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| A gift from Apple | |
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4.10.2008
9:12 PM | Link |
 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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| Forgotten passwords in Keychain Access | |
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3.18.2008
6:57 AM | Link | 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 | Link |
 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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| Sweet shift | |
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1.23.2008
6:18 PM | Link | The other day I was typing up some vocabulary from my last Japanese lessons with Mikie and Kumiko, and I accidentally discovered something incredibly useful when typing in kana on the Mac! I'm sure everyone already knew this but me, but I was so excited about it that I just have to mention it just in case it makes someone else's life easier. Previously, I used to hate switching between hiragana and katakana - I would either use the menubar, or suffer through the weird keystroke Ctrl-Shift-K to get to katakana and then Ctrl-Shift-J to get back to hiragana. As I was making this bizarre stroke, I had the Shift key down and accidentally typed a few letters and realized they were coming out as katakana, even though I was in hiragana mode! Since Japanese has no upper and lower case distinction, the Shift key is totally open for this kind of shortcut, and it works beautifully. Now I can effortlessly switch when I need to type a katakana word, which will make typing Japanese so much better for me! |
| Revolution in the Valley / Andy Hertzfeld : 5 of 5 | |
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1.21.2008
6:45 AM | Link |
 This book was actually a Christmas gift from last year that I never got around to reading (how embarrassing!), but since I'm on a quest to read more this year (and not buy any more books until I make a dent), I decided it was finally time. Little did I know this book would become an obsession and steal all my time for a few days - I simply could not stop reading it once I started! Andy Hertzfeld was part of the original Apple engineers who created the first Macintosh, so I have to thank him (and everyone else, including Steve Jobs) for nearly all the computer fun I've had in my life, including typing this very sentence. This book is a collection of anecdotes covering all phases of development, from circuit boards to software, from release day to revisions afterward. It's filled with amazing old photos, and even original notebook pages scribbled with diagrams and To Do lists (which are fantastic to see)! It was fascinating to learn about other members of the Mac team, especially Burrell Smith, who seems like such a character. Smith designed the logic board and other hardware, and his personality is full of interesting quirks (such as his unique way of playing Defender). Sometimes the writing actually gets into semi-serious code discussion, mentioning Toolbox routines that I can still remember from my Mac programming days years ago. Of course, the stories about Steve Jobs are wild - he's definitely the kind of person that you can love and hate at the same time, but there's no doubt that his team was loyal and worked like crazy for him (I imagine his personality could be similar to Walt Disney at times - brutal, but inspiring). I could go on and on about this book. There are certainly other Apple history books available, but hearing the tale from someone who was right in the middle of the action is a a wonderful experience!
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| Enjoying Leopard's new features | |
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11.28.2007
8:05 PM | Link |
 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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| Check again, iTunes | |
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6.23.2007
2:46 PM | Link |
 iTunes has a feature called Sound Check that would be so much better if it actually worked! The idea is that iTunes will analyze all of your songs to determine the general volume of each one, and then when it plays back it's supposed to equalize the volume so you don't have to keep turning it up and down when it plays quiet songs or blasts the loud ones. This is supposed to carry over to the iPod, which I listen to almost every day for eight hours straight at work, but I can tell you from experience, it doesn't do much at all. I still have to keep fiddling with the volume, which is kind of a pain. I'm sure my listening habits aren't quite normal (Bach's Coffee Cantata followed by Morning Musume's Kanashimi Twilight, for example), but I still wish Sound Check could help me out more.
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| Backing up my backup | |
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6.19.2007
6:57 AM | Link |
 Probably the best thing to come out of my recent MacBook defect is getting serious about backing up everything. Previously I would backup things like photos to DVD, but I didn't have any backups of my 14,000 plus song iTunes library! So, I finally bought a LaCie 500 GB external hard-drive (which matches the LaCie 120 GB drive I already had), and now everything is backed up properly! It definitely feels good to have all of my photos, video projects, songs, and home folders (from both my MacBook and my Power Mac) safely copied with plenty of room to spare. Speaking of my MacBook, I have great news - the repair is complete and FedEx tracking says I'll have it back today! I'm totally thrilled - it's been weird not having it for a while (and it's been crimping my blogging frequency, which I'm going to use for my excuse this time)!
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| Two computers in one | |
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3.17.2007
7:11 AM | Link |
 As usual, this post is coming to you from my trusty MacBook, but this time I'm posting via Windows XP! Having a Mac that can use either Mac OS X or Windows XP is both weird and convenient at the same time. Since I will probably only need to use Windows once a week or so (just to keep track of my bills and things), I'm using Apple's Boot Camp software, since I don't really need both operating systems at the same time (and Boot Camp is free!). The installation was pretty painless - it's cool how it partitions the drive and actually kicks off Windows Setup (though it feels like the Twilight Zone when you see your Mac display that Windows logo!). Once the Windows installation is done, you have to install the Mac drivers for everything (which fixes the screen resolution, gets wireless networking going, and even does nice things like enabling two-finger clicks for Windows right-clicking), and that's it! Once I get rid of my old PC, I'll be down to only two computers, which feels just right.
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| Hello, MacBook! Farewell, iBook! | |
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3.01.2007
7:50 AM | Link |
 Time for some really big news! This blog post is coming to you from my new MacBook! I'm finally retiring my old iBook G3 that has served me well every day of my life since 2001 (amazing!), and my excuse for doing it now is part of my de-cluttering effort. Since the new Intel Macs can also run Windows XP, I will able to use Microsoft Money, the one PC program that I can't do without, on my Mac, which means I can get rid of my old Dell PC! As usual for Apple, getting started with my MacBook was totally amazing. The setup process includes migration from an old Mac, so I hooked up my iBook (via FireWire) and all of my settings, applications, and files were transferred. Suddenly my brand new computer was identical to my old one! It was like I was using the exact same machine, except for the fact that it's a jillion times faster. I was amazed to discover that there's only one non-Universal application that I use every now and then, so all of my usual programs are super-speedy. I'm really excited to be in the Apple/Intel world now!Labels: decluttering, mac |
| Power struggle | |
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9.23.2006
11:40 PM | Link |
 I had a minor Apple crisis today! My trusty iBook G3 has been surviving hours of daily use for years now, but the power adapter was suffering. The amber light that turns to green when the charge is complete stopped turning amber years ago (it was just stuck on green), and then about a month ago the green light went out, too. I could tell it was still working by watching my battery indicator, but once or twice I noticed when I plugged it in that it didn't start charging, so I knew it was getting sketchy. Today I let my battery run down to almost nothing, and when I came home from shopping it didn't have enough power to start up. I plugged it in, but it was still total silence with I pressed the power button! I figured the power adapter had finally gone out totally, but it still felt like I was missing a vital organ! So, I quickly searched around online - you can barely find the original Apple replacement adapter, since my iBook is getting so old. Apple sells it, but it takes four weeks to ship! Thankfully, I discovered there are third-party adapters - I found one that CompUSA said was in stock at my local store, so I was back home with it in 20 minutes. It felt so good to hear that startup chime! The new adapter is a Kensington, and I think it's pretty cool - it has various tips to work with other Apple devices, so I can even use it to charge my iPod if I want. I'm relieved to have healthy, fully charged iBook again!
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| One more battery | |
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3.21.2006
5:19 PM | Link |
 I've been using my trusty iBook G3 600 nearly every day of my life for the past several years now. It's definitely reaching the end of it's coolness, even though it runs Mac OS Tiger like a champ, but I can deal with the semi-slowness since it's really only my web/email/writing computer. My only real problem is that I'm a chronic battery abuser! I'm on my second battery, and I've cooked it down to a max charge of 30 minutes (I tend to charge too often for too long). It's so bad that I can't even use it at Barnes & Noble now, since I feel like it's a race against time every time I open the lid! So I've been struggling with the decision of buying a third battery, or getting a new iBook, since I know I want a hipper machine anyway. The decision is even more difficult because of the Intel chip switch, since the speed of those new machines is so tempting, though I like the security of the tried and true Motorola chip. This weekend I made a choice - I was almost ready to buy a new iBook G4 from Amazon, and then suddenly I decided to go for the battery instead. I will hold on until the iBook line is revved with the Intel chip, wait for some reviews, and make the big switch then. So, I ordered the fancy Newer Technology iBook battery that's supposed to have much higher capacity than Apple's original battery. I'm looking forward to spending longer sessions with my iBook at Barnes & Noble, and hopefully I can be nice to my battery this time around!
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| A cool utility, a cool site | |
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11.23.2005
7:41 PM | Link |
 I do most of my computer activities on my iBook downstairs, but I like to be able to print to my shared printer on my Power Mac upstairs, and control iTunes on my iMac upstairs, too. I always leave these machines on, but of course, they go into sleep mode where I can't use them remotely. That's where WakeUp comes in - one of the simplest, yet most useful, utilities I've seen (and I use it just about everyday!). WakeUp uses the hardware address of a remote machine to send it a special signal that will actually wake it from sleep mode (just like if you move the mouse or press a key), so when I want to print, I can just wake up my Power Mac and do it - without dragging myself upstairs!Forty Faces is an interesting website with a single purpose - every time someone posts to their blog, their photo appears on the site. It stays there until 40 other bloggers post, which could be a really short time, but while it's there people can click the photo to visit the blogger's site. I signed up for it soon after it started, and I actually do get a little bit of traffic from it. I like the idea and the clean design, too! If you're lucky (and have good timing) you might see my face there. |
| IMovie HD & iDVD 5: The Missing Manual / David Pogue : 4 of 5 | |
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11.03.2005
5:39 PM | Link |
 I'm starting to work on my usual end of the year video project, and since I'm using my new Power Mac G5, Mac OS Tiger, and the latest iMovie, I thought it might be a good idea to read the latest edition of this excellent book. I read pretty much the entire book in a day, skimming over sections that didn't pertain to me (such as all the QuickTime compression options, since I generally only burn DVDs), and actually there's wasn't a lot of new material that I didn't know. I don't mind, though, because it always helps to have a refresher course, and this is the best book for that purpose. This edition is printed completely in color, so all of the screen shots look fantastic! I also really appreciated the excellent chapters on professional editing techniques, which give a great overview of general film school knowledge. Reading stuff like this always makes me want to do some serious projects (and now I want to buy a mini steady-cam unit!). I also really like how the author lists every transition and effect that Apple provides, complete with ideas of when you might want to use each one. There are also some great website recommendations for plug-in vendors and sources of free background music. All in all, it's a fantastic book that will help anyone to push iMovie to the limit!
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| Mac OS X Tiger: The Missing Manual / David Pogue : 4 of 5 | |
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9.21.2005
10:46 PM | Link |
 I've been a fan of the Missing Manual series for quite a while. I read an edition of this same book several years ago when I returned to the Macintosh fold (lured by the incredible iPod), and I've also read an older version of his iMovie book, which really helped me down the video editing road (and taught me a lot about the craft itself). Since Tiger is such a major new release of the Mac OS, I decided I should buy this edition and get a good overview of all the new goodies (I finished about half of the book before my new Power Mac arrived!). I rarely read computer books anymore, but the Missing Manuals are something I can actually sit down and go through cover to cover. They are well-written and full of little-known tips, yet still "chatty" enough to feel like light reading. Of course, there are tons of screen shots to illustrate everything, and they also make use of sidebars to go into subtopics right where they make sense. The chapters on the new Automator and Spotlight features were really well done, but even the basic information on the Finder was excellent. I actually learned about several cool settings that have been around for years that I never knew existed! This is a massive 800+ page book, but it's well worth the reading (or skimming) time to discover all of the new Tiger goodness. I definitely recommend it to beginners and experts alike!
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| Multi-Mac Mikey | |
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1.14.2004
10:31 PM | Link |
 I haven't mentioned it here before, but I recently became the proud owner of an iMac (it was my traditional "Christmas gift to myself")! I've loved the design of the iMac since it was first available, but I wasn't too fond of the screen sizes larger than 15-inch - they just seem to throw off the aesthetics since they're so wide. Anyway, I was able to get a refurbished 15-inch model (with a G4 and SuperDrive) for just over $1,000, which seemed like a steal to me. I've had it since November, and my digital life has definitely improved! The speed is really nice for certain things (especially video editing), and now I can finally burn DVDs (which made for a fun Christmas gift project for my pals this year). I'm also using it as my iTunes server, so all 7,500+ of my tracks are usually blasting through my condo (I have the iMac in the loft upstairs, so the sound drifts down below and fills the whole place!). It's fun to control the iMac with my wireless iBook from downstairs via VNC, too. It's a beautiful machine - I'm happy to have a multi-Mac house!
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| iBook gifts | |
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12.09.2003
5:50 PM | Link |
 Tomorrow is my Japanese final, which means tonight is all study - I've already got the coffee made, so I'm ready to go over the past semester's work. I'm pretty amazed at the vocabulary I've learned - I would guess it's at least 350 words by now!
I recently bought some Christmas gifts for my loyal iBook. I decided to go ahead and max out the RAM (because I kept reading about Panther being even faster with more memory, which is correct!), plus I bought a new battery, since I had abused my original battery to the point of worthlessness. Now my good ol' iBook feels great again - I can actually use it for a few days without plugging it in, and the extra RAM really helps when I have a lot of applications open! Eventually I'm going to want a new Apple laptop (of course), but there's a lot of life left in my two year-old iBook.  It Came Upon a Midnight Clear / Narada Christmas Collection
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| Panther on the prowl | |
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10.21.2003
8:33 PM | Link |
 This is a big week for Mac users like me, since Mac OS X 10.3 Panther is coming on Friday! I've always been happy with new versions of the Mac operating system. This version has some great Finder improvements I'm looking forward to (like Expose, which lets you see all your open windows at once), an updated Mail application, plus tons of other features and speed enhancements (which is always appreciated by my little iBook). The coolest thing about this upgrade was the price - since now I'm an official daigakusei (college student), I was able to buy it at student pricing, which is about 40% off retail! Doomo arigatoo, Apple!
Hikari / Utada Hikaru / Deep River
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| Mac OS X: The Missing Manual / David Pogue : 4 of 5 | |
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2.02.2002
12:11 AM | Link |
 Soon after I got my iBook and started using Mac OS X, I decided I should read up a little to find out all of the cool features that were waiting to be discovered (I knew previous versions of Mac OS inside and out in my younger days, but OS X is new and exciting). The reviews seem to think this is the best book, and I would say they are right! Even though it only covers OS X 10.1 (I'm currently using 10.1.4), the differences are very slight. Each chapter contains a wealth of information about the OS - both on the surface and underneath. Now I know lots of cool tricks that make my iBook experience even more fun.
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| Apple iBook | |
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4.30.2001
10:15 PM | Link |
 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 |
 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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