Boxee (Alpha) for Windows

Boxee (Alpha) for Windows is probably the best free streaming media application out there. Nowhere else will you find Digg, Revision3, Hulu, Netflix, NPR, Comedy Central, Apple Trailers, Pandora, Last.fm, etc. all in one place. If it's good streaming content, it's on Boxee. Originally for modded Apple TV units, this app is now available for all Windows, Mac and Linux. There are video channels, music channels, and picture channels as well. I tried it out for the first time last night. Wow. The interface is clean and easy to use. The video quality is great. The sheer amount of content available is enough to quench anyone's entertainment appetite. I liked it so much that I immediately installed it on my netbook as well. Boxee is perfect for travelers who either miss their favorite shows, or need PC based entertainment because that's all there is. Ah, if only it was available for modded Xboxes. One can only dream...

Mac OS X "Leopard" on the Asus EeePC 901?

I'm not a huge Mac fan. I find their software to be limiting and overly simplistic and their hardware way overpriced. That being said, there are certain things that Macs do well. Anything dealing with multimedia, for one. So, I thought it would be a fun project to see if I could get Mac OS X running on my favorite toy, my EeePC 901. Apparently, I'm not alone. The interwebs are chock full of tutorials about how to do this. The guide that I used, which I found to be the most comprehensive, is EEEmac. I obtained a "Leopard" retail disc via the usual channels, and simply followed the guide. You can see the results in the above images.

Overall, the process was a success. Software-wise, everything is fully operational. OS X is (un)officially running on my 901. I have the OS running on a 32GB RunCore SSD drive, so its pretty damn fast. Hardware is a different story. The system doesn't always shutdown, boot, or wake up correctly. Lots of holding down the power button involved. The camera and ethernet are not working yet (no drivers). There is a Unix (FreeBSD) ethernet driver here, but porting it to Mac is outside my scope.

So, I have a Mac netbook. Sounds weird. I may try it out for a couple weeks. I can't see ditching XP altogether, though. I really can't understand why Apple has yet to release a netbook. They'd sell a million of them on the first day. There is currently and will be a market for the netbook form factor for years to come. Smarten up, Apple. Get with the times.