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.”

“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!”

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.”

Tuesday’s child is apparently full of grace. I wonder if anyone asked grace about this curious arrangement?

In any case, Tuesday brings with it a host of very  Apple-centric material, which makes sense when you realise I’ve written it all for MacTheMag. First of all, my weekly blog column looks at the tricky issue of competitors in the iPad space:

MacTheBlog:Where are the good iPad competitors? “It’s been more than six months since the iPad was unveiled to the world. Where on earth are the alternative tablets?”

Then I put on my virus-resistant reviewer’s pith helmet and test out Mac AV software:

BitDefender Antivirus for Mac: “AntiVirus for Mac is a contentious issue, but packages that work as poorly at BitDefender currently does will not change the status quo.”

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.”

Another busy day on the horizon. While I work out today’s schedule, keep yourself busy with (what else?) yet more reviews.

First up, at MacTheMag, a review of a rather heavily hyped RTS title. If you’re a gamer, you’re quite possibly already playing this one.

MacTheReviews: StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty*: “Who said the Mac has no great games? StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty is engaging high speed strategy with addiction at its very core.”

Then over at CNET, a couple of laptop reviews, including one that could run StarCraft II rather well, although lifting it is another matter entirely.

Acer Aspire 8943G: “There’s a lot to the Aspire 8943G; a lot to pay and a lot to like.”

Fujitsu P770 LifeBook: “Fujitsu’s tiny Core i7 system is all business. Don’t expect flashy graphics performance or shiny case designs, but as a spreadsheet-crunching machine with good portability it’s highly suitable.”

*Am I the only one that thinks that “Wings Of Liberty” sounds like the marketing slogan for a line of feminine hygiene products?

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.”