Nothing Really Poignant - James in Taiwan

So this weekend I sold my black MacBook. This was maybe one of the few machines I did not hate by the time I sold it. Surprisingly it also held it’s value. In June it will be 2 years old and it only lost 1/3 of the original total value. For a well-used laptop, this isn’t bad.

Over the years I have had quite a few laptops. Of course my first laptop was a PowerBook 145, but after I got a PowerBook 520c and it was in the shop for 6 out of 9 months I owned it I started thinking Apple products were lemons. Apple eventually gave me a new and faster machine, the Powerbook 1400, but by that time I started using NT 4, and let’s face it - OS 8 was never as stable as NT 4.

So eventually I sold the 1400 and didn’t buy another laptop until Sony came out with the Vaio Z1. This was sure a beauty, however it had some defects - the biggest being the lack of a global warranty and the paint chipped off the mouse buttons. This was replaced by an IBM X40, which was an overall great, if underused machine since I had the same machine at work and rarely used my home machine. During this time, OS X 10.3 came out, and I was starting to look at Apple again, but this was for a “Fun Machine”. We eventually bought an iBook G4, but I wasn’t sold and this was used for just web browsing.

Next we go to Apple’s Intel announcement and the soon released MacBook. When they came out I was so happy. For one, it wasn’t white so it wouldn’t get dirty like the iBook G4 we had. Secondly my brother-in-law recently bought an Intel iMac and I was sold on going all-Mac. I went out to the Portland Apple Store and picked up this beauty (seen here).

So now Steven has a white MacBook for home use, we still have the iBook G4 running as a iTunes / print / web server and I have my office machine, so I figure it was time for this machine to find a new home. I hope the new family is happy with this and the little son doesn’t pound the keyboard with his sticky fingers too much.

So what’s next for me? Well I see a MacBook Air in my future, but the true question is when should I buy it. I am not really in a rush, so maybe I will get it in the summer when I am on vacation.

The Chinese New Year holiday gave me plenty of time to relax and get some Advance Wars Dual Strike play in, but on the last two days I was blessed with a new game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

This game is a collection of mini-games and puzzles all following the main plot line of a mysterious treasure. The person who finds this treasure will be left the entire estate, which coincidentally includes the entire village. Along the way Layton encounters additional trials including solving a murder and finding out what the strange tower is in the middle of the town.

The great thing about this game is what it contains:

• A strong plot-line
• Puzzles that range from simple to complex
• A built in hint system for less skilled users
• A free weekly puzzle that can be downloaded from the internet
• Full-motion animation and voice acting
• A quirky retro art style

I recommend anyone who is fond of puzzles (including Martin Gardner fans), mysteries, and logic games check this game out. The great thing is that the website has a fully interactive demo which demonstrates the play mechanics of the game, meaning you can try before you buy.

MacWorld recently released a review for the MacBook Air where they gave the machine a rating 3.5 out of 5.  I am in fact a bit more inclined to purchase one now though, for two reasons.

1. They tested the 1.6 GHz version, and the 1.8 will be faster
2. They said:

The MacBook Air came on the heels of using a 2.16GHz MacBook, and I found its speeds in day-to-day use to be perfectly sufficient. … Using Photoshop CS3 to do some minor image tweaking seemed perfectly fine.”

The 2.16 GHz is faster than my laptop, meaning someone using something faster didn’t notice anything. MacWorld then goes on to say:

Then there will be those who … will adopt the MacBook Air as their primary Mac—simply because they’re laptop-only users who want that laptop to be as small as possible.

This is how I feel - I honestly am not so happy with all of the reviews out there who say the machine is “slow” because that is based on an opnion, and as nice as opinions are, they are irrelevant.  If I perceive the machine to be as fast as my current machine, I know I will be happy.

The day after the Apple Keynote, everyone in the office asked me “So are you pre-ordering one yet?”  Well I guess the word is out that I am an apple FanBoy, but i need to be honest, I still don’t know how I feel about it.

Don’t get me wrong - it isn’t the price. I’ve shelved over more for my lovely Vaio Z1 of yesteryear.  I even think after the memory upgrades, California tax and all my current MacBook was as expensive.  I even have been saving some money for the past 6 months just for this purpose. So it isn’t price - it is something else though.

At first I thought it was the non-removable battery, but it turns out that it is trivial to replace. Some people complain about the lack of a CD/DVD drive, but honestly my IBM X40 didn’t have one and I never missed it. Some people complain about the lack of ethernet, but I think the USB Ethernet adapter is just fine since I only use a wire in the office and I would probably leave it permanently attached to my ethernet cable on my desk. What about when I travel - well I have an extra AirPort Express that I can throw in the bag.  I am not complaining about the size either, the screen is big enough and who’t want a lighter laptop?

So what is bothering me then? Well, I think it is the speed. I really want it to REPLACE my primary computer, and right now the benchmark tests say it falls far behind my consumer grade laptop. On-board video isn’t the problem, but I really would want it to be my primary machine, and I think the speed would really bother me.  I have a 2.0 Core 2 Duo now, and I at least would want the same in my replacement.  Maybe they bumped the processors up too fast in the entry level laptops because I want speed and the small size and can care less about ethernet and the optical drive.

OK - I will probably end up buying one anyway, so I shouldn’t complain too much - but please, oh please bump up the speed a bit.  Anyone else feel the same?

I just got a new game that I have fallen in love with, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. This is an edgy re-make of the previous turn-based strategy Advance Wars: Dual Strike game. In this revision the story has a bit more depth, the cut-scene graphic design is updated, and the overall gameplay is updated to focus more on strategy than on an all out melee.

If you are unfamiliar with turn-based strategy games, you need to think of a war based strategy game where you need to plan your next turn by moving, attacking, building, or repairing tactical units of different strengths on the battle field. After you take your turn, your opponent (the computer) then moves all of their units to do the same. Think of a chess game where you can move all of your pieces once each turn.

One of the final innovations over the previous version is the fact that they have added WiFi gaming to the mix. Online play tied with the ability to create your own maps and terrain provide you with unlimited play options at all skill levels. Play your best friend across the street or strangers who live 5000 miles away (anonymously, of course).

So if you are looking to pick a fight with me (I’m not all that good), you are welcome to add me to your friends list. My friend code is below (just leave yours in the comments.)

James

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Two or three weeks ago I was going out with a few co-workers to lunch and I really wanted to go someplace new. We walked down An-He Road past a cafe called Swing (which will have another review later) and found a new place called Bedroom where a cafe named Postop used to be.

We went in and all ordered our sets. Now the menu was a bit eclectic, with some classic Italian dishes and a few East-Asian curries and I opted for the Tomato Basil Chicken pasta set (around ~5.57 USD).

The first dish was a salad, which I offered to one of my co-workers. Next came out a miso-soup, a very un-Italian soup, but it was still good for a miso soup. Last came the pasta, which was really good - surprisingly so. My co-worker who ordered the Salmon in Cream Sauce gave a thumbs up, as did the other co-worker who ordered the Shrimp pasta (although the shrimp were high-maintainence because they were not un-shelled. All-in-all this was a great find that I have already gone back to another two times.

OK, OK, I am in Taiwan, but this doesn’t mean that the Writers Strike that is occuring in the US isn’t affecting me.  I do regurlary download episodes from iTunes and watch them on my iPhone or iPod, so yes I need to stay on top of this.

So what shows am I really into lately? Well honestly I can care less for Heroes.  For some reason I feel “tired” after watching those episodes (too many pointless plot twists), and iTunes stopped carrying season two anyway, so no big loss.  I am however watching Kyle XY, a show about a cloned boy who was brought out of the artificial womb at the age of 15, an subsequently has the emotional and mental abilities of Data on Star Trek.  I am also digging the newly released Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but the problem is when will all the “good” shows stop airing?

Well I found a regurlarly updated page that is going to be your salvation.  Find out how many more episodes of your favorite show are left on  the page Effect of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike on television.

These gel drinks are sold as healthy and refreshing, but seem like a bag of watered down sandwich jelly to me. These were originally popular in Japan, but they finally made it to 7-11 in Taiwan.

I haven’t tried one here, but I did try one when I was in Tokyo. They taste like room-temperature Jello made with too much water.If you are a vegan, I wouldn’t recommend you drink (or is it eat) these, since they are probably made with animal gelatin.

I took this photo at a local 3C (Consumer Products Shop). They sell Apple Products, and fake Apple Products in the display case next to them. This fake iPhone or iPod Touch is about the size of an iPod Classic and is a steal at around ~68 USD.

Everyone by now should know about the Gmail, the free web mail service with ~4.5 GB of storage offered by Google. The amazing thing is that they keep adding more and more customer oriented features to the service.

Just recently Google added IMAP support to Gmail. This allows easy email/folder/label syncing between multiple computers and Gmail.

When you have an IMAP account, you can leave messages on the server until you would like to delete it. Additionally, if you have multiple devices / computers accessing the same account, information such which emails you have read and sent mail are synced to the server. Lastly, unlike POP3 (another standard), IMAP only needs to download a portion of the complete email. For example, it will only download the subject, until you ask to read the full email at which point Gmail will stream the email to you. This is a much desired feature allowing users to keep all of their email on a managed server and have the user experience of a desktop mail client.