News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
ADVERTISEMENT
Way back in January we decided to do something a little bit rash: give away a MacBook Air to any AMW reader who could demonstrate their ability to review it. Little did we know then that the competition would end up being massively popular, and turn into one of the hardest (and at the same time most enjoyable) competitions to judge in the history of the magazine. Almost every day for the past two months I've read through new entries in the competition, and almost every day I've been struck by the creativity and skill of AMW's readers.
It has not been easy to judge. As late as this morning I was still whittling down a "short list" of ten entries. If I could, I'd have given a MacBook Air to each of those ten. For the record, they were: Tangerine Alert, Bitingmidge, Xenophos, Smidgey, Khovy, QuannyG, Pabloc, Evercurious, Darkmelody and Soakwashrinsespin. All of you deserved to win, but unfortunately only one could.
And that one is Darkmelody, whose Hip-Hop rhyme got stuck in my head and made me laugh. Congratulations.
We'll send out your new MacBook Air shortly, and in a couple of weeks we'll have you on the AMW Weekend Edition podcast to talk about it.
For those interested, here is the winning entry:
I just started Uni (time-based multimedia)
Don't ask me what it means I don't understand either
Well basically it's about messing around
With video, images, animation and sound
And I use my Mac Mini G4 1.25
But it's first generation,so, no Super Drive
I love that little box, it runs my digital life,
It's also been running a business: (my wife's)
I got a dashboard full of widgets and my Ical is bursting
But it's Ableton Live which is CPU thirsty,
Now don't get me wrong this is not being bitchy
But filters and effects were making it glitchy
I want my hi-hats crisp and my kick drum to slam
So I treated my mini to one gig of RAM
And it runs real smooth now but the issue is space
(my iTunes is scattered all over the place)
40 gigs on the hard drive and 40 more externally
It seems I'm backing up files (to CDs) eternally
And I always just thought that iMovie would do me,
But you know this stuff that I'm doing at Uni
It's Photoshop, Logic and Final Cut Pro
And I'm worried the Mini might just be too slow
Oh yeah one more thing: This is no begging letter
Just aesthetically i feel that I'm suited much better
To a MacBook Air than my much loved Mac Mini
Cause just like the Air: I'm really skinny.
wrote on April 11, 2008 12:51 PM
25 words or less, you'll win every time so long as you put your response in rhyme Same goes for 250, or so it goes One wonders why reviews are ever in prose “Please no sob story”, they say in the rules Just beg then deny it, those rules are for fools Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean to be rude But naysaying don't cut it with me, sorry dude
wrote on April 11, 2008 7:27 PM
Why is it that that people who submit rhymes always win competitions? It seems like the sure-fire way... as long as you can come up with a few natty rhyming sentence endings, you're set!!
wrote on April 11, 2008 8:41 PM
What? Thats the reason why their report won? Because it stuck in your head in the morning? I thought the competition rules was that, it's based on merit and not by chance. Thats like a slap in the face with an unwashed sock. If it said, "be creative", then yes. But no... I have yet to see a review on a moisturiser in rap format, or the financial review have the lyrics of the songs for the NAB review... maybe this forum is filled with apple fans that think differently
The MacBook range is second-rate for internet access, and it’s high time Apple did something about it. OK, perhaps that’s a bit unfair. On WiFi or Ethernet, the MacBook is a fine internet access device -- Draft 802.11n and all that -- but what if you’re out on the road? In an era when just about every notebook manufacturer offers several models with inbuilt mobile broadband capabilities, Apple’s notebooks are notably devoid of this handy option.
Dan Warne | Jan 7, 2008
"Don't forget to get there very, very early", was the advice given to me by practically everyone prior to this morning's Macworld Conference Keynote. "Things get pretty hairy", they claimed -- and they weren't referencing Australian Macworld's fine editor. So at 5am, having been woken by the loud gentleman speaking German VERY LOUDLY, I prepared towander down the chilly streets of San Francisco and wait. And wait, and wait, and wait. Annoyance doesn't quite cover my mood when another Australian journalist makes an appearance two hours later, right behind me.
Alex Kidman | Jan 17, 2008
It's been a long week at the Expo. It always is, because we manage every year to time the print deadline for our February issue to be the same day as Steve Jobs's keynote. That's either very smart or very dumb -- I'm too tired to decide. Now that the dust has settled a little, it's easier to get aclear view of the MacBook Air (to say nothing of the fact that the crowd around the table in the booth isn't six people deep anymore). The first thing you notice is that it really is startlingly thin. Thinner than it looked on stage, thinner than it looks in the posters with the slogan "Thinnovation" that seem to have cropped up one very flat surface in San Francisco the past few days.
Matthew JC. Powell | Jan 18, 2008
Having used the MacBook Air's amazing multi-touch trackpad, I've been hooked. Now I just need that same functionality in a more powerful machine. Any help, Steve?
Matthew JC. Powell | Feb 1, 2008
