Alex Kidman

You know that whole idea of a work/life balance? Right at the moment, mine’s so tilted it’s essentially a work/work balance with the life hanging onto an edge somewhere by the very tips of its fingers. In fact, I think I just heard it scream as it inevitably let go.

Inbetween running a household and running after three kids and supporting an overworked prac student (who happens to be the woman I love), I’m also writing. A lot.

From what could be called my regular assignments, there’s a MacTheMag blog entry:

MacTheBlog: A support issue: “It was at this point that I remembered the only other person I know of that readily identifies himself as a Genius. That would be Wile. E. Coyote, and I’m well aware of the success rate of his plans.”

At Geekspeak, musings on the use of a 1TB broadband plan:

Geekspeak: What can you do with 1TB of data? “What 1TB does buy you is a fair amount of security…”

At CNET.com.au, even more iPhone 4 cases have been tested:

30 best and worst iPhone 4 cases: “It’s raining iPhone cases around here, so we’ve added more to our original story, bumping up the case count from 25 to 30. More choice is good, right?”

And that’s not getting on to the other big writing task for the week as I take up a guest editor role at Gizmodo Australia. In just two days, I’ve written the following stories:

Breakfast Wrap: Best Of The Weekend
Vodafone/Three Pump Up Contract Data Caps
Telstra Unveils Ultimate Wireless USB
Get Your Kicks (On Your Wave) On Route 66
The Best Free WiFi Is Fast Free WiFi
Breakfast Wrap: Best Of Monday Night
Internode Fetches IPTV For Early Adopters
Even Apple’s Making The iPod Refresh Obvious Now
Confirmed: Xbox Live Price Increase Isn’t Coming Nov 1
Is This The Ugliest iPad Stand Ever?
Nice Power Brick. But Will It Fly?

And it’s still only Tuesday. The week is still young, even if I’m not.

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.”

Monday kicks off with another opinion column/blog and another review.

First up, my regular Geekspeak column casts an eye over what it is we’ve been spending our tech dollars on in the past quarter:

Geekspeak: What are you spending your tech dollars on? “The theory goes that we’re not going out to restaurants or clubs anywhere near as much, but instead concentrating our limited budgets on bigger TVs, more internet connected devices and items that might hold a little more value than a bowl of pasta or glass of beer.”

Then at MacTheReviews, the latest in a long line of promising-the-world Homeplug devices gets plugged in:

Belkin Powerline HD Dual Pack: “Cheaper than tearing up the floorboards to put in dedicated wiring and more reliable than wireless. The only thing not to like about the Powerline HD product is the size of the plugs and the price.”

Today, it’s all about data, data, data and waves. First up at Hydrapinion, I opined about the odd nature of Optus’ latest data promotion:

Hydrapinion: Half price data pricing makes half as much sense: “I mean, really, which sounds better to you — the ‘fake’ 4 to 8c per MB, or the actual 0.5-1c per MB?”

I’m not done with data analysis yet, though, as Internode’s announced changes to its broadband plans go under the analytical hammer at PC Authority:

How do Internode’s new mega-allowance plans stack up? “How do Internode’s new plans compare to Telstra’s recent drastic price drops? We crunch the numbers to assess the real value.”

And then finally at Geekspeak, I go over the basics of Google’s soon-to-be-defunct Wave product:

Geekspeak: Waving Goodbye: “Not every tech product is an instant hit, even when it’s backed by a big brand name.”

This week’s Geekspeak column folds in a fresh news story with something that’s been a pet peeve of mine for some time, namely people thinking that GPS will do the thinking for you.

Geekspeak: Keep your brain in gear when using GPS: “The majority of the problem, however, isn’t in the GPS. It’s in the person behind the wheel ignoring road signs and road rules.”

I just realised I’m about to hit 1,000 blog entries. I should probably have a cake, or something. Although having just returned from an hour in the dentist’s torture chair, sweet things should probably off the menu for a while.

In any case, this is only blog entry #999, so such thoughts will have to wait. While you wait, and while I sit here not-so-gently bleeding, you can check out this week’s Geekspeak column, which covers the rate at which Microsoft sells copies of Windows 7 and what that means for the future:

Geekspeak: Will Microsoft continue to dominate IT? “To put that in perspective, if you were still running a ten year old OS when Windows
XP came out, you’d be running Windows 3.0 on the top of DOS. You’d also see a lot of crashes, spend an awful amount of time mucking around with config.sys files and wondering why none of your USB peripherals ever worked.”

CNET.com.au also has a review of mine for your enjoyment, as I take Sony’s fashion-conscious iPod Dock apart. Literally apart.

Sony TRiK RDH-SK8iP: “A quick twist of the holding bracket around the right speaker, then the same to the left speaker and the front cover comes off — but not either speaker, thankfully.”

Those who have known me for some time know that I’ve been an aficionado of Prince’s music for some time. Not so much the small gentleman in question, who might just be one (or more) purple doves short of a flock. Surprisingly, while I’ve made passing mention of this from time to time here and there, I don’t recall writing an entire Prince themed column. Until now.

MacTheBlog: Apps Gone Crazy: “Utter rubbish. I’ve never had a problem with my iPad besides the 000001010101010101010101011110101011111010101010WOZWOZERE”

Meanwhile, at Geekspeak, my attention shifts to your choice of browsers:

Geekspeak: Browsing For A Browser: “Browser choice is a bit like choosing “your” brand of car. There’s a lot of attachment to whatever you’re used to, and getting out of the habit of just clicking on the same icon every time you want to check out the Web can be tough.”

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?

Having spent most of last week in Adelaide (or en route to and from Adelaide, as followers of my Twitter stream might have been able to work out), I haven’t updated with all of last week’s published works. There were, to put it mildly, a few articles going up while I was heading west.

First up, a new head of mine sprouts as I join Hydrapinion, penning a weekly gadgets column. This week spins off my recent Hong Kong Printer trip into a discussion on smartphones and icecream:

Hydrapinion: Are we smart enough for a smartphone world? “A phone made of Ice Cream would have its melting problems, to be sure, but retailers would love all the repeat customers.”

Keeping with the theme of using recent launches to write columns, last week’s Geekspeak was also rather printer-centric:

Geekspeak: Making The Most Of Your Printer: “Putting it simply, printing is sadly boring stuff, and something that most of us don’t care about a jot up until the printer jams or runs out of ink or toner.”

At CNET, I shifted away from printers into the world of iPod AV docks:

Pioneer XW-NAV1: “Pioneer’s NAV1 might have a silly, Avatar-esque name, but the design is straight out of the ordinary iPod Dock Designer’s Handbook, 2010 edition.”

At PC Authority, the latest (or is it late?) system to fall under my Vintage Tech gaze was the ZX Spectrum:

Vintage Tech: Looking back at the ZX Spectrum: “We were particularly impressed by this rather astonishing bit of code, which makes the Spectrum Twitter-compatible.”

And then finally a hearty four reviews at MacTheReviews:

LogMeIn Ignition: “The iPad client — and it’s a universal app, so if you’ve already purchased the iPhone client you’ll automatically qualify for it — is another kind of critter entirely…”

Marvel Comics/Comics: “The status of the iPad as an ebook reader is well understood, but when you say ebook, most people tend to think “Pride & Prejudice” a lot sooner than, say, “Power Man & Iron Fist”.”

iPad Keyboard Dock: “I’m not what could be called the greatest fan of Apple’s peripherals. Within a desktop metaphor, I’ve long held that while Apple’s keyboards are technically functional and certainly aesthetically pleasing, they’re outclassed by the competition.”

The Orange Box: “The Orange Box still represents value for money even though its components are a touch on the older side.”

Lots of irons in the fire at the moment, even though it might seem rather quiet on the publishing front. My regular blog/column at Geeks2U continues on, however, this week looking at waterproof technology and ’80s Scottish Pop bands. Mostly the former.

Geekspeak: Technology and water don’t mix: “Or do they?”