Because geek is cool and clever

The miniature Earth October 4, 2007

I remember reading the statistics contained within this short film some time ago. Seeing it displayed in such stark reality is quite an eye opener.

It may sound like a real cliche, but it certainly makes me realise how lucky I am.

I’m loving Miro October 2, 2007

One bit of software that I don’t think I could be without on my new Mac is Miro, a fantastic application that allows me to download and schedule video.
What makes it so great? Well, first of all how about the ease that it downloads YouTube, Google Video and others? Simply search for what you’re looking for within Miro and download it.
Miro structures your downloads in an iTunes style library format so you choose categories and drop video into them.
It also has a video search facility where you can sign up for video podcasts and configure them to download automatically once they are released.
I started off with a bunch of tech-based news podcasts, some of which I have decided to stay subscribed to (CommandN and Cranky Geeks being a couple) and others I quickly ditched (goodbye and good riddance WebbAlert – may your days of annoying American presentation never darken my door again).
However, Miro really comes into its own when couple with RSS TV feeds. These feeds are available on a number of sites, my favourite of which is TVRSS which lists BitTorrent feeds of innumerable shows, most of which have yet to see the light of day in Dear Ol’ Blighty.
As with podcasts, once you’ve signed up to search-based torrents and saved them in Miro, they’ll wind their way to you as soon as they’re uploaded as BitTorrents.
It’s all rather utterly effortless.
Each time I look I’ve got a new episode of the latest series of Family Guy, The Simpsons, 24, Heroes, The Office and, most recently, the new US version of Bionic Woman starring some woman who was once in Eastenders (now there is a bit of oddcasting).

How to survive as the ‘Family Tech Guy’ October 2, 2007

As I can testify from years of personal experience, one of the pressures on tech-savvy people these days is the seemingly constant need to provide quick, top-quality computer and web support — to our families.

read more | digg story

New Radiohead album, In Rainbows to be released next month. You pay what you think it’s worth October 1, 2007

Pay nothing if you like. Interesting experiment…

read more | digg story

Sex Pistols Reunite to Record Guitar Hero 3 Track September 25, 2007

First Activision had Living Colour rerecord the awesome “Cult of Personality”, and now the Sex Pistols have reunited (again) to record “Anarchy in the U.K.” for the game.

read more | digg story

Amazon Launches DRM-Free MP3 Store September 25, 2007

Amazon has launched the public beta of its new digital music portal called Amazon MP3, which will feature two million songs from 180,000 artists and 20,000 labels, all without DRM. Separate songs will sell for $.89 or $.99 and albums will range in cost from $5.99 to $9.99, with the best selling albums coming in at $8.99.

read more | digg story

Google Presentation – Google’s PowerPoint app goes live September 18, 2007

Google’s long-rumoured and eagerly anticipated PowerPoint clone has finally shipped. Although we’ve only had a chance to have a first look, here are some impressions. What’s there: PowerPoint import, Versioning, Collaboration, Online presentation sharing. What’s not there: Animations, Sound, Video, exporting to PowerPoint.

read more | digg story

The Free Mac Classroom September 17, 2007

Absolutely the biggest list of free educational applications for the Mac! Over 200 free apps listed and categorised.

read more | digg story

Fgpyyih804423 in 160 seconds. How Safe is Your Windows Password? September 10, 2007

The multi-platform password cracker Ophcrack is incredibly fast. How fast? It can crack the password “Fgpyyih804423″ in 160 seconds. Most people would consider that password fairly secure…

read more | digg story

Now this is real computing August 31, 2007

Since deciding some months ago that I would abandon Windows altogether, I’ve dallied equally with Ubuntu Linux and Mac OS X as alternatives.
It’s been an interesting relationship but it wasn’t fair to play the two of them off against each other indefinitely and I needed to make a decision as to which of them I would win my long term allegiance.
A couple of weeks ago I made up my mind when I clicked the ‘Order’ button on a new iMac from Apple’s website. I went for the top of the range 24 inch model and apple.com gave me a suggested delivery time of just five days – great!
Ten days later I was still staring forlornly down the drive of my house, waiting for a TNT delivery van to pull up.
It finally showed up a couple of days ago and it’s fair to say that based on even that limited experience, it’s the best computer I’ve ever owned.
I’m going to make a conscious effort to not turn into one of those dreadful Mac bores who devote every waking moment to Apple evangelism but there are a couple of things that can’t go unsaid. When you read about the ‘Mac experience’ or ‘making the switch’ or see the Mac claim ‘it just works’, you can believe the hype, folks.
Of course I’ve used Macs before and even fairly routinely, but this is the first time I’ve ever actually unboxed one for home use.
The iMac slid out of its polystyrene packaging, sat elegantly on my desk (for those who haven’t yet seen a recent model iMac, they are built all-in-one and essentially just look like a large flat panel monitor) and with one plug switched on it was up and running with internet access in approximately two minutes, or as long as it takes you to type your new account details.
It was almost embarrassingly effortless.
As mentioned, this is my first non-business Mac so I can really go to town with its movie, music and DVD creating tools.
At initial glance the entire iLife 08 suite that brings all these tools together and comes bundled with new Macs looks elegant, simple and powerful.
I’d have no trouble recommending a new iMac to anyone looking for a new home computer.