Non-Fanatic Mac User

Take me to Boot Camp!

2006-04-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

Apple really should have announced Boot Camp on Saturday. It would have been really funny.

I am really excited about Boot Camp, and we all know all of the "techies" have been waiting for this moment. With the ability to install Windows on a Macbook Pro (or Macbook) , there is no reason not to have a Mac at work. Now you can use your Windows only apps on a Shiny Happy Mac. Currently I use a Dell notebook at work. And the little things are the things you miss most. For example, waking up from sleep mode requires the use of the suspend button. This the only key that works. Or you can make awesome presentations in keynote. Or install VMWare to handle all of the other OSes you want to run. Pretty Great. Can't wait for Leopard. I bet Boot Camp won't require rebooting.

Who should I sue?

2006-02-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Well first I heard about this silly lawsuit
Tech Dirt Link

And now crazy people are suing Apple for iPod Volume?

So I'm either suing book publishers for papercuts. Maybe match makers because of the risk of fire around flammable substances. And of course water companies for making me have to go to the bathroom at night.

Is the MacBook Pro the PowerBook G5 I've been waiting for?

2006-02-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Well I have been looking for the unicorn of the computer industry. The PowerBook G5. After months of rumors and prototypes, the waiting game with IBM and finally defeat, the PowerBook G4s have been retired.

So right after the keynote, I said...my Apple notebook is here; but I think I'll wait for the bugs to be cleared.

And then I thought well the MacBooks won't be shipping in volume until March. Waiting 6 weeks for the hands on reports will put me in May. And suddenly Intel will be shipping Merom.

Guess I'll be holding out for a wide-book iBook. Or see you at Rev B.

Don't forget about backups

2005-11-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a lesson with you...

Whether you are a small business, individual or large organization, remember having a backup plan is essential.

Business Example:
My company lost its email server a few weeks ago. Quite a few mailboxes were corrupted. These users lost all the emails in their IMAP accounts. These emails contained important customer conversations, customer agreements, passwords and well it email you know how essential it is. And remember for you users email is a primart form of communication but is also essential business communication. Many of our customers submit purchase orders, signed invoices and credit references via email. No company can survive without purchase orders. A few weeks later it crashed again, before we had time to set up the backup strategy. This time we were able to restore all the emails. We have also started backing our systems up. Hopefully we won't have a glitch again, but at least this time we will be more prepared.

Personal example:
A friend of mine signed up for a nifty photo storage/sharing online service. He stored all of his baby pictures and other picture's from the first year of his son's life there. He thought since they were located remotely they were safe. Well after about 2 years the company went out of business. He didn't get to save his photos locally..and he lost all of those memories. Now he saves them on a web service, his computer and on an optical disk.

So I recommend you backup to a DVD, email account, .Mac account, external hard drive. Well everywhere. Try to cover all the bases. Since we use our computers for everything from photos, movies, address book and bills be sure to keep your info protected.

Airport Express: that was easy

2005-11-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

So I was finally ready to set up a wireless network at my house. I have set up a couple with Netgear and Linysys routers. In each case it took anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to set up wired or wireless networks.

When I went to my store I went back and forth on the airport express for the print server or Netgear for a fairly cheap price. Eventually the print server and wireless music won out. (Later in the day I was trying to set up wireless with a powerbook, netgear router and a new DSL connection....let's just say it was unsuccessful. Oddly enough the powerbook picked up the correct settings from the router, but could not administer the router)

So I went home, opened the box, loaded the CD into my ibook. Well I didn't need the CD since I had recently run software update and upgraded the airport utilities.

After that I plugged in the ethernet cable from my modem, plugged in my airport express and waited for the green light to come on. When I looked in my available networks and saw "Apple Network XYZ."

I ran the setup wizard, created a network and applied the settings. Then I connected to my renamed network and I was online. It took 10 minutes, including the time to take off the plastic wrap on the Airport Express. I couldn't believe it was so straightforward.

Next time my friends are asking me about wireless networks...I think Airport Express is the wat to go.

Forced Obsolecence..Boycott the iTunes Store

2005-11-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

Well I decided to update my iTunes. I haven't synced my iPod for a bit because I hadn't added any new songs. Today I purchased a few songs, imported a couple of CDs and decided to connect my iPod. Well my recent purchased apparently are too new for my 3G iPod. when I attempted to sync the iTunes told me "your ipod software is too old for some of your songs, please update at the Apple website." So I updated my iPod software and so on. Too bad it didn't do anything and I got the same message.

So that means I won't be buying any more tracks from iTunes since I can't even sync them too my iPod. Isn't that the point?

I'll be shopping at some other download sites with Mp3s...since my iPod is no longer supported by the iTunes store. And people wonder why legal downloads are not that popular.

If Apple won't support my ipod, I won't support their store.

More switcher notes

2005-11-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

So explain to me why no one wants to believe 1M people switched. I mean if apple adds 1M units in a year...somebody new has to be buying. I mean it isn't live the same people are buying year after year. And you gotta explain why 90% of the people strolling into the Apple store are not mac users. And well less than 10% of people leaving with a Mac have a mac. So it is a no brainer, people are coming from windows...(well unless it is from DOS..and I talked to some one a couple of weeks ago running AutoCAD on DOS)

Fast Company Blog

Switchers Everywhere

2005-11-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

So why is everyone switching?

In case you haven't noticed for many computer users out there (my self included) we are in our 20+ year of computer using. so what does that mean? We have lived through DOS, jumbo floppies, frogger, Apple IIe, Commodore, Windows 3.1 windows NT, Windows 95, the dotcom boom, being the goto guru for our friends computers. It is enough to cause a computer using headache.

I switched because I needed some Tylenol. And OS X cured my headaches (in cute packaging to boot). If you notice, the switchers coming out say something like
"I've been using Windows since 1.0"
"I remember DOS"
"I was on the original internet"
"I was the first hacker"
"My first computer was a radio shack special"

Pretty soon you will see it...the long time computer users will switch. And then the masses will follow. (you know once they get to computer 3, 4, 5 +)

The vPod I'm waiting for

2005-10-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

So where is my Video iPod? It is great that now I can download to my 2 inch iPod screen and take it with me. But I want step two. How about using your 'pod as a portable entertainment console. Include some A/V cables so I can play those videos through my TV. It is better than a DVD player.

So Apple: where are my cables. Once I can bypass the small screen for my TV, I'll be happy. Until then I'll stick with my 3G iPod.

Dear Napster

2005-02-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

I just don't believe Napster to go is all that useful. I'll admit, I used the P2P networks back in the good old days. I typically downloaded tracks that I didn't have at the time (i.e. oldies from my dad's collection), tracks that were impossible to find in the US and well songs from my CDS (since importing your CDs was a pretty difficult thing to do back then). Lastly I downloaded the one hit wonder type pop songs.

So of my four main uses, music download services only solve one of the problems

1. The tracks from my Dad's collection. Well now he either imports them for me, and I hop on our home network with my ibook when I visit to grab the tracks, or i bring my ibook and import the CD myself, or I burn a CD. Easy fix.

2. Well now I can import my CDs pretty easily, so this problem is solved.

3. Those rare import tracks. Well once in a blue moon they are on the iTunes store, but more likely I need to order the disk online or pay big bucks at the Virgin Megastore.

4. The one hit wonders: this is where iTunes excels. Now I can download the one good Usher, Britney Spears etc song, without having to buy the crappy CD (since singles are a thing of the past).

In any given month there are maybe 3 of these type of tracks, and well maybe a CD I would like to own in its entirely about every other month. So I will do the math: I buy 6-8 CDs per year @ $14 each (well because I refuse to pay more). so that works out to be about $115 per year in CDs and $36 in music downloads. So there is my $150 in music per year. At the end of it, I own a couple of CDs and about 30 downloaded tracks. If I had Napster-to-go, at the end of the year I wouldn't have anything. Some pretty crappy math if you ask me.

So Napster, it is time for a different approach. I think the PVR devices are useless, because the most important question hasn't been answered, where do you get the movies? Here is where the to-go model would work perfectly. I am still not sold on these PVRs, but with a bigger screen, or better form factor I might consider it. In fact, if I could play my PVR on my tv like an ipod photo, it becomes infinitely more useful.

But we still haven't answered the question, what about the movies. Napster please change your Napster to go to Movies-to-go. We already rent movies from Blockbuster. Most movies have the sort of limited shelf life that a download and expire model would support. Here you would go head to head with Netflix, Blockbuster and even Tivo. but this would be just as good as tivo to go. The value proposition is the same as Netflix'.

Imagine this, 30 minutes after your favorite show goes off the air, you can download it to your PVR and hook it up to your TV. Then watch it the next day on the train, or at your friends house with no cable. Movie night would be great, load up all your favorite movies and bring them to your friends place, or your hotel when you travel. If you rent 5 movies a month or pay for Netflix, you could pallet the $15 a month for movie and tv rentals. And this is something I would support wholeheartedly. (Since I still can't program my VCR and tape all the shows I miss due to scheduling conflicts)

Napster are you listening? I think you would have a lot more takers and no iPod conpetition. And well this could also be done by Apple. Whoever gets it first will have the first mass market v-pod. Show us the movies!

Non-Fanatic Mac User

2005-01-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

Non-Fanatic Mac User

Are those laptop parts?

2005-01-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well it appears the mac mini is using notebook hard disks and optical drives. If this is the case, Apple has effectivly increasesd the volumes on these key components of ibooks. I wouldn't be surprised if it is all the same ibook hardware.

I bet we might see another price drop on ibooks, once we have a quarter or mini mac revenue.

MAybe the powerbooks will also drop as well. Depending on the internals of the next generation powerbooks.

I want a mini

2005-01-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

After checking out the Macworld recaps...all I can say is send me a Mac Mini.

It is about 40 times cool than expected. It appeals to the people looking for something small, people who love great design, and people with a small budget. What a great place to be. This is the firfly off the shelf like hotcif these st mac I want for myself because it is cool, and I can recommend for my mom because it is cheap.

Don't be surprised if these fly of the shelves like hotcakes. I expect it to sell to some switchers, lots of adders and many mac users using B&W G3s, cubes and older Powermacs.

Right now I am picturing one hooked up to something like this

http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=&prod_id=MM17NSSS

Instant desktop entertainment center.

My biggest wish...that with this Apple gets some traction in the enterprise. What accessory goes better with a flat panel monitor?

New imacs in September?

2004-07-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is a revelation. What ever happened to, we do not discuss future products. Did Apple just admit there will be a new product in the future?

Miracles never cease. What's next, we are working on a powerbook g5 that we are aiming to release next year? We will release an upgraded ipod for the Christmas buying season. We will update keynote with new features.

What's next a product roadmap?

MAybe this will mark the end of the policy of secrecy. Apple doesn't need to spell out features and pricing for Mac users to remain interested, just admitting the products exist will help fuel speculation, The amazing result, analysts starting saying the current lull is an ideal time to buy Apple stock. And as useual it created a multitude of media coverage, if not more than usual.

Hopefully we are marking a new day in Apple history, and maybe Apple will start giving us a clue where they are heading.

is the Tech Industry like Elementary School?

2004-06-03T21:18:00.001-07:00

Scott McNealy, Larry Elison, Carly Fiorina, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Case, Meg Whitman, or Larry Page.

Who is best dressed? Who is most popular? Who is most likely to succeed?

But the most common game in tech, is pretty similar to, "give me a cookie I will be your best friend" (well until someone else brings better cookies.)

With all the hubbub in the rumors sites and the media regarding Toshiba's alleged slip-up revealing that Apple will be using a new mini 60gb hard drive.

Did Toshiba screw up a good thing? I mean iPods sales are increasing 900$ every quarter, and no cool kid would be caught dead without one, or any bus rider, subway rider, "L" rider, metro rider, BART rider or pedestrian. And the commercials get almost as much buzz as anything that was at the Super Bowl.

So how mad will Apple be at this latest leak? Look to Hitachi to provide future iPod drives? Tel Toshiba to settle for Nomad jukeboxes only? Will Toshiba give Apple a big discount? Even if the rumor is true, it won't keep people from buying new ones. The only people who might already have an iPod, and are ready to move up? It's not like Toshiba leaked,

"We have developed a new low-power LCD screen with clarity and sharpness that rivals HD TV. This screen will be available in 3" models and Apple is planning to use them in the upcoming viPod. With the new 60gb hard drives we are releasing, you will be able to bring you movies with you, and play your downloads from the Quicktime iMovie store. We have developing this in secret with Apple over the past few months. We have also come to an agreement with Apple to bundle iTunes with our notebooks, and we will be reselling the viPod"

I think the real story is, the new 60gb hard drive will be using in the new thin and light ibook.

No way you say? Why not, we already know the ibook is meant to be the battery life leader in the Apple portable lineup. And there has to be some arbitrary feature to differentiate the ibooks from the powerbooks. Like currently the white case and the limit to 60gb hard drives.

Well mini hard drives are the perfect way to get ipod mini like ibooks. There could be matching colors and a move to metal, in a small wide screen design like the mockups all over the place on the message boards. These units will be designed for the classroom, not the boardroom. With built in bluetooth, optional wifi, and the new wireless firewire standard built in, this ibook with handle your life to go. From the library to the cafe to the iPVR in your living room, your ibook will act as a digital hub, streaming your itunes to your ipod, your iphoto slideshows to your TV and your imovies to your DVD player.

Forget about iPods, Apple is going back to computers!

Otherwise we will go back to being spectators in the playground fight between Toshiba and Apple.

My Biggest fears before I bought my ibook

2004-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Where is the best place to start? The beginning. Here is how I officially became a Mac convert.

1. The nifty ibook with a handle
2. the Cube
3. the icebook
4. the Tibook
5. OS X

These were the seeds of my switcher tale, but honestly it took me 4 years to get one. I had huge worries, like the one button mouse, stability, multitasking, compatibility, speed and familiarity with Windows, And for me, what pushed me over the edge, was the Unix-based OS X, and the fact that most compact laptops in the 5 pound range were out of my budget.

The ibooks are the cheapest 5-pounders out there. Which was a pretty big shock, considering Apple's are typically expensive.

The first lesson I learned, well before I bought my ibook, was that compatibility isn't a huge issue. The main programs I use on my PC are Office, email, music players and web browsing. I used these things under the evil OS 8 and 9, and they were pretty similar. But OS 8/9 soured me on Macs for life (or so I thought).

And well the one-button mouse thing is pretty easy to get around.

But OS X sold me completely. Overall it is a great OS, but I still have some concerns, but they aren't deal breakers for me, but they still give me headaches. I like how OS X handles multi-tasking and the idea that I can learn Unix commands without pulling my hair out to set up a printer. And well Expose is nifty. And iApps and Apple's other exclusive to X software like iCal and Address Book are very cool, especially since they are free. And garageband let's me live out my music producer fantasies without spending big bucks on Acid.

The big thing I noticed, Macs think the way you would, if you never used Windows. That being said, there is a learning curve if you are coming from Windows to Mac, but if you are willing to give it a little bit of time, the odds are good you will enjoy your Mac. (Until you try to set up file sharing or use a print server at home, but that is another story)

So if you are on the fence, head over to your favorite Apple retailer, and play around for a few minutes. Then try again in a few weeks. And try again. If you get to a point where you want to come back and play with the Mac, then, you are ready to make the plunge. but you have to give it at least three separate occasions. Or find a Mac-using friend and borrow their computer for a little while.

And next time I will tell you why my ibook sucks.

Welcome

2004-05-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I was inspired to have a blog, since everyone else does. There are 2 main purposes to my blog: it is better than keeping a diary, and I wanted a place to talk about Apple critically without getting flamed.

You will find, tips and observations from me, a 20 year PC user, and a place to ask questions.

I don't know all the answers, but I hope you enjoy my perspective.

Frequency of entries is to be determined. Maybe once a week or so.

Have fun!

jaded