PlasmaBlog

Oh How Far We Have Come…

plasmadesign — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:58:27 +0000

Highly-anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV has received a string of near-perfect reviews ahead of its worldwide release on Tuesday. The game is expected to break records for the fastest-selling game of all time and many shops are opening their doors at midnight for gamers. But I suspect many of those people won’t remember the first GTA…

Behold. The first Grand Theft Auto.

Turbulence

plasmadesign — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:56:18 +0000

Just a quick shameless plug for the latest of my wallpapers to be added to PlasmaDesign.co.uk. ‘Turbulence’ is available to all visitors in widescreen and regular 4:3 ratio resolutions up to 2560×1600 pixels. The original version of this photo was a shot of the water fountain outside the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Francisco at night. The final version has been subjected to a considerable number of adjustments using Photoshop CS3.

Get it here.

Why Is Adobe Software Updater A CPU Hog?

plasmadesign — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:10:56 +0000

You may have come here looking for an answer to the question above. If so, sorry. I wish I knew. How can a company as large and well respected as Adobe justify releasing a software updater that uses 100% of CPU resources from the minute it launches until the moment it quits? Indeed, that question can be added to other Adobe-related gripes, like why Illustrator takes forever to load even on a quad core Mac Pro? Or why my Version Cue database slows Bridge to a crawl if there are more than 100 projects? Or why using Dreamweaver CS3 on a Mac is akin to wading through treacle. For the love of God, Adobe. If you are going to charge thousands of dollars for your software, spend some of that revenue on ironing out it’s countless bugs because one day there might be a viable alternative. And if that happens you can kiss goodbye to my cash.

Why ‘Design By Committee’ Is A Bad Thing

plasmadesign — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:19:46 +0000

Typography.com published a great comparison between the newly designed currencies of the UK and US. Both were designed using very different approaches…

“Above, the new face of British currency, announced by the Royal Mint. The striking new designs, selected from an open competition that attracted four thousand entries, are the work of a 26-year old graphic designer named Matthew Dent. They are Mr. Dent’s first foray into currency design.

Below, the new five dollar bill, introduced last month by the United States Department of the Treasury. The new design, which features a big purple Helvetica five, is the work of a 147-year-old government agency called the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It employs 2,500 people, and has an annual budget of $525,000,000.”

Yet more proof that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’.

MacBook Air Core Shutdown

plasmadesign — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:33:41 +0000

I have been using a MacBook Air as my sole laptop for a month or so now. In general I feel very positive about my experience with it. However, there is one issue that seems to be plaguing myself and other MacBook Air owners. When taxing the CPU for extended periods, the MacBook Air shuts down one of it’s cores to prevent overheating. The easiest way to reproduce the problem is to watch a few YouTube videos. After approximately 15 minutes the Mac OS X Activity Monitor clearly shows only one core running. Within a few minutes of the CPU load being lightened, the dormant core springs back to life.

While running on only one CPU core, the MacBook Air is barely usable. The UI becomes jittery and the onscreen trackpad pointer jumps around.

While trying to find a solution to the problem I came across this forum post. The author suggests an application called ‘Coolbook‘ which purports to underclock the laptops CPU by lowering the voltage supplied to the processor and by more agressively throttling the speed of the CPU. My initial reaction was one of extreme skepticism. Alarm bells were ringing. While I consider myself a geek I have never dabbled with overclocking of CPU’s and have never even heard of underclocking. But after reading five pages of positive responses I decided to take the plunge and install ‘Coolbook’.

Firstly, let’s describe the applications UI as abysmal. There is no getting away from it. Maybe it would make more sense to someone with experience in underclocking but the whole point in a GUI is to assist the uninitiated in achieving their goals without having to resort to technical manuals. Needless to say I had to resort to the manual which is thankfully quite good.

After tinkering with the various parameters and following the advice of others on the forum I settled on the following settings…

When power adaptor is plugged in…

600HMz = 0.9V
800MHz = 0.9V
1200MHz = 0.9V
1400Mhz = 0.9V
1600Mhz = 0.95V

When the MacBook is running on battery…

600MHz = 0.9V
800Mhz = 0.9V
1200Mhz = 0.9V

This lowers the voltage supplied to the CPU by 0.2V. Also of note is the removal of the 1400MHz and 1600MHz setting when running on batteries. This has had the following results…

Before Coolbook

Approx CPU temperature under light load 52C
Approx CPU temperature under heavy load 75C
Fan speed under light load 2500rpm
Fan speed under heavy load 6500rpm
Battery life under light load - 3.35

After Coolbook

Approx CPU temperature under light load 43C
Approx CPU temperature under heavy load 62C
Fan speed under light load 2500rpm
Fan speed under heavy load 4250rpm
Battery life under light load - 4.25

Since installing Coolbook, my MacBook Air has suffered no core shutdowns, it has run significantly cooler to the touch, it is quieter (as a result of the lower fan speeds) and it lasts almost an hour longer than usual when running on battery power. As of yet I have found no downsides and I have not experienced any instability.

There is some debate about the possibilities of damaging the CPU by underclocking it. My research leads me to believe that such damage is unlikely and that using too low a voltage will simply result in OS instability. However, I am not advising anyone else rushes into underclocking their MacBook Air. All I offer is my experience with ‘Coolbook‘ for those who might be interested I will update this post should my experience change over the coming weeks.

A Bad Apple

plasmadesign — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:31:02 +0000

Have you time for a good read? Then try the new Wired article on ‘How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong‘.

“It’s hard to see how any of this would have happened had Jobs hewed to the standard touchy-feely philosophies of Silicon Valley. Apple creates must-have products the old-fashioned way: by locking the doors and sweating and bleeding until something emerges perfectly formed. It’s hard to see the Mac OS and the iPhone coming out of the same design-by-committee process that produced Microsoft Vista or Dell’s Pocket DJ music player. Likewise, had Apple opened its iTunes-iPod juggernaut to outside developers, the company would have risked turning its uniquely integrated service into a hodgepodge of independent applications — kind of like the rest of the Internet, come to think of it.”

As the owner of a graphic design agency, I see the negative impact of ‘design by committee’ on a frequent basis. It is rarely pretty.

Airport Extreme Now With Added ‘N’

plasmadesign — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:37:42 +0000

Apple have just upgraded their Airport Express to 802.11n. The previous model was only 802.11g. Apple claims a 5x speed improvement over the old version although in my experience users are more likely to get about three times the throughput; a nice speed bump nevertheless. The new Airport Express also boasts twice the range and is selling for the same price ($99) as the model it supersedes.

Northern Lights

plasmadesign — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:29:44 +0000

The northern lights must be one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon known to man, yet they are notoriously difficult to capture on film. However, Sigurdur H. Stefnisson seems to have perfected the art. These stunning photos of were all taken in Iceland over the last 20 years.

‘Secrets’ Of Mac OS X

plasmadesign — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:44:15 +0000

If you are like me and you feel compelled to tinker under the hood of Mac OS X then you may find the latest Alcor (the genius behind Quicksilver) project interesting. ‘Secrets 1.0′ is a system preference pane that provides GUI access to a multitude of hidden user defaults for both Mac OS X itself, Apple software and third party apps.

Secrets 1.0 is an open source project, compatible with Leopard only. Every time the preference pane is accessed it pulls the entire list of user defaults from http://secrets.textdriven.com/. New entries are being added to the site by its users on a minute by minute basis so the list of changes you can make to your Mac using the ‘Secrets’ preference pane will grow and grow over time.

Once again, another fascinating project by the creator of Quicksilver, and one that is sure to have the developers of more conventional system tweaking apps like Tinkertool, Onyx and Cocktail looking over their shoulders.

Download the software and find out more about Secrets here.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro Build Quality

plasmadesign — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:28:42 +0000

The MacBook Air is the latest in a long line of Apple notebooks to find a home at ‘Chez Randtoul’. Until its arrival I had considered the MacBook Pro to be the gold standard for build quality in a notebook. However, there are a few issues with the MacBook Pro, caused by less-than-perfect design.

1) When closed the screen touches the keys. Over time this leaves permanent marks on the display. Ultimately caused by a lack of clearance between the screen and keyboard, the problem is exasperated by the amount of flex in the lid. Apple has made modifications to the MacBook Pro/Powerbook over the years to try and address the issue (mainly through the addition of rubber pads around the screen bezel). A number of third party solutions have also sprung up, including screen protecting microfiber cloths that are placed on the keyboard before the lid is closed. However, in my mind these are band-aids developed to mask a fundamental design flaw.

2) While the casing for the MacBook Pro is beautifully anodized aluminum, the bevelled edge just below the space bar is painted. Whether this becomes a problem for the user depends heavily on how they type, and where they rest their thumbs. If, like me your thumbs tend to sit on the space bar, over time the painted area can become discolored and eventually wear off altogether, revealing the bare aluminum underneath.

3) Under certain circumstances the backlighting of the keyboard can actually make the keys more difficult to read. Since the death of the Titanium Powerbook, Apple have chosen to match the color of the keys to the notebooks casing, resulting in a light grey keyboard on the Macbook Pros. During daylight this is fine (light grey keys, black characters). During darkness (once the backlighting is activated) again all is well (black keys, white characters). But in a room with a low light the result is white characters on light grey keys. While not too much of a problem for touch typists, the low contrast between the keys and characters tends to negate the supposed benefits of a backlit keyboard.

Back to the MacBook Air. There has of course been much debate about its merits since it’s launch. However, what cannot be denied is it’s exceptional build quality. The curved surfaces of the casing give the notebook an amazing amount of rigidity, especially when the ultra-thin form factor is taking into consideration. Indeed, I have heard many people comment that the MacBook Air feels as though it is carved from a solid slab of aluminum.

Stanley Kubrick once said “Sometimes the truth of a thing is not so much in the think of it, as in the feel of it.“

While the MacBook Air feature set is a lesson in compromise and sacrifice, the ‘feel’ of the Air is of undeniable quality and craftsmanship.

So what about those three design flaws still present in the Air’s big brother, the Macbook Pro?

1) The keys no longer touch the screen. This has been achieved by making three changes. Firstly a rubber bumper now runs around the entire circumference of the screen. Secondly, the use of the MacBooks chiclet style recessed and flat-surface keyboard results in more clearance between the screen and keys. Thirdly, the curves of the lids casing provide much more rigidity, resulting in less screen flex.

2) There are no painted areas. While I haven’t taken a sheet of sandpaper to my new MacBook Air, I have given it a thorough inspection and it appears that all surfaces are anodized aluminum.

3) The keyboard is now black. While this is cosmetically a little jarring for some (although it brings back fond memories of the Titanium Powerbook for me), it provides high contrast between the keys and characters under all lighting conditions. Is this a rare case of Apple choosing function over form? Surely not
After two weeks with my MacBook Air I find it difficult to levy any significant criticism of the units build quality and engineering. It truly is the gold standard of notebook design. Alas poor MacBook Pro. I knew him well.

Tellytubby Land

plasmadesign — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:29:26 +0000

A few years back when my kids had less attitude and hadn’t perfected the art of sarcasm they frequently subjected me to many hours of Tellytubbies. My personal favorite was Noo-Noo, but that’s besides the point.

I came across this article on GoogleSightseeing.com; a great Web site that publishes the co-ordinates of points of interest on Google Earth. I always thought that The Teletubbies was filmed in a BBC studio somewhere but apparently not!

View Teletubby Land from space here.

Merlins Time & Attention Talk

plasmadesign — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:47:27 +0000

One of the highlights of Macworld 2008 for me was attending Merlin Mann’s presentation on ‘Time & Attention‘. The session was originally labelled ‘Living With Data’ so many attendees were surprised not to be learning about backing up their files etc. It is a testament to Merlin’s presentation skills and his obvious passion for the subject that no-one left halfway through the misleadingly billed session. And I spoke to many people afterwards who were fascinated and downright inspired by Merlins talk. As was I.

The audio and slides for Merlins ‘Time & Attention’ presentation can be watched online at 43folders.com

Macbook Air Review Roundup

plasmadesign — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:45:41 +0000

The diminutive Macbook Air must be Apples most controversial product in years. Designing a subnotebook is an exercise in compromise. By it’s very nature, certain features must be left out or cut back to achieve the compact form factor that subnotebook users demand. Each persons opinion of the Macbook Air is determined by whether the compromise in features outweigh the benefits of the machines physical attributes. Still undecided? Here is a roundup of early Macbook Air reviews…

Ars Technica (in my opinion the definative review site)

Macworld (an epic review by Jason Snell)

MacNN - Initial impressions

Engadget (a balanced review by Ryan Block)

Gizmodo - disassembly (self explanatory)

Gizmodo - review

PC Mag

Crave

CNET

Wall Street Journal (a suprisingly critical review from Walt Mossberg who is considered by many to be biased towards Apple)

Newsweek (an early review by the author of the fantastic iPod book ‘The Perfect Thing’)

USA Today

Gearlog - unboxing

NotebookReview.com (good review with video)

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 4vi For iPhone Review

plasmadesign — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 15:44:14 +0000

My favorite gadget? Easy. My iPhone. It goes everywhere with me. Sure it has faults but compared to every other cellphone on the market it kicks butt. But while the iPhone has lived up to my expectations, the earbuds that ship with it haven’t. I guess I could be considered a headphone snob. I have owned many models over the years, sinking more money that I care to admit into finding the perfect set. However, my problem with the iPhone stock earbuds isn’t all about acoustics. The iPhone has been on sale in the UK for about three months and I have already broken four sets of the white earphones. I confess that two sets were wrecked by my own stupidity (and with a little assistance from my washing machine). However, the remaining two pairs have both failed me in general use, developing loose connections in the small inline microphone/switch. The last time this happened was about 3 miles into a 16 mile walk leaving me without music for the remaining 13 miles. Very frustrating. A visit to the Apple Store was in order.

Now I am not particularly familiar with the run-of-the-mill Apple Store but the selection of iPod/iPhone cases and earphones on display at the San Francsico store on Stockton is bewildering. I spent nearly an hour browsing and scratching my head. I wanted good sound quality but without loosing the ability to take calls using the inline mic. This reduced the number of suitable headsets to a few, one of which was the Ultimate Ears Super-fi 4vi.

The Ultimate Ears are ‘in-ear’ buds meaning they are actually inserted into your ear canal, blocking the majority of external sound. When inserted for the first time I would liken the experience to being underwater. Once a good seal is achieved virtually no mid to high frequency sound from the outside world can be heard. Lower frequencies are a little more difficult to block out. In fact the first few hours wearing this type of earphone can be a little disconcerting. With your ears effectively blocked off from the outside world all thats left if the sound of your own heartbeat and the occasional rumble caused by the headphone cord rubbing on your clothes. But fear not. Once you hit the play button the eerie effect of being underwater receeds and great sounding music comes to the forefront.

The best way to describe the sound quality is as ‘natural’. There is nice balance of highs, midtones and low frequencies. I have worn these for many hours at a time and have suffered none of the listening fatigue I experienced with other earbuds that try to emphasize the bass. While bass lovers may feel these buds need a little more thump, if you like your music to sound realistic and natural these are the iPhone buds for you.

I already own a (very expensive) set of Shure E5c in-ear buds and while these deliver a wider frequency range, the Utimate Ears come very close to being my preferred earphones of choice for a few reasons.

Firstly the Ultimate ears are far more comfortable to wear for long periods of time. In comparison, the Shures rely on a design that loops the cable back over the ears and down the back of the neck. I find that after prolonged use the cable tends to rub the top of my ears, making them sore. In contrast the Ultimate Ears are more conventional with the cable dropping down in front of the listener.

Secondly, the Shures use a very thick and quite rigid cable. This tends to result in more transmission of rogue low frequencies to the ears, caused by the cable rubbing on the listeners clothes. The Ultimate Ears buds use a thinner, softer cable and while the problem is not eliminated it is much reduced.

Thirdly, the Shures ‘cable wrapped over the ear’ design makes the earbuds non-trivial to insert and remove. With practice this becomes easier but remember, whilst wearing, it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation with someone, or to hear traffic when outside. It can be a real pain in the ass to be constantly inserting and removing the Shures. The Ultimate Ears fare much better. While still preventing interaction with the outside world, it is much easier to pop an earbud out and then back in when required.

Being designed specifically for the iPhone, the Ultimate Ears also sport and intergrated mic and switch, enabling the wearer to accept, participate in, and end phone calls without having to remove the buds from their ears. However, this is where the Ultimate Ears stumble.

Firstly, while the microphone sounds great to the caller at the other end of the line, the inability to properly hear ones own voice makes for an unsettling experience. I would like to say I have gotten used to it, but in reality I find myself removing an earbud, unplugging the headphones and holding the iPhone up to my ear. This maybe something others have less of an issue with but I don’t see myself making many phone calls using the inline mic in the future.

My second grumble is about the inline switch used to accept and end calls (as well as to stop and start music and to move forward one track). When new it is very difficult to press and does not provide much tactile feedback. While I was able to execute a single click (used to accept and end calls) it was damn near impossible to perform a double click (used to advance one track when listening to music). However, I am happy to say that This has gotten better with time. With repeated use the switch becomes less stiff and gives a more defined click when pressed. I still feel the Apple stock earbuds outshine the Ultimate Ears in this department but I am learning to live with it.

Lastly I wanted to touch upon the aesthetics. The drivers are enclosed in a solid lump of aluminum. They feel solid and look great. The cord and inline mic are black. Of course, colour is a matter of personal preference. There are those who prefer black to the obligatory Apple white. Unfortunately for me, I am not one of them. I am a proud Apple follower and have always liked the fact that I can be identified as an Apple user by the white cables dangling from my ears. I guess this goes back to the first generation 5GB iPod I bought shortly after its launch. Back then iPods were a Mac-only product. Coupled with the price this made them a rarity. Owning an iPod back then was akin to being a member of an exclusive club. I guess those days are gone but, to me at least, white signifies cool, black signifies Sony. I would have preferred the Ultimate Ears to have a white cord but it’s not a deal breaker.

So there you have it. The Ultimate Ears Super-fi 4vi earbuds. Retailing at $149 they are obviously more expensive than the stock Apple earbuds. However I believe you get what you pay for. The Ultimate Ears are by no means perfect but if you care about sound quality and durability they make a great replacement for the standard iPhone buds.

A Long Walk

plasmadesign — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:32:19 +0000

In previous years I have flown into San Francisco the evening before Macworld begins and then suffered badly at the hands of jet lag for the whole week. This year I decided to fly out four days earlier so I had some time to adjust before Macworld started. This left me with some free time to explore San Francisco. On the Sunday morning, my Nikon D70s and I took a 16 mlle walk from the hotel on Union Square, to the top of Nob Hill, down to the waterfront and along the beach of Chrissy Fields to the Golden Gate bridge (and back again).

I have uploaded some photos from the walk to Flickr.

O2 iPhone Users Rejoice!

plasmadesign — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:00:14 +0000

O2 have today announced that it is revamping the cost of it’s monthly tariffs for iPhone users. Effective 1st Feb for new customers and by mid-March for existing customers, the new deal will give up to three times as many free calls and text messages for the same monthly fee. All existing iPhone users will be migrated to the new plans automatically.

I am sure many will read between the lines and see this as a “desperate pitch” by O2 to bolster the sales of iPhones. Do I care? Hell no. I just got an extra 600 minutes of talk time per month for free.

Details on the new tariffs can be found at the O2 site.

And You Thought Your Video Recorder Was Difficult To Operate?

plasmadesign — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:17:19 +0000

Plowing through my RSS feeds this morning I can across this 360 degree panorama of a brand new Airbus A380 cockpit. Don’t forget to use the zoom button to check out what all of those buttons and VDU’s do. And is that hatch behind the copilots seat really stuck down with red gaffer tape?

Check it out here.

T-Mobile Hotspot Woes

plasmadesign — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:40:01 +0000

Being a geek I tend to travel with more gadgets than clothes. The first two items I grab are my Macbook Pro and my iPhone. I then proceed to pack the many cables and power bricks required to keep me online for the duration of my trip. Booking a hotel with complimentary wifi is high on my list of priorities. However, for a number of reasons I left booking my trip to Macworld a little late this year. The penalty for this was a severe lack of choice when it came to hotels. In the end I opted for the Grand Hyatt on Union Square which advertised paid wifi access through T-Mobile hotspots.

Big mistake. The first thing I like to do when my 16 hour trip is over is to drop in on the family via video iChat to let them know I arrived safely (and to baffle my kids with the fact it is still daylight where I am but dark where they are). After handing over my credit card details to T-Mobile I was sent a password. It didn’t work. So I called them and following a 20 minute wait on hold the support rep ironed out the problem. Great. I’m online. Now for that video chat.

Nope. No can do. Several of the obligatary ports are blocked (which is apparently T-Mobile policy). A text chat will have to do. By this point I can feel the jetlag kicking in. Its only 4pm but my body thinks it’s midnight. So I grab my coat and my iPhone and decide to grab some lunch. Scared witless by the many stories of four digit phone bills I decide to sync my mail using the wifi hotspot before leaving the hotel rather than suffer the absurdity of roaming data charges. My iPhones browser asks for the T-Mobile password. It fails. So I make another call to T-Mobile support. This time I am told that only one device can be used with my hotspot account and the MAC address of my laptop has been recorded. i must pay another $9.99 a day if I wish to use my iPhone too.

Now I am seriously pissed off and I ponder the situation over Burger King Whopper that makes the UK version look like a hamburger happy meal. Following my waddle back to the hotel I rummage through my collection of cables and dongles and pull out an Airport Express and ethernet cable, boot up my Macbook and turn on ‘internet sharing’. Following a little configuration I manage to set up a wireless hotspot of my own broadcasting an SSID of ‘Free T-Mobile Wifi’. With jetlag now taking control I hit the sack, sleeping well in the knowledge that half of The Hyatts residents are making good use of my $9.99 per day T-Mobile access. zzzzzz.

A Complete Macworld Day Compressed Into 2 Minutes

plasmadesign — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:43:59 +0000

Andy Ihnatko shot 600 photos on the opening day of Macworld 2008 and squeezed them all into a 2 minute long video. For Macworld attendees the result is nostalgic trip back to 15th January. And for those that didn’t attend the result is fascinating nevertheless.

Watch Andy’s video on YouTube.

Transamerica Tower Desktop Wallpaper

plasmadesign — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:03:57 +0000

I have uploaded a new widescreen wallpaper to PlasmaDesign.co.uk. This photo was taken on the corner of Montgomery Street and Clay Street at about 2pm. I was blessed for the duration of my week long trip with fantastic weather (especially for January!). Lots of my past work can also be downloaded for use as desktop wallpaper.