Bluekat Magazine

I had to blog this… It had me in stitches:

Microsoft seems to have the right idea when it comes to their new cloud service service – Live Mesh. I have to say that after trying the Live Mesh back up service I am very impressed. I opted for the free service which gives you 5GB of web space and once you’ve set it up you can arrange files and folders from within your browser. The service enables you to sync your PCs, Macs and mobile devices giving you access to any files you own anywhere no matter where you are as long as you have an internet connection.

It is what it is, a good back up service that works well and thankfully is compatible with both Mac and PC platforms. I like the Vista-like interface it looks and works really well, but best of all the FREE price tag makes it a winner for me.

If your interested in Live Mesh visit www.livemesh.com where you can use your Live ID to sign up for this cloud storage service or create a new account

Sorry for the lack of content lately… I’m working on other projects and the articles I want to write require a bit more research, I can’t hurry them.

I have to admit I am a little disapointed in the new line up of Macs recently released by Apple. As regular readers will know, there were rumours all over the web about the new MacBook Pros, most of which turned out to be true.

Apple did in fact re-design the Macbook pros to compliment the current design of the iMacs and the touchpads were larger and made of glass.

However there are some blatent flaws in these product lines, such as no option of an anti glare screen for the Mac Books and the Phasing out of Firewire on the cheaper Macbook line.

The phasing out of Firewire and glossy screens concern me as a designer more than anything else. I hate glossy screens. They are of no use to Proffessional designers. They only look good in shops, electronics look great when they gleam and sparkle on a display but when you can see everything happening behind you when your trying to get a little work done…. NO!

They got it wrong this time and I hope they update this line before its time for me to buy a new machine .

The whole aluminium block thing was highly exaggerated, I thought we were going to see a new class of Mac, I dont know much about manufacturing but apparently what they did was hard to pull off but I can’t comment on that.

Stil with every keynote being ruined by all the rumours and hype by Mac rumour sites it must be harder for apple to surprise and meet the expectations of the ever increasing Mac and iPod ans out there.

For the latest updates on the new Apple MacBook story, check out my Twitter feed in the left hand side menu or visit my Twitter Homepage here.

This will make the paranoid, even more paranoid, did you know that many modern bank notes come with RFID chips in them?

This technology is similar to the technology used in our London Transport Oyster Cards. It contains a small chip which can be read by a special scanner, although what data these chips in our money hold and how much information they can store know seems to know. Take a look at these pictures posted on www.prisonplanet.com below of US $20  notes which were placed in a Microwave oven. The chips blow up an leave a whole in the note, same place every time, the right eye of Andrew Jackson.

Source: www.prisonplanet.com

There have been a lot of rumours regarding the release of a new Macbook from Apple. The first rumours I heard were of an updated MacBook Pro with what looked like a multi-touch screen from an iPhone as the track pad.Check out that entry here.

Apple Invite

Apple has been handing out the usual cryptic invitations to a select few journalists which give you an idea about the product but not enough for you to be 100% sure of. Needles to say the blogosphere is alive with rumours of a new class of notebook cut from a solid block of Aluminium.

I’d love to speculate about this but but you never know. So I’ll wait and see, however it has to be said that Apple has had a harder time keeping its products secret of late so there could be some truth to the current rumours…

The new Mac Book Pro is rumoured to have a design that compliments the industrial design of the Latest iMacs.

This is the first time I’ve blogged about an Apple rumour. I’ve tried to refrain from using stories that couldn’t be backed up with reliable sources, but like sex, Apple rumours sell and I’m a blogger, not a professional journalist so Why not

I’ve been very busy so its taken me a while to get round to commenting on this. But I felt I had to blog about Microsoft’s latest advertising campaign. No, I’m not talking about those feature length, cryptic, ads staring Jerry Sienfield which they had to pull due to negative feed back although they claim its all been part of some grand advertising master plan. Which no one I’ve spoken to seems to understand.

The new ads feature lots of people from all works of life stating proudly that they are PCs and its a direct counter to the Apple ads which feature a Mac and PC played by Justin Long (below right) and John Hodgman (below left).

The problem with this ad is they missed the point of the Apple commercials, or rather they condescendingly think the audience has and assume that we, the unthinking public, think that the Mac and PC character’s are suppose to represent PC and Mac users when they clearly are meant to betray the Mac and Windows operating systems.

I suppose we should be grateful that we can at least understand this commercial. i know its a long shot but if this blog post does find its way on to a computer screen of anyone on the miscrosoft marketing team have a look at one the Novel spof ads…

Now that’s funny!

I’ve just been taking a look at some of the videos springing up al over the et about the new G1 phone by T-Mobile.  It’s  the first handset on the market to feature the new Android OS, an open source operating system developed by Google.

The G1 is supposed to be an “iPhone killer” and if that’s anything like an iPod killer then it will look like a brick when its sat side-by-side with an iPhone and wont even put a dent in the sales of the iPhone.

I’m not saying that Android is not a great idea, just that this particular monstrosity will offer no competition to the iPhone. As phones go in general, looks count for a lot and there are far slicker, sexier looking phones out there by all the big manufacturers.

Secondly the success o the iPhone has largely been attributed to the interface, its ease of use and the way its works on  the small touch screens. Like every other mobile phone to date that is suppose to rival the iPhone the G1 does not have the same touch sensitive screen as the iPhone, this means the screen will not be as responsive as the iphone’s which will effect how some of the applications work on the G1.

On the plus side and I think this will ultimately be the clincher for most people, Google phones will come unlocked so consumers will be free to pick and choose the carrier of their choice, whoever, the G1 as I understand it is locked into the T-Mobile network so you would have to sign a contract with T-Mobile to get this phone.

From what I’ve read the best advice if you are interested in getting an Android phone is to wait for some of the other manufacturers to get their devices out. There is nothing special about the G1 other than the Android Operating system. Better to wait for a special phone to go with it.