The first look at Apple’s latest MacBooks

Just like every other gadget lover, I was very eager to get my hands on one of the new MacBooks. The reasons I had in mind was, mainly the design and the screen. Frankly, I don’t know why is Apple going crazy over the whole “Unibody” thing. I get it. It’s made of stronger material, it looks better and all that. But Unless the consumer is majoring in something that’s related to engineering, he doesn’t care! Perhaps, they could’ve focused more on the graphics. I don’t think I’m the only one who was expecting the next MacBooks/(Pros) to have HD screen or a Blu-ray disk readable optical drive.

I admit that upgrading the display to Nvidia GeForce 9400M was an amazing decision. It’s actually great to have the ability to work on a 1,920 by 1,200 pixel screen. But again, HD support wouldn’t be a big surprise now that Vaio is actually providing High Definition support in their latest laptops. Apple would’ve made a great competitor. And since it’s Apple, I don’t think the consumers would actually think as much as they would when it comes to Vaio notebooks. I believe the perception that people has against Vista actually does help Apple to gain more customers. And companies like hp, Sony and the others should give people the option to choose the Operating System they want on their machines. Yes, it would effect their relation and deal with Microsoft, but I’m just talking from a consumer’s perspective.

Back to the new Macbook! Today I went to the Fifth Avenue Apple store to actually see these charming ladies. To be honest, I didn’t feel a big difference in terms of design. It does look sleek, but not as much as an individual would think. I Used the $1299 model for almost fifteen minutes, didn’t notice any difference at all about the LED screen or comfort level on that Unibody structure of Apple’s. I’m comparing it to the previous generation’s MacBook black ($1,599 model). I won’t brag about the illuminating feature for the keyboard, because they should have done it a long time ago, at least with the black ones. But the “MacBook Air-style” design didn’t catch my attention. I actually like the earlier ones better. It was unique, simple and beautiful. About the button-less trackpad, I would say that it’s a waste of technology. There is a very good chance that people will have a hard time getting used to it. And you can’t modify (or disable) that feature. Also, the four finger gesture that Apple demonstrated for flipping through windows – isn’t that great either. But I’m sure different applications will come up with new uses of this feature.

The option to upgrade to the SSD drive is new. But Lenovo X300 is already using this technology. Even though it’s proven to save battery life and speed start times, people are having trouble with it.

The battery indicator and the Mini Display port are cool little features. The Mini Display port is actually very useful if you’re a designer or just a spoiled kid with wild imaginations. Considering that it only connects to the Apple displays and requires adapters if you want to use it for any other display, I wouldn’t say it’s a great feature. Yet, it does let you use the magnificent Apple displays without any hassle. So, that’s… an option.

To sum up, the only amazing feature added to the new MacBooks is the graphics. It’ll open a lot of doors for users from every single platform.

The funny thing is, I was about to sell my MacBook which I just upgraded two months ago, only to buy one of the newer ones. But I think I’ll wait till Apple announces the “Snow Leopard“. According to Mr. Steve Jobs it’s supposed to be released somewhere around June, 2009. They might even come up with some new laptops. Hey! it’s Apple, you never know. I know, I’m being greedy here. But looking at the “leaked” patent and possible designs of the next iPod, who knows! I could be right.

Thanks for reading.

Short, Hot, Boring Semester

My six week semester at LaGurardia started two weeks ago. They didn’t have any class that goes toward my major so I had to choose something like Piano 1. This way I’ll keep my education continued and will be able to learn something I’ve always wanted to learn (for free). I’m also working, but it’s been more boring than ever, because since it’s a short semester there’s a very few students around. As a result I end up writing my blogs while I should be helping students with their work. Well it is kinda fun sometimes, but not always. But hopefully I’ll be able to continue working out throughout the semester which I’ve always wanted to do. And maybe I’ll also be able to reach my goal of a toned body in a short period of time.

An Interview With Apple

Monday the 31st of March, I’ve had an Interview with Apple. That was my second official interview for a “real” job. By “real” I mean a job that really means something to me, that’s not important to me only because of the money. The interview with Apple was long, but it didn’t feel like it. The recruiter (don’t remember his name) was a pretty cool guy. He dressed like… umm… Steve I guess. lol. At first he explained some facts about Apple, particularly the 5th Ave. one (coz that’s the one we were invited for). It was interesting to know a lot of the facts. For example, the 5th Ave. store is the largest and most busy retail store of Apple in the entire world and Apple is the fastest growing chain in the whole world, they open a store every nine day (believe it or not). Personally, I was always curios about Apple. The only products I’ve ever used from Apple are iPods and iPhone. Recently, I made up my mind to purchase a MacBook (wish I have done that earlier).

The overall experience of that two hours was pretty good and exciting. The little seminar we had (only 7 people) makes you want to work for Apple, actually it’s more like work “with” Apple. It’s just so cool to see all the people working inside the Apple store, helping people with some great and smart looking products (such as iPods, iPhones, iMacs and all). And it’s really great to be a part of something so famous and brilliant.

Honestly, I haven’t heard from them yet. (BOOM!) Haha. But I hope that they accept me and I get to work with them. Even though, there’s a good chance that they won’t take me, because I mentioned in the seminar that I’ve never worked with any Mac based computers and I have pretty much NO idea about Mac OS. But either way, I’m cool. At least they chose my resume out of 7 thousand applicants.

Thanks for reading.

The Difference in Lives

A new course, A good professor, A beautiful experience

Even though I really like LaGuardia, every semester it gives me a hard time with my payments and financial aid stuff, which means they “cancel” all my registered classes. I was able to sign up for this class this semester, CIS112 – Intro to New Media.

I’m so glad that I was able to and I wanted to take the class, because it’s been only two weeks since the semester has started and I’m learning so much. Like most of my CIS classes, this class also talks about a lot of things that I already know. In fact, I know more about this course’s discussion topics than any other course. But there are some things we don’t expect our professors to talk about. I guess, it’s the professorwho’s making this class more interactive than it is already. I mean, I can’t imagine taking a course where all my professor would talk about is graphics, animation, web page, podcast, blog. And this is not the ancient “gif”, or “how to use movie maker” crap. We’re really LEARNING here. I feel like when I first started to get to know my computer. Even posting blog was an assignment, and that’s the reason he introduced us with this website. This is my first “Official” blog site. And,,, I’m happy. lol.

Thanks a lot professor, I know you’re reading this and going like “this kid really knows how to butter the professor”. But trust me, I really appreciate you teaching the course so beautifully and in a manner that we feel free to express our thoughts.

Thank You for reading.

Securing the Wi-Fi by lowering its signal strength

Reader Mike Waters writes: I am concerned about Wi-Fi security. One of the most basic ways to secure a wireless signal seems like it would be to reduce the strength in “uncontrolled” areas so no signal can be received. I would like to be able to REDUCE the range of my home Wi-Fi network so it just covers my house! As it is I can receive signals almost 2 blocks away! Is there any safe, reliable way to do this? Remove tha antenna from the hub, wear a tinfoil hat?

Sure enough, there is, but not on every router. Hop into your router management system (either through a program you installed when you set up your router initially or by typing the IP address of the router into your web browser), and poke around. Every router is different, but you’ll likely find the option to reduce radio transmission power under advanced settings or somewhere else in the wireless configuration section. On Linksys routers, for example, look for “Output Power” under the Advanced Wireless tab. Remember, though, that not all routers include this feature (not even all routers from the same vendor).
Like Mike suggests, lowering the total power output of your router can do a good job at keeping the signal from spreading too far outside your house and down the street. However, this method comes with some caveats. The big one: By lowering signal strength you may inadvertently lower the signal too much so that you don’t cover your entire house. Wireless signal is finicky, and the just-fine signal strength on one floor may be barely acceptable a single story up. You may very well drop your connection altogether in the far corners of your home, so experiment before you etch this setting in stone.

The other caveat is that even if your signal doesn’t drop out, it will likely slow down throughout your house, even when you are relatively close to the router. As signal strength decreases, the signal-to-noise ratio falls as well, which means you’ll lose more data and suffer through more re-transmissions as interference gets worse, lowering the overall speed of the connection. (Neighbor networks may overpower yours, even.) This may not be a big deal, in fact you may not even notice it, or it may have such an impact that it makes your network unusable. Again, you’ll have to experiment to find a setting that keeps the network relatively confined to your house while still giving you enough bandwidth to work comfortably in.

Regardless of whether you throttle your wireless radio’s power output, don’t rely on this as your sole means of Wi-Fi security. Use wireless encryption, set a strong administrator password, and change default settings as described here.

Inspired from an article on Yahoo! 

Create your own ringtones for iPhone