The Teen Geek

I just finished with a very interesting conversation about the difference between Mac and PC. Now, this is a person who uses Windows normally, but has used Macs at school for Music and Design Technology.

The conversation started with me saying “Hey” to a third person, who happens to be a big Apple fan.

Just in case it’s not clear, I’ve changed the names, for the sake of privacy.

If you don’t want to read the whole conversation, because it’s too long, then I suggest you skip to the end of the conversation, and read the summary.

Me: Hey

Mac fan: hello jim

Mac fan: my friend on the phone.

Me: Ah ok

Mac fan: her name is Second Person. she asked what the difference between a mac and windows are -__- because she thinks that both of them are the same company – but mac being the ‘latest updated technology’…

(SECOND PERSON IS SOMEONE THAT I ALSO KNOW IN REAL LIFE. I CAN ONLY ASSUME THAT MAC FAN INTRODUCED HER IN THIS WAY FOR COMIC EFFECT)

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As you all know the iPad, Apple’s new tablet device, was announced last week. Some people think it’s a stupid product. I’m here to change your mind.

Flash: Let’s get this out of the way. Flash is dying. HTML5 is more efficient and easier to use. Flash also eats up tons of power and RAM. When Apple removed the floppy drive from their original iMac people were pissed. But look what happened. The CD-ROM took over floppies. Apple is always one step ahead of the game.

The name: I know… it is a stupid name.

Multitasking: It’s coming in iPhone 4.0.

Camera: From all the rumors I’ve read it’s probably coming in the sequel. But there’s also the possibility that it might be a surprise in the first gen.

It’s just a big iPhone!: So what? The last time I checked, the iPhone is a pretty awesome product. Plus you can’t expect Apple to innovate every time. (more…)

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OK, I’ve already written a post about how ridiculous the name iPad is, but now it’s time to do a review on what it actually is, and how useful it could be.

I just watched the keynote. Personally, there wasn’t anything hugely surprising in it.

The built in apps are nice, and so is the availability of iWork. Personally, I am happy with the dimensions, 9.7 inches is pretty much perfect. I, and most people, had estimated around 10 inches, so this is not a huge surprise. It should fit nicely in your hand, and is perfect for games such as the car racing one demoed in the keynote, because you can use it much more like a steering wheel. However, it could be awkward to play my personal favourite game: Tap Tap Revenge.

The price of this is what I was expecting. It starts at $499, which I think is a tad too expensive. I remember watching the keynote, and I after I saw them announce the price, I thought, ‘yeah, that’s good, but they could have taken $100 off of that’.

It’s rather large to be a replacement for an iPod touch or iPhone (especially without the phone), but I think it does a good job of what it is meant to do: compete with netbooks. It’s got a larger screen than some netbooks, and it is significantly lighter than most netbooks are. It also has the touch screen which allows for a much more intimate interaction. Personally, I don’t like netbooks, and for that reason I can’t see myself liking this product either, but for people who do like netbooks, I can see them loving this product even more.

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Continuing on the iPad news, I thought I would throw in my views, seeing as there’s so much hype about it right now.

First off, iAgree with Zagorath. iPad was a terrible choice of name, and sounds far too much like a certain product. Any other company couldn’t sell this.

But Zagorath has already elaborated on this point. I’m here to talk about the realities of using it (And also to protect my honur as a netbook user ).

So, it’s a x4 sized iTouch. No keyboard, no proper aspect ratio, and more borders than America. But really, what is it for? (more…)

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Oh Good Lord!

*smacks his face*

iCan’t believe they actually called it the iPad.

It is such an awful name iCan’t even begin to say how bad it is. iCan, off the top of my head, think of two reasons that it’s a bad name. The first is a relatively minor one, but still important.

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Web apps are an awesome thing. They save time and are much more efficient. But there are many downsides to them from my point of view. They take away an app’s individuality. Back when the desktop dominated the application market every app had its own “personality” to it that added a feeling of individuality to it. What I mean by this is that each app built its own little “kingdom” up. But today a lot of apps don’t stray too much farther away from a much bigger platform. These platforms are these giant kingdoms and the apps are the people who live in the kingdom. It’s not like when apps were their own kingdoms and there weren’t these huge platforms that reigned above all. Sure apps may get more attention when they’re all in one environment. In the apposphere today everything is integrated into one environment. This environment is the web. People look at apps differently these days. People just think it’s all part of one giant app. They’ve all become woven into this quilt. The quilt of the web. The quilt of one environment. (more…)

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So, it turns out Windows 7 has a neat hidden feature called “Godmode”. Unfortunately, it can’t be activated by pressing “↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A“.

However what it does do is unlock a super powered control panel, with links to EVERY setting Windows has to offer. Everyhing from the colors of your desktop to the administrative privileges can now be changed with this “Godmode”. (more…)

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The Russian Space Agency has announced that they plan to save the Earth from a possible asteroid collision predicted to take place in 2029.  The asteroid they are worried about is “Apophis”.  Discovered in 2004, NASA stated that there was a 1 in 37 chance that this 350 meter wide asteroid could collide with Earth.  After further study of the asteroids path, NASA states that a collision will be nearly impossible with a 1 in 250,000 chance.  If the asteroid did collide with Earth however, NASA has determined it would release over 100,000 times more energy than the nuclear blast at Hiroshima. The Russians are not willing to take the chance that this asteroid collides with Earth. Their scientists are brainstorming now on different ways to push this huge asteroid safely out of Earth’s way.  There will not be any Hollywood style bombings of the asteroid,  as scientists say that this could only make matters worse with thousands of smaller asteroids headed toward earth.  Instead, the Russians say that everything will be done with the laws of physics as they attempt to push this billion ton space rock into a safer orbit.

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Imagine one day driving down the highway and seeing a guy on a motorcycle coming up behind you.  You think “Cool, I wonder how much longer he’ll be around”.  Then all of a sudden as if he had read your mind, a rocket comes flying through your back window!  You pull over and jump out of the car just before your car explodes into a mushroom cloud of a million tiny fragments.  Although most likely this will never happen to you, it’s not as far fetched as you might think.  This guy strapped a pair of home made rocket launchers to his CBR motorcycle.  He proceeded then by testing them out on some public roads!  Genius!  Take a quick look at the video below to see them in action.  Although firing them with cars around probably wasn’t the best of ideas, you must admit those things are pretty sweet. (more…)

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Ever wonder what it would be like if Earth had rings?  According to this video it would be pretty awesome!  From space, and even more so on Earth, our planet would look like something straight out of a video game! (more…)

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