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Reassuringly Expensive

Archive for August, 2005

I was beginning to wonder if I was just unlucky or fussy or both as almost everything I buy these days seems to be faulty when I get it home or goes wrong quickly; I’m pleased to see that I am not alone.

I mentioned this to a friend after his second Apple Powerbook power supply failed within days of buying the Powerbook and he’s beaten me to posting about it.
Looking at what’s gone wrong recently it seem that spending money and buying brands no longer guarantees that something will work or last:

  • iMac – first one had a noisy PSU fan
  • Mont Blanc fountain pen – has been for repair three times in less than 12 months
  • Baby’s cot mobile – on/off switch did not work
  • Mamas and Papas push chair – faulty rain cover and missing parts
  • iPod Photo – headphone socket failed
  • 2 Powerbook power supplies

To name just a few.

Reading my list you do have to wonder about the quality of Apple hardware…

London was again a victim of bomb attacks today.

Three tubes and a bus were targeted but this time the terrorists were even bigger amateurs and did not successfully detonate one of the bombs.

Warren Street tube station was targeted; a station I pass through everyday on my way to work.

I had to walk some of the way to Euston tonight and here is a shot of Warren Street tube station. I didn’t realise just how close it is to Euston.

I’ve just upgraded the memory on my iMac from 512Mb to 1Gb. and it was amazingly easy.

Just undo three screws that hold the back of the iMac on, remove the back, pop out the old memory stick, pop in the new sticks, replace the back, do up the three screws, cross your fingers and switch on. It works.

Having built many PCs and seen teh insides of even more over the years the insides of the iMac are a work of art in comparison. No wires, none of those awful flat HDD cables – all very elegant.

Tiger works OK with 512Mb but with 1Gb it feels much smoother.

NTT are releasing a 3D web browser that looks a little (just a little) like how I imagined cyberspace to look when reading Neuromancer by William Gibson although my cyberspace was much darker and a little more Tronlike.

Neuromancer is one of my top books of all time. It blew me away when I read it and that was when I was firmly a ‘cyberpunk’ as a collegue of the time called me. When it was released in 1984 it must have been even more awesome – William Gibson invented the term cyberspace in Neuromancer.

I loved the idea of visually moving through a virtual world representing cyberspace; where sites where portrayed as physical objects that you could interact with or attack.

If you haven’t read Neuromancer put your mouse down now and go and do so.

Collected my second iMac from john Lewis this morning. I rushed home, plugged it in and with my breath held switched it on…

There’s fan noise but the awful whime the first one had is not there. Hurrah.

’ve spent the day loading it up with my software and I’m very happy indeed. I’ve just paid £7 for a lifetime membership to a website specialising in widescreen a very high resolution wallpaper as there is a bit of a shortage of both on the net if you have a widescreen computer check out Plasma Design.

I’m pleased to say that the Apple Store happily accepted my iMac back and gave me a complete refund.

I’ll be picking up my new iMac from my local John Lewis store tomorrow AM. I really hope that this one will be quieter.