Rodrigo A. Sepúlveda Schulz

I went shopping for a new Mac this summer

I'm sure I forgot to tell you that I got myself a new laptop. Complicated sorry, and I still think that Apple store's logistics need major improvement:

- I ordered a macbook pro on June 28th... along with a couple of other stuff
- several weeks later, as I was still not getting anything, I called the carrier
- Oh.. we're waiting for the last parcel he said. So I asked for the remaining equipment to be delivered.
- then more time went by without my laptop
- I called twice the carrier (TNT): they never called me back with an answer
- I called Apple: PERFECT service. THey said let us investigate, we'll get back to you by tomorrow; which they did. TNT has reported to them that the parcel was missing, but had been shipped by Apple (stolen?), so the lady says she'll ask for an express delivery
- good, another week geos by, and I see in my inbox, that they were shipping me the wrong model
- called back apple to change the model
- then another week...
- and I get 2 calls the same day: one for delivery of the wrong model, one for delivery of the right model
- back to calling apple: oh, maybe we didn't cancel it right
- called the carrier, who was at my doorstep in less than 2 hours: and the wrong model was gone
- however it took an extra 2 days to get the right model...
ha... complicated.

Last time I ordered from DELL 4 computers, they came in in less than a week, no glitch, just there.

So, I should write about my experience with this new laptop:
- loks beautiful, btu I'm afraid to scratch it
- heats up a lot though. I'm luchy I have heat-resistant hands
- I'm a bit lost on the keyboard: some keys are mising, others are totally misplaced
- I got used to MacOSX with another iMac: so although a bit weird, I'm with it: it's just that the screen gets quickly cluttered with windows of all sorts. Can't figure out how to get exposé to work easily; it seems the only way to become a power user here, is to learn most keyboard shortcuts
- feature wise: I managed to install almost everything I wanted, or a quick google helps you as well
- I really like Parallels: great to run windows XP in a window + 2 linux distributions at the same time. Great for geeks, great for testing. Nevertheless a few things don't really work: I can't get my old webcam to work in Windows, and XP does not recognize the iSight :(
- I'm trying mac specific apps such as NetNewsWire, ecto... OK apps.
- I like the fact that it boots in a snap when you open the keyboard
- got 2 indispensable apps from novamedia.de for sync-ing with my nokia E61 and using it as a 3G modem. almost indispensable but expensive. Should be provided by Apple shouldn't it ? I guess they're helping their ecosystem
- I hate the fact that windows PPT don't open EXACTLY the same way on MacOSX Powerpoint
- the screen is a bit short in height: I somehow got used to higher screen ratios, but I suppose 16:9 is the way to go today
- the power adapted is bulky and ugly (white!)
- wifi reception is OK, not outstanding (I have other devices that are better)
- I love .mac for syncing my PIM data (contacts, calendar) between my computers (I have another mac desktop at home) and my phone. Should be cheaper (I'm still in trial mode).
- can't get iDisk to work (says sync failing because I'm not connected: yeah right)
- I'm running Skype for mac beta something: haven't tried video on it yet, can't compare to iChat video
- I wonder why disk sizes are so small on these laptops (I got the 100Gb witha higher rpm). With all the video footage, it just sums up in a snap.
- I'm using thinderbird for mac instead of mail: is it a crime ?
- I love the shift-something-4 to grab screenshots. very handy. but the shortcut is too complicated.

so switchers or addicts, let me know what I'm missing here.

Sarenza.com raises an extra 4m euros

Sarenza, the French & European Zappos, has raised a series B of 4m euros with existing investor Galileo and SGAM, announced tonight  They’ve also launched a new version of their site a couple of days ago. We’ve talked about them a couple of times already…

A drive around Stanford U. campus

I drove around Standord University's campus last week in a bright sunny morning before heading to the airport back to Europe. It's huge. Doesn't compare at all with our European universities does it ? The radio was on, enjoy the ride with Prince's PurpleRain.

I stopped by Stanford Mall, a cute outdoor shopping center. Really nice place to wander around.

mig33 offers cheap VoIP too, with a mobile client

I wrote about Rebtel only a few hours ago. Seems to me that mig33 is offering something similar ?

(funny, I was looking today at my Google Adsense reports, and was wondering who on earth would click on my * a d s * every day. here I go I clicked on one on LinkedIn just a few minutes ago, and that’s how I discovered the service).

Has anyone tried it ?

Some maths problems for the weekend

Thanks to Pablo for sending them over…

Problem1:

Problem 2:

Problem 3:

 

just discovered wikimapia

great stuff: people are describing the world on GoogleMaps. My guess is that they should allow other drawings than just plane rectangles.

Check it here.

Meet the new French underground TV folks: gaspanik.tv

A couple of weeks ago, Ivan and I went to the Montparnasse area in Paris to meet with the team of gaspanik.tv: David, Fred et Julien.

They've built their own studio, where just by changing angles, and moving the furniture around, they create a number of new shows that they stream live on the web everyday. Indeed, they've discovered that editing online content is tiresome, and that live stuff is more fun.

In the backstage is Julien who is a jack-of-all-trades: he's coded all the tools in house (they started only 3 months ago, talk about barriers to entry in this market),  and does all the real-time production, as well as coding a few games. David is the guy who hosts the shows every night (the "CEO"), and Fred hosts or co-hosts a number of different shows.

Ivan and I "hijacked" the show for one hour one night, and talked a lot about entrepreneurship, about how to create your own company, etc. Unfortunately, David said that he there was a break-in during the night, and the burglars took a lot of equipment away, including the hard disk with the show. So it never went public. As usual, I always carry my phone, and interviewed David live during his show. This is the only segment left from the show :(

Just before the 19h show, there was a 30 min show on games, hosted by Fred. Here's the backstage:

Finally, if you are interested in working with gaspanik.tv's technology, I'm afraid he's signed an exclusive deal with someone on the market already (not us :).

Skype helps track down a fugitive

And you thought VoIP made you anonymous. Amazing story here.

 

Call international super cheap with Rebtel

I’ve been using Rebtel for a couple of months now to call mobile phones in Spain from my mobile phone here in France. It’s rather complicated to understand how it works I think, but here goes:

1) subcribe to their site, pay up front some money

2) use their service to create a LOCAL number for an INTERNATIONAL number. you can do it on a permanent basis, or a temp basis. I’ve added a few people I used to call on international numbers with rebtel numbers, and added those to my contacts list on my phone

3) you’re charged very low rates (local calls) + $1 USD/week. If you call often then you make money. The $1 USD seems like a lot it you only place ONE call a week.

4) there’s a callback mechanism where when you call someone, they pick the phone, hang up, and call back. And then the international call is free.

All of this, while we wait for Skype to come up with a mobile version … (I’ve seen it with my own eyes already , although it’s not for public release AFAIK).

Discovering sand animations

Tonight, as I was looking into the latest submissions from our beta users, I discovered some amazing animations with Sand.
I had never seen this, nor heard about them. It seems it's a huge trend, and these are live performances.
I asked the person whether I could reblogged, and he agreed to, although I'm not sure who owns the rights to these videos (please let me know whether I'm infringing here).