Hello everybody! today I'm typing to you from my new dellnetmacbook. That's right against all my better instincts i went and did it. Some of you may remember a few months ago i posted a link to gizmodo that showed you how to take a Dell 10v netbook and install Mac OSX on it. Essentially turing it into a mini macbook. Believe it or not it works great. Before I Hakintoshed it i turned it on running Windows XP and it was slow and unresponsive. After installing OSX it's like a whole new machine. It runs fast and without problem. Even the little webcam works for ichat, Crazy. So lets break it down cheapest MacBook $999, Dell 10V $300, that's right I win. The idea behind this little guy is to get the blog going again.. let's hope it works for me.







You've probably been wondering what happened to me after my last post back in january. Well I've taken on alittle hobby project. When Kate and i were in italy we saw these cool little old Fiat 500 cars everywhere we went. so I thought I'd take a shot at trying to 3D model one. with most of my experiance being in plastic bottles a car is a whole new challenge. Anyway I'll post my progress as i go. The test render here is from about a week ago and alot of work on the back of the car has been done since.







Lastly, this weekend we went out and finally got Kate a proper keyboard. If you hadn't heard Kate has played piano pretty much her entire life and always used a real and beautiful piano. Keyboards have really come along way. This one sounds great and the keys are weighted and it really feels as if your playing a real piano. next time your by try to get her to play for you she's busy shaking the rust off now.

Labels: apple, blogger, technology

So I don't know if you heard...... but last week Apple announced it's new nugget of golden magic called the iPad. Is it just me or are we all getting a bit tired of Apple proclaiming how they are yet again "changing the world"? Don't get me wrong I'm a Apple fan but the chosen by god attitude is feeling well worn. Although I feel as if they may be doing it again...... just slower.

After seeing the announcement of the iPad I was initially disappointed and quick to proclaim this device to be the stinker of Apple's long barely tarnished track record. After a day of thinking about how stupid it was.... suddenly it dawned on me, my tiny brain just wasn't thinking future. For the computer industry to continue to grow 2 things had to happen. 1: the computer mouse must die. 2: with the death of the mouse the "desktop" metaphor must also die!!!

These 2 things are really one in the same. With the future being Multi-touch (like the iPhone) the mouse is an out of date tool that is only going to hold technology back. The Desktop Metaphor (which the user never really understood) created the mouse and is also holding back multi-touch. You can't add a touch interface to a system that was designed to be used with a mouse. Thus it makes total sense to make the iPad nothing more than a bigger more powerful iPhone. It's an interface that millions of people have already learned and are comfortable with (which is the biggest issue with creating any kind of software). Over the next few months and years I think we will see the laptop you may be reading this on slowly be replaced by a multi-touch device similar but more powerful than the iPad. With this change we will see the current Operating System and the iPhone OS slowly merge into a entirely new system. Mac OS X and Windows 7 haven't really changed in years. They've gotten prettier and more stable but the innovation in the concept is over. The other major PC makers have ignored the signs in the hopes that just making smaller more mobile versions of the same technology would be the next big thing. The next big thing has been on it's way for a few years and with out slowly educating the consumer how to use this new system it would fail.

I realize that HP has introduced several different touch multi-touch computers but have failed to make a full and compelling transition to a all new interface. Using the multi-touch feature as a novelty rather than a real user interface tool.

So we'll have to see if developers are able to make applications that are compatible with how our hands work. The last 25 years have seen us collectively struggle not only to learn how to use a computer but fight to make a mouse do what would be so easily done if only we could just reach out and touch it.

(I realize this is with out a doubt the nerdiest post I've ever written. I just wanted to put down this idea in writing to see if it comes true. It seems as if it will.)

Labels: apple, technology

oh man so what happened to this weekend, you ask? well it was presidents day so i'm guessing everyone went out dressed up as their favorite president from american history, and got crazy. I know i did. That's right i, dressed up as Martin Van Buren president of this great country from 1837-1841 known for being a "snappy dresser". you might be saying to yourself "paul, how the hell did you pull that off. Van Buren at best he was 5 feet 6 inches tall. You tower over that height you must have looked like an ass. Indeed I did. lessoned learned.

in other news i'm a proud owner of a new MAC. with some help from Rebecca and some kindly donors including myself and others. i finally after years of waiting bought my mac pro. It's great, it supplied the new rendering that's currently the banner here on the site. With it's ability to run windows it makes it possible for me to do all my 3D modeling and rendering in one spot. which is great. the first thing i did was to model myself a mount for my iSight camera. The current apple displays don't come with a built in webcam so i wanted to hook up the apple iSight i used with my laptop for some years. the thing is, they don't make the iSight anymore and finding a mount to attach it to my monitor posed a problem. finally my years of modeling came in hand in my home life. I quickly fired up solidworks, copied my old laptop mount and customized to fit my new display. i had to go into work to finish some stuff up on saturday night so i tossed the file in the printer and in three hours had my very own one of a kind mount. i know this may be a bit nerdy but i thought it was pretty cool. for the past couple of years all the models i've made went no further then rendering. it's great to make some thing i can actually use. i posted it so check it out.

Labels: apple, lame, technology

as i mentioned in my last post mac world was this week. here's the run down. ( for those of you that think this is nerdy, paul didn't write this, currently this is dport7 staff member nicholas typing) anyway the big announcement is that apple released a new super thin ultra portable laptop called the macbook air. you can see in my picture below how i feel. SO WHAT its super thin. great! don't get me wrong i understand the engineering mastery behind all of this, but really? this is what you want to spend your resources doing? that said I'm sure once I see it in person I'll have the over whelming urge to buy one.
what else did they announce you ask? well not a lot. some crap update for the appleTV, and new apps for the iPod touch (which was needed) but other than that it was kinda slow.

friday ian, kate, sara, her friends and I went to this piano bar on the upper east side called brandy's. its pretty fun, the piano guy starts playing at 9:30 and the place fills up. everybody in the bar sings along and from time to time the waitress or the bartenders come up and sing a few songs. they're all pros working at the bar as they try to get in a show i guess. it's surprisingly pretty fun. people get drunk and rowdy and start having good time. Here's a video clip of the same singer and piano player we saw on friday just to give you a idea of what it's like.

Lastly yesterday we went and saw no country for old men the new cohen brothers movie. It's exhausting! It's really about a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time who finds some drug money and tries to keep it. The drug kingpin sends some crazy murdering guy to find the money and well you get it. It's a good movie it really moves it's just kinda too smart for me.

Labels: apple, movies

so as we all know i have a phobia about aging. so i thought it might be a good idea to start hanging out with a younger crowd? this is aviv he's kind of hard to keep up with but i'm trying. (see picture below) was that funny at all? i think the older i get the more consistently less funny i get. it could be every year i'm more tired and i have less time alone with my brain to think of funny things. any way the real explanation to why there's a picture of me and a little baby on the site. my friend, co-worker, and member 95 jonathan eshe, jonathan and his lovely wife invited us over for their son's aviv 1 birthday. kate ian and i made the trip to hoboken and enjoyed the afternoon although by the time we left felt totally exhausted. I'm not really sure why though. (side note) i made the bowie shirt the kid has on. now that's a happy birthday.

other than that is was a slow weekend with out much to report. hey did anyone see the halfass golden globes announcements last night? i saw the people on NBC (i think) they had some tool reading the winners and not only was it less than entertaining but they guy the had the dumbest stuff to say i think I've ever heard. i could only find one youtube clip of this tool (the guy on the left) although this clip doesn't show just how dim this dude is.

lastly mac world is tuesday so look for the super cool coming your way!!!

Labels: apple, friends, party

happy 4th of july from dport7 everyone
so today i woke up early (because i'm crazy) and went down to the fifth ave. apple store to checked out the iPhone. as you all know it is amazing. the screen is like a dream of endless ice cream and kitten (for those of us that aren't lactose intolerant and like kittens). it's so sharp it doesn't even look like a screen it just looks real. everything else you might have heard is true it works flawlessly and even the typing isn't too bad although i had some frustrating moments few times. the part i was most excited to see was how dport7 looked on it. i was impressed to say the least. the site comes up in all its glory and just tapping on the text zooms in to fit that area to the screen and it so easy to read i caught my own blog spelling errors. i was excited to go to the frames portion of the site to see if the picture magic thing i installed early this year worked. my jaw dropped right to the floor when IT DID. for all you secret computer nerds out there this was huge. i was a little surprised though that after probably 15 minutes of standing there playing with it i wasn't dyeing to throw my $600 at the sales person and run out the door with it. it feels as if it could do so much more. most of the cool features on the device use the internet and with AT&T's edge network being so slow i'd be relegated to using it in my living room on my wi-fi network sitting right next to my laptop. before i throw my $600 at a iPhone i need some 3rd party FTP apps for loading pictures to the blog and a data network (edge) that doesn't blow.... although it's still hard not to run back there and play with it one more time.

Labels: apple, technology

i'm so excited by the iphone i'm worried for my health. for real if you have the time, and your interested watch the keynote from steve. there's nothing about the iphone that isn't impressive. what's so exciting for me is the idea of being able to blog with pictures anytime anywhere. the reason i never got a differn't smart phone is because they don't fully access the internet so i was never sure if it would work with blogger.... now though i'm in. oh man the built in camera means more blogs, more on the go photos and more dport7 all around. it's really exciting for mobile communication. it looks as if other 3rd party applications will be able to be developed so everything from personal widgets to ftp clients may be possible. the long and short of all this is that i'm a huge nerd about this stuff, but i can't help it, i just get really excited. oh man if you get a chace check out the google maps stuff, talk about never getting lost again or having to print out directions. either way the entire thing sound really exciting now we all just gotta wait till june. the good news about that is we can start setting aside some cash because the little bugger cost $599 and that's alot of ballons pal. tell me what your thinking about it.

Labels: apple, technology

Well everyone it's the first real post of 2007 and i have nothing but fun for you.

1. you might have noticed a few little tweaks here on the site. new background new banner ( which will be a much better design once i get un lazy) and a new rendering of the robot. with any luck 2007 will bring a whole new meaning to robot heaven along with some more/ better content.

2. for those of you that love dport7 but are finding it hard to leave your desktop and open a browser, does the staff have the ticket for you. the all NEW First Version of the DPORT7 WIDGET!!!!! (click to download) so those of you running OSX tiger will be able to quickly and easily check out what's new on dport7 (pictures included) sorry no video yet. this being the first version i haven't added any graphics yet but new versions to come soon. for now enjoy

3. what is UP with this F'n weather man. today it was 70 degrees here in Brooklyn. i took the opportunity to make good on my new years resolution and get back to skateboarding. surprisingly it came back pretty quick and i'm hopping to find some good places in the area to skate. the weather although is a bit unnerving. of course it was much more fun to skate then sit in my apartment and freeze...... anyway that's all i got. if you want to skate with me some time let me know. (tyson i'm looking at you on this one.)

4. monday is mac world get excited.... please god iphone..... please!!!!!!

Labels: apple, general, technology