Posts by Kit McLean

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  • Hard News: Catching up with the future…,

    I was happy to see the little icon appear in the XMB when I fired up the PS3 last night - no firmware update required, which suprised me. I had a quick play and found it easy to navigate. I watched about 10 min of a show (ok I admit it, it was Master Chief) and quality on the high bandwidth setting was pretty good*. Not great, but easily watchable for something other than a visual spectacular like the Pacific, which, if you have a swanky telly really should be viewed in HD.

    Anyway, I say biggie-ups to TVNZ and Sony for woking this out. Just one more reason to have a PS3 at the heart of your media centre.

    * I'm running it through a 720p 32" LCD.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • OnPoint: P is for Potential,

    Great work Keith. But really I think you're doing P a disservice with this analogy. P Labs are in fact a ‘value adding’ process using innovation and technology. They take a raw product, ContacNT, process it and sell it at a massive profit. With mining we are effectively producing ContacNT to sell to the foreign owned labs who’ll do the processing, marketing and sales and make the real money. Let’s not go insinuating that NZ is anything more than a primary produce basket…

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: It would be polite to ask,

    The first two in particular were of relatively minor news value and none would have led, IMHO, without playing up the controversy angle.

    Totally agree. I had to switch the news off after the Eskimo story - slow news day for sensationalist journalism?

    We talked to the North Island Minisprint Club whose spokesman said they have no intention of becoming Te Ika A Maui Mini Sprint Club.

    How many other NI clubs do you think they spoke to who's answer was "what the f*ck are you talking about, how is this even relevant to an actual story??!?" before settling on the obvious juggernaut of public democracy, the NI Minisprint Club?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: Consumer,

    After the initial iPhone jaw drop I've come round to thinking the plan prices aren't to bad. It's the amount of data which is abysmal. As a bit of a geek (now called "early adaptors" apparently) the data aspect is the key to the phone. Without push email, google map/GPS, and safari the things just a pretty phone/touch. If they gave 1gb with the $80 plan instead of 250mb I would be typing this (well, not this exactly) from my new iPhone now...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: Tragedy into Crisis?,

    Curiously enough, Christchurch, with roughly the same population as Manukau City, has more than twice as many liquor licences.

    I heard this point of discussion from a Manurewa CB member this morning. She seemed to be trying to justify the number of liquor stores in Manurewa. I don't buy it. Surely accessibility to liquor stores is the point here, rather than liquor stores per popluation? Christchurch has its licences spread over 1400sqkm (although I'm sure most of the population is in a much smaller area), Manurewa's are over 50sqkm.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: Psst! Got any Earl Grey?,

    The latest episode of Southpark from the US is bang on topic with Mr Garison accidentilly telling the kids about getting high from cat urine. Also known as "Cheesing". It's highly comical if not a little disturbing, particularly the contraptions used to extract the spray of cat wee. Lots of boobtastic parodies of the cartoon Heavy Metal when people are wasted.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: Bad journalism, old stories,

    A big R.E.S.P.E.C.T to the person brave enough to upload a torrent and be the initial seeder for a 78 gig file! They must have one hell of a connection....

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: New Dataz,

    AppleTV... bah humbug. An earlier article I saw on appletv (and I haven't kept up to date, so this could be wrong) said that it couldn't play .avi's, iso's, .vobs, .rm or anything actually useful. If thats still the case then this is second rate technology with "nice" packaging for the masses. Sounds a bit like an ipod really... (has any one actually had an ipod that hasn't broken within 12 months?)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: Art and the Big Guy,

    And, lacking for the moment a tidy segue involving Anton Oliver, I'll just push on into the day's other item of business

    There couldn't be a better segue between art and rugby than the man that posed naked for a recent piece of modern art!

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=000E209E-0C93-155B-9BD583027AF1014B

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

  • Hard News: No Friends of Science,

    Some attitudes in this area still astound and sadden me. This morning on National the Mayor of Westland - Maureen Pugh - commented on the potential 4km retreat of the Franz Josef Glacier over the next 100 years. She basically said; Climate change is a natural process that’s been happening for thousands of years, nothing bad is going to happen in my lifetime, so its business as usual in Westland. That’s the spirit, bugger the other generations, we're OK. Nice leadership Maureen...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report

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