Macworld Podcast #13: Latest hardware in the lab

Macworld:

New Apple hardware and cool Mac gear are on my mind in this latest installment of the Macworld Podcast.

First, the new hardware: Apple has spent the past month freshening up its computers, with updates to the Power Mac, iMac, and PowerBook product lines. That’s led to a lot of late nights for the Macworld Lab, as it prepares benchmarks to measure the performance of the new systems. In this podcast, I talk with Lab Director James Galbraith about the new Apple hardware and the tests he runs to see how new Macs measure up to their predecessors.

As for the cool Mac gear, the cover story of December 2005 issue—which is currently shipping to subscribers and should be appearing on newsstands next week—highlights 44 gadgets that might make for some great gifts for the Mac user in your life (or even yourself). I talk about some of my favorites, including a few that didn’t make the final cut.

Download Macworld Podcast #13 (9.8 MB – 21 minutes).

For the Record

What I wrote on Nov. 1, 2004:

So I was watching the clips that Boing Boing has posted from The Daily Show and I was reminded of a recent idea I had for a new television paradigm: A la carte television.

I don’t watch enough TV to justify owning one, let alone paying $40 a month for cable. There just aren’t enough shows that I want to watch on a regular basis. The three things that I do watch, baseball games, Enterprise, and The Daily Show, I can only get by going to sports bars and downloading pirated copies off the Net.

So, here’s what I’d like to see: a way for me to pay some subscription fee so that I could get customized television programs. Not channels, but just programs. I’d gladly pay $10 or $15 a month to be able to download high quality versions of these shows.

I don’t understand why we don’t have this yet. It all makes sense. We have customized ads (Google ads), we have customized recorded television through TiVo, and now we have customized radio through programs like Radio Recorder and podcasting. We’ve got the iTunes Music Store for downloadable music that you pay for — why can’t we have the same thing with television shows?

And not even a year later, we have it. Congrats to Apple.

Macworld Podcast #11: iPod video

Macworld:

When Steve Jobs takes to a stage to unveil new products, it’s a safe bet that a bevy of Macworld editors will be on hand. That was certainly the case Wednesday, as Apple took the wraps off a video-playing iPod, an overhauled iMac, and a brand new version of the iTunes music player. And in this special episode of the Macworld Podcast, we’ve got all the details.

This 25-minute episode features highlights from Steve Jobs’ presentation to reporters, as well as a round-table discussion of Apple’s latest products, featuring Editorial Director Jason Snell, Senior News Editor Jonathan Seff, and Macworld.com News Editor Jim Dalrymple.

Download Macworld Podcast #11 (11.3 MB – 25 minutes).

Why am I up at 6:30 am?

Because I have to be at work by 8 am, to make the ride down to SJ by 9/9:30 am for Apple’s media event at 10 am. I’ve got my podcasting gear ready. Check Macworld.com for the latest.

And as Paul asked, why was the invite called soleil.invite.pdf ?

Let the countdown begin.

Macworld Podcast #9: Choosing the right Mac

Macworld:

Torn between the iBook and the PowerBook? Do you love the Mac mini but feel tempted by the greatness of the Power Mac? And what about the iMac? Macs might be easy to use, but figuring out which one to buy? That’s another challenge entirely.

Which is where Adam C. Engst comes in. The TidBits publisher and Macworld contributing editor has written Take Control of Buying a Mac, a $5 electronic book from TidBits Electronic Publishing that aims to take the confusion out of buying the right Mac for your needs. For this podcast, Adam and I talk about the book, which you’ll find excerpted in the October 2005 issue of Macworld.

Download Macworld Podcast #9 (9.6MB).

Trans-Gambian Highway, Revisited

Lane pointed me to this article on the BBC site talking about the famed (well, famed to me, anyway) Trans-Gambian Highway, which I had the “pleasure” of crossing a few times during my séjour in Senegal.

Apparently there’s been quite a bruhaha going down across the River Gambia. (Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil’s latest article [FR].)

BBC:

The Trans-Gambian Highway, which runs further inland, has effectively been closed to cross-border traffic for over a month by Senegalese transporters protesting against the sudden doubling of charges to cross the river on the small and unreliable ferry.

The BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt says that Senegalese hate the power Gambia has over them, and a clearly exasperated President Abdoulaye Wade this week suggested three ways to break the deadlock.

  • Gambia should build a bridge over the river
  • Senegal could operate its own ferry
  • Senegal could even, he suggested, tunnel right under Gambia – which is only about 35km wide.

    He pointed out that there are plenty of much longer tunnels in the world, and claimed that China had offered to help build it.

Firstly, let me say that this is hardly a “highway.” This is a two-lane paved road that is so messed up in many spots that drivers would rather drive on dirt and brush than brave the 8,000 potholes that riddle the road.

I got stopped at the border and had to pay 1000 CFA (about $2) as a transit visa fee. It’s quite possible that that was just a bribe, but the Gambian guard seemed pretty intent on making us pay. Even my Singaporean travel buddy, Lucienne, had to pay it — despite the fact that in theory members of the British Commonwealth don’t need visas to travel to the respective countries.

I’ve crossed the River Gambia four times at this spot and never had a problem, although I will say that this place has the dirtiest restrooms I have ever seen. Once, when headed north I really had to go to the bathroom (#2). Being that toilet paper is something that isn’t very common in these parts, I quickly bought a packet of tissues (mouchoirs), which are readily available from the street vendors on the south side of the river. I grabbed them and took off for the bathroom.

When I got barely through the doorway, the stench of feces was overwhelming. I looked around and across the stalls of Turkish-style (squatter) toilets were piles of shit — many of which had missed the hole by a good foot or so, and dozens of flies clearly having the time of their lives. I picked the least filthy one and took care of business, but it was pretty clear that it hadn’t been cleaned in at least several days, and perhaps longer. So all you people who think you’ve been in dirty public restrooms — go check out the one on the southside of the River Gambia.

In other news, I had to send my iBook to the Apple repair facility in Memphis to get the screen replaced under warranty. I was expecting it to be out for a week, which for an Internet junkie like me is a lifetime. But I sent it out at about 4 pm on Monday from my office here in San Francisco, and off it went. About two hours ago it was returned to me, with a new screen and everything. Kudos to Apple for the under 48 hour turnaround time, including a transcontinental trip.

Nano!

Oh yes, it is mine!

And in case you were wondering how I’m going to fund this operation, I have two items for sale:

Ericsson T610 cell phone ($50)
iPod 10 GB 3G ($150)

A few things that I noticed:

iTunes recognizes that it’s black, but yet the registration page doesn’t know that they exist yet.

Also, even though I bought the black one, they gave me white cables. Huh. As Paul Boutin reminded me, they’re supposed to come with white cables. But still, it feels like they should have come with black cables. I’m using my black and sliver Sony earbuds, which I think not only sound better than the stock iPod headphones, but now the black cables match too! Also it seems like a design flaw that you can’t unplug the USB cable without taking the headphones out, as the headphone jack is on the bottom.

All in all, still pretty damned cool.