Can I Have It Like That

After reading a 4 star review of Rachel Stevens' new album, Come And Get It, in Friday's Guardian. I procured a copy and it's the most audacious, chic and eclectic collection of pop songs since Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Music, Baby! The Sunday Times concurs! An amusing anecdote. A photo of Ms Stevens adorned my Windows NT desktop at Dow Jones Reuters (before brand hegemony infiltrated every pixel) and a member of staff wondered if Rachel was my wife? If only...

Watching the Girls Aloud videography in iTMS, I noticed how much Cheryl Tweedy looks like Neve Campbell!

Added additional Doctor Who titles to the DVD collection. Claws Of Axos and Revelation Of The Daleks. The former is a by the numbers Pertwee yarn and the latter is a macabre masterpiece. Aside from the digital restoration and edible extras, the new disc art is welcome.

Version 2.0 of the Atari 2600 emulator has been released for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. This new version of Stella contains a wealth of improvements. Some highlights are listed below:

*Fully-integrated UI
*New ROM Launcher
*Integrated Debugger
*New Sound Subsystem
*Added ZIP Support
*Added Cartridge "Frying"

With the advent of Halloween comes Castlevania! This year Akumajo Dracula - Chi No Rondo (for PC Engine/TG-16 Super CD-ROM² System) should provide the requisite console chills. Considered by many as the definitive entry in the long-lasting franchise.

The Craft

Catch Scream 2 (1997) last evening on Channel 4? There was a time when Neve Campbell adorned magazine covers around the globe, and the desktop of a former Dow Jones Reuters online journalist (whom writes this very blog)! Here's a picture that captures an idyllic era.



A year after Apple announced that Dashboard would debut with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Yahoo! buys Konfabulator as part of its search services 'land grab'. From today the widget application is available gratis here. Regardless of this step, Yahoo! please update your IM client for Macintosh before Google consigns you to a cached page footnote. Actually, an IM widget would be an excellent idea.

Arlo Rose, part of the duo behind Konfabulator, continues to attest that Apple aped 'his' widget idea. They're from Apple's 1984 Macintosh. Remember desk accessories Arlo? It maybe overkill for Tiger users to include Konfabulator in the Dock. To quote the Dr Pepper slogan - "You've got to try it to love it".

Tomorrow should witness new announcements concerning Apple's iBook and Mini lines. I'd like to see the addition of nVIDIA GPUs to the diminutive desktop line.

AIM & Objective

Since taming the Tiger, I've been beta testing AIM® Mail and AOL® Journals. First a history lesson.

It's summer 1997 and an @AOL address was considered a premium. I leapt onto the brand wagon with WinonaFan@aol.com (apologies to anyone who may have inherited this). Switching gears from a 14.4 bps to an asphalt melting 28.8 bps, I thrived on accessing all the US Channel content and making new buddies along the way.

In 2000 after leaving Dow Jones Reuters (downsizing and outsourcing), I abandoned AOL UK due (in part) to tenuous Mac OS 9.x software support and a prohibitively expensive subscription (no discount for Mac Users). However, the impetus (shove) to leave was during an interview with an AOL Channel Director. In the wake of the AOL Time Warner merger, a HR zombie decided to forward my application from Entertainment to Financial. D'oh! And during a stilted dialogue, with the Director, I learnt of their ambition to usurp Microsoft and that Apple Computer should roll over and die! I suggested that AOL would be wise to form a strategic alliance with Apple. 5 years on and look who's laughing now? Not AOL Time Warner shareholders. BTW I never signed an NDA and am at liberty to disclose this.

On Monday night, and in Tom Hanks mode, I savored my first You've Got Mail moment for five years! If I were to rate AIM Mail and Gmail on GUI splendor alone, then AIM gets my vote! The forum moderator is actively soliciting Mac User feedback. My Dashboard Widget suggestion was described as excellent and forwarded to the developers for immediate consideration. Widgets are de rigeur.

Blogcritics is a thriving community and I've been known to drop in the occasional post now and again.

Here's my second ever iMix!

Top Cat

Next week heralds Apple's WWDC 2004 (Worldwide Developers Conference). A preview edition of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger will be unveiled (alongside new hardware including a headless G5 iMac and 4G iPod if pundits are correct).

Where does that leave Mac OS X 10.3 Panther? I can only hope that Apple continues to support Panther (perhaps as far as .8) until Tiger is 'good and ready' to hit the streets. A 4G iPod would also be the perfect time to release the illusive "Home on iPod" update. iCal, iSync and Keynote are in dire need of updating too.

In the spirit of WWDC my Apple-owning history goes like this:

*1995 - Performa 5200 (bought by my parents whilst I was at University and donated to an Uncle)
*1999 - iMac DV SE (purchased whilst working at Dow Jones Reuters and sold to Tom)
*2002 - iMac LCD/JBL Creature speakers (when it hits the resell market Tom gets first refusal)
*2003 - iPod 3G

No doubt the next iteration of OS X will shepherd in an abundance of technological improvements alongside a new version of Safari et al. Tiger is rumoured for release to retail in Q1 2005. Here's to a successful WWDC that looks to the future, but not at the expense of the here and now. My credit card is primed and ready.

My Sennheiser PMX60 order arrived today. After breaking them in, over the weekend, I'll post my observations.