Being Mark Cohen

After a few days on the macbook, I can safely say it’s a superb laptop.  I have been spending a lot more time using OS/X than I expected to.  There is a lot of software available for download and so far I haven’t purchased any extra software.  Microsoft have a remote desktop client application for OS/X but I haven’t been able to install it.  I have been running SQL And Visual Studio 2005 on the XP boot without issues.  The lack of decent XP drivers for the touchpad is a hindrance and so I use an optical mouse whenever I boot XP.  I have also been unable to get the webcam working with XP, and have been mildly concerned about the six or so uninstallable devices that show up in the hardware configuration.

OS/X offers easy to use, native support for connecting to a PPTP VPN so our work VPN server is accessible to me from the Mac.  The core duo processor flies in both XP and OS/X.  It’s really a league above what I have been used to.

I have found a nice piece of software called Qumana which is a useful desktop blogging client that I’m using to write this post.  It’s a bit too simple in terms of the options it offers with editing content but its great for the price of a free download

The other thing I have really enjoyed is the physical feel of the product.  The keyboard is smooth and really responsive.  I have been getting a bit irritated with the whine that comes out of the machine at times, but other than that I love it.  The display is perfect too – clean, crisp, and easy on the eyes.

Every morning when I open my bag and take it out and it’s all sleek and smoth and shiny and cool to the touch, I am happier with my purchase.

My new laptop arrived today. about 48 hours from Apple’s website to my desktop. Let me just say this once and get it out the way: The MacBook Pro rocks. Not just boom boom rocks, we’re talking Def Leppard standing on AC DC’s shoulders. While they’re all at a Stones concert. With Deep Purple as the opening act. That sort of “rocks”. This little baby is totally cool.

When the Mac folk who made BootCamp say you need XP with SP2 they really mean it . You must have the Windows Installation disk (single cd) with XP with SP2. There are significant differences between this and XP. Quite a few postings on the web talk about slipstreaming the install, I really recommend using the proper media.

Ok, this might be a highly documented and well known feature of all internet browsers that I just never noticed before, but how many of you knew that if you hold the control key down when clicking on links, the links will open in a new tab?  This works in Firefox and IE7.  I worked this out a few weeks ago and thought it was just me being daft, but in discussions with people it turns out that most people never knew this.  And to be honest, almost as many didn’t give a rats … :)

If you’re one of the people who thinks one less click is a good thing and never knew this then this post is just for you

pcmag.com today reports that Microsoft is releasing a beta of the new Microsoft Robotics Studio. Being disconnected from this world, this was absolute news to me. I love the possible implications though, a simplistic analogy would be to compare this to what Microsoft did for the CD ROM by adopting it as a medium.

Microsoft also indicate that they have no intention of entering the robotics hardware market (yet). The article does mention how lucrative they expect the market to be, and Microsoft seem to regard this as getting in early, just to have a presence. They expect the market to take off in around five years. With the dropping costs and massive gains in processor power I think the Home Assistant type robots of science fiction may well be here by a decade’s time. One thing is for certain. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Microsoft, I would far rather have instructing my Home Keeper 2010 ™ be as simple as syncing my PDA. If the alternative is a Symbian / LG style clunky sync I would expect to get home from work and find the robot had ripped the dog’s head off, thrown random things in the rubbish, and lined up the pieces of whatever it had smashed in the entrance hall

A big concern for me is: Does this mean VB programmers will now be able to pour into Robotics? If so, heaven help us all.

Information Week is running an article about eBay’s plans to launch a new contextual advertising channel allowing advertisers to show their ads on other websites, using a distribution model similar to Google’s Adwords. This would at face value to seem to be correct, although I think it’s way off. The eBay model will most likely be focused on small-volume ad sales, similar to what is done for their existing channels. Google Adwords is very much focused on recurring customers, as opposed to short-term use. Also, the eBay ads will most likely follow their existing affiliate remuneration model, in that an actual bid or registration must occur before the affiliate is paid. Google Adwords are worth money on the click. Google Adwords also pay better when you factor in the ratio between eBay’s CPA and Google’s CPC