Archive | July, 2010

Why a Mac Mini is the Best Home Media Option

By on July 18, 2010 in Tech

Like a lot of techophiles, I have struggled mightily with bringing computer apps and internet content to my home theater set up.  I’ve tried full size computers, small computers, various streaming solutions and all sorts of other equipment, all in the name of television and internet convergence.

Everything works a little and it seems like nothing works really well.

image This weekend, I found my answer.  A Mac Mini.  It’s not perfect, but it’s the best solution I have found so far.

By a wide margin.

Sure, I tried a Mac Mini before.  But it died a premature death so I took a while to try again.

I also recently tried a Dell Inspiron Zino. These are nifty little computers, and its small footprint will find it a place in the house, likely as a replacement for my kids’ older and bigger shared computer.  Plus, it has a Blu-ray drive, which the Mac Mini stubbornly lacks (thereby prolonging the need for a stand alone DVD player).  But the Windows big screen media experience is just not satisfying.  I don’t like things to be too simple in a desktop environment, but when you’re on the couch chilling, simple is good.

And for better or worse, Apple tries to make the media process pretty simple.

I also tried- and loved- Apple TV.  But three things make the Mac Mini a better choice.

1. It does what the Apple TV does, plus the entire range of other computer and internet functions.

2. I don’t know what Apple has in store for the Apple TV, but the two most likely things are massive changes or death.

3. Parallels.

image

Parallels is a pretty nifty program that lets you run Windows 7 and Windows apps inside of and along with OS X.  So I can have the best of both worlds.  As we speak, I am installing Windows Live Writer on my Mac.

Scary thought: if I find little or no performance degradation when running Windows apps on a Mac via Parallels, it could lead me to make my next desktop a Mac.  I just need to find an extra $10K or so to recreate the dual monitor Windows setup I have now.  People try to tell me that Macs are not overpriced, but one trip to the Apple store to configure a Mac Pro with lots of storage and two monitors proves otherwise.

Front Row is a beautiful app for viewing photos and videos and for listening to music.  I just wish it had iTunes store integration so I could buy movies from within the app (and completely avoid that blight that is the iTunes app).  The inability to purchase media within Front Row and the need to suffer iTunes  is, by far, the biggest feature deficiency in the Mac Mini as home theater experience.

But it’s still the best option out there.

At the end of the process, I’ll probably have two Mac Minis in operation.  One in my study (where the current one resides) and one in the theater room, so my wife and kids can access our music, photos and home movies.

It’s hard to believe how far I have come in my Apple journey.

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Why You Should Dump Your iPad

By on July 17, 2010 in Tech

And why I’m not.

Vivek Wadhwa at TechCrunch sets forth the best argument I’ve ever read for dumping your iPad.  He sets forth various reasons, but it really comes down to three.  No useful way to use Microsoft Office, reliance on the outdated, ugly and unnecessary iTunes, and the lack of a camera.

As it turns out, I just returned from vacation.  10 days in God’s country (that would be South Carolina for you geographic heathens).  My job requires that I be generally accessible and have the capability to review and approve Word documents (for those who haven’t read Newsome.Org in a few days, no one in corporate America uses or in my lifetime will use any of the so-called Office alternatives, and any argument to the contrary is naive).

All of this left me with a packing dilemma.  I love my iPad and use it all the time.  I haven’t carried a laptop since I bought my iPad, and I haven’t needed one.  But I also hadn’t been away from home and the office for 10 straight days.

So I got nervous, pussed out and, along with my iPad, toted a laptop and all the related gear all the way to Pawley’s Island.  I felt more comfortable knowing that I could review and revise Word documents from the beach.

The thing is, I never used it.

image Sure, I was in contact with my office and clients every day.  But I did it all via email, on my iPad.  While the lack of Office is a big issue for iPads, there’s no denying that you can easily read Word documents.  It’s only when you want to revise or create one that the frustration level skyrockets.

And the fact is that at this point in my career, I’m much more likely to be reading, commenting on and approving Word documents than writing them from whole cloth.  And I found it to be easy enough (enough being the operative word) to copy and past portions of a document into an email, then paste such portion again below and revise it the way I wanted.

At the end of the day, many of my vacation emails read something like this:

“Change this part:

‘The problem with the iPhone 4 antenna is massive and should be the subject of a massive recall.’

to this:

“‘The problem with the iPhone 4 antenna is a partially a common cell phone issue exacerbated by an Apple design choice and largely bad editorial choices by lazy media.’

It’s not perfect, but it worked well enough for me.

So while the iPad most certainly needs a better way to work with Office documents (Microsoft being the only solution), and a camera or two and while iTunes is perhaps the worst application ever, I’m keeping my iPad.

But you’ll probably see my laptops on Craigslist before long.

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Delaney Wins!

By on July 1, 2010 in Life

The 2010 SWAL Championship was held last night at Lamar High School in Houston.  Delaney won the Freestyle, in a highly anticipated, very close and unbelievably exciting race.  She also won the Breaststroke and was second in the Backstroke.  Her medley relay team came in second, giving her two golds and two silvers for the night.

The Freestyle final was among my happiest moments, ever.  It’s hard to describe how proud I am of her.


Delaney Wins the Freestyle from Kent Newsome on Vimeo.

She’s done with SWAL events for the summer, but will continue to swim for Rice Aquatics.

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