Verbalism Personified

Mac Users @ McDonalds

Last night's Mac Meet Up turned out to be one eye-popping event. Never in the history of all meet ups has there been so many raised eyebrows.

Seng Aik and I had just arrived on the scene when Loh Brothers, KC and CC, were handing out goodies to those who had ordered them. Many were inspecting their merchandise with glee. But perhaps with a little too much glee, as some had their eyeballs straining out of their sockets.

Hanx turned up when we were half way through our burgers. I had originally promised IVOR a McHappy Meal, but changed that to a three course dinner, starting with drinks, a tasty burger and finally, hot French fries. Seng Aik cheerfully shouted Julian a dinner after being handed a myriad of coupons. His eyes glittering as Julian offered the coupons up for ransome. But that harvested a bounty as he came away with enough to feed a small family.

As for IVOR, his eyes popped when I told him that Seng Aik and I were heading home minutes after. His glasses seeming to enlarge as he grumbled about making the effort to show up after much persuasion from Seng Aik and myself. However we were sneaking out to meet Julian, who had been starring hard at his computer screen right up to the last minute before taking the 'downward express' from his office.

Greeting Hamish, I offered Siva's regrets and planted a virus-laden handshake. This guy has courageously fended off a infection from his girlfriend and who knows who else. As this is the season for dropping like flies, someone should issue medals to those who remain untouched by the flu.

Settling down to some serious talk, we started with Project Centre, MS Exchange and the MSN Messenger integration on Entourage 2004. Hamish was debating as to whether it was worth the money upgrading from Office X. But the clincher was All of MP3’s music store. With eyes bulging like goggles and his body reeling from the effects, Clarence and I gave him the low down on this iTMS ball-buster. Like a man on a mission, he promptly signed on and downloaded a few tracks after taking out USD10 in credit.

Michael Mann’s Collateral also received Hamish's seal of approval. Stylish and slick, Tom Cruise nails down his portrayal of Vincent, a seething and cold-blooded hit man who cares for nothing, juxtaposed by Jamie Foxx as Max, the cabbie with a heart who cares for too much. Shot entirely on gritty High Definition DV and edited tightly, director Mann spends the opening minutes leisurely developing the characters of our principal protagonists before yanking the audience on a nail biting cab ride.

Coming along for tonight’s ride were four PowerBook newbies. Stanley with his Rev. A 17" PB (he bought it off a friend for a song), Alex and her Rev. B 12" PB (NUS Law student and a friend of Julian's), Anub (BioInformatics Research Officer) with his Rev. B 12" and Kelvin (whose profession escapes me), a PC switcher on a mission to palm off his 15" AlPB for a 12". While Julian and Seng Aik played doting tutors by imparting their well-honed application and Panther skills, a hands-on configuration of Exchange on Entourage X had Anub's pupils dialating. The poor fellow is forced to use a PC for his e-mails. In recommending David Pogue's Panther: The Missing Manual to all four newbies, they will be proficient after pawing through the book from cover to cover!

Then suddenly an accidental drink spillage caused heads to turn and more eyes to pop! A flurry of hands came to the aid of Stanley and his 17" baby. Tissues and napkins appeared magically out of nowhere as everyone raced to contain the flood. Fortunately none of that short-circuiting seepage occurred and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, leaving wide-eyed Stanley to caress his lime-flavored baby. Correspondingly, some Airport Extreme users were experiencing the classic “wireless receptionless bonanza”. Kelvin had spent the greater part of the evening trying to configure his 15" to surf the network before deciding to mingle and discuss ideas instead.

Coming across as affable and not Me@n Kelvin of the Laptop Pricing Wars, we talked about Apple’s recent hardware offerings from nVidia’s GF6800 DDL video card, used to drive Apple's new 30” LCD display, to the Dual 2.5GHz G5 liquid cooling block. Kelvin and Loh CC listened with raised eye-brows to learn that these technologies have existed on high-end PCs by Alienware and L for a while now. Due to Apple’s partnerships and positioning with industry leaders, its profile naturally results in integrating cutting-edge technology with an already recognizable brand name.

National Day fireworks aside, the line up of PowerBooks at a fastfood joint caused a minor shuffle among the digestive population. Some PC laptop owners who had occupied the forward tables were transfixed by the appearance of so much aluminum. Looking over like deer in headlights, they pondered a passing opportunity for a more fulfilling computing experience.

If they had inquired, they would have found eager minds willing to help them, in CC’s words, unlearn the effects of Windows and point them towards the nearest Apple Store. Struggling between the Scylla and Charybdis of virus infestation, endless patching, spyware and pop-up hell, computer salvation might be found right next to you.

And for a few hours at least, last night was one such night.

posted by Teutoburg @ 11:25 PM