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- January 12, 2006
The Mac I Want
January 12, 2006Read more
It has been 14 years since I’ve wanted an Apple for its sexy hardware. I’m not talking, mind you, about Apple’s industrial design (when Jobs is in charge). Nor am I talking about Mac OS X, which continues to delight me. I’m talking about the guts: the processor, memory bus, video card, and integration with the operating system.
Finally, the first Mac I could buy without feeling ripped-off on performance is here: The MacBook Pro, with Intel Inside. Glee!
Now, I am not saying that Intel Rules over PPC… the Intel architecture is rather kludgy compared to, say, the much-loved Motorola 68000 series of the original Macs. However, the Mac has been trailing PC hardware (not the OS, the hardware) for over a decade. In 1992, when the first 486-DX2 PCs because available at 2x the performance for 1/2 the price, the Macintosh has been outclassed in terms of raw speed. I should know…I was facing that decision in 1992, and reluctantly went with the PC. Full disclosure: The LucasArts game X-Wing was only available on PC at the time…that may have had something to do with my decision as well :-)
Anyway, speed still didn’t matter as much because all the good graphics software was still Mac, but around 1995 things started to turn the other way when Adobe made a usable version of Photoshop (version 4) available. The rise of 3D gaming and the Internet further pushed the Mac into a game of catch-up. Great software design and a loyal user base is what kept the ball alive, not speedy hardware.
Despite all that, I’ve always wanted a G5 box. They just look so cool, and OS X is so sexy. But as soon as I touched the mouse and felt the lag, I just walked away and kept my money. I did succumb once and bought the cheapest PowerBook I could (a 12″ 1GHz G4), and it’s easily my favorite machine in terms of personality. But fast it ain’t. My 1GHz Compaq Presario notebook is noticeably faster.
No more! The MacBook has a dual-core Intel processor in it (2 processors in one = faster data processing), a faster frontside bus (better cpu-to-memory speed = faster data handling) , and PCI express (quicker graphics transfer = faster screen refreshes). I imagine that some of those sluggish 3D acceleration issues will go away too, because now 3rd party vendors can incorporate portions of Intel-native hand-optimized driver code. It’s all good…hooray! Mac OS X and speed. Together at last. At a competitive price. Someone pinch me.
I see that there’s a new iMac too too, that’s supposed to be 2x faster. The cynic in me was analyzing the ad copy on the iMac page: it sounds like with the dual-core CPU, it’s of course 2x faster than the single-processor version. But there are so many fundamental improvements under the hood, I’m wondering if it’s actually capable of more speed than they’re willing to admit to, say, people who just bought a PowerBook or G5; sorry if that’s you…it’s one of the hazards of being an Apple person! And think of this: the 2x speed may be referring to emulated PPC code, not Intel-native versions of your favorite apps. I eagerly await benchmark results of a totally-native software suite. There will be dozens of announcements over the next few weeks.
Now it feels like 2006! There are new Macs! Will 2006 will be the year to switch?
- January 12, 2006
The Artistic Process, Animated
January 12, 2006Read more
As a child, I used to draw lots of spaceships. However, I never mastered 3D rendering by hand, or any kind of real expressive drawing. I was puzzled why it was so difficult for me, and asked the artistic people in my life how they did it, and they would tell me, “just draw”. I would and get frustrated; I felt like I was missing something. Was it drive? Talent? Eventually I gravitated towards computers and programming, taking the occasional stab at illustration but feeling like I was still not doing something right. It was very difficult, and my head hurt whenever I did it.
It was a few years later that I realized what was wrong: I was trying to previsualize everything in my head before drawing it. I thought that’s how it worked; think of what you’re going to draw, and then put it on paper. I was watching my buddy Alen do some concept work, and and I asked him how he knew how things would come out. He said, “I don’t. I just draw and work with what happens.” Bing!
Since then, I became aware that there’s at least two places where I think : inside and outside my head. I have a strong predisposition toward thinking before acting. This is kind of how programming works for me; I intuit the approach, then I build it.
Many artists, however, literally think on the paper. I found several examples of the artistic process from around the web. Unfortunately, I couldn’t track down two of the artists’ names; please leave a comment if you know them.
It’s fascinating to watch an experienced artist at work. This animation of an artist drawing a portait of a girl shows the process from start to finish; note how the drawing builds from a foundation to the finished product. That’s not unlike what a technical person might go through; it’s just a different expressive space.
- January 11, 2006
Miyazaki Tribute Month on Turner Classic Movies
January 11, 2006Read more
Via Jinjur: It’s Miyazaki Movie Month on Turner Classic Movies! Hayao Miyazaki is one of my favorite animation film directors, probably best known in the U.S. for the somewhat tedious Princess Mononoke; I liked his followup Spirited Away much better, and of course his older films starting with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky Laputa and Lupin III: Cagliostro Castle. They’ll be showing nine of his movies, including a couple that haven’t been shown here before.
What I like about Miyazaki’s work is his refusal to wimp out on what makes a stories ring true; he’s not one to provide loopholes for a sequel. His movies deal with themes of self-discovery, the ambiguous nature of right and wrong, inner strength, and choice. Lest you thing they’re all dull, he also infuses his movies with great action and characters. Some of the english dubbing is not-so-good, so it’s good that TCM will be broadcasting both dubbed and original language versions).
Every one of Miyazaki’s movies crackles in the portrayal of wonder. I also can’t think of another animation director that conveys the sense of flight and motion better than he, with a corresponding knack for action editing that is half-a-beat ahead of your expectations. He’s one of the best.
On the surface (particularly in his older work), it looks like simple animation intended for children. And yes, it is, if your kids can stand to face a little reality, violence, and ambiguity wrapped up in wonder. I’m up for a little of that myself.
If you like graphic novels, the manga version of Nausicaa is one of my all time favorite reads, approaching Dune in portraying what it is to lead. Either that or Watership Down…I can’t quite bring myself to pick one over the other.
A lot more information on Miyazaki can be found at the Nausicaa.net fansite.
- January 11, 2006
Why Don’t We?
January 11, 2006Read moreI came across Ricky Spear’s post Why We Resist the Weekly Review and Plan (and What You Can Do About It). He writes (emphasis mine):
Regardless of whether you are keeping your life organized using the Getting Things Done methodology or the FranklinCovey methodology, a central component of both systems is the “weekly review” or the “weekly plan”. For many practitioners this is the single most difficult discipline and yet also the most crucial discipline.
He then proceeds to list everything that might prevent one from doing the weekly review, and what to do about it. I don’t know what goes into the weekly review, but I do know this: what he says is applicable to any project you might be putting off. Well worth reading! It’s a great list.
- January 11, 2006
Remote Computer Help for Dad
January 11, 2006Read moreMy Dad has been having some trouble with his Windows PC…apparently some programs “disappeared” from his desktop under mysterious circumstances. He requested Remote Assistance, the Microsoft Windows XP feature that allows you to control a computer over the Internet. However, first we had to get Remote Assistance working. Compounding the problem: Dad lives 13 time zones away, and communication over the telephone is impossible because of his hearing disability.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to give Fog Creek Software’s CoPilot a try. Like Remote Assistance, CoPilot makes it possible to control a computer over the Internet, except it uses a regular web browser to kick off the entire process and (this is important) works through firewalls automatically. Remote Assistance possibly needed some configuration on Dad’s router, but since he hadn’t set it up himself I was anticipating some issues.
I’d heard about CoPilot on Joel on Software; it’s a product put together by the best interns Joel could find. Helping Dad with his computer was a great excuse to try out the latest from Fog Creek Software.
It’s fascinating to watch an experienced artist at work. This 
