This is new to me.  I’m sure it isn’t new to many, but I felt it would be worth a quick post.  Last night I was configuring an old iPhone for a friend.  In order to activate the old phone and unlock it, I had to pop in a SIM for a moment.  So inserted SIM, let it activate/unlock and then removed the SIM and got to work syncing music etc.  I noticed that the Voicemail icon had an alert.  Low and behold there were voicemails from the other SIM, accessible even after the SIM was removed.

I’m sure my use case was unusual, but keep it in mind if you are mucking about with iPhones a lot.

In May 2007, we ran the second Irish Lotus User Group event.  It was a 2 day, Dublin based geekfest, kicking off a new model of “grass roots” conference and organised by people with no clue what they were doing, in their own time, for free.  And somehow, we pulled it off.  It was my favourite LUG event and I have very very fond memories of the run up, organising and the event itself..

At the end, this community did something special for the organisers and I was introduced to Macs with my first Macbook as a gift.  Actually, a blackbook.

I have been on them since.  This wee Intel Core 2 Duo with 128GB drive and 1GB RAM was smokin fast at the time.  After a few years I replaced with a 15inch MBP, and have since replaced that model with a 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD Monster MBP, which even though it is 2 years old, is still super fast.  In the meantime, my blackbook was put out on loan.  The only condition was it was to be returned when it was finished with.  I could never sell a gift.

Tonight, it was finished with and it’s back with me.

It is old, slow, worn but still works perfectly.  Although I had owned many pieces of hardware before this, the blackbook was the first piece of technology I had an affection for.  Always reliable, it brought me into Macs, travelled the world and never once let anyone down.  Getting it back reminds me of happier times and how good people can be to each other.  It will have a treasured place in my house.

I forgot to post this until I received an email asking for the updated version last night.  The speedgeeking session on Apple Macs and IBM Notes (Updated for Mountain Lion) is available on the resources page.

The iWatch will fill a gaping hole in the Apple ecosystem. It will facilitate and coordinate not only the activities of all the other computers and devices we use, but a wide array of devices to come. Like other breakthrough Apple products, it’s value will be underestimated at launch, then grow to have a profound impact on our lives and Apple’s fortunes.

I have a Pebble on pre-order.  If Apple creates a watch with the functionality listed in this article, I will buy it.  Excellent article.  Worth a read.

Time Machine and I have not been friends.  But so far in Mountain Lion it has seemed reliable.  And the ability to backup to multiple drives without reconfiguring is good for the soul.

My original iPad is getting a new home. So my purchase was more out of necessity than desire. While in the Apple store in Belfast I picked up the 32gb Wifi model for myself. Although reviews have been done to death I thought I would give my 2c.

Can I be the first to not go on about the screen on the new iPad? The problem with the iPad1 (and especially the iPad2 with cameras) compared to the iPad”3″ is that there is not much functional difference. From an engineer’s perspective I can still do work on my iPad1, watch movies, listen to music, use my SIP gateway, Traveler, Connections, rdp, vnc and a lot more. The difference to me is speed. As new OS’s came out the iPad1 got slower and slower. Screen touch software needs to be responsive as there is no tactile response that lets you know you have clicked something. You need to see it happen. On the original model, you could be left waiting quite a few seconds for the processor to catch up with your fingers.

The iPad3 is fast. Well fast. Go faster stripes fast. It makes my experience a lot better. Yeah the screen is great, but that is lost on me. I am yet to use the camera. But it is now much more responsive to my needs.

You have 2 choices.

1. Start a new backup, which means wait while the old backups are purged from the NAS, then wait while the 400GB of data is backed up over the LAN to my ReadyNAS
2. “Back up later”.  Ignore the problem and hope it fixes itself over the next day.  And while you wait, you have no backup

Thank you apple, for the choices.  Grumble grumble.

Start your downloads folks

Steve, you changed the way people look at computers, software, music and more. You will be missed.

Steve leaves and things just start falling apart.