Star Wars Day

May the Fourth couldn't be a more apt day to announce the winner of my Star Wars competition!

The winner of the limited edition mimobot Boba Fett is Ian Cook, whose comment eloquently distilled the character of Star Wars' most notorious bounty hunter in a USB flash drive:

"A Fett shaped memory stick .. To truly guard those precious files .. Unless someone offers him the right price to divulge their contents .. Curse those mercenary bounty hunters ;)"

Congratulations Ian, please DM me on either Facebook or Twitter and Boba Fett will be on his way to you very soon.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a comment, and please remember to subscribe by RSS for future 'give-away' competitions. If you're an Indy fan stay tuned for an awesome Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull tie-in with DK Books!

Boba Fett 'give-away' contest

It's April Fools' Day and I'm running a 'give-away' contest!

Star Wars Series 2

Fresh off the success of the wildly popular Star Wars mimobot® Series 1 Designer USB Flash Drive line, mimoco – the Boston-based designer toy studio/consumer electronics brand responsible for the world’s only character-based designer USB flash drives – has announced the highly anticipated second entry into their Star Wars collection. The Star Wars mimobot Series 2 introduces four new characters to the mimobot family: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and bounty hunter extraordinaire, Boba Fett.

The four new Star Wars mimobot designs take advantage of mimoco’s continuing revolution in cap styles. Han has his signature mop-top, Leia has her famous buns, and both Luke and Fett have helmets which can be removed to reveal their faces below. In addition, as with all mimobot releases, each character in Star Wars mimobot Series 2 will come preloaded with a desktop personalization suite with exclusive digital content, ranging from wallpapers and screensavers to icons and avatars, and the mimobot soundByte™ application that plays actual sounds from the Star Wars saga when the Star Wars mimobot is inserted or ejected from the PC.

Mimoco and myself are offering one lucky reader a chance to win Boba Fett is his fantastic mimobot incarnation! This is a very limited edition of only 5000 and the winner will receive 1269/5000. It's sure to become a highly sought-after collectors item! Not that you'd ever want to part with it!



"You are free to use any methods necessary, but I want them alive. No disintegrations."

To enter for a chance of winning this really cool prize, please leave a comment on this post. The competition closes April 30th 2008 and the winner will be randomly selected by me. My decision will be final! Good luck.

Special thanks to mimoco for supplying the competition prize. See their entire Star Wars series here.

If you enjoyed reading this post subscribe by RSS! I'll be running further 'give-away' contests throughout the spring and summer.

Mac OS X 10.5.2 released to the wild

Tonight Apple released the most significant Mac OS X iterative update to date! Mac OS X 10.5.2.

The 10.5.2 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac:

Active Directory

* Addresses issues which could hinder or prevent binding Mac OS X 10.5.x clients to Active Directory domains.

AirPort

* Improves connection reliability and stability
* Includes 802.1X improvements
* Resolves certain kernel panics

Back to my Mac

* Adds support for more third-party routers, as detailed in this article

Dashboard

* Improves performance of certain Apple Dashboard widgets (such as Dictionary)
* Addresses an issue in which Dashboard widgets may no longer be accessible after switching to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled

Dock

* Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view

Desktop

* Addresses legibility issues with the menu bar with an option to turn off transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences
* Adjusts menus to be slightly-less translucent overall

iCal

* Improves iCal so that it accurately reflects responses to recurring meetings
* Addresses an issue in which a meeting may remain on the calendar after being cancelled
* Addresses stability issues related to .Mac syncing of iCal calendars
* Resolves an intermittent issue in which editing an event with attendees would cause the event to shrink and not register that the event was updated

iChat

* Addresses an issue with simultaneously-logged in accounts in which iChat sounds generated from one account might be heard in another account
* Fixes an issue in which iChat idle time is affected by Time Machine backups
* Improves connectivity when running iChat behind a router that doesn't preserve ports
* Enables logged chats from previous versions of iChat to open faster and more reliably
* Addresses an issue with text chats in which users may be unable to receive messages from the sender
* Addresses an issue that may prevent rejoining an AIM chat room without reopening iChat
* Addresses video chat compatibility issues with AIM 6 and third-party routers
* Fixes an issue with case-sensitivity of AIM handles

iSync

* Adds support for Samsung D600E and D900i phones

Finder

* Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when displaying folder contents in Column view
* Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when accessing Users and Groups in a Get Info pane
* Resolves an issue that prevented setting permissions on a folder alias
* Resolves an issue in which the Eject command could write to a disc in the optical drive
* Fixes an issue in which the scroll bar might disappear when deleting a file within a folder that includes files that are out of view
* Fixes an issue in the Sharing & Permissions section of Get Info windows, in which the gear icon appears to be gray/disabled after authentication
* Addresses an issue in which the Show Icon Preview preference might not be not saved when turning it off
* Fixes an issue that could occur when trying to print an image from the Finder

Mail

* Addresses an issue with Message menu's Mark > As Read choice
* Fixes an issue in which duplicate On My Mac folders may appear in the sidebar after upgrading to Leopard
* Improves the accuracy of the Data Detectors feature
* Resolves an issue with scrolling through a Note that is displayed using the split view in the message window
* Fixes an issue with deleting messages located in the Drafts folder
* Fixes an issue in which dragging the icon in the Safari URL field into a Mail message creates an attachment instead of a link
* Addresses an issue found when opening a item in the Notes folder that is not a Note
* Fixes an issue that may prevent RSS feeds from being delivered in Mail
* Resolves an issue in which a selected message could "flash" from blue to gray when in Organize by Thread mode
* Fixes an issue with scrolling between multiple To Dos in an email message
* Fixes an issue in which the body of email messages with certain MIME structures may not be displayed
* Improves performance with America Online (AOL) account-based messages in Mail
* Addresses issues with some ISPs during automatic set-up in Mail
* Addresses an issue in which Mail might not send mail on some networks to some SMTP servers
* Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues
* Adds an option to view large icons in the Mailbox list

Networking

* Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume

Parental Controls

* Improves stability when opening the Parental Controls System Preferences pane
* Fixes an issue that may prevent changes to the email address for permission requests
* Addresses an issue with printer administration for a guest account enabled with Parental Controls
* Addresses an issue with setting printer administration privileges from another Mac on the local network
* Fixes an issue that could prevent certain applications from being allowed
* Addresses accuracy issues with the web content filter

Preview

* Improves stability when scrolling through a PDF document
* Fixes an issue that prevents tabbing within a PDF document after clicking on the PDF
* Improves the Mail Document feature so that email attachments are more reliably created from Print Preview

Printing

* Addresses an issue in which remote printers may be deleted when the computer is put to sleep
* Improves printing performance when using some Microsoft Office applications
* Resolves an issue with some printing options, such as landscape orientation, number of copies, two-sided printing, and so forth that may not have functioned with some printers shared by Microsoft Windows
* Adds support for certain printers connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express base station
* Resolves a stalling issue that could occur when installing certain Canon printing software from a disc

RAW Image

* Adds RAW image support for several cameras, as detailed in this article

Safari

* Addresses issues with Safari reliably resolving certain domains

Login and Setup Assistant

* Addresses an issue in which Setup Assistant could unexpectedly appear each time Mac OS X 10.5 starts up
* Improves stability and performance during log in

System

* Improves the accuracy of the grammar checker
* The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup

Time Machine

* Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences)
* Improves backup reliability when computer name contains slash or non-ASCII characters
* Fixes an issue in which the backup disk displayed in the Finder may be out of sync with the disk chosen for Time Machine
* Addresses issues in which some external drives are not recognized by Time Machine
* The status menu now appears by default

Other

* Improves general stability when running third-party applications
* Addresses an issue in which the incorrect search results may be displayed for certain Automator Find/Filter actions
* Addresses an issue with the Latvian and Russian keyboard layouts
* Addresses an issue in which the backlight could turn off before Energy Saver's backlight setting

May I suggest that you download the Combo Update!

Pre-order New Apple iPod touch 32GB

The iPod touch 32GB model arrives just in time for Valentine's Day!

*Comes with the latest announced new software applications for the iPod touch
*32GB flash drive
*Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
*3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display
*480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch
*Holds up to 7,000 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format
*Holds up to 25,000 iPod-viewable photos
*Holds up to 40 hours of video

Movies, music and more
Listen to your favourite music. Watch video podcasts and music videos. Catch up on TV shows. Flick through photos. With iPod touch, you can bring it all along for the ride.

The Internet in your pocket
Surf the web and send email while walking down the street. Get directions, check the weather, follow stocks and more. With Wi-Fi, the Internet goes wherever you go.

The increased capacity reaffirms my view that the iPod touch is a most viable proposition in the PDA space and knocks Sony's PSP back into a cocked hat!

If you think it's too good a gift for your other half...

An 'air of excitement' surrounds Macworld 2008

Apple's alliance with Nike extends beyond iPod co-branding to include a new line of sneakers! I jest of course, although a pair of Air Mac would be most desirable! However, the notion of a, speculative, product called MacBook Air exudes irresistible cool! Especially when said device could be a wafer-thin laptop replete with flash drive and Blu-ray!

We won't know for certain what "2008. There's something in the air" equates to until Steve Jobs' Keynote, at Macworld 2008, tomorrow! It's safe to assume that web-enabled gadget geeks, around the globe, will be watching...

A Christmas Gift For Your PS3 From Sony

The long-awaited Profile 1.1 firmware upgrade for the PlayStation 3 should be available later this month. It was confirmed by Don Eklund, EVP of advanced technologies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, at the High-Def 2.0 conference Dec. 4 in Los Angeles.

With several studios lining up 1.1-enabled Blu-ray Discs during the first quarter, the upgrade will allow those discs with picture-in-picture features to be used on the PS3.

Also known as “Final Standard Profile,” 1.1 adds a secondary audio decoder and a secondary video decoder, and requires support for 256MB of memory, either built-in or from a memory card or USB flash drive. All Blu-ray players introduced to market after Nov. 1 are required to support the profile.

I'm hoping that this update will include the feted DTS-HD Master Audio update too!

Gadget Galaxy

You know how much I love Star Wars! Come on, the title of this blog is a dead give away, eh! So, it was a pleasant surprise to hear from Jennifer L. DeLeo, an Associate Editor for PCMag.com, on this auspicious day!

Jennifer has written a really cool article, one I'd have ripped a droids arms out of its sockets to write:

Technology and Star Wars go hand in hand. We lowered the blast shield and used the Force to find FX lightsabers, Chewbacca flash drives, and more.

The 10 Coolest Star Wars Tech Products in the Galaxy

May the force...

Wii Want

Nintendo has announced that its next generation console (code-name Revolution) is officially known as Wii. The company explains:

"While the code-name 'Revolution' expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else."

"Wii will put people more in touch with their games … and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean? Wii sounds like 'we,' which emphasizes this console is for everyone."

"Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii. Wii has a distinctive 'ii' spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play."

"And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd. So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it’s really not about you or me. It’s about Wii."

In addition, Nintendo hit on a number of Wii-related points. Nintendo stated that "A number of Wi-Fi-enabled launch titles are in development that will employ Nintendo's newly announced wireless gaming service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection."

Also mentioned was an SD memory card expansion bay that will allow users to complement the 512 megabytes of internal flash memory.

The company also touted Wii's two-format disc drive. "Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content."

At first I scoffed at Nintendo's nomenclature! However, who would have thought that TiVo and iPod would become part of our consumer lexicon? And controversy sales.

Wii, like the original iMac, will be available in an assortment of candy colors. To paraphrase Steve Jobs. Wii is gaming for the rest of us. Nintendo may have struck marketing gold by mining Apple Computer's rich lifestyle brand ethos.

Left To My Own Devices

The following chronicles my web exploration and site building exploits. The original article appears here.

Before Google
For anyone who maybe remotely interested. My online adventures began in the summer of 1995. A friend and I spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon in Bournemouth University's main library surfing the net using Netscape 3 Gold (back in the days before the advent of 'free' browsers and IE domination).

The first site I ever visited was Sony USA. And the first search (using Yahoo!) was for actress Winona Ryder. Does anyone remember this site from Eric Harshbarger?

http://www.auburn.edu/~harshec/WWW/Winona.html/

After graduation, and now in gainful employment at Reuters Business Information (RBI), I signed-up with AOL UK (1997).

Google Earth
In the spring of 1998 Macworld UK magazine carried a free copy of Claris Homepage on a cover CD.

Claris Homepage may have lacked the 'killer' features of GoLive and sexier Dreamweaver (the de facto WYSIWYG), but it was simplicity itself, and, above all, no hefty price tag if the medium left me cold. So, whilst off work and suffering from flu, I started to put together an inaugural web site: an eclectic mix of original work and pop culture commentary (Buffy, Party of Five and Dawson's Creek had captured the zeitgeist of the day). This went live on AOL within a week. The first 50 hits came soon after!

By 1999 AOL UK had all but alienated its Mac customers due to tardy application updates and lacklustre support, and I searched for an alternative ISP and web host.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm
Regrettably this was a time prior to the wonder known as the SuperDrive (CD/DVD burner). Despite owning an Iomega Zip 100 Drive the notion of regularly backing up critical data (on my trusty Performa 5200) had yet to enter my design DNA. In a move that would cost me two-years of web development (including graphics, text et al), I accidentally deleted my offline site. For the record let it be noted that Microsoft's Outlook Express 4.x (for Classic OS) should take some of the responsibility too!

The next two years went by and I couldn't muster any enthusiasm to rebuild the site from scratch - work and the transition from Classic OS to OS X took their toll. Then a friend asked me why I hadn't setup a new site? The honest answer was creative apathy. Apologetically I loaded Adobe PageMill 3 (included with my iMac DV SE) and...

Step By Step
Adobe offered registered PageMill 3 users a free upgrade to GoLive 5! In the space of a weekend (burning the midnight oil as-it-were) I'd assembled a basic site and uploaded this to my iTools (.mac) iDisk after some trial and error (mostly the latter) - there were no tutorials explaining how to use original templates and requests (to other iTools webmasters) for help went unanswered. Where had the sense of community gone?

Once I rolled out the site (2.x) the next phase was to promote reciprocal links, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and consider affiliate marketing (pays the hosting bills and adds a high degree of editorial responsibility on my part).

American Idol
A cute recollection. I'd applied to join The Iconfactory's deskbase in 2003. That same afternoon I received a confirmation, from Mindy Weaver, warmly welcoming me to their extended family. At the time Kelly Clarkson's 'Moment Like This' was playing on the radio.

Express Yourself
By 2004 this site had come of age and I could no longer ignore the allure of the brave new frontier: blogging + RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

Although blog templates are often criticised for their homogeneity, ease of use and extendibility far out way any negatives. Critical code updates can be applied to an entire site sans the time-consuming tedium of modifying each page individually. This leaves authors to focus on 'content'.

Think About The Future
2006 and, now that the blog is well established (Buffy and Dawson have graduated out of our lives), it's time to revisit this site again replete with a new 'bag of tricks'! The incumbent GoLive has made way for the sassy Macromedia Studio 8 triple threat (Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash).

What "dreams" may come?