Wednesday: July 7, 2010
- State of the GLM: Yes, I'm still here. No, I'm not dead.
You may have noticed that GLM has gone rather quiet for the past two-three months or so in terms of any and all content on the site. This post serves as a status update to alleviate any fears that GeekLikeMe is gone for good. Quite the contrary my dear friends. And yes, while I could run down the list of excuses as to why the site hasn't been updated, I'm sure they would just bore you to tears. To save us all some time I shall sum up in two words: work and parenthood.
For work I have been diving into the grand world of Objective-C programming for the past six months and I still haven't managed to come up for air. Hopefully when I'm actually able to take a deep breath I'll have an array of iPhone and iPad apps to show for it. Also on this note I'd like to state that I very well may have taken the most ass-backwards route in getting into a new programming language. Nevertheless, it's been a rewarding and infuriating process thus far but I'm learning a lot and I think it'll turn out well in the end.
I don't think I have to say much about parenthood other than sleep is a sought-after commodity and there are only so many hours in a day. This has turned out to be a major contributing factor to the current lack of posting. Shocker.
But now onto much better news: a new version of GeekLikeMe.net is in the works yet again and I've decided to make a design choice right off the bat. I recently took a trip down memory lane courtesy of archive.org's wayback machine. After feeling somewhat nostalgic about the old GLM design I decided that maybe it was time to return to the minimalist roots yet again. More details and information about the new site coming soon!
P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter even though I have yet to tweet anything. Oops, scratch that.
Monday: May 17, 2010
- PopCap offers up Mac gaming bundle, get your Peggle and Zuma on.
Got fifty bucks laying around and don't know what to do with it? Why not put it to some mind-numbing addictive casual video game use. As an added bonus some of these games can be quite therapeutic after a long day of work.
Wednesday: May 12, 2010
- Apple seems to have lost yet another iPhone prototype.
Here we go again - not sure how Apple would've been able to make the same mistake twice given the publicity of the last prototype that was lost. A teardown of the device has revealed an Apple branded microchip, just like the iPad.
Monday: May 10, 2010
- Android manages to outsell the iPhone in smartphone sales for the first time.
Verizon (30%), T-Mobile (17%) and Sprint (15%) make up the bulk of the rest of the market. The numbers may also reflect the late lifecycle of the iPhone 3GS compared to the newer android devices. Apple is also widely expected to revise the iPhone in the next month.
Monday: April 26, 2010
- Adobe to work on speeding up Flash video thanks to new Apple APIs.
In the recent Mac OS X 10.6.3 update, Apple added a Video Decode Acceleration Framework for accessing H.264 decoding hardware present in the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 320M, and GT 330M GPUs. It turns out that this is precisely one of the APIs Adobe was hoping for.
Thursday: April 15, 2010
- Daily Grind: Caffeinated
Name: Vin (aka hyper-hypo)
Occupation: Webmaster / Procrastinator / Dad
How Vin feels today: Caffeinated @ 12:51:25 PM
What Vin really wants today: To remind self the next time I order a medium coffee at the local coffee shop that its quite large rather than medium. Enjoy unnecessary caffeine boost, attempt to post additional links to make up for yesterday.Music Stuck in Head: Big Bang Baby / Stone Temple Pilots
Any song that mentions Orange Crush in the lyrics is OK in my book. And by book I really mean magazine. And by magazine I really mean pamphlet. And by pamphlet I mean - whatever, the list is short.Stuff to do today:
- Go to Apple Cube over on Fifth Ave
- Remark that overall feeling and general consensus of the iPad was... underwhelming
- ...its kinda heavy for everyday use - especially as an e-reader
- ...typing on the device is not exactly a joy either
- Interface was pretty neat but if you have an iPhone you've been there
- On the other hand, that newly updated MacBook Pro is quite awesome
- ...and freakin' fast (even the base Intel i5 model screams)
- Save money for next major purchase
Tuesday: April 13, 2010
- Apple finally pulls the curtain back on Macbook Pro notebook refresh.
Said notebook refresh brings the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros over to speedier Intel i5 and i7 chips. According to some early benchmarks these machines are about 50% faster than the previous generation. Sadly, the 13-inch model is still stuck in Core 2 Duo land.
Monday: April 12, 2010
- Updated MacBook Pro notebook configurations finally coming out this week?
It certainly wouldn't be the first time that rumors like this have come around and it certainly won't be the last time either. I'll be patiently refreshing the Apple Store website tomorrow morning just in case though.
Tuesday: April 6, 2010
- Apple sends out invites for iPhone 4.0 preview event.
The month of Apple continues to roll on as the media will surely continue coverage of the iPad, iPhone, iPod now that this little event has been announced. The new software update is rumored to have some interface refreshes and some possible multi-tasking in there as well.
- Turns out that most iPad owners already own an iPhone or another Mac. Who knew?
About 66 percent of those surveyed said that they currently own an iPhone. A whopping 99 percent of those iPhone owners say they will use their handset in conjunction with the iPad.
Monday: April 5, 2010
- Yes, the Apple iPad has already been jailbroken - it only took one day.
A jailbreak was virtually expected following the iPad's launch, but the rapid discovery has shown that the iPhone 3.2 firmware used on the device hasn't patched all of the security holes that were present in the 3.1.3 code.
Thursday: March 18, 2010
- Amazon pulls the curtain back on brand new Kindle app for the Mac.
Want to give e-reading a whirl without the aid of a Kindle or other e-book reading gadget? Amazon is here to save the day with a free download to do just that. The average Kindle book will set you back about ten bucks.
Tuesday: March 9, 2010
- Photoblog: Sunshine Yellow
Another quick macro shot snapped up while doodling with the kids using an obvious assorted array of crayons. Taste the rainbow.
Location:Eastchester, New York
Monday: March 8, 2010
- Steam distribution service for gaming officially coming to the Mac platform.
After some very well placed teasers last week, Valve has predictably pulled the curtain bac k on Steam for Mac gamers. Aside from the distribution platform, there will also be Mac-native versions of several their popular games coming in the very near future (next month) as well.
Thursday: March 4, 2010
- Steam gaming platform most likely coming to the Mac platform in the very near future.
There are currently over a thousand games on the Steam distribution system that Mac users may get access to sooner than later. Now you just need to find yourself a Mac with a decent enough graphics card to play some of these fine games (sadly, my wimpy MacBook Intel GMA card will most likely not cut it).
- Latest MacHeist bundle brings cheap software and adventure gaming to your Mac.
The fact that the recently released Mac version of Tales of Monkey Island is included in this bundle makes the entire deal worthwhile (assuming the number of purchases surpasses 50,000 - it probably will). The entire bundle will set you back just twenty bucks and you'll end up with some other neat apps as well.
Wednesday: February 24, 2010
- Support for front-facing camera found hidden within the iPad SDK code.
Along with the references to camera in the code, others have even discovered GUI elements that reference it as well. Perhaps there are still some suprises in store for the iPad or maybe this is just for future-proofing version two.
Thursday: February 18, 2010
- New Apple products might be arriving tomorrow according to Best Buy inventory systems.
Dear Apple, please release an updated version of the MacBook Pro so I can eagerly give you my hard-earned cash to replace my aging plastic (cracking along the edges I might add) regular MacBook.
Wednesday: February 10, 2010
- Apple pulls the curtain back on new version of Aperture.
So yesterday's big update was the unveiling of the new version of Aperture rather than new MacBook Pros. New version of said includes Faces, Places and Brushes. Faces and Places will be quite familiar to iPhoto '09 users. Joy.
Tuesday: February 9, 2010
- Macbook Pro models might be getting an update in the very near future.
This news comes after a Best Buy employee snapped a pic of their inventory screen with old models no longer being available for order. Oh, and the Apple Store is also down this morning. Coincidence? Eh, who knows.
Wednesday: February 3, 2010
- New Apple patent may bring touch sensitive bezels to future iPads.
I actually am quite addicted to using hot corners functionality on my beloved copy of Mac OS X for various tasks. This seems like it would be an absolute perfect fit for the iPad's overly thick bezel.
Friday: January 29, 2010
- Telltale might be porting all of their games over to the Mac in the near future.
This is great news for Mac users if this turns out to be true. It's a little annoying to switch over to my Windows partition just to enjoy these games. There are also rumors that we may see Telltale on the iPad as well.
Tuesday: January 19, 2010
- Apple sends out invites for press event scheduled for January 27th.
The text on the colorful invite simply says 'come see our latest creation'. Most of the major news sites (especially Fox News who claims they have a confirmation from an inside source) are convinced that the we will finally get a glimpse of the non-fabled tablet in the very near future.
Thursday: January 14, 2010
- Intel sales promotion snafu reveals Macbook Pro about to get an upgrade.
A sales promotion for Intel retailers offers a chance to win a MacBook Pro featuring a Core i5 processor during the month of January, though such a machine does not currently exist in Apple's lineup.
Wednesday: January 13, 2010
- Leaked photo of Apple tablet glass component surfaces on the Interwebs.
If this leaked photo (not pictured - click over to source link to view) turns out to be the real deal it looks like the fabled Apple table may take the shape of an oversized iPhone after all. I'm a little doubtful on this one.
Thursday: December 24, 2009
- Fabled Apple tablet may finally appear in January thanks to blessing of Steve Jobs.
According to MacRumors, Steve Jobs is quite happy with how the device turned out. There's also that little rumor going around about a media event at the end of January in which Apple has asked certain developers to convert their apps to 'full-screen' use.
Monday: December 21, 2009
- Nine of the worst tech movies according to CNN.
OK, I can agree with most of the choices on this list but said list could have easily been doubled due to the amount of silly technology that has appeared in movies over the years. Case in point: Independence Day. In which Jeff Goldblum's character manages to hack an alien computer... using Mac OS 9.
Wednesday: December 16, 2009
- A collection of the most popular free Mac downloads of 2009.
Some interesting bits of free software to try out if you haven't already. I still haven't gotten around to testing out Google Chrome on the beloved Mac. I'll be giving that a whirl today. Also, it's a shame that Magnifique doesn't work with Snow Leopard - would've liked to try that one out as well.
Wednesday: December 9, 2009
- Google decides to release their Chrome browser for Mac and Linux.
Google has also pulled the curtain back on an extensions library (which is still in beta) but currently they only work for Windows and Linux versions of Chrome. I'll still give this browser a whirl on the Mac for giggles.
Monday: November 16, 2009
- Apple deals another legal blow to Mac clone manufacturer, Psystar.
Judge William Alsup's court of Northern California ruled in Apple's favour on all counts. Psystar is now likely to face claims for damages from Steve Jobs. Psystar is attempting a parallel defence in Florida, where the firm is based.
