tech ronin

Blogging: Less is More

I just added about 15 blogs to technorati's new favorite blogs service. This is just an experiment, so I picked what appealed to me in the moment. I noticed that I didn't want massive numbers of posts for the sake of posts. I like the high signal to noise ratio of infrequent bloggers who think before they post.

Here's what I put on there for starters:

• a million monkeys typing
• Lifehacker
• PigPog | Creativity...
• 43 Folders
• Ninth Wave Designs
• D*I*Y Planner
• Russell Beattie Notebook
• moleskinerie
• Rohdesign Weblog
• paper notes in a digital...
• Think Secret
• AppleInsider
• paper and pencil
• Pencil Revolution
• Achieve-IT!
• timberlines.blogspot.com/

Technorati Tags: puppy, technorati

I Bet We'll See the New iBook aka MacBook Next Week

Apple has just scheduled an event in Cupertino for February 28th where they say they'll be introducing some “fun new products”. Katie Marsal at AppleInsider reports today that an analyst at American Technology Research, Shaw Wu, is predicting the release of a widescreen MacBook (not MacBook Pro) next week and a new Mac mini. I bet he's right.

Apple bumped up the cpu on the new MacBook Pro a notch which gives them more room underneath for the Mac mini and MacBook next week. I think Apple wants a good quarter during this time of transition to Intel. A big bunch of pre-orders for the new widescreen MacBook should do the trick.

Any Intel Mac would probably sell at this point if priced correctly because there's a lot of pent up demand in the pipeline. For example, if you need a new iBook right now, you are waiting for the release of the new MacBook.

If you need a new 12” PowerBook, you are waiting for the new Intel 12” MacBook Pro (AppleInsider says a 12” MacBook Pro isn't on Apple's roadmap - but that might be because there's going to be a MacBook mini to replace it -- hope, hope).

People are waiting for the new Intel-based machines which is actually a good thing for Apple. What if no one wanted them? So, step one is going well. People want these new Intel Macs. No big problems have surfaced. So, striking while the iron is hot and before the quarter is over, Apple conveniently manages to produce a miracle and get more Intel-based models out the door early.

The more Intel Macs bought without incident, the more people will buy now rather than wait prudently to see how the transition goes. Excitement is building.

Jason O'Grady's Got a MacBook Pro already

Hey folks. I'm running out the door but Jason has 2 pix of the box up and says he's going to shoot a bunch of photos of his new MacBook Pro real soon now.

Update at 8:13 pm PST: Jason's decided to blog the 60 photos he's taken 1 by 1 on his ZDNet blog. There are 4 up right now but no naked MacBook Pro photos yet, just the box.

Those who want to see the naked machine might be temporarily assuaged by the photos Engadget posted of the pre-release MacBooks on January 10th while you are waiting.

Technorati Tags: Intel Macs, MacBook, Macintosh, PowerBook

Brad Isaac is doing some great blogging lately

Brad Isaac is blogging up a storm over at Achieve-IT!. I relate to Brad because he is so sincere and straight-forward. And that's not to say he isn't smart. He does excellent but not fancy or showy pieces of importance.

I am the ambitious sort myself, so I really appreciate his ideas about achieving your goals and other salutary bits of life wisdom. This is meat and potatoes. With lots of interesting meat.

His latest post today is called Anticipate Attacks as You Work on Your Goal. If you are working on a goal, you'll love this, his own personal story with an inspirational ending that will add something worthwhile to your day.

Brad has his own goal software product that I would check out if I used a Pocket PC. If this sounds interesting, go over to his page and try out a few of Brad's Best-of Achieve-IT! posts listed at the upper right on his front-page.

If you are afraid you've been surfing too much and don't have time for one more quick read, this post of Brad's might be the perfect thing for you: 7 Ideas to Help Prevent Mindless Surfing.

Technorati Tags: goals, GTD, weblogs

Visited New de Young Museum and Hatshepsut Exhibit

I guess I have to admit to being a procrastinator. I just saw the Hatshepsut exhibit at the de Young Museum on its last day here. Wow! Great exhibit.

My body was saturated with well-being as I was surrounded by this gorgeous and awe-inspiring ancient sculpture. Hatshepsut was the only female Pharaoh so that lent extra appeal for me.

The museum itself is awesome. It's a must see even if you don't look at the exhibited art. But, of course, you will.

This particular trip was a 2 hour one. I was happy to pay the extra $6 to be able to listen to the excellent audio tour through Hatshepsut. My companion, Sally, went without and still had a great time but I felt that my experience was much enhanced with the audio commentary. Sally spent quite a bit of her time reading while I got to look at the pieces while listening.

Next time I will eat at the cafe and spend time outside on the grounds. They look amazing from the 9th floor of the museum tower. We were lucky in that we had a crystal clear view of San Francisco from the tower which was floor to ceiling glass.

Technorati Tags: SanFrancisco

New Aggressive Pricing on Shuffles and 1 gig Nano

This is most excellent. Now you can get an iPod shuffle for $69. And the 1 gig is $99. Plus there's a new 1 gig nano for $149. That should blow a hole in the low-end!

Recent talk in the rumor mill speculated that the shuffle might go away. That, I thought, would be a bad move. Even though I would strongly prefer a 1 gig nano to a shuffle, the shuffle has its place as a rugged device for exercise and for those who love random shuffle which is quite popular.

This is the perfect pricing. Again, aggressive. Not merely close to the right prices but the perfect aggressive pricing. I haven't checked Apple's stock today but I'm guessing the street will like this move.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, nano, shuffle

Recommended Book: Leaving a Trace

The full title is Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal. I got this book on the recommendation of Mike Swickey who authors the paper notes in a digital world blog. His comment was “Best book in years on journal keeping.” Given my recent fling with Moleskines, it appealed to me.

He was right. I'm really enjoying reading the book. Its required reading for anyone who wants vibrant access to the rich and meaningful world of journaling. The author, Alexandra Johnson is a writer and a good one.

One thing that draws me in is her great curiosity and fascination with the journals she collected as she researched the book. She brings the mystery and treasure hunt alive. I remember as a teenager reading Nancy Drew. I loved the parts where she would be up in an attic poking around for clues or something special.

It helps that Alexandra didn't start out the ideal journaler. At all. She struggled with journaling from age nine and well into her twenties before she finally found a way in. Try this:

The proof was incriminatingly kept in my own hand, entries dated as regularly as a prison lockup. The litany of daily life reads as flat as the lines that guided my ballpoint: “school; walked dog; dinner - mashed potatoes, frozen peas, baked meatloaf, ketchup bled into rim of Pyrex pan.” ... The most shaming are days where there's that single entry: “nothing.”...

At twenty-four, mine changed by reading others' diaries carefully. I began experimenting, imitating, stealing. From Virginia Woolf, I learned how to keep a pen moving, imitating her “haphazard gallop” to avoid self-censorship. From Anne Frank, I learned how to look for patterns in a diary with an eye for imagining large work

This book is chock full of stories and excerpts from journals. A great read if you want to learn more about this sort of thing. The extra added feature is that the book inevitably motivates me. Motivation is key here. And all the examples provide options and angles when facing that blank page.

Technorati Tags: journaling, writing

Cheaper iMac G5 20 Looks Good

Apple has dropped the price of the 20“ iMac G5 to $1499. That's a $200 savings compared to the Intel version. This is a nice option for those of you who need full compatibility because you run a lot of big apps that won't be *universal* for a while and/or because you don't like bleeding edge. Keep in mind that Intel doesn't now and will never run any Classic applications. Not one.

In theory, the resale value of your iMac G5 will drop a little more than otherwise because eventually Intel will be the game to play on Mac. But, from what I've seen in early returns on the Intel-based iMac, you will get just as good performance overall on the G5. Depending on what you are running, the G5 may often be faster.

Remember that the G5 is fast to begin with. The new iMac offers more like a 25% gain in overall performance for Universal apps, not 2-3x as claimed. That claim was specific to how fast the CPU runs natively under optimal conditions. Not how fast your whole iMac will run which has several other variables like hard drive, memory and bus speed to contend with.

Bleeding edge fans should skip this deal. Newbies who can probably run everything they need on Apple's built-in applications like Mail and Safari plus iLife 06, could go either way: Intel iMac or cheaper G5 iMac. For those who like a deal, these capable G5 iMacs with all the goodies like iSight camera built-in and remote control would be tempting.

Having one or more near state-of-the-art G5 Macs around is a safety measure. The thing I like about the G5 iMac is that it is so fresh off the assembly line. There's very little about the Intel iMac that has been added except the fact that it is Intel. This is good if you want to be sure you have at least one Mac that will run Classic or other non-Universal apps often or from time to time. Sure, you probably have a good G4 or a G5 around but is it state-of-the-art as of late 2005?

Confession. I am a bleeding edge fan and wouldn't buy the iMac G5 unless push came to shove. I am enthralled by the new. But, as a seasoned computer professional whose learned the hard way that there is an unspecified risk when you buy the first machines off the assembly line, you might want to wait a while if you want the Intel versions or buy the *old* G5s.

Personal Update. I have not placed an order for an Intel Mac - yet.

Deal Tip compliments of Gizmodo: Amazon has a $150 mail-in rebate that brings the price down to $1349. Nice!

Technorati Tags: iMacG5