Archive for January, 2009

Climate change?

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

Just some weeks ago I posted an article from the Telegraph about how man-made global warming got disproved…today I am thinking; and still the climate uuhhh, changed!

Well, it always did and will do, so changing ‘Global Warming’ to ‘Global Climate change’ is still way off!

And yet, the end of last week in Norway was relatively mild, temperatures around 0 degrees Celcius, even a bit above…today we had a stunning +4, strong winds and rain…if I didn’t know better I’d say it was friggin’ October! ๐Ÿ˜‰

In The Netherlands on the other hand, temperatures were down to -10 dgr Celcius with an absolute minimum of -21 in the South!! The whole country is skating on the canals and lakes and I don’t understand why there is no snow around Oslo…is this a one-timer or a true effect of the so-called Global Climate change, and…can it be proven??

QOTD January 10 2009

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Bob Dylan: “He not busy being born is busy dying.”

The MacBook Wheel

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Hey, it’s Apple, so this MUST the future!! ๐Ÿ˜‰


Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard


Ice hockey game

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

I’ll go to see my first ever live ice hockey match tonight!

Vรฅlerenga, currently number one in the competition is playing against the Storhamar Dragons, the number six…I guess it’ll be an easy win for ‘my’ team! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Another new experience, great!

MacWorld 2009 Keynote announcements

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

This years MacWorld Keynote turned out to be good as always, yet not spectacular with respect to new products. Hmm, could it have been that the lack of ‘super’-announcements also was one of the reasons for Steve Jobs’ absence?

Three main announcements were presented:

1. iLife ’09 – the personal multimedia application suite included with every Mac.

New things in this version:

iPhoto ’09: Faces, Places, integration for FaceBook & Flickr, Slideshow Themes and Travel Book

iMovie ’09: Precision Editor, Advanced drag & drop, Dynamic Themes, Animated travel maps

GarageBand ’09: Learn to Play, Artist Lessons

2. iWork ’09 – Apple’s office application suite with updates to Keynote, Pages, Numbers.

New is iWork.com, an online collaboration tool like Google Docs.

3. 17″ MacBook Pro

An upgrade of this high-end notebook, similar to the MacBooks introduced at the end of 2008. It has one major difference; the battery is non removable, lasting up to 8 hours!

There was ‘One last thing’, covering three announcements related to iTunes. A new pricing structure varying from $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29 per song, all music will be DRM free via iTunes Plus and the iPhone can now access the Music Store also on 3G.

So, as I said, a good Keynote as always, but not spectacular. There wasย  no Steve, no iPhone nano, no new MacMini nor iMac…I assume Apple will organize seperate events for these. ๐Ÿ˜‰

QOTD January 6 2009

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The world belongs to the energetic.”

Tomorrow: MacWorld Keynote

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Early January is traditionally the time for Apple to kick off the New Year, announcing new products at MacWorld!

There are a lot of rumors floating around on the ‘net, although this year things will be unlike any other years; the Keynote speech will have to do without Apple CEO Steve Jobs (aka Stevenote)! He wrote an open letter to the Apple community to explain why he will not be present. A major pity, since I always enjoyed his performance on stage, the man is a true Master in presenting!

Anyway, let’s see how Phil Schiller (Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing…how’s that for a title? ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) will do tomorrow. And, what exciting new products will be announced! And who knows, perhaps Steve will drop by for his famous ‘One more thing…‘ segment at the end of the Keynote!

Back pain

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

I’ve had a terrible back pain last week. Having last week off, doing some back exercises and generally taking it easy solved things!

Until today; I woke up with a minor pain in my back this morning, didn’t take it seriously and got a first warning when I took the bbq from the veranda to the garage (something that I should have done some months ago ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). Directly after that I went ice skating (again!)…trust me; NO good for your back, especially not when you’re practicing the optimal position for speed skating (a low position with the knees bent), ooch! Even a sauna at home didn’t help…I’m SO looking forward to start the working week/year tomorrow…

QOTD January 3 2009

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Og Mandino: “Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.”

Time for a new iPhone?

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

The iPhone Dev Team released a software unlock for the iPhone 3G, roughly half a year after the phone was released…that’s over a month faster than that it took the community to release a software unlock for the original iPhone last year. A tutorial is available on iClarified.

I wonder what Apple will bring in 2009, after they introduced the iPhone in 2007 and the iPhone 3G in 2008…heavily rumoured is the iPhone nano.

2009; time for a new iPhone??

New Year’s ice skating

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

Happy New Year y’all!!

I’ve had a great start of 2009; first a splendid party at Willy & Katka’s place where we rocked the place with Guitar Hero World Tour (it’s really heaps of fun to play as a band!) and at the end of the night I turned out to be รผber-metrosexual…I won the Singstar Abba edition (uhh, yes, that is Abba… ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

Quite a contrast with this mornings (/afternoons ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) wake up with the Wiener Philharmoniker New Years concert and some leftover ‘oliebollen‘, a great combination and a long tradition.

No tradition yet is ice skating on New Year’s Day. The long period of temperatures below zero, lack of snow and blue skies made the conditions today perfect, and the Bogstadvannet lake was a be-au-ti-ful place to try my ice skates after 6 years! I loved it, this year started great…Happy New Year y’all!!