Hmmmmm - my opinion of the Flip! Mino is immediately tainted.
Monthly Archive for August, 2008
Back in the old days when I was a computer support guy, I used to advise people to always protect their systems with a full on-line UPS “in case, for example, the cleaners knock the power plug out or use it to power their vacuum cleaner”. Well guess what? Today the cleaners came to the house I am currently house-sitting and began cleaning around my workstation, where I was busy in the middle of some important work on the computer. POW! - the screen goes blank…..they knocked the power plug out of the wall and everything on the power strip went out.
Steve - you need to take some of your own medicine, methinks! - ha! ha!
1. Panel gaps
The smaller the gap between panels, the better the design and manufacturing process. It is HARD to make bodies where the panels fit together tightly.
2. Driveline lash
Put your foot on the gas hard then take it off - if there is ANY “clunking” or mechanical noise, that’s poor design and quality of bushings and other mating components in the driveline
3. Mirror paint
Get close and look down the side of the car - is the paint still mirror smooth? If there are any ripples at all, this means they’re not spending money to smooth out the body panels adequately before applying the paint.
4. Switchgear
Is there a slight resistance and smooth clicking feel to the switchgear? It is easy to use cheap components here. The absolute master at this is BMW - go turn a light switch in a BMW and you’ll see what I mean.
5. Engine smoothness
Open the hood and stand a glass of water on top of the engine. Start the engine. Did the water spill? Now rev the engine hard - did the water churn in the glass much? This is a sign of how much work went into balancing the engine components. BMW, Lexus and Toyota do well in this test.
6. Transmission shifting
Can you feel the transmission shifting at all? It should only be a very slight change. Again - this is a test of the design, quality and fit of the transmission components.
7. Cabin noise at speed
Is the cabin really quiet at speed? If not, they’ve cut corners in damping and sound-deadening technology and materials.
8. How it negotiates road irregularities
When you go over a big bump or pothole in the highway, are there any noises or loud thumps or clunks? This test usually demonstrates how well designed the suspension is and the quality of damping componentry used in it.
9. Open the trunk and take a look inside
Look at the hinge mechanism and the thickness of the trunk flooring materials. Is the hinge made of thin strips with crummy springs and rivets, or is it a nice hydraulic strut setup? Does the trunk make a “tinny” sound when you close it? Does the trunk lid get completely out of your way when loading the trunk?
10. Open the hood and take a look inside
How thick is the sound-deadening materials attached to the firewall? (the thicker the better). Does the hood make a “tinny” sound when you close it? Are there wires and cables all over the place, or are they neatly routed and clipped out of the way?
My Sequoia is one year old today and Toyota sent me a Birthday card! This is an example of the (usually lots of small) differences that set great companies apart from merely competent ones. I know that this is just marketing, but for the few cents it cost them, why don’t ALL companies do this?
“Please call us if there is ever anything we can do” - Lovely!
Does your car company do this? Your camera company? Your TV company? Yeah……riiighhht! 
Steve Jobs sent the following internal email to Apple employees on Monday August 4th 2008:
Team,
The launch of MobileMe was not our finest hour. There are several things we could have done better:
– MobileMe was simply not up to Apple’s standards – it clearly needed more time and testing.
– Rather than launch MobileMe as a monolithic service, we could have launched over-the-air syncing with iPhone to begin with, followed by the web applications one by one – Mail first, followed 30 days later (if things went well with Mail) by Calendar, then 30 days later by Contacts.
– It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.
We are taking many steps to learn from this experience so that we can grow MobileMe into a service that our customers will love. One step that I can share with you today is that the MobileMe team will now report to Eddy Cue, who will lead all of our internet services – iTunes, the App Store and, starting today, MobileMe. Eddy’s new title will be Vice President, Internet Services and he will now report directly to me.
The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services. And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.
Steve
I like the idea of MobileMe - I am a long-time .mac subscriber and even though the experience with MobileMe has been rocky for me, I just know the performance and stability will get much beter over time. The ability to keep all your mail, contacts and calendar in the cloud and have it sync with all your computers and mobile devices is a FANTASTIC idea, and I am hoping that Apple will capitalize on that. I’m sure they will. Just one more facet that makes the Apple experience so compelling.
Couldn’t they do better than this? Answers on a postcard please
Alaskan Ice-Road Truckers? Tougher being gay in Alaska? Dirty Crappy Jobs? Houses for $300?
Puhleeze. What a waste of time. Can I get some of my Dish Network fee back?
If you have a compact digital camera and are looking to buy your first digital SLR to take the next step up in photo quality and versatility, LOOK NO FURTHER! :-) We have been using Nikon’s 6-Megapixel D40 starter SLR since it was introduced a couple of years ago, and it is a stunner. Even better, you can get your hands on one of these babies at Best Buy for $475.00, complete with a genuine 18-55 Nikon zoom lens - an absolute steal - WOW!
Things that you will notice compared to a compact camera include:
- Much faster start-up time: the camera is ready to take a photograph the instant you turn it on.
- Much better battery life - the battery on the D40 goes on and on and on through hundreds of shots - waaaaay longer than a regular compact point and shoot camera
- Much better photo quality - due to better quality lenses that let more light in
- Much greater versatility - the D40 provides a full range of image-taking controls, right from fully-automatic through shutter and aperture-priority modes to fully manual.
- Greater range of system expandability - you can expand your picture taking opportunities by adding external flashguns, additional prime and zoom lenses, wireless controls, and a whole host of other accessories.
Although there are many players in the digital SLR marketplace nowadays, serious photographers usually limit their choices to either Canon or Nikon cameras and lenses. Canon and Nikon make the best glass and have been in the camera making business for a very long time with many dedicated professional users - they can be relied upon t make a really serious product. Canon also make some very good entry-level SLRsand you can’t really go wrong choosing one - it’s just that we have experience with Nikon Digital since the D70 in 2003 and know these cameras produce excellent results.
It is important to try out both Nikon and Canon before you decide which to buy, as whatever you choose will more or less dedicate you to that manufacturer in terms of future purchases of lenses and accessories. We find that Nikon cameras have better ergonomics and are well-balanced and easy to hold. They all feel very sturdy and made to last a long time. Some of the Canons are not as easy to hold and look to be more flimsily made from lower-grade plastics.
If you have a little more money, the Nikon D60 is worth considering at $665.00, as it has a vibration reduction lens (this means that hand-held pictures remain sharp longer), 10 Megapixels and a nifty sensor cleaning system. The body, controls and ergonomics are exactly the same as the D40 though - the D60 uses the SAME body as the D40.
Don’t be fooled by Megapixels, though. you really don’t need a lot of Megapixels to produce stunning photographs if the camera’s optics and picture-taking electronics are up to par. The results from the D40 will far exceed anyone’s expectations unless you’re making really large prints. Results are more than good enough for viewing on your computer or the web or making 8 x 11 prints from your desktop printer. We definitely do not think that the $210 extra the D60 costs is worth it - get the D40. You could use $100 of that extra $200 to buy a great external flashgun like the Nikon SB400!
This will really improve your indoor flash photography because you can bounce the flash off the ceiling instead of straight in someone’s face, resulting in less red-eye and a much softer, more natural feel.
Here at Crittix Castle we use both PC laptops and Mac laptops. Over the years, we’ve come to realize that Apple definitely makes the best laptop computers for regular Joes like us that don’t need to play high-end games, but use their computers for just about everything else, including video editing, web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, email, etc.
Here’s a list of the reasons why we enjoy our MacBook and iBook G4 so much:
Fit and Finish
Apple makes all its’ hardware to the highest quality - they really fit together well, with no squeaks or rattles. Although you may pay a little more initially, you can rest assured that the computer you get is in it for the long haul.
Battery Life
Our batteries consistently last for 4 hours or more. Most of our consumer-grade PC laptops batteries last just over 2.5 hours or three if we’re lucky and the wind is blowing in the right direction!
Battery longevity
Even after many, many charges (and leaving the laptop on-charge after it is fully charged), batteries last much longer than normal PCs without any hysteresis effects. You do have to calibrate the battery every now and then, but that’s easy enough.
Instant wake from sleep
Even after months asleep, they wake as soon as you open the lid. EVERY TIME!
Our experience with Windows is that it works some of the time, but not guaranteed, and if you leave it asleep for a long time (weeks or months) then it almost always doesn’t wake quickly, if at all.
High-quality materials
MacBooks and MacBook Pros look and feel expensive - OK, so the MacBook Pro IS expensive ….but if you get the MacBook at just over $1,000, it feels like a much more expensive computer and you can tell it is going to take the knocks and bumps of regular life in its stride.
MagSafe
If you’ve ever pulled your laptop off your desk by tripping over the power cord, you know what we’re talking about!
OSX - The world’s most advanced operating system. More on this later.
iLife apps
When you buy an Apple laptop, you get a full suite of exceptionally good applications to store & edit photos, make music, record DVDs, manage and play your music, make movies and create websites. These are not just “thrown in”, but are carefully engineered applications in their own right. In fact, Apple charges $79 for them if you want to purchase the latest version to upgrade what you have (ALWAYS worth doing).
No “crapware” to de-install
This really ticks us off about regular PC laptops. You normally need to spend at least 2-3 hours after installation removing all the crapware and trial versions.
No doors to break off
Hardware battery power level indicators on base - just press the little button and instantly see how much power you have left
No lid catch to wear out or jam - it’s magnetic. I see a lot of newer PC laptop models are using friction hinges now, but these are awkward to use and you normally need two hands. Mac is one-handed
Slot-loading optical drive - no tray to break off or jam
Very high-quality webcam built-in - great for YouTube or just recording your thoughts
High quality microphone built-in
Longevity - Apple designs their hardware and software to have a long, long life. When Apple releases future versions of its operating system, the hardware usually runs FASTER than it did with the previous version! We have an original Blueberry iMac (the one-piece one) from 1998 running OSX Tiger! All it needed was a little more RAM which cost peanuts. AMAZING STUFF. Try running Windows Vista on a PC from 1998 - NO CHANCE.
Large trackpads - Useful for precision work and great with the 2-finger scrolling feature.
Two-finger scroll using the trackpad - This is a huge benefit. Others will copy this for sure.
Runs Windows if you want to - Any recent Mac that is Intel-based will run Windows - you just boot up into either Windows or OSX and then it runs native on the hardware. This removes the last reason why some people might have chosen NOT to buy a Mac.
Bluetooth built-in - this is what the wireless Mac mice and keyboards use
Wireless Networking “just works” - Like the “wake from sleep” function - works first time, every time.
Light weight - much less than equivalent PC laptops
Great screens - There is a reason photographers and graphic artists like working with Macs - great color-calibrated screens.
Great keyboards - the new “chiclet” keyboards have a great feel with large keys for big fingers!
Illuminated keyboards - With ambient light sensors on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro
Small size of the power adapter - not some huge brick to weigh down our luggage.
Cable holder on the power adapter - When you’re done, just flip out the holder “ears” and wrap the cable round them like a vacuum cleaner holder. There is even a small clip to keep it all together and stop it unwinding!
Eco-friendly construction materials - Air and Pro - Aluminum and no Mercury in the screens
Light-up Apple logo in the lid!! - O.K. - so it might look like we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel here….but hey - we LIKE that little touch!