Ginger & soy glazed salmon with buk choy

Taken from the Coles ad ... made a few changes.  Yummy!!


1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
Squeeze of honey
1 tsp ground coriander or fresh coriander if you can get it
Zest of 1 lemon
Fresh Tasmanian Atlantic salmon fillets
1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, 1 tbsp of ginger and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Add the orange juice and reduce by half. Add the soy sauce and honey and cook for 4–5 minutes, or until the glaze thickens slightly. Add the coriander, lemon zest, and remaining tablespoon of ginger and remove from the heat.
2. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Season the salmon fillets with pepper. Cook the salmon fillets for 1 minute or until just golden brown, then flip with a spatula and cook on the other side for 30 seconds. Whack the griddle with the  salmon into a 180 deg oven for about 8-10 minutes.
3. Spoon a generous layer of the glaze over each salmon fillet.
4. Steam the buk choy (or broccoli) until tender, about 3 minutes. Arrange 3 quarters of buk choy onto the centre of 4 serving plates. Place the salmon fillets over the top of the buk choy and spoon some of the remaining glaze over and around the salmon. Scatter over coriander and serve with the rice.

Art Direction on the iPad

iPad Magazine Art Direction from Brad Colbow on Vimeo.

This is crazy cool. Very interesting to see the magazine industry's early take on the iPad. The whole paywall issue is going to be a massive talking point in the coming months.

A MASSIVE WEEK OF ENTERTAINMENT

FROM SUNDAY, APRIL 11, THE PREMIERE OF UNDERBELLY: THE GOLDEN MILE,
HEY HEY IT’S SATURDAY, AND SEA PATROL

UNDERBELLY: THE GOLDEN MILE – SUNDAY, APRIL 11 AT 8.30PM (2-HOUR TELEMOVIE PREMIERE)
HEY HEY IT’S SATURDAY – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14 AT 7.30PM (2-HOUR BLOCKBUSTER)
SEA PATROL – THURSDAY, APRIL 15 AT 8.30PM

Three of the Nine Network’s most popular marquee programs launch in April: Underbelly, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, and Sea Patrol.
“I’m proud of the network’s commitment to top quality Australian production across all genres. These three shows are great programs which our audiences love and we are excited to have them all back on the schedule,” Mr Michael Healy, Nine Network Programming Director, said today.
The biggest Australian drama series ever, UNDERBELLY: The Golden Mile features a cast of over 220 characters, 1125 extras, and 127 locations providing the backdrop for 245 sets.

UNDERBELLY: The Golden Mile is set in King Cross and covers a notorious decade in Australia’s recent history. It goes behind the scenes to look at the police corruption that was rife in NSW in the late 1980s, set amid the framework of the Golden Mile – Kings Cross – home to some of Sydney’s most colourful characters.
“We’re all fascinated as to why people break the rules,” said Executive Producer, Des Monaghan. “UNDERBELLY differs greatly to the normal staple of television drama, because we are dealing with real life and real people, with all the chaos and unpredictability this entails. We operate outside the square, so our audience never knows what’s going to happen from one week to the next.”
UNDERBELLY: The Golden Mile stars a powerful ensemble cast including Emma Booth as Kim Hollingsworth, Firass Dirani as teenage Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim, Sigrid Thornton as Inspector Gerry Lloyd, Wil Traval as cop Joe Dooley, Diarmid Heidenreich as cop Eddie Gould, Damian Garvey as Detective Graham “Chook” Fowler, Cheree Cassidy as Debbie Webb, and Salvatore Coco as Hammer.
The third instalment of the UNDERBELLY series also features a number of returning characters, including police played by Paul Tassone, Daniel Roberts and Dieter Brummer as Trevor Haken, plus Peter O’Brien as the notorious George Freeman and John McNeil as crime kingpin Lennie McPherson, who all reprise their roles from UNDERBELLY series two, A TALE OF TWO CITIES.
UNDERBELLY, the AFI and TV Week Logie Award winner, returns to Nine on Sunday, April 11, at 8.30pm.

After a 10-year absence from TV, the first HEY HEY IT’S SATURDAY reunion show attracted a peak audience of nearly four million viewers across Australia, with an average audience of 3,158,000 (5 City Metro and Regional cities).
The second reunion show attracted a peak audience of 3,937,000 viewers and an average of 3,213,000 (5 City Metro and Regional cities).
So HEY HEY IT’S SATURDAY host Daryl Somers is understandably thrilled to bring his unique brand of Aussie entertainment back into the nation’s households once again.
“Assembling the whole gang for the reunion shows was truly a labour of love for me,” said Somers.
“I was humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response to the shows and delighted to be able to present to Australia the sort of entertainment that people so clearly want. We look forward to offering the best in local and international music and laughter in 2010.”
HEY HEY IT’S SATURDAY, the new series, premieres on Wednesday, April 14, at 7.30pm with a two-hour blockbuster.

Take 24 sailors from all walks of life, with different ages and temperaments, living cheek by jowl, away from family and friends for months at a time, in seas of all conditions and temperatures to make them boil.
This is navy life in SEA PATROL, the third new program in Nine’s massive week of April entertainment.
The fourth season of SEA PATROL stars Logie Award winner Lisa McCune, Ian Stenlake, Kristian Schmid, Kirsty Lee Allan, John Batchelor, Matthew Holmes and Nikolai Nikolaeff, and introduces Danielle Horvat and Conrad Colby, with Tammy McIntosh guest starring as the new Commander.
“This series is by far the most exciting to date, with new characters, more action, and more of what our fans love about the show,” said Stenlake, who plays CO Mike Flynn.
The adventures on SEA PATROL forge deep and lasting friendships while the crew of HMAS Hammersley confront explosive situations and mysterious events with deadly consequences.
SEA PATROL returns with 16 action-packed episodes on Thursday, April 15, at 8.30pm.

Get ready for NINE’S MASSIVE WEEK OF ENTERTAINMENT: Starting Sunday, April 11

Ginger Beer

I've really been loving Ginger Beer recently - Bundaberg  is my favourite drop.
I thought I'd give making my own Ginger Beer a go so here's a reasonably simple recipe from delicious magazine.

This is a quick recipe for traditional ginger beer – the perfect drink for a picnic in the sun. Serve with crust-off sandwiches filled with canned red salmon, light mayonnaise, a squeeze of lemon and cucumber slices.
Makes just under 2.5 litres
Takes 20 minutes to make, plus overnight standing, 12-36 hours' fermenting and chilling
Ingredients
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 unwaxed lemon, thickly sliced
250g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp dried fast-action yeast
Method: How to make old-fashioned ginger beer
1. Put the ginger, lemon, sugar, cream of tartar and 750ml cold water into a large pan over a medium heat. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 1.5 litres cold water and sprinkle over the yeast. Cover with a lid and set aside in a cool place overnight.
Tip
You'll need 2 x 1.5-litre plastic bottles. Never use glass bottles as the pressure builds up and they will explode!
2. The next day, sterilise the bottles by cleaning them in hot soapy water. Rinse and set aside.
3. Strain the ginger beer through a nylon sieve and divide between the bottles – leave a 5cm gap at the top to allow for the build-up of gases. Screw on the lids tightly and leave in a cool place. Check every few hours, unscrewing the cap a little as the pressure builds up, to allow the gases to escape.
4. The ginger beer is ready to drink when fizzy, which will be within 12-36 hours, depending on how hot the weather is. Chill, then serve with plenty of ice and drink within 3 days (don't drink if it smells old and yeasty).

Roasted Pepper & Mozzarella Salad

I saw this recipe on Jamie at Home. Looked delish, especially served on the ciabatta with the mozarella ball and rocket. Can't wait to try it. Thanks Jamie!

Ingredients
1 ball of mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
2 large peppers (i used red and orange)
1 large clove of garlic, thinly sliced
1 small anchovy, rinsed,boned and mashed very finely
approx 10 basil leaves
A little olive oil (about 3tbsp)
1 tbsp balsamico
A pinch of ground chillies

Method
1. First, prepare the peppers. Place them in a baking dish and bake in a hot oven (220C) for about 30mins, or until the skin has blackened and the pepper is soft to the touch.
2. Take them out of the oven and put them straight into a small plastic food bag and seal tightly. Let them rest for about 5 mins, then remove from the bag and quickly peel of the skin (be careful, they will still be quite hot).
3. Remove the seeds then cut the peppers into long strips and set aside for now.
4. Mix together the mashed anchovy, olive oil and balsamico, adding a small pinch of chilli powder . You can add a little salt if you wish but I find it salty enough with the anchovy.
5. Place the mozzarella and the pepper strips in a medium sized dish (you can layer them or just mix them together if you prefer).
6. Sprinkle with the garlic slices and spoon over the dressing.
7. Top with the whole basil leaves then cover and place in the fridge, if possible, to allow the flavours to blend a little.
8. Serve as part of an antipasti platter or as a light meal, with some crusty bread (will serve approx 3 people as a light meal)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sausage Rolls

Everyone loves homemade sausage rolls and these ones taste extra good, especially with a good dollop of tomato sauce.

Cooking Time
20 minutes

Makes
16

Ingredients
300g beef mince
Spices - smoked paprika, thyme, basil, cumin
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, partially thawed
1 tablespoon milk
tomato sauce, to serve

Method
Preheat oven to 220°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Combine mince, onion, carrot, egg, parsley, dried herbs and pepper in a large bowl. Mix until well combined. Cut pastry sheets in half.
Shape one-quarter of the mince mixture into a sausage and place along 1 long edge of pastry. Roll up pastry to enclose mince mixture. Cut roll into 4. Place, seam side down, on prepared tray. Repeat with remaining mince mixture and pastry.
Brush sausage roll tops with milk. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and puffed. Allow to cool on tray for 5 minutes. Serve hot with tomato sauce.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bachelor's dinner

I had dinner at home on my own the other night and Goddam it was nice!
Seasoned lamb cutlet seared on the griddle pan for a few minutes, then shove the pan into a 180 deg oven for about ten minutes.
The salad is a simple vine ripened tomato, fresh basil and bocconcini salad.  Finished off with a drizzle of olive oil and some cracked black pepper .... so so good.
The other vital ingredient to complete my "Bachelor's dinner" was a chilly Corona.
To be consumed while watching sport on TV!  I had the Winter Olympics on but you could substitute with the seasonal sport of your choice!

Thirsty girl

My beautiful niece is such a gorgeous little thing. Look at those blonde curls! She has the most incredible deep brown eyes!

Good Onya Torah!!

From THE AUSTRALIAN

AUSTRALIA'S queen of extreme, Torah Bright, has won the gold medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe final.

She lived up to her billing by becoming the first Australia to win an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding at Cypress Mountain this afternoon.

Wearing gold goggles and gold bindings, Bright was unwilling to settle for less than a matching accessory around her neck, despite taking the hard way to Winter Olympics victory.

She recovered from a fall on her first run in the final to nail the most technically difficult run in women's snowboarding, earning a huge score of 45.0 points out of 50.

After completing her run, Bright clutched her knees in relief, almost falling to the ground, as Cathy Freeman did when she won the 400m in Sydney.

The pressure on Bright, as one of Australia's few gold medal contenders, was enormous after a troubled preparation in which she sustained three concussions while trying to perfect a winning Olympic run.

She was unable to train for two weeks leading into the Games, after slamming her head into the floor of the pipe while preparing for the X Games last month.

However Bright and her brother/coach Ben were confident that they had the arsenal to win in Vancouver after dominating many of the world's top competition for the past four years.

She kept her composure after her fall and returned to the top of the pipe determined to excell on her second run.

“Falling on the first run is never good because it puts a lot of pressure on you,” she said.

“But once I got up to the top, I had one more run and I thought: 'I know what I have to do, I have done it before'. I was standing up the top and saw my family and friends and thought: 'We are all out here having fun, let's go have some fun'.

WIRED Magazine gets ready for iPad

This is exactly what I envisaged magazines would be like on the iPad. This is so cool it's not funny. The revolution is here my friends! This is a massive game-changer.

Apple today announced the contest to reach 10 Billion songs sold on iTunes, dubbed 'One huge milesone for music'.
They are around 122,000,000 short at the moment but by the looks of that odometer, they'll get there pretty quick.
Gruber says it looks like they're selling 100 songs per second in iTunes (which is MASSIVE!).  So that means they'll get to 10 billion in about 13-14 days.
Get ready to buy a song around the 25th-26th Feb.  Apple is giving away a US$10,000 iTunes Gift Card to the lucky 10 billionth downloader.

Super Bowl sets TV ratings records

Super Bowl XLIV has set a new US television record, after it scored a staggering 106.5m viewers yesterday.
The game overtakes the 27-year-old record set by the final episode of MASH, which previousy stood at 105.97m viewers in 1983.
There were fewer US TV sets in 1983 when the MASH finale was broadcast, but with the growth of cable and satellite, TV networks now face competition from far more channels and the internet.
The game was also the first US televised sports event to top 100 million viewers, beating last year’s 98.7 million for Super Bowl XLIII.
Source: The Guardian

On a personal note, congrats to the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl win ... good to see some success for "The Saints"!  Ever the expert, I was watching the final quarter in the lunch room at work and said the immortal line - "Payton Manning could win it for the Colts right here" just as he throws the intercept which won the game for the Saints.  I'm a frikkin' genius!!

Sunrise in Geelong

Sunrise 5, originally uploaded by Cameron Best.

A beautiful sunrise on the Geelong waterfront the other day.
I had to start work early and noticed the sky as I walked out the door at 6.30am. I couldn't resist so I picked up my camera and did a quick detour down to the waterfront and this is what I saw. Some of the most beautiful golden colours you are ever likely to witness. It really only lasted five minutes but was well worth getting up for! I've got some other shots over on my Flickr page.

Mobile post

Here's just a test to see if blogpress works on my iPhone ... If it does I will be able to get my thoughts posted on the fly!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Latte at Rushbrooks

Latte at Rushbrooks, originally uploaded by Cameron Best.

Rushbrooks in Pakington St Geelong is my new fave cafe. Beautiful coffee, great food and outstanding service!

Oooo Shiny!!

I know I don't need one, but I really REALLY want an Apple iPad!
After waking early yesterday I managed to get onto all the live feeds as the Apple event was going down and my good friend Steve J was showing the world his (Jony Ives')  latest creation.
My first impressions are it is a super slick device and will in time redefine personal computing.  It looks like the ideal computer for someone like my Mum but could fit comfortably in my lounge room.  My problem is I have an iPhone and a Macbook - do I really need something that goes in between?  Maybe I do but I won't know until I try it out.  The user interface looks super slick and the native apps like the calendar, email, Safari and photos get me excited.  Video will need to be seen before I comment.
I think the killer part of the iPad will be the reader.  Reading beautifully laid out and interactive  newspapers, magazines and books is what's going to make this gorgeous little thing soooo popular.  The little footnote at the bottom of the iPad Features section on the Apple website worries me though - "iBook store not available outside US".  Hopefully there will be content deals for the rest of us because otherwise it will severely restrict the iPad and severely diminish my desire for one.
As for the name - I know there have been many jokes going around but iPad makes sense and fits beautifully with Apple's brand.  It just looks right printed on the back of the device.  My original pick was iPad but all the pundits poo-pooed it early on and I was swayed.
What other are saying about the iPad - John Gruber from Daring Fireball:

It is fast, fast, fast. The hardware really does feel like a big iPhone — and a big original iPhone at that, with the aluminium back.

Stephen Fry:

The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device.


Anthony Agius (MacTalk Australia):

Apple is my favourite band. The iPad is their latest album. Even if it's not their best I'm still gonna listen and enjoy it for what it is.  At the end of the day, if the iPad doesn't suit you, just be glad the iPad exists for others and keep enjoying your current tech.

Exactly right Anthony.  It's been amazing to see all the people upset that it wasn't a completely open thing running linux with 20 ports that did your dishes for you.  The first generation iPad won't be the device for everyone but it's going to be a kick-ass device that improves the lives of many.
I believe we will see the iPad evolve over the years - in ten years from now it will be as similar as the original iPod is to the latest gen iPod Touch.
Apple is unashamedly about refining and controlling user experience - and it is a beautiful experience.  If it doesn't suit you, that's fine.  Apple is more than happy for you to go and buy something else that gives you everything you want.  In the meantime, those of us who believe in the Apple experience and how it can improve our lives are on board the Apple train with Mr Jobs stoking the engine and in the end that's going to be the major motivating reason why I'll be getting one of these puppies - I just want one!!

Apple Tablet - "The New Personal Computer"

Amid all the hoo-ha and pondering based on nothing more than sheer speculation, the best line I've heard about the Apple Tablet device which is set to be announced in two days, 14 hours and 13 minutes (yes I got the desktop widget!!) is from Leo Laporte on MacBreak Weekly...

I think it's very clear now what we have (coming) - we have a multi-media content device that will do TV, it will do movies, it will do music, it will do reading (it's aimed at the Kindle).  It will do it in full colour with an OLED screen because I'll tell you what, once you go OLED you never go back.  I think the key to all this is it's going to have Kindle-style built-in wireless.  We've been chewing around this problem - how do you get someone to buy another $60  EVDO or 3G connection?  You don't.  You build it into the content.  That's why it makes it important to make it a content machine.

This is going to be a Media Device - a Content Device.  And as for the name, I like John Gruber's take on it (especially folllowing the paint-splatter invites)...  What about Canvas?

Even without considering the invitation design, I love this name. It looks good, it sounds good, and it evokes the right feelings and ideas: thin, light, clean, crisp, blank, the thing great artwork is made upon. It’s a perfect name.

Steve, if you're reading this, tell me I'm wrong.  I'm sure you will in exactly two days, 13 hours and 51 minutes!

Audi Victoria Week

I had a great few hours down at the Geelong waterfront on the weekend for the start of Audi Victoria Week (formerly Skandia Week).  Beautiful day and plenty of colour and movement.  I could have stayed there all day snapping photos.

I have posted a few over on my Flickr photostream.  Go take a look.

Cam on Flickr

Southbank, originally uploaded by Cameron Best.

After a week or so on Flickr, I have uploaded some of the better pics I've taken over the past year or so, including some nifty panoramas using the Autostitch app on the iPhone.
This pic has been the most viewed in my photostream so far, even though it's by no means my favourite!!
I've had a couple of very nice comments on some of the pics already and it's inspired me to become more creative and find that spark for photography I had nearly 20 years ago when I went to art school to study photography. Somehow, I got lost along the way!

David McKenzie riding a stage of the Tour Down Under

David is a great guy! I got to know him during his final years as a pro cyclist and we made a great doco on the Herald Sun Tour in 2005 which was broadcast right around the country.

Come see our latest creation

From MacTalk
After being much rumoured, Apple has confirmed that they’re hosting an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, on Wednesday Jan 27th – 10AM San Francisco time. For us in Australia, this translates to:
WA: Thursday, 28th of Jan, 2:00AM
NT: Thursday, 28th of Jan, 3:30AM
QLD: Thursday, 28th of Jan, 4:00AM
SA: Thursday, 28th of Jan, 4:30AM
NSW/ACT/VIC/TAS: Thursday, 28th of Jan, 5:00 AM
We don’t know what this event will hold, but there is vast speculation on Apple releasing a tablet-based computer (you may have heard about it). We’re all pretty excited and will be awake at 5AM, to bring you an Australian take on the event.
Starting from 4:30AM (Melbourne time), we will host a live audio stream of the MacTalk Podcast, giving you a running commentary of the event. There will also be text commentary, gathered from numerous other websites and a uStream video chat room to talk amongst yourself and see a tired-arse bunch of nerds at 5:00AM.
So if you plan on staying up (or getting up early) to see what Apple has in store for us, visit MacTalk for the latest happenings.

Apple Tablet ponderings

An interesting read by Andy Ihnatko....


Thoughts on what an Apple tablet should be – or not
January 7, 2010
By ANDY IHNATKO

My Wednesday began with a worried focus on tablet computers.
Before lunchtime I closed my eyes, commended my soul to God, and bought roundtrip airfare to San Francisco for the last week of January.
And why? Has Apple announced a press event that week? No, they have not. But they’ve reserved the same hall they rented for their fall iPod event. If they do hold an event, do I know that I’ll be invited? If I’m invited, do I know that the purpose of the event will be to demonstrate a new Apple tablet computer? If it’s a new tablet computer, do I know that I’ll get a little alone time with the thing?
You see my problem. I really wished that the final button on Hotwire was labeled “Purchase This Flight ... Damn Your Eyes!”
It’s not so much the quality of the latest “Apple will unveil their long-rumored tablet” scuttlebutt that convinced me to make the gamble…it’s the velocity. It’s hard to codify but as the debut of an under-wraps Apple device becomes imminent, Apple begins to collectively sigh with relief. The noise leaks out through the weatherstripping of the company’s legendary Storm Door Of Silence and though it doesn’t say anything as helpful as “10.2-inch OLED touchscreen, $699, mobile broadband contract is optional” it does say “Andy, book yourself a trip to San Francisco.”
After ... what, two years of speculation, I’m pretty sure we’ll soon know what there is to know about Apple’s tablet computer. Today’s the perfect day to engage in one last buffet of guesswork. None of this will be of any value after the (hopeful) announcement, so I need to empty out the fridge before it all spoils. And since this (please) event is three weeks away, you’ll probably have forgotten about all the stuff I was wrong about.
I remind you that I haven’t seen any sort of Apple Tablet and I have no sources that (to my knowledge) have any hard facts about the thing. What follows is just the sum total of my best guesswork about the Rumored Apple Tablet ... here as always referred to as the RAT.

The RAT will have a “slate” form factor.
Some folks are predicting something that looks like a book, but I put no stock in that concept. First, because two color screens would be ungodly expensive, but foremost because I think Apple would see that as an inelegant solution to any problem the RAT was meant to solve. It’ll be about the size of a Kindle, with a 10” color screen that will force its reviewers to look through their final drafts and ask themselves if they can’t come up with a word that isn’t as overused as “breathtaking.”

The price will be above $500 but below $800.
Apple won’t skimp on the display, and they’re not making a pocket device. That means it can’t sell for less than $500. And Apple will understand that the price will telegraph the RAT’s role; if they price it as high as a notebook (or as high as what notebooks cost on Planet Apple), it’ll be expected to carry water like a notebook.
Apple tried pricing the iPhone at $600 and had initial success with that until they needed to retreat back down to conventional “smartphone” pricing. I think they’ll follow that same lead here: it’ll be price-competitive with a midrange Windows notebook. Call it $650.

Like the iPhone, it’ll be a closed system.
You’ll get a headphone jack, a SIM slot, Apple’s proprietary dock connector, and that’s it. No access to the inside for any reason whatsoever. It won’t mount on your desktop as mass-storage or anything else.

It’ll be SSD based.
32 gigabytes of storage standard, with a high-end model with 64 gigs.

A monthly wireless broadband contract will not be required.
I have tremendous difficulty imagining Apple selling an expensive device that costs an additional $1200 for two years of 3G service. I absolutely can’t conceive of it. It was different when Apple charged $599 for the first iPhone; a monthly bill, and paying extra for data, are accepted parts of smartphone culture.
But this is Apple. If they think of “Internet everywhere” as an integral part of the RAT’s raison d’etre, they’ll do it.
I gotta choose: I’m saying they won’t take the risk of a mandatory monthly charge. Either they’ll offer a WiFi-only configuration or every Rat will have the capability of joining a wireless broadband network, should the user choose to sign up for access.

No hardware keyboard.
Well, duh: it’ll be a touchscreen device. But though I want the RAT to support a touch-typable mechanical keyboard, I don’t believe it’ll be available even as a third-party option.
Two reasons: “An external third-party keyboard would be ugly.” Apple takes aesthetics and function very seriously. They would either include a keyboard themselves, or they wouldn’t include keyboard support of any kind. “Buy a $50 Bluetooth keyboard and prop up the Rat like a notebook screen somehow”? No.
But primarily because (and here I need to put on my Sean Connery voice, a la Captain Ramius in “The Hunt For Red October”) “When Cortez reached the new world, he set fire to his ships. This left his men very well-motivated.”
Apple wants this to be a touch-based computer. If you give people a physical keyboard, they’ll think of the touch system as merely an alternative to the mechanical interface they’re already familiar with.
Worse — and this is what convinces me there won’t be any keyboard support — it’ll subconsciously urge consumers to think of the RAT as a netbook. It can’t possibly compete with a $350 device that runs weaker, but reassuringly familiar, software.
No, you’ll get a big “soft” keyboard with excellent predictive text and autocorrection and that’s it.

It’ll run its own OS (based on OS X) but it’ll be part of the iPhone’s app ecosystem.
After solidly convincing the community of mobile developers that iPhone apps are a modern gold rush, Apple will expand that equity by allowing current iPhone developers to create software for the RAT by simply adding to their existing skill set. The same tools and techniques that go into building an iPhone app will apply here.
It’ll rely on third-party apps to round out its functions and justify its expense. Just like the iPhone. You don’t get back its purchase price from its out-of-the-box functions. But within a month, when you’ve installed the ten apps you simply can’t live without (whatever they might be) the iPhone seems cheap at double the price.
The RAT will use the App Store as its sole source of software. Duh. Apple has created a brilliant economy in which they keep 30 cents of every dollar transacted. Would you want to slow down that gravy train?

Apple will not sell periodicals and books through the iTunes Store.
At least not in the way that they sell music and movies, as discrete products. Instead, they’ll stick to the mechanism that the iPhone uses: publishers and distributors can release their own apps and build their own storefronts for their own content.
It saves Apple from innumerable headaches and opens the RAT up to be “the reader of Everything.” It also emphatically continues Apple’s momentum as the publishing platform of choice.
Are you Time-Warner? Great. Release a free “newsstand” app for your group’s publications. Apple’s SDK supports in-app purchases. The user can buy or subscribe to magazines easily; the publisher gets ongoing sales through the biggest store for digital mobile content, and as usual, Apple gets a big cut of every dollar spent on that planet.
Are you an independent publisher? Or maybe even just an author with a collection of short-stories? Great. Hook up with an iPhone developer and hand over a copy of your book in PDF or HTML format. He or she can quickly stick it in an app wrapper and you can release it as an saleable ebook without going through any publishers or distributors. There’s no vetting process; Apple is happy to just take 30 percent of the purchase price.
Honestly, Apple just sits back and counts the money, without having to worry overmuch about being editors, censors, or arbiters of quality. From the publishers’ point of view, it allows them a lot of flexibility. The core OS of the RAT and the iPhone contains one of the most powerful engines for dynamic digital content: the WebKit rendering engine. If they build their newspapers and magazines so that it can be described by HTML5, the OS will do the rest.
And because WebKit is an open library, it’s also used by Android. Build your content for Apple touch devices and then you can ultimately move it to Android. Win-win.

Conclusion: it makes no sense for Apple to become publishers or distributors of this kind of material. It just gets in the way of making money, for all concerned.
The RAT will be as completely unlike the iPod Touch and the MacBook as the iPhone was to the iPod and every other smartphone.
You get a lot of overlap and internal head-butting in other tech companies. The people who run the netbook division of DiscoWare wish no harm to any other living creature, but if the people in charge of DiscoWare’s notebook division were to fall facefirst into a stump grinder, they’d have an immediate proposal for how that division’s budget and personnel could best be absorbed by the netbook group.
Apple’s different. If The Coca-Cola Company were run like Apple, they’d have just one brand of zero-calorie cola, not three. Apple sees its product line as a cast of characters, through which they tell a single story. If two products seem to do the same job, then one of them needs to go.
For that reason, any concept you might have of the RAT as “an alternative to a notebook” or “a super-big iPod Touch” has to be dismissed, unless you can make a case for why Apple will stop selling the $999 MacBook or the iPod Touch.
So what will the RAT’s user interface and function set be like?
Hell if I know. I’m convinced that even the smartest predictions can only peg about half of the RAT. Apple has never been afraid to be bold and go big. We all “knew” that Apple was working on a phone. But like all groundbreaking products, it surprised everybody whose predictions were based on devices, concepts, and technologies that they’d already seen.
I’ll say two things, one of which was (damn and blast) echoed by the consistently smart John Gruber over on DaringFireball.net before I turned this file of notes into something publishable: Apple always asks themselves simple and stupid questions like “How will this device be used?” and “Will this be used by human beings with, I mean, arms and hands and fingers?” and stuff like that.
The iPhone UI isn’t a desktop user interface where a pen takes the place of a mouse ... which is the model that previous smartphones followed. It was designed to be held in one hand and tapped with your thumb. Occasionally you’d use the index finger of the right hand to key things in.
You want to try to figure out the UI of the RAT? Go get yourself a comic book, or any other rectangle that measures roughly 10” on the diagonal. Hold it as though you’re reading what’s on the surface.
You see the problem? Your fingers get in the way. Think about how big that surface is, too. That’s a lot of acreage to scan, looking for the right buttons to push.
While you’ve got it in your hands, imagine that it’s a sheet of thin steel. That’s heavy, isn’t it? Hard to hold up for long periods of time.
Think about how a user interface would have to incorporate those observations. Now imagine that you’ve been doing this experiment for four years and not four minutes.
That’s a very long list of observations. If you didn’t come up with a workable solution, don’t worry: I think Apple has.
This is why I have to circle back to my assertion that here and now, nobody outside of Apple can predict more than half of what the RAT will be about.
That said ...
The RAT will be like a pair of glasses. Not a sheet of paper or a computer screen.
It will, no doubt, incorporate all of the features of a Kindle. It will also contain lots of overlap with what you’d get from a netbook.
But philosophically, the RAT will be something more subtle. It won’t serve as the thing you’re reading or the document you’re working on. In time, the user will come to regard the RAT as a window through which they can observe and navigate the modern digital world.
(Yeah, I know. That sounded a lot less hippie-like in my head. But stick with me, I beg you.)
I probably can’t justify $600 for a netbook. Which is why the RAT will be as unlike a netbook as you can possibly imagine. A netbook is a device that you haul out to do a little writing, or check some email, or goof around on some blogs.
The perception of the RAT will be that it’s a conduit that pipes the digital world down to wherever you happen to be. The iPod Touch is “a device that plays music and video files.” The RAT will be “access to music and video.” The Kindle is “an ebook reader.” The RAT will be “the ability to find and read any written material anywhere in the world.”
A netbook is “a stripped-down Windows XP subnotebook.” A RAT will be “a way for all of my projects and documents, and communication with my social world, to follow me wherever I go.”
With that line, I’m at the outer fringes of “I don’t even want to go there”-land. Will the RAT be emphatically a cloud-based system? I can’t guess. I’ll be very disappointed if it didn’t let me “project” my desktop experience into the device. Either by maintaining a link to shared directories on my PC and Mac, or simply by encouraging some exciting and creative apps that tie me back to MobileMe, or my Pogoplug or Box.net and Dropbox and other services that allow me to place parts of my digital life into cloud storage.
The critical difference between the RAT and all other tablets will be in how the user comes to relate to the thing. Folks of a certain age want to watch TV, read a newspaper, check their mail, but there’s always a declaration that has to be made before the task can be undertaken:
“Hang on ... I need my glasses.”
Ultimately, if Apple does the RAT right — and I have great confidence — their tablet will come across as an extension and enhancement to your senses and awareness. Not just a $650 way to get sports scores while sitting in the smallest room in your house.
But wait just a minute
Before we get all misty-eyed here about Apple as a company with an unblemished track record for insight and innovation, I should leave you with the words “Apple TV.”
Apple was quick out the door with a box that plugs into your HDTV and streams content from your media library. Apple released it three years ago and its done little but displace air (mostly on shelves at Apple Stores) every since. The Apple Tablet could be a repeat of the same mistakes. The operative mistake of the AppleTV seems to have been to design a box that’s ideally suited towards serving up all of the media you have, as opposed to being thought of as a box that can deliver all of the media there is.
But Apple learns and improves. And there’s a huge infrastructure of software and content for an Apple tablet that still has yet to gel for the AppleTV. Assuming that the Apple Tablet won’t partly supplant the AppleTV in functions. Do understand that all kinds of output is possible via that dock connector.
Then again ...
... And, of course, assuming there’ll even be an Apple Tablet, or an iSlate, or whatever we think they’re going to call it.
My course is clear. My airfare is non-refundable. During the final week of January, I hope to be sitting in an auditorium at Yerba Buena Gardens learning about the Apple Tablet.
If I fly out there and Apple doesn’t hold their rumored launch event, then I’ll drive down to Cupertino. I’ll stand outside the Apple campus in a trenchcoat holding a boombox over my head, playing a Peter Gabriel song up at the upper windows until Steve Jobs is so touched by this romantic gesture that he sends me away with an engineering sample.
Dammit, something needs to be done. This frustrating state of affairs simply can’t continue.

Christmas Dinner

This was a lovely light dinner we had with the kids as a Christmas celebration.
Char-grilled prawns, some beautiful smoked Tasmanian salmon with dill, lime and a dash of horseradish mayonnaise and an interesting watermelon salad with feta, mint and pine nuts.
I adapted the salad recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's America" book which I got for Christmas!