Thinest All-in-one Macintosh Ever

iMac

The latest iMac (2004) is the thinest All-in-one Macintosh ever produced by Apple.

This is also the fastest iMac ever produced by Apple since the its introduction in 1998; when Apple brought the world the candy colours Macintosh. Then it shock the world with the half-moon 360° movable LCD screen iMac. Apple later speed bumped the processor and up the size of the iMac screen to an unbelievable; for this class of computer, 20″ LCD.

Now, September 2004, Apple introduced a LCD panel with the computer built-in and a lightning speed PowerPC G5 processor that was previously only available in Apple’s top of the line desktop computers.

Aside from its quick IBM’s G5 processor, it also comes with 2 different LCD sizes (17″ and 20″ ) to choose from plus a full collection of connection ports (USB, Firewire [a.k.a. iLink, IEEE 1394]) you ever want.

iMac

  • • All systems come with 256MB of RAM with a maximum of 2GB occupying 2 SIMM slots;
  • • A choice of either a slot loading Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) or Super Drive (DVD-R/CD-RW);
  • • A NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB, which is good enough for most graphic needs;
  • • An optical audio out so you can view your DVDs with true 5.1 Surround sound;
  • • Optional Bluetooth and WiFi built-in wireless connections.

With all this power and options starting at HKD10,300 to approximately HKD15,300, that’s a very good deal. With the built-in Bluetooth option you can take advantage of Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and with the built-in WiFi (802.11g/b) you will not have any wires to the iMac accept for the power cord.

If anyone wants a low cost machine this is definitely the one to consider; particular for those who do not need the convenience and portability of a notebook.

Movie Review: Man on Fire (2004)

Poster

My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I went to see the movie “Man on Fire” at AMC, Festival Walk. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

This is a remake of the original movie back in 1987, staring Scott Glenn. Majority of the movie had me capsulated but unfortunately I was still distracted by celluar phones going off.

Denzel Washington did a very good job, playing a character which he played many times before in other movies.

The ending is a bit disappointing and unlike the 1987 version. If I tell you any more I will give away the plot.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Alpine’s Solution for iPod Owners

A month and a half ago I told you about Dension’s “Ice>Link:iPod” and now Alpine has announced its own integrated solution for its line of audio head units.

Unlike the Dension solution, Alpine’s solution will only be compatible with Apline head units.

It will be available through Apline resellers in September 2004.

HP’s New iPod Tattoos

With HP’s launch of the new “Apple iPod by HP” (the result of an Apple HP partnership), it also announced the availability of “HP iPod Tattoos”.

To get to the list of HP iPod Tattoos, you will have to click on the lower left hand image of the center Flash image within the HP Digital Image web page.
HPiPod1

At this resulting screen you will see Flash movie animations of each of the available tattoos from HP. The images below are examples of the Vanessa Carlton album cover.

HPiPod2 HPiPod3

According to HP, there will be clear tattoo sheets available in which you can print your own designs. Of course this is another way to sell HP printers and HP Ink. They also mentioned that they are working with record companies to make available to consumers more album cover art.

For the die hard iPod lovers I think they may choose to stick to the clear tattoo sheet to avoid tampering with their beautifully designed white iPod.

Unfortunately, none of the material I read from HP mentioned the Macintosh. It even fail to mention that the Apple iPod by HP is “Macintosh compatible”. I will presume the required software to print to these clear tattoo sheets will be Windows specific software.

Also of note, at the time of announcement there do not seem to be “tattoo sheets” available for the iPod Mini.

I guess this is another opportunity for 3rd party to come in and fill the holes left by Apple and HP.

Movie Review: Garfield the Movie (2004)

Poster

My Rating: 3Stars

This afternoon I went to see the movie “Garfield the Movie” at AMC, Festival Walk.

I watched the cartoon when I was young and had a “love & hate” relationship with Garfield. I always thought of Garfield’s character as a fat, lazy and sarcastic cat. This movie tried very hard to maintain that stereotype created by the cartoon, but failed in many ways.

If I was the casting director I would cast Jack Nicholson rather than Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield. In Hong Kong, for the Cantonese version, they chose a perfect actor, “Lau Ching Wan”, for Garfield’s voice. Of all the actors in Hong Kong, if someone was to ask me who reminds me of Garfield the most, I would say “Lau Ching Wan”. This is not because Lau Ching Wan is one of my favorite Hong Kong actor. Some of the other great movies that Lau Ching Wan had stared in that I would recommend are “Running Out of Time” and “Running Out of Time 2“.

May be I need to see the Cantonese version to like this movie. I guess that will have to wait if and when I purchase the DVD.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Movie Review: Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Poster

My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I went to see the movie “Bourne Supremacy” at Broadway Cinema, Olympian Plaza. Another late addition to my Must See Movies list.

This is the 3rd sequel I’ve seen this year after “Spider-man 2” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, and I must say this one did live up to its predecessor. It had the numerous chase scenes that was prevalent in the previous movie “Bourne Identity”.

If I say any more I will just give away the movie for you, just go watch it and see it for yourself. One thing I can tell you, they set it up so that there may be a possible 3rd version in the sequel.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Discovery of Gundam

Gundam
Believe it or not. It was only a week ago that I got hooked on Gundam. I am still learning about this, so any mistakes please forgive me.

Gundam is a Japanese cartoon of “Mecha”. In the cartoon each of these Mechas are driven by an individual. There are both good and bad ones, from different cartoon series.

What I got hooked on are the models for this Mecha. There are basically three different grades of models available: High Grade, Master Grade and Perfect Grade. The latter being the highest grrade. The difference being the details of the model and the number of parts required to put together a complete model. Aside from grades there are also different scale models the most popular being the 1:144 and 1:100. I believe the Master Grade is only available in scale of 1:100 and above.

I am fortunate to live in Hong Kong where these models are readily available and like most other things in Hong Kong, the stores are all concentrated in the same general area (“Mong Kok”). Of course there is always “Toys R Us”, but then I later found out is the most expensive place in Hong Kong to get them.

You can see my first collection in my Flickr photo album

iPod & Your Car

IceLink

For many years, iPod users like myself had been fumbling with various devices that allow us to pipe tunes from our iPods through the car audio system.

These solutions had been a combination of cigarette lighter connector for power and then a separate device for the audio. The latter being either a wireless FM Tuner or a tape cassette adapter. These sort of solutions resulted in cords laid out on our vehicle’s console. Then when you park your car, like me, you will go through the ritual of unplugging everything from your iPod and then packing it way.

Now Dension has come to our rescue. The Budapest, Hungary audio supply manufacture has come out with the product they called “Ice>Link:iPod”.

The Dension products is available with different connectors for various car manufactures’ built-in and after-market audio manufactures’ audio systems.

It will also display the current playing track’s ID3 Tag information on your head unit. The amount of information displayed depends on the head unit being connected.

All in all this Ice>Link:iPod product is a very clean solution for iPod owners who happens to also be drivers.

The product is available now at Dension retailers around the world.