Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 9:18AM Just had an email from Jude Chua, the lucky winner of the ScreenCastsOnline MacBook Air prize draw.
The machine has safely arrived in the Philippines, where I imagine the weather is a bit warmer than here in the somewhat chilly UK.
Jude also sent me a photo of him with his new machine and I asked his permission to post it on the blog. I think he's pretty pleased with his new toy!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 8:38AM So that's it, Apple really want me to buy a new HD TV.
A new Apple TV Gen 2 firmware update was pushed out overnight, which fixed some resolution and HDMI handshake issues.
Downloaded and installed the update, but it still doesn't fix my problem of being unable to force the Apple TV into 720p 50Hz, as I used to be able to do with my old Apple TV.
That's the second update now and still no menu entry to select resolutions.
Ho hum....
Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 11:23AM 
If you're a regular follower of the show, you'll know I did a prize draw for one of ten free licences to Forklift 2, donated by BinaryNights, at the end of episode SCO0279 - ForkLift 2
Well the deadline has passed and we had 449 entries - not too shabby!
Utilising the excellent Random.org service, I created a set of 10 random numbers:
This equated to the 10 luck winners below (based on their position in my email folder):
Congratulations!
I've sent the names and emails off to the ForkLift 2 developers and they should be getting in touch very soon!
Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 4:28PM I'm not doing many custom screencasts these days, as I'm snowed under with trying to get a show out each week, plus I've a ton of stuff to arrange for Macworld 2011 and MacMania 11.
But, it's really hard to say no sometimes!
So I've done a couple of little jobs, just to keep my hand in.
The first couple have just gone live over at Decimus.Net. The guys at Decimus asked me to do a couple of screencasts for some new updates to two of their utilities.
This is a rather smart, free utility that allows you to access the command line from pretty much anywhere or from any app. A simple key combination brings up a DTerm window that magically knows the location of the file you're working on, and allows you direct access to the files in that folder. Add in autocompletion and it's a very useful tool.
And did I mention it's free!
You can find the video I did for it over on this page.
This is a live file synchronizer that allows you to back up or replicate your files in real time. Ideal for mission critical data that needs to be synchronized say between a laptop and a desktop or a USB drive. No scheduling required, it just happens. It's also clever enough to synchronize a laptop once you've been out on the road and return to base - just reconnect and the sync kicks off - very useful.
You can find the video explaining the live sync feature of Synk over on this page
I did another three small screencasts for another vendor - an iPad version of an application that I've covered before on ScreenCastsOnline. Once that's published, I'll give you the links to that.
It looks a very impressive app, especially on the iPad!
Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 11:18AM 
Look, I know I'm an Apple fan boy, but I'm also a pretty savvy technologist and have had more gadgets than I'm comfortable admitting to.
I also like to think I can find my way round most bits of kit without too much reading of the manual. In fact, I really enjoy technology and learning new things.
So I was pleased as punch when I heard of a cheap Android tablet I could cut my teeth on. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've never really been exposed to Android, so the launch of the Commtiva N700 running Android Froyo 2.2 for just £299 was a great excuse to feed my gadget addiction.
My rationale was to explore the beast, get up to speed on Android, write a few blog posts and have some knowledge when conversing about Android on the various podcasts I frequent.
Sounded like a good idea.
When I'd grown weary of the device, I could resell it, or possibly keep it to explore further Android releases.
Great!
However, after struggling with doing even the basic functions with the damn thing, I've just reset it to factory settings and have returned it for a full refund.
So instead of a full and considered review, I thought I'd just give you some basic thoughts and impressions on the device
And to be honest, that's as far as I got!
The first time I switched it off and back on again, which took a few attempts, I couldn't get past the home screen. An unintuitive screen lock appears but no instructions in the quick start guide on how to unlock it. I ended up downloading the full manual from the internet. It was a slide up on the onscreen lock but I never fathomed it out.
Things went down hill from there.
A couple of times it wouldn't power on without plugging it back into the mains charger although the battery was at 80%
Everything I tried was an effort.
It was a complete exercise in frustration.
In fairness, it was so difficult to operate in the end that I have a suspicion that it must have been a faulty unit, it must have been!
Eventually, I just gave up.
I feel pretty bad about my lack of progress with the machine. I've seen other reviews on the web which seem to indicate to the contrary my experiences but really, I hated it... with a passion!
My only advice would be get one to try it yourself, as long as you can return it.
Would I recommend buying one for Christmas as a gift to someone who wants a tablet....
Emphatically no!