MacWorld San Fransisco Drinking Game

In tribute to tomorrow's Apple keynote, here are the official rules for the MacWorld San Fransisco 2007 Drinking Game:

If the text is too small, clicking the image should enlarge it.

As Merlin Mann from 43 folders said: We'll be so drunk by 11:00AM tomorrow.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70081891@N00/

Dear Santa, er Steve

As it is getting closer and closer to that special day, I figured I had better write Santa Claus a letter and tell him what I would like for Christmas.

Though contrary to popular belief, Santa does not live at the north pole. He lives in Cupertino, California. And his first name isn't Santa. It's Steve.

Dear Steve:

It's MC Fro, and I have been especially good this year. I have never strayed from the fruit company, and continue to believe in the wondrous Macs and iPods you produce. I would like to tell you what I would like to see announced at the MacWorld Expo in San Fransisco this January: An ultra-thin 12" Widescreen MacBook Pro.

I would like to to have Intel Core 2 Duo processors, hopefully with a speed bump. If not, I would be very pleased with 2.16 or 2.33 GHz clock speeds. Even though the screen is 1" smaller than the Original MacBook, I would hope to see the same 1280 x 800 resolution, with support for monitor spanning, thus I could greatly expand my work surface by attaching a large flat-screen montior. I am going to need a lot of workspace on my screen while I finish up DH's solo album.

I require a minimum of 1 Gigabyte of RAM installed, because I will need to run Rosetta, and all the plugins I run while recording under Logic takes up a lot of RAM, so I would hope that RAM can be expanded to a high-capacity like 3-4 Gigs. I would like a high-capacity hard drive, perhaps 160 Gigabytes might be a good starting point. A dual-layer Superdrive would be acceptable to my needs.

A graphics card will absolutely be necessary, and I won't settle for the Intel-GMA 950 processor that steals my RAM. The ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB of RAM is the absolute minimum for my needs, but if you can fit 256 megabytes of RAM on it, I would be very pleased.

The built-in iSight camera is not necessary, but welcome. It is already included in all other MacBook models, so I would expect you would include one in this model as well.

Built-in Wireless technology is already included in all other MacBook models. I am looking forward to using Bluetooth 2.0 with an Apple Wireless Keyboard, and a wireless Mighty Mouse, then I wouldn't have to worry about using the 2 or 3 available USB 2.0 ports for my input peripherals. As for Airport-Extreme, I certainly hope it has the technology to support the 802.11n draft spec. The infra-red Front-Row remote is a cool gadget, and I would probably use it more than I think I normally would.

I know you will include at least Gigabit-Ethernet. I wouldn't expect any less, but it will certainly suit my needs when I need to hook up multiple computers to do all the heavy computer processing when I am mixing DH's album. This goes without saying, but I need firewire on this model. I know it might be a tall order, but if you can spare 2 firewire ports, It would make my life much easier.

The Magsafe power adapter is the coolest invention you have made for portable computers. Furthermore, I would hope all new form factors for your notebook computers will include a magnetic lid, which is present in your current MacBook. It's so much cleaner than having the hooks and release buttons. Furthermore, you do not have to worry about moving parts getting worn or breaking.

I would like to see a thin form factor, and an aluminum enclosure, a 3-speaker built-in sound system as which was present in the old 12" G4 Powerbooks. To keep things straight across the MacBook board, I would be ecstatic if it had that funky blue backlit keyboard.

I hope you can cram as much juice as possible into that thin battery, I sincerely hope I can get 6 hours of battery life out of this model. Weight is also an issue with me, as is portability. If this book could weight less than 5 pounds, I would be ecstatic.

A price point of about $1749 US.

I know I am being rather demanding about my specifications of this small, ultra-thin MacBook Pro. But I think if it were produced, everybody would drool over it. Anyone who had this book in a coffee shop would be the envy of everyone around. I know you and your elves are fantastic engineers, and I know you and your crew can produce something as wonderful as this. If I hear about this product this January at Macworld San Fransisco, my credit card will leap out of my wallet onto my desk like a spawning Salmon. I, of course, would have no objection to finding a pre-release model underneath the tree this Christmas morning.

Respectfully yours,

MC Fro

mcfro.blogspot.com to be Translated to Multiple Lanuages

It has come to my attention the website The Dialectizer provides translation services for those who might have trouble understanding my attempt at writing "Proper English". They support translations into a number of dialects, including Redneck, Pig Latin, Elmer Fudd, The Sweedish Chef, Hacker, and a few others. In order to try out the accuracy of their services, I decided to translate my last post. I think they got it mostly right: When I read: "Slap mah Fro" during the Jive dialect translator, I nearly fell off my chair laughing.

Here are the results:


Redneck:

As ah jest menshuned on th' Savoys Webpage, th' ban' has been invited t'be special guests at a charity fundraizzu at th' Blue Turtle this hyar weekend, cuss it all t' tarnation. We were pleased t'find out thet we were also featured in today's edishun of th' Medicine Hat Noos.

ah's gittin' excited about playin' th' Turtle this hyar weekend, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' ban' will be featurin' a lot of noo material, menny of which will feature yourn truly on lead vocal, ah reckon. ah hope mah voice will hold out until th' end of th' weekend, cuss it all t' tarnation.

ah might be needin' menny doses of thet bad, bad, likker.

Jive:

As ah' plum menshuned on de Savoys Webpage, de band gots been invited t'be special guests at some charity fundraisa' at da damn Blue Turtle dis weekend. We wuz pleased t'find out dat we wuz also featured in today's edishun uh de Medicine Hat News.

I's gots'ta be digtin' 'sited about playin' de Turtle dis weekend. De band gots'ta be featurin' some lot uh new material, many uh which gots'ta feature yo's truly on lead vocal. ah' hope mah' voice gots'ta hold out until de end uh de weekend.

I might be needin' many doses uh dat baaaad, baaaad, whiskey. Slap mah fro!

Sweedish Chef:

Es I joost menshuned oon zee Sefuys Vebpege-a, zee bund hes beee infeeted tu be-a speceeel gooests et a chereety foondreeeser et zee Blooe-a Toortle-a thees veekend. Bork bork bork! Ve-a vere-a pleesed tu feend oooot thet ve-a vere-a elsu feetoored in tudey's ideeshun ooff zee Medeecine-a Het Noos.

I em getteeng ixceeted ebuoot pleyeeng zee Toortle-a thees veekend. Bork bork bork! Zee bund veell be-a feetooreeng a lut ooff noo metereeel, muny ooff vheech veell feetoore-a yuoors trooly oon leed fucel. I hupe-a my fueece-a veell huld oooot unteel zee ind ooff zee veekend. Bork bork bork!

I meeght be-a needeeng muny duses ooff thet bed, bed, vheeskey. Bork bork bork!

This could provide me countless hours of entertainment. Sadly, a "Val-speak" translation protocol is not yet available on the site, however one is available here. Like, I could totally barf out!

Curious George W.

I added a link to a cute cartoon featuring everybody's favorite president. Mind you, I do not necessarily endorse any of the material on the aforementioned page.