Ever run into a PDF file that wouldn’t let you do something as innocuous as copying and pasting text? What a pain. Fortunately, as suggested by the Web Curmudgeon, Text Mining Tool lets you grab text from these protected PDFs where Acrobat and others won’t.
No, it’s not the next Dance Dance Revolution game. It’s the new firmware for my router. I recently lost my Linksys WRT54G wireless router to a lightning hit, and I was subsequently forced to replace it. I replaced my trusty WRT with the similar, but newer WRT54GL, also from Linksys. This provided an opportunity to re-explore the world of third-party WRT firmwares, whereupon I found the DD-WRT project, which seems to have overtaken the original Sveasoft firmware as the top third-party firmware for Linksys (and a few others) routers.
Like many other technology fans, I have eagerly awaited the keynote speech from Steve Jobs at the annual MacWorld Expo and the slew of product announcements that come with it. Last year, Apple announced that it would take up the Intel line of processors and integrate them across the entire line of Mac products starting in 2006. Naturally, there was plenty of speculation that the Expo would see the first Intel-Mac products unveiled.
For my part, I have been most interested in seeing a new generation of the Apple’s PowerBook line of portables. As a happy Titanium G4 owner myself, the rumored dual-core Intel PowerBook sounded like an enticing upgrade. The promise of portable multiprocessing alone seemed like enough to drive an immediate upgrade. Now, with the PowerBook replacement unveiled, I can finally step back and take an objective look at what we’ll be getting in the MacBook Pro.
Feature-wise, things are pretty much what we were expecting. An Intel Core Duo should bring much-vaunted dual-core processing and a generous performance improvement across the board, though it’s too early to say by just how much. The Apple Remote and integrated iSight camera should nicely complement the growing iLife suite. The surprise MagSafe power connector addition has good ergonomic implications, but it’s not a sales driver for the new portables. A brighter display is also promised, which likely means a new panel with other improved attributes will accompany the MacBooks. The rest of the changes are your standard incremental upgrades.
I’m already noticing discussions targeted at the pricing of the MacBooks. The announced price points don’t strike me as particularly unreasonable. Compared to when I bought my PowerBook three years ago, the high-end offering has shifted down by a good $500. The quality and quantity of software bundled with all new Macs seems to have improved substantially during that timeframe as well. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the iBook replacements receive a price break when they are announced later this year.
For now, I will wait for the Mac community to deem whether or not the MacBook is ultimately a worthy successor to the PowerBook. I still have great expectations of the Apple-Intel partnership. But after surviving expectations of a MacWorld product announcement, I think I can ride the transition for a while longer with an old G4.
I’ve been interested in exploring the link between blogging and photography for a little while now. I’ve been borrowing cameras from others up until now on an as-needed basis to shoot any of the few older photos you’ll find on this site. Getting a digital camera of my own was the logical first step toward getting more serious about photography.
I picked out the Canon S2 IS ultra-zoom camera after several weeks of research at various community and manufacturer websites. The S2 strikes me as pretty well rounded, but the image stabilization or “IS” that gives the S2 its name intrigued me the most.
I’ve had the camera for about two days now, and I’ve taken almost 100 pictures and I’ve also shot a few short videos. It’s too early to make any broad conclusions about the capability of the image stabilization system on the camera. I got some blurry photos out of the first batch of pictures, but the pictures I took this afternoon came out much better on the whole that those I took yesterday. On the other hand, some of the short videos I’ve shot with the camera look exceptionally good. Unfortunately, they’re a tad too large for me to archive on my blog, but you can head over to Jeff Keller’s review at the DCRP for a nice sample. Digital cameras really have come a long way in terms of their video capabilities.
Apple announced on Monday that it would begin a two year transition to Intel X86 processors. This is big news in the world of tech. The PowerPC was very much a part of Apple’s aura of being different. Naturally, everyone has their own opinions about why the move was made and where it will ultimately take the Mac. Here’s my take.
This is the move that makes the most sense for Apple to remain performance competitive across their entire product line. Two years ago, Steve Jobs promised a 3GHz G5 within a year of seeing the first G5 PowerMacs; two years later, we’re still waiting. There were high hopes for a G5 PowerBook as well. Development of the PowerPC simply wasn’t progressing at the pace Apple needs to stay competitive. With Intel, Apple should get a reliable roadmap and new chips to give their entire line a refresh.
The long term implications of Apple’s shift should prove to be interesting, to say the last. I’m going to hold high hopes for two things: more Mac software and Windows compatibility.
OS X running on Intel could make the Mac a more attractive target for cross-platform developers. For example, I see three barriers to Mac game development: (1) porting DirectX code; (2) making changes for OS X; (3) making changes for the PowerPC. With Intel Macs, one of these should disappear. I say "should" because it’s not clear what measures Apple is taking to keep their Intel solution proprietary or how it will affect developers. Now, one could make a similar argument for Linux game development, which we haven’t really seen take off. While OS X and Linux have similar market share figures, I would wager that a significant portion of the installed Linux base can be attributed to servers, rather than actual desktops. So, I’m saying that there are effectively fewer Linux gamers to target than with the Mac
I also mentioned Windows compatibility. There’s already speculation that the new Intel Macs will be able to run Windows. Indeed, I think they should. Windows compatibility could be a great boon for Apple. It would make it that much easier for potential switchers to toss the beige box in favor of a Mac. Most potential users will be attracted to a polished OS X solution, but there are plenty of folks who are hesitant to leave Windows completely behind. A box that can run Windows, OS X, and Linux could become a new selling point for Apple. But again, it remains to be seen just how compatible a proprietary Intel X86 box can be.
All that said, I expect good things to come out of the Apple-Intel deal. An X86 Mac solution could spark some new development for the platform and it should also bring in more users.
