PineLeashed: Tech to the Face

Upon Arrival

JMArt — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 06:02:01 +0000

I spent 6.5 hours on the road today and it dawned on me that I should start updating this blog again. My love for all technology has only grown immensely since I last made a serious post. I’m also jobless with a lot of free time on my hands. I recently just updated to iOS 5 so look for something soon about that.

New iPod Shuffle…

JMArt — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:13:26 +0000

I originally thought this was a joke from The Onion. But it turns out Apple has indeed updated the iPod shuffle. My favorite iPod ever (seriously!) is hideous and I don’t want my controls on the headphones, and also…who cares if it talks. If I wanted to hear that, I would listen to Steven Hawking talk all day. When I get home, I am ordering back ups of the previous generation in case my ever fails. I will either use it some day or have a mint iPod shuffle for use years down the road.

Stop Bugging Me

JMArt — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:17:18 +0000

iPhone 2.0 is making my phone run insanely slow after running programs. There must be a memory leak somewhere. Let’s hope for a fix soon. And I’m happy about this since it doesn’t leave me too far behind with my first gen, but why didn’t the 3g get a better processor?

Haunting From the iPhone

JMArt — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:18:51 +0000

So I never did my PowerBook vs MacBook pro. I just stumbled for a few months. I feel like I need to find a new schtick but people are still commenting and reading. Should I stick with technology or try something else?

I just downloaded the wordpress app for the iPhone which is what I am doing now. Hard to type a lengthy post but I may update more since I have it at all times.

MacBook Pro vs G4 Powerbook…Soon

JMArt — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:44:47 +0000

I know this is going to seem like a no-brainer comparison, but it seems (myself included) many people are making the jump from PowerPC to Intel with the recently refreshed MacBook Pros. I also want to find out for myself what the differences may be between the 2. As you may have noticed if you have been with me for a while is that I like to do comparisons of things. Of course, other than XBench, I probably won’t be doing all the standard benchmark tests other people do. I’ll run World of Warcraft on both and render some stuff in Final Cut Express, convert some files in iTunes, stuff I tend to do on a regular basis.

However, as of right now my status is marked as “Not yet shipped.” It seems that if you bought one of the new notebooks with a build to order opetion of any kind, you were placed on the lowest part of the totem pole as far as shipping goes. I didn’t even get an option for next day shipping when I added the remote. But once I get it and spend a few days with it, be assured that I will get my comparison out for ya.

I’m curious as to what you think about the refreshes, if you bought one or if you will wait until June which is looking like when the next refresh will be to the Centrino 2 Montevina platform.

Out at Last, Out at Last!!

JMArt — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:13:15 +0000

After all the worrying and rumors going on yesterday, Apple has officially updated their MacBook and MacBook Pros. Both are running until Intel’s Penryn system. However the MBP was the more fortunate receiver of gifts this time around.

The MacBook Pro now has a baseline of 2.4GHz up to 2.6GHZ. The 17″ also received the LED display. Unlike the MacBook, the MBP received the multi-touch trackpad and to top it off, 256MB video card minimum with the option to bump up to 512 although the model remains the same, Nvidia 8600GT. Hard drive sized begin at 200GB with up to 300GB. The RAM remains the same. Nothing above 4GB.

I ordered mine a few minutes ago. Got the baseline which is world’s apart from my Powerbook G4 with only 80GB of HD space and 1.25GB RAM. I plan on slapping 4GB of RAM into it soon. I couldn’t justify $500 to go with the 512MB video card and I could have gotten the 250HD with that as well but I don’t think I will be needing that much. Hopefully I won’t be proven wrong on either end anytime soon hah!

So here’s to good news, but if you have any complaints like lack of case redesign or no new keyboard, please let me know. Also I wanna hear your thoughts on the MacBook which saw minimal updates.

Is Tomorrow the Day? UPDATEx2

JMArt — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:52:55 +0000

Looprumors and MacRumors are both reporting we may finally see new MacBook Pros tomorrow February 27th. As of the most recent update three new model numbers have appeared in Best Buy inventory with current prices. Predicted updates are Penryn chips LED screens for all models and multi-touch trackpads. However, I’m a little leery on the trackpads. I think that will come with an eventual design overhaul to the system which will also include the MacBook Air keyboard.

My main desires are penryn processors and new video cards. Time capsule is also expected to be shipping this week but that will most likely not coincide with whatever Tuesday announcement will be made. I’ll update as any other news becomes available. Keep your fingers crossed. Don’t forget we can just as easily see an iMac or Mac Mini update instead.

UPDATE: AppleInsider is reporting to have confirmed new model numbers and prices through Apple and its Best Buy channel.

UPDATE 2: While not official, this could crush the dreams of many:

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/02/25/macbooks-not-macbook-pros-on-tuesday/

I’m just going to leave it at that for now.

W W W W WoW!

JMArt — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:33:03 +0000

I play WoW, that’s right, World of Warcraft. Oddly enough it has become one form of bonding time my girlfriend and I use. We both spend a couple hours each night playing together questing and killing. I’ve mentioned the game in a few posts and replies to comments I get on this site. My recent conversation with someone new to the game sparked me to write about the game in more detail on here. I am by no means an expert on the game and I am sure I still do stuff wrong all the time. I don’t go into all the deep lore and I don’t know all the acronyms for places or all the crazy ins and outs of the game.

I currently have two main characters I use. “But Jason, you can only have one main and the other is an Alt.” Let me explain. I have a lvl 42 horde character that I played with my girlfriend starting at the end of 2007. At the end of January I began to play an Alliance character on a server my friend from Tae Kwon Do is on. I say this to make a point. Get on a server someone who know is on with a high level character. This makes getting into the social aspect of the game so much easier. Knowing people ahead of time in a new place just makes life easier. You’ll get some quests in instances pretty early in the game, before lvl 15 most likely. Knowing people will help you form a group faster or help you find a lvl 70 that can drag you through the instance to collect XP and awesome item drops.

Before making a character, make sure you know which type of server you are getting into: PVP, PVE, or RP. On a PVP server, a player of the opposing side can walk up and gank you or kill you. You’ll then have to find your corpse and continue and this can happen at anytime. In PVE, The game is insanely huge and you can virtually explore and entire continent without ever seeing a load screen. If you want to really see the beauty of the game, I suggest playing an alliance character. Their areas are really lush and gorgeous; very welcoming. A main horde area is The Barrens which as you can imagine is pretty barren. But it’s really up to you.

Play the game, make friends, and just be in awe at the sheer size of the game. And if you have an older computer (about 3-4 years old) you can play the game. Check it out. You’d think I’m the last one to the game with such a primitive post on a game with 10+million subscribers. Just trying to get people playing. Available for PC and Mac.

Linkin Park + Apple Event?

JMArt — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:13:09 +0000

According to AppleInsider Linkin Park will be performing at a “secret” Apple event. The quote actually came from Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda so don’t blame AI if they’re wrong on this. The event is supposed to be held in NYC which is a break from the usual west coast shenanigans Apple ususally entertains us with. Does that mean an event say, February 26? Doubtful. Check out their tour schedule”

Tue 02/19/08 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
Thu 02/21/08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena
Fri 02/22/08 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Sat 02/23/08 London, ON The John Labatt Centre
Mon 02/25/08 Lexington, KY Rupp Arena
Tue 02/26/08 Nashville, TN Sommet Center
Fri 02/29/08 Oklahoma City, OK Ford Center
Sat 03/01/08 Albuquerque, NM Tingley Col. @ New Mexico St. Fair
Sun 03/02/08 El Paso, TX UTEP Don Haskins Center
Tue 03/04/08 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
Thu 03/06/08 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Fri 03/07/08 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Sat 03/08/08 West Valley City, UT The E Center
Mon 03/10/08 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena

They seem booked that day but will be in NY this Thursday although I haven’t seen any invites posted for Thursday. I wouldn’t expect anything anytime soon. Sit on your hands and wallet a while longer…for when I have no idea. There were some rumors a while back about MBP’s being released in the middle of March. Ready to wait another month?

The Last Minute MacBook Pro?

JMArt — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:30:38 +0000

Tuesday February 19th brought us a couple surprises. One of which was the $49 iPod Shuffle with a soon to be released 2GB version for $69. I have an iPod Video, an iPhone and a 1GB shuffle and I have always said, the shuffle is by far Apple’s best iPod, especially if you’re on the go. I wear mine to the gym all the time and you can barely tell you’re wearing it. It won very high marks for me when I ran it through the wash and once it dried and charged, worked perfectly. If it broke or I lost it, I wouldn’t hesitate to replace it immediately especially at twice the space for $69. The other release today was Xsan 2 which I know absolutely nothing about so I’m not going to pretend to be excited or disappointed about this.

What wasn’t a surprise today was the total lack of new MacBook Pros. It seems like our last chance for a soon release will be Next Tuesday February 26th…IF there is an event. An event is a more likely place to announce new MBP’s than a news feed. If it doesn’t happen next week…I have absolutely no idea or hope left for us until WWDC. There is some concern now, we won’t see an update until summer when Intel releases their Montevina processors. This is something I hypothesized about before with the Penryn only being a stop-gap until then if it ever does get released.

So what’s another week, right? Well if it doesn’t happen are you going to wait? Are you going to even switch to PC….blasphemy I know. Towards the end of 2007, people began to wonder if 2008 would be the year Apple fans would turn on their beloved company. Pitchfork march on 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino anyone?