When will Apple unleash the Tablet Mac attack?
For what seems like ages now, Apple fans all over the world have waited with baited breath for the Holy Grail of iGadgets … the Apple Tablet Mac.
Rumors abound that the Apple Tablet will just be a 7-inch or 9-inch version of the popular iPhone, running the iPhone OS, not a version of Leopard or the new Snow Leopard.
The Financial Times says the unit is being rushed to production for Christmas ‘09.
And PC World says the recently returned Steve Jobs is now overseeing the whole Tablet development himself.
But today, some light on the OS…
After taking a good look at the features of Apple’s new Snow Leopard OS, Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac finds a massive on-screen keyboard tucked away in the OS Control Panel. (see image)
More from Kahney:
Of course, it can’t be used as a real virtual keyboard until Apple introduces a touchscreen device. At the moment, it just records the keystrokes on your physical keyboard and shows the characters that will be typed when the Option key is held down, and so on.
Yeah, I know, this isn’t proof that Snow Leopard is designed for a touchscreen device — IE. the tablet everyone knows Apple is working on — but I got pretty excited when I saw it. It looks like a key touchscreen UI element to me.
More after the jump…
Hello y’all … It’s been ages!
So HardDriveLife.com is now back in the friendly confines of WordPress.com. Glad to be back for a while! I hope to be posting a little more as time goes on. It’s tough right now balancing my job and my podcasting work to sneak in tech updates, but I’ll try to be a little more assertive as the months progress.
I’m going to be tweaking things on the layout, and while I look for a new hosting home and designer, feel free to peruse the site’s archives and content.
Also, feel free to check out my podcast at http://BUCKETRemix.com. Publishes weekly.
Also, you can follow my tweets at http://www.twitter.com/HardDriveLife
UPDATE: BUCKET is BACK!! Go visit BUCKETRemix.com for more details!!
I just got an e-mail in my BUCKET show e-mail account with one word in it:
“Podfade”
It made me really sad.
It’s now been two months since the last episode of BUCKET, the Podcast Awards-nominated comedy podcast starring me and my co-host Jen.
After 59 episodes of the show, 7 episodes of the all-music BUCKET Blast, and a few Nowhereville Concert Series shows in Second Life, it’s been a big hole in my life to have the show gone. I formally didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to our listeners, since we did not do a formal final episode. I really regret that.
A lot has tried to fill that hole in my life … my increased work in my full-time career has helped keep me busy, and I’ve added a new part-time job to make a little extra moolah, but nothing I’ve done has been as personally fulfilling or exciting as doing BUCKET.
Over the past few months, I’ve tried to do a pilot of a new podcast based on life and pop culture on the Internet, based on the same themes this blog has followed over the past year, but nothing has worked or had the chemistry that my former co-host and I had. And the AKG Perception 200 microphone has remained cold since…
Someone in Second Life today asked me if BUCKET will ever start up again. Frankly, I don’t know.
If it does, I’d love to be part of it, and I would absolutely want Jen to be part of it too. It’s something that’s still deep down inside of us, and I would never say no to a “reunion” of the original BUCKET team. But then again, it takes two to tango (or do any other dance…except the Electric Slide, which takes a whole reception of people).
That same person in Second Life said, “Well, at least BUCKET went out on top.” And true that… it was on top in many ways. Thanks to Jen’s hard work on publicity and networking, we had tons of friends and group members, and it led to thousands of listeners each week. And I thought that we had some of our best episodes near the end of our run.
So, to sum up:
- BUCKET, is it over? Yes, for now.
- Would Corey come back to do BUCKET again? Yes, in a heartbeat.
- Do I miss BUCKET? Absolutely!
If you want to see a BUCKET reunion, send your e-mails to BUCKETpodcas(at)gmail.com. And until then, if it does, thank you all so much for being listeners of our piddly little comedy show. And as always… God willing … see you again soon.
Keepon is BACK! The little yellow robot that danced into our collective YouTube hearts earlier this year is back in a new music video from a variety of folks. Check it out below.
I’m cruising around the Internet Tuesday, and I see that the little podcast I co-host, called BUCKET, has been nominated as one of 10 comedy podcasts up for the 2007 Best Comedy Podcast award at the Podcast Awards Web site.
Wow, I’m honored! And surprised! Jen and I do our show from split locations — me from Stamford, Conn. and Jen from Nowhereville, Pa.
Surprisingly, we’ve kept our chemistry intact despite the space difference. And some say we’re still funny.
So, after talking with my co-host, we’ve decided to give out some “incentive” to encourage podcast listeners to vote in the Awards — even if you’re not voting for BUCKET.
Just vote for someone in the comedy category and win some cool prizes. Would a free iPod help?
I thought so! Keep reading…
You can just feel the breeze of the iPhone embargo being lifted!!! The first reviews of the Holy Grail-like product scheduled for June 29 are coming in:
First, it’s David Pogue from the New York Times. Here’s the video version below. Kudos to the NY Times for having fun with the hysteria.
Plus, here’s some reviews from other sources.
- The iPhone is Breakthrough Handheld Computer [WSJ]
- Apple’s iPhone isn’t perfect, but it’s worthy of the hype [USA Today]
- At Last, the iPhone. [Newsweek]
You’re probably wondering if I’m going out to get one. Well, I haven’t decided yet, quite frankly. The prospect of hanging out at the mall’s Apple Store for 7 hours or so is not so intriguing to me.
I’ve been keeping an eye on both the positive and negative stories so far. Engadget has taken the cake so far in making me want to wait a bit to get an iPhone, with a roundup of what the device is lacking in features … stuff like copy and pasting text, ringtone downloads and more. Of course, these can likely be added in firmware upgrades.
So, I’m on the fence for now. As much as I’d LOVE to have one of this hot tamales, I might just have to sit back at the Orange Julius stand and watch the commotion unfold. With glee.
Back in the old days (like in September), WordPress.com’s No. 1 blog was almost always Robert Scoble’s tech goodness, Scobleizer.
Now WordPress.com has gone to the dogs cats. LOLcats to be more precise. I check out the funny cat site called I Can Has Chezeburger regularly.
Riddled with geek speak, obvious grammar errors and computer lingo, these captioned cats are sure to brighten your day.
But it’s not just cats … walruses also make the cut, while pining for their bucket of fish. I dig them, mostly because I co-host a podcast called BUCKET.
Go check them out! Also, go see the Houston Chronicle story about the cats (seen above) in this link.
Some people have e-mailed me asking “what’s the deal” with Hard Drive Life, wondering why I’m not updating as frequently. So here’s a quick update on what’s going on.
Since the big move up here to Connecticut, I’ve been swamped with work at my new job, and my quest to build a new CSS template for this blog have stalled. I need to put a good weekend of work to get the updates done, but they should be coming shortly.
Also, this blog just topped 400,000 viewers in just under 8 months. Thanks so much to everyone who’s stopped by and checked out the site.
So what’s the plan, you might ask? I’m aiming for a site relaunch in mid-July, with the new layout and a new posting schedule. I want to be able to put up updates at least twice a day on various tech and pop culture topics.
Also, Hard Drive Life: The Podcast is aiming to debut in July. I’m working on the format now, and might have a co-host to introduce to you as well in a few weeks.
So that’s that, for now. I have added a new Facebook profile, so if you’re on that site, be sure to check me out. And of course, I’m still rocking Twitter here and here.
I just watched “28 Days Later” on DVD, then I click on TechMeme and see that zombies flooded an Apple Store in San Francisco Friday night. Coincidence? I think not!
I knew it! The zombies are coming for our iPods!
This is a great story. Here’s more from CNET:
The event was titled “SF Zombie Mob 2007,” and it was organized by the gruesome-minded folks at eatbrains.com. It’s akin to a flash mob, though because the participants trek around the city after gathering, the Zombie Mob was closer in concept to the Critical Mass bicycle ride, which coincidentally was happening at the same time along the same street. In truth, it was a pretty polite affair: only passers-by who volunteered to become zombie-fied were, and no arrests took place.
It may be worth noting that the Westfield Mall and Disney security tried to bar the zombies from entering, but Apple store security did not. In fact, salespeople were jostling one another for a position where they could take the best photo of the zombies (or themselves with the zombies, or their brains being eaten by the zombies).
Another funny note: The Apple Store allowed the zombies into the store to browse, while the Disney store and the local mall denied the living dead. Which makes me wonder what the target demographic is for Apple’s gadgets and goodies. Hehe…
OK, I admit I was so very wrong on this back in March. My friends at the BuzzerBlog pegged this one.
What a horrible show ABC’s “National Bingo Night” was Friday night.
Now, I didn’t get to watch the show live and I didn’t play along (because I left my printed cards at work … dum dum!) But I watched about 10 minutes of the show on TiVo, and it just feels lousy for a number of reasons:
- Yeah, the show is too slow. The producers try to do the whole suspense-building thing and it comes off as very annoying to the home viewer. And what’s the deal with that referee guy in the audience? He’s ridiculously tacked onto the cast, and serves no purpose other than to confirm the BINGO wins.
- It was over-edited! Every other camera shot had a voice-over dub edited in, and the contestant was edited looking at the ball hopper when he should have been looking at the caller girl and so on. It’s like the show’s video editor didn’t even watch the show! I don’t blame him/her either.
- I hated the mini-games for the contestants. It’s too random, and contestants don’t really have a chance to improve their odds. I’d rather see the main contestant play actual BINGO against the audience instead of a contrived game. And put up $1 million for a first-four-number BINGO by the contestant.
- Give the contestant the prizes they pull out of the machine, whether or not they win the mini-game. It’s lame otherwise to include those prizes in the hopper.
Any other ideas to save this dreck? I can’t see this show lasting much longer. It also pains me to see that we go from game-show royalty in Bob Barker’s 40th anniversary celebration the night before to this horrible game show attempt.
And worse, ABC has already bought SIX episodes! Enjoy it until the sponsor money runs out, people!
[UPDATE Saturday: The ratings are in ... 3.7 rating/7 share for the debut. Buzzerblog Alex, thanks for the notice, and yes, cancellation seems likely.
Though. will it join the exclusive club of 17 shows canceled after JUST ONE airing? I bet it goes one more week before the ball drops on this bad idea.]
