Today was the first day of sessions that deal with the new technologies in detail. Five sessions from 9:00 am until 6:15 pm which makes you pretty tired by the end of the day. Luckily, Tuesday night is when Stump the Experts is held. Stump the Experts is a psuedo-competition between the developer audience and a panel of experts consisting of former and current Apple employees. The experts give questions to the audience via the big screen on stage and the audience submit questions to the experts via 3×5 notecards. The questions are focused on Apple history, technical knowledge and minute trivia. Scoring is done very loosely and correct answers from the audience are rewarded with prizes, some good and some bad. This year one of the booby prizes was an ADB mouse turned into a wireless mouse on the spot (the mouse was rendered wireless by a pair of scissors). As usual, it was great fun and the audience/expert relationship was humorously contentious. The event ended with a tie, but that’s hardly the point.
WWDC, Day One
Today was the first day of WWDC. WWDC consists mostly of lecture sessions about the technologies in Mac OS X and how to use those technologies. The most exciting session of the week is the first: the legendary keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. This is when Steve unveils all the great new stuff that they’ll be doing during the next year. This year’s keynote was as good as any I’ve attended.
The most anticipated news was the introduction of the Mac Pro line of desktop computers. This was the final step towards an all-Intel line for Apple and all evidence indicates that they saved the best for last. These machines will feature:
- Two dual-core Xeon processors at 2.0, 2.66 or 3.0 Ghz
- Four hard drive bays with easy-to-install sleds
- Two optical drive bays
- $2500 base model with many build-to-order options
But this was just the start of the goodies that Apple introduced. Next spring they plan to ship the next version of Mac OS X, code-named Leopard, and it is packed full of great new features:
- Time Machine: Seamless backup for all of your files with greatest user interface ever put on top of backup software. The demo for this was incredible.
- Boot Camp: Boot into Windows on your Mac.
- Spaces: The virtual desktop idea done right.
- Improved Speech: Apple has been using the same speech technology for about 20 years it seems. Now they’ve got speech technology that sounds very human and is very, very close to natural.
- iChat Theater: Show someone a slide show, movie or presentation while chatting with them online. Totally awesome idea and I hope they don’t require the video conferencing as they showed it today.
Leopard is shipping next spring but we got a “Preview” copy for free today. Everyone was madly installing it on their laptops during lunch. Nerds are so funny!
Vital Statistics
I’m waiting in the airport now for my flight to board for SFO. I had a middle seat but I bought a $24 upgrade for “Economy Plus” that gets me a window seat on the exit row. It’s a scam, but still worth it.
Yesterday Thomas and I went on the annual bike ride for his Cub Scout pack. This year I chose the route and it was quite enjoyable. There’s a length of bike path on Marine Drive along the Columbia that is about 4 miles long. When we got to the end, we pushed our bikes down to the beach and the boys played in the sand for over an hour. It was hot by the time we headed back and I was sucking wind by the end. Thomas really enjoyed it, though, and wants to go on more bike rides. I need to make time for that!
Bike odometer: n/a
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli, I Love Being The Enemy by Reggie Miller and Gene Wojciechowski
Recent listening: Last Week’s Album Chart
Recent viewing: Dead Zone, Countdown, Sportscenter, Pee Wee’s Playhouse
Recent playing: Snood, Halo
Recently accomplished: Packed for trip, Cub scout bike ride, Costco shopping, filled up propane tank, paid bills, cleared Tivo bandwidth, laundry
Imperative To Do: Fly to San Francisco, check in to Marriott, pack money clip
Cool link: Flying man (or is that “falling with style”?)
Vital Statistics
Tonight I sleep at the hospital so they can study my sleep. It’s very likely that I have sleep apnia and we’re hoping that the study results in a prescription for a CPAP machine.
Starting Sunday, I’ll be in San Francisco until Friday for the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.
Bike odometer: 27 miles (new battery)
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli, I Love Being The Enemy by Reggie Miller and Gene Wojciechowski
Recent listening: Diver Down by Van Halen, Feels Like Home by Norah Jones, Spirit Trail by Bruce Hornsby, Running On Empty by Jackson Browne, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks
Recent viewing: Monk, Sportscenter, Countdown, Rockstar: Supernova, Last Comic Standing
Recent playing: Snood
Recently accomplished: Trimmed the hedges, fixed the new extension cord I chopped with the hedge trimmer, burned CDs for my sister, bike tune-up, fixed watch
Imperative To Do: Truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room, weed, send CDs to people
Cool link: Honey, why is the water bill so high?
Vital Statistics
Looks like we’re looking at 90+ degree heat later this week. Saturday might be the day we go see the new Superman movie in Digital Super High Def at Cinetopia.
Bike odometer: 39 miles (I think my bike odometer needs a new battery)
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: DrugMusic, Lynryd Skynyrd, Run DMC by Run DMC
Recent viewing: The ESPY’s, Sportscenter, Countdown, The 4400, Monk
Recent playing: Bust-A-Move
Recently accomplished: Lubed bike, returned cans, pulled huge blackberry vine, sequenced CDs for my sister
Imperative To Do: Bike repairs, get watch fixed, buy battery for bike odometer, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room, burn CDs for my sister
Cool link: Chris Bliss: Awesome juggling act choreographed to the final medley on Abbey Road.
Vital Statistics
Graham and Tina are at Cub Scout Camp this weekend so Thomas and I are having a bachelor’s weekend. Some of the agenda items include: returning cans and bottles to the store, poker at Jonathan’s, Halo, Bust-A-Move and maybe some yard work if we find time.
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dead Kennedys, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Brainiac, Mythbusters
Recent playing: Bust-A-Move, Halo
Recently accomplished: n/a
Imperative To Do: Bike repairs, get watch fixed, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room, burn CDs for my sister
Cool link: Gaussboys Super Magnets: Purveyor of rare earth magnets. These are super-powerful – check out the Crazy Pics link.
Vital Statistics
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Fleetwood Mac by Fleetwood Mac, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, RockStar: Supernova
Recent playing: Poker Room, Bust-A-Move
Recently accomplished: Receipts, mowed lawn, pulled weeds
Imperative To Do: Call Sears, bike repairs, get watch fixed, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room
Cool link: Last.fm: Track your music listening habits and share them with your friends.
Vital Statistics
It’s been very hot in Portland the last few days but it cooled down today. On Monday, we set a new high (102) the venus factor for June in Portland. Usually it’s still raining in June so I think this is a nice departure for us. It’s back down to the 80s today, though, which makes for a much nicer bike ride to work.
Read more at topsnoringmouthpieces.com.
Bike odometer: 6410 miles
Current reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Recent listening: DrugMusic, Leonard Cohen, The Game by Queen
Recent viewing: My Life on the D-List, Thief
Recent playing: Poker Room, Bust-A-Move
Recently accomplished: Installed air conditioner, paid bills
Imperative To Do: Call Sears, bike repairs, get watch fixed, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room
Cool link: Secondhand smoke debate ‘over’: An interesting article about secondhand smoke in USA Today.
Vital Statistics
Yow! I started this entry over 10 days ago! Time flies by in the summer. Tina’s dad, Leroy, was here to visit this week. The boys really enjoyed that. The NBA Finals are over and so I’m expecting some free time to become available, but it probably won’t work out that way.
The weather has been great here but it’s getting hot today. Probably need to put the air conditioner in the window.
Current reading: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, Smoke and Guns by Kirsten Baldock and Fabio Moon
Recent listening: Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, NPR Story of the Day
Recent viewing: My Life On The D-List, NBA Finals, Sportscenter, Pardon the Interuption, Futurama, Cars
Recent playing: Poker Room
Recently accomplished: Deposited checks at the bank, mowed the lawn, stripped the picnic table, made appointment with sleep doctor
Imperative To Do: Install air conditioner, call Sears, bike repairs, get watch fixed, truck shopping, Internet for Graham’s room
Cool link: Flash Flood: Flash animation illustrating the sequence of events that led to the flooding of New Orleans.
Playoff Notes
- Free throw shooting must be 80% or above
- Must have a credible three-point shot
- Must add a low post one-on-one game
- Must reduce the number of turnovers he has