MOBODOJO

Okay, so you want to know the lowdown on what Schiller Dawg brought all up in the hizee, so here it is. Schiller kicked it all off by first (yes, first), announcing updated MacBook Pros and a new organizational arrangement for the models. The biggest change was to move the 13″ MacBook Unibody models into the MacBook Pro fold. Battery life jumps to 7 hours (claimed) for the 13″ and 15″ MBP models, and prices start at US$1,199 overall. The MacBook White budget machine remains, but also get an update, and the MacBook Air also gets a refresh. The big news on the MacBook Air, though, is that they are now offering a new SSD model with a 128GB drive for a mere US$1,799. Oh, and the ExpressCard/34 slot was replaced with an actual SD card slot. Wow. 

Next up is a discussion about what Snow Leopard will bring. There are lots of refinements to Leopard and very few new features. This is a good thing, too, as continually adding new features, like Microsoft does as a standard operating procedure, continually adds new problems. Apple has decided to refine all of the components of Leopard. The three big elements for developers are GCD, OpenCL, and 64-bit support throughout. OpenCL, a new open standard from Apple which is being supported by everyone who is anyone, allows unused processing time from the graphics GPU to be used for other stuff. GCD allows developers to take advantage of multiple CPU cores without effort. Nice. Snow Leopard is out later this year for upgrade pricing of US$29 per license and US$49 for the family pack. 

Finally comes the iPhone OS 3.0 chatter. Honestly, if this thing works like they say it will, the iPhone OS 3.0 on an iPhone 3Gs will be more like a laptop in your pocket than just a phone, and everyone else STILL has a long way to go to catch up (except maybe Palm, but that’s another article). Thirteen years ago when I was still banging away on a PowerMac 7300/200 and an Apple Newton MessagePad MP130 and had a PowerBook 145b and PowerMac 7100/60 in active use I would not have been able to tell you that Apple was going to pull it out again around now. For nearly ten years now, though, I’ve been watching Apple deal Aces off the top of the deck in the form of Mac OS X, the iPod, the new MacBook Pros, the Intel switch, and now the iPhone. 

Here’s to another 30 years of wicked Apple gear.

Well, since I can’t send any more Tweets, I’ll have to do this here in BlogSpace. The new iPhone 3Gs  is now official. It has that digital compass, a video capable 3MP camera, a faster processor, better battery life, remote wipe, encryption, new VoiceOver and voice controls. Just tell it what to do and it does it. Eco friendly, too… DOI. Oh, and 7.2Mbps HSDPA.

Ships with iPhone OS 3.0 for US$199. That’s the 16GB model! US$299 for the 32GB! Wow. iPhone 3G now can be had new for US$99. DAMN!

Phil Schiller is proving that he isn’t Steve Jobs by jumping immediately into the new product announcements, and that seems to be a good thing. It shows that he’s no clone and that Apple isn’t looking to stay the same. So, the hardware bits are big for the moment. The MacBook Pro has been updated in two significant ways. First, the entry level price for the 15″ models has been moved down to US$1,699. Second, the MacBook line has been redubbed to join the MacBook Pro line, starting at US$1,199. The 17″ MBP and the MBA are also getting updates, as well as a lowly MacBook White.

Now they’ve gone on to talk about Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”, but there will very likely be more product announcements later on in the keynote. For now, however, that leaves a large hole in expectations for this WWDC. Will Apple be releasing the 3rd hardware revision of the iPhone today and what will it offer? Now that we know about the reshuffling of the MacBook line does that indicate that Apple is about to intro a tablet type device, a netbook, or something else? Its no like the prices have really changed all that much, so for Apple there are no holes, but we’ll just have to see. More later!

I’m not saying that Linux computers aren’t real now. They certainly are, but to people who are willing to work to get them to work 100% and enjoy hacking the kernel. The Linux lappy which works out of the box has been the holy grail of the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) industry for years. Some have pulled off vague shadows of success, but it took System 76 to come along and Apple-ize the process. Imagine going to their website, picking through their wide selection of laptops, desktops, nettops, and servers, selecting what you want, getting it, and using it right after pulling it out of the box. That’s what you do with a System 76 machine, and here’s the kicker: The Ubuntu 9.04 preinstalled on these machines is 100% STOCK! Read the rest of this entry »

As you probably already know, I was at Tech-Ed 2009 in Los Angeles earlier this week and while I was there I got to confront the Surface PC guys about the difficulties which were discovered while setting up the behemoth US$15,000 machine. Please do note that this is note a word for word transcription of the conversation, but more a creative re-rendering of what was said. Its mostly accurate, though. 

“So, when are the dev guys going to fix the installation process of the Surface PC so that it can be done without needing a mouse and keyboard. I have it from reliable sources that it is, indeed, not working. This fact is also not noted in the documentation. That’s kind of cheap for a US$15,000 computer, isn’t it,” I asked, as I walked up on the guy, hand extended. He sort of stared around a bit and then seemed to realize it was a question. He took my hand, shook it slowly, then her gave it a couple of good shakes and started to talk.

“Whoever you heard that from they’re lying.”

“Interesting. So you’re saying that a Surface PC can be set up using the touchscreen display,” I inquired. 

“Did you read that story on [insert gadget blog here],” he asked me, possibly attempting to look intimidating.

“I read it on [same blog here] and it was substantiated by people I know personally,” I responded. “So, can you set up the Surface PC using the touchscreen and if not, why is this fact not documented for the customer,” I drilled on. 

He then went on to explain that there are two types of customers; developers and some word which I guess means retailers in Microsoft-speak and I can’t recall. Developers get the unit au naturel. Retailers get a concierge type who works with them to configure the system for their needs and then arranges for its installation. Developers are expecting to have to set it up and they get all of the help they need to get it done. Retailers, however, have it all taken care of for them and never have to directly experience configuration. 

Here, then, is where the problem occurred. The retailer involved had it purchased by a 2nd party involved in the project who then had the unit shipped to their marketing firm and since the marketing firm wasn’t “in the loop” they never received the concierge service they would normally receive. The Microserf went on to explain that Microsoft was fully aware of this user-initiated failure in processing and claimed that the Redmond Giant was going to stomp all over the losers for reporting it to a blog before letting Microsoft fix the problem going to rectify the communications issues involved in the overall issue.

It was a real Microsoftian nerd fest at the Los Angeles Convention Center yesterday as I beheld my one and only day at Tech-Ed 2009, Microsoft’s huge developer conference. Its too bad. It was only in Los Angeles this year. Next year it will be in New Orleans and I likely won’t be going. One of the coolest things about the entire show was that instead of a show floor full of sales drones, they had real nerds out there to talk about the gear, geek to geek, as it were. I had read a little about Dell’s new server technologies, so I sauntered over to the huge Dell booth to take a gander. 

Aside from the extremely wicked new server technologies the guy showed me (a Flash RAM module built in to the servers to allow failed BIOS update roll-backs and SD card and USB ports inside the 1U and 2U chassis) I found one slick ass technological leap without being dragged over to it; a fan. Yeah. Whoop, Tyler. I can hear you calling me a dork, but you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. What I was looking at was a physical demo of two server channel fans, one from some generic vendor and the other the new technology from Dell. 

They were set up on a board and had clear plexiglas housings shaped just like they would inside a server enclosure. They were both powered up and blowing, both at about the same flow rate. What was distinctive was the fact that the Dell fan was using only 1.1 watts while the other unit was nearing 20 watts. Wow! Now, there are fans out there which draw only 10 watts, but if you consider that you can use up to 10 Dell fan units and only just break the wattage being used by a single fan from the competition, then you start to get the idea. Now imagine if you were in charge of preparing the power usage map for a deployment of 100 servers!

Yeah. 

I’m glad Dell put new server bezels on their swank new servers and I’m glad that the LED display on the front can show an entire MAC address without having to scroll, but these niceties aren’t going to save a large company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on their electric bill, either. It will be very interesting to see what HP comes out with in response.

I’m here at TechEd 2009 and I’m not here as a Microsoft lover. I’m here as a shadow warrior to speak about the cause of technology for the people and not the machine. Sure, I’m now sounding like a complete loon, but all’s fair in love and war, isn’t it. As all of my regular readers know, I’m no fan of Microsoft, but I do have an open policy and I will share that with you now:

Microsoft is not the only computer software company on the planet. There are millions of companies out there making all kinds of wicked software for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and hundreds of other operating systems. The only operating system anyone should ever use is the one they like. I will always try to push people to use Mac OS X because I believe its a superior OS, but I won’t push so hard as to make it unpleasant.

So, I’m here at TechEd 2009 in Los Angeles to make a point. I’m going to speak to some people and take in some sessions to pass on the real spin on what’s going on in the nerdish world of Microsoftians everywhere. TechEd is a big show and there are a load of people here. There should be something interesting to dig up somewhere!