More on the 24-inch iMac Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

The first of our new 24-inch iMacs arrived today, and we're currently waiting while around 200GB of user data is transferred by Apple's setup assistant so we can get our hands on it properly.


The new 24-inch iMac
Paul Stamatiou picked up a 24-inch iMac last week and has given us his first impressions (via TUAW) which has wetted my appetite. I can't wait to get dug in and see if the rumours about 802.11n are true. More soon...

Update: The setup assistant seems to have transferred all the user data from the Power PC to the Intel Mac without a hitch, something I must admit to being a little worried about before we started. We're up and running...


Up and running...

Tags: Apple Mac 24-inch Review

The Nokia N95 Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Looking a lot like my newly acquired N80, but with a built-in GPS receiver, Nokia has just announced yet another new smartphone, the N95. The new phone should be released first quarter next year...


The new Nokia N95 (via Gizmodo)
Update: A couple more videos from Anton Geller,

Tags: Mobile Phone Cellphone Nokia N95

AJAX epiphany? Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Rui Carmo talks about Javascript and AJAX and has an epiphany about the language while lying on a beach.

I've always considered JavaScript as a sort of bastard language that had no place in the civilized environs... Prototype gratuitously mucks about with JavaScript innards in a way that some people thoroughly dislike... Despite JavaScript being a broken, hopeless language, Prototype's trickery makes it fun... - Rui Carmo

I've been writing a lot of Javascript lately; the VOEvent manual injection system, the eSTAR network status map, the OGLE event timeline page and a growing collection of eSTAR Dashboard widgets. Despite agreeing with Rui that it's a hopelessly broken language, I must admit to a certain fondness for Javascript. I can see why some Perl folks think it has promise, it lets you get stuff done, and as any Perl hacker will tell you, that's the important thing. Who said too much sun can be bad for you?

Tags: Web 2.0 AJAX Javascript Discussion

Potential Connection Delay Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

So we've had a linehaul delay before, but now our two new 24 inch iMacs are sitting in Pudong International Airport just east of Shanghai with the TNT tracking query returning,

Potential Connection Delay

now what does that mean? The box has missed its plane?

Update: Well one of the Macs has made it as far as Arnhem, but the other is still sitting at Pudong Airport. Very odd...

Update: One of the Macs has now arrived and been unpacked, the other one is still sitting in Shanghai, despite arriving at the airport within a couple of minutes of each other...

Tags: Apple iMac TNT Exeter University

SpaceShipTwo interior concept Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Richard Branson today unveiled the SpaceShipTwo interior concept (via Slashdot) at the Wired's NextFest. The ships are due to roll out and begin test flights in early 2008 in Mojave, California, but all future operational spaceflights will be staged out of New Mexico's Spaceport beginning in 2009.

CREDIT: Michael Soluri, for SPACE.com

Mock-up interior of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo
Update: More from Gizmodo who were at NextFest.

Tags: Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo

Flickr geotagging statistics Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Beau Gunderson has created a choropleth map in Google Earth (via Google Earth Blog), built using the Perl Flickr::API and Geo::ShapeFile modules to send 64,800 requests to Flickr, showing the distribution of geotagged images around the globe.


Download the KMZ file for Google Earth

Tags: Flickr Geotagging Photography Statistics

Nick Ing-Simmons Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

I was saddened to hear today of the death of Nick Ing-Simmons, who passed away on Monday 25th of September as a result of a heart attack. Nick was a long time member of the Perl community, and perhaps best known for his work on Perl/Tk which for many years was the only native graphical front end for Perl, and is still heavily used today.

Nick is survived by his partner, Medi, and will be sorely missed.

Update: Details of the funeral arrangements.

Tags: Nick Ing-Simmons Obituary

Google Earth and Applescript Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Update: Google Earth and Automator actions
Craig Stanton has discovered that Google Earth now has basic AppleScript support, and has put together a Geotagger droplet as a proof of concept demonstration.


The supported Applescript commands
Stefan Geens over at Ogle Earth was fairly excited about this discovery and immediately pushed the boundaries by using the AppleScript support and Jonas Salling's Salling Clicker to build himself a Bluetooth remote control for Google Earth.


Google Earth by remote control...
You have to love this stuff, great work guys...

Apple iMac with 802.11n Wireless? Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

The rumour is that the new Core 2 Duo iMacs are shipping with 802.11n cards installed. If true, this is a really interesting development, especially considering the speculation surrounding the Apple iTV set-top box. I'm about to get my hands on a couple of the new 24-inch iMacs later this week, so I'll have a poke around and see if I can confirm this one...

Tags: Apple iMac 802.11n Rumours

More battery recalls Español | Deutsch | Français | Italiano | Português

Toshiba has joined the growing number of companies that have been forced to recall defective Sony batteries. They join Dell, Apple, and apparently Panasonic whose battery recall had passed me by entirely who have been affected by the Sony battery problems. Bets on the next manufacturer to be affected? It looks like it might be Lenovo after a spate of recent incidents including the infamous LAX incident. If you have any Sony stock, I'd dump it...


The LAX incident, ouch!
Update: Maybe I was too hasty, perhaps HP is next?

Update: No, Lenovo joins the other manufacturers in the mass battery recall. Thanks Sony, we owe you one...

Update: Hitachi joins the growing number forced to recall their batteries.

Tags: Sony Battery Recall Exchange