Ordered a 21.5″ iMac (3.06GHz) for my dad to replace his old computer (which is also my previous desktop computer). Actually suppose to order 2 sets. One for my Dad to put it at home and the other for my mom to replace her old Fujitsu laptop in the office. However, my mom got some doubts about the Mac OS X and software compatibility issues and hence ended up getting 1 set for my dad first. In the mean time she can play around with it at home before making a final decision.
Since I am still technically a student, I made use of the Education Store and hence it is cheaper by S$100. The iMac cost S$1,688. I also topped up another S$218 for Apple Care so that the warranty will get extended by another 2 years.
One advantage living close to DHL’s Keppel’s Distribution Center is that my house will always be the first stop which means I always get it at 10am. Tested and proven by me many times. I even asked the courier guy from DHL and he says that my house will always be the first stop when they plan the route.
I have been addicted to Apple’s Push Notification Service ever since I bought Prowl. There are endless possibilities on what you can do with Push Notifications.
The Apple Push Notification Service is a mobile service created by Apple Inc. that was released with iPhone OS 3.0 on the 17th June 2009. It uses push technology through a constantly-open IP connection to forward notifications from the servers of third party applications to the iPhone or iPod Touch; such notifications may include badges, sounds or custom text alerts.
I was there last year at the Singtel iPhone 3G Launch queuing up for the iPhone 3G as a normal consumer. This year I was also there, but with a media pass. I was there pretty early at about 1.30pm because I have to go to Funan to run some errands. The media event started at about 3.30pm. We are brought around the Comcenter by Yuen Kuan Moon, the EVP of Consumer from Singtel. He explains to us the various part of the queue structure and how the customers will move about when queuing. Apart from that, Singtel announced a new service called Mio TV on Mobile. Customers can get to stream live tv stream from Channel 8, Channel News Asia, Bloomberg and a few others. It is not an iPhone App, but rather the streaming is done in Safari itself. It is pretty impressive as the quality is watchable and it doesn’t lag.
According to Kuan Moon, this year the response was much better than last year. He did not give an exact figure but he says in thousands. Last year the launch of iPhone 3G is basically register of interest and user still have to queue up. But this year, Singtel did a pre-order and require the customers to make a deposit of S$50 before queuing. There is also a separate queue for walk-in customers which closes at about 9pm due to the overwhelming response on the pre-order queue.
Apple refreshes its iPod Shuffle, now available in 4GB only for S$128. Instead of an array of colors available, now there are only 2 colors, silver and black. The design has also been changed, it now looks vertical instead of square. Despite the lack of a screen, Apple introduces a feature called “Voice Over”. Also in the new design, there are no more controls on the player itself. The controls are now located on the right earbud cord.
Easy access controls
The controls of the new iPod shuffle are located on the right earbud cord. With command central now strategically placed in this more convenient location, you can navigate your music – and activate the VoiceOver feature – without taking your eyes off your run, your ride, or whatever youâre doing.
Mac Mini
Mac Mini now comes with Intel Core 2 processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card.
iMac
iMac now comes in 4 flavors, one 20 incher and three 24 incher powered by Intel Core 2 processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M or NVIDIA GeForce GT 120/130 graphics.
Apple Announces Safari 4. Safari 4 is built on the worldâs most advanced browser technologies including the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.
Apple is leading the industry in defining and implementing innovative web standards such as HTML 5 and CSS 3 for an entirely new class of web applications that feature rich media, graphics and fonts. Safari 4 includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies so web-based applications can store information locally without an Internet connection, and is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Safari 4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Projectâs Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.