Getting started with JS unit testing.

We all know we should be unit testing where possible, but it’s something many of us put off. Well, if you have 10 minutes free, do yourself a favours and check out Ben Nadels article on unit testing with requireJS and Jasmine. Unit testing and TDD has many great qualities other article talk about (see wikipedia) at great length but the attraction for me was really simple. I dont have to click about in the browser when testing carousels!

Just from a few days experimenting the value is really clear, i am looking forward to exploring jasmine more over the next few weeks.

Published: 24 October 2012 | Categories: Opinion Permalink

iPhone 5 First Impressions.

After waiting out the preorders to check in on the nano sim situation I finally picked up a new iPhone today.

This is my third iPhone, my last was an iPhone 4 (my review of the iPhone 4) generally each phone lasts 24-30 months. This time around I purchased the phone outright, I figure it’s more flexible and over 2 years it works out about the same cost.

So background out of the way, lets get on with some first impressions.

Screen & form factor.

The most obvious difference between the iPhone 5 and previous generations is the design. The iPhone 5 has a larger taller screen, weighs noticeably less and is no longer glass backed.

The new screen is very pretty, after a couple of hours use it feels comfortable and going back to the iPhone 4 feels crampt. If your coming from a 3GS or older the new screen is worth the upgrade alone. From the iPhone 4 / 4S the upgrade is nice but not as noticeable.

The screen space is nice when browsing the web a little space means slightly larger type when i zoom in. The apps I use have all been updated to take advantage of the new screen size. I’m prety lax at keeping my Apps up to date, so some apps (like reeder) have a actually been completed redesigned since I last downloaded them. A nice suprise.

The rest of the phone feels nice in my hand, I’m a little worried about scratching but so far so good.

Performance

The iPhone 5 feels quick and is yet to skip a beat with anything I have tried. Technically it’s faster than my first intel Mac and it feels it.

So my first impressions are good, it’s fast, sturdy and has a great screen.

Published: 19 October 2012 | Categories: , Reviews Permalink

2012 Mac Mini Wish List.

I had a Mac Mini as a media sever up untill about year ago. My first mini lasted well over 5 years and is still used by my dad. When I no longer had a decent display to plug it into at home (long story!) I got an iMac.

Even though the iMac is a great machine, I do miss the low power and small size of the mini. With a Mac mini refresh being rumoured, here is my wish list:

Ivy Bridge

If Apple are staying with Intel processors across the board then updating to the latest generation ‘Ivy Bridge’ seems like an obvious move. Ivy bridge pairs a 10-20% performance increase on the CPU side with a 40% improvement in graphics. The HD4000 graphics are not the most powerful but they are powerful enough to play modern games at low and meduim settings.

Flash Storage

The Mac mini has space inside for two hard drives, for the two non server models these slots are left unused. Moving to “flash storage” by default would provide the system with an impressive performance boost for not a huge cost.

Though less likley, if the Mac mini were to be entirely SSD based for storage it could get much much smaller. I would not be that suprised to see a Mac Mini built around Macbook Air class hardware.

Bluray Drive

Last year Apple removed the CD/DVD drive from the mini. For those using it as a HTPC this was rather frustrating. While I would love to see an upgrade to a bluray drive, simply restoring the DVD drive would be great.

However, i think Apple is pretty unlikely to do this. The recent trend for new Apple hardware has been to drop optical drives. For a laptop there is a clear case for removing the drive, but for a desktop i think the case is less clear cut.

Redesign

A complete redesign could be interesting, possibly smaller. I don’t think intel chips go low power enough to fit in a tiny fanless enclosure like a Apple TV but it would be neat if they did.

ARM

The A6 chip in the iPhone 5 is about as powerful as the first generation Intel Mac mini only with much better graphics. Infact it’s almost as fast as my 2010 1.4ghz MacBook Air. While I think it’s very unlikey an A6 / ARM based Mac mini would be very interesting.

Complete replacement

I highly doubt Apple would ever do it, but replacing the Mac mini range entirely with a mid range tower would be a popular move in some circles.

However, doing so would eat Into iMac and Mac pro sales, and move Apple towards the low profit commodity PC space.

So that’s my wish list for the Mac mini.

Published: 16 October 2012 | Categories: Apple , Opinion Permalink