A mere day before the big shindig at the Moscone, Steve Jobs has come clean about his much discussed weight loss in a open letter to the Apple community, saying that a hormone imbalance is to blame. “The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment,” says Steve. Doctors expect it to take him until late Spring to regain the weight and body mass, and Steve will stay on as CEO during his recovery. Oh, and if you hadn’t guessed, Steve isn’t so big on the personal stuff: “So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.”

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

Hello, Its me again of course, Right now it is 1:12 AM, and I am bored out of my mind, On this Windows 7 Based Laptop. So what do I do, of course I blog. I wanted to Post this article a quite time ago, umm maybe around November 23rd but never had the chance. So here goes.

On a Wednesday, behold a new video card came in the mail, a nVidia BFG 9800 GTX+ OC, Was so excited opened up the box, to be witnessed with an awesome, yet powerful card. I quickly held the power button on my PC, and Opened it up. The video card required to 6 Pin, PCI-e power adapters, I had them, one of
them was able to reach it, The Other one was stuck in between the Power supply and the Motherboard tray. I removed the Power Supply, got the wire out of the way, and was ready to go.

I took out the Old card, Popped in the new one, Put both PCI-e pins into the Card, Press the Power Button as fast as I could, the PC had turned on, could smell the scent of the new video card, and the fresh breeze coming out of the fan, 20 seconds later the PC turned off?!?!?! How?! Why?! were the only things going through my head. Tried removing the 6 pin adapters, switching them off, putting one in and not the other, Tried thousands of possible solutions. all turned out unreliable and died. Put back in the old card and the pc would still turn off every 20 seconds, I thought it could be the motherboard, or that both video card fried.. No… I tried the old card on another computer it worked fine. I tried putting the other card in my brother Pc, its new big it wouldn’t fit, then I left no card in my pc and it would still restart, my motherboard was also messed up. So… about a day later my cousin came down, we tried the new card in his computer, yes his case was big enough to fit the card. So we plugged it in, etc… and the PC wouldn’t post, meaning it was stuck right before it could boot into the bios, we tried his 8800 GTX and it worked perfectly fine.

So I contacted the company where I bought the card from, and they said they will send me a new one after I send this one back. So, I got the box ready for this one and sent it. It was on its way… Oh yeah forgot to mention my Power Supply is Died Also. Ok so what did I have with me, hmm lets see a Died Motherboard, A died Power Supply, and an Empty case. That weekend I got a box, packed up the GA-EP45-DS3R to be sent into RMA, Thats out of the way phewf…

Then I later on Bought a new Power Supply, a Thermal Take 700 Watt Modular Design, awesome. I checked everyday the tracking for my Video Card, It was in a USP Office, a city away, turns out they couldn’t find my address, and sent it all the way back, what dumba**es, so anyways, the guy told me he received it back, sent it and it came back the following Monday. So, Later I contacted Gigabyte to see the status of my RMA, and they told me it is in repair and I should receive a tracking email Friday, it was Wednesday. So, I waited and still nothing contacted them the same day, and they now said Wednesday.

So, I was like ok, I was like if I am getting all this stuff might as well get a new case, So I did, I bought a Cooler Master CM 690, the guy went out to ship it 10 minutes later. This was this Tuesday, and the next day I am hoping to get tracking for my Motherboard, turns out I haven’t, Called them up again, they said it is in their shipping department and I should receive an email soon. The tracking for the Case says, Monday, it is Super Early Thursday, and I am typing this, what I’m I looking forward to… Motherboard & Case Coming Monday, and a computer working flawlessly.

It is now 1:48 AM. and this just made up my boredness… if thats a word. Guess, what all me doing this week watching more House!. Anyways Merry Christmas to some and Happy Holidays wish the best for you all.

PS. Update your EFi-X’s!

Here is a Preview of it here.

Review Coming soon

This is Aman Fahimullah from Tekno Junkie.

GOW2

After a much anticipated and hyped release of GOW2, which on inserting into my XBOX360 caused my console to display the dreaded ring of death, I was pretty much ready to be dissappointed.  Why you ask ? 

Lets just say I am (was) (and continue to be) a big fan of the original Gears of War game.  From the graphics, the game play, and the story line , the game has a fantastic look and feel.  So good I might add, that it was the principal reason behind me purchasing an XBOX 360.  Now you might wonder, ok big deal but realize this that the last gaming console that I had purchased before the 360 was a Super NES.  Suffice to say the game left a great impression on me and I wasn’t expecting the same for the sequal.  Well I hate to admit it but I was dead wrong.  Not only did GOW2 live up to the hype but in my opinion it surpassed it.  The gameplay is simply awesome. with enough unique things thrown it that it never feels repetitive.  From driving a Tank, to flying a Reaver, to riding a Brumak, there is an abundance of variety thrown into each level of the game.  With almost countless enemies coming at you, I kept feeling like I am in a real War fighting for humanities very survial.  I kept wanting to go further and continue playing which is a testament to how good this game is.  On a side note, credit has to be given to the Unreal engine developers at Epic, they have really pushed the Unreal Engine to its limits while still keeping excellent frame rate and playability.  I continue to be amazed at what this next gen console can do.  This time around, the developers focused more on the story and the personal side of war with Dom’s wife being MIA.  This was done very tastefully and reallly showed the horrors of war and althrough the story left more questions than answers, I felt it enhanced the enigma of the GOW Universe and makes me want more.  After finishing the game the first time, I can’t wait to play through it again.  This time I am hoping to pay closer attention to the details and extra nuances the developers have thrown in such as the collectible items you find across each levels that let the player piece together some back story to whats been happing to this world.  If this is all this game had I would have only praises for GOW2 but thats not all,  Epic went ahead and introduced new aspects to the co-op/multi-player gameplay as well.  You can have your friend join you in the campaign anytime they want.  Both parties can also play at their own difficulty and the process is seamless. Secondly, new multi-player gametypes have been inttroduced as well as a new game-type called Horde, where you and 4 of your buddies get together and fight off a continuing onslaught of enemies coming at you in increasing numbers and difficulty.  A few nights ago a few of us get to level 39 out of 50 but at 5:30 am it was time to call it a night or more appropriately morning.  Friends, thats how good GOW2 is that you will not want to put it down.  You will sacrafice sleep, food, new episodes of HERO’s just to keep playing this game.  So EPIC, thanks for creating an excellent game and robbing me of the little free time I had…  GOW2 gets a teknojunkie 7 out of 5, yes a 7.. because its that dam good..

Google Maps UI

Google updated their Maps UI today with a lot cleaner look’n'feel and icons + sliderbar, add some much needed clarity and class to it. The person on top of the slider bar enables the streetview for you and starts in full-screen. This also might be because Google has streetview almost all of the US and want to make it easier for users to access the feature. Plus with the new release of iPhone firmware update 2.2 streetview feature has been included.

This is definitely a step towards cleaner much refined application user interface.

I’d guess there’s a new UI designer on board at google, always looking forward to cleaner more user-friendly applications on the web.

Once Every Week all Post a new song that I am currently listening to, today is Kevin Drew with his featured song Safety Bricks, With Loving melodies and beats this song should be appealing to everyone.

Kevin Drew is a Canadian musician and songwriter who, together with Brendan Canning , founded the expansive Toronto baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene . He was also part of the lesser-known KC Accidental, which consisted of Drew and Charles Spearin, another current member of Broken Social Scene.

Kevin attended the Etobicoke School of Arts along with Metric’s Emily Haines and Star’s Amy Millan, where he studied drama.

We are always interested in your ideas, so tell us in the comments what stuff you want to see. So let us know. For the EFi-X™ Fans update coming soon! Real Soooooon!

Lets Start…

I have recently received a Disc of Windows 7. Windows 7 is coming soon next year, because of the dramatic failure that has been put into Vista. As being a Mac and Windows user, and doing Graphic Design and Gaming, I have to frequently switch between Operating Systems, and with Vista its becoming pretty frustrating from all the UAC’s to the interface. People still are using Windows XP, but soon that will come to an end. Since you won’t be able to use it next year. With Windows 7 coming out next hopefully it will set a new standard for Microsoft. Now on with the Tech Build Review.

I started off by using the install disc, and booting from it, it boots quite faster because the disc is around 2.5 gbs. I went through the installation, you can now Upgrade your Operating System now through the installation, as before you had to boot into XP/Vista and Select Upgrade. Which is now a major Plus, So I started up the installation, went through pretty smoothly. Once Finished I was greeted with a Little Windows Welcome. Its now more like Leopard where you choose all your setting before actually jumping into the OS. Like your Name, Wallpaper and Now your Wireless Connection.

Desktop

Once you are at the Desktop, it looks very familiar to Vista. The Start Bar has some new neat features. The Notification Icons are different now, it shows the 5 basic ones

• Solution Center
• Battery
• Network/Wireless
• Sound
• Time

The Other ones are hidden into a little Pull out arrow that shows you the rest.

At the far Right of the Bar there is a permanent Show Desktop button. Which Some people will and will not use but it is pretty useful.

Explorer

Windows Explorer is has many new features. Like Libraries.

If you have pictures in one set of folders, and other pictures in another, and you damn well aren’t going to merge the folder, you can still track them together by adding them both to the Photo Library. Libraries even show the contents of local external storage drives you add to them, though when you unmount the external drive, Library offers to ditch its folder.

Home Group

The feature will only work on Windows 7, so to test it I’d need a second loaner unit. Still, having set up a basic HomeGroup, at least the initial interface and Microsoft’s literature suggest that this will simplify viewing content across multiple machines, and sharing printers and other products. Let’s hope so, because it could also be one of those classic “Why won’t this work for me????” networking wizards. (Or is it just me who gets those?)

Other Stuff

Here are some other shots from the pre-beta unit I’m looking at, including:
• Ribbon interface now appearing on Word Pad and Paint (and nothing else so far)
• Solutions Center that will soon be re-branded as Action Center
• New fast-launching “lightweight” Windows Media Player
• Subtler, but still cool, improvements to the main Windows Media Player
• Windows information page, so you can see the attributes of the system

What Microsoft Is Promising

The sad thing about the build that Microsoft handed out is that it’s missing a lot of the neat stuff that they showed off , and have been hinting at elsewhere. Though we did see a lot of this stuff running on systems, I couldn’t take photos or video—not even of the slides.

The much-criticized BMW iDrive central control dashboard has been updated to its fourth version, and it seems that this time they have got it right. Abandoning the previous compass-based user interface, the new iDrive adopts the hierarchical vertical menu system of the iPod, mixing it with an interface similar to the Xbox 360. Apart from the faster navigation this provides, they have also included new features to make it faster and more useful.

• The iDrive knob is surrounded by seven buttons to give quick access to: CD, main menu, phone, radio, navigation, options screen, and “go back”.
• 8.8-inch widescreen display. It’s not a touchscreen because BMW thinks it’s more comfortable and safe to use the knob (I completely agree with them).
• Voice recognition system is now better thanks to a new faster processor.
• There’s a central area in the interface that shows the selected function with an easy to identify icon.
• If you connect it to the iPod, you will get a similar navigation by track, album, and artist.
• Rips CDs or copy music files through USB.
• GPS function allows for two views (like a general flat map and a closer 3D view).
• New alphanumeric keyboard in a circle, which is faster and easier to control with the iDrive knob.

If you are in the lookout for a BMW. I’d wait till 2009

A while ago, my Dad bought a Camera, a Canon 40D, it is a great camera, but what does it all put through.

I happened on this article a while back and its message has always stuck with me (although I still obsess over new camera gear). But even a self-confessed gear addict can admit there are some pretty interesting points in there. The article by Ken Rockwell details his theory that you can achieve the results you want with a $150 camera or a $5000 camera, it’s just about understanding and working with the equipment. I don’t agree with everything he has to say, but it’s a good read for anyone lusting after some of the new, and ridiculously expensive, DSLRs popping up. And if you need proof of Rockwell’s claim that “a great photographer can take great pictures with a disposable”, look no further than Flickr where a simple search will yield some really amazing shots, all taken with disposables. A couple of my favorites are here and here. Also worth a read is Rockwell’s “$150 Camera vs. $5000 Camera” article.

I guess at the end of the day you’re really just paying for features when you buy a high end camera body. Easy access to settings, quicker focus, faster shots: it all adds up to an easier to use camera that allows you to get the shots when they present themselves. I remember my dads old Canon DSLR Camera, it took great photos, but it was a total pain to use and I can’t even count the number of great shots I missed waiting for that thing to focus or write to the memory card (it took forever to do both).