For anyone who, like me, didn’t catch the Apple event last week with Steve Jobs et al, here’s an incredible, really nice, abbreviated version where they discuss their fantastic, great products… 
Tags : adjectives, Apple, steve jobs, youtube
Categories : Apple, Humour, Video, iPod | 1 Comment
SO next week (on 9/9/9) we finally get some remastered CDs of The Beatles’ albums, according to this story :
A Splendid Time is Guaranteed for All: The Beatles Remastered
What’s notable is that they are releasing mono remasters of some of these albums, more like they were originally heard back in the 60′s. Apparently these mixes carry lots of little differences and details to give a quite different experience to the current (1987 era) CD versions. Very tempting, but perhaps for the time being I’ll just stick to my 1987 box set (complete with roller door… hehe – take a look at the picture. I still love that box – has pride of place in my music wall) – 
hard to justify spending that much on a bunch of albums I already own, even if they are much better versions. Sooner or later I’ll have to get them though as I do love The Beatles.
Also on 09/09/09 we’ll see the release of The Beatles RockBand game, which looks cool. I’m not a serious gamer but this is very tempting too… maybe something I’ll look at getting later in the year when I’m not so crazily busy.
And coincidentally on 9/9/9 there’s also a big music related Apple event scheduled where they are likely to be releasing new iPod models. Usually these events are held on a Tuesday so the fact it’s on a Wednesday on the same day as these other Beatles may herald the long overdue addition of The Beatles’ catalogue to iTunes. I won’t be buying them, since I already ripped my 1987 CDs into iTunes a long time ago, but it’s an important step so the younger generation of non-CD-buying iPod listening youths can have better access to some of the most important popular music ever made… Will also be interesting to see if Steve Jobs makes his first post-transplant public appearance here..
Tags : Apple, beatles, iPod, music, RockBand, steve jobs
Categories : Apple, music | 0 Comments
Interesting piece on Slate here about ebooks and the Amazon kindle, a devide we are yet to see here in Australia but which has started to take the US reading market by storm. For the first time, after several unsuccussful forays by companies like Sony, ebooks are starting to get some mass traction.
I can see the advantages of eBooks, especially from the point of view of not having to carry books around, copying and pasting notes, purchasing books instantaneously etc. Especially for students the benefits are potentially huge.
However I’m still sold on the idea of “one-device-to-rule-them-all” – phone, book reader, media player, computer, camera, video recorder etc If only we had such a device so we don’t have to carry all these other things around… the iPhone is the closest we have (although it’s camera/video functions remain grossly inadequate) and there are some good ebook readers available for it. The best I have tried is Stanza, which links to a lot of free and commercial online catalogs to download books. You can also sync with your computer for books you’ve downloaded elsewhere. I’ve found it to be quite usable for novels – quite easy to read and navigate. At present I have the Stainless Steel Rat on there which I am slowly reading when I get a spare moment, plus I’ve downloaded a load of classic literature as well. The biggest downfall of the iPhone for book reading is that it’s small screen makes it unusable for textbooks…
Perhaps the rumoured upcoming Apple Tablet computer will be the ideal device for book reading – smaller and easier to carry around than a laptop, but with full computer functionality (in contrast to the Kindle and other ebook readers) and with a touch screen please! I digress but imagine if they make it so you can use your nifty iPhone apps on the Mac tablet as well, thus bringing the coolness, utility, and diversity of the App store from the smartphone world to the computer world! Now that would be cool. And I’m only guessing but it probably wouldn’t be too tough on the programmers as the iPhone and OSX are built on the same basic core anyway (or so I’ve been led to believe…) If you haven’t already thought of that Steve Jobs and crew, you can thank me for the idea… (I’m sure Steve’s a big reader of this blog so he’s sure to take notice…)
[take a look at this concept picture.. how awesome does that look. I want that!]
Anyway back to eBooks… there’s still a big big reason why I’m not sold on the whole idea – I love books. And not just the content of books. I love the physical cardboard and paper things which sit in my library and cause me the constant challenge of shuffling them around to make room for new books. I love just sitting in that room surrounded by them looking at all the cool ones I’ve read and have yet to read. I love having a book on my lap, with a led pencil handy to underline useful or witty insights or quotes (still haven’t come up with an effective solution to remember my underlinings though…) I like collecting and hoarding books that I think one day I might find interesting, or fancy well bound ones from the Folio Society. I love big books with hard covers. I love all my leather bound bibles. If I had more time and money (mostly time) I’d be one of those people who likes looking in secondhand bookshops trying to finding classic antique books. If I had more money I’d be buying classic guitars, but that’s another story.
SO the gist – ebooks are a good idea; still need the right device to be released (c’mon Steve!); but will never replace the charm of actual, physical books for me..
Tags : amazon, books, ebooks, folio society, kindle, steve jobs
Categories : Apple, Gadgets, books | 0 Comments
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