Roland Tanglao's Weblog

I actually want something like the MacBook Air. (which I was wrong about since it was introduced at MacWorld). The current MacBook Air is awesome for frequent travelers who have another more powerful Mac that they can use for CPU intensive tasks when they are not on the road. I am not a frequent traveller so I don't need the current MacBook Air.

What I would like is something that is light and thin that I can carry anywhere and that will allow me to quickly dock with other displays wirelessly (I like having multiple monitors when at the office and home but even I get tired of connecting and disconnecting DVI cables!) and to delegate CPU computing intensive tasks to another Mac on the fly over a really fast network like 4G or WiMax or 802.11n (automatically picking the right one like the iPhone does today with EDGE and 802.11b/g). Basically the MacBookAir plus a "CPU task auto delegation" facility built into the OS as well as seamless wireless monitor connections. Oh and always on i.e. the $USD 3000 Flash option. I am sure this is coming. Just have to be patient.

Apple tablet is coming if not today, soon since the iPhone (bonus relevant analysis: before iPhone and after iPhone) is just a wee tablet that has call processing (to use a Nortel/Bellhead-ism and to all the doubters Apple has done everything that the iPhone does before except call processing which is not trivial and GSM/EDGE/3G which I have to concede is even less trivial). Looking forward to the next installment of the Apple soap opera ... er keynote :-) in 1.5 hours!

FROM 12" Macbook Pro...with touchscreen keyboard | B.Mann Consulting:

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Update: I found a link to a "leaked" outline for the WWDC keynote tomorrow -- talking about a 10" iPhone at Home...which is pretty close to the "tablet / non computer" that I've been thinking Apple would launch for quite some time.

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Please read the very thoughtful N800 review that I've quoted below. I can live without YouTube, really (and I am sure this will be fixed!). Easy to make video and audio calls with SIP and soon Skype + open Linux make this the closest thing today to Doc's ophone (anything with a SIM in it will never be truly open!) concept. I definitely want one of these things! Saving my pennies! When Skype comes out for it, I'll be seriously tempted to cross over the border into the USA and pick one up! Go Nokia go!

[BTW still want the N95, N999 and the iPhone :-) Yes I am obsessed or rather I have a compulsive need to create and consume stuff on the go and N95, N999, N800 and the iPhone are (or will be) the best ways to do this!]

FROM My review of the Nokia N800 - when the walkaround web meets the see-me-anywhere call at Internet Tablet Talk:

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Take it from me, see-me calls are just … natural. When you don’t have to decide up-front, “I want to pay extra for this, so it better be worth using,” there’s an immediate acceptance of “this is the way it’s meant to be.” And it’s the kind of thing that makes people buy a new device, the way Visicalc (the first spreadsheet) made buying one of those new-fangled Apples worthwhile 20-plus years ago. The step-in price is reasonable, the experience is unique and persuasive immediately, and you don’t worry that “this is going to cost and cost and cost.”

You won’t hear this described as “video conferencing” or “video calls” next year, btw. Those names are so Flash Gordon in their invocation of the future. So don’t trust that any reviewer who uses one of those terms has any idea of what’s coming. Video conferences are what the guy holding a Treo expects to happen, once Verizon offers it as part of a $120-a-month data plan.

Some users wonder about why the N800 jettisons the useful screen cover that the 770 comes with. It’s so you’re always able to get a call. Putting on the 770’s cover doesn’t turn off the WiFi (or Bluetooth), but it breaks the wireless connection. Users make it a physical representation of “I’m putting my device to sleep.” You don’t put your phone to sleep, and the N800 behaves similarly.

And it makes a world of difference between these tablets and laptops that really do sleep. Your tablet is just on. You start using it. No delay, no wakeup, no nothing. I’ve always regarded the 770 as “instant on” because it’s live the moment the screen cover comes down. But the “never off” side of the N800 is better, and I’m more comfortable with keeping it on all day and connected to my network than I have been with the 770.

It’s my contention that the opportunity to hook up with voip giant Skype got tied to the webcam, and Ari Virtanen’s ascension to the VP of convergent products not only put the internet tablet into the mainstream of Nokia’s future thinking (and N-series)**, but also into the CES and consumer electronic marketing timeframes. They weren’t going to launch entry number two on some random day in spring like entry one (May 25, to be precise).

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I want both an iPhone and the N999. The 1.0 iPhone ain't a blogaphone unless it has a video camera and Shozu-like tech built in (or you can add it which you can't in 1.0) but other than that it's pretty darned close. Until then I will also carry the closest N999 equivalent which will probably be an an N95 (which I got to examine yesterday thanks to the Comvu folks and the screen is fab and it feels light and nice in the hand!).

Thank-goodness for Apple! Now we wil get some innovation in the mobile space. Series 60 and Symbian OS really need some re-thinking in terms of usability and needs to get more stable. Even with just the built-in software, I regularly have to reboot my N93 and the other Series 60 Symbian devices I get for free trial from Nokia Blogger Relations; this is unacceptable!

If you don't like hacking iSync config files (hack to make iSync work with the N70), this might be for you.

From nova media - Mobile High Speed. Solutions for Mac, Palm and Windows for 3G UMTS and GPRS via: HOWTO/Write iSync Phone Plugins The Tao of Mac.:

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Compatible mobile phones with the free iSync© plugins: Nokia N70 N71* N80* N90 N91* N92* E60* E61* 9300 9500

... Siemens and Sony Ericsson plugins deleted

* = these phones are not tested. Please use with caution and report to sync@novamedia.de.

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On December 23, 2005, my Blutooth mysteriously stopped working. Today, after I did a power manager reset of my Powerbook which means can I wait a bit longer until I get a new computer, thank goodness!

[Cross posted from Photography Hack]

Adobe Lightroom Beta 1 is a a fantastic beta (and a fun introduction to easy to use RAW processing for RAW "virgins" :-) like myself) but I have stopped using it for now for the following reasons:

1. If you rename the RAW file and import into Lightroom, it uses the old name (reads it from the EXIF perhaps?).
2. The light table is not adequate. There is no way to see the original file and your changed file at the same time. Supposedly, pressing control while hovering over the photo should show the original but that doesn't work for me on my 15" Aluminum Powerbook with 1GB RAM and Mac OS X 10.4.4.

It has great promise. I am relieved that their will be competition for Aperture and I look forward to trying the next beta!

Fun!

From Ego Food: Google Earth for Mac.:

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This is an important step: Google Earth for the Mac is out.

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