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| Luxury remote | |
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3.14.2010
4:53 PM | Link0 comments |
 The latest gadget in my life is a Harmony One universal remote, and although I have to retrain the muscle memory in my fingers that instantly knew where all the buttons were on my old remotes, it's much more convenient (and even declutter-ish) to have one remote rather than five! My Dad and my pal Matt both have other Harmony models, and I'm sure they would have done all I needed, but I wanted the Harmony One just for the color touchscreen coolness factor, so I took the plunge thanks to a nice Amazon price (plus some Amazon affiliate money I had saved) along with a Logitech rebate. The setup was super-easy using the Mac software (although the user interface isn't incredibly efficient), and I was pretty impressed that the remote instantly knew every function of all my AV devices, which includes my TV, TiVo HD, Blu-ray, standard DVD player (which I have to keep to watch Japanese DVDs), Apple TV, Wii and PS2! I was able to change and reorder the various "activities" on the remote, and even add some awesome custom button icons for my favorite channels from this incredible site. It was easy to tweak the default settings as well, so I could map a button to my Blu-ray's Search feature (which is the best way to show the time remaining on a movie, something I look at often). I'm getting used to the way the remote feels, and I'm definitely enjoying the backlighting (which none of my old remotes had), which is actually motion-activated (it lights when you pick up the remote). I won't even need to worry about batteries since it has a cool recharging cradle, too! The frugal side of me thinks the Harmony One is a bit pricey, but sometimes you just have to buy exactly what you want to be satisfied with a purchase!
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| Enjoying iPhoto at last | |
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12.30.2009
6:11 PM | Link0 comments |
 For the past several months I've been moving my entire photo collection into iPhoto, and it's going really well. For a few years I avoided using iPhoto, since it used to have problems choking on as many photos as I take every year, but since it's a mature application now I decided to make the move, and it's doing fine with 20,000 images so far (though I have many more to add!). I really love the concepts of Events, Faces, and Places, and as I bring in old photos I'm taking the time to be sure every face is recognized (which is why I'm only doing a small batch every morning!). I'm also really enjoying the full screen mode, which helps me find the best image to post on Flickr from all my macro toy photos that I'm so obsessed with taking! I'm also learning a lot about the various enhancement features (thanks to reading David Pogue's Missing Manual that I borrowed from Dad), I finally understand what a histogram means and how to manipulate it to get my preferred "blown out" white background look. I even used iPhoto for this year's calendar gift that I always make for my parents (it was so easy to do the layout and ordering), and while I was in Oklahoma City recently I was able to do some quick image tweaking (straightening, removing dirty lens spots) before uploading my Christmas photos. I guess iPhoto has finally become indispensable software for me, and I can't wait to see what Apple does in the next version (hopefully in the near future)!
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| Three Small Things 11.14.09 | |
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11.14.2009
3:39 PM | Link0 comments |
 I've never really figured out why I'm such a big fan of Planet of the Apes, but it seems I'm always discovering ape books or collectibles that I want to get my hands on! A few months ago I read about the Planet of the Apes Ultra Detail Figures by Japanese toy manufacturer Medicom that were released in 2000. This series is so amazing not only because they are incredibly accurate (they really do look like the actual actors), but because they span all of the movies! They are no longer in production, but some of the figures (such as the Apeonauts from Escape from the Planet of the Apes) are easy to find at online toy stores, so I ordered a few just for fun. Of course, as soon as I had them I decided to buy more, starting from the cheapest to the rarest, exhausting all the regular stores and eventually finishing up on eBay. Now the last few apes are on their way to my toy museum! All ape maniacs should definitely consider hunting down these fantastic toys! View photos: Planet of the Apes toysI've really been enjoying the latest update to my Apple TV, not only because the new interface is such a welcome change, but because I love checking out the huge variety of internet radio stations! Every morning I like to hear a little reading music, and there are so many classical stations available that I've been trying a new one every day for a few weeks now. I know there's a million ways to listen to streaming music, but I really like the convenience of using my remote to get the music flowing. I still think I may end up getting a Mac Mini sometime next year so I'll have complete flexibility to watch all forms of streaming and downloaded video, but I'm going to miss the consumer polish of the Apple TV, so I'm not in a hurry to switch. My latest favorite way to fill a few spare minutes is to click Wikipedia's random article link and learn something new! On Wikipedia's site, this link appears in the left navigation column, and you can click it all day long and be amazed at the stuff that comes up! The other day I started reading about the Chinese Room argument (which I had never heard of) and got totally absorbed in the philosophy of computer AI! Labels: apes, apple, photos, small things, toys |
| Macintosh developer nostalgia | |
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9.06.2009
8:30 AM | Link2 comments |
 Several months ago as I watched Welcome to Macintosh, I started thinking that I should write an essay on my early computer career, which involved using Macs at CITGO Petroleum Corporation. I was really lucky to get hired at just the right time (I actually got the job a semester before I graduated, mainly because the interviewer was fascinated that I had classical music and Shakespeare courses on my transcript!), because CITGO was starting to look at alternatives to their giant mainframe in the new world of Client/Server Computing (yes, there was a time when that was a cutting edge concept!). They told me I was going to use Macs and a scriptable spreadsheet called WingZ, so I spent some time reading a few books about it before moving to Tulsa.CITGO is a big corporation accustomed to spending big bucks, so I had a top-of-the-line Mac with two huge monitors (I couldn’t believe it!), and I was given time to play around with WingZ, building graphical user interfaces to crunch numbers with charts like no one in the company had ever seen on their green screen terminals. Later I learned HyperCard (how nostalgic!) and used it as a front-end to a mainframe application. I thought this was really cool since it did some terminal screen-scraping in the background with a cool UI on the front-end. We had Apple reps in all the time who loved to make sales to big businesses like CITGO, and they always brought me cool goodies like coffee mugs and mousepads! Once they invited me and my boss to the Infomart in Dallas (where Apple had a huge business center at the time) to present the things we were working on to Apple staff, and they treated us like royalty! Soon the CITGO big wigs saw that we should do more stuff with Macs, and they hired more people into my group – all of us became great friends and had fun together for the next several years. It was a total blast to go on business trips to the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (I got to go three years in a row and gasp at the first public demonstration of QuickTime!) and even MacWorld, not spending a dime of my own money (and of course, sometimes we would go a day early to hit Disneyland or rent a convertible!). During one of these trips I got to see part of the Apple campus in Cupertino, and even went out for sushi (my first time ever) with some Apple employees. It was all pretty amazing! Our Mac group eventually started working with 4th Dimension (a development environment that’s still around today) with an Oracle database back-end (the SQL knowledge I gained learning Oracle is something I still use every day in my current job). We hired a 4D expert from Tulsa, who became a great friend and later hired me away from CITGO to do consulting with him in Austin! We built a giant application called FAMOS (a silly acronym) to track oil tanker schedules, which ended up gaining some notoriety (and saving CITGO lots of money). First, Apple and Oracle were working together to promote their products in big business, so they brought in a film crew to make a video about our successful application. It was a crazy day at work (cameras and lights everywhere), and I got to click around in the app and say a few things on camera! (I recently imported this video from VHS, which was a blast to see, even though I was extra overweight at the time!) Next, my boss and I were asked to be guest speakers at 4D Summit (the 4th Dimension developer conference) in San Francisco, and I got to demonstrate the application and show some of my techniques to about 1,000 people (with a Steve Jobs-style giant screen for the demo!). I can hardly believe those events happened even today. The next step in my Apple development was to "go deeper" and learn how to build applications using C++ and MacApp (Apple's old object-oriented code framework which was used to build the original versions of classics like Photoshop). Of course, this meant more fun out-of-town training at Apple's Developer University, where I went to some pretty intense MacApp classes that not only solidified the object-oriented concepts I had learned in college, but also familiarized me with lots of Mac internals that are still similar in iPhone development today. Not only did I get to take these courses, but CITGO even flew out an Apple employee to tutor me in Tulsa! I remember he was a nice guy who helped me quite a bit with memory management and other areas, and we often had lunch so he could talk about his cool California lifestyle and his red Miata. The only thing I actually wrote with MacApp was a desktop faxing application, but it was still pretty cutting edge to be able to drag and drop any document without getting up and walking to the fax machine! There were a few other fun aspects to my Apple enthusiasm, such as running a CITGO Mac user group at the office (with presentations and even a newsletter), and getting to be involved in various beta testing programs (I was part of a committee helping to refine an attempt to bring PowerBuilder to the Mac), but eventually CITGO's efforts were all directed towards SAP, which was the perfect catalyst to convince me to move to Austin. I'll always be nostalgic about my early career, and I'm thankful that I got to experience so many things during such an explosive change in the industry!  Watch video: Apple Success Story VideoBe prepared - I was pretty overweight in 1992! |
| Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs / Fake Steve Jobs : 3 of 5 | |
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8.12.2009
12:11 PM | Link0 comments |
 In addition to being a fan of Apple in general, I also really admire Steve Jobs for the amazing things he's accomplished and how he's lived his life. Of course, his somewhat legendary persona is always ripe for parody, so it's no wonder that the mysterious blog The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs has been popular for so many years! For a long time the author (identified only as "Fake Steve Jobs") was completely unknown, and then later revealed to be Daniel Lyons, but I think Steve fans still like to think of the unreserved rants and hilarious anecdotes as coming from the real Steve (it's totally a kind of flattery, really!). Since I only read the blog occasionally, I wanted to read this book for quite a while, so I was happy to find the hardback edition on PaperBack Swap (which arrived in great condition, essentially free!). Options is a collection of some of the best blog posts which have been woven into a cohesive narrative about the famous Apple backdated stock options scandal. The first-person style was a lot like a Douglas Coupland novel, while the detailed descriptions of Steve's various possessions reminded me of Bret Easton Ellis. I can't count the number of times I laughed out loud! The book is full of great stories about hanging out with Larry Ellison (Oracle) and Bono (with some awesome accented dialogue), thoughts about MacWorld worshippers, meditations over the iPhone's circuit board, being vegetarian, and of course firing people for almost no reason. There's even scenes with Hilary Clinton and Yoko Ono that are incredibly funny, but I really enjoyed the reflective moments when Steve actually feels kind of bad for mean things that he "must" do in order to fulfill his purpose of creating incredible products. The stock options plot is pretty interesting, although the end of the story gets a little crazy and seemed like an easy way out (even though it's pretty creative). Options might not be so interesting to a non-Apple fan, but I had a great time reading it, and now I want to check out the blog more often!
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| New iMac bliss | |
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5.31.2009
2:08 PM | Link0 comments |
 Although I use my MacBook 90% of the time, I still like having an additional desktop Mac to encode DVDs, download torrents, and other long-haul tasks like editing videos. I've been using a Power Mac for the past four years, which was a screamer when it came out, but lately I just felt so behind the times using a non-Intel Mac. I've been eyeing the new iMac for a long time, since I love its simplicity, and last week I finally got one! I thought it would take forever for me to get everything moved and setup how I want, but I actually blazed through the job in a couple evenings. There are lots of things I'm really happy about, starting with the 24-inch screen, plus I hooked up my old Cinema Display as a second monitor (which just worked like magic the moment I plugged it in). The new tiny keyboard took a few minutes to get used to, but I love the small footprint. Although I've avoided iPhoto for years, I've finally decided to use it now, and I'm having a blast running through my entire photo collection and watching it do face recognition on my pals! I've also decided to start using Time Machine, so I won't have to mess with my usual monthly backup (except for my MacBook, but I may remedy that in the future). This weekend I've really enjoyed using it and enjoying that elegant Apple feeling - I'm really happy with my iMac!
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| Everyday iPhone apps | |
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4.30.2009
6:41 PM | Link0 comments |
 My iPhone has totally become part of my life, and I love always having it with me and the feeling of staying connected. There are so many fantastic apps available in the iTunes Store, and I enjoy trying out new ones every now and then, but I take a decluttering stance when it comes to keeping them on my phone. If I don't use an app for a few days, I get rid of it (I like only having three pages of apps!). But there are a few apps that I use all the time - several times a day, in fact! (I'm only linking to websites, not the iPhone apps themselves, but you can easily find them if you want.)Tweetie: I enjoy using Twitter, and it's even more fun to tweet from my iPhone. At first I used the Twitter mobile site, then switched to Twittelator, and now I'm hooked on Tweetie, since it has a clean interface that does just what I want. Facebook: I actually use Twitter to update Facebook, but the official Facebook app is so convenient for checking up on my friends. It does a great job of letting me know what's going on, and the photo browsing (with tags) is fantastic. Mint: Since I love being super-organized, I'm a big fan of the Mint website, which has all my financial information at a glance. The Mint app for iPhone is really clean and simple, and I have fun making sure all my money is in the right place, or how much I've spent on toys or fast food this month! Pageonce: This service is another account aggregator (a little like Mint when it comes to finances), but also includes utilities and other bills. The iPhone app doesn't have the coolest interface, but it lets me see my info easily. The best features of Pageonce are the cell phone monitor (which shows me my minutes and estimates if I will use them up or not), and the daily finances update that quickly shows me what my retirement accounts have made (or lost) for the previous day! Amazon: Since I buy almost everything from Amazon, I'm always using this app to browse prices and check order status. I also love being in a store and seeing something cool, then adding it to my wish list right there so I won't forget about it! |
| Welcome to Macintosh : 4 of 5 | |
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3.05.2009
6:48 AM | Link0 comments |
 Since I've been a Mac fan from my college days and I love following Apple history and lore (such as the incredible Revolution in the Valley), I knew I would enjoy this independent 2008 documentary, and I was thrilled to find it available from Netflix even though it seems to be a self-distributed release. Welcome to Macintosh is filled with fascinating interviews, featuring tons of legendary Apple employees and lots of interesting folks who embody Macintosh mania, all put together into a really well-produced and edited production, given its limited budget. Some of the "stars" include Andy Hertzfeld (author of Revolution in the Valley), who is just about the most likeable and brilliant software engineer you could ever meet, and Guy Kawasaki, who everyone knows as the first Mac evangelist (and is still a highly active voice today). Along with the former employees, there's a guy who has literally 100s of old Macs littering his home (talk about hoarding!), along with early computer store owners, an Apple I replica maker, and authors of various Apple books. It was really to cool to see so much original Apple hardware and software, too, which made me feel nostalgic for my days of developing for System 7! By far the most hilarious interview is with Jim Reekes, who gave us the foundations of everything we take for granted about sound and QuickTime today. It's so much fun to watch him talk over a couple beers about playing the classic startup sound that we all know, as well as get bitter over his original ideas for iTunes that never came to fruition until he left the company! The DVD has a cool menu structure and lots of bonus material, including uncut extended interviews with everyone. I really enjoyed Welcome to Macintosh, which gave me awesome feelings of how far Apple has come and why I enjoy using their products so much!
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| Three Small Things 3.3.09 | |
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3.03.2009
8:37 PM | Link0 comments |
 I have three Apple-related things to mention, which have nothing to do with Apple's cool new hardware releases today (although I really want to snag a new iMac now!). The first is that I have finally discovered the joy of video playlists on my Apple TV! When I first got my Apple TV, I remembered I wished this feature was possible, but then when it was included in the latest update I forgot about it. The reason it's so great is that now I can make a playlist of a ton of Jpop videos, kick it off, then sit back and enjoy my own personal MTV (with better music and cuter girls). I download and watch at least 5 or 10 new videos every week, then save the best ones that I know I will want to watch again, so now I can watch a whole series of my favorites with one click!Recently I was poking around for some new wallpaper for my iPhone, and I suddenly got the idea to try one of my scanned Intellivision overlays. The result is pretty cool, since you can just about size the images perfectly (with just a little cut off vertically), which makes it look like I have cool retro game buttons on my iPhone all the time. I've been using Space Battle lately, and now whenever I unlock my phone I have the urge to click Return to Base! Although I love getting up early, I've been really bad at making it happen for the past couple months. I think I've decided my alarm clock sound is completely unbearable (I actually dreamed it was a dentist's drill once), so I hate setting it. Last night I suddenly got a clue and realized I should just use my iPhone alarm clock, since I have lots of beautiful soothing ringtones that I bought from iRingPro. Today my new pleasant alarm woke me up on time and I had a great morning! Labels: apple, iphone, small things |
| Becoming a couch potato has never been easier | |
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11.10.2008
7:21 AM | Link0 comments |
 Recently I've been amazed at the amount of video entertainment that's becoming instantly available, most of which I watch on my Apple TV. I've been impressed with the quality and diversity of the tons of video podcasts for quite a while now, and I love keeping up with all kinds of Japanese TV via download. I've even rented a few movies from iTunes, since my Sunday night pals wanted to see some of the older Star Trek movies, and having them on my TV in two seconds flat was incredibly simple. And now there's even more use for my overworked Apple TV, since I've hacked it to run Boxee, which allows me to watch streaming TV from Hulu and Comedy Central, plus a load of other sources. Normally I'm not the type to hack something, but they made it so easy to use a USB memory stick that it was a cinch to get Boxee up and running. And on top of all of this, Netflix is bringing their Watch Instantly feature to TiVo, so even more movies are going to be available to me soon! I was actually going to ask Santa for a Roku box this year, but since TiVo made the Netflix announcement (which is supposed to be coming around December, I think), I don't need the Roku anymore. All of these streams of entertainment are pretty overwhelming, not even considering the fact that I watch more DVDs (from my Netflix subscription) than actual TV. The future is really approaching fast, where everything is on-demand and there's no such thing as a TV schedule!Labels: apple |
| iTunes 8 obsession | |
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9.11.2008
10:06 PM | Link0 comments |
 I love music, and I love obsessing over my music library with iTunes! The latest version of iTunes has some really cool features that I've really been enjoying lately - last night I was up until 4:00 AM just tinkering around with it and having a great time! I have always thought album art was cool - long ago I went crazy and tried to get images for all of my songs, scouring the web for the right covers, but even though I liked seeing them when songs were playing, I wanted to see them even more. Now with the new grid view, I can see album art all the time! I love looking at everything grouped by album or artist, and it's really made it easy to find things in my library I want to clean up (hence my obsession!). With all the Jpop I have, there are lots of cases where I have an artist tagged as "first name, last name" in one place and "last name, first name" in another, so it's been cool to straighten that out. I also want to organize all my obscure Disney theme park audio so it makes sense - it's like a new decluttering goal! The new Genius playlist feature is awesome, too - I'm always wanting to hear songs to fit to a certain mood, and now I can just find one song that fits my emotions and instantly generate a playlist with similar songs. So far it works great! For some reason it's so much much fun for me to start some tunes playing, and then sit there rating songs, fixing tags, and even getting rid of tracks I don't really need (since I download so much on a regular basis). The new iTunes gives me another way to completely enjoy my music (in an obsessed neat-freak kind of way)!Labels: apple, decluttering |
| Burning less time with Apple TV | |
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7.24.2008
7:50 PM | Link0 comments |
 My HDTV just got one more set of inputs filled in this week, since I finally got an Apple TV! I've been thinking about buying one for a long time, and now that I'm enjoying it, I can't believe I waited so long. Even though I think the iTunes Store integration, YouTube and Flickr access features are really cool, my main purpose is to watch all the Jpop video that I download all the time. Until now, this has been my weekly routine: download the latest episodes of Haromoni@, Berikyuu!, lots of music videos and other random stuff, then use VisualHub to create DVD images, burn the DVDs, then watch them on TV when I have the time. Each week I've been spending time burning several DVDs that I typically watch once and then store in a box, but now my video life is a little easier. I'm still using VisualHub to convert everything to Apple TV format, but then iTunes automatically transfers everything so it's only a few clicks of the remote away! The best part for me is each video file maintains its true aspect ratio, which would sometimes get messed up when I would combine different ratios on one DVD. I discovered that I can browse everything on Apple TV easier if I tag everything as a TV show (which I can do easily via AppleScript), so I can categorize video however I like (plus I can remember what I've watched since there's a handy indicator). Using the Apple TV menus and browsing everything is lots of fun, and I love seeing my latest Flickr photos as a screen saver! I'm really happy with Apple TV so far, and I'm enjoying my weekly Jpop fix in style now.
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| A gift from Apple | |
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4.10.2008
9:12 PM | Link0 comments |
 Every time I have to visit the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, I always leave as an even bigger Apple fan! Lately I had been experiencing some weird behavior with my MacBook battery - when the power was running low, it would shut down with no warning message! I tried a few possible solutions that I found on the web, but it still happened every now and then, so I figured the battery was definitely freaking out. I could almost live with it, since it was simple enough to just plug-in a little sooner than I normally would, but then I decided I should just give the Genius Bar a shot (especially since my last visit had gone so well). So, I explained my situation (including how my warranty ended two months ago), and I figured they would do a little diagnosis and finally sell me a new battery, and that would have been fine. To my total surprise, the guy just checked out their records on my MacBook, and said, "Well, it's not authorizing a replacement, but I'm going to give you a new battery anyway." Absolutely amazing! I was completely prepared to spend $130 for a new battery, and they gave me one for free - out of warranty! That's the kind of service that will keep me happily buying Apple products forever. Since Dad is going to inherit my MacBook someday, I'm glad he's going to get a fresh battery, too!
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| iPhone scrolling | |
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3.20.2008
6:36 AM | Link0 comments | Here's an awesome tip I heard about while watching Macworld coverage on GeekBrief (I can only take Cali in extremely small doses, but it's so easy to watch on my TiVo that I can't help it). Browsing websites on the iPhone is cool and easy, but if you scroll all the way to the bottom of a long page and need to get back to the top, it's sometimes a pain to flick the screen back up over and over again. But all you have to do is tap the title bar of the iPhone (the bar at the top with your signal strength and battery level), and it will instantly scroll back to the top of the page automatically! |
| Forgotten passwords in Keychain Access | |
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3.18.2008
6:57 AM | Link0 comments | The other day I completely forgot an old FTP password that I needed, and it wasn't something I could easily reset. I knew I had it saved in some web accounts, so I tried to find it in the HTML source, but they were too smart and had it encrypted and non-copyable. Then as a last straw I realized it would be in my Mac OS keychain, so I checked out the Keychain Access application (in the Applications/Utilities folder), and there it was! I found it in just a few seconds, protected by my Mac password (which I never forget!), and I suddenly became a Mac OS fan all over again. If you find yourself in the same situation, give this tip a try! |
| Instant MacBook repair | |
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2.15.2008
8:54 PM | Link0 comments |
 A few weeks ago my precious MacBook developed a crack in the right palm rest, just above the sleep light. It wasn't too bad, and a small piece of tape held it together nicely, but I thought I would check out the Apple support forums anyway. It turns out that lots of people had this same crack develop, and when I read that Apple would repair it under warranty, I decided to have it fixed (especially since my warranty is only good for another two weeks!). So, last night I got everything prepared (backing up, moving things to my iDisk and so on), and made an appointment at the Genius Bar of the Apple Store at the Domain. After work I showed up for my appointment, and as soon as the guy saw the crack he recognized it and started writing up the repair. I was sure they would need to ship it to a repair center, but surprisingly they said it could be fixed in-house, right away! They said it would be ready in a couple hours, so I figured I would pick it up tomorrow, and left to do my grocery shopping. Before I could even get to the checkout line, they called me and said it was done (in less than an hour!). So, I just went right back to the store to get it, and now I'm happily typing away on my "new" MacBook! I'm pretty sure they replaced the entire case/keyboard/trackpad assembly, because my keys and trackpad both feel fresh. The whole experience was incredible, and as always, I couldn't be more amazed at Apple service!
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| Cheek beep | |
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2.05.2008
6:03 PM | Link0 comments | It's no secret that I love my iPhone, but I do far more web surfing, video watching, and music listening than actual talking on the phone. But when I do actually use it to communicate, I've noticed that my face sometimes hits buttons on the phone while I'm talking! Sometimes I'll accidentally activate the speakerphone, or even bring up the keypad and start beeping random numbers, all by mistake. I guess I'm holding it too close to my face - either that, or my cheeks are too chubby! Actually, this is an extremely minor peeve that hasn't ever caused me any real trouble - I'll just work on holding it against my ear and not flat against my head. I'm still a complete iPhone fan, and I'm happy that Apple released a 16GB model today, because eventually I'll upgrade and truly replace my iPod for good. But for now, my 8GB of memory has been plenty to keep me occupied on trips - I couldn't be happier! |
| Enjoying Leopard's new features | |
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11.28.2007
8:05 PM | Link0 comments |
 Being the Mac fan that I am, of course I pre-ordered Mac OS X Leopard (and got a great deal from Amazon), but when it arrived I was in the middle of too much video editing to worry about installing it. But as soon as I got a chance, I upgraded my MacBook and Power Mac right away, and I've really been enjoying it (and I didn't have any problems with the installation!). There are lots of great visual changes that I love, but the new Dock is definitely a little space-age (I thought the reviews I read were just whining, but I kind of agree now). But I've always been kind of a Mac purist – I never use hacks or utilities to modify the behavior or look of the OS, so I'll stick with the true Apple design for now (I'm betting they will offer more visual preferences later). I'm getting used to Stacks in the Dock, too - I really like the concept, and it definitely seems helpful to me (especially the Downloads stack), but I hope there will be a way to pick a stack icon someday. I think my favorite improvements have to do with using my two Macs together. File Sharing is much easier since my other Mac shows up nicely in the Finder sidebar, but even better is Screen Sharing, which is a fantastic way to monitor my machine upstairs from my MacBook downstairs! It's great when I need to check on a bunch of videos I'm converting, or change the tunes I'm listening to. I'm also using Quick Look all the time! It's so nice to browse through a folder of documents, movies, or images and see them with a single press of the space bar. And I can't forget to mention the fantastic Print dialog with it's awesome built-in preview - I can't imagine a better way to do it. I'm definitely happy with Leopard, and there are still lots of features I haven't even touched yet!
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| iPhone love | |
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9.14.2007
7:55 AM | Link0 comments |
 It was sheer luck that the iPhone price drop happened just a couple days before my parents came to visit, and it was sheer generosity that prompted Mom & Dad to offer to buy me one as a super-early birthday present! I guess I had to turn a year older almost five months early, but it was completely worth it. I love the iPhone! The first night I got it I spent practically the entire evening trying out every single button and setting (and showing everything joyfully to Dad), and I'm still discovering and trying new stuff today (last night I noticed the Start button on Google Maps that zooms through each step of the route as you go, and giggled with geeky happiness!). I've been having fun looking through iPhone websites, trying out sites specially formatted for the iPhone (Leaflets is awesome!), and collecting iPhone wallpaper (I'm currently using a great Space Invaders shot). In many ways, it's like discovering the iPod itself all over again, because I have a new desire to gather together my favorite photos (such as scans of old family shots) and videos (I've been transferring some Disney shorts and Jpop videos) so I have them with me to enjoy. And of course, it's a great phone, too! I've been talking with my pal Ryan every day for work, and the connection sounds wonderful. Every time I play with the iPhone I smile - it's definitely the most beautiful and fun gadget I've ever owned. Thanks again, Mom & Dad!
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| My network is extreme | |
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8.03.2007
6:53 AM | Link0 comments |
 Way back when I first entered the world of wireless, I bought an SMC router, since at the time I read it was a good choice when using both PCs and Macs together. It's worked great for many years, but a few weeks ago I started noticing that my download speed was getting slower and slower, both wireless and even wired! I finally ran some tests, and realized that my router was freaking out somehow and causing my speed to be about a 10th of what it should be (I couldn't believe what I had been missing when I plugged the net directly into my Power Mac!). So, I just decided it was time to upgrade, and since I only have Macs now, I went for the amazing AirPort Extreme Base Station, Apple's own cool wireless router. I just hooked it up yesterday, and I'm back to full speed again! The design of the router is really nice (of course), since it's small, sleek, and white with no giant antennae, and I really like the configuration application, which is much more "Apple" than a browser-based solution. I'm also using the router to share my printer, which is really convenient for printing from my MacBook, since it's always available on my home network. And on top of that, my wireless connection is much faster with the new "n" specification. I'm definitely excited about it - it's like discovering broadband all over again!Labels: apple |
| Trying to wait | |
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7.01.2007
1:32 PM | Link0 comments |
 I guess I have to make a brief mention of the big iPhone launch that happened on Friday. So far the majority of the reviews and buying experiences have been amazingly good - I'm really impressed that so many iPhones were available that people could easily get them at Apple stores on Saturday. I made up my mind a while back to hold off on buying one right away, but I have to confess, the waiting is difficult! Both Austin Apple stores had them in stock yesterday, so I could have just walked right in and got one, and believe me, I thought about it! The more I read, the harder it gets - my past reservations about an all-in-one device are definitely gone now. I know for a fact that I will definitely have an iPhone by Christmas - maybe by then there will be a small drop in price, or more memory available or something. Anyway, I can barely wait. I really hope no one I know gets one, because the moment I see it in person, I'm going to break down!
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| iMovie 2: The Missing Manual / David Pogue : 4 of 5 | |
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1.05.2003
11:58 PM | Link0 comments |
 Now that I have my super cool digital camcorder (my Christmas gift to myself), I'm ready to explore video editing, which means using iMovie. I've already had fun experimenting with making a little stop-motion film with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer toys, but I've been hungry to learn about all the fun stuff iMovie can do. Another Christmas book from Mom and Dad, I gobbled this up in just a few days and learned so much! Not only are the "how-to" sections complete and easy to understand, but the book also provides a lot of coverage of basic film editing techniques, which will be so helpful to a novice like me. I'm looking forward to doing some "artistic" films this year, and I can't wait to burn my creations onto DVDs somewhere down the line.
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| Apple iBook | |
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4.30.2001
10:15 PM | Link0 comments |
 As you can see, I was raised on Macintosh, so to speak, but I haven't really used one in several years, until now. I must confessed I was lured by the iPod commercial - I simply had to have one of those sexy devices in my pocket! So, I actually bought an iBook just to be my MP3 warehouse for an iPod. I also hooked up a wireless router, so I can use my cute little iBook to surf the web while I kick back on the couch, plus I'm really enjoying using Mac OS X (which is so much fun). Guess I'm bi-sexual again when it comes to computers.
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| Apple Macintosh IIsi | |
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10:12 PM | Link 0 comments |
 My development group at CITGO used Macs, so they actually bought me this wonder to use at home. During this time, I was a full-fledged Macintosh developer, going to conferences in San Jose, trading emails with Apple employees in Cupertino, and I even got to speak at some conferences. To be truthful, I used this machine mostly for moonlighting - Cheri and I started 1:05 Design on this one and made lots of logo design money.
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