Gadgets ‘n Stuff

Just call me McN00B

Mar 13, 2010 | Gadgets 'n Stuff

Yeah … feeling like a right pratt using this new machine.

Ok, ok, I know it’s only been a day but STILL … this thing makes no sense to me whatsoever!

Mac’s used to be brilliantly simple and easy to understand. THIS one is illogical – nothing really works the way I would expect it to. Dare I say, it’s not intuitive? Wow, it’s slowing me down BIG TIME.

The pune keyboard it came with was the first thing to go. Jeez, how do they expect you to work with that silly little thing? So I got myself a normal, wired Mac keyboard but it’s not ideal. For one thing, it’s totally flat, not sloped and the lettering on the keyboard is odd too – it’s straight up, instead of slanting to the right so I look at it and my mind doesn’t register what the keys are straight away. The”M” – I only see that as an upside-down “W”. Annoying.

Bah.

And what’s with this stupid “Magic Mouse?” My damn fingers keep sticking to the thing – NOT great when you need pixel perfection in your work.

The display? It’s big. That’s about the only good thing I can say. Damn, it’s fuzzy! All this “smooth” shit makes the edges of stuff extremely difficult to see. Again, when your work entails the precise placement of every pixel, this is a big, fat FAIL. I notice it particularly on Photoshop guides – they look 3 times as fat/thick as they should unless you zoom to the max.

So yeah, I don’t have many good things to say about my new iMac. I prefer Windows. It makes sense to me. This thing feels like an expensive toy and not a serious production machine.

If I don’t get used to it FAST, I’m ditching it.

I’ve bought a new iMac

Mar 9, 2010 | Finances, Gadgets 'n Stuff, Work

Is there anything worse than a borked computer?

I think not!

You know how my machine crashed a few weeks ago and I lost all that data? Well, this morning it started doing some REALLY weird shit and rather than risk having it crash again, I decided to go out and buy a new iMac.

I was going to buy myself a new Mac (possibly a Macbook Pro) one of these days but I wanted to first get my team sorted out with new equipment (all our stuff is getting a bit long in the tooth now). But seriously, I absolutely CANNOT go through the ordeal of having my machine die on me again so I just had to go ahead and do it!

Jeesh … some heavy expenses going on at the moment, what with office renovations coming up soon, a new server being installed, an iMac for Sir G, an iMac for me, new software, plus the upgraded hardware and software for my team. This is why I didn’t go for the Macbook right now.

But I must say, my new baby is rather beautiful 😀

iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz
3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1920 x 1080 resolution
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics with 256MB
Wireless keyboard and new Multi-Touch Magic Mouse
Ready out-of-the box with Mac OS X “Snow Leopard” and iLife ’09

So, yours truly is now well and truly a Mac Girl. Heh.

I’m looking forward to getting 100% setup and productive on my new toy – it’s been YEARS since I worked on a Mac. I loved, loved, loved them and the only reason I went the PC route when I started my business was because of cost.

Wish me luck!

My sexy new Nokia N97

Aug 27, 2009 | Gadgets 'n Stuff

AT LAST 😀

Man, I’ve been sooooo patiently waiting for the day I could upgrade and
today’s the day!

Here’s my beautiful new phone – the Nokia N97

Isn’t it divine?

I’m really looking forward to the QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen combo.

Can’t wait to get it all charged and configured. Guess what I’ll be doing tonight hehe …

Nokia N97

The full Nokia N97 specs are here.

Mobile NoteTaker

Feb 5, 2009 | Gadgets 'n Stuff

Oooooh … another GADGET!

I’m a bit (mmk, a lot) “old school” – I really love good ol’ pen and paper – so when I spotted this Mobile NoteTaker, my eyes immediately lit up 🙂

Mobile NoteTaker is the world’s first and only truly portable handwriting capture device that enables you to write in comfort on ordinary paper and then upload your handwritten notes and sketches to a PC.

Everything you write is captured. A built-in LCD confirms what you write is saved; meeting notes, lecture notes, sketches or any other information you need to save while away from your desk

Here are the features:

User can take notes while being away from the computer in meetings, classroom or at home.
Stores 50+ pages (A4) in its flash memory.
When connected through USB, in “Online Mode”, the pen’s 2 mouse buttons and hovering functionalities are activated.
LCD status icons, including “Page No.”, “capture mode”, “Battery status” etc.
Handwritten notes, drawings and sketches can be stored and retrieved according to file name, date or any other criteria decide by the user.
Optional handwriting recognition applications in 11 languages.
Rechargeable battery (through USB).
Optional Bluetooth or RF connection to computing devices or cellular phone.
Supports Windows Vista^TM and Office 2007 digital ink features and utilities.

The idea of being able to write and sketch offline and then have my scribbles transferred onto my computer is awesome! And at only R399.00, it’s not too expensive.