Alex Kidman

Things were so much easier when I picked subject lines based on what I was listening to at the time. Still, the above subject line does make sense. Of a sort.

Firstly, the T-Shirts, over at PC Authority, where I’ve looked over Internode’s new “T-Shirt” 1TB broadband plans:

Internode enters the 1TB race with “T-Shirt” plans: “Internode’s new “T-Shirt” plans offer up to a tantalising 1TB of data. But will they cost you the shirt off your back? We investigate the real value.”

And then over at MacTheMag, my regularly weekly blog considers the exact details of Apple’s new product offerings, by working out how much choice is included. Fifty Cent makes a guest appearance, as apparently Apple’s new Ping social network figures I should follow him. Which I guess goes to prove that Ping may be many things, but a Genius it is not.

MacTheBlog: Please, Apple, can I have less? “The confetti has been swept up, Chris Martin has vanished off to … well … wherever it is Chris Martin vanishes off to when he’s not performing, and what we’re left with is, to my appraisal, not all that satisfactory. To put some specifics to this, it seems that Apple’s gone all out to remove elements of choice.”

You get the idea.

A very busy week wound up with a review at CNET.com.au and a whole bunch more of Gizmodo posts. Normal, slightly quieter service resumes next week, but it’s still not going to be “quiet” by any reasonable measure.

Dell Inspiron N301: “Dell’s inexpensive Core i3 Inspiron isn’t incredibly inspiring, but it’s not intolerably insipid either.”

And then over at Gizmodo, a whole bunch of not-always-all-that-brief posts:

New iPods? We’re Going To Need New Cases

Breakfast Wrap: Best Of Wednesday Night

Aussie Apple TV Owners Get Short Shrift

ABC’s Mobile Division Cracks New Records

Hitachi Gets A New Life(Studio) Down Under

Buy An Avatar Or Headset, Make A Wish Come True

3D Glasses – Perhaps I Need A Smaller Head

Microsoft’s Home Of The Future Is Suspiciously Clean And Shiny

Breakfast Wrap: Best Of Friday Night

Hands On With Telstra’s Ultimate USB

An Appropriate Solution To Australia’s Election Woes

Am I The Only One Creeped Out By What’s Happening To This Flash Drive?

What’s The Oldest Gadget You Still Regularly Use?

“Morning noon and night it’s drink and dancing, some quick romancing, and then a shower..”

If only the life of a tech journo was quite that simple. Also, I’d look dreadful in fishnets. You know it, I know it — let’s not go there.

Instead, we could go over to Hydrapinion, where this week’s column looks at a certain Telstra mystery:

Why doesn’t Telstra have a portable WiFi router?: “The thought struck me that for all Telstra’s posturing about taking a technology lead, it’s an area where the big telco is sadly lacking.”

Or over to MacTheReviews, where I’ve been delving into the dungeons of Torchlight:

Torchlight: “Guess what happens when you establish a mining colony on top of a huge pile of magical crystals? If you guessed “nothing, everybody just mines the crystals and grows rich on the profits with no side-effects at all”, then you’re clearly not built for games design.”

And that’s not counting this week’s guest editor spot at Gizmodo, which has seen me write the following diverse mix of articles:

Breakfast Wrap: Best Of Tuesday Night
The Apple Geniuses With Time On Their Hands
A Brief Crowdsourced History Of Time Travel
Microsoft Gets Moving On Aussie Kinect Launch Date
Foxtel Shows Off Pay TV, Xbox 360 Style
AFL, NRL Get The 3D Go-Ahead
I Can’t Have A Bat-Utility Belt
New iPods? We’re Going To Need New Cases
Breakfast Wrap: Best Of Wednesday Night
Aussie Apple TV Owners Get Short Shrift
ABC’s Mobile Division Cracks New Records
Hitachi Gets A New Life(Studio) Down Under
Buy An Avatar Or Headset, Make A Wish Come True
3D Glasses – Perhaps I Need A Smaller Head
Microsoft’s Home Of The Future Is Suspiciously Clean And Shiny

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired…

“I’m tired, tired of playing the game,
ain’t it a crying shame,
I’m so tired!”

A couple of columns to keep the week ticking along. First of all, at MacTheMag, I cover the tricky area of predictions by way of a beloved British children’s TV show:

MacTheBlog: Dropping iClangers: “Somewhere in my office, there’s a Clanger that I’ve dropped. He’s gorgeous, with his little pink nose and strange honking noises.”

Then at Geekspeak, I’ve taken a look at the BBC’s Dimensions portal:

Geekspeak: Getting A Web Perspective: “What really grabbed my attention were the disaster superimpositions. It’s all too easy to forget about a crisis when it’s a thirty second news spot and the camera only focuses on a couple of people.”

Sometimes, you see, the subject lines speak for themselves. After much testing, snagging, dropping, bouncing and learning valuable lessons about screen protectors along the way, my comparative review of iPhone 4 cases is live at CNET.com.au:

25 best and worst iPhone 4 cases: “Apple can’t make iPhone 4 units fast enough to satisfy demand, even with woeful stories of antenna problems and the potential of a smashed phone. To get the most from your iPhone, it’s pretty clear you need to pop it into a case or protective screen of some sort.”

A mix of opinion and reviews today for your reading pleasure.

Firstly, at MacTheBlog, an examination of the “It Just Works” Apple culture, and why I think it’s a very bad thing.

MacTheBlog: It Doesn’t Just Work: “You know what? Sometimes — more than most Mac fans would like to admit — it just doesn’t work.”

Then at CNET, two notebook reviews:

Dell Inspiron M501R: “The M501R is a capable desktop replacement as long as power is never far away at all.”

Acer Aspire TimelineX 5820TG: “Acer’s tag line for this notebook is “extreme”. It’s so extreme, it seems, that a simple X will suffice to convey just how extreme it actually is.”

And finally, the September 2010 issue of Australian PC User, which poked its nose through my letterbox today. I’ve got a fair bit of reviews content within, including reviews of eighteen different iPod Speaker docks, eleven different DAB+ Digital Radios and standalone reviews of the Dell 1130N Laser Printer, BigPond Elite Network Gateway, Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Legend, Belkin F8Z492AU Bluetooth Music Receiver, Cygnett Zooom, Kodak Playsport, Uniden ULP 100 and the rather excellent Super Mario Galaxy 2. It’s on sale now at both good newsagencies and those dedicated to evil, but I’d suggest going to the good ones. You never know what else they’ll try to up-sell you with at an evil newsagency.

A busy week here wraps up with Apple’s launch in Australia of the iPhone 4. I covered the queues overnight in Sydney for MacTheMag, and video blogged it as a result. It’s the first time I’ve bothered with a midnight opening, and the first time I’ve ever been pushed out of a venue by security. Apparently Optus didn’t want media coverage. Who knew?

MacTheBlog: iPhone 4 Arrival Events: “Alex Kidman and MJCP spent the evening flitting between the three telcos (and the hardy souls lined up outside the Apple Store despite the fact it wouldn’t be open until 8am) to check it out the launch of iPhone 4 in Australia.”

Keeping with an Apple theme, I also covered Ravon’s rather nice iPod Mini HiFi for CNET.com.au:

Ravon Fidelio Mini Hi-Fi: “This is an iPod Hi-Fi that eschews frills in favour of superior performance. It’s a striking pity it’s not shielded for iPhone use.”

At PC Authority, the last Vintage Tech for a while deals with a computer called Colleen:

Vintage Tech: Looking back at the Atari 400: “Like we said, this was back in the 1970s. Don’t throw your shoes at us.”

And finally, at Hydrapinion, I didn’t write (but did contribute) to Adam Turner’s guide to writing product roundups. It’s so good, frankly, that I’d link to it even if it didn’t contain some of my writing work:

Hydrapinion: The Golden Rules of writing tech “Round-Ups”: “Reviewing a dozen of anything at the same time is generally a nightmare. Tech journos might get to play with cool toys, but mostly the life of a product reviewer is far less glamorous than it might seem. Testing one product can be tricky enough, but testing a bunch of them can drive you mad – especially when you’re dealing with bleeding edge technology.”

It’s not all fun and games being an award-winning technology journalist, you know. Sometimes, you’ve got to get down and dirty with arm bending, secret car park meetings with unnamed “sources” and being chased by helicopters piloted by the mysterious forces of evil intent on stopping the truth being revealed, no matter who gets shot in the process.

You know the types.

They clearly had nothing to do with this weeks’ MacTheBlog, which came to me in a moment of blue-tinged inspiration:

Apple’s secret (blue) strategy: “Sitting down and pondering the facts on Apple, and for that matter mushrooms yesterday, I came to a stunning realisation. A realisation that reveals once, for all time, Apple’s exact marketing strategy. The pieces fit together so neatly, so perfectly that I’m stunned nobody’s ever noticed it before.”

I don’t only write stories about Apple, it should be noted.  Except.. well, this one. But at least this story is about something Apple doesn’t sell any more. I know. I checked. This week’s Vintage Tech covers… Apple.

Vintage Tech: Looking back at the Apple II: “If you check out the Apple Australia online store and type in “Apple II”…. you don’t find anything. Nothing at all but a command that “No results were found. Please try a different search.” Then again, as noted, Apple did stop selling the IIe seventeen years ago, so it’s not surprising that they’re a touch out of stock of the Apple II line. Yes, even in the refurb store.”

Meanwhile, at Geeks2U, I step away from the fruit orchard with a quick primer on alternatives to the NBN:

Geekspeak: NBN Alternatives: Unless you happen to be in just a few spots in Tasmania (or shortly a few more in mainland Australia), the chances are you’re more than a year or two away from being able to access NBN services. So what do you do in the meantime?

After a rather lengthy wait, the first issue of MacTheMag is out. OK, technically it’s the second issue, but that’s a long story for another day. Anyway, I’ve contributed fairly heavily to this issue, writing the cover story on iPhone GPS apps, the Mac Rumour roundup, the iPad guide, The MacTheCool pages (including an Apple Pie Mac Mini), and a bunch of product reviews for Mac and iOS products.

The best part? You can read MacTheMag online free. Gratis. For nuthin’, even. Just click here.

Well? What are you waiting for?