I’m sure I’m not the only one left distinctly underwhelmed by today’s Apple announcement of their revamped notebook line. There’s no question the new MacBooks look gorgeous, are faster and are marvellously engineered (check out designer Jony Ive and others on Apple.com talking about the remarkable unibody construction). And yes, they announced a sub-$1000 laptop (albeit $999 for the old MacBook, big deal). But when you thought that Apple were going to deliver on a truly revolutionary touchscreen machine (the multi-touch trackpad only hints at what may come next) and filling that niche for a $900-range sub-notebook, it was hard not to feel a little ho-hum about the whole thing. I’ll reserve final judgement until I get to play with one but if my ancient PowerBook wasn’t about to give up the ghost I probably wouldn’t even be looking. For more details on the event, check out MacLife.
1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die : NPR Music
Worried that you might miss some great music before you pop your clogs? The latest podcast of NPR’s All Songs Considered can give you some pointers. There’s an interview with author Tom Moon who has just completed a 900-page opus called 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener’s Life List. You can hear some of the obscure and not so obscure songs on this podcast. In the meantime, NPR has challenged listeners to come up with the five CDs you’d want to listen to if you had 24 hours to live.
My five? Every Picture Tells A Story (Rod Stewart), Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie), Definitely Maybe (Oasis), Exile On Main Street (Rolling Stones), Setting Sons (The Jam) … but how could I not squeeze in a bit of Bruce, Rilo Kiley, Heather Nova and so many more. Damn it, I’m just packing the iPod and extra batteries for the afterlife.
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