Tech Pragmatist

Great concept, I particularly love the diving poster.

Thanks to Mr Kotke for the link.

Most businesses larger than a few individuals are using Windows XP, but Microsoft seems determined to make the upgrade path into an expensive obstacle course. Is this really necessary? Are these the actions of a company trying to hold on to a large, and largely loyal, userbase?

businesses looking to migrate to Windows 7 could find the whole process much harder and more expensive than it needs to be … thanks to Microsoft.

Mr Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote this remarkably prescient piece on what he expected to see in the keynote speech at WWDC, but he wrote it before the event which seems incredible in hindsight. Indeed MacRumors, who normally play down unsubstantiated rumours, linked to this page purely based on his WWDC prediction track record.

So if I were a betting man, here’s how I’d handicap expectations for the WWDC keynote:

His five tips would have made him some handsome winnings had he found a bookie to wager against.

The first time I saw code that make shapes and colours respond in time to music was when my University friend (and Best Man) Ross showed me a plugin on his Mac that (I think) was from a software house called Cthulhu. These days iTunes and Windows Media Player have the same functionality only better, but how cool would it be to put a music visualisation across a whole building? Thanks to SwissMiss for the link:

lights on from thesystemis on Vimeo.

Nice article with some good links on one of the problems with 3D cinema. I also saw Beowulf in 3D and being the only one amongst my friends who had any form of eyestrain afterwards, assumed it was just my astigmatism.

I particularly like Sam Mendes’ take on 3D cinema mentioned at the end of the article:

… when asked in our 20th Birthday Issue [of empire magazine] if he was ‘going 3D’ responded: “I have. It’s called the theatre.”

An amusing pseudo analysis of the tethering costs on PAYG iPhone on O2 (UK iPhone carrier).

I have become that which I once mocked. I have become an Apple fanboy.

If Apple can tempt the staunchest anti-corporation bearded techie I know, what hope does the average consumer have?

UPDATE: Billy has made two further posts here and here.

Now with Snow Leopard, the Mac has out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, something even Windows PCs don’t have. […] You set it up and, like so much else on the Mac, it just works.

Technology Nirvana? We’ll find out in September. One family pack of Snow Leopard on pre-order.

* especially if you already own a copy of Leopard (OSX 10.5)

Laugh out loud funny, thanks to the Macalope for the link.

As Mr Carmo says:

Michael Mace delivers great writing yet again. If you read one long technology article today, make it this one.

While I don’t necessarily agree with everything that Greenpeace do, nor do I like all of their methods overly much, they do have an unwavering commitment to their cause. The most recent iGizmo online magazine linked to their website on electronics which has some interesting information on it.

What surprises and pleases me is that more and more of the main stream technology and print journalists have been quoting Greenpeace’s pronouncements on environmentally conscious electronics companies over the last couple of years. The ‘Greener Electronics’ company ranking, which is updated approximately quarterly, is now quite keenly followed.

My vote for the companies that are doing best on this score is represented by what I choose to spend my hard earned British Pounds on. It is one of the main reasons why I haven’t bought a Nintendo Wii.