Recent Comments:
iPhone news for Switzerland, Spain and Poland {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
May 8th 2008 11:27PM No offense to any Polish people, but there's just something wrong in Denmark... er, Canada, if Poland is getting the iPhone before Canada is.
There's actually something wrong with Canada and Rogers specifically that all these other countries are getting it first. It comes down to greed, and monopolies, and Rogers' complete idiocy when it comes to offering a reasonably priced connectivity plan.
Yeah, I know that it's coming 'sometime later this year', but the current word is, get ready to spend $150 or more a month if you want it officially. Just insane on the data plan.
Engadget snares next-gen iPhone pr0n {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Apr 25th 2008 8:14PM Yeah, I've supplied tips to TUAW as well - probably the most notable was a three-week advance that the Airport express was being updated to N, and they had no interest. Makes me wonder about all the other tips they pass on.
Apple TV update 2.0.1 {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Mar 31st 2008 8:02AM I completely agree with dswift - the 2.0 interface is very "buy buy buy" driven. At the very least, My _______ (Music, movies, whatever) and "Shared ________" should be at the top of the lists on the right column.
BUT... besides all that.
If you run a N 5ghz network at home for the Apple TV (AEBS, TC, etc), *do not run this update*. There's been dozens and dozens of reports on Apple's support forums about dropouts, forgetting the network after 5 minutes connection if that's your setup. Only a cold reboot (pulling the plug) fixes it, and again, only for five minutes.
Some are reporting that switching off Wide Networking on AEBS / TC fixes this, but not everyone.
Apple seems to have screwed the pooch on this update. Wait for 2.02, and read feedback about it for a few days before updating. I'm running TC / 5ghz / N at home, so I'm sticking with 2.0 for now.
How would you change Apple's Time Capsule? {Engadget}
Mar 29th 2008 6:56AM I own a Time Capsule 500gb model, bought it to bring
a) N, 5ghz wifi to my home
b) USB hard / driver printer support on the network
c) Time machine backups for a desktop iMac and a future macbook (once they come out with the LED backlit versions, I guess).
I've been using it for a few weeks now, and my observations:
NAS
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Sure, the main HD is HFS+ Journaled to work with Time Capsule. Sure, Windows XP computers can't easily read it (non Bonjour PCs). Not a problem though. I have a FAT32 formatted WD Passport drive, 160gb, hooked into the USB, and WinXP boxes have no problems reading or writing to that.
Heat
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It does run hot, but other than me worrying a bit about carbon footprints / electrical usage, it's not an issue, I guess it's a secondary bonus that it heats up my drafty office a bit.
Stream Music
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See NAS above. I can put music on the WD Passport, and access that music from any PC in the house. I don't see what the big fuss is about Airtunes anyway. I also have an AppleTV (which does support AirTunes), and never accessed it.
Bandwidth
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The Time Capsule is ethernet-connected to the iMac it backs up, so it's not a problem. It may be once I get a macbook though, who knows. 1 hour backups are bad though - one change I'd like to see is Apple allow the user to set the backup interval.
Mounting
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This is my main issue with the TC so far. It mounts and unmounts every freakin' hour. I'd rather it just stayed mounted. I suppose this is a power saving mode for the TC.
Pricing
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I don't agree with Ryan that this is a pricey device. Before buying, I was looking for a 5ghz N wifi router that supported both printer and USB mounting. Most I priced were more expensive than the Apple Airport Extreme base station (ie, $225-$275 vs. the AEBS $200 price). I looked at the price of various "quality" 7200rpm eSATA 500gb external drive options, and they STARt at $150, and go up with enclosure costs. Add to that I couldn't find any router / wifi NAS that supported eSATA. This made the $329 (Cdn) price for the Time Capsule very economical - all built in, plus external USB devices support. It ended up being an easy purchase decision.
Things I would change:
As mentioned above, I'd change the backup interval options (give the user some control here), change the mounting / unmounting, and to be honest, the Airport Utility needs some beefing up. I miss some of the controls I could take advantage of on my dlink router. It's missing the ability to see what dhcp connections you have, and make those "assigned" (yes you can do this, but you have to write down the MAC address so you can manually type them in), also missing a quick "reboot router" option. Apple thinks their shit don't stink, I guess. ;) Also, perhaps an external antenna option.
Other than that, the device works very well, and I'm very pleased with the purchase. Compared to the buggy AppleTV, it works great.
HP UMPC 2133 specs revealed, street date of April 7th? {Engadget}
Mar 27th 2008 8:14AM I'm a bit behind the curve on knowing the answer to this question - can you easily install Mac OSX on this (or any current gen notebook computer)? If so, this could be my "Macbook Air". It is about 75% of what I hoped the MBA would be before Steve announced it. The MBA itself is about 50% what I hoped the MBA would be ;)
FYI: change your password, edit your profile, add yourself an avatar {Engadget}
Mar 26th 2008 5:13PM ditto as with everyone else on the password problem. Works fine when leaving a comment, fubar'ed when trying to edit profile.
802.11n Airport Express is now on sale {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Mar 17th 2008 5:10PM I guess that tip I sent TUAW in over two weeks ago was true then, about the refresh on the Express ;)
Good news for Canadians too - it's the first product Apple has released that has "par" pricing. Portent of things to come?
Apple launches 802.11n Airport Express right on cue {Engadget}
Mar 17th 2008 5:07PM Good news for Canadians - it's the first product in Apple's lineup that has "par" pricing with the US product. It's $99 on Apple.ca as well.
Patent filing shows DVR for Apple TV {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Mar 16th 2008 5:12PM Oh, one more comment - a bit OT: I did read there was a "trick" to streaming internet radio to an AppleTV - put the feeds in a playlist on iTunes. I did this and it worked when I was only streaming music to the ATV. Once I set AppleTV to import all my music and playlists, iTunes refuses to send the stream links to reside on the ATV.
Is there any other way to spoof it so you can get radio feeds on the ATV?
Patent filing shows DVR for Apple TV {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Mar 16th 2008 5:07PM I'm confused here. Is this for a future, "version 2.0" of an Apple TV appliance? (as opposed to the Take Two software update).
How would one get a cable (satellite, line in, whatever) feed into the current AppleTV design? It's a one way appliance as far as your TV is concerned - it feeds, doesn't suck down. It of course gets its feed from wifi, iTunes, and the Internets, but no cable in, no line in, no hdmi in, no component cable in.
I just bought an AppleTV. As usual, Apple and Hollyweird are neglecting markets outside of the US (all I have in my "Movies" section is trailers and my own movies, no movie downloads), but I was aware of that.
I've suffered through almost four years with a Philips Streamium stereo system - the kind with wifi built in (B) and streaming of music from your computer or the 'Nets. I say "suffer" because a) I have become hooked on having my entire music collection available in the living room via wifi and the Philips, as well as Internet radio streaming, but b) the darned Philips Streamium mci-250 (http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2003/08/03/philips-streamium-mci-200-mci-250/) is just on the edge of the wifi connectivity in our home, and would frequently not connect, take forever to connect, drop connections. It's not so much a knock on the Streamium (awesome device), but on the connectivity problems.
When we went sorta Apple last Christmas in the house with two iMac purchases, I decided to put my past frustrations to rest, and go to a more powerful streaming solution - not only audio, but video as well with the Apple TV (and a Time Capsule, and a dual-band wifi network setup with the Time Capsule doing 5ghz N, and a Belkin connected to the TC sending out a 2.4ghz G/B signal).
For me, the AppleTV does most of what I want - I get video and audio in the main living room, on the telly and on the hifi (via the Telly's audio output to hifi). I was fully aware of the shitty anaemic Movies support in iTunes Canada (read: none at all, except for trailers). All my past connectivity headaches with the Streamium are gone, and I have the bonus of a) video feed, b) podcasts, c) flickr (got lotsa flickr buddies), d) youtube, e) streaming from my fiance's iMac iTunes as well as my own. I guess I was one of the super minority "ideal" customers for the original Apple TV. Take Two, besides improved podcast support, flickr and Youtube, does little for people outside the US.
I'm in Canada so I use a Shaw HD digital cable box with PVR ability (a measly 80gb hard drive though :( ) which in many ways is so much better than TiVO, but it would be nice if the AppleTV could get in the act, perhaps PVRing shows and sending them back to the house computers. But I don't see how it's possible, software only upgrade, on the current gen ATVs.
I only wish I could also stream Internet Radio to the Apple TV. That's a glaring ommission by Apple, not having that ability built in.
