Tag Archives: Apple

Feeling unexpectedly self-conscious with an iPad mini

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So I’m very much enjoying my iPad mini – I went with the 3G-enabled 64GB version – i.e. fully tricked out and cost £529.

I was looking forward to using it everywhere, as it is small enough to fit in my coat pocket. Where I used to use a phone or briefly a Nexus 7 I owned, I would now be able to use the iPad mini and take advantage of all the iOS apps I’ve already invested in.

What I noticed was something unexpected. I started to feel self-conscious/worried about using it in some scenarios. There was something unsettling about getting out a £540 tablet on a bus in London. Us Londoners are accustomed to being on our guard and not generating attention while out and about on public transport, but this thing makes that quite difficult!

I didn’t mind so much when it was a £180 Nexus 7, which I didn’t feel was that attractive to others anyway (owning Android doesn’t exactly shout “I’m likely to have expensive things on me”), but a £540 device suddenly requires an extra element of foresight before use in public.

Maybe I just need to get used to it. Or move to Silicon Valley.

iPad Mini UK LTE Delivery Date Updated

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While the U.S. started receiving their LTE iPad minis last week, the most accurate guideline we’ve had from Apple over here in the UK so far has been a delivery by “late November”.

This evening, checking the status of my pre-order on the Apple Store iOS app shows me a small but nonetheless newsworthy update on this. Delivery is now scheduled for “30th November to 7th December”:

 

As of 17th November 2012, the order is marked as “Dispatched 1-2 weeks” so I guess the earliest I could hope for delivery is from around the 28th November, with the latest being 7th December. I think it highly likely Apple are being cautious with their estimates – much better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Apple are certainly stretching the definition of a “late November” delivery here! Oh well, at least things are progressing!

Thoughts on the iPad mini

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I know, such an unoriginal title, but its the truth!

The iPad mini seems to be causing a fair bit of animated discussion as people spend time getting their head around it and where it fits in.

Understandably, it is being compared to the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD. The main points coming out against it are:

  • It doesn’t have a retina screen
  • It is too big
  • It is too expensive

Allow me…

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iPhone 5 and Apple: the Long Game

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The iPhone 5 has been released, and has been the trend since the original iPhone unveiling, there’s been plenty of vocality about how it lacks the wow factor we’ve come to expect from Apple product announcements. People have mainly been unimpressed by the fact that the only major change seems to be a taller screen, or that it lacks some of the new technologies that people expect in a cutting-edge phone, such as NFC or wireless charging.

Here are a few thoughts that I think should be considered before leaping to these conclusions.

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My Mac Mini-based Home Media Solution

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I’ve always wanted to write this post. I’ve spent years evolving my technology-based home media setup, and for some reason, instead of writing a long blog post about it I ended up posting it on The Verge forums, and you can find it here:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/16/3343054/heres-my-mac-mini-htpc-setup

It provides a brief overview of the various components of my setup, and what it can do, from acting as a central iTunes hub, to allowing for remote streaming of movies and TV shows, to hosting a VPN server for secure web browsing anywhere in the world. Since this blog is really the spiritual home of a piece of content like this, you can find the post in its entirety below.

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iPhone 5 and iOS 6: What Stood Out

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iphone 5 stock

So the iPhone 5 has been announced and if you are reading this you probably know the deal. Taller screen, better display and camera, lighter, thinner, faster, bettery battery – you get the idea. All in all a very solid upgrade on the 4S. I’m not one for ‘reviews’ so instead I thought I’d do a post on the specific things that I think stand out, both positive and negative, from a hardware and software perspective.

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The Agony and Ectasy of Steve Jobs

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My girlfriend bought us tickets to watch Mike Daisey's “The Agony and Ectasy Of Steve Jobs” at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. I was quite excited to see it because for once I will get to form an opinion on something from seeing it in the flesh, rather than the usual 2nd-hand self-educating via Twitter and the web.

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The thing about companies copying Apple

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The online tech community has been fairly vocal regarding the seemingly endless supply of Apple design knock-offs at 2012′s CES.

It’s the same argument; that Apple innovate and their competitors immitate. For the most part, I agree. Not only do Apple’s competitors seem to consistently pump out products with extraordinary similarities to Apple products, but they always seem to do so after Apple releases something. You’d think if it was all just a big coincidence then some of these designs would precede Apple’s no?

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Sarcasm Is The Worst Defence

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Apple have always created a bit of a divide in user opinion about their products and philosophy. Apple fans frequently find themselves having to go on the defence from those who very openly criticise Apple.

When I started buying Apple products, I encountered this and had to learn what approach to this argument worked for me. I took (and still do) the stance of “I personally place enough value on the things Apple do well to justify the cost of ownership, but if you value different things then that’s your choice”. I don’t think people who prefer PCs are ‘wrong’ and I don’t try and force Apple-speak down anyone’s throat (although defending Apple can be seen as a sign of this by many).

So I am disappointed that the elite of the Apple bloggers are more and more frequently resorting to sarcasm, elitism and arrogance when it comes to addressing the competition. I can totally see where it has come from, but I don’t think they quite realise the harm they are doing and the stereotype that they are falling into.

I’m not going to list these bloggers as your journey through the web is yours and yours alone. However I will link to my favourite blogger at the moment, Matt Alexander, who writes excellently and seems to be able to maintain distance from getting too emotional about the whole thing!

Matt Alexander’s blog: ONE37.NET

The Location Problem

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Two factors are starting to have a major impact on the seamlessness of the technology experience: our increased usage of social media and the growing number of ‘screens’ we utilise.

The problem that I am starting to perceive is that all our devices are configured by default to receive alerts from the various services we subscribe to. For example, when someone replies to one of my tweets, I receive an email alert in my inbox and an iOS notification on my iPhone and iPad.

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