June 2007 – Page 4 – Gavinsblog.com

News you might use

The Atlantic has interesting figures from a recent Pew Research Center study:

The most knowledgeable Americans were those who got their news from the Web sites of major papers and those who watched programs like The Colbert Report or The Daily Show; they correctly answered 54 percent of the questions about current affairs, while regular viewers of local TV news and network morning shows got only about 35 percent right. The survey found that there isn’t necessarily a trade-off between hard-news knowledge and pop-culture savvy: Respondents who demonstrated a “high” knowledge of politics and world events were also adept at identifying celebrities such as Beyoncé Knowles. And while it’s hard to know which sources provide the best information, the report notes that well-informed people gather their news from an average of 7.0 sources—more than the average of 4.6.

How the West lost God

Mary Eberstadt with a cover story in Policy Review on the subject of secularisation:

In sum, and given what we know now about the religious and familial situation in Western Europe some 125 years later, Nietzsche was right to declare that the great Christian cathedrals of Europe had become tombs. But he may have been wrong about what exactly had been buried in them. It was not so much God as the European natural family that has been largely laid to rest — an interment already well underway in some countries long before his madman entered the square and one that is surely an overlooked and critical part of the full story of how Christian Europe went secular.

Dell return

Unfortunately for 10% of Dell employees, when job cuts are announced the market usually responds positively, especially with an underperforming company like Dell.

The firm reached a price of $21.79 earlier this year, and have been on the rise since the return of Mr Dell to the hotseat. They now trade at $27.30. Anecodotally I have been reading that Dell orders are soaring (delivery people are great sources of info), and adding Ubuntu Linux to their line has been a hit with geeks. The use of digg-like technology has allowed this to happen, and I believe Dell is on a return path to higher profit, higher share price, and a return to the number one PC maker.

John Ogg suggests a pairs trade – go long on Dell, and short on HP. If you are more into straight share purchases I would suggest buying Dell now, though obviously you should go do your own due diligence etc.

I do not own shares in Dell, yet.

That Apple TV upgrade

Speaking of Apple, they recently announced an upgraded version of the Apple TV. The second model sports a 160GB hard drive instead of 40GB. Hm.

There has been speculation of late as to the fate of the much loved MacMini, which has not been refreshed in some time. Some of commented that the Mini may be discontinued. I would be sad to see it go, especially since I have one hooked up to a HDTV:

And that’s partly why I post. For months I’ve been using the MacMini via FrontRow exactly as the Apple TV is intended to be used – a content box, though mine has mainly music. Besides that it is also used for YouTube videos, playing DVDs (though the region coding sucks), and general internet browsing via wireless keyboard and mouse.

The question is, if the MacMini dies, can the Apple TV takeover from where it leaves off? I would say yes, it can. An increased hard drive might be the first step, but lots could be done to the Apple TV’s firmware to make it a better device. The recoding of YouTube videos away from Flash VP is also a pointer to the use of the iPhone, and the Apple TV itself.

God knows what awaits us.

MacBook Pro next week?

I have been holding off on upgrading my laptop until it was closer to a flagged announcement of a revamped MacBook Pro line from Apple. Now it appears the launch may be closer than expected. It is believed the new MacBooks will have the much anticipated LED screens, instead of the older, hotter and more power-hungry LCDs. I await with interest.

I guess it will also mean, for the first time, that I will have more Macs than PCs. Still no iPod though.

HD-DVD encryption broken again

And this time Boing Boing has a funny story on how it happened. What are the chances? Hehe.

Month: June 2007