When it comes to its line of portable machines, Apple has been guilty of regular ‘first generation product’ issues. The initial MacBook Air (revision A) was no exception as users experienced a handful of problems on receiving the laptop.

Notable issues included reports of far less than the advertised battery life/expectancy, and extremely noisy system fans which could have been easily mistaken for the sound of a small desktop fan. Not what you’d expect from a computer, let alone one manufactured by Apple.

All issues aside, the second revision of the MacBook Air corrected both of these issues, and further more in the third revision introduced at WWDC 2009, bumped the speed of the machine considerably. In the 18 months since the machine was first introduced, the base CPU has been bumped from a lowly 1.6Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Merom chip to a more than acceptable 1.86Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn.

Memory limitation is still 2GB, soldered to the logicboard. However the latest inception of the laptop is powered by 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, rather than slower 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The stock 64GB SSD which was available in the first generation can now be had in a 128GB SSD variation. Specifications wise, the MacBook Air has come a long way in its first 18 months on the market.

Most complaints regarding the heat issues, poor battery life, and less than adequate storage limitations have ceased.

The current lineup of portable Apple machines runs in three lines. The MacBook, the MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro.

Not so long ago the MacBook was updated to feature the same unibody design as its older sibling, the MacBook Pro. Less than two months later with the Pro line was expanded to include a 13″ option, the unibody MacBook was discontinued in favor for a single cheaper plastic bodied laptop.

The current line leaves us with a choice of either a 13″ MacBook, two variations of the 13″ MacBook Air, and three sizes of the MacBook Pro.

The direction we’re heading in makes it quite clear that the merging of the MacBook and the Air lines would make sense, and is certainly possible. The Air becoming the MacBook whilst the Pro line remains as is in three excellent size choices.

This merge would make things much more simple for those out to buy an OSX-based laptop. A 0.16-inch super thin, design conscious yet powerful for everyday tasks MacBook. Or the MacBook Pro for those who want a little more expandability or screen real estate in their system, in 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch variations.

The only way I see it making sense to have the plastic MacBook in the lineup is when bought in bulk for education faculty and students due to their cheaper build cost. In that case, why not just offer it in the educational store only?

Topical selection is an art form of its own in regard to weblog content. On one side of the table you have your ‘come and get-it-all’ sources like Engadget and Ars Technica covering broad technology, narrowed down to the likes of Quick Sprout which covers the personal development topic in depth.

This is where things begin to get interesting. Media consumers generally like focused content. The ‘average’ internet user will rarely browse weblogs, more than often just using Google to find answers and information about things their interested in.

You’ve got something that you care a lot about, and you’re obsessed about — it’s almost like an intellectual fetish. Then you’ve got something that’s your angle on that. - Merlin Mann

It’s your responsibility as a writer to ensure you’re giving readers the best possible information, knowledge and detail you can on what you’re writing about. Don’t be writing about something you’re not passionate about, it shines through. The way writing comes across has a lot to do with the dedication and passion published in-between the lines from personal experience. If you don’t have a passion for it, don’t publish it. Expecting stellar feedback and emails from your reader-base when you’re not 100% dedicated to your piece? You won’t get the reception you’re after.

Get crazy specific about the thing… Don’t just, don’t have a blog about Star Wars; have a blog about Jawas. Or, like, this one Jawa that’s just in the scene for a minute.

Like, it’s gonna be so much easier for you to dominate, first of all; you’re gonna become the go-to guy for that one Jawa, right? And what does that mean? - Merlin Mann

Passionate about the National Basketball Association? Don’t just narrow your topic down to a single conference or team, further narrow it to a specific player. If music happens to be your obsession, write about a specific band or instrument, not music as a whole.

Weblogs with focus attract readers who are passionate and extremely motivated about the topic. These readers pay attention to everything the writer has to say. The ones who are interested in the exact same things you’re interested in; reads the exact same websites you read, and reads your site from the top to the bottom. Every single word.

The feature set for the next iteration of Apple’s operating system, Snow Leopard continues to grow as the release date approaches upon us.

It has been reported that QuickTime Player X now supports playback out of the box for .flv videos, and furthermore: it can save those videos to m4v. Think about this concept little further, once the QuickTime software is updated on the iPhone, we should be able to view .flv videos on the go, with no prior conversion needed.

QuickTime Player X takes some time to load the flv file first, before allowing its playback. This is very fast in short files, but noticeably longer when long files are played.

I do believe I can handle this short delay in return for the added function in Quicktime. Snow Leopard’s advancements look better and better as release creeps forward.

Goodbye Perian.

I’ll be first to admit I’m not the most responsible when it comes to the use of mobile technology while I’m driving. I’m constantly changing songs on the iPhone which plays via the auxiliary input in my car stereo, searching for directions on Google Maps, texting, and making phone calls.

The latter of the matters is the most safe of all listed, as I purchased a hands free kit which sits above the dash. The others however, are hazardous to some extent in most, if not all driving situations.

Due to the nature of the touch screen input on the iPhone, data entry requires 100% attention focus, unlike other devices where you can input data/write messages by ‘feel.’ Once data has been input into the phone, for example Google Maps, it’s easy to follow without having to apply 100% of your attention span on the phone.

This is where the Voice Control feature on the iPhone 3G S has my attention. No longer would using the iPhone while driving be ‘as irresponsible.’ Simply feel for the home button, hold it down and tell the phone orally what I want it to do rather than take my eyes off the road and flip through applications and input areas.

Instead of scrolling through contacts to find the person I want to call, simply speak their name. Same with changing songs, speak out the name and artist or playlist and it will begin playing.

While focus has been more directed toward the increased speed aspect and the video camera capabilities of the iPhone 3G S, Voice Control is the only feature which has potential to prevent serious injury, if not death.

Don’t text and drive, purchase an iPhone 3G S instead.

Based on sales, Tweetie has been the elite iPhone application for Twitter since the App Store launched. Sitting in the top 20 paid downloads for months on end Tweetie has been exposed to a huge number of people, no doubt a major factor in why the announcement and release of the desktop application created so much buzz amongst Twitter and Macintosh followers.

Atebits software released Tweetie for Mac last week, immediately storming Twitter, holding onto a ‘trend’ spot for over 24 hours. A Macworld interview was held soon after, a few insightful comments were located in the transcript.

I really don’t know. One of the fantastic things about Twitter clients is how easy it is for users to jump from one to another. Just type in a username and password and off you go.

One of the strongest quotes from the interview, John Gruber commented on the point adding there is so little friction to switch between apps, there’s nothing to import or export, and zero commitment. This is what makes a developers job difficult when building a Twitter application. It’s difficult, if not near impossible to tie down a user to your application which the exception of them having purchased it.

Lack of feature additions in the future? With zero commitment users you’ve got a problem on your hands. However, for the public this converts into excellent applications which are regularly improved.

They serve some of the most beautiful ads around. Many people mentioned that they registered Tweetie but then opted to keep the ads on anyway (there’s a checkbox in the Preferences).

This goes to show the user-base using Tweetie and the attitude consumers have toward elegant advertisements. It’s simply no longer fair to connect ads and a negative view on the appearance and how it detracts from a publication/website. The Deck, and now Fusion have taken that view to the cleaners, quite literally.

The sidebar design in Tweetie for Mac solves these problems in an extremely elegant and scalable way. It’s new and different, which is hard for some people to swallow, but somebody needs to push the envelope and try new things or we’re all going to rot in UI hell.

It would have been simple to use an existing UI trend for many parts of the application, in particular the sidebar. The large sidebar is a UI trend found in an array of applications, especially those from Apple. Take for example iTunes, Mail, iCal, and iPhoto. The Tweetie user interface is out of the box down to the finest details, the sidebar been one of the larger and riskier attributes.

What’s sleep? But seriously, I’m throwing my weight behind Tweetie for Mac and iPhone. I have a fantastic new foundation with which to build a true next generation Twitter client. People have just seen the tip of the iceberg.

Perfect example of a committed and enthusiastic developer. Always looking to improve upon its product not only for the user-base, but for personal satisfaction.

Introducing DroboPro. A brand-new 8 bay storage system from Data Robotics. The new Drobo Pro looks amazing for those with heavy storage requirements. It holds up to eight drives instead of four, uses a dual core ARM microprocessor and has the ability to survive two simultaneous disk failures.

It supports multiple operating systems and file systems (including NTFS, HFS Plus, FAT32, and EXT3), and has FireWire800 and USB 2.0 ports as well as a gigabit ethernet port for an iSCSI connection.

While the regular 4-bay Drobo suits consumers with needs like mine perfectly, there are some users who found themselves stacking multiple Drobo units up around their office as one wasn’t sufficient enough to hold all of their media.

The new DroboPro is aimed at creative professionals and IT managers and starts at $1,299. Current Drobo owners will receive a $200 instant incentive to assist with upgrading to DroboPro through a loyalty program at drobostore.com.

Since I was first enlightened with news of the Drobo it appeared to me as the optimal storage solution for anyone working with digital media. It’s remained on my shopping list for some time - eventually I’l’ pick one up and turn it into my sole storage location for my images, music, and movies.

The DroboPro is going to change the outlook on the cost, scalability, and hassle or mass storage for individuals with large storage requirements and smaller studios alike. According to the Data Robotics press release they’ve sold 60,000 original Drobo units. I expect this product to gain as much traction as the original product did. Though the companies best asset in my eyes is its attention to listen to what its customers want and deliver, period.

An extremely interesting afternoon when it comes to personal development. I drove into town this afternoon with a simple plan, to go out for lunch. Little was I to know I’d end up making a decision I think will define a sector of my life in the immediate, and distant future.

After lunch I did a little window shopping, I wanted to check out some new watches. I really was only dreaming, and window shopping for price references. I ended up in Michael Hill, one of the largest and most vast jewelers in New Zealand checking out their mens dress watches.

There was one which struck my eye which I promptly tried on..a wrong move. It had a price tag of $600 NZD, which was quickly bargained down to a lowly $395 on the jewelers terms. He then proceeded to tell me he’d drop the price another $50 if I came back in before the end of the day. I took his business card, and walked away with one thing on my mind. Where can I find this money before the store closed.

Back in the car I loaded up my banks website on my phone and transfered the amount over from an account I’ve promised myself not to touch. I was set on it, I had to have that watch. I decided to walk back to the store to give myself a little time to think, at this stage I had two choices. Walk in and hand over my card, walking out with the watch and a head full of guilt. Or walk away from the store, and hold my head up high I had beaten my ‘want’ and made a smart decision.

I sat outside for five minutes, catching eye of the man who was awaiting my arrival back at the store more than once. Then I made a decision I feel is defining in the way I need to look at and treat money - I walked away from the store, jumped in my car, and drove home.

I believe this is the first step I needed to take in turning around my finances and really setting myself up for the future. It wasn’t easy, but the first step never is. I’m now confident I can always say no to impulse purchases. I’m well on my way!

Another repeat of MacHeist, another bucketload of poorly thought out criticism by bloggers toward the way the system works. For those not aware, MacHeist which is currently in the middle of its third ’season’ is a bundle of 12 popular Mac applications been sold for the low price of $39 (normal retail price of the 12 applications is $627). 25% of all sale proceeds go to charity, while the other 75% goes into marketing and paying the involved developers, and of course the profit margin.

During the first year MacHeist developers agreed to be paid a flat fee for the duration of the event which once revealed to the media, in particular the strident writer John Gruber, hell broke loose as opinions flew all over the web regarding the fairness to the developer.

Second time around, MacHeist staff realized their mistake and adjusted accordingly, this time offering developers a percentage cut from the total number of sales. This method has carried over to the third year.

Sounds like a fair deal doesn’t it? Yet there are still a number of people out there crying out that MacHeist are ripping developers off. To those critiquing, look at it this way. No developer was forced into participating, those who have spoken out regarding their involvement seem over the moon with the results to date, and with still 13 days left in the bundle sale things aren’t going to get any slower.

The percentage cut deal has been around for the last two seasons of MacHeist, are these bloggers digging at an old matter for the heck of it or do they really believe the developers involved had a gun to their head when signing the papers?

Update: While we’re on the topic of poorly thought out criticism, have you seen this? Read into it as you will and make your own judgement.

I feel a formal explanation in the form of a weblog entry is required on the topic of my late video show which was produced for a short period over YouTube early last year. Most of you will have noticed I ceased production of the show without much, if any notice to you - my valued audience.

Basically it boiled down to one main factor, lack of time. The time involved in receiving and cataloging questions, running the channels, prepping and recording the video, editing the files, processing, uploading, and promoting took up an immense amount of my little free time I had.

The video show is no more as it has been that way for some time now. I just wanted to let you all know in a more formal manner. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the videos I did produce, but due to the other factors don’t expect a comeback anytime in the near future. Though, do expect me getting back to a regular writing ’schedule’ of forms.

It really has been a long time since I’ve been able to write on a regular basis, let alone any form of schedule. 2008 disappeared so quickly as I raced to finish two year long NZQA high-school qualifications in just 12 months. I’ve now got the two under my belt and feel a little more relaxed, however I still have an extremely busy year ahead of me.

While I’ve ‘finished’ school to some extent, I’m still planning on gaining another few dozen Level 3 credits to aid in university entry further down the track, I’ll be studying Legal Studies and Economics part time for the next 6 months. I’m feeling this will take up a day or two a week of my time.

Other plans include searching for a part time job to aid in paying the many bills I seem to have accumulated over the past few months, while I haven’t purchased any new tech equipment for quite some time now I’ve really gained a feel for living expenses and exactly how hard on the pocket it can be to drive and maintain a car.

In the ideal sense, I’d love to study full time one day a week, work three days, and dedicate one day to writing and focusing on online projects. Remember that has the word ideal attached to it, in a more realistic sense, a full-time job could be on the cards leaving to to juggle study and projects over nights and Saturday/Sunday.

The end goal is to finish these two further Level 3 courses and apply to the New Zealand police force once I’m of age to start its training. I’ll keep you up to date!