Vanvalkinburgh.org

Bough a airport express from amazon, shouldn’t be as loud as MSI Nettop 100. Should sell MSI Nettop 100, will keep the hard drive if I do that though. It was only $107 with one day shipping, amazon prime is nice. Could use it for wireless too, then sell trendnet wireless N router, already have linksys router running dd-wrt, keeping that, it is only wireless G though. Guess it could act as a wireless bridge, but going to hook it up to receiver for music.

Looks like amazon lowered the price of the Kindle to $299, I don’t need one. I have the kindle app on my iPod touch. I would rather buy a 16 GB iPod touch for a little under $299.

Is that two or three times today? Damn Safari 4 is unstable for me, perhaps the new javascript updates are making it crash. Maybe if I disable javascript it’ll be more stable, then a lot of websites wouldn’t work, that might suck. Wonder if Safari 3.5 is released yet, don’t think so, and that was crashing to when I was using it. Couldn’t report the crashes in the Safari 4 beta, it never showed dialog, it shows that now, so I report all crashes to apple, who never seem to fix them. The safari 4.0.1 update didn’t say anything about fixing the crashes, something to do with iLife 09, that I don’t have, updated Safari though, and it already crashed. So obviously it doesn’t fix the crashing, perhaps Safari will be famous for crashing. Maybe I should use a text only browser, that should be pretty stable.

Apple should really release a mac tablet before I have enough money for a macbook pro or iMac. If they release a tablet, I’ll get one of those, and then after that I’ll eventually get an iMac. Wouldn’t need a tablet and macbook pro. So maybe I’ll just wait till next year to buy new mac, or till they release a tablet, whichever comes first. Though they may never make a tablet, which would suck. But I’d line up to buy one, wait no apple store here, so can’t, I’d just buy it from their site.

Hmm not sure if I’ll get one of the 13″ MacBook Pros or a refurbished iMac. The iMac would be faster and have better video, but cost a little more then a new 13″ MacBook Pro, I’d get the $1,499 MacBook Pro, if I got one probably. By the time I can buy a new mac, they’ll probably have the cheapest 15″ MacBook Pro refurbished… So maybe I’ll get one of those instead. I like the SD card reader the new MacBook Pro’s have, then I wouldn’t have to use my card reader. They should add a SD reader to the iMac. I could get the old iMac model 3 GHz for just a little more then the new 2.93 GHz refurbished model, but want the new model with support for 8 GB of ram. I think what I’ll do is just think about it but never buy either, that way by the time I make up my mind they’ll be new models, haha. Or I might get one if my mac mini dies and can’t be fixed cheaply. Oh wait I still have my MSI Nettop 100 with ubuntu, so won’t need to purchase new mac, if current mini dies, can just use that. It can’t play games, but neither can my mini.

Update
Will probably end up getting a MacBook Pro. Probably the cheapest 15″ MacBook refurbished though, they should have em refurbished in three or four months. I suppose if I decide to get off my lazy ass and get a job, then I might be able to get one before then.

That’s because many observers don’t expect a new iPhone will be unveiled. The Cupertino company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is about software, not gadgets. Some prognosticators say a new device – perhaps even a new family of iPhones – will be launched later this month or in July.

Good cause I don’t care about the iPhone. Not buying any phone that is locked down to a service, hell I don’t even need a cell phone or any phone for that matter. If I had to pay bill, I’d have no cell phone.

Might not have to buy OS X Snow Leopard, as I’ll eventually get an iMac. Doubt Snow leopard will be released immediately.

Funny how everyone is expecting hardware, does anyone realize the name of it is “World Wide Developer Conference”? Sounds like software, not hardware, at least to me.

A number of analysts expect Apple to hold a special event in coming weeks to launch a new family of iPhones, and to announce lower prices.

Ahh there you go iPhone humpers. Maybe they’ll lower price of iMac, still have to wait 2+ months, will want some money left in bank, and will be buying refurbished.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster speculates a device that is somewhat larger than the iPod Touch will be launched in the first quarter of next year.

That is what I want, then I won’t bother getting a new touch if they make a new one. I still have the first generation touch, waiting for third generation or tablet like mac.

Apple’s annual developers conference: Don’t expect a new iPhone – San Jose Mercury News.

Thinking about buying an ASUS Eee PC 901, or some other netbook with linux. Had aspire one, but that one had small SSD low ram, wasn’t worth it. Now there cheaper and better, Eee PC 901 even has a better battery then my aspire one had. Would be nice to have bigger screen then touch to browse web while watching tv, and a full featured browser. Maybe apple will release a new iPod touch with bigger screen… Probably not anytime soon. I think I rather buy a netbook from amazon, easy return policy, fast free two day shipping. Depends if ubuntu will run on this without any problems, need to look into that. Ubuntu netbook page. Hmm looks like the HP works pretty good on it. Wait that HP model that works, can’t even find it. But the 1000 that HP lists on site has a sound bug. Doesn’t look to hard to fix, HP mini has real HD and bigger screen then the Eee PC 901. Hmm strange their site says different then what amazon has… Pass on HP mini, want one that comes with 6 cell battery. Hmm maybe this aspire one.

Update
Bought Acer Aspire One AOD150-1165 10.1-Inch Sapphire Blue Netbook – 6 Cell Battery instead of ASUS Eee PC 901. Will put ubuntu on it, once I get it. Same price that I payed for old aspire one that had crappy SSD drive, this one has a real hard drive. Hmm maybe I should of bought that newegg DIY bundle instead, ahh well I can buy that next month. haha. Or send netbook back and buy it. Don’t want that bundle, rather get a quad core processor, if I get AMD. So I’d have to manually pick everything out. Ahh well I have 30 days to try netbook out, if I don’t like it I can send it back.

Update
If I get it and it doesn’t work, or ubuntu is to much of a pain to get working on it, I’m going to send it back to amazon and get refund, have 30 days. Also I’ve read that acer’s supports sucks, and to get an rma is a pain, also heard from somebody else that somebody they know has an acer and they break down a lot. Must of got lucky with last Aspire One, good thing I sold it on ebay.

People like to ask me that question.

She wants a computer she can surf the internet on, download music and photos, burn CD’s or DVD’s, email, use excell and word on.

Computers that would work:

Mac Mini
Make sure you add 2 GB of memory, you can configure the cheapest one. Oh yeah but you’ll have to buy a monitor and stuff too…

Dell Inspiron 530s
I’d recommend getting one with a monitor. They have better specs. Vista is a memory hog from what I’ve heard. Make sure you get Intel Core 2 Duo for the processor.

Dell Popular Laptop Deals
Any of those would work, just make sure you get an Intel Core 2 duo processor and a 9 cell battery.

If you want to buy it locally, then Best Buy has some computers that will work too.

Dell – Inspiron Desktop with Intel® Coreâ„¢2 Duo Processor E7400

Gateway – Desktop with AMD Phenomâ„¢ Triple-Core Processor 8400

HP – Pavilion Desktop with AMD Phenomâ„¢ X4 9550 Quad-Core Processor

Compaq – Presario Desktop with AMD Athlonâ„¢ X2 4450e+ Dual-Core Processor

Dell – Inspiron Desktop with AMD Athlonâ„¢ X2 5000+ Dual-Core Processor

eMachines – Desktop with AMD Athlonâ„¢ X2 Dual-Core Processor 4050e

Pretty much any desktop will work… Just make sure it has at least 2 GB of ram, if buying a PC.

Said they only had one left, like the fact that you can use any headphones you want with it. But the headphones they come with will probably work fine for me, if not I’ll probably buy some really expensive in ear headphones. I think the iPod touch 2G has built in bluetooth, Apple said you’d be able to enable it in firmware 3.0. I’m waiting for the next iPod touch though. Might need an 8 GB microSDHC card soon. I like being an ass and buying the last one in stock, looks like they’ll have more on the 6th. Wonder if there’s anything else I want/don’t need that only has one left in stock. Hmm maybe I should just get the fasted 4 GB microSDHC card I can get… The cheap one I have is kind of slow. But works, so not a big deal. Might take all night though to copy all the music I selected to it.

Motorola s705 Stereo Bluetooth

Some 13 year old won apple’s stupid 1 billionth download contest. 13 year olds don’t need MacBooks or any of that other stuff. Well maybe the 10,000 iTunes gift card, so there parents never have to buy em anything from iTunes store again. They should go ahead and send me that 17″ MacBook Pro, so I can sell it on ebay or keep it. Probably better to sell it though, so I can save up and buy Mac Pro.

The free version doesn’t let you browse, so I had to buy it for $0.99. Boxee is to buggy for me in ubuntu, so not going to bother with it anymore. Using MPD(music player daemon) for music playing, using a client called Theremin on Mac, and there’s a free App called MPoD for the iPod touch.

VLC Remote App

From Inside Acer Aspire One

Upgraded the ram in my Acer Aspire One to 1 GB, voided the warranty doing so too. Used an old stick of ram from mac mini, upgraded that a long time ago. Just finally decided to upgrade Acer Aspire One. Touchpad no longer works, because I’m not skilled enough to connect it. Don’t care, can use external mouse. Need to replace SSD with a real hd or better SSD though. The SSD in it really sucks ass and slows it down, at least with OS X. Probably be fine in linux, but ideneb is more fun, I hear it’s against apple’s EULA, but I never read that, just clicked “accept”.

Update
Thought I got the touchpad hooked up right, might of killed the touchpad some how. Might have to buy a upper case/touchpad for aspire one on ebay. I’ll probably end up selling it after I fix it, will put default distro on it though. Might want to replace internal drive too before selling. Or maybe then I’ll keep it.

Update
Just going to sale each part by its self and as is. Changed my mind, going to sale the whole thing together as is.

Damn thing crashed, it can’t handle to much local network traffic, otherwise it’ll crap out. At least revision A. Mom’s computer was copying an almost 4 GB file to it from linkstation, and then I was trying to play on xbox live, and got started lagging like hell, and then disconnected, went upstairs and the file transfer crapped out too. Had to reboot the POS. Won’t be buying any $40 wireless N routers again. Wouldn’t buy a linksys as their support sucks ass, if you ever have to deal with em. I had a wireless G game adapter made by em, updated firmware, and then it no longer worked, their shitty update broke it. And even if I sent it back under warranty, I doubt I’d have any luck getting a working one. The apple airport extreme might be the best wireless N router.

No point in buying a new router yet. Will just wait for her computer to finish copying the file before trying to do anything that uses a lot of bandwidth.

The iPod touch version will cost $9.95, fucking bastards always charging touch users.

“Meanwhile, Apple also revealed that Bluetooth support can be activated in the 2nd generation iPod Touches. ”

Quote from macrumors.com, hmm maybe I’ll buy a new iPod touch then, that comes with 3.0. First generation doesn’t have bluetooth. Wonder if my bluetooth headset will work with it, then I can use VOIP on touch.

Another new feature is “Third-Party Accessory Apps: Allowing accessory manufacturers to create applications to interface with their hardware accessories.”, so I guess somebody could make a microphone accessory for iPod touch, and then make app that’ll work with it, probably wouldn’t be a VOIP app, maybe they’d release an SDK, so others could make apps for it.

I don’t want to buy the second generation iPod touch though, waiting for the third generation.

iTunes 8.1 likes to hang and takes a while to start music. I updated to it when it came out, good thing I have time machine, I restored iTunes, so now I’m running the older faster version of iTunes. All my music is stored on a NAS, mounted as a samba share, perhaps the new iTunes doesn’t like that. Apple should of said in change log, that it is slower for some users, and only recommend you update if you have new shuffle. You also need to restore iTunes Library, iTunes Library Extras.itdb and iTunes Library Genuis.itdb in users/Music/iTunes. Found that from apple’s forum. Guess the only fix is to downgrade.

Was wondering why I’ve been getting ads like the above, so I opened firefox, and that x has some javascript “javascript:nop();”, well I finally got an ad like that in firefox, except it actually displayed the ad, rather then a x, its an ad with javascript, with little arrow things to scroll through em. Looks like google either needs to update there code, or apple needs to fix Safari’s 4 javascript engine, or maybe both. Well most people that visit this site probably aren’t using Safari 4 beta, so it doesn’t really matter.

iMac is a better system then the mini, and well worth the extra amount. I’ll need a new desk if I want to use my other monitor though. Probably get the cheapest 24″ one, not sure though. Won’t be getting 8 GB of ram, that’s over $1,000 for just the ram… iMac’s are probably even harder then the mini to upgrade, I think I saw a guide on ifixit.com or something like that. But I won’t be opening it, maybe I’ll pay somebody in the future to upgrade it for me. Damn if you want faster processor you have to get more expensive one, wouldn’t mind a 3 GHz processor, don’t care about HD size. Maybe the $1,799 one then, almost 3 GHz, better video then the cheaper ones. Wait you can get $1,799 one with 3 GHz processor…

Update
Will probably order the $1,499 one from frys.com in May or June. I won’t be charged tax if I order from them…

Update
If you look at the design page for the iMac, you’ll notice it says “With iMac, details make all the difference. For example, because it’s made from a single sheet of aluminum, you won’t see any seams or screws except for a single compartment on the bottom that provides easy access to the memory slots.” Sweet so I can upgrade the ram in the future, when the price of 8 GB goes way down. Looked on ifixit.com, and you’ll see the memory compartment in step 4, the only step that matters to me.

Was just looking at DDR3 prices, and its cheaper then I thought, $150 from apple is way to much, you can get it cheaper from just about anywhere else. After looking at the article on macminicolo.net, it looks like I might not break it this time, maybe I should buy a putty knife too. Oh yeah if I upgrade it myself, I’ll put my faster/bigger drive in it too. I’ll just wait a while, and get it with a little faster processor, and maybe get ripped off and have them upgrade ram. Don’t like opening mini’s, pain in the ass, well unless you break it, then it doesn’t matter. My case is broken on old one too, so maybe not faster processor, just more ram.

Finally! Apple released a new mac mini. There was a rumor a long time ago saying there would be a new one in March, looks like that one was right. Can’t wait to go to the bank later today, thinking I’ll get $599 one, and maybe add the max ram. Maybe not DDR3 is expensive… Looks like this baby could easily drive two monitors, it has mini display port, and mini DVI… But I’m probably going to give my old 19″ monitor to sister, she’s still using a giant CRT.

Mac Mini on apple.com

Update
Not buying till May or June. Don’t want to upgrade it myself, so will buy it with max ram, maybe the little better processor. Hard drive size isn’t really an issue, have 1 tb external drive and a 1 tb linkstation, though I might get a little bigger one, probably should get at least 160 GB. Hmm 160 isn’t an option, current mini has 160 GB drive, I upgraded it myself though. Damn looks like the only drives they’ll put in it are 5400 rpm, the drive I upgrade my mini to is 7200 rpm. I’ll just get the default 120 GB drive then.

Strange no crash dialog when Safari 4 suddenly closes for no reason, was sending an email using gmail, and it closed itself. Must be a new feature, no crash dialog reporter. Maybe its to stupid to realize it crashed, haha. Good thing gmail saved a draft, so I didn’t have to retype/rethink.