Macbook + Free iPod Touch v New Macbook (the real deal)

Alright. This is the actual post about the Macbook. So Apple is having their annual “Back to School” special which ties anyone with a school email address to purchase Macbooks at a discount and receive a free iPod. The free iPod deal also encompasses the flashy iPod Touch (only the $299 8GB version) and is done through a worry free efficient rebate system from Apple.

This is also about the time for me to upgrade my laptop from an ungainly old P4 2.7GHz Windows system to a Core 2 Duo MacBook running the latest Mac OS X Leopard which would make sense because I need a new MP3 player, namely the fancy iPod Touch. After going to the Mac store with my old college email address (which still works 🙂 ) and configuring a nice setup for $1700, I realized something.

TO MAC OR NOT TO MAC!

The deal has it’s cons. It’s only valid till September 15th and there’s rumors that there’s going to be a completely redesigned MacBook this time around. There are other stories circulating the interwebs about an all-aluminum metal enclosure instead of the cheap white plastic (or black) highly popular MacBook. It’s also going to feature a multi-touch touchpad similar to the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. That and the iPod Touch will be redesigned and that all these changes are to be set in SEPTEMBER. It’s the 28th today and in a month, my new MacBook and iTouch will look outdated.

The downside to waiting for a new MacBook (if it comes true) is that I’m going to miss out on a free iPod deal and what if Apple jacks up the price? That and the wireless components on a metal encasing will suffer in terms of performance just like the MacBook Pro. After consulting with some Mac-philes today, I’ve decided to embrace the old saying “patience is virtue” and keeping my fingers crossed.

PS: The weirdest thing is the day I started looking for a MacBook and noticed the free iPod deal, it was posted on the popular consumer-advocacy website Consumerist.com.

Macbook + Free iPod Touch v New Macbook

The Beijing Olympics are over which is a sad thing because I was just starting to get used to finding open tennis courts to play in the afternoons and now the Chinese kids are back occupying every known tennis court in Minneapolis and St Paul instead of their television sets.

To a more serious note, before the Olympics even began, the Russian Federation had amassed troops and tanks near the border of South Ossetia and provided arms to the regional separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Then Georgia responded by sending their troops to take control of the region and all of a sudden, things got out of hand.

There’s plenty of finger pointing as to who pulled the trigger first but to be frank, why are there people who want to take land and break away from an already tiny peaceful nation like Georgia? Economically, socially, and politically, it doesn’t make much sense at all. Now that Russia’s finally able to reclaim it’s superpower status after nearly 2 decades of economic assistance from the western nations, it decides to create more violence. Putin and his obvious human puppet have already declared that they are ready to absorb South Ossetia back into the Russian Federation. Yet the separatists in that region want to tear up this one tiny nation to claim independence only to be taken hostage by Russia in the not too distant future. Why are some people so blind?

Taking a gander at the enormous size of Russia, a question about their hostile actions and recent political ambitions forms. Russia is the largest nation in the world but why do they want to further expand their borders especially when their entire population count is so little? There’s something very distressing about this whole Russian deal and their war-mongering. To add to that, there were reports of kids in Russia coordinating DOS (or DDOS) attacks to bring down (the Georgian) government websites as a way to display their patriotism. Considering the fact that they have stockpiles of nuclear weapons, large quantities of oil, and a dictator style rule, it’s about time we drop Iran from the axis of evil and promote Putin’s Russia to the list. Iran can wait. It’s getting to that time where we refocus our military and bring freedom and democracy back to the Russians.

Oh and what does this have to do with Apple products? Absolutely nothing which is exactly what the world is doing right now. Hoping to see more political action against this evil empire.

From fake watches to fake fireworks, China continues to live it’s stereotype!

For decades now, people around the world have been assailed by pirated wares from the most clamped down mega society in the world. As if fake Louis Vuitton handbags and Rolexes weren’t enough, reports from the Telegraph reveal a portion of the unbelievable “LIVE” video footage of fireworks during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics were inserted digitally and done over months of editing.

GOOD: Audience at the stadium and viewers around the world were able to see all of the fireworks on the giant screens.

BAD: A majority of those fireworks were digitally created.

GOOD: Fireworks resembling the ones on the screens actually took place outside.

BAD: People were made to believe the video they were seeing were real and clustered in one spot.

GOOD: The organizers had “good” intentions – safeguard the helicopter video recording crew from getting hurt by fireworks since it would be near impossible to capture them all live from the air.

BAD: Only adds fuel to fire about China’s reputation especially when conducted from the government level and designed to deceive people.

The official reason does seem plausible but my question here is since when did China care about safety? The shoddy construction of the buildings in the earthquake ravaged Sichuan / Sale of 90% of weapons in conflict zones like Darfur / their extremely unsafe cars (check youtube for videos) / lead paint poison in millions of regular everyday products / dangerous chemicals in their toothpaste / etc.

The Chinese government doesn’t even care for their own – forcefully evicting ordinary Chinese citizens from their homes, the Tibet issue, religious freedom, press freedoms and including muffling reporting on the murder of a fellow Minnesotan and entrepreneur in Beijing, etc.

Then there was the thing about how China would change for the Olympics. They went out and even granted designated spots in 3 parks for protests given that groups registered ahead of time. Only problem is they don’t hand out spots and the people who tried to register ended up getting threatened by the police. Some even went missing. Not to forget the mishandling of some Japanese journalists. Not a way to show the world that are a global player.

The world is getting tired of berating the inhumane acts of the Chinese government in this modern era. It’s time for all Chinese to rise up against this regime and bring back pride to their culture.

It’s been a while…

since I last posted on my blog. Been busy with work related stuff and the neverending summer activities that keep piling up. On a somber note, we also just had our 1st anniversary of the 35W bridge collapse and hope the government decides to set aside a more reasonable budget for infrastructure maintenance. I’m looking at you, lazy Pawlenty!

Also the commute to and from work has worsened. The simple 10-15 minute drive on normal conditions take me anywhere from 35 minutes to 2 hours. Sometimes Dick Cheney wants to hang out with his pals in Minneapolis so they stop the frigging traffic but usually, it’s the bums who can’t read and end up driving on the HOV lanes.

So the single drivers get on the far left lane just cuz there’s not much traffic on it completely oblivious to the “BUS / CARPOOL LANE ONLY” signs only to merge into our lanes later as the carpool lane merges with us. I’ve been known to only give room to cars with more than 1 occupant when they merge but it pisses me no end that there are people who’d let those bastards go through. Line-cutting is alright but not when you’re left stuck in a bumper to bumper traffic for long periods because some cool cats on the left lane can’t read.

The other day was driving on I-394 as usual and then I cop lights flashing in the rear view. A cop gets on the carpool lane and then for a moment I believed that someone was going to enforce it. No such luck. An accident up ahead. Where’s karma when you need it?