Entries tagged with “Computers” from ReadRaymond
I do love the Mac platform. And I do love OSX. And, I have more than a fair share of Apple products for both business, but mostly personal use. That said, I would love to add an iPhone to that,..but not just yet.
I think I'll be a smart geek and wait until vs. 2.0 to come out before considering. I may even wait for 3.0 as it might take that long for the Apple "partners" to stop dictating what software can or cannot be on the phone (iChat) and what network or sim-chip I have to use.
Just my two bits. So, I'm waiting on this one. But I am glad for all those of you out there that are using them now - maybe even a little jealous.
I have been thinking of getting a new (mobile) phone for months. I like the Sony Ericsson UI - always have. But I have been thinking about moving to the Motorola V3i for form over function reasoning, and so that I might make the switch to flip vs. candy-bar. BTW - a great review site lives here: Mobile-Phones-Uk.org
But the problems over which phone to pick only grows from there. For example: I would rather have the SE UI vs. the RAZR version. I would also prefer the functions of the SE (K800i) vs the RAZR, but I don't want to be carrying around a "brick" that occasionally "self opens" the camera lid when in your pocket. Which brings me back to the RAZR,..but I hate the UI and I cannot believe that Motorola still doesn't have a multi-numbered concept per entry. (What's with that? Its 2006/7, already!) I have several hundred contacts in my phone directory - each with 1, 2, 3 or 4 numbers and a couple of extras like email addresses. That adds up. The scroll "nipple" on my old SE is already well worn from scanning down the list. That would multiply by 2-6 times with the RAZR UI.
But,...still: my old SE phone is a bit bothersome due to the candy-bar form and it likes to call people from my pocket (because its bored, I guess) - despite the key-lock being engaged. A colleague of mine named Aaron is continuously the recipient of unwanted (and empty) text messages send by my bored, pocket residing and "supposedly" key-locked phone. A clamshell would solve this. Give me a K800i in a clamshell model and I'd jump, but the problem is that it would measure 3 inches thick.
What I really want to know is: Don't Sony Ericsson and Motorola know this? They assuredly use their own phones and have secret labs where they investigate the competition's, don't they? Doesn't the CEO of Motorola carry a RAZR? If he does, how the fuck does he not notice that it takes 20 minutes to find the right number because it lists them one-at-a-time-in-a-single-file-fashion-that-lists-Aaron's/cell-Aaron's/home-Aaron's/work-Aaron's/fax-Aaron's/email-Aaron's/beachhouse, etc? And how does the CEO of SonyEricsson not notice that his phone is dead because the camera has been filming the inside of his coat pocket for the last 3 hours (with sound) while he was attending a VIP brunch at the "happy ending" Sushi House? Come on guys! As a friend of mine loves to say, "have your people call my people"...but the problem is that they either have dead phones or can't find the number.
The verdict is still out.
While rummaging for the cellphone hiding in my pocket, it played (to its own contented happiness): Bitch Called Jealousy from the album "Sky Daddy" by Alan St. Jon.
While checking out various websites for Apple Mail add-ons - HawkWings.net being a good one - I stumbled upon a logo/seal generator at Say-It.com via the jump form 43Folders.com. It was a round about journey, but the results were fun. Be sure to visit and try one out.
While designing this one, I played: Cherry from the album "Crawford Street" by Josh Woodward.
Alright, I have to deal with the fact that while I might be able to run Windows on my mini and that I can install and run, rather beautifully I add, high end graphic hogs like EQII; its performance is crap. It looks great, but its like moving through gorgeous mud. Its still mud.
I guess the games (that manufacturers insist on making PC only) will have to live on the Compaq; and the Compaq will have to live in the office - which means I'll be moving the gym to the originally intended room after all. Oh, well. :-(
While accepting the facts of life I played: Loser from the album "Mellow Gold" by Beck.
Ha! During the instal of XP Home on the Apple Mini, I watched the "Pro-XP" messages that popped up on screen to make me feel better about buying the "latest" version of the Windows OS. It used catchy phrases like, "Now...if a program becomes unstable, you can close it without have to shut down Windows."
What a trip! While I can only imagine Apple's "Pro-Apple" messages after the beta sound like, "Runs multiple OS environments simultaneously!", the PC world is stuck in the Apple dust of "Can easily close programs from the menu." Wow! How 1987 of you!
Like I once learned: Windows 2000 = Mac 1987. And Windows XP = Mac 1989. I can't wait to look in the mirror when Longhorn comes out. Wait, let me break out my Belinda Carlyle CDs first. :-)
BTW - the instal seems to be going fine.
While laughing, I played: The Beautiful People from the album "Antichrist Superstar" by Marilyn Manson.
I love this: Intel Macs can (and will) run Windows - essentially giving you two machines for the price of one (but you still have to supply your own copy of Windows XP).
So instead of the typical "user" switching, you can OS switch on a re-start. Freaking cool; and I'll be testing it this weekend - installing all my games (the only reason I have a PC box). I'll start with EverCrack, the biggest hog of graphic resourses. If it works - and I'm hoping beautifully - I'll put the Compaq up on Ebay.
I knew that this would happen, but I didn't know it was going to be Apple that did it. I was sure that it was going to be a 3rd party hack. But, no! Go Apple, look out Dell, etc.
What I loved most about the whole thing was Apple's "word to the wise":
Word to the Wise . . .
"Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes."
So I guess that means: While you might be using the best hardware in the known universe, if you choose to use an inferior OS, do so at your own risk. Ha! What an interesting turn. Mac finally has a vulnerability exposed - but they had to unzip their own fly to make it happen.
On a personal note, what this means to me is that the office that I was setting up in my house is no longer necessary. It can become and stay the home gym that its currently serving in double duty capacity. Considering that I have a mini serving as an iTunes/iPhoto box and a mobile laptop doing the heavy lifting, I won't need the Compaq sitting on the desk for those times when I want to play games written for Windows only machines. So, out comes the desk - back to the garage as the workbench you were designed and built to be, and in goes the barbells. What an amazing turn of events. I have been struggling with this "choice" for a few months now,..accepting the idea (only today) to have the gym live in the office - thinking that I would have to find a 3rd party solution to the "PC" concern. Hours later (while watching G4) I found out that Apple "supported" my choice.
While jamming on this I jammed to: Mambo Swing from the album "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
So,..I discovered this nasty little thing called iTunes Essentials and my wallet screamed in pain. But how could I not go crazy? It had all the things that I was hoping my/our little company would do - offer baskets full of tunes that represent a genre of music. Say, for example, you wanted to check out the "new" punk scene while respecting the ones that carved the path: enter The Punk Set, and so on. iTunes has done a great job of it too, by offering 3 levels of depth and a 4th that includes all their picks. My two complaints are: (1) I don't exactly need every song in the list as it duplicates a few already in my library, and iTunes doesn't give you a method to de-select the ones you don't want; and (2) they don't give you a discount for purchasing the whole basket. That would be nice. But, a few hundred dolla' later and I'm set for my next party, backyard bash, etc. Way cool. :-)
While searching for more "essentials" I played: Hey Jealousy from the album "New Miserable Experience" by Gin Blossoms.
Even though it wasn't what Louie Tran was writing about, I must give him credit for telling me how to reset the pesky little bugger when it froze. I don't know why it did, but in the words of Mike, "Tell me how it healed itself." Here is how:
Apple iPod 5G / Video iPod Review (pics):
It happened to me but it could easily be remedied by resetting the iPod by holding Menu (Up) and Select (Circle) at the same time for a few seconds.
Playlist: Plays of the Year Awards:
There's some really cool stuff out there for your iPod. Some of the products I'd like to get include:
iH5 Black Radio/Alarm Clock
DENON S-101 DVD Home Entertainment System
Harman/Kardon drive+play
SharePod for PC
HandBrake DVD to MPEG-4 Ripper/Converter
While thinking about this my iPod was charging, but iTunes played: Raise The Roof from the album "Joy Ride" by Bob James.
I just treated myself to a new iPod - the fancy new video one that stores pictures, video and all sorts of digital files associated with a Mac user in addition to music. But when I went to upload the files I discovered something in iTunes that kind'a pisses me off: Once you download a music video to your machine, you're done. You can't move it or copy it. And as I have two machines that I use regularly, I now have video on my work machine that I can't play on my iPod because its married to my home machine. And iTunes won't allow me to move them, copy them, steal them or tell ITMS that I paid for them but want them on my "home" machine. That sucks.
Played: Your Blue Room from the album "The Complete U2 - Original Soundtracks 1" by Passengers.
Fun stuff to do when you're feeling smarter than a computer, and need to correct that stance: 20Q.net is a simple game that will "guess" you right most of the time. Try it.
Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools: Play 20Q: Ten-dollar AI. Burned into its 8-bit chip is a neural net that has been learning for 17 years. Inventor Robin Burgener programmed a simple neural net on a DOS machine 1988. He taught it 20 questions about a cat. He than passed the program around to friends on a floppy and had them challenge the neural net with their yes/no answers to the object they had in mind. The neural net learns only when it plays a game; no data is added except for the yes/no answers of visitors. So the more people who test it, the more they teach it. In 1995 Burgener put the now robust neural net onto the new web where anyone could play it (that is, train it) 24 hours a day. And they did. Burgener's genius was to turn the hard tedious work of training a neural net into a fun game for humans.
20Q.net: Twenty Questions - The neural-net on the Internet. 20Q.net is an experiment in artificial intelligence. The program is very simple but its behavior is complex. Everything that it knows and all questions that it asks were entered by people playing this game. 20Q.net is a learning system; the more it is played, the smarter it gets.
Sadly, it doesn't know much about backyard swimming pools as it doesn't know about swim-rings or life preservers. But it will tell "you" where you went wrong in telling it about what you were thinking. For example: Rubber Ducks are NOT round; and are (apparently) NOT used at night. But it gets things like "Ex-wives are un-pleasurable" just fine. I guess it comes down to "garbage in, garbage out." Either way, its fun; and if it has what you're thinking about in its database (and you answer accurately) it'll guess it soon enough to make you want to try again.
More on PodCasting: Wanna know what it is? Wish to see how its done? Interested in the biggest players in the PodCast sphere and how they work? Need a software client? Check out these articles, forget the spell check and grab a microphone.
How Podcasting Works: by Peter Rukavina: I've been doing a lot of talking about podcasting recently: explaining to people what it is, and how they can do it, and how they can listen, and how it works. I thought it might be useful to provide a very simple step by step illustration of how to "subscribe to a podcast."
Podcast to broadcast: Think podcasting is just for geeks and gadgeteers? Think again. Podcasting went mainstream last week when San Francisco’s KYOU 1550 AM began broadcasting listener-generated podcasts over the airwaves. Playlist’s Mathew Honan explores this bold radio experiment.
Wizards Podcast brings you the exclusive release announcement for iPodderX 3: It's a 'very special' Wizards episode, as the Wizards welcome August Trometer and Ray Slakinsky from iPodderX.com, who make the worldwide release announcement of their brand new podcast client,...
iPodderX adds features, gives away iPods: Thunderstone Media has released iPodderX 3.0, the third major update to its popular podcast client. Version 3 includes a host of new features such as SmartSpace file management, the NewsCaster text-to-podcast converter, complete integration with iTunes and iPhoto, Playlist Builder, full-screen video, and much more. In celebration of the release, Thunderstone Media is giving purchasers of iPodderX a chance to win one of four iPod shuffles or a grand prize iPod photo. iPodderX 3.0 retails for US$24.95 and is a free upgrade for all current iPodderX users. A 30-day free trial is available.
And now, if that wasn't enough. There's RoadCasting: Capture your friend's radio and tell him how you really feel. Or listen in to George & Martha's marital issues.
Watch for Roadcasting Rage: An in-car entertainment system is on the way that will allow drivers to tune in song collections from other vehicles as they whiz by. Roadcasting -- 'me-to-me' sharing -- could be perfectly legal. By Daniel Terdiman.
And then, there's always the drunk guy: He ruins it for everyone, but not anymore.
Steering Clear of Drunk Drivers: A patent is pending on a steering-wheel skin sensor for cars that tests a driver's alcohol level before allowing the car to start.
And you thought PodCasting was a fad!
While writing this I listened to the PodCast: [ ep 03.v ] foodies' revenge from the album "The Invincibles in "So... you want to be a foodie?"" by The Invincibles.
I'm always hesitant about converting a PC user into a Mac user. While I believe the Mac OS is in all ways superior, PC users have accepted a way of doing thing that is hard to break - perhaps one of the reasons that Microsoft continues to command such a large market share. It would be much like considering a lawnmower that has to be started via a pull cor"d. Telling someone that they don't have to use a pull cord anymore, but can still cut the grass doesn't always work. Odd, but true. Old dogs, new tricks.
"No, Mr. Jones. You just have to roll the mower over grass and it will cut the grass. Push it over a rock garden and it will stop - just as it was designed to stop when rolling over sidewalks and driveways. It only runs when you're over grass - its a lawn mower."
"But what if I want to use it to trim hedges, by tipping it up and running the blades along the hedge line?", asks the PC user.
"Ummm. Well. A) that's dangerous. B) you don't need to do that anymore as this mower has a built in hedge trimmer. Simply cut the grass and when the mower recognizes that its running along a row of hedge, it trims that too. Its actually a full blown gardening machine. I thought all you were interested in was mowing the lawn. If you'd also like to water the plants while you fertilize the soil, it can do that too. I depends on what you want to do. How specific are your gardening needs?"
"But, I like to cut my hedges with the mower blade because that's how I'm used to doing it.", continues the PC user.
"I see." Not!
But I go on, "I understand that you have become used to doing things the PC way. This would be a more efficient and more intuitive way of gardening. But, as you have learned to do things in a tried and true manner, you might be better continuing to use your old mower. Good luck with that and enjoy. I think you have the best machine for you."
The above is a dumb analogy, I know. But it isn't all that far from the leaps that a PC user must make to convert to the Mac. And every time I talk with a prospective convert I consider how far down the Microsoft path they have gone. If its too far, I don't even bother. I simply say, "Good luck with that. And enjoy."
Gordon suggests that if you use Blogrolling.com as a service that you donate to keep it healthy and running. His guilt trip can be found here: Something: about BlogRolling But it got me thinking about some of the other shareware or donateware that I use - products that I have paid the author his or her two bits and feel good about. There is a catch, though. The following list is all slanted for Mac users.
The first one that comes to mind while I'm writing this is ecto, the successor of Kung-Log and as the author claims: The next generation blogging client. I agree.
A great collection of products for keeping you mac safe, clean and up-to-date can be found at Hill's OSX Shareware. Some are freeware and others suggest donation; but all are useful. Support development if you use them.
My final recommendation is actually a freeware application. Its iLinkPod and is the best tool I have found to open the hidden files on your iPod. Use it wisely and remember that music isn't free. It helped me when I had to do a clean install of my OS and all my music was "stuck" on the iPod with no way to get it back. Support freeware developers too and we'll soon see great shareware offerings from them,..much like Kung-Log's popularity leading to ecto.
If you're short on cash but still crave a new Mac (or older model even) you can always download the cut-out version of your new baby and look at how nice your desk will be once you have the cash. Take a look at Paper Mac's Origami Collection. What a trip!
The Apple iD is a smart, sleek all-in-one device. As a PIM, MP3 player, camera, web-browser and world phone, consider it your mobile connection to your digital hub. As a BlueTooth enabled device with Airport Extreme the iD uses voice over IP and the included web-camera to become a global video phone. Plus the camera takes 1.5MP snapshots when you're on the go. The iD packs a powerful software package on its 4OG firewire drive that allows you to work hard and play hard.
Included software:
iNotes to Stickies
iCal
iTunes
iChat
iPhotoLite
Apple Mail
Address Book
SafariLite
iSync
* The above represents a daydream only and is not yet available for purchase - nor it is in any way connected with Apple.
SimCity4 is finally released and shipping to a store near me, 4 months late. Nice job on the timetable, boys. Maybe that's what version 4 means. 4-ever delayed. 4 PC users only. 4 us at Aspyr to play while you tide yourself over with Tropico.
I can't imagine why the Mac version of SimCity experienced so many delays before hitting the store shelves. There have to be dozens (::grin::) of desperate gamers, Maxis fans, and strategy hobbyists who have been waiting months to actually plop down $50 to satisfy an overdue itch. But the wait is over, or will be in about 7-10 days according to Aspyr - authors of the Mac version. This game was originally suggested to be out in March, but the game status page kept updating and pushing out the timetable. After a 4-5 month delay its too bad they don't offer downloaded versions as I would have opted that way so I could play today, saving them printing, packaging and shipping. Ah well. In the future I guess.
Apple plans to put some really cool features into the new OS release, features that I'm sure came directly from user requests. And for my money there's one desktop real-estate function that will convert us to Panther - 10.3 in droves. That's Exposé - a one-button app that quickly tiles open windows and reveals files on your desktop:
Exposé: Admit it, Mac OS X has you spoiled. You?ve become so used to its reliability that you don?t hesitate to have a gang of applications running at the same time. iTunes, Mail, Safari, Photoshop, Word, Preview, FileMaker, Address Book, iChat ? they?ve all become an integral part of your daily tool set, and you count on each and every one. So wouldn?t it be great if all you had to do was hit one hot key to snap all of that window chaos into order? check it out.
If that doesn't sell you alone, there are a slew of other features that will for sure: the new finder is a much better interface; the account management has been streamlined; a new font book tool has been added; and a new fax application has been added. And that just names a few of the add-ons that Apple has keyed us on to - bring it on! I can't wait! Exposé will save me so much time, I'll upgrade just for that.
A little excitement in an otherwise dull day reminded me that data can be a fragile thing that occasionally runs the risk of total evaporation, even when every system is in place to ensure its safekeeping.
Case in point: The web-servers that hosts this site (and a few others of varying importance) caught on . The details are below. I am glad nobody was hurt. I'm glad all is well with the servers. And I'm glad I have the opportunity to back-up my data.
support 28-5-2003-2:22NOTE: IF YOU ARE ON SERVER TRUEMAN AND ZARYA, YOUR DOMAINS WILL BE UP ANY MOMENT AS NAC IS WORKING TO RESTORE POWER ON THIS LEVEL. PLEASE READ MORE FOR INFORMATION.
Dear Valued Customer,
Most of the web servers hosted at www.nac.net appears to be up again. However server zarya and trueman appears to be still unavailable and they are expected to be online again any moment, if your web site(s) is not working then its likely you are on these servers.
The datacenter faced fire incidence hence the service was unavailable for few minutes. The guys at nac.net handled the situation very professionally and it appears most of servers are up again. Here is what we have official response from NAC.
===================
EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION from NET ACCESS CORPORATION
We are still gathering information, but it appears there was a small fire in the 3rd floor DSR room, which resulted in a loss of power. Our FM-200 fire suppressant worked as planned and immediately kicked in. The entire building has been evacuated at this time and the fire department is onsite.We are very fortunate that no one was inside the DSR room during this event. Net Access Corporation will continue to update this page as more information is gathered.
===================Most of your web sites and servers appear to be up and working fine. We thank you for your cooperation in this regards.
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