Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category
Mac OS X: 2D Dock in 10.5
I don’t mind the 3D look of the OS X 10.5 dock, but I often prefer the 2D look of the old dock. Plus, I prefer the more-obvious running app indicators from the 2D dock; I find these hard to see in the 3D version. Also, sometimes I just prefer the same look [...]
It’s Chrimmistime!
This week has been a devastating one for AAPL stock, but undaunted by financial realities I am now awaiting the arrival of a new Mac Pro workstation. Seems like forever ago I began my wait for this hardware refresh so I could replace my aging PowerBook 17. Minorly awesome were upgrade prices for [...]
New iMacs, iPods nice in person
While at the mall tonight shopping for glasses, I slipped into the Apple store for another of my three-minute visits to check out the new hardware.
The new iMac is a gorgeous kitchen computer, even with the horrendous glare of its glossy screen¹. Unfortunately I’ll never buy an all-in-one.
As I expected, the new iPod Nano [...]
EMI goes DRM-free
The iTunes Music Store will offer DRM-free tracks from EMI, in a move that finally gives me a tiny bit of hope for the future of digital entertainment content.
Slingbox Pro is superb, but crippled
I got my Slingbox Pro this week, and the easiest way to summarize the experience is that it just works. It comes with all the cables you could possibly need. Plug it into the DVR, plug it into the TV, plug it into the network, install the software on my PowerBook, run the [...]
Mac Mini or MacBook?
Sometime early this year, I will give my mother my PowerBook 17 and replace it with either a Mac Mini or a MacBook. Either way, I plan to at least wait until this month’s product announcements. I may wait until OS X 10.5 is released.
I’m thinking Mini, since I keep the machine hooked [...]
Slimmer 40GB iPod?
New iPods rumored for release this week. I just want a slimmer 40GB unit. If a little more thought had been put into the Nanos being used as flash drives (built-in USB plug first comes to mind), I’d likely already have one. Contrary to my original predictions, I use the hell out [...]
Apple finally does a mouse right?
When Apple first came out with their first buttonless mouse design and phased out the tortureous hockey puck, I assumed it was really a mouse without pressable buttons (think 3G iPod buttons). Then, when I finally got to touch one, I found that they simply pivoted the whole mouse surface, turning the entire mouse [...]
Konfabulator is now free
Yahoo! has acquired Konfabulator, as well as famous Mac and Eazel designer Arlo Rose. Konfabulator is a cross-platform (Windows and Mac, anyway) widget framework. What you really care about is that it’s a sexy little eye-candy app that shows little weather notification widgets, convenient to-do lists, and even a little ladybug that runs [...]
Stephen Fry-narrated H2G2 on iTMS
Jeff already has this on CD, but I notice the iTunes Music Store now has the Stephen Fry-narrated unabridged Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in the audiobooks section. Stephen also narrates his own essay at the beginning of the Salmon of Doubt audiobook (basically a warm tale of two old-school Mac freaks), which iTMS [...]
NPR podcasts on iTunes
During his
Delicious reality
Depression, OCD tendencies, and brilliant software design often go hand-in-hand. This blog entry by Wil Shipley is an interesting personal account of the subject.
Wil is one of the founders of Delicious Monster, whose latest creation, Delicious Library 1.5, is absolutely wonderful. I bought, and absolutely love, this application. Thanks to another Will [...]
Bigger Disk, restore from iPod
My quest for fast gigabit-ethernet-based storage is not over, but on Kevin’s recommendation I picked up a LaCie 500GB external drive to give my PowerBook some breathing room. The drive may end up being attached to a network device at some point in the future, but for now it’s connected with a speedy Firewire [...]
Fun with Tiger
I recently updated my PowerBook with Mac OS X Tiger, and am pleased with it, so far. The upgrade process was painless, which is always comforting (given the control over both hardware and software that Apple enjoys). The much-touted Spotlight system search makes many promises I have yet to test, and the Dashboard [...]
Sin City, C#, and drink
I finally got around to seeing Sin City. I loved Frank Miller’s graphic novels when I read them way back in school, and I thought they did a wonderful job bringing the look and attitude to the screen. I’m glad I caught it in the theater, unlike some other films lately.
Virtual PC 7 [...]