It is the end of the week and that means it is time to share my past week with you. It was a week of updates and software experimentation at Mobile Tech Manor, and I did some thinking about an upcoming trip. There were e-books galore as usual, and I believe we’ll see an e-book reader that will set the sector on its ear. Come on in and share the week with me.
Snow Leopard Hits the MacBook
Late last week I updated the MacBook with the Snow Leopard installation that the FedEx guy dropped off on Friday. Microsoft can learn a thing or two from Apple when it comes to OS upgrades. While I knew I would upgrade to Snow Leopard I wasn’t in a big rush to do so; it is largely an incremental update over Leopard. But Apple anticipated that, and when I visited the online Apple store early last week, the upgrade to Snow Leopard was all over the front page.
Apple informed me that the upgrade to Snow Leopard was only $29, and with free shipping they guaranteed it would be delivered by Friday. That turned the decision to upgrade into a no-brainer. Free shipping and I would receive the boxed set the very day it was available in the Apple stores. I duly purchased the upgrade and it showed up at 9:30 Friday morning for $29. See how that works, Microsoft?
I upgraded the MacBook later that day and it took almost an hour. There were no issues with the update and I have to say the MacBook runs noticeably faster with Snow Leopard. That’s the mark of a good update, the system performance is improved. There are minor interface improvements that I won’t get into here, and I am satisfied with the update.
I’m only having one issue since the update to Snow Leopard, and I’m not sure exactly what is causing the issue. It doesn’t happen a lot but sometimes when I am editing a new post in the WordPress editor the editor crashes when I try to add an image to a post. It has cost me a bit of work that I had to repeat and I’ve gotten in the habit of saving my draft posts often. It may be a coincidence that it started the same time as the Snow Leopard update but the timing is suspicious. This problem is only in Firefox so there are a lot of pieces involved– Snow Leopard, Firefox, WordPress. It’s certainly annoying.
Windows 7 Hits the MacBook
This week I installed Windows 7 on the MacBook using Parallels Desktop and I already shared that process which went very well. I have been running Windows 7 alongside OS X on the MacBook much of the time since the install and I am impressed with how well the whole thing works.
I use Spaces in OS X and have two spaces configured. I run the standard OS X desktop in Space 1 and Windows 7 in Space 2. It is a simple key command (OPTION – ←) to instantly switch from one OS to the other. This lets me use Windows 7 to test software, something I do quite a bit.
I get asked why I use Parallels and not VMware Fusion, and the answer is simple. I own Parallels, I don’t own VMware. I’ve heard that a lot of folks are quite happy with VMware, and I’m sure it is a good solution. I am happy with Parallels so no reason to switch. I find the performance of Windows 7 using Parallels is very good on the MacBook with 3 GB of memory. It is definitely faster than on any netbook I have tried with Windows 7.
Screencasting
I will probably start doing screencasts more often than I have in the past. These are the screen recordings that show how a given program works in real time, and they are well received as a rule. Snow Leopard brought a new QuickTime player, and Apple added a screen recording function to the player. It is well implemented, and recordings are full screen captures of the desktop. The recordings can be made with or without audio.
I have tested this quite a bit and the video quality is outstanding, even for big desktops, while the resultant .MOV video file is fairly small. I will use this method to demonstrate programs going forward, as I get asked to do this quite frequently.
MiFi in the Home, Opera Turbo Rocks
I have adopted a new evening ritual involving a UMPC and the Verizon MiFi that is working well for me. I have gotten in the habit at night of sitting in front of the big screen TV with the Viliv X70 in hand, surfing the web while watching the tube.
The X70 is great for using in portrait orientation with that 7-inch screen, and if not for one little problem would be near perfect. My comfy chair in front of the TV is as far from my wireless router as it can be. The Wi-Fi signal is very low no matter what device I use in that chair but the X70 is worse than most. I have discovered that when I hold the X70 in portrait mode that my hand blocks the antenna, and that causes the signal strength to drop slightly.
Ordinarily this is not a big problem but when I am sitting in my chair, already pushing the limit of signal strength, the X70 keeps dropping off my network. That drove me crazy until I realized I had a simple solution, the Verizon MiFi. I set the MiFi on the table next to the chair, turn it on, and in seconds the X70 is connected to the 3G network. It works so well that I forget I am not on my home network. I can do this for four hours before the MiFi battery starts getting low.
This week Opera released version 10 and I installed it on the X70. I have been testing it a lot and I have come to really appreciate the Turbo mode while on the 3G network. Web sites load so quickly with Opera Turbo activated that surfing on the 3G network is actually faster than on the home network without it. They have done a wonderful job with Opera 10, and I am really impressed with it the more I use it. I do wish they would automatically pull in bookmarks from other browsers as part of the Opera install, though. All of the other browsers do this and Opera should too. It would make adoption a lot easier.
Mobilizing for a San Francisco Trip
Next week is our big Mobilize 09 conference in San Francisco and I have been thinking about the mobile kit I will take with me. I’m going to try something a little different for this trip, as the conference will be a big event to cover. It’s only a one day event but it will be at least 12 hours long for those of us working the conference and that requires some special gear in the bag.
I will take the 13-inch MacBook with me for regular work. I have the two batteries for the MacBook and I can get an easy 10 hours of use away from an outlet. Plus it’s easy to carry. I have also decided to bring the Viliv S5 UMPC with me, due to its small form. I will be working the conference floor quite a bit, doing video interviews and the like, and the S5 with its 5-inch screen will make it the perfect little tablet to use on the floor.
Last year I brought the HP 2710p Tablet PC with me, and while it worked well at times I wished it was a lot smaller and lighter. It was difficult at times to handle the video reviews and the Tablet PC at the same time. This year I’ll have the little S5 in my hand and it will be easier to handle. I have Windows 7 installed on the S5 so I’ll use Windows Journal with the stylus to jot quick notes on the show floor, which I can then refer to during the interviews. It should work pretty well and it takes almost no space in my gear bag. I also have two batteries for the S5 which will yield a solid 12 hours of use without an outlet.
Kevin will be the master of ceremonies for the conference and I’ll be doing the opening comments to help kick off the event. It is a good one-event covering all things mobile, and of course Motorola is going to launch their Android phone portfolio during the event. We will be live-streaming the conference here on jkOnTheRun, so be sure and look for that on Sept. 10.
e-Books of the Week
This week found me still in the grasp of the J. A. Jance series featuring Detective J. P. Beaumont in Seattle. I have been plowing through this series and this week I finished books 8 – 12. These are:
I love how each book in this series takes place a relatively short time after the previous book, which makes it feel like I am part of the character’s lives. I love this series the more I get into it, and the characters are developed nicely.
I have been reading using the X70 UMPC a lot, and I believe the 7-inch screen has allowed me to read more than usual due to the big screen. It has me thinking that if Apple does produce a big iPod, it could be the ereader of choice for me, easily.
Wrap-up
That’s it for another week, I hope you enjoyed sharing it with me. Next week will be a good one with the trip and the conference, and as usual I will look forward to sharing it with you. Until then, all the best.
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