The cult of white

What is up with me and white plastics? Have I fallen in love with the 60s all over again? Surely not, I hate the look of industrial design from back then. But I like white plastics, because I have a lot of electronics in white plastic. I have my trust macbook (and I secretly wish they made 15.4" macbooks with all the goodies from a macbook pro, but with the design of the macbook, in white, not freaking fugly black!). I have the white Sony Ericsson M600i and I wish they could have kept the look for the P1i, because it is metallic and black.

Let's go on. Did I pick a black or a pink Nintendo DS (awsome gaming machine!), noooo. I promptly went for the white one. White plastic covering really entertaining electronics. Nice clean design. Same goes with the iPod on its way to yours truly. White. Found the pattern yet? But it might just be that I don't want things in black. I don't like the black HP at work for instance. It's not nice looking at all.

I do love the look on the iPod mini, I would love a green or blue macbook pro. Or a green or blue plastic macbook. But since I have the white macbook it seems like I am drawn towards the same look in other devices.

Which leads me to the iMac. Nice new design and all, but I am looking forward to the next *BIG* change in design from Apple. I honestly miss the first iMac and the old PowerMacs. I like that they are colorful and fun. Is the mac turning too serious? Too Pro? Maybe. We'll see what happens next:)

Surround me!

Now to a subject that interests me and warms my heart. Surround sound. I will limit myself to two narrow fields, OS X support for it, and Apple hardware support for it. Everything else around it just have to wait for another day. Maybe one glorious day I will own a new surround sound home cinema. But those dreams are for another day, and another blog entry.

First up software. The state in general is appalling. It is the same with other OSes, with really no properly integrated solution anywhere to be seen. So what the heck do I mean then? You get all sorts of magical software included with your sound card, and maybe even something with your surround capable motherboard. You can get certain applications to actually output surround sound. For instance quicktime plays trailers in surround on my PC just nice and fine.

So what the heck is all the fuzz about? Well, I do not like bundled applications, and I haven't even seen any for the mac, and quite frankly, I do not want them. I want Apple to integrate the idea of surround sound into the platform. I refuse to believe that it could be that big of a deal, and it would set one single standard for users to understand.

This would mean standards for surround sound in games (core audio probably can do quite a bit, but there are certainly more to do). Nice settings in preference for setting levels, how certain codecs should be handled, if any automatic stereo to surround conversation should be done (doing this in Windows XP with a Create sound card is just plain insane, just so you know!). I'll leave it up to you, my very few readers, to connect the dots.

Next up, probably easier to discuss, is hardware. I do no like analog cables, and I do not like S/PDIF either. Apple has now killed off the floppy, the PS/2 connectors, and so on. Why not kill this old beast once and for all and introduce HDMI (1.3+ implementing *everything*) to all your computers? The argument is the same for any standards following HDMI (display port etc).

So why do that? Apart from making it a breeze to connect Apples to modern TVs one could use that connection to connect the sound into a receiver or into an integrated surround sound system with its own D/A converter. Nice and clean and do not need to be slaves to DD/DTS has 8 channels of uncompressed sound will take us quite far.

There, that is my little rant about surround sound on the Mac. It has bugged me for a very long time now, and I wish that Apple could continue their push to eliminate old connectors that doesn't deserve to live, as well as old technology that no longer makes any sense. That's all for this time folks!

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. What the heck does *that* have to do with anything? Well, for starter's it's called "Den elaka kocken" in Swedish, and I see no reason to call it "The mean chef" really. The guy is not at all mean. In fact, he really does these people a kindness others have never before shown them. He tells them the truth about themselves and what they are doing, he gives them perspective, insight, and help. But again, what is this all about? John! You scream, why-ever would you bring up a TV show in your blog? Well, let's get ready for a ride.

The basic idea of the show is that Mr Ramsay is suppose to help a restaurant and its owner get back on track. The thing is, apparently, the owners and staff doesn't always seem to get out of their established, and quite frightfully bad, ways of doing things. They oppose the quite sound advice of someone who clearly has succeeded better than they. The bright lot of you should by now have an idea where I am going with this. And if not, good luck at the show when you can. It was quite entertaining:)

So, does this sound familiar? Can you draw some parallels with another certain industry? Yes you can. Countless are the times I've had to endure a young whippersnapper trying to tell me that I am wrong about it all and that surely isn't right and you should just chucked all of that stuff out and I know that this and that technology is useless and this other one surely is the way to go, blah blah blah. You know the drill, right? I've got nothing against new ideas, nor being proven wrong. But step one will always be to gain my respect. Listening to someone with more experience than yourself, and take in what she or he says, before starting to complain and wanting to change things, are a good way to to gain my respect. So is proving that you yourself has experience and talent.

But I got side tracked (blog, why blog, why not webbump? web brain dump:) ). The idea stuck me while I was watching the show. This is exactly what a lot of software companies need. They are going about making software in the complete wrong way, and no languages, development philosophies, nor restructures can help me. Hiring even more people will definitely screw them over. So what do they need? They need someone to come in, open up their eyes, and give them some tough love, some sour medicine, some understanding of what they do, and most importantly of it all. Guidance and help to bring them onto the right track again.

I don't want to lessen what Mr Ramsay does in his show, but getting a bunch of Grinch like software engineers to see the error of their ways is seldom an easy task. Nor is it to upset a bunch of frighten school children, I mean managers, nor a number of Scrooge McDuck copies in upper management. Especially from the inside. It is an eternal uphill battle, fought tooth and nail from a position of close to no power, with the only tools to your disposal being your perseverance and your believe in there being a better way.

Not that this is anything new under the sun, but that show just really hit a note in me. What if one would do exactly that, but in a software company? I think that it would be totally great, and oddly enough, I would want to do it. I could imagine myself being that very person, going in there, screaming and muttering and pointing things out, only to have people miss me when they understand how much better it can be. How stress, missing bits and pieces, chaos, and a lack of fulfillment doesn't need to be the standard operating procedure in a company.

So with this, slightly confused professor like, rant I will leave you to think, comment, and maybe blog yourself, on this very broad subject. It is not just what you do, but how you do it!

Now I have a MacBook. Ho ho ho.

Yes, I have a mac now. I am an Apple fanboy. I have yet again fallen. Maybe a short computer story is what is needed here. Once upon a time my father bought me a Commodore 128 computer. It was a pretty expensive toy to be honest, but boy did I love that computer. I stayed with the (later on) ill fated C= gang and upgraded to an Amiga 500 and then an Amiga 1200. I really liked the Amiga, and found it to be a lot of fun, and a heck of a lot nicer than any other computer that I came into contact with back then.

But all good things seem to end, so C= went belly up and I decided to get a PC. A Pentium 90. What a beast:) Windows 95 was such a bugger that I switched to Linux for a year or two. But Linux ended up tiring me out, it was just thing after thing that had to be upgraded or fixed and mucked around with. No fun at all after a while! So the next computer, a dual P200mmx was set up to run NT 4, which was a total blessing compared to Linux and win95. I never ever used win98/me, which I am still happy about:)

Things went on in the same manner, with an upgrade to Windows 2000 and then XP. With a new 1.4Ghz Athlon and then an Athlon 64 3500+. Everything looked like the next step would be the much talked about Longhorn. But it took time, and Vista, well because of Vista I upgraded Windows XP to MacOS X instead. Which is something I am very happy about.

So the next computer became the very first laptop. A MacBook with 2GBs of RAM and a dual core 2.0Ghz CPU. It is nice, very nice. By far the best looking computer I have ever owned, and the fastest as well. Well, the GFX is more than likely slower than the nVidia 6600GT in the (very loud) PC just next to me here, but the CPU is way faster, and the OS, the OS is what makes things happen. MacOS X is way better than Vista. Leopard here I come!

And today I bought something for my mac, a new screen. Well, it is both the PCs and the Macs new screen. But the mac, well, it loves the new screen. 1680x1050 is a lot nicer than 1280x800, and quite frankly, I want a stationary mac now. And an iPod, and an iPhone. I haven't liked my computer this much since the C= days to be honest. I belong again, I am happy about my computer even if it has little things about it that sure isn't perfect. Heck, even big things that are wrong. But there has to be something for them to put into MacOS 0x0B after all :)

Probably should mention that I also have a mac keyboard. Which is nice, well, but only a little nice, because it is far from as ergonomic as the natural keyboards. It is just that they look like crap. So pain in my hands or pain in my eyes? Jonathan Ives, come here at once, fix me a keyboard please! I beg of thee!!!

Why so quiet about the iTV?

One of the most interesting things that I know is comming from Apple is the iTV. Sure, I have a modified XBox and all that, but the iTV does the same thing as the iPod once did. It makes something easier. At least that is what I have to assume. If someone would have made dedicated hardware for XBox Media Center and a good remote to boot and sold it, it would outshine a lot of the HTPC's out there. Complicated beasts that can do a million things. My guess is that the iTV will be simple. Just a little bigger iPod, and it will let me watch or listen to anything I buy from the iTunes store, in my living room, easily. That is more exciting for me than any kind of mobile / cellular phone. There are already excellent mobiles out there. For instance the Sony Ericsson K610i (which I haven't made a single thing for, so nobody can blame me for being biased there:)).

What is more important though, is the connection between the iTV and the iTunes store. With XBMC or any HTPC you can play all sorts of video formats. Probably a whole lot more video formats than with the iTV. You also have a chance to extend them quite a bit. Directly looking at youtube for instance. This the iTV won't do. Well, maybe youtube, but then it will do so from the box. And I am totally sure someone will make Linux or NetBSD run on the iTV. But the important thing remains. iTV is directly linked to Apple's online iTunes store. Click, and you legally will download music, TV series, and Movies. That does more to fight piracy than everything the assholes from MPAA and RIAA have ever done. Bullshit should make a show about them...

But is everything rosy? Surely can't I be this positive about anything? Well, no, I can't. I have a few "itches" that needs scratching with the iTV. First up, quality. 480p isn't really that great for an HDTV. 720p would be acceptable, but the option of getting 1080p surely must be a lot better. $1.99 for 480p, $2.49 for 720p, and $2.99 for 1080p would work, but $0.99 for 480p and $1.99 for 720/1080p would be far far better. So the iTV must be able to play these resolutions without pause, and it has to be able to output them to a TV without grief. This means HDMI 1.3 thank you. HDMI 1.3 really is the answer to so many many problems. Digital baby, digital!

Which brings me to my next BIG grief. Sound. I really don't like any kind of matrix format, so stereo out from the iTV into a receiver for Dolby Pro Logic (II) is not good, not good at all. And listening to Mr. Jobs surely makes me believe that this is the awful truth of the matter. I'm sure it will feature some kind of digital sound out, but why would I want PCM stereo, DD, or even DTS (which really is so much nicer than the others)? I want HDMI 1.3 (can anyone see a trend?) as that means that I can get any surround sound codec to decode on the iTV and send the sound over to a receiver to play in glorious digital surround. Simple, elegant, nifty. Problem free.

With my two major griefs fixed, I could enjoy 1080p (if I owned an iTV and a 1080p projector or TV that is) trailers, TV series, and movies at my own home. And downloading a movie from iTunes (please, please lower the prices! I will never buy from you if the movie can be bought for the same price on DVD/HD-DVD/Blue-ray.) as well as getting 1080p TV series will put me ahead of the general HDTV race here in Sweden. Heck Apple, you have the chance to change how people get their media here. Not just a little downloading of music, but really being the number one way to obtain video material. The HDTV programming you can get through satellite here is close to nothing, and there are far far more people with a fast enough internet connection than people owning a dish.

Which brings me to one more grief. Tear down the borders, please! Why can't I in Sweden, with my own money, buy from the US store? And if you don't want that, why can't I buy TV-series and movies at the Swedish iTunes store? The alternative is spellt XVid, not Kanal 5. Well, I do watch Kanal 5 for my Grey's Anatomy fix, but there are shows not on TV, and it is easy to miss one episode and totally screw things up. And I don't have any recording capabilities in my crappy Canal Digital box, and I surely don't want a separate recorder (if you don't understand why, you are reading the wrong blog:)). Solution? iTV + HDTV + HDMI 1.3 + let_me_buy_it. That's it, after that I can get rid of the stupid ways of getting programming. And with all the money I could save on not having to pay my TV license, I can buy a WHOLE lot of iTunes material. Stuff I will watch! Heck, maybe SVT should start selling stuff on iTunes. Wouldn't that be a funny twist? :)

Apple natural keyboard

There is one thing that bothers me with the idea of "upgrading" to a Mac instead of the PCs I've used since Commodore went down the drain. It's the keyboard. I've been using the natural keyboard series from Microsoft for a long time now, and it works really great for my hands. I start feeling pain in my wrists very quickly when using traditional keyboards (for example when I hijack the keyboard of anyone who asks me questions at work:)). I can't explain exactly why, either they are actually better [tm] or it's just that my body has gotten used to these types of keyboards. One way or another, if I can avoid pain in my wrists I will go with a natural keyboard in the future as well.

Here is where the problems start. A PC keyboard doesn't go that well together with a Mac in several different ways. First of all it doesn't have that Apple look. Not the new white one, nor the old "yum" colors. So aesthetically it's a no go. I did try the natural keyboard (this very one that I am typing on now) with Lerin's iBook and I found out that the windows keys (never tried that weird "menu" key I never found a real use for...) doesn't match the special Mac "rune" keys. The layout is entirely wrong. I got the short cuts wrong all the time. How much fun is that, I ask of ye, my fellow nerds?

So we are down to three problems, "naturalness", look, and feel. Which brings me to the point of my little microthesis. Apple should release a Pro keyboard. Let them call it the Apple Mighty Keyboard, or the Apple Keyboard Pro, just please consider making this hardware. Your industrial design department should be able to draft such a keyboard in a mere coffee break, and as an encore you could do the mighty mouse pro (more ergonomic!).

Not only would this keyboard make me happy, it should work as another piece of the halo effect puzzle. Surely a keyboard won't a Mac buyer make, but it could help tip the scales. Seeing that sleek beautiful (and wrist sparing) keyboard next to a generic PC (or worst yet, a DELL!) might just make people think again, if they can make this beautiful keyboard, shouldn't the computers also be the same? And, whoa, what if their software would be the same? Mr. Jobs, you can thank me buy sending me a Mac Pro, because this advice is for free.

Mac envy

I don't own a Mac. I never cared for them until I got the chance to use OS X, which has changed my mind. Recently I started to look into Cocoa and Objective C as well, and now I am coveting the mighty Mac Pro. The problem with this scenario is that a Mac Pro is quite expensive, so I started to look into getting a hold of a PowerMac G4. Something with 800+Mhz should be enough to be useful, and with a new 3.5" disk it surely should be fast enough to run OS X and XCode.

But alas, the prices for such an old machine is astronomical in Sweden. People do for some reason believe that they can charge 4-5 times the price here than what it costs to get a used one on ebay (England, the US, Austria, Germany, I looked all over the place, all much cheaper than here). I for example found a great machine in England. Dual 1.42Ghz G4s, 1.25 GB of memory, and for around 120 sterling pounds. Smack in a reasonable 7200 rpm modern disk and I would be in business.

I could buy it, but then I would have to have it shipped to a friend in London, and well, it would cost me both an arm AND a leg to have it shipped over here, which really is a drag. Something tells me that I will have to get a gig on the side to make some money to be able to buy a real proper Mac Pro, but before that happens I guess they have already released a new Mac:)

Which brings me to another thing, webcams for the Mac. How come the only webcam that says "Made for OSX" on is the iSight? It is horribly expensive for a webcam, we really don't need that kind of quality. And again, where does people get off thinking that you can charge that kind of money for used things...

But where does that leave me with me wanting to code for OS X? Well, luckily for me my wonderful little girlfriend/fiancé/sambo/cutie of a laundry fairy does own an iBook. So the next best thing after that nice dual G4 would be to get an external firewire/USB disk and install OS X on that one plus XCode and all that glory. Then I could finally be in business and be able to finally code some Cocoa. See what all the fuzz is about:) And I could post some more interesting posts about my struggles with Objective C instead of whining about not being able to get a Mac myself:)

(Anyone who would want to donate a decent G4 Mac to me, email me:))

First post :)

This is the first post to my brand new blog. Isn't it exciting? Well, not really. But hopefully it will turn into something exciting and interesting. Inspiring posts about development, insightful posts about programming, interesting posts about ideas, and flaming hot posts about things in the computer world I care for very little, which hence will upset people:) Now, stay tuned, for the next post...