It’s been so hot in the office the last few weeks that it’s had a negative effect on my productivity (at least that’s the exscuse I’m using). Come the afternoon I find it difficult to concentrate on anything and feel incable of tackling large tasks so fill the remaining hours with little things. So, we had a word with some building cooling engineers that just happened to be around yesterday and when they inspected the cooling system they discovered it was on the “winter” setting thanks to the Neanderthals that manage our building. It’s much cooler today so I may have to begin looking for a new exscuse for my poor productivity. There are plenty around.
Speaking of poor productivity; Yesterday Google released “Earth“, the first fully Google version of the awesome Keyhole software since their acquisition. Best thing about it, aside from being free, has to be the 3D buildings in most of the urban US, the 3D mapped terrain and the ability to tilt your viewing angle so you can zoom through Manhattan or take a spin around the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately it’s for Windows only and I don’t have a machine capable of running it. The developers in work do as they’ve just recently got new super-duper laptops. I showed it to them yesterday afternoon and I don’t believe they did anything else for the rest of the day.
Yes, I know, this was a super boring entry.
Published by Cliph on Sunday, June 19th, 2005
in music.
The gig last night went well, we had fun and we think people enjoyed us. We got paid again. That means I’ve been paid for every gig I’ve ever played :) We had a very impressive array of cables and leads.
Somewhat disappointingly, the world failed to end. We shall have to try harder next time.
Published by Cliph on Thursday, June 16th, 2005
in work.
Some one stole my chair while I was at lunch. That makes me very angry, upsets, annoys me.
You spend months sitting on the same chair and it’s comfortable and familiar and makes the same familiar squeaks and then some one has away with it and you’ve got to break in a new one, find the right height, back tension and other settings that make it feel comfortable again.
Boo to chair robbers.
Published by Cliph on Sunday, June 12th, 2005
in music.
The Clap -1 (Michael is in America) are playing a gig this coming Saturday in “The Hut” in Phibsborough. Karl and I have been working hard and have a good set lined up. You’ll come.
Here’s a poster and here’s the Upcoming.org entry.
The Chalets have a new single out, “Feel The Machine”, and an awesome video to go with it. I bought their last EP, “Nightrock” when it came out. It’s a rare item in my music collection that I can listen to on repeat for an extended period and not get tired of it after an hour or two even though it’s only 13 minutes long!
Ars Technica (who else?) have a good article about Intel’s upcoming chips and architecture developments and how they relate to Apple’s future.
They also capture, and dispel, exactly the reason for my apprehension about the move. I’ve always perceived the RISC PowerPC to be superior to Intel’s chips, and it is that perception, regardless of actual performance, that for me, and a great deal of others, was one of the benefits of the Macintosh platform.
Or, to put it differently, the “RISC” PowerPC architecture has been a core part of the Apple brand and the overall “mythology” of the Mac platform since the 68K transition, even if that architecture rarely delivered on company’s promises with benchmark numbers. So what Apple fans are mourning right now isn’t the loss of some actual technical superiority of the Mac hardware, but rather the loss of the perception of that hardware’s “technical superiority.” Even more importantly, Mac enthusiasts are also mourning the loss of that perception’s role in the ongoing maintenance of the myth of Apple and of the Apple brand in the form in which these two have coexisted in the PowerPC era.
It is fair to say that the PowerPC is a great architecture but it is also true to say that Intel have closed many of the performance gaps apparent in RISC/CISC comparisons of yore. I still have a whole gaggle of reservations and fears that only time will, hopefully, vanquish.
I really do hope that an updated iBook comes to market soon. I’ve been waiting for a while for that range to be updated and I’m not at all worried that the PowerPC will be left for dust as “Universal Binaries” will be shipped and supported by major and minor software vendors for years to come.
“The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.”
“Is it possible to learn these powers?”
“Not from IBM.”
Three of us, Sean, Gerard and I, walking to M&S to buy lunch. Sean and myself, standing either side of Gerard, decided to squash him between us as we walked. His pushed us aside and I stumbled almost into the path of a young lady who was coming up behind us. I turned around to apolagise to her and my eyes met Samantha Mumba giving the dirtiest luck any pseudo-celeb has ever given me.
That just made my week.
