You can’t beat a good fire as the nights draw in. Unfortunately I don’t have a good fire. I do however have an AppleTV, an HD television, and a good sound system. So I can have a digital fire. Using the fabulous Magic Fireplace App from Jetson Creative. It displays one of 20 different HD videos of fireplaces. With a pleasing wood burning sounds. Perfect for dark evenings on the sofa with a book and a big mug of tea. Video below.
Lots has been written today about the death of Steve Jobs. Too soon at the young age of 56. Stephen Wolfram’s thoughts are worth a read, as are Stephen Fry’s. I won’t add a long post to what’s been already written. I’ll just add my thanks to Steve, and all those who worked with him, for providing products that have made my life richer and easier since the 1980’s. Steve’s legacy will live on via the great team that he has left in charge at Apple. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen several of these Apple employees, and many, many others, at various Apple and Macworld conferences. They are all brilliant. Steve has left Apple in good hands. The road ahead has been signposted by Steve Jobs’ vision. I look forward to walking it.
Not to shabby 🙂
CUPERTINO, California—April 22, 2009—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 second quarter ended March 28, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
I’ve been neglecting my geek muscles way too much lately. It’s time to get back in the game and immerse myself in the new stuff that is hitting the market. Basically do stuff for The Plan minus the Open University stuff which I’ve dropped.
From a infrastructure technology point of view I plan to dive in deep and dirty with:
On the development front I will be reading the small mountain of books I have on:
On a personal front I will be finally studying some mathematics and reading through the huge pile of unread books I have bought over the last year.
Books to read. Click for larger view
This weeks events in Belfast (DevDays and BarCampBelfast) will be a good springboard to get back in the geek game…
I switched back to using my MacBook Pro 17 inch today after a few months using a MacBook Air. I’m not going to be travelling quite so much for a while so don’t need an ultra portable Mac for day to day use. The MacBook Pro is noticeably quicker. Plus the screen is magnificent 🙂
One of my friends is going back to university in Scotland to do a Masters degree in something to do with hearing (she works in this area). She needs a computer for this. I’m telling her to get a Mac with a Windows install in a virtual machine. Best of both worlds. I’m going to set up the MacBook Air this way and lend it to her for a month to see if she likes using a Mac. Then she can buy a Mac or a Windows laptop in an informed decision.
The truly excellent Mark Morford’s latest 2 columns for SFGate are well worth a read. One discusses Apple without Steve Jobs’ and why we seem to notice the loss of visionaries more than others. The other is a smorgasbord of various good news signs about the way things are moving in the world.
Announced by Apple today. Also selling or renting 50,000 movies per day. Seems to be a success then…