Air, OSX and Me: Simplicity can be beautiful (part 2)

well, i admit that the first few times using OS X Leopard (on a hackintoshed pc or the macbook air) was kind of frustrating originally.

being a windows poweruser/geek, i have become accustomed to installshield guides and registry hacking to get my settings and programs running.  however with OS X, installing applications is almost too easy.  just open and drag the app to the Applications folder.  wait? thats all?

yes, simplicity can be a beautiful thing.  this simplicity is shown throughout the whole operating system and applications. in this part 2 i will detail my personal experiences with OS X and the software side of things. again, this is probably a pretty boring read for any OS X hardcore users or power users. 

Ultraportable/Netbook Orgy: Macbook Air, MSI Wind, Sony Vaio P (photos)

well, at work i'm kind of the netbook guru so in turn i get my hands on the demo units we get.  today, my boss stopped by and handed me a nice fun gift to play with this weekend: a sony vaio p (usa version, 1.3ghz cpu and 60gb pata drive, gps, wifi, wlan, webcam)

so far its an amazing piece of hardware and so tiny!



anywho, i hope to post a full review next week after i get a chance to take it for a full spin. until then, i thought i'd tease you with a few comparison pictures w/my macbook air and msi wind. :P

Air, OSX and Me: Re-introductions (part 1)

well, up to now i've yet to really use OS X Leopard (yes, i know OS TEN, hehe) on true mac hardware (closest was my G5 and G4 towers i previously had).

however, Q was looking to upgrade to the this year's revision of the air and in turn sell his rev A, macbook air.  me being the sucker and gadget whore i am took him up on his offer and in turn have now converted to using my air as my main on-the-go laptop.

and well... os x leopard and mac hardware are a pretty good pair. i take that back, an amazing duo!  and yes, the kool-aid tastes pretty sweet.  keep reading for the first gulp and video of me opening up my air.

(this will be a multi-post blog)

Rock Band and cutting the cable - How to make your own wireless mic setup

well, i am one of those rockband junkies. i have the full setup (previous Rockband instruments) for my PS3.  with Rockband 2, Harmonix updated most of the instruments except for the microphone.  Drums got wireless options, guitars (which already were wireless from day 1) already were, but what about the microphones?

we've been promised the wireless setup and kits by varous third-parties such as logitech and for the xbox360 owners, promised Rockband support for the LIPS wireless mic (but still no patch has been released).  lets change that! after doing some digging, i found out what you really need to get a wireless mic setup.

keep reading for the full details!

Geek-onomics: 5 tips on how to save a few bucks by being a geek

you don't need to be a financial guru to know that the financial state of the world is not a pretty one at the moment.  so why not use our vast geeky knowledge and resources to help save a few more bucks?

this can be even easier and more realistic lately by industries making the shift to the net.  in this post i plan to outline a few easy ways to save some money in ways you may not have thought of before.  however, like any money saving tip, there are always going to be sacrifices in your choice to save a buck (my disclaimer).  lets get started!

the saturation and full circle back; my netbook thoughts (geek op-ed)

well, 2008 sure seemed to be the year of the netbook.  we had tons of choices and tons of manufacturers (including lenovo and hp) getting into the mix and genre-leaders like Asus and MSI updating their lines and expanding.  already in 2009 we are seeing more and more options and further upgrades being added (incluing new chipsets, atom cpus, gpu's).

the netbook genre is defined by its low price point combined w/portability and in turn has caused a few manufacturers to be worried about profit margins on such a cheap setup.  remember that prior to the netbook craze, sub 12" laptops ran over $2,000 a pop.  however, i believe that 2009 is going to be a year (if the economy cooperates) that the manufacturers get one back. hit the jump to hear this geeks theory.

basic iPhone / push email in a secure corporate environment (quick read)

at my job, i've been helping in our company's iPhone smartphone rollout and thought i'd perhaps post a few notes/tips on how to setup a secure experience.

first off, i'm no network engineer so i apologize for any discrepencies in hardware i refer to. i'm the techie on the helpdesk that gets it all rolling. :)

we tried to follow apple's plan of attack (found here, pdf) and here's just a quickie on what we did.

Running HD content from my Wind to my HDTV (video)

so lately there's been news that nvidia is trying to get its mits into the netbook craze by creating a mobile 'netbook' gpu for hd content.  of course, this won't help any of those who have current netbooks and in turn will most likely add more cost to the devices (which in a way defeats the idea of the netbooks original function; cheap and portable internet bigger than a MID and more feature rich).

personally, i believe that the current machines can run HD Content w/o a problem. the only real thing most of  the netbooks need is a quick boost of ram to 2gb and you should be fine running 720p content in vista media center.

i personally convert my dvds to 720p mp4 files that work on my ps3 and in media center/zune player.  these playback fine on my msi wind and fine on my hdtv via vga from my wind.

however, i can see the benefit of adding more gpu options; it would make the netbook into a portable hd streamer/server.  think about it; put in a 500gb sata drive, up the ram to 2gb, add-on a usb ota hdtv tuner and throw on vista ultimate or home premium and you got a pretty portable hd media center. :)  i have yet to try recording hdtv on my wind due to my card being an expresscard tuner (hp hdtv tuner).anywho, to tie you over until they release a netbook w/the new nvidia gpu here's my MSI Wind running 720p video to my HDTV.

[youtube C5XLppmXmkA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5XLppmXmkA

Demos: Windows 7 beta build 7000 on a Dell Latitude XT Tablet

well, i work with Dell Latitude XT tablets each day (its really a love/hate relationship; in that i love to hate them, haha!).

with all of this Windows 7 beta buzz in the air i thought i'd throw up one of our Dell XT tablets w/thelatest windows 7 beta build 7000 running.

enjoy!

[youtube hioUYiWlHNQ]

passing more wind: vista origami experience 2.0 and my touchscreen wind (video)

ok, i promise i'll stop posting msi wind touchscreen stuff soon. however, until then here is a quick video demo of the Origami Experience 2.0 add-on to Vista running on my touchscreen wind. (download it from ms here )

imo, the origami experience 2.0 is a great step towards a more user friendly netbook experience (given it has a touchscreen), the browser alone is much improved over anything to date that runs on windows for such a device (makes it feel like the iphone's safari)

enjoy!

[youtube Mp21JySw6dA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp21JySw6dA

a new year, a new cpu! desktop upgrade time.

happy 2009! hopefully a year of rebirth for our nation and each of us!

i started this new year off by scoring a few decent deals on a few upgrades to my desktop rig.  last year i didn't really upgrade too much since i moved gaming platforms back to consoles (PS3 and late wii) and in a way burned myself out of upgrades/system building the year prior (went through about 8 cases, 6 mobos, 4 vid cards in one year).  however the super low costs of memory and 3ghz dual core processors really got my upgrade-sense a twitching.  in addition, i have fully transitioned all my machines from XP to Vista and actually am enjoying it over XP (vista's not that bad people, get over it!)

soapbox: updating factory vehicle GPS navigation maps, the costs

yes, i am among the 'lacks a sense of direction' types when it comes to driving in new places and in turn have a navigation system in my car.

i went the factory option since 1) it was covered under warranty 2) very seemless integration and a good system 3) gave me a SD card reader via a pc card slot

at the time the  benefits outweighed the negatives (cost was only negative at time).  they have for some time, however this year i decided to update my maps for my navigation system and thus this post.  more ranting after the jump.

MSI Wind Hoda touchscreen kit install notes/video

previously on my blog; i had posted about my solderless touchscreen kit i installed on my msi wind.  as promised, i am following up with a more detailed notes on installing and a few videos i took of myself doing the install.

the hoda touchscreen kit was made by fidohub.com and being sold on ebay or directly through their website; also there is an ongoing forum thread over at msiwind.net on this particular kit which me and quite a few other users have posted notes on the installation.

this isn't true step-by-step guide/video but more of a general overview of what you will need to do and a few quirks i ran into while installing.

keep reading for the full post with videos and a demo in osx and vista.

msi wind + solderless touchscreen kit = project time!

well, to my geeky delight  i arrived at work today and had a little surprise awaiting me at my desk: my msiwind solderless touchscreen kit!!!



i ordered the kit from ebay after seeing it being posted on the front page over at msiwind.net ( a direct link to Hoda's page is here )

the biggest selling point of this touchscreen kit is the fact that it is solderless and also adds additional internal usb connections for other possible mods (ie integration of a gps dongle or perhaps even an internal 3G card?).

so, how hard was it to install? was it worth it? lets find out! keep reading for the setup notes and a video.

my geeky december thoughts, follow-ups, projects...

well, its been a few weeks since my last post again and i thought i'd check in as the holidays approach ever faster.  its been a while since i've blogged about my previous laptop purchase, HP DV6700T CTO so i thought i'd do a quick recap/followup on it.

also, thought i'd drop a few notes about some upcoming projects i have in the works (most of them involving my new fav netbook, msi wind).