New iMacs Go On Sale

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This morning, as promised, Apple made available the new iMacs to order. My primary home machine is a 1st generation 27" iMac that I bought in November of 2009 when they were first released. It reached 3 years old this week, and boy does it feel it. The percentage of time that I beach ball increases on a monthly basis and compared to my new (as of 8 months ago) iMac I use at work, this machine feels like a dinosaur. I've been waiting for Apple to release this machine for a while now, but ever since they announced them in October I was unsure of one thing: storage options. The allure of the new Fusion Drive appeals to me, but after giving it some thought, I had decided that I would rather have the same configuration as the iMac I have on my desk in the office at work. That machine is configured with a 256GB SSD + 1TB HD combo. It's fantastic - lots of secondary storage for archiving videos, and other large sized files, while having the performance of the SSD as the primary drive. I was hoping that the new configuration options for the iMacs would allow for the following scenarios: HD, FD, SSD, SSD + HD, SSD + FD. Ideally I wanted a 512GB SSD + a 3 TB Fusion Drive. Sadly, the configuration options are HD or FD or SSD. No two drive options are available. Given this, I think the best option for myself is the 3TB Fusion Drive or either the 768GB SSD and then for me to pickup an external 3TB Thunderbolt drive. I plan to wait a few weeks for Anandtech to get their hands on one of these Fusion Drives to benchmark it to see how it performs.

Joe Biden Goes Shopping At DC's New Costco

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What's not to love about this guy?

Biden “engaged in an extended Costco shopping spree, to the delight of shoppers and employees at the store,” according to the pool report. The vice president flashed his Costco card as he walked through the doors to loud cheers. Employee Ivey Stewart handled a cart for Biden, who stopped frequently for hugs and photos.

Sacks For Sandy

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Two awesome people that I know, Leah Reich and Michele Catalano have organized a toy drive for children who were victims of Hurricane Sandy's wrath. It's simple really, you head to the Sacks for Sandy site and click on the link to the Amazon Wishlist for the gift drive. Purchase a gift and make sure you select Michelle as the shipping address (it's a pre-filled in option for you on the shipping page) and the gifts will be delivered to Michelle who will see that they're delivered to kids in an Sandy affected area. There are also ways on the site to donate money directly to the cause, donate your time if you live nearby, or other ways that you can help out. The good news is that initially they had set a goal of 500 gifts. Within 24 hours they've already had 400+ donations so they've upped the goal to 1000 gifts. Please spread the word and consider making a donation yourself.

Fantasical For iPhone Released

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I fell in love with Fantastical for OS X a few years back when it was released and recommend it to anyone who will listen to me and is in need of a better Calendaring application than iCal/Calendar.app. This morning, Flexibits released Fantastical for iPhone. I've bought it already and can heartily recommend it as similarly awesome as the OS X version is. It has now become my default calendaring app for my phone. My only wish was that it was universal for the iPad as well, but knowing Flexibits, they're working on either a universal version now or a dedicated iPad-only version. Make your life better, and get this app.

XOXO Conference Videos Now Online

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A few days ago the videos from the XOXO conference that happened back in mid-September were posted online for public viewing. I would have loved to attend this conference but the next best thing, being able to watch all of the speakers, is now possible. What is XOXO? From their own site:

XOXO is an arts and technology festival celebrating disruptive creativity. We’re bringing independent artists who use the Internet to make a living doing what they love together with the technologists building the tools that make it possible. Go watch the videos here.