It's been raining all day, and is supposed to keep raining through the week.
This is a scary prospect when you've got as much snow as we do. The rain soaks into the snow and makes it super-heavy, which causes carports to collapse... roofs to cave in... satellite dishes to topple... generally nasty stuff. As if that wasn't enough, now we've got avalanches in the mountains too. But that pales in comparison to what's happening Seattle-side, they're being hit with massive flooding. Since there's even more rain on the way, where's all that water supposed to go?
This is not a great way to start the year for a lot of people.
The MacWorld keynote today was kind of boring, but still more exciting that anything you're going to get from other companies at their keynote presentations. The technologies being pumped into iLife and iWork are impressive, and things like facial recognition in a photo app is a great idea, but hardly revolutionary. Then we've got the iTunes Store going DRM-free on their music, which isn't too surprising (other online stores have been DRM-free for a while now as record labels attempted to "even the field"). But it's the new 17-inch Mac Book Pro that intrigued me most. Not because I want one... I don't, it's too big to travel with easily... but because of a very interesting option you have when you go to order one...
NON-GLARE SCREEN?!?
Why isn't that an option on the 15-inch MacBook Pro? When I was in Minnesota a while back, I wandered into The Apple Store at Mall of America to get a new laptop and was furious to discover that all of them have these hideously glossy screens. Sure the color is nicer, but I need to WORK. How can I focus on my work with a massive sheet of glare staring back at me?
I sure hope that Apple does the right thing and allows this option for their smaller laptops as well.
Meh.
I guess it's time to try to get some sleep. Listening to the rain drops on my roof should be a nice sound to fall asleep by.
At least all that water is good for something.
We went through the snow/rain flooding a few weeks ago in the Chicago-area. Nasty stuff! Thankfully it only lasted a day because the temperatures got so warm everything melted very fast and the rains stopped. I hope it ends quickly out in your area!
I love the matte screen you helped me (via emails) decide on for my year old 15" MBP. I agree with you, they need to bring that option back. I won't be upgrading without it, but upgrading is a while off anyway since this MBP is only 1 year old.
I've got one of the new 15" MacBook Pros and to be honest, I haven't noticed the glare. Or, at the very least, maybe I've just got used to it. Either way, not bothered by the glare. So, er, there you go.
Posted by Kevin Spencer on January 08, 2009 | Reply
I thought, I hoped, I'd get used to the glossy on my 13.3 MacBook but I never did. Don't know if it's any different with the LED screens.
I did notice in the keynote that the didn't spend much time talking about how wonderful their LED screens were and how they pop on and save energy like they usually do. So much that I thought it might not have been an LED screen at first (or maybe I just missed that part initially).
Posted by Gary LaPointe on January 08, 2009 | Reply
To be honest, the lack of an anti-glare screen option is one of the things that's holding me back from getting a new MacBook Pro 15"
There's a few other reasons, too... but I don't know how well I would adjust to those glossy screens. Looks like Kevin Spencer has gotten used to it, as has some of my friends with the new model.
I am looking at the new features of iLife 09 and iWork 09 and wanting to know how worth the upgrade will be. iMovie 09 alone looks like it may have improved enough over the last version.
Posted by ChillyWilly on January 08, 2009 | Reply
That wouldn't be difficult. iMovie 08 sucked complete and total ass. It was a magnitude WORSE than the previous version, and a serious downgrade in features. I understand that Apple was trying to "simplify" video editing for newbies, which is great, but destroying iMovie to do it was a huge mistake. Apple quickly realized this, and made iMovie 06 available for free download to iMovie 08 sufferers. iMovie 09 apparently reinstates all the missing features, but in a "pro mode" which is the best of both worlds. I hope it doesn't suck, but time will tell.
My hope is that it doesn't suck, either. Anxious to see how the "added back in" features measure up.
I use the iMovie 06 free download for iLife 08... I think I've only opened iMovie 08 once.
Posted by ChillyWilly on January 08, 2009 | Reply
Don't you know that the glossy screen is so the pompous Mac owners can always see their reflection when they're at the computer? That's why they love them so much!
(note that this particular comment features the new Whall Implied Smiley 2.0, where instead of putting a smiley face to denote sarcasm, ribbing, or a light-hearted jab, there is a lack of smiley, so as to increase the impact of said sarcasm while still being likely to be perceived as sarcasm.)
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