2009
01.10
…and maybe slap your gramma, but I’m not that type.
UPDATE: I’ve put the download of Windows 7 English 32-bit up here. Note that you’ll still need a key from Microsoft. Get it quick, before my bandwidth runs out!
In all seriousness, the response to Microsoft’s new operating system, due out when Microsoft is good and ready (a close paraphrase of their words at the recent Consumer Electronics Show), was absolutely phenomenal. Microsoft said it themselves. So phenomenal, in fact, that they had to farm out downloads of Windows 7 to Akamai, an outfit known for providing high-speed downloads at high prices, and one who is incidentally just a few hops away from the Mines network.
Server troubles aside, put succinctly, Windows 7 gives the performance of Windows XP with the features of Windows Vista…and then some. As anyone who downloads the beta will find, the operating system is stable enough to be used in a production environment (I’m doing just that) and feature-complete enough that, in most cases, you won’t miss whatever version of Windows came on your coputer for its system-centric addons.
Windows 7 has been retooled a fair amount so it will take some getting used to, especially if you’re upgrading directly from Windows XP. Though you can change some settings beck to their old positions, some streamlining on Widnows 7 is irreversible.
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2009
01.10
Another Apple announcement: DRM-free iTunes…all of ‘em. Or rather, 80% of their library now 100% in a few months. But the devil’s in the details:
- Tiered pricing. If a song is new and/or popular, Apple pushes the price up to $1.29 for the single.Old songs are 69 cents. The remaining lot are 99 cents still. Seems like albums are still $9.99.
- Not all songs are DRM-free yet. I just purchased a song from iTunes a few days ago, after Apple’s announcement of their going DRM-free. The song wasn’t available elsewhere online, at least not from the DRM-free stores I frequent (AmazonMP3 and Lala). It was 99 cents, 128 kbps and laced with FairPlay DRM. Wonderful, just wonderful.
- Got DRMed songs in your library? Double the bitrate and unlock the DRM, all for only 30 cents per song. What, you say? nearly one-third the price I paid for the song itself? Yep, welcome to Apple.
2009
01.10
Nope, not spam. Not what she said, either. Apple on Tuesday released its second notebook to have a built-in battery, and this one’s the biggie in the family.
The Macbook Pro 17″, in its six-and-a-half-pound “unibody” incarnation, will have a non-user-replaceable battery. Roughly comparable to a ten-cell unit form anywhere else, this lithium polymer unit sits below the front-right side of the notebook’s casing, and propels the LED-backlit 17-inch model of Apple’s pro notebook to a crazy eight hours of battery life if you use integrated graphics, seven if you use the Macbook Pro’s dedicated chip.
I gotta ask, why?
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