Uh oh

All that angsty iPad stuff? Yeah, I bought one. And I love it. But, I still maintain not having flash is a giant pain. Grr.

"Rich web content."

A reporter commented about how Apple isn't giving consumers the right to decide whether or not they can view "rich web content" on the iPad with flash. But it's more than that.

My bank uses Flash. I've visited several sites in the past couple days that have flash splash pages. I don't agree with the idea of doing it, but some people still do. And there is no way to get past the splash pages without being able to click on the flash content. Contrary to what Apple would have you believe, Flash is NOT just used for advertisements and videos. Granted, it IS used for games that get re-made for the iPhone and therefore make Stevie Boy more money.

Our company relies on Flash for web conferencing and seminars. WIthout it, we would be sunk. Flash is widely used, legitimately, and needs to be supported by any true "web device." I wouldn't call a car a car if it didn't have an engine just because the engine uses up more fuel than not having an engine. It's ridiculous.

Steve Jobs is merely trying to throw his weight around and see just how far he can push his influence in the world. He clearly has a vendetta against Adobe and he's doing all in his power to cause them major grief. Let's face it, if people start dropping Flash to become "iPad compatible" it will really hurt Adobe. Frankly, that seems like something the FTC or whomever would jump all over as it's a horrible business practice.

If they insist on crippling our web device by removing a huge portion of the web, at least they could have the dignity to give us some choice. I use a program called ClickToFlash on my computers and I love it. No flash content is loaded unless I click on a placeholder where the Flash content would be. Simple. Brilliant. Oh, and it just works. I can have my cake and eat it, too. If Apple wants a piece of the netbook pie, they better get cooking before their iPad becomes another Flash in the pan.

Dear Apple,

Please… for the love of all that is holy and sacred stop calling the iPad "magical."

Sincerely,
Me

9? 10v? OSX? Windows 7?

Back on the Mini 9 after spending an hour or so typing away and using the 10v. I really do love both netbooks as an OSX platform. I have to say, though, that I'm still less than thrilled with the kernel panics.

I would like to only keep one (which will probably be replaced by the iPad at some point) but they both have their places. I didn't get the bluetooth on the 10v, for example, so I can't jive with that when I'm mobile. It's a shame. The bigger keyboard is luxurious.

What I am running into with *both*, however, is the things they are both missing: Windows. I prefer running OSX on them, but (apart from the KPs) some things dictate a Windows environment. Case in point: I just acquired a USB GPS dongle. Extremely cool and cheap. Love the idea of using one of these things as a mobile mapping solution when required, but there aren't any reasonable OSX solutions for that. While, on the other hand, I have Streets & Trips 2009 sitting here, unused that's just begging to be installed on a nice, clean Win7 setup. Which netbook gets bumped back to Win7, though?

That's the question that I'm struggling with. A tough life - I know. The other grumble that I have is that I don't want to relinquish my only copy of Win7 to netbook activation and then not be able to use it for a different computer on down the road. Stupid MS activation...

*BOOM*

Got my first kernel panic while running Chrome. The only thing I can find between the various ones is that it happens when I'm scrolling down with the arrow keys. Random? I think so! Heat problem, maybe? Who knows. I've never had a KP on the Mini 9 while using Chrome. The 10v definitely gets hotter than the 9 seems to. This may be part of the problem. I'll continue trying to figure things out.

10v EPIC FAIL!

Wow! I just discovered a *huge* design flaw in the Mini 10v. When an SD card is inserted, it doesn't insert to sit flush with the body. The card just kinda sticks out - about half way. No perma-drive going on here. You don't want a card in there unless you're copying stuff to/from it. Sad. That combined with the trackpad issues is really making me doubt the idea of the 10v sticking around for too long. More thoughts to come!

Hackintosh v1 and v2

So, I've been running OSX 10.6.2 on my Dell Mini 9 for some time now, Mr. Anderson. I like it quite a bit. It runs fast (surprisingly so) and works just peachy most of the time. I do have a good handful of kernel panics when running Safari, though, go figure. I've tried turning off extensions, hardware, voodoo... Nothing has gotten around that so far. The solution so far has been to switch to Google Chrome, which runs fairly well (not quite as fast as Safari, sadly) and hasn't had a panic on me once, yet. (Knock on wood.) As much as it's worked well, I am a little bummed about the keyboard on the Mini 9, however. It's not the key size that bothers me so much as it is that they put the apostrophe way down by the arrow keys. It's not something you ever really get used to.

So, when I got a coupon for 20% off a refurbished Dell Mini 10v (plus free shipping) I had to bite. Verdict? Not bad. The standard hard drive is slooooow compared to the 9's SSD. Installation took about twice the time (or more) than installing on the 9. Similar stories for boot times, etc. The keyboard is a dream! Everything is where it should be, which is lovely. Not to mention it's 92% the size of a normal keyboard. Not too shabby.

Safari still kernel panics. Weird. I've resigned myself to the fact that having a hackintosh means making sacrifices. Mine happens to be needing Chrome for a reliable experience when browsing.

But! (Ohhhh, the but!) The trackpad on the 10v is positively horrible. I mean just bad, bad, BAD. I'm wondering if it's a deal breaker. Tracking is sketchy, at best, clicking is a horrible pain, the edges are a ton more sensitive than the center... I don't know what they were thinking when they designed this thing. Bad move, Dell.

The jury is still out as to which netbook I'm going to keep. Awesome keyboard + HD space + horrible trackpad? Or, do I go with the bad keyboard + awesome trackpad + SUPER FAST SSD? It's almost sixes. Only a bit more playing will tell. I do still need to upgrade the RAM in the 10v, which would help the snappiness a bit. But that's a giant pain on this machine.

Oh, and the battery life. Much better on the 9, which isn't surprising given the SSD. Well, not *much* better. Maybe half an hour? Still, every little bit helps when you're in the ~3 hour range. I am very pleased with performance on both machines, though. It's phenomenal. Much more than I'd expect out of a netbook. I'm tempted to convert the 10v to a dual boot platform so I can have my cake and eat it, too. Perhaps I'd know more then about whether I want to keep it or the 9. Time will tell.