Mark Tennent

They are watching us and here’s the proof

Mark Tennent — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:45:42 +0000

The following images are the track of a person’s journey from Edgware to Worthing. These are just about the scariest images I’ve seen because all that was needed was a tiny, in-car gizmo, satellites did the rest. (more…)

A wrinkle in Time Machine

Mark Tennent — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:26:25 +0000

Those of us lucky enough to get a new Mac from time to time (hum hum) will be thanking Apple for Time Machine. It takes all the hassle out of setting up a new Mac, a task that used to take days to install, register, configure and upgrade all the applications. As our recent experience found, Time Machine archives are a rich ground for ardent tinkerers who never RTFM. And if they do they don’t believe all they read. (more…)

Cheap as chips

Mark Tennent — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:09:21 +0000

Apple’s products are often derided as over-priced and over-hyped even though real-life comparisons of like-for-like computers would show otherwise. Certainly, Apple’s products are never cheap but there is a way to get them at a considerably lower cost and it doesn’t mean talking to a bloke in the pub.

How does saving 65% off the cost of an 8-core 3.0GHz Mac Pro sound? The usual price would be nearly five grand but it could be could be delivered to you for fifteen hundred quid, complete with Apple’s cast iron guarantee. Maybe you are looking for a laptop or iMac or even an Apple Xserve – all available at huge discounts, ready to ship in 24 hours. As the UPS delivery man said, “Even the boxes look good”.

On the button
The Apple Store web site has a little button called Special Deals hidden in plain view down the right hand side of the screen. Stock changes on a daily basis and includes iPods, iPhones as well as other Apple kit and special offers.

Just to sweeten the deal, there is a very helpful chap at Apple named Gerard McPartlan, who if you ring him on 0800 039 9901 ext 89664, he will do his best to make you a happy shopper before and after your purchase.

Rough Wiis do shake the darlings

Mark Tennent — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:28:22 +0000

According to a survey by Sheila’s Wheels insurance company, 20% of female Wii users have caused an average of £6.55 damage to themselves or their property, adding up to a total of £20.1 million. The most common injury is pulling a muscle during energetic Wii-ing and some have even ended up in hospital. (more…)

Me Too

Mark Tennent — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:08:12 +0000

The only problem with Apple is they just can’t do tacky. What was the first thing that came to mind when they announced mac.com’s name change to ‘MobileMe’? Mini-Me of course. Unless they were thinking of the Britpop one-hit-wonders Me Me Me or the iTunes track of the same name sporting an ‘Explicit’ warning tag. (more…)

Carbon Dating

Mark Tennent — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:10:39 +0000

In the week following the latest Mac System upgrade to 10.5.3, the next upgrade to 10.5.4 is already under test and rumours populate the Net of the next biggie, Mac OS X 10.6 also currently known as Snow Leopard. The biggest surprise is that 10.6 will drop support for PowerPC processors and for Carbon – both yet unsubstantiated – so it can move to pure 64 bit addressing. (more…)

10.5.3 and Time Machine

Mark Tennent — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:13:15 +0000

The latest Mac OS X upgrade is available at a Software Update near you. Apart from fixing loads of glitches, it also messes with Time Machine and some upgraders, this one included, have had mixed results after the upgrade. For more details go to the Discussions on Apples Support pages, here. (more…)

Reasonably priced car hit by star

Mark Tennent — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:23:34 +0000

Is it suspicious that just a few laps from the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, the F1 star driving a posh red Fiat drove straight into the back of the Force India car in front, which was beating him? A car which is, coincidentally, also powered by a posh Fiat engine and is normally found lurking around the back of the grid. If Fiat’s star had been beaten by Force India he would have dropped way down this years driver’s championship, below his own team mate, probably to end up among the mid-field also-rans. One hopes that Force India gets a good discount on their next engine delivery from Fiat. (more…)

A bad Tool always blames the browser

Mark Tennent — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:01:38 +0000

Just how difficult is it to make a website nowadays? One which conforms to WWW3 standards, avoids browser or operating system-specific commands such as ActiveX and “just works”? (more…)

Mac to my Back

Mark Tennent — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:55:04 +0000

When the temperature outside starts with a 3 you know you have problems. A single digit, Fahrenheit, or preceded by a minus (as is often the case in Montreal and other under-developed parts of the world) means it is what is technically known as bloody freezing. A single digit after the 3, as in the southern half of the UK this weekend, the correct term is bloody hot. Unless you are measuring in the Rømer scale in which case you will be dead. (more…)