Comparing the iPad with my iPod Touch I think there a number of pros and cons. What the iPad is not, is a laptop running a full version of OS X. As a developer this means it’s not going to have all of the tools I like for doing serious work. What the iPad looks perfect for is the casual surfer. I can see people having an iPad next to their arm and then whenever they need to know something they will pick up their iPad and google it or whatever. Much easier than picking up a heavier MacBook Pro. You could hold the iPad like a book and read it without your arms getting tired or your lap getting too hot from a laptop. The very early Windows tablet PC’s where just a little to big and heavy to be used as a book, so now that Apple has introduced the iPad, I hope that this type of device will have a much better chance of selling in big numbers.

I’ve just had a scary image appear in my mind. You know all of those fat people in the film Wall-E with the display permanently in front of their face. Maybe this is the future. We will all be going everywhere with an iPad feeding us information.

I’m happy now that I’ve found out where MacOSX10.6.sdk is. I made the mistake of installing XCode from Apple’s website. Instead I should have installed XCode from the Snow Leopard DVD. I’m happy because this was the vital ingredient needed to make screensavers work on Snow Leopard. I’ve already managed to create a basic OpenGL screensaver with spinning boxes, so it’s only a matter of time before I manage to update the Red Baron screensaver.

I’ve installed Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro. I put in the DVD and started the installation process and then got distracted by a phone call. After the phone call I went back to find my MacBook doing nothing. It looked like the installer must have quit itself. Second time was more successful and the installation went right through without having to click on any buttons during the installation.

The new features or lack of new features in Snow Leopard is well documented. I was disappointed to see that none of the 3rd party screensavers worked. I’ll have to get round to updating the Red Baron screensaver, but right now I’m not sure what I need to do to make it work.

One odd thing that happened was when I double clicked on a TextWrangler text file, my computer decided that it should be opened in the spread sheet application Numbers. This was easy to correct using the Get Info panel, but it’s annoying when your settings get changed or lost when you install a new OS.

Try broadband speed test

This morning my broadband was down, but when it came back it seemed to be faster than usual so I thought I would do another speed test. Needless to say I’m very happy with the results. I would be amazed if stayed at this speed for long, but it’s good to know what it is capable of.

Try broadband speed test

Why is my BT broadband so slow this week? If anybody knows how to contact BT, to complain then please let me know. I’ve spoken to my neighbours who have the same problem so it’s not just me. Maybe it is something to do with living in rural Somerset.

Update:

Try broadband speed test

This is more like it. BT must have fixed whatever the problem was.

My combi boiler has died Last year it kept on going wrong and I kept on having new parts put in. I think I spent about £800 on keeping it alive. Well it’s died again, and this time I’ve decided it’s not worth wasting anymore money on it.

How much will a new one be? £2000 plus maybe. I could probably by a life times supply of coal and wood instead. New regulations mean that a new boiler can’t go at the side of my house any more because the flue would be too close to the neighbours wall. If a new boiler has to be installed in my attic then there will a lot more plumbing work and a lot more to pay. Double misery .

I’ve learnt my lesson now. I should have got insurance to cover me for breakdowns.

iTunes store gives you a few seconds sample of a song. I’m sure most people would rather hear the whole song from beginning to end before deciding to buy it. If you only hear a few seconds of a song, you could easily make a few mistakes. A mistake would be deciding to buy a song, as well as deciding not to buy it.

When Spotify allow me to buy songs directly from them, there’s a good chance I’ll be doing this. As much as a like Apple, I don’t think it will be healthy for them to get a monopoly on the online music business.

My music tastes range over many genres. In one day, I could be listening to classical, techno, folk, rock, pop, anything that takes my fancy really. I’m starting to build up playlist, and discovering new music in the process.

I started noticing hayfever symptoms about a week ago (March 15th). I thought it was early and I was starting to wonder if my condition was getting worse, so I was pleased to see Dr Nicola Jones talking about this on the BBC. I suffer from hayfever early in the spring and I’m sure it’s tree pollen causing the problem. Dr Nicola Jones does mention that Birch trees are producing pollen early. We’ve had a long spell of dry sunny weather. Warm sunny weather should be making me happy.

Even Japanese monkies are suffering. What causes more of us to suffer from allergies? Can it be changes in life-style? Is it something to do with air pollution? Who knows?

Today I tried out www.spotify.com. I’ve been using it for about an hour and I haven’t heard any adverts yet. It already has a huge range of music to listen to.

Is this going to stop people from spending money on music, or is it going to increase the amount of money the artists receive? Only time will tell.

The only thing I don’t like is that I can’t put the music on my iPod and take it away with me.

If you enjoy listening to music, and discovering new music, I’d definitely recommend it. The guys at last.fm need to watch out. Spotify is going to be big!