thanks for the tip dave - hadn't come across that sw before

will check it out - though i'd like to see apple implement something themselves either through sw like this or physically

i just got a magic mouse and i can say that i'm waiting for v 2.0.

The design is great and quite comfortable as is the weight (the wireless mighty mouse was heavier) The lack of the ball to get clogged is great. However at work depend on the extra buttons of the mighty mouse for expose. maybe there'll be some update which will allow me to assign the tips of the mouse some command...

i too have a long relationship with computers and mice - the apple imac puck was bad however, the all time worse for me was the amiga 500 one. It was big and square (not too dissimilar from apple's early bricks) I was a kid and i recall the square corners annoying my small hands.

my problem with any of these nas and san devices is at the end of the day cor all their features etc, true redundancy means that you need to buy 2 of them - what's the point of having all that storage redundancy if it's the controller that goes. in many small network situations a server with lots of hdd's attached better serves a company as repairs and parts are easier to tackle

i need a new mac but i've encountered too many probs with various imacs and apple displays to go for this

once again apple.. a nice plastic tower with similar specs to the top of the range imac with at least space for 2 3.5" drives and you'll see growth in your desktop segment!

or maybe a small slab of aluminium?

ah the memories - i was a die hard amiga nut - went so far as to upgrade my a1200 with a cdrom drive, hd drive and a 68060 cpu... was also looking into some sort of towering system until something went poof. My computer choice after that was an imac for 3 reasons - i as interested in graphic design, the pc compatibles were all too difficult to figure out which was the best choice (at time less choice is better!) and the os was closer to the amiga's!

swos is still my all time favourite game followed closely by cannon fodder - funny how those games never translated well on any other platform...

mysql isn't built into the client version of osx it is however on the erver. If you are running on a network and doing local development, I find the best product is actually os x server. But it might be over kill for a one man dev. Also, php is not enabled by default in osx. So for less experienced users, setting up a dev environment on a standard mac can be a bit of a challenge.

I've tried mamp after having problems with the mysql install in leopard. I even went so far as to upgrade to mamp pro. The difference between the pro and the standard is that the pro lets you add multiple virtual hosts through the gui. However I've since solved my mysql issues and favour using the standard os system. Also, apple tends to bundle older versions of apache and php as they obviously prefer more stable releases.

A useful tool if you develop multiple sites without mamp is virtualhostx. Allows you to edit the virtual hosts via an easy to use gui. I use headdress on tiger but it seems to have ceased development or availability. However with snow leopard (and prolly leopard too) the web server used is apache 2 so the vhosts are located in a separate file making it easier to set up manually. I still prefer an easy to use gui as on my dev box i have about 75 sites set up...

these machines are interesting - their choice of interface and user friendly features make them interestin choices as SAS - however i personally would prefer a NAS version.

also if router and storage manufacturers agree on a way to have the leds come on only when necessary... or have an energy reducing lights out mode

those who have these devices in the same room as they sleep would appreciate it too.

I find macs as htpcs still too fiddly - the lack of hdmi is just the tip of the iceberg. The mac mini would require hd tv tuners, DVR capabilities and decent hdd sizes to be viable. The UI isn't ready and requires to many components to get it working. It would also help if apple creates a proper media server app - DLNA etc. This would allow the mac mini to stream to more devices around the house. Maybe there's a niche for home entertainment dedicated xserves for serious home media rigs.

People who decry blu-ray or say they don't need it, well good for them. Apple needs blu-ray. The simple truth is that blu-ray will catch up with dvds and as more people replace their collections with blu-rays, the more options they'd like to play them. E.g if i go abroad and wish to take a film with me for entertainment at the moment I can't take any of my blu-rays s my laptop doesn't support them. Blu-ray is also new and cutting edge compared to dvd - apple not supporting it will hurt their image in the long run.

My system relies on a lacie NAS drive which receives content from my mac. Then it's viewed on the TVs via 2 ps3's, one wired and one over wifi. We can usually watch 2 shows at the same time and watch blu rays. Ps3's have come down in price now and I would recommend it as media viewer over a mac. The mac is better suited to proper computing needs.

would it be too much to expect a future version of a harmony remote with built in bluetooth?

i ended up with a spare 80gb one after i upgraded my macbook and i now have a 60gb lying about after my first ps3 went poof thanks to a lightning strike

i bought a usb enclosure for the 80gb and will soon buy one for the 60gb even if just to give to my dad - its a good way to recycle and i find them faster than my usb pen.

fortunately unless you need lots of connectivity or functionality you can opt for a generic enclosure which will work perfectly well with macs