So, at least the top three teams stayed strong. Of course, the big news for #1 Florida, who beat Kentucky into the ground, was that Tim Tebow was taken out of the game and to the hospital with a pretty bad concussion. He’s doing OK now, which is to be expected with a simple concussion – it’s just a little scary when you’re not sure if it is something worse or not. #2 Texas (who beat UTEP  64 – 7) and #3 Alabama (who beat Arkansas 35 – 7) held steady, but after that, the top 25 went to shit.

First, the Gamecocks shut down #4 Ole Miss, in a game that was all about defense. South Carolina’s defense, that is. Mississippi usually relies heavily on Jevon Snead, but South Carolina pretty much took him out of the game. Oh, he wasn’t injured or anything, but the O-line just couldn’t stop the Gamecock defense, and Snead couldn’t seem to make any places. How’s this for an embarrassing stat: Ole Miss has now lost 6 straight SEC openers. Ouch.

But they aren’t alone when it comes to embarrassing states. Did you know that Penn State has lost 7 of their last 8 games against…Iowa. Seriously, I kid you not, Iowa has a football team. They’re a team that just doesn’t get much press time, and for some reason, Joe Paterno and Penn State haven’t realized that they have a rivalry with them. The Hawkeyes came to Happy Valley this year, and it was a downpour for much of the game, but that didn’t stop them. Head coach Kirk Ferentz actually wanted to play for Penn State and JoePa when he was in high school, but there wasn’t any scholarship interest. Ibet he gets warm fuzzy feelings every time he whoops ass against PSU. The game itself was kinda a snoozefest, holding steady at 10 – 5 for much of the game. Then, Iowa suddenly exploded in the fourth quarter and Penn State made some major mistakes. Final score ended up being 21 – 10, and Penn State is no longer a top five team.Yes, it hurts my soul.

Image: Newscom

Moving on, the previously-ranked #6 California had a bad week as well. They were thrashed by Oregon. I mean, thrashed. Final score 42 – 3 thrashed. Coming into the game, Cal had the tenth best rushing offense in the country. And then Oregon was like “and now, you don’t.” The Ducks aren’t a horrible team, but this was an embarrassment for Cal. They shouldn’t have let Oregon have 32 unanswered points. A single field goal isn’t good enough when you’re a ranked team.

LSU, ranked seventh at the time, won their game against Mississippi State, but it wasn’t pretty, and I personally don’t think that they deserve the #4 spot that they have now after a game like that on Saturday. Sure, they won, but it should have been an easy game and it was anything but. Mississippi State played their heart out and almost ran away with the game. One of the most interesting games of the week was #9 Miami at #11 Virginia Tech. Oh wait, Miami blew too. Seriously, it wasn’t supposed to be a gimme game for the Hurricanes, but they looked like hell on the field this week. It should have been a good game, and it just wasn’t. At least Boise State (then 8, now 5) played like a top ten team should, beating Bowling Green 49 – 14.

We’re mid-season. Teams need to be playing with more heart than I’ve seen. I mean, I’m all for a few surprises and upsets every week, but Week Four was ridiculous.

Post from: EveryJoe

College Football Week Four 2009 in Review

I have to say, it’s really fast. The apps are much more responsive. It really helps the UI. The only problem I saw was when I was exiting from the video camera application, it took a few seconds from pressing the home button to getting it to the home screen.

From the outside it looks every bit the same as the iPhone 3G. For the untrained eye, it’s almost indistinguishable. There’s a subtle difference as to how the text on the back is treated/rendered but it’s hardly noticeable if you don’t really compare it. Is having the same design good or bad? Well Apple really evolves their products rather than changing them drastically. A product goes through several cycles and improvements before a major design change is actually done. Even with the 1st gen iPhone, compared to the 3G and 3GS it is different but you can see the evolution of the design. I like the design of the 3G/3GS so I’m not complaining that they look similar. It’s what’s under the hood that’s important.

I can give you the specs but why waste my blog entry on that. You can just click here to see the full specs as well as a comparison to the 3G.

I love the new camera application. The 3MP camera isn’t the best in class, it’s so so but the ease of use of the application plus the tap to focus makes it an excellent app. I also love the video camera. The editing feature as simple as it may be is great. I’m amazed at how easy Apple makes it. It’s also a great space saver since you can trim video straight from the iPhone.

The compass is a nice feature but I don’t think I’ll have much use for it yet. However that being said, when developers start rolling out augmented reality applications such as this one (via AppleInsider), things will get pretty interesting.

The iPhone 3GS, like it’s predecessor is a solid phone. The 3.0 version of the software makes it even better with copy and paste, MMS support, landscape keyboard and a whole lot of other features. However it’s not with out flaws.

The biggest complain I have is it’s crappy battery life. At least for some people, my brother included the iPhone 3GS has dismal battery life. Now whether it’s a hardware flaw or software, the jury is still out on that one. That being said a phone that can’t hold a charge for one day of use is severely lacking in my book. Good thing the 3GS has a lot of great features that just slightly edges out this problem.

Another is what some people report as excessive heating. I haven’t seen this in the brief time I spent with the 3GS. So this might be dependent on use and the unit. The jury is also still out on that one.

Summing it up, I like the 3GS. If Apple comes up with software or hardware fixes to improve the battery life, I’m getting one. I think I’ve reached a point wherein an iPhone makes sense to me. This coming from an Apple fan boy. I’ve loved the iPhone before but not enough to ditch my iPod Touch/Nokia e71 combo. I think I’m ready to ditch the touch and most likely use the e71 as a backup once Apple addresses the battery issues.

Post from: EveryJoe

iPhone 3GS Impressions

Still what he writes is nothing short of amazing. He particularly loves the screen of the new MBP.

The integrated battery is also great but battery life is dependent on the usage. The author got about 6 hours of battery life out of it. Not bad for this monster.

Read the full review here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Computerworld Reviews The 17 inch MacBook Pro

Build Quality

Easily this is the most well built (from structural standpoint) computer I’ve ever owned. Nothing about this says it a cheap ass computer. It shouldn’t! As prices of computers plummet Macs have dropped slower than others. It’s still quite expensive. That being said, it’s worth the money.

I love the engineering on this thing. It’s sleek and it’s sexy.

Glossy Screen

I really thought this might be an issue but it’s not. I’m loving the screen on this baby. I work mostly in a controlled environment so I can minimize the glare, so it doesn’t really bother me. Colors are vivid, the LED screen makes the whole display even. Colors on the edge of the screen don’t get darker unlike my previous MacBook Pro.

Keyboard

Some people like the previous keyboard, I like this one. Plus, the keys are inset on the body itself, leaving less room for dirt to go into. The black keys also hide dirt better so the keys don’t look as dirty as they really are when you’ve been typing on them a lot.

Battery Life

This one sucks. At least from my experience. I thought I’d be getting decent battery life on this but I don’t. I barely get 2 hours on this machine.

Although I’m not sure if there’s something wrong with my machine because other people get 3 to 4 hours on theirs. Although most of those who get that long a battery life use the 2.4 ghz version.

I’ve tried using both the integrated video card and the dedicated one and offer only a slight improvement.

Here’s some comments at the Apple support thread.

Performance

One thing I truly, truly love about this is the performance. It’s a step up from my 2.33 Ghz 17″ MBP. The one I’m using right now is the 2.53 Ghz. The .20 Ghz addition plus the 4GB Ram and the 512MB video card really bumps up the performance.

I’m now able to run Parallels without really having to worry about if I have other applications running and it doesn’t take much of a performance hit.

All-in-all

With the exception of the dismal battery performance, I’m quite happy with the Unibody MacBook Pro. It’s a worthy successor to the previous MacBook Pro. In terms of design, performance, etc..

It’s a good evolution of the previous design which I thought was really hard to top.

It’s only been a month so we’ll see how well it holds up.

Post from: EveryJoe

My MacBook Pro, A Month After

Here’s a quote from the review

iWork ‘09 makes many of the already user-friendly features from last year’s version even easier. While there is some learning curve to get up and running for former Microsoft Office users, iWork ‘09 offers an extremely intuitive interface and has plenty of advanced time-saving features to make it a worthy replacement for the much more pricey Microsoft solution. The lack of an integrated business-level e-mail client is still a disappointment, but Apple’s included Mail program pre-installed on Macs will suffice in most cases. Though iWork.com is a welcome addition for sharing iWork files online, we would have liked a more collaborative online solution, but we expect this is probably slated for future versions.

Read the full review here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Cnet Reviews iWork09

[image courtesy of Gadgenista]

Our very own Lia over at Gadgenista got an iPod Touch 32GB (2nd Gen) this Christmas. Lucky girl. She writes about her initial thoughts about this wonderful gadget.

From squelching here lust for the iPhone to raving about Wifi and the battery life, Lia’s experience might just help you decide if the iPod Touch is right for you.

I for one am a happy iPod Touch user. Sure it’s still a 1st gen but I’m happy with it nonetheless.

Post from: EveryJoe

Gadgenista Reviews iPod Touch 32GB

The software you should focus on are Inkscape, Ipe, ConceptDraw, Drawit, Jfig, ZeusDraw, Nodebox, Scribus and SK1. All of these offer Mac versions.

Check out the review here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Vector Graphics Program Rundown

[image courtesy of Apple]

Apple recently began shipping its new 24″ LED display. Macworld reviewed the display and gave it a 4 out of 5 rating.

The new display currently has a limited audience, it being owners of the new aluminum MacBooks and the the new MacBook Pros. Both of which sport the new Mini DisplayPort.

Since the new display is using LED panels, startup or warm-up times are faster, energy consumption less and it should last longer. The glossy screen also should give a more vibrant image although it also comes with glare.

Macworld says its strengths lie in great viewing angle, usb 2.0 connectivity and a 3 headed cable that supplies power, display and usb connectivity. The power connection will negate your needing to use the Magsafe adaptor that comes with your portable. You can keep that in your bag.

At $899, it’s not cheap. Then again Apple products aren’t meant to be cheap. If you’re a new MacBook/MacBook Pro user and you’re in the market for a new monitor to extend your desktop or just to have a bigger workspace this might be a good choice. It is pricey though but it just looks so darn good.

Here’s some unboxing pics from AppleInsider.

Post from: EveryJoe

Macworld Reviews the Apple 24″ LED Display

Scott wrote his review on the new MacBook Pro. The jist of his review says that as a whole he loves the MacBook Pro but there are some issues with the trackpad and Photoshop that are preventing him from fully embracing the MacBook Pro.

Having been able to play with a MacBook, I understand the trackpad issues. It’s a great trackpad but there are still somethings that bother me about it. It also takes a bit of getting used to.

If you’re a Photoshop user and if you are considering the new MacBook Pro, Scott Kelby’s review might be worth a read.

Post from: EveryJoe

Scott Kelby’s Thoughts On The New MacBook Pro

Sure there have been many reviews that have been written about the new aluminum MacBooks, I’ve read a lot of them. Until you’ve actually used one, the words you read don’t really do justice. That being said, I’d like to toss in my 2 cents.

I was able to get my hands albeit briefly on the new aluminum MacBook. For a few hours I was able to play with the 2.4 Ghz model. What can I say, the MacBook is a beauty.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the aluminum finish. I’ve loved it since I first got my hands on the PowerBook, I love it still. There’s something about it that evokes class. I’ve never been a big fan of the white plastic of the previous generation of MacBooks. While they’re still way better than most PC counterparts It’s just not as good. So I was happy to see the aluminum material get transferred to the MacBook line.

The build quality of the MacBook is top notch. If you feel bad about spending that much on a computer, don’t. You’re getting what you pay for. Cheap is not in its vocabulary.

The keys are similar to the MacBook Air. They’re fine. If you’re coming from the MacBook Pro they will take a bit of getting used to. I personally love the old MacBook Pro keyboards but the ones on the MacBook aren’t so bad either.

Performance wise it seems faster. It felt snappier but that’s just maybe because it’s still a new unit and not much in it.

The trackpad feels like the ones on the MacBook Pro. I know it’s made of glass but they made it in such a way that it still feels familiar. I thought I’d miss the button but I didn’t there are some quirks like clicking and dragging are a bit more difficult, at least with the way I do it. I LOVE the new gestures which were similar to the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The screen is both good and bad. The good is that it’s better than the previous generation’s screen. It’s sharper, colors are better. Since it’s LED the colors are more even across the screen. It doesn’t get darker on the edges.

The thing I hate about the screen is the “glossiness”. The old one was glossy. This is glossy times 2. I love myself, don’t get me wrong but I hate staring at my face all the time. That’s exactly what happened the afternoon I was trying out the MacBook. It was looking at my face most of the time. If you’re coming from a matte screen, it will take a lot of getting used to. Some people have reported getting headaches because of it. Two of my friends told me they did.

As a whole the new MacBook is really a step up from the old one. I can compare the old MacBook as a boy and the new one is now a man. It feels more mature, stronger, seems tougher built. It’s a bit more polished but still with a rugged aura to it. It’s classier. It’s definitely a winner in my book.

Post from: EveryJoe

My MacBook Impression