iestyn.net » review

Macs don’t just work

Iestyn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:05:46 +0000

Just over a month ago I bought my first Mac – a 13″ MacBook Pro. As a long-time user of Microsoft products, and vocal opponent of Mac evangelists, I thought it would be a good idea to approach this with an open mind, and for me to blog my experiences and thoughts.

Over the last few years, a number of minds I respect have moved to OSX, and claim it’s superior to Windows in many ways. Thinking they can’t all be wrong, and wanting to try some iPhone development, I thought it was time to bite the bullet and get a Mac.

At first, everything worked beautifully, and I was rather hooked. However, since installing Snow Leopard, I’ve been plagued with problems; at first the current application would freeze, and clicking on other ones would cause those to freeze too, and I’d be left watching the spinning beachball of busyness. After a minute or so the system would suddenly start working again. Then two days ago, the machine wouldn’t wake up, and I was left staring at either a grey screen, a grey screen with an apple, a grey screen with an apple and frozen spinning thing, or at a blue screen with a cursor. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll be more than aware of these problems.

After trying various suggestions I managed to get it working again by formatting the disk, then installing Snow Leopard. Everything was fine for a day of use, but then this morning it’s decided that Time Machine can’t backup any more, and while it’s failing to do that, all of my open applications stop responding.

It looks like it’s probably a hardware problem, so I’ll take it back to the store tomorrow, and ask for a refund. If I was a less patient man I wouldn’t bother trying again, but I realise that I’ve had a ‘bad apple’ so to speak.

I hope that I’ll be in possession of a working Mac soon, and be able to write down some thoughts without them being sullied by what has been, quite frankly, a complete waste of my time.

I leave you now with a video and a few photos…

Weather Pro – iPhone

Iestyn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:44:52 +0000

Since I was young I’ve always been interested in the weather, no doubt instilled by my father’s experience at the Met Office. I fondly remember poring over cloud charts, and having isobars, warm fronts, and cold fronts explained, although I must admit I haven’t retained much knowledge of that. When a storm-chasing colleage of mine recently showed me Weather Pro, I was rather taken by the satellite and radar views of Europe. Sadly no isobars here, but there are rather nice animated satellite and radar maps:

It’s also a pretty handy gague of the weather each day, with a forecast for your location every 3 hours:

I’ve recently found this app very handy, what with our typical unsettled British summer! My iPhone wakes me up in the morning, I check Twitter, check BBC News, check my email, check the weather so I know what to wear, then get up. I’d be lost without my iPhone..

So in summary, Weather pro is OK. It’s nothing special, only covers Europe, and the satellite and radar views are chronologcally a little short. It does the job though. I wouldn’t mind finding a better weather app. If you know of one, let me know!

Mini-Review: Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Iestyn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:35:21 +0000

I heard Be Kind Rewind was a genuinely funny, heart-warming film. It’s not. It’s really really tedious.

Jack Black: you can do better than this. I hope.

3/10

Mini-review: The Cottage (2008)

Iestyn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:33:21 +0000

Someone at work said The Cottage was funny. They were lying, perhaps setting up some kind elaborate joke whereby they could laugh at my misfortune. They succeeded. It’s absolute rubbish. There’s a few funny bits, involving a spade and a foot, but that’s about it.

Don’t bother watching it unless you really can’t think of anything better to do, like stapling your face to the wall.

4/10

Mini-review: 21 (2008)

Iestyn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:30:21 +0000

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kevin Spacey, legally fleecing casinos – these are all good things. 21 had a good start, an OK ending, but halfway through I found myself reading a photography magazine, so it can’t have been too gripping.

A slightly dull 6/10

Mini-review: WALL-E (2008)

Iestyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:04:43 +0000

Although Pixar’s work is excellent, I’m not a huge fan of this style of animated films (I make an exception for some Anime) . However, I am a great fan of robots, be they large, small, retro or, well, anything (although that’s a different story).

In short, WALL-E rocked! Amazing animation, a great storyline, and, well, loads of robots. Which is always a good thing.
The animated short before the feature was also excellent, and did seem to be inspired by the awesome game Portal.

A very happy 9/10

Mini-review: Batman: The Dark Knight (2008)

Iestyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:55:33 +0000

I saw The Dark Knight recently. I was a great fan of the previous film, so I hoped this would be at least as good.
Sadly, I thought it was overhyped rubbish. A shame, as I quite like action flicks like this.
Heath Ledger was OK, but nothing special. I found it very difficult to hear what was going on in the film, and people behind me kept talking, which did nothing to improve my opinion.

I see Charlie Brooker agrees..

A dissapointing 6/10

Mini-review: Threads (1984)

Iestyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:47:24 +0000

Sunday evening, we decide to watch Threads. It’s simultaneously the best and the worst film I’ve ever seen. It’s based around global thermonuclear war, from the point of view of survivors in Sheffield.
Chilling, harrowing, yet compulsive. It’ll make you view what’s going on in Georgia in a different light.
Everyone should see this film.
An extremely rare 10/10.

Update: you can watch the whole thing on Google Video

Mini reviews

Iestyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:45:38 +0000

For a while i’ve been thinking of writing a paragraph or two about things i’ve experienced recently, be it films, things i’ve bought, games i’ve played and so on.
First on my list is the 1984 docudramafilm Threads.