Posts Tagged ‘mac osx’

Waiting for the release of Windows 7? Hold Your Horses! *UPDATE*

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
This comes in later...trust me.

This comes in later...trust me.

Call me Nostradamus, cause I can predict the future, baby! Or at least the very near present. I was TiVoing through some commercials yesterday, after I wrote my last blog post, and I saw a glimpse of a Mac commercial. Well, I decided I’d watch it and sure enough, Mac is ripping on PC because Microsoft has promised to fix the problems with their last OS on every new OS they make.

Hm…this review of the new Apple ads happened yesterday at 8:30 PM, which was around the time I saw the ads, and those little CNET guys are usually on top of stuff. I wish I could know if I did indeed predict the future or if I was merely ignorant of the present. Well, if the ads did get shown before I wrote my last blog post, I guess I didn’t predict the future. But now, I’m going to make plenty of predictions so I can be right on something in teh future.

 Obama will be re-elected with less of a majority than he had during the first election. He will be running against a white guy who is going to tout that “Not all Republicans are like Bush” at every opportunity. The stock market will drop below 9,000 points again in 2010 when everyone realizes that no new jobs equals no real sustained growth. And lastly, your mother-in-law will  drop some pumpkin pie on her blouse this Thanksgiving.

As for Windows 7, I bet that it will be a gigantic hit with 90% of consumers and businesses alike, and it will have some minor problems that Mac will tout as major ones. 

Enough about that. Here’s some info on how to Live Largely on the Cheap:

I was watching Mythbuster’s the other day, and I saw this great little episode where they were trying to improve a vehicle’s gas mileage by putting golf-ball-like dimples in it to reduce drag. Turns out, it helped 11% at 55 mph. That’s great!

I saw another Mythbuster’s on a completely seperate day where they tried driving behind a semi in order to reduce drag and increase gas mileage. As it turns out, it caused their miles per gallon to increase to 40-odd percent better than without drafting behind a truck!

Now I’ve become obsessed. I’ve been thinking about hundereds of ways to gain gas mileage; everything short of putting the entire nation’s free-way system in a giant vacuum to eliminate air resistance. I would have actually considered it except for the fact that, unless the cars were completely air-tight and pressurized, the drop in pressure and lack of air would be unkind to your body. Ok, so what would help reduce drag, besides golf-ball-like dimples and drafting? Actually, let’s skip drafting because it is dangerous.

In the search to answer my own question, I came across this great site about modding cars to make them more fuel efficient, and they had a lot of great ideas about how to reduce wind resistance. In fact, I’ll just pique your interest and let you take a look for yourself. Keep it cheap and keep it real!

When is the release date for Windows 7? Hold Your Horses!

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
More happy is coming my a**.
More happy is coming my a**.

Yes, this is Living Largely on the Cheap, so technically I should be showing you how to download Windows 7 for free or something like that (*ahem* I’m sure it will be at www.thepiratebay.org soon enough if you are into doing illegal stuff, *ahem*) However, after much deliberation, I’ve decided instead to show you that you should never buy another Windows product ever again. Stick with Windows XP and save up for a Mac.

First of all, Mac’s commercials are great. You get a subtly geeky holier-than-thou spokesperson bashing down some hopelessly “Office Space”-like character for everyone’s amusement. It’s cheeky and fun. The best part is, Mac doesn’t even use it’s best arsenal. In their latest commercials, they tout that the PC’s are fast and inexpensive, but they get viruses and Macs don’t.

What are you thinking, Mac? Just say “Hey, buddy, remember when you released a decent operating system…in 2001?” 

 ”Hey, PC, isn’t it great how all your new OS’s features are recycled Mac features?”

“Hey, PC, nice tie.”

Compare these wisecracks to Window’s commercials, which are woefully aimed at people who know next to nothing about computers. 4-year-olds, actually. I just love their commercial with that little girl (who’s name is apparently Kylie) who is always making slide shows. Besides the fact that it reeks of 40’s era propoganda, I think it is hilarious that it is portrayed that she made a slide show with quotes she can barely read.

I’m sure it should come off as cute, but when there’s little bunnies and unicorns contrasted with “Windows 7 is…stable, smooth and highly polished,” I worry that perhaps we should be calling child services. Brainwashing children is a crime, right? And then she goes on and on about all these “happy words.” She doesn’t have any idea what they mean, does she? She’s told that these words are happy. They could be showing her the words “sacriligious anti-semetic pervert” and she wouldn’t know the difference.

And on top of all this, I’m sure Windows 7 will blow just as bad as Vista did. So, save some money, stick with your Windows XP and tell the neighbors that you are old school and enjoy your stable OS and Microsoft couldn’t pay you enough to switch, but you don’t want a Mac because…*start mumbling while looking around for a pen*. Then, in your spare time with no one watching, try not to get too much drool in your keyboard as you look up the Macbook Air.