My first attempt is below. I didn’t want to point a camera at the TV, and I didn’t want to do voiceovers (I find that unless the voiceover person is really personable, it just get’s annoying and makes the video unwatchable after awhile.) Each video is recorded using a Hauppauge HD PVR (though the Wii doesn’t do HD video) and provides commentary via Annotations, which the watcher can disable if they would like.

I would hope that these are watched, but even if that’s not the case, I still don’t mind making these. Leave some feedback and let me know what you think!

Mark

It’s been almost three years since the release of Vista, and Microsoft is releasing it’s new operating system tomorrow, packed with a lot of new features. Now, I never really believed that Vista was as bad as people made it out to be. It was stable, had many new features, and it was more aesthetically advanced that it’s predecessor. Unfortunately it did have some downfalls in that start-up time could be on the long side (I found that drivers were the most likely cause of this) and it did consume a lot of resources.

I’ve been using Windows 7 since the release Beta 1 (Build 7000) and I have to say that I’ve been impressed. It isn’t a complete overhaul by any means, but it has key refinements where they need to be. In this release, Microsoft seemed to focus on speed, appearance and ease of use. I can’t help but think that this is in part thanks to Apple, and all of their knocks on Windows being dull and difficult to use. In this review, I am using the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 64-bit Edition.

Taskbar
Upon start-up the first thing you’ll be greeted with (aside from a slicker boot screen and quicker boot time) is the new taskbar everybody has been talking about. I like that this new design mimics the feature that I most used in Windows, and miss in OS X… the Quick Launch Toolbar. You can pin or unpin a program easily by right clicking either the shortcut, or the running program itself, and selecting pin/unpin to taskbar. I did not like the fact that this taskbar uses alot of screen estate, but there is an option to decrease it’s size by right clicking the taskbar, and going to properties. The Show Desktop option has been moved all the way to the clear portion on the right-most side of the bar (to the right of the clock) but I’m finding that because of it’s remote location, I use it far less. When you run more than one instance of a program, the icon for that program appears as a stack. If you hover over this stack, you can see a live preview of each instance of that program. For the most part the start bar hasn’t changed, so there isn’t much to report there. Overall I find it to make things more convenient, and an improvement over past versions.

Compatibility
One of the nice things about Windows 7 is that even though I’m running the 64-bit Edition, I haven’t had very many compatibility issues… The only real problem that I found is running Alcohol 120%, but even then my problems were solved by performing an update. There still isn’t any Flash support for the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer, but Microsoft included a 32-bit version that’s compatible with any plug-in somebody may need. Most of my drivers worked great out of the box, and all of my drivers worked fine upon install.

Speed
The main reason most people would want to upgrade to Windows 7 is the vast improvement in speed over Windows Vista. Windows 7 boots up much quicker than Vista, and it is snappier when up and running as well. Aside from launching programs faster, it seems to manage memory much more efficiently as well. I can run multiple programs at once, and not see a dent in speed.

Appearance
Where Windows 7 shines more-so than in any other operating system is it’s appearance. This iteration of Windows is easily the best looking operating system made thus far. Aero is further refined in this version to display more transparency effects, but not enough to ever get distracting. Because you can see your background from anywhere, you can change the mood of your entire computer just by changing the background without having to mess with color schemes. Aside from Aero, the entire interface is very clean, crisp, and nicely designed.

Gaming
As far as gaming goes, I have seen no changes in terms of game compatibility and how well they run. I’ve tested out Simcity 4, Half Life 2, Sims 3, Flight Sim 2002 and I have not run into any sort of problems.

Windows Media Player 12
One of the things I did not like very much was some of the changes made to Windows Media Player 12. It has gone the route of iTunes as being the vehicle through which Microsoft manages the media on all of it’s portable music players, and has thus become over-bloated and inconvenient to use as a simple music player. With WMP 10, I could easy add all of my music, and just have a now playing playlist, but with 12, you have to add the music to the library, and then add that music to a playlist, and open the playlist. In my opinion, Windows Media Player 12 is kind of a step to the side, more than a step forward or backwards.

Overall
This version of Windows is easily the best yet. If you have Vista, I would recommend upgrading if you feel that your computer runs a bit slow, and you would like to give your computer a needed facelift. If your running XP, unless your on a custom built computer you may be best off purchasing a new computer with Windows 7. It may be worth noting that I am running Windows 7 on the 2.26ghz 13″ Macbook Pro.

1. The first step is the obligatory battery-out, flip over and ensure that you are grounded as to not damage any of the electrical equipment step.

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2. Using a Torx #6 bit, unscrew the 4 areas indicated on the above picture.

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3. This is most likely going to be the most tedious step. Push the keyboard away from the base, as shown in the above picture. Be sure to pry evenly along the frame. It should separate with a pop, but do not pull it completely away because there are a couple of ribbon cables connecting the keyboard to the base.

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4. Carefully hold both pieces of the Touch Pro about an inch and a half away from each other, and disconnect the sliding ribbon cable (the longer cable that is disconnected in the picture above.) Gently disconnect the smaller cable where indicated above.

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5. You should now have a setup that looks similar to above (I know, this isn’t a real step.)

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6. Using a very small flathead (what I used in the video) or screwdriver, remove the screws indicated above. Be aware that the fastening pattern may differ on your phone.

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7. Now you have completely removed the keyboard on your Touch Pro, where you go from here differs depending on what you are doing.>
   • If you are swapping keyboards from another phone, follow these exact steps on the other phone, and reattach the working keyboard on the phone that you intend to continue using.

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8. Set they keyboard in place and refasten the tiny screws in a similar pattern that they were when you unscrewed them to remove the keyboard.
9. Gently reconnect the thin ribbon cable that attaches the keyboard to the base of the phone.
10. This step is a bit awkward. Holding both ends of the phone, separate the keyboard from the top part of the phone (as if you were sliding it outward) and gently tug on the slider cable. Holding the base with your dominant hand, connect the cable to it’s designated place on the base of the phone, and then press both sides of the phone together.
11. Using your Torx tool, refasten the screws on the outside of the phone.
12. Reattach the battery, turn on and test the phone

Yesterday I wrote about how I built a Media Center around a Mac, despite having very little experience using Mac’s at all. The last time I used a Mac was for a Spring 2007 programming class. The lab we were using had only Apple computers, which lead to a lot of frustration for those of us who were used to Windows. The Mac OS X Terminal was similar to DOS on Windows, except for some minor differences, and most of us just opted to bring out laptops to lab and use those.

So yes, my first impressions… Well at least close to them. I’ve been using my mini for about three months already, and I have to say I’ve enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, though it hasn’t been without some issues.

Interface

Coming from Windows, the interface takes some getting used too. I’m still not sure if I like the OS X Dock or the Start Bar better but I’m pretty sure I’ll know that in time. I do know that I prefer using ‘My Computer’ over the ‘Finder’, if only for Microsoft’s “No Bullshit” approach. Other things in OS X are nice, for example being able to zoom in on the screen by holding down CTRL and scrolling using the mouse wheel. Because of my Media Center Setup, this comes in handy since I sit pretty far from the screen. Expose and Dashboard are also pretty neat tools, though installation of some applications could be a little more straight-forward. It took me awhile to figure out that some applications are installed by dragging the application icon over the Application directory icon… While that makes sense, it may be making things a little bit too simple and literal.

Software

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be the first, or last person to say that I don’t use any of the software that came with the Mac. My first install was Firefox, and since then I’ve been slowly replacing the applications that came with the system. I have been pleasantly surprised what you can find for Mac though. Cyberduck is a brilliant FTP tool that you can download for free, as is Adium, a light-weight Instant Messenger application, are some of the great programs you can find for OS X. To tell the truth, I really haven’t found anything that would rival these programs in Windows. I also find that I prefer Front Row to Windows Media Center only because it doesn’t seem to suffer from being bloated and clunky.
Hardware
And this is where the Mac really starts to shine. Despite the fact that I base all of my comparisons on the low-end mini, the hardware design of this computer is really something to behold. This is the quietest, discrete, coolest (temperature wise) computer I have ever used, yet it maintains all of the functionality it needs. The Mac has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Optical Audio-out, Firewire, and a quick processor. The only thing really lacking is extra RAM.

Overall my first impressions are good. I’m still learning more about how to use OS X but as I learn new things I’ll be sure to write about them.

I’ve never used a Mac before purchasing this mini, so working with this setup was a completely new experience in more ways than one. I have found that I slightly prefer OS X to Windows (surprise surprise) if only for the convenience and simplicity. It’s also nice to be able to emulate Windows, which I’ll get to at a later time.

So here’s what you’ll need:
• Mac mini (I’ve found the 1.83Ghz model to be sufficient)
• Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse (RF will suffice)
• 32″ or larger LCD HDTV w/ a VGA or DVI input
• Receiver with Optical Input
• Optical Cable (one end must have a 3.5mm optical connector)
• VGA Cable
• Wireless Router (For Internet)

The reason I recommend an LCD screen is so that burn-in isn’t a factor as it would be with plasma screens. Now that you know what you need, everything else comes pretty easily… Actually this is really easy… Connecting everything should be pretty self explanatory. Things that may not be so obvious will be explained below.

Connecting to the TV

If you have a HDTV manufactured recently, odds are your going to have either a DVI or VGA input. The Mac mini has a DVI output, but it also comes packaged with a DVI->VGA connector. Once you have everything connected (I’m not really going to insult anyone’s intelligence by explaining how to do this ) the Mac should recognize your TV without having to configure anything. The only thing your going to want to do is change the screen resolution.

System Preferences -> Display. The recommended resolution for a 720p TV will be 1366×768.

Connecting to the Receiver
There really isn’t much to say on this one if you go the S/PDIF route. If your receiver doesn’t have an optical input, or if you don’t have a receiver and want to use the TV for sound, you can use a 3.5mm to RCA cable.

Mouse/Keyboard

Because of the range and flexibility they provide, I recommend using a Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse over their wired counterparts. RF will also work well, but with the added inconvenience (albeit small) of a having to use a receiver.

So once you’ve gotten this far, you have the basics down. Provided you have a Wireless Router, you can now use the internet on your TV (great for Youtube), listen to music through your stereo (or home theater), play DVD’s, watch videos and work from your couch.

It really is alot easier than it looks… More to come next week.