Request for comments: 2010 Hackintosh Dream Setup

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="Lego Hackintosh!"][/caption]

I'm putting together a spec for the world's greatest Hackintosh desktop system. This won't be a guide on how to install a Hackintosh, or a list of all available and supported components. That's covered in much greater detail elsewhere.

This guide will conver my own sick twisted fantasy Hackintosh dream system.

What is a Hackintosh??

A Hackintosh is an Intel based white-box PC that has had a modified version of Mac OS X 10.[4-6] installed on it. It's legally dubious, frankly, and Apple pretends to care, but I don't think they do... Much.

Why don't they care very much? Building a Hackintosh is a pain, and then you don't get the premium commercial support from Apple. So basically you won't be able to use your Hackintosh in a stable commercial environment. I'm sure there are people out there that use Hackintosh systems for commercial purposes, but I don't think this is a segment that is taking significant market-share away from Apple. Hell, from what I can see a lot of the people that build Hackintosh computers are already Apple fans and own Apple hardware/software.

tl;dr, a Hackintosh is an Apple computer without any of the benefits of Apple hardware. It's an expensive toy.

If you love Mac OS X, and you are a PC hardware gearhead with a penchant for modding, AND you're not using the system you're going to build to do anything you need to rely on, a Hackintosh could work for you.

The criteria for my Hackintosh dream system will be as follows;

• Reasonable price (considering what I want)


• Most optimal performance available.


• 100% compatability with MacOS X 10.6.x

So, question time!

What components would you put in a high-end Hackintosh system?

What components would you like to see?

What case would you use??

Points of Interest

• Lifehacker: Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required


• This just incredible Lego Hacintosh case!

Adam Savage rides his electric unicycle thingee

Via Bikes and the City. This is a video of a motorized unicycle called an SBU, by Focus Designs, with Adam Savage behind, or on, the wheel. These are cool! I had never heard of them.
I can never personally justify electric bikes and light EV's. I can ride faster, all day, with my own power. So it stays at "neato" for me, not a must have.

Samsung Luxia 7000 and 8000 series white screen problem

We just had a 46" LED HDTV (UN46B8000) sprung upon us for Christmas, which is a nice but dizzying surprise!  We were worried though when we initially set it up, because when we turned it on, our image was almost entirely washed out.  Playing with the settings did nothing, and even the self-diagnostic said to contact Samsung.

The support rep at Samsung was helpful, but couldn't do anything for us because the TV was a refurbished model (we knew this before hand, I just called Samsung first to find out if there was a trick we could pull to fix it).  So we called the outlet that we got the TV from, and they had the answer to solve the problem.

When you mount the TV on the supplied stand, Samsung gives you screws to attach the stand at the back.  These screws are seemingly too long.  When you put the screws in all the way, it tweaks some component, and you lose all color!  Loosening the screws fixed the picture immediately.

So if you've got a new Samsung Luxia, and the picture is washed out and you can hardly see anything; check your stand, and loosen the mounting screws!  I get the impression from Samsung that if I had not found out about the screw thing, they would have just made me replace it.

Yes, you can get the new MacBook in different colors

Via Apartment Therapy Unplugged.
Colorware will apparently take several different types of electronics and skin them in different colors. The service is prohibitively expensive, for me, but it's probably for the best that I can't get this done to my new MacBook.

ColorWare

Quick impression of the new Macbook

As you are probably aware Apple recently released a new line of low-end Macbooks with updated specs and an updated body mold. I picked one up today to replace my amazingly loyal but aging Powerbook 12". Actually to be more accurate, this Macbook will take the place of three different systems that I use. My Powerbook, an ancient Ubuntu Thinkpad 600E, and a Windows/Ubuntu desktop.

Since this is the low-end, I don't have a Firewire port, or an SD card reader, but to be frank I won't miss either of those features. If I was a professional photographer or videographer that might get in the way.

I opted for a 4GB RAM upgrade, since I do a lot of "multitasking" and I sometimes work with Parallels, simulating Linux and FreeBSD installs. The 4GB of RAM has paid off, I think. If you get a Macbook, opt for the RAM upgrade. People always say "Macs love RAM", and it's still just as true.

So far I'm very impressed with the horsepower this laptop packs. Even as Apple's lowest-end portable offering, it's taking everything I can throw at it. The fan is pretty quiet despite my running of flash videos and Second Life in the background. It's staying fairly cool overall although there are some hot spots.

I notice when the graphics card kicks in to high gear, the keys (WSAD in particular) start to heat up, but so far it hasn't been a big deal. I can't comment on how much it might cook my groin, because I've got a laptop lap-table thing that I swear by.

The physical build quality feels sturdy, considering it's not aluminum like a Macbook Pro. But it's still plastic, there's no doubt about it. As much as I loved my aluminum Powerbook, I couldn't justify the $800+ premium for another Aluminum bodied laptop, at least in this generation of Apple computers. Let's see what happens in a couple of years.

I've popped the back off of it to take a look inside (had to, I couldn't help it!) and you can get to pretty much all of the components with little fuss. This is a huge change from most Apple laptops I've dealt with in the last decade. I changed out the hard drives on both my Blueberry iBook and my Powerbook, and each time was a huge production requiring documentation of every step, and of which screws went where.

When the time comes, I'll be able to drop a 500GB SATA drive into this MacBook without giving myself any new wrinkles in the process.

Let's see how I feel in a month, but at the moment, I'm more than happy with this Macbook as a replacement for my Powerbook AND desktop systems.

Rogers (finally) Introduces the New BlackBerry Bold 9700 Smartphone

Update: According to MobileSyrup, dummy devices are showing up and being readied for display at Rogers retail outlets.  Awesome!

Yay! After weeks of teasing us, Rogers is about to drop the BlackBerry Bold 9700 on it's users.

I'm looking forward to getting one of these at work to replace my now rancid (but faithful) 8700r.

Via PRNewsWire, quote the Raven...

Newest 3G BlackBerry smartphone will arrive at Rogers in the coming weeks

TORONTO, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Rogers Wireless today announced that it will be offering the BlackBerry(R) Bold(TM) 9700, the latest 3G smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), in the coming weeks.

Running on Canada's most reliable network, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone offers top-of-the-line performance, functionality and features with support for 3G HSDPA networks around the world, a next-generation (624 MHz) processor, 256 MB Flash memory, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi(R), 3.2MP camera and sharp, dazzling display. Cutting edge engineering and premium finishes extend to the exterior of the handset as well. The new model integrates a touch-sensitive trackpad and the highly tactile, distinctive, fretted keyboard found in RIM's premium full-QWERTY handsets. Chrome highlights and a leatherette back add to the new smartphone's sleek and elegant look, while the narrow profile, balanced weight and soft-touch frame allow it to sit comfortably in one hand.

"The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is certainly a sight to behold," said John Boynton, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Rogers Communications. "Rogers is pleased to add this stylish, high performing device to our lineup of leading-edge smartphones, just in time for the holiday season."

"The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 delivers state-of-the-art features and performance in a compact and beautifully designed handset," said Don Morrison, Chief Operating Officer at Research In Motion. "This sleek and powerful 3G smartphone offers an incredibly refined mobile experience that is ideal for both personal and professional use."

Features of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone from Rogers include:

    -   Sleek design measuring 109 mm x 60 mm x 14.1 mm and weighing only 122
        grams
    -   Sharp and dazzling 2.44" light-sensing display (480 x 360 resolution
        at 245 ppi)
    -   Highly tactile, full QWERTY keyboard - with finely sculpted keys and
        chrome frets - for fast, accurate typing
    -   Innovative touch-sensitive trackpad that allows intuitive and
        responsive navigation
    -   Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
    -   Access to applications including TeleNav GPS Navigator, SalesNOW
        Mobile Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Momentem Time and
        Expense Tracker, and the unique to Rogers Name Display and WhoCalled
        features
    -   BlackBerry(R) Internet Service and BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server
        support, with customers having dedicated access to Rogers 24/7
        technical support in Canada and worldwide
    -   Access to Tier 2 Enterprise Support Centre for Rogers BlackBerry
        Enterprise Server customers
    -   Access to the Rogers urMusic application, which allows users to
        sideload music for free and discover, browse and download songs.
        urMusic also gives access to the best LiveNation(R) concerts with
        Wireless Box Office(TM), a mobile ticketing service where Rogers pays
        the service charges
    -   3.2 MP camera with variable zoom, autofocus, flash and video
        recording
    -   Built-in GPS for maps and other location-based applications, as well
        as photo geotagging
    -   256 MB of Flash memory
    -   microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB cards today
        and is expected to support 32 GB cards when available; a 2GB card is
        included
    -   Media player for videos, pictures and music, plus support for
        BlackBerry Desktop Manager for both PCs and Macs, and BlackBerry(R)
        Media Sync for easily syncing iTunes(R) and Windows Media(R) Player
        music with the smartphone*
    -   A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, dedicated volume controls, Lock and
        Mute keys seamlessly integrated across the top of the handset
    -   Access to BlackBerry App World(TM), featuring a broad and growing
        catalog of mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry
        smartphones. Categories include games, entertainment, IM and social
        networking, news, weather, productivity and more.
    -   Premium and easy-to-access phone features, background noise
        suppression technology and high quality speakerphone
    -   Bluetooth(R) (2.1) with support for Secure Simple Pairing, hands-free
        headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals
    -   HSDPA and quad-band EDGE support for global roaming
    -   BlackBerry(R) OS 5.0, offering users email management and calendar
        enhancements** as well as a better browsing experience with faster
        JavaScript and CSS processing
    -   BlackBerry(R) Internet Service and BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server
        support
    -   Removable, rechargeable 1500 mAhr battery that provides approximately
        6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby time in 3G mode

Pricing & Availability

The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone will be available from Rogers in the coming weeks for $299.99 on a three-year voice and data activation with a minimum monthly service plan of $45.

Check www.rogers.com for availability or www.blackberry.com/Bold9700 for product information.

    *    Certain music files may not be supported, including files that
           contain digital rights management technologies.
    **   Some features require BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0

About Rogers Wireless

Rogers Wireless provides wireless voice and data communications services across Canada to more than 8.2 million customers under both the Rogers Wireless and Fido brands. Proven to operate Canada's fastest mobile data network as well as the most reliable network for voice with the clearest reception and fewest dropped calls, Rogers Wireless isCanada's largest wireless provider and the only carrier operating on the global standard GSM and highly advanced HSPA technology platforms. In addition to providing seamless roaming in more than 200 countries/areas with its GSM based services, Rogers Wireless also provides wireless broadband services across Canada utilizing its 2.5GHz fixed wireless spectrum. Rogers Wireless is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX: RCI; NYSE: RCI), a diversified Canadian communications and media company. For further information, please visit www.rogers.com.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

SOURCE Rogers Wireless

SINApod!

My Book for my Time Machine

Just picked up this WD My Book 640 GB drive for use with Time Machine from Best Buy Canada, before I go all Reuserist in 2009. This is sorta my final call to buy new crap before my experiment kicks in. So a 640GB external for $109.99 is a pretty good deal[1].

This new drive does serve a vital purpose; acting as my Time Machine backup, replacing the 250GB drive that was starting to do the click of death, and the old drive was technically too small to actually back up the primary drive in my new iMac.. So all things considered I don't feel too bad about the purchase of this new awesome fast external. It also looks like a book. Pretty.

I ran into some challenges. If you just plug it in to your Mac, it's formatted as an MS-DOS filesystem. That's fine for compatibility because everything in the world can read that, but I'm trying to use it for exclusive Mac Time Machine backups. Opening up Disk Utility, I couldn't manage to remove the partition on the drive, which came up as the device "596.2 GB WD 6400AAV External Media", with the partition "My Book". After doing some digging I found the answer (macosxhints, always, awesome)..

Warning before you start: This procedure will wipe all the included files on this drive. Personally I had no use for them, but you may want to save them.

To clarify this URL, here's the visual;

Image 1:, rather than select the partition on the device, select the device. This will give you the "Partition" tab, between "Erase" and "RAID". Pick Volume Scheme: 1 Partition. Name your partition, pick "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" if you are going to use it for Time Machine as I am, and then select "Options..."

Image 2: Inside options, pick "Apple Partition Map". By default it will have "Master Boot Record" selected, which is where Disk Utility runs into trouble.

Click ok inside Options, and then Apply, and vavoom, you're off. If you want to feel safe about the change you can always remove the partition again and re-create it. From there you just have to configure your Time Machine.

This drive is also advertised as 30% more energy efficient than standard systems. I can guarantee that's the case for the drive that it's replacing.

Points of Interest

Disk Utility

Time Machine propaganda

The sale at Best Buy Canada

Footnotes
[1] Oh, yes Internet, I know... if I scoured the dregs of online computer stores I'm sure I could find some better door-smasher deal. I'm not going to weep tears over $15 worth of savings that would cost me a virtual $30 of hassle (and shipping perhaps). /snark_mode OFF :)

Technorati Tags: apple, backups, gadgets, hardware

SimCity for the iPhone

I'm a SimCity freak, and I have been since the Commodore 64 version hit in 1989, but I had no idea that EA had finally released a version for the iPhone. (thanks calebcherry).

First impressions? Good! I was actually a little skeptical until my first city started building, and bam, my old SimCity addiction kicked in.

The interface is not as clunky as one would expect considering the small screen size. The menus take advantage of the iPhone interface, and have iPhoneisms, so it jives nicely with the rest of the iPhone platform.

The music still has that same SimCity, "I'm watching re-runs of Beyond 2000" feel, which I quite enjoy. I haven't heard any tracks I recognize from previous SimCity games yet but I wouldn't doubt that they're in there.

Advisors aren't blocky sims, which I'll kind of miss. They're oddly "anime" looking as others have noted. I understand that choice though, why render 3D dudes to yell at you when a cartoon will do?

From a complexity standpoint it sits smack in the middle of the original SimCity and SimCity 3000. In fact it shares a lot of traits with SimCity 3000, and early screens of the iPhone version were dead ringers for the SC3000 interface. The game is not anywhere near as complex as SimCity 4 (of course), but it still has a satisfying number of knobs to tweak.

In summary, should you pick it up?

It's under $10.

It's got enough SimCity feel to satisfy.

I'd buy it even if I was just going to play it once waiting for a flight.

It won't replace SimCity 4, but you can play it while on the can, so, there's that...

This will certainly be one of the apps that eats up my battery life. Coming soon to this blog: a post about "poor battery life" on the iPod Touch! In no way related to my 8-hour road-planning stints.

Points of interest

SimCity at Wikipedia

SimCity for iPhone

Technorati Tags: apple, gaming, iphone, iPod

Wii Month: Day 1

Technorati Tags: gaming, Nintendo, wii

Some Firewire Kung-Fu to Recover a Busted Mac

I'm actually not sure how well this will work with the latest generation of Apple products but it just worked like a charm between my G4 PowerBook and a G5 desktop box.

Evan ran into some trouble with a couple of QuickTime plugins (and who knew that QT plugins could halt an OS, that's a new one by me). This caused his system to get to the login prompt, and then essentially quit, almost like Finder was crashing again and again.

So before he went through the process of trying to recover in single user mode, we did the following to just delete the new plugins from his hard drive.

I grabbed my PowerBook and a Firewire cable and ran over to his desk.

Evan shut down his busted workstation.

I plugged my PowerBook into the Firewire port on the front of the G5.

I rebooted my PowerBook, holding down T so that it would boot up as a firewire drive.

Evan restarted his Desktop workstation, holding down Command-Option-Shift-Delete to bypass the built-in drive and boot from an external source (in this case the Firewire'd PowerBook).

From there the workstation booted, and displayed my login prompt so that I could get in and delete those files from the drive on his workstation. If we had needed to, we could have done lots of file-recovery magic, as well as emergency backups.

Wikipedia's OSX page.

Wikipedia's Firewire page.

Apple's keyboard shortcut page.

Alsoft's DiskWarrior, if all else fails.

Technorati Tags: apple, Firewire, macintosh, PowerBook

Atari Dock

Atari Dock:

Pablo Noel posted a photo:

Apparently fictitious, but this'd be a nice mod...

Technorati Tags: apple, Atari, iPod

Electric assisted bicycle reaches up to 70Kph?

Behold, the Optibike, for it is pimp.



The downside, they're "only" $5,495... As a plus, that's actually inexpensive for a high-end scooter or moped. As a minus, I can't afford one, and if I had that much money I'd probably put that money towards something much less efficient.

This is a great option for someone who has a long commute by bike, but wants to bike, and also has a lot of spare cash floating around. I think these hybrid vehicles will become more and more popular as time goes on. The technology will get better, and keeping up the Oil Habit will get more and more expensive.



And frankly, it looks like a hell of a lot of fun.

Thanks Gizmag for the tipoff.

Technorati Tags: Bicycle, environment, Health and wellness, Transportation, Vehicles

Microsoft wants to give you a free USB drive.

Check it out...

Cheat sheet!

Q1. How many ways are there to obtain a full Microsoft® Windows® Desktop license?
Answer:: 2

Q2: Volume License Agreements cover Windows Desktop operating system upgrades only.
Answer: True

Q3: OEM operating system licenses are non-transferable.
Answer: True

Q4: The most cost-effective way to acquire an initial, full underlying Windows Desktop license is preinstalled.
Answer: True

Technorati Tags: free, microsoft, pwned, usb

Canon EOS 30D unleashed onto an unsuspecting populace

swanky. Click for larger image.

The Canon EOS 30D is an upgrade of the Canon EOS 20D (same 8.19 megapixel CMOS sensor) with a larger 2.5 inch LCD (230,000 pixels) with ISO up to 1600 (in 1/3 stop increments) and Spot Metering.

---

The EOS 30D features


* 8.2 Megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor

* 5 fps and 30 large JPEG frame burst

* 2.5”, 230K pixel, 170º wide viewing angle LCD screen

* Picture Style image processing parameters

* Spot metering and High Precision 9-point AF system

* DIGIC II image processor with 0.15 sec start-up time

* Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software

* 100,000 cycle shutter durability and rugged magnesium alloy body

* Simultaneous RAW and JPEG recording

* Wide 100-3200 ISO range

* E-TTL II Flash

* PictBridge compatibility

* Complete compatibility with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites

* USB 2.0 Hi-Speed and Video Out connectivity

Technorati Tags: camera, canon, hardware

Tandy 102

Tandy 102:

iwad posted a photo:

Technorati Tags: hardware

Apple pip

Apple pip:

ckwmoore posted a photo:

This is a bit geeky, but here is the Apple I computer in the Science Museum, London.

Technorati Tags: apple, macintosh

Somebody built a transforming car...

Behold. A pretty amazing piece of work.

Technorati Tags: video

Multi-input touch screen demo vid

See the video here.

This is an awesome demo of a touch-screen that can take multiple touch inputs at the same time, leading to some cool "Minority Report" type interactions. This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.

Technorati Tags: apple, hardware, macintosh, video

Revolution Controller Examples

Revolution Controller Examples

Very cool. It's what I'd want in a next gen console. I really do hope this is how it works. If so, the Revolution will be my next big purchase. I'm disappointed by the 360 (even though I wasn't expecting much), and I'm dubious on the PS3.

Technorati Tags: console, hardware, nintendo, revolution, video