Sony’s HD1000u Interesting, but lacking.

This post has moved:

http://techthoughts.org/2007/08/23/sonys-hd1000u-interesting-but-lacking/

Why iPhoto Sux.

    I’m a Mac user and I’m I use certain apps in the iLife suite very heavily. iDVD is excellent as a very simple tool to make a very simple DVD for clients who need something NOW. iMovie has helped me do certain things in ways that the vastly more expensive and capable Final CutPro just can’t.
   iTunes has rocked from version 1. It has been an excellent way to me import, manage, organize and distribute (to MP3 CDs I can play in my car, audio CDs for clients) all my music. The best thing for me is that, not only does iTunes do a very good, simple and logical job of organizing all my imported music (looking my CDs up in the online database, putting them in album folders, organized by artist, etc) but if I want to import something right to the desktop, I can change the default folder, import a CD, and then change it back. This is very useful for downloading podcasts to my desktop and putting them on my Phone for quick trips.
   The problem is iPhoto. As cute as the interface is, it offers absolutely none of the above capabilities.
It’s just another example of how Apple doesn’t get it.

Panasonic’s “Professional” AG-HSC1U Camcorder

This post has moved:

http://techthoughts.org/2007/08/21/panasonics-professional-ag-camcorder/ 

NAS v SAN for Mac

   Newer Technology is trying hard to be the great Mac accessory company they once were and have just introduced a MiniStack NAS. This diminuitive case is the same one as their MiniStack hard drive enclosures. I purchased two of the first generation hard drive enclosures after testing them for a magazine review. I really like how they were designed to keep drives cool through both passive cooling and a dual-speed fan.
   The idea of a small NAS (Network Attached Storage) is all well and good. There are plenty of other boxes out there, but Newer licensed Ximeta’s NDAS technology which touts the ability to connect to a network drive over ethernet like it was a local drive, say on USB. Interesting point in the Newer (and other NDAS drives) is that they do allow you to connect the NAS via USB as well. NDAS has promise and, if computer manufacturers start to implement the technology directly, this could be an incredible boon to computer users.
   This starts to approach the power of a SAN (Storage Area Network) where multiple users can connect to a shared drive (or drives) directly.
   But there are key differences between NAS, SAN and NDAS, as well as a few problems which I’ll illustrate here.

Will Audion Return?

   Audion was a great product by Panic.
    In the very early days of MP3 management, and well before the ubiquity of the iPod, MP3 management software was much more of an open game. When iTunes came out, it really was revolutionary and, admittedly, a damm fine system. The authors said themselves, “but Audion is instead competing with a product that, you know, we actually use ourselves. When you double click the competition in the morning, that’s a pretty good sign that it’s time to hang up your hat!

    But there’s a completely new opportunity for them, or any other software developer for that matter, to go where Apple dare not go– where Apple literally fears of going, yet where Apple consistently says they already are: in the center of our digital universe. But how do we get there?

New iMacs

Apple wasted a perfectly good press event on new enclosures and new keyboards on what are probably, the least significant products in the Macintosh line.

Instead of using this opportunity to add a desperately needed Mac CPU between the $600/$800 Mini and the Mac Pro which starts at $2500 (that’s at least a $1700 difference between desktop products!) For comparison, the MacBook/Pro line ranges in price from $1100, $1300, $1500, $2000, $2500, $2800– never a difference of more than $500.

The iPods range in price from $80, $150, $200, $250, $350– again, a nice range of products with a nice range of prices. In as much as everyone expect(ed)s new iPods based on the iPhone much more elegant touch screen, we can expect that Apple will continue to distribute their portable music products so that there is a size and price for most everyone.

So why does Apple fail to use the same logic in their core Macintosh product line?