobile to get her to go to sleep???
3. The eye thing is a very recent development. It is not in any past pictures.
So more drama to come.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Livestation
I have been trialing a new program/service called Livestation. It is a free download (MAC and Windows) that gives you live TV. The channels are awesome... BBC, DW-TV, Euro News, RT, Al Jazeera, France 24. And they seem to be adding more.
It really chugs through the data cap but it is pretty stable.
http://www.livestation.com/
What impresses me is the quality of channels.
It really chugs through the data cap but it is pretty stable.
http://www.livestation.com/
What impresses me is the quality of channels.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
More hospital time
We have been having more hospital time. On Tuesday morning (very early) Katya's breathing got very bad. So we went to hospital. After a brief return home we went back and she was admitted over night. Claire stayed with her and we seem to now have her breathing happening ok.
One bonus is that she is being hooked into the Pediatric Clinic at the hospital so that her care can be co-ordinated. We are now involved with audiology and the eye people.
We discovered a benefit of Katya being deaf. She did not get woken up by screaming babies in the hospital.
Hopefully tomorrow will be back to normal. It would be good to have a bit or normal for a while.
Hearing aids are scheduled for beginning of Oct.
One bonus is that she is being hooked into the Pediatric Clinic at the hospital so that her care can be co-ordinated. We are now involved with audiology and the eye people.
We discovered a benefit of Katya being deaf. She did not get woken up by screaming babies in the hospital.
Hopefully tomorrow will be back to normal. It would be good to have a bit or normal for a while.
Hearing aids are scheduled for beginning of Oct.
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