Living a Digital Existence - Week 1

Discussion in 'News and Article Submission' started by MunkyMagikUK, Oct 17, 2008.

  1. MunkyMagikUK

    MunkyMagikUK Digiex Blogger

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    Living a Digital Existence

    Week 1

    In a relatively slow week for technology news, I shall be discussing topics such as the new MacBooks, as well the new Blackberry, and the usual ‘Pick of the Week’.

    Apple? Price drops? Your ‘avin a laugh mate!

    This week Apple unveiled their new and improved MacBooks and MacBook Air. New features include an aluminium finish, and also a multi–touch mouse pad. The new MacBooks, which are made from one solid sheet of Aluminium, are slight lighter and smaller than previous models. There have however, been some criticisms of the new MacBook, one of which was the fact it has a very reflective screen, which, some people say may well be very hard to see in sunlight. However, as always with Apple, the main problem is the price. They claimed that price cuts were coming; however the only model to receive a price cut has been the basic MacBook model, which has been reduced to £719. As many of you will agree, this is a high price to pay for any laptop, especially when you can buy a normal laptop with much better specs for much cheaper. So my question to you this week is, is it really worth it? What do MacBooks have that Windows laptops don’t? And would YOU be willing to pay the price? As always, your comments are greatly appreciated.

    Can’t Touch This!

    This week a new Blackberry, the Blackberry Storm, was released, in the hope of challenging the Iphone. The new Blackberry boasts many new features, however probably the most popular one will be the “intuitive” touch screen. Unlike its rivals, the blackberry’s touch screen can be pressed down like conventional keys, unlike its rivals which make the user touch unresponsive glass. Critics are calling it one of the “sexiest” new phones and it has set a high standard for its competitors to match. Just like its rivals the Storm takes high quality pictures, has built in GPS, allows you to surf the internet and visit sites such as YouTube and Facebook, as well as all the other things you would expect a Blackberry to do.
    The phone is available exclusively with Vodafone in Britain and will be free to customers who must sign up to an 18-month contract that costs £35 a month, which I’m sure you’ll agree, is a great deal compared to the likes of the Iphone.

    Pick of the week

    This week, the lazy just got lazier! Ever been sat on your sofa, wanting to change the channel yet the remote is all the way over the other side of the sofa, and you can’t be bothered to get it as your too tanked up on beer and cheesy puffs to move? Well now you have a solution to your dilemma. It’s a Universal remote made by Brookstone over in the USA. Now, you may be wondering, so what? Until you find out that this is no ordinary remote. It is in fact, a voice activated remote! Yes, you read it right, a voice activated remote. So now, all you have to do is sya your command, and it will be done. Now, being the sceptical bugger that I am, I am inclined to believe that it will have a hard time picking up my commands of “Turn t’bloody channel!” in my Yorkshire accent, however, Brookstone assure us that it works straight out of the box, with different languages and accents supported.
    The remote is unavailable in the UK at the moment, but can be imported from the US for around $40, which works out around £20!
    Brookstone: Hands-Free Universal Remote Control

    [​IMG]


    Facebook can really end your life!

    A man has been jailed for life for stabbing his wife to death over a posting she made on the social networking site Facebook.
    Wayne Forrester, 34, told police he was devastated that his wife Emma, also 34, had changed her online profile to "single" days after he had moved out.
    The Old Bailey heard Forrester drove to her home in New Addington, south London, and attacked the mother-of-two.
    He stabbed her with a kitchen knife and a meat cleaver on 18 February.
    Forrester, who pleaded guilty to murder, was ordered to serve a minimum term of 14 years.
    So there you go kids! Don’t stay on Facebook for too long or someone will come and stab ya up! ;)
    That’s all for this week, hope you enjoyed it, and remember, all your comments are appreciated!

    And to end...

    A note to those of you who had your password as your username

    Just a notice for those of you who had your password as your username (yes, there is 15 of you!) For security reasons your passwords have been reset. If you check your email that you used to register your new passwords have been sent to you.

    Until next time...

    David
    (MunkyMagikUK)

     
  2. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    Some great stuff there, I enjoy reading your weekly posts as always!

    That voice activated remote looks great lol

    As for Macs they are massively over priced for you get... Apple give you the bare minimum they can get away with.

    For £719 for a 13” Macbook with a 2.1ghz Core2Duo 1gb of ram (2x 512 sticks :|) 120gig hard drive and OSX ... at least you finally get a DVD writer included with the basic model... welcome to 2004?

    Looking at the first laptop I found on ebuyer (Acer Aspire 6920G) for around the same price (£711) you get:

    Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2ghz)
    3GB Ram
    250gb harddrive
    Blueray drive
    15.4” screen
    ATi Mobility Radeon HD3650 with 512MB Dedicated memory (HDMI too)
    Wifi
    6in1 Card Reader
    Webcam
    Fingerprint Reader
    Vista Home Premium

    You would have to really want OSX to pay that premium I think, I’ve got nothing against apple except the prices they charge.
     
  3. MunkyMagikUK

    MunkyMagikUK Digiex Blogger

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    I know where your coming from InsaneNutter, I was searching round for a small laptop for uni next year, I was finding some Sony Vaio's (apparently great laptops?) for around £750 ish and they had like 4GB RAM, 250GB hard drives, so why on earth would I buy the new MacBook's? Especially when I've used windows PC's all my life?

    Apple make nice products, but you certainly pay the price!
     
  4. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    How small of a laptop are you wanting?

    Nimrod has just got a Dell Mini 9 with an 8.9inch screen, that’s really small, and lighter than a book... you could lift a few of them with one hand easy.

    After seeing that and having a play around with it I’m having a hard time telling myself not to get a netbook pc such as the Dell Mini or MSI Wind (£240 in pc world atm), it would be much easier carrying a netbook pc around uni rather than a 15.4” laptop that weighs like a ton of bricks once its been on your back for 5/10 mins!
     
  5. MunkyMagikUK

    MunkyMagikUK Digiex Blogger

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    I'm not entirely sure, i need to have a look, but i was thinking 13" ish? But i want it to have at least 2GB RAM and 200GB hard drive, not too bothered about graphic cards as i won't be playing games on it.
     
  6. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    If you have £750 to spend on a laptop you should be able to get one that’s capable of playing games and more than exceed what you want.

    I would probably go for a 15” If you’re going to be using it as your main pc you might find 13” a bit too small, go to a shop and try some 13" laptops out and see what you think.
     

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