enrii.blog

A passionate programmer’s findings in the world of internet.

Mac OS X Lion

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

One Apple product after another. Just upgraded to Lion from Snow Leopard on my Macbook Air. Postponed the upgrade for until now due to limited space on my 64GB SSD, also partly due to new process spawned in my personal life.

Although most of the new features are exciting, I find some features in Lion annoying. Apple likes to make decision and thinks that everyone would be happy with their product, either they like or they will have to get use to it then like it. I agree that this approach is the only way to keep things simple and nice.

One such annoying feature would be "Reopen windows when logging back in". I have heard about Mac users who never shuts down the machine because they want to keep their halfway work. This feature will be a great addition for these people. It's not for me, I always like to turn off everything and shut down at the end of day and start from fresh the next day. This feature does not allow me to do something as simple as this!

I will have to untick the checkbox on every shut down. I really need Mac to remember my last input during previous shut down.

As for the good, one main exciting feature for me would be the enhancement to Mail.app that made it works like a real email client.

Other notable feature would be the "natural" scrolling. It actually feels very unnatural in the beginning. Only after you recall how iPad works, it feels much more natural. But scrolling backwards with a mouse doesn't feel natural at all. Had to get the free Scroll Reverser to reverse mouse scroll.

So, was it worth my USD29.90? Maybe. At some point I think Apple is charging more than Microsoft because this is merely increment of 0.1 version instead of a whole new version.

Would be very interested to know what is the conversion ratio from Snow Leopard!

iPad from Singapore

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Apple iPad

Apple products are really tempting. I can't imagine myself being one of those geeks who would travel all the way to another country to purchase an Apple product just because I couldn't get it in my country.

Before I left for Singapore 2 days ago, we (my wife and I) have decided not to get iPad, reasons being:

  1. The first version of everything could potentially has undetected flaws. As a developer myself, I always believe end user testing would be the best testing, and iPad has not been in the market long enough and I don't want to be white rat.
  2. There are much more iPad competitors coming up very soon, mainly the Samsung Galaxy Tab that runs on less restricted Android platform.
  3. There are also rumours saying Apple is going to launch a mini iPad which could be much more convenient to bring around.
  4. There is no reason to get an brand new device and jailbreak it the second day, then lose it warranty. I have subscribed to home broadband, office broadband and BlackBerry unlimited packages, and I will need to get another 3G broadband for my iPad. I need to get iPad to tether with BlackBerry and that is not possible unless you jailbreak it.
  5. There are also rumours saying iPad will be in Malaysian Apple store very soon. Why the hassle?

There are much more reasons for not getting iPad at this moment.

All the reasons suddenly dismissed from our mind when we saw the Singaporeans travelling in MRTs surfing net with iPad. We saw some GeekCamp attendees surf net with iPad.

We also thought it wouldn't be easy to find iPad as it could have been wiped out by the Singaporeans, especially the entry level 16GB wifi units.

However, we really can't deny our luck when we found it at the fourth Apple store, and we have to get ourselves the iPad which damaged us SGD729. Not too expensive but not cheap too.

After owning it for less than 48 hours, I have a mixed feeling with the device.

It really changed the way people uses computer. Apple has done it again. It makes me feel like laptops will not stay for long, or the market share of laptop will drop tremendously.

I believe there are more than 50% of the users who are using computers solely for internet (or Facebook). Big portion of this user group will definitely go for iPad or similar device if they did not fall for netbooks earlier when it hit the market a year ago.

The only downside of the device, is the touch screen keyboard which I was unable to get used to it yet. Although it's hard to type on screen and I keep on getting typos, can see that the iPad is working hard to help me correct the spelling as I type. If much more effort were to be put on typo corrections, users will definitely enjoy the device more.

With all that being said, I don't think it suits me. The problem is not the device, the problem is me.

I do not see it replacing my BlackBerry or MacBook Pro. I'd still prefer to read on my BlackBerry while I commute on public transport because it's not small enough to be carried around. I will still have to use my MacBook to get my work done. There is no point adding a third device into my already heavy bag.

It shall only serve as a device for some light surfing at night, or for some urgent work in the shopping mall, on a non-working day. It's much more for my wife (for her favourite Angry Bird game) than myself.

Maxis Will Bring Apple iPhone 3G to Malaysia?

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Contrary to what I found earlier, The Malaysian Insider reported that:

Its understood that Maxis will offer the iPhone 3G in Malaysia at a competitive price below RM1,000.

It's a nice offer, since I have been using Maxis for years. Changing the plan will get me the new Apple iPhone 3G. However, The Edge Daily got a different response from Maxis:

When asked by The Edge Financial Daily in April if the telco planned to bring the iPhone here, Maxis chief executive officer Sandip Das had said Maxis had no plan at that time to bring in the phone as Apple had not decided on its Asian distribution policy.

Anyhow, Bernice certainly has a good point saying that it's not a good idea to get first generation products from Apple, especially the company is new in mobile phone business. On top of that, 3G services are still very expensive in Malaysia.

But, it is really very tempting. I'm not sure I could wait any longer once it reaches Malaysia.

Apple iPhone (3G) is not coming to Malaysia?

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

TelecomTV wrote:

Apple named just Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong & Macau, India and the Philippines as Asian markets earmarked for the new device this year. China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan were among notable omissions from the list although the likes of Equatorial Guinea, Nicaragua and Botswana made the cut!

Not much choice left for us. We can only get illegal hacked version from other countries. Not to mentioned about the 3G version, even the older version is not here yet!

How legal or illegal is it, to own a hacked version from Singapore?

Trying Safari on Windows

Monday, April 7th, 2008

When I read of Apple is offering Safari for Windows (I know I'm outdated), I have a strong feeling to give it a try as soon as possible. However, I must say, I am very disappointed.

After I have installed everything that I needed for my programming work, I haven't install much apps into my system because I don't want any of the programs to slow my PC down. I broke the rule for Safari and I'm very disappointed with it.

I have tried opening it a few times, and this is what I've got!

Safari not responding

The application just hang after I start it up. And, it hang indefinitely.

I suspect it is unable to detect the network properly, or simply because I did not install Bonjour?

Anybody had the same experience?

Update: The program finally working after I reboot the machine. Why, why, why?