meme( working at the library is better than working at home )

I think I may be the first person ever to notice this: Libraries are quiet. And they have clean desks and few distractions. And if they are anything like the excellent Hong Kong Central Library, they have wifi, too! Ever since quitting my job and trying to start my own projects, I've found it really difficult to work effectively at home. There are too many distractions and I seem to have to wait until everyone clears the area before I can really get started. Going to the library gives you the feeling of commuting, provides a quiet work space, and frees you from distractions. Plus, they have lots of books and magazines! Another amazing discovery!

meme( starbucks is on the way out )

When starbucks first landed I didn't go because I was an elitist snob. Then I went there ironically, but also secretly because there never serve you a lump of charcoal in a cup. Then I lived somewhere where there was no starbucks (!). Then I moved to Hong Kong and appreciated a little bit of western "culture" and a place to sit down, so I ended up going there quite a lot. But recently it occurred to me that it is on it's way out. I think one big problem is that it's stuck in a sort of 90's design aesthetic with big chunky furniture and laminated wood. And you can only spend so much time with that green color. The other problem is that the food is terrible. Either it's always been terrible and I've just become sick of it, or standards have gotten higher. Anyway, all of the food there seems designed to last for a month. It's just not fresh. It's getting to the point that you really want to be somewhere with better coffee, decent food, and cleaner design. In Hong Kong, it seems like several businesses smell blood. Cafe O, Caffe Habitu, and Agnes B seem to have stepped up to create a modern cafe atmosphere. I think Starbucks needs to update it's look and concept if it wants to keep pace

meme( getting too little sleep saps your creative energy )

After a super productive and energetic day, I ended up staying up late and getting way too little sleep (damn you apple laptop event!). For 2 entire days afterwards, I have been so sluggish that I don't really have access to the creative energy I need to drive my work forward. Even when I caught up on my sleep, I just felt kind of brain dead. I think this is why all nighters are not the answer for programmers. You need creative energy and the all nighter kills it.

meme( there is no perfect laptop to buy now )

I'm trying to replace my 4 year old powerbook. The battery lasts for less than 5 minutes and it's difficult to describe how slowly it runs flash. I'd really hoped that by 2008 I could buy a vastly more powerful computer for less money, but also that it would be much smaller. I'm not really in the mood to shell out top dollar for a 5.5 pound machine again. So, this leaves the new MacBook and the Macbook Air. Although the body of this machine looks quite nice, I can't really get into the black glass display with the large bevel. I'm not a matte snob, but I do prefer it. And the thing is still 4.5 pounds. This leaves the Air. I think it's a beautiful machine design, feels next-gen, and doesn't suffer from the black display uglification of the new units. It's problem seems to be performance. It just seems that you'd buy this thing for $1799 and then 12 months later it would be too slow. Maybe the newest updates have addressed this to some degree.

meme( apple is trying to showcase the strength and depth of their management team )

I think the suggestion is that if Jobs steps down, Ive will stand on Cooks shoulders and they will use a huge trenchcoat to appear as one 12 foot tall CEO. Please don't stop buying our stock! Obviously Cook is the ruthlessly efficient bastard and Ive the enigmatic one with good taste. Somehow, I think there are more facets to Jobs than just these. As opposed to just possessing these two qualities, he perfectly fuses them. He's also a marketing genius.  

meme( apple is probably working as hard as they can on netbooks )

Ok, I hate the term netbook, but I'm using it for convenience. When you consider the cheapest non-redheaded stepchild laptop is now $1299, it becomes clear that a massive hole has formed in the low end of the line, just when there is so much competition in this "space". Obviously the large, boring, undistinguished white macbooks aren't going to cut it forever. My feeling is that apple is working feverishly creating something for this market, but doesn't have the technology to do it properly yet. They are counting on snow leopard to enable a new class of low power, high performance, small form factor devices. The other challenge is adapting their interface to a new screen size and resolution. I'd imagine these things will be worked out in the next year and they will release a killer device. They could have released a small, slow computer today, but it wouldn't have been up to their standards. They will wait until they can do it right. It must amaze apple that just as they are dominating with 2 platforms, this new category comes up right in between them.

meme( the current Apple laptop lineup is a bit of a mess )

I mean, they basically have 5 different enclosures out there right now. They seem to be standing behind 3 machines, the Macbook, Pro, and Air. This leaves the 17" and the white MacBook. The 17" seems to be remaining for people who need a huge matte display. I'm not sure how many people this is. The fact that it didn't get updated, seems to suggest that it's on the way out. Or maybe the new treatment will be extended to this model. It will be interesting to see what happens here. The white MacBook is obviously a different story. Obviously it will continue to sell in huge numbers. They can't go without a machine in this price range. But you get the feeling, they're not really proud of it and wish you'd step it up to a new swishy aluminum number.

meme( trackpads on the new MacBooks - Boring, but part of an important leap forward )

I guess it's hard to get too excited about the new trackpads. The functionality doesn't really seem too different from before. I mean, they do look quite smart, just one large generous square below the keyboard. And the trackpad as button is a neat trick. Ok, now I'm excited! I think the important thing here is apple exploring new input methods. Their control of the whole platform gives them the freedom to do this, but it's still massively difficult to introduce new techniques. So, you have to give them lots of credit for trying. For me, every new input device or sensor means that much more potential for new interaction possibilities, which, is exciting, no?

meme( will the 12" powerbook be the high water mark of laptop design forever? )

Is it so hard to just remake that machine with current technology? Jeez... 

meme( the new Macbooks: beautiful on bottom and ugly on top )

I don't quite know what to think about the design of these new machines. The new manufacturing process seems to produce beautiful results. I always liked the look of the black keyboards on the macbook airs vs. the cheezy silver paint on plastic keys of the macbook pros. And the build quality really does seem to give the thing an intrinsic beauty. But I'm not really down with the black glass displays with the overly large bezel (bevel?). I've tried to get used to it on the iMacs, but it always strikes me as an ugly face on a beautiful body. I think a major problem is that the OS X desktop seems to clash with the black of the display. Who's with me? Another problem is that the bevel seems too wide for these science fiction times. I can imagine that by 2023, it will have grown to a full 3 inches on all four sides of the display.

meme( It's remarkable how little macbook pro performance has increased in 3 years )

Ok, it's been more like 2 years, 8 months, but the processor has gone from 1.83 Core Duo to 2.6 Core 2 Duo. The graphics capabilities don't seem to be improving by leaps and bounds either, although I'm no expert here. We have a 2.5 year old MacBook Pro in the house and it still seems top of the line, although it wasn't lovingly carved from a single block of electrum, or whatever.

meme( apples powerbook/macbook has changed remarkably little in 7 years )

I mean obviously the new Macbook Pros are very, very much more powerful than the original titanium Powerbooks, and they have a camera and all kinds of wireless in there now, but they look amazingly similar. Even the keyboard is black again and the thickness is about the same. When that thing came out, everybody shit their pants on the spot. Where's the pants shitting laptop of today? We know they've released the trouser soiling phone. The macbook air is a pretty ambitious machine. Hopefully snow leopard will give it some reasonable performance and we can drop our 6 pound monsters. 

meme( the Apple special events feel special while they are happening, then not so special one hour later )

Obviously I'm not the first person ever to make this observation, but it doesn't mean it's not true.

meme( People who call laptops "notebooks" are no friends of mine )

It's really along the lines of ATM or PDA: stupid important sounding terms that people love using because they get to use more syllables. Steve Jobs is obviously a genius, but he really falls down on this point. Of course, he does pronounce binary "bianary" (one more syllable), so who knows.

meme( using blogging service is about a million times easier than rolling your own )

Jesus, that was a lot easier to set up then getting some outdated django running on my shitty debian server, finding a decent blogging django app and setting it up, then figuring out the markdown... Obviously there's something to these fancy "web 2.0" apps!