1. Battle royale by Koushun Takami. While graphically violent, it definitely served the plot very well and proved to be a most excellent and gripping novel and was impossible to put down- the dystopian backstory certainly adds to the plot.
2. Flow, My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick, a true science-fiction masterwork; and definitely a story with several more reads in it for me. I also purchased Dr. Bloodmoney- but have misplaced that when coming back from Cornwall.
3. Python in a Nutshell from the O’Reilly press; a very fast paced book about python which Timothéus picked up for me at GUADEC for a happily reduced price.
4. Not strictly reading, but for some music I wholeheartedly recommend Peter Gabriel’s 3, 4 and Still Growing Up Live (DVD).

The new theme is also going to mark a whole new version of themak.org, the move from the brilliant PALGN free hosting to an ASO shared hosting plan where I will also move this blog from WordPress to a hand made django weblog platform.

I now only have 4 exams left until I’ve finished with my GCSEs, and I feel fairly confident about how I’ve done (which is good) and I’m now only a few short days away from purchasing my guitar and hosting package.

21. Copious Amount of Freeware While it is true that Download.com lists less freeware for the Mac, I highly doubt that you will find yourself using or even having installed all of these 50,000 pieces of freeware. Since MacOSX is mostly POSIX compatible, it can easily run most open source software. And the mac developer community is vibrant and the quality of software for the Mac is generally higher.
22. What is it With Steve Jobs? They trust Ballmer more than Jobs? What can I say?
    
    Dance, Monkeyboy, Dance?
23. The Menu is Where? Where it has always been. The Mac interface predates the Windows one and the menu bar adheres far better to Fitts law than the Windows one. Just imagine an MDI that fills the whole screen (and lacks the fugly background), that’s more the Mac idea.
24. Full Selection of Peripherals. The Mac would really benefit
25. Build Your Own Computer. Point 6, the third time. Besides, personal taste is generally subjective, but it isn’t beige.
26. The Apps Don’t Crash!Far more common (to crash) than a PC! I laugh. Sh*t shovelling the registry to increase MTBBSOD was amongst the reason I switched. If Mac Apps crash- I ask you to name them. It may take a reboot for you, but with my mac I can ‘killall’ the app before it takes the kernal down.
27. Tablets and Touchscreens. I want a tablet macbook. So do many mac users. I hope Apple make one. These guys do however.
28. You don’t need as much RAM. The Mac implementation of VM may leave lot’s to be desired. However, lower system overheads mean you don’t need as much RAM on a MAC as a PC. 512mb is powering my mini quite happily on the latest OSX and software. My friend just put another 2gb in his Vista box to make it run. Sheeowsh.
29. A Mac’s Delete Key Doesn’t Delete. Yes it does, it just deleted what I was about to call you for mistaking the UI for the file browser. Besides, it’s actually a forwards backspace key. Although, I have to admit that this quirk annoyed me for a while. Also command-delete works.
30. Apple Doesn’t Like Meddling. No, they don’t. Getting into an EMI shell means that you can easily brick a system. If you’re really hellbent on doing it: there’s a program called rEFIt to do the job.
31. PCs are greener. Who’d of thought? Greenpeace bashing a popular company? The lower power requirements and the non presence of an identifyable Vista Upgrade layer in our tips.
32. Best for Begginers. PCPRO beleive that PCs are best for begginers. The real world doesn’t. After switching my grandparents to use Macs, they get far more out of their computers. There was no problem with having to perform a solid day of maintenance on their computer 6 months later running complex updates etc. on their machine. And I remote controll it through VNC.

Well, to be brutally frank this was the worst PCPRO that I have ever read. Ever. Over the time I have read it, it has changed. It’s also a lot smaller nowadays. The articles comparing PCs to Mac are incredibly bigoted. Now the only reason that I’ll pick up a copy is to read the Real World Computing and it’s Open Source section. (Page 184.) Interestingly, there is more MacOSX in their Real World Computing than their feature piece.

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11. Sensible Support Costs
    PCPRO have made a valid point here; the support plans available for Macs is far less than a PC. However, Apple products have almost always placed in the top 5 for fewest product returns. Also, where they state that most computer shops only service PC’s- they are only counting the PC worlds anti-mac bias. It’s possible to find a shop to service your apple gear.
12. Microsoft’s on your team. No they’re not. With activation and Windows Genuine Are You A Thief? Microsoft are clearly not on your team.
13. Black’s still the new black
    In making this point, PCPRO are implying that Macs are quick to go out of fashion. Then how come older macs can still sell for very respectable prices (far more than equally old PCs).
14. The CD-ROM has an eject button.
    I suppose it does, but then again which is best is entirely a matter of preference. And it’s notable to say that most Macs nowadays use slot-loading drives, which are naturally more convenient to eject via software.
15. No Confusing Version Numbers.
    Apple only sell one version of OSX, and for PCPROs claim that updating it breaks that; well, that’s ridiculous. For those confused: here it is. 10.x.y x= the version of OSX, there’s a new version every 1-3 years. y= “service pack” there are 10 of these between two versions and usually bring new features to OSX.
16. What the hell was that?/The Apple start up tone irritates the PCPRO editor?
    Then hold mute as you boot. Apple have used sampled sounds since the Apple II- and the current start up sound is about 16 years old. Also, Windows has an equally jarring sound to a mac user.
17. Cheap OEM Versions
    This is covered in point 6. Because you cannot build a mac from scratch, then you do not qualify for OEM. The closest you’ll see to an OEM copy is pre-installed on every new macintosh. There’s no arbitrary be a geek and buy a mouse discount.
18. Far Better Media Capability
    Currently MCE is superior to Front Row at acting like a £1000 video recorder. For one, I’m happy that my dedicated DVR unit does this without making toast and catching virii. Also when you buy a Mac TV-Tuner it is likely to be from Elgato who offer very good software to do just that. (Apart from the virii.)
19. IT Support Expertise
    For a magazine which has always seemed to be for professionals in the IT industry, the idea of becoming the ‘gold dust’ of support professionals must be enthralling. Same goes for programmers, you also need less support on the mac.
20. Not So Insecure.
    PCPRO argues that a PC with latest service packs and antivirus is unlikely to get a virus. This may be true, but Windows insistence on patching is very annoying to a power user like myself. I want the only update traffic to be the update list and update files, not the entire UI. Also, the antivirus software is not infallible and requires constant updates to be this secure. Also, MAC OSX is more secure by design- not additional measures.

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No, this is the last post for now.

1. My Adium set up: as you can see this offers little clue as to who’s online apart from their avatar(display picture, buddy icon etc.) However, I find that this approach uses far less screen space than having their name displayed. Growl is highly utilised with this approach as I assoiciate their icon when they log in, or mouse-over to find it. It’s also set to auto-hide on the left hand side of my screen.
2. iClip4, this is essentially a multi-clipboard, which; for me is essential. I use it at the bottom of my screen where the Dock would usually go, and although it’s slightly sluggish on my PPC mac mini- it’s reasonable.
3. The precise location of the dock- right and bottom aligned. (Using deeper) Small icons, hiding on and no magnification.
4. Cytv this lets me watch tv on my ibook, whilst the tuner is plugged into my mac mini.
   
5. Letterbox Mail plugin, because I spent too much time in Outlook 2003 before switching. Quicksilver and Visor. Emminently neccessary. Visor especially for living in a terminal window.

In other news: Statistics coursework looking less like a 50 tonne weight descending on me. Normal updates resume other end of the tunnel.

Java sorting code.
Wikipedia page.

On another note I’m going to have a go at making these. Yum.

Yesterday I received an invitation to the new brainchild from the makers of mydreamapp (I voted portal); MacHeist. Personally I don’t know what it is yet, but I do know that I will get hevilly discounted or free shareware. And in my books, that’s a good thing.

Maybe this is the Goliath creating his David, pondering this question: “Will google start to inherit from searchmash, or is searchmash going to become google.

Me? I quite like this new look google it has more flair, where I finally get my desired #1 for themak, instead of a placeholder site with a dot com after it.

Here’s a quick teaser of the website that I’ve been working on for a while.
As to what it does, I’m not telling quite yet.

Oh and .

Think Like a Computer Scientist