Geek who loves 2 bike

I just found this nifty little site, Apple History, detailing the entire product history of Apple computers. It is interesting to see the progression of the Apple computer. This is a great resource to research the specs of previous models.

As posted earlier, I have upgraded to iLife 05. My initial comment was that the calendar feature in iLife 05 may make the the iLife 05 upgrade worthwhile in itself. I add to that the image adjustment features.

Calendar feature:
This added a small calendar in the lower left corner of the iPhoto window. With this widget you can select different date periods. The organize view then displays only photos of that date. You can select anything from several months, a week (or more), or even a single day. While you could mimic this by creating an album based on dates in the older version, the new feature is much more friendly. Viewing by date opens up lots more opportunities in viewing your photos and setting keywords. No more remembering to add "Sophie's birthday" or "My Holiday in Mexico" tags to photos. Just select the correct date. Awesome.

Image adjustment features:
The older version of iPhoto had very limited image enhancement/adjustment options. Basically red-eye correction and some contrast/brightness enhancement. iPhoto 5 adds the following adjustments: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Temperature, Tint, Sharpness, Straighten, and Exposure (histogram). The adjustments are very easy to use. The image is adjusted as you move sliders allowing you to instantly see the change. I have no easy way to prove it, but it appear that the red-eye correction in iPhoto 5 is much better than the previous version. At any rate, the iPhoto 5 red-eye correction is very good.

Image enhancement is necessary to make good pictures look fantastic. I have found that small adjustments helps to make fantastic prints. As an aside, digital cameras record a incredible amount of information. So even though your pictures may initially appear to be over or under-exposed, many times you can correct them unlike print photos.

Previously, I used iPhoto as my photo library/organizer. I used Photoshop Elements (which really should be called Photoshop "lite") for image adjustment/manipulation. Photoshop Elements is an extra cost application. Elements is a great program that provide lots of the functionality of Photoshop for way less money and still provides far more capability than iPhoto 5.

I used to believe that most digital photographers needed both iPhoto and Photoshop Elements. Now with the new iPhoto 5, Photoshop Elements may be unnecessary. If you only take digital snapshots or your intended user is young, iPhoto 5 will be plenty good and easy to use. For the most part it is hard to imagine how iPhoto 5 image adjustment could be easier to use. If you want to do more sophisticated modification such as image cutout, image combination, and sophisticated image enhancement you may still want to have Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements is almost a "pro" app, takes some learning, and would be hard to teach to younger children.

Mike Matas of Delicious Monster has posted directions on how to create a "Life Poster" on his blog. A life poster is a mosaic of photo images printed out poster size. Just another cool way to use you Mac in you digital iLife.

Mike Mata's life poster

Something I have been thinking about lately is my growing usage of hard disk space (or more properly decreasing availability of free disk space). Read more as this article may be pertinent if:
1. You are not using a Mac, but are considering buying one.
2. You are a committed laptop user like me.
3. You use a Mac and are running out of space.

First a little background, my personal Mac PowerBook has a 60GB hard drive in it. This was the largest available at time of purchase. Laptops use smaller sized drives so anything over 80GB is very expensive. Currently the largest drive you can purchase in a PowerBook is 80GB. Like many laptop users I have become spoiled and desire to carry all my files with me. I do use a external drive for backup and some large files and folders that I do not need immediate access to. I also currently use a 20GB iPod that is full. It is important to note that the easiest way to use an iPod is to sync it with your computer. But this means you duplicate your music files on the computer (in iTunes) and on the iPod.

You are not using a Mac but are considering one. If you do not already have an iPod you will be very likely to in the future. The iPod/Mac is a beautiful combination together. But even if you are not a music hog you will probably build up an extensive library of music. This will take up a significant amount of hard drive space. Count on devoting 20GB of computer hard drive if you have a 20GB iPod. Mine is full and I am considering a larger 40GB or 60GB one. But I have not developed a strategy for using the extra space since I don't have it on my laptop to give now. Regardless of the iPod situation, it is most likely that 40GB will not be enough for even the moderate Mac user. All the cool iLife applications develop large media files. Keep in mind iMovie and iDVD projects can get very large. Generally these projects are several gigabytes large.

You are a committed laptop user. Currently massive hard drives are not an economic practicality for laptops. Therefore you will need to do two things. First you must consciously organize your files so that you can keep less important files in offline storage (external hard drive, DVDs, CDs). Secondly it really pays off to clean out unnecessary files on your system. Keep reading for a helpful tool for this.

You are running out of space. I just tried a "shareware' application called Disk Inventory X that allows you to analyze you hard drive volume. In addition to listing out all your folders/files space usage the program generates a color visual "treemap" of your hard drive. The treemap is interactive and lets you select areas and determine what files are taking up large amounts of spaces. The colors on the treemap are automatically added based on the file types. The makes it easy to see what types of files are using the most hard disk space. It is easy to get complacent and gather many files that are one to several hundred megabytes larges. Recovering several of these files can add up.



Areas to look for:
- Installer packages that have not been deleted. Once the program is installed you will probably not need the installer. In most case you can download again if needed.
- Large media files (especially AIFF music files) that you intended to delete but didn't. In addition you can use iTunes to change these files to MP3s which are much smaller in many cases. MP3 is fine for most recorded audio, especially radio shows and internet streams.
- Clean out your download folder.
-Updated thought: Cleaning time is a very likely time to make dumb mistakes like deleting a file that is important or needed. Make sure you have a backup before deleting items to clean space.

To help understand how easy it is to chew up disk space, I give you a sample of my largest uses:
        20GB - iTunes audio
        8.6GB - Virtual PC (program and files)
        5.3GB - Applications
        2.2GB - iDVD
        .5GB - iWork
        .5GB - MS Office 2004

Good luck in keeping your hard drive clean. If you have other ideas on this, please comment or send me an e-mail.

Earlier this week I visited the local Apple store. Store employees indicated that they were out of iPod Shuffles and Mac minis. They did not expect any to be available for a couple of weeks. Many reports also indicated that online orders were backlogged for 3 weeks. Today I visited a local MicroCenter store and found out they had many iPod Shuffles (both sizes) and approximately 12 Mac Minis (in both standard configurations). So if you are determined to get either one, shop around. They appear to be available.

I received iWork yesterday. While not a necessity for me, as I use the generally very good MS Office: 2004 for the Mac product, I was and am excited to try Apple's new productivity software. iWork consists of two applications: KeyNote 2 (presentation software) and Pages (word processor/page layout).

Well, I immediately decided to try making a document using Pages. My trial document was some business cards. The actually card is an image created in Photoshop.

Creating the document in Pages was very easy although much different than in MS Word. I created a table, sized the cells appropriately, and dragged and dropped a Photoshop format file into the cells. As an aside, for Windows readers, dragging and dropping the image file works great in both Pages and MS Word on the Mac. No need to File/Import or Insert/Image menu picks. After a little fiddling around my Pages document looked good. Now it was time to print. Imagine my surprise when the quality of the printed document looked good but not great. Apple are generally regarded as the best graphics personal computer so I expected their software to rock. Some testing was in order.

I created a similar document in Microsoft Word. Using the exact same hardware, my print from MS Word looked excellent. Okay, print the image straight out of Photoshop. Once again, the printed image looked excellent. What gives? After some review of the online Pages support and trials, I determined that I needed to use and set Colorsync for my prints. Colorsync is Apple's sophisticated software technology that allows different devices such as PC, printers, or scanners to match their color characteristics so that your get consistent images across media. Setting up Colorsync is relatively simple for moderately technical people but not trivial for non-technical users. With the Colorsync setting set for my printer (done in the printer dialog), the print of my Pages document was equally excellent. The printer I used is a Canon inkjet printer which provides excellent results in most color situations. I have generally only needed to mess with the colorsync settings when printing photos.

I came away with at least two conclusions from this brief test of the Pages application.

First, Pages is more a page layout application (similar to Microsoft Publisher) than a word-processing program like the ruling king, Microsoft Word. I used to use and like MS Publisher on Windows so I believe for certain documents I will use Pages. There is little to no chance I will user Pages for long written documents or even business letters (which generally do not include graphics). This is based on quick but additional experiments with Pages. The most significant thing is that it is hard to just delete a page from a Pages document.

Second, I am surprised that Apple who generally is excellent on user-friendliness would make it a requirement for the user to set Colorsync settings in their print setup to get excellent print quality. This seems like a miss on software that is touted as easy to use. While not the end of the world, I wonder how may users are not going to realize that they can get much better prints out of Pages then they will get if they just print without colorsync. This would especially concern me with school-age users. Otherwise I see Pages as a great tool for school reports, etc.

While I have not had the opportunity to test many of the new features of the iLife 05 software, I want to comment on two significant ones.

First, iPhoto 5 now has calendar view. This feature available in some other photo applications allows you to view photos taken on a specific date or date period. This is done very easily using a calendar graphic selection. If, like me you have children, this is an awesome feature. I encourage you to take lots of pictures. If you child is old enough, you should encourage them to take lots of photos. Indeed with the cost of computer storage rapidly falling the only incremental cost of digital photography, storing the pictures, is very low. Now with calendar view you can chronicle your children growing up and save these precious moments for the future. This sure beats the old way of waiting for prints to come back from the film processor and trying to remember to mark the date the picture was taken on the actual prints. This feature alone may make the iLife 05 upgrade price worth it.

The second feature I am excited about but have not tried yet is GarageBand's new ability to show audio selections in written musical notation. This feature was demonstrated by Steve Jobs (with musician John Mayer) in Mr. Job's keynote presentation at the last MacWorld conference. While for non-musicians this may end up being a "gee whiz" feature, it can have practical applications. I look forward to experimenting with it in the future. I must note for non-GarageBand users or anyone contemplating using GarageBand, that this application is very computer intensive. I believe that you need a faster processor and lots of memory to effectively run this program. While all current Macs probably have the horsepower to run this program I don't believe that 256MB will suffice.

I received my iLife 05 software this week. iLife 05 is the latest releases of Apple's suite of programs: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iTunes. While I have not tested much it appears that the upgrades are incremental improvements and not major functional updates. But like all Mac fanatics I was moved to have the "latest" Apple software.

The main purpose of this article is to highlight that Apple has a desirable franchise going with the iLife suite. I note that last year I upgraded the iLife software that came free with my computers to iLife 04. This was a worthwhile upgrade as it added the cool GarageBand application that did not exist in the previous iLife suite. Less than a year later, I have upgraded to iLife 05. At least the iLife upgrades have been pretty reasonably priced.

I believe that Apple will release new version of iLife yearly. While these releases may encompass incremental changes or major changes, I believe the majority of Apple Mac users will choose to pay to upgrade. This is a great deal for Apple.

Personally, even though I upgraded, I believe that iLife 05 is not a must have upgrade if you already have iLife 04.

The manager of my favorite Chipotle (restaurant) handed me a copy of this article Quest for Burritos . The article references a local man, Matt Miller, who ate 150 Chipotle burritos last year. He even created a blog, Burritoman, just to chronicle his eating quest.

Why I welcome Mr. Miller to the brotherhood, I have to say that he is not even a contender. As friends and family know I am a HUGE fan of Chipotle. As the manager of my favorite Chipotle indicated to me, I and probably three other customers of his store easy top Matt Millers numbers. While I could easily document the number of times that I ate at Chipotle lastyear (via receipts) I intentionally do not. Chipotle and especially the employees are part of my community. For me it is not a challenge to eat there but just a enjoyable part of my life.

To be fair, I switched a long time ago from eating the fabulous burritos to soft tacos and occasionally quesadillas. But in terms of visits I easily top 150. There have been many occasions when I have eaten at Chipotle twice in the same day. In addition, my daughter who grew up with Chipotle loves to eat there with me.

Interesting Powerbook rumor connections (my own). For awhile there has been rumors that Apple will release PowerBook G4's with faster processors. Fewer reports have surfaced regarding a near term PowerBook with the G5 processor. So is the delay in releasing faster G4 Powerbooks an indication that the next PowerBook releases will be G5?

Personally, with the Apple rumor mill so active I find it hard to believe that Apple could keep a G5 PowerBook under such tight wraps. This is one of the most anticipated Apple devices ever. I think (for what little it is worth) that Apple will release faster G4 processor PowerBooks in the near term. The G5 PowerBook will not appear for a long time. At any rate, there is no doubt that G5 PowerBooks will be expensive!

Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning. These are aptitudes that a person will need to succeed in today's business economy according to author Dan Pink in his soon to be released book A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. From a company perspective, do you think Apple gets it?

I am a very avid reader. Over the past couple of years I have found it very convenient to have and read e-books on my Palm T3 handheld. I use the free Palm Reader package (now called eReader) that came with my Palm.

If you have a Palm handheld (especially a newer color-screened one) and have not tried e-Books, I really encourage you to do so. It is a wonderful environment. I never fail to have at least one book that I have not read available on my Palm for those many instances where carrying a regular printed book is inconvenient. The lighted screen makes it easy to read in the dark or dimly lit situations. Personally, I carry over 50 non-abridged e-books on my Palm.

As a starter or if you are just a HUGE Sherlock Holmes fan like me I suggest you download the free stories available from the BBC at Cult presentes Sherlock Holmes. While I have not yet had an opportunity to read these stories, the e-Books with pictures give a great demonstration of how good e-Books can be on the Palm handheld.

A great source for purchase Palm e-Books is: eReader.com

I am constantly amazed at the beating the Griffin RadioShark takes in some reviews. While I can be accused of doing the reverse (i.e. assuming that the thing is great because it works on my setup) it appears that a common thread among reviewers who bash the product is that that they don't try it on any machine other than their one unique setup. A particularly bad review was posted at Endgadget. Very soon afterwards it was pulled and is no longer available. The latest is this article in Forbes online. I totally disagree with the author.

Regular readers will note that I am enamored with the RadioShark. Since I purchased it in early December I have used it daily. I only like better over time.

"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post for Sunday's editions. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me." as quoted in USA Today

Man. This pisses me off. First, it ignores the large number of people in the popular vote who did note vote for Bush and the many Americans who did not vote all. Second, it ignores the simple logic that just because person 1 selected A over B, does not imply that because A is in favor of Z. that person 1 is in favor of Z. It would be just as easy to imply that American's chose Bush over Kerry because Kerry was such an inferior candidate and not that Bush was a good one.

As a American I support our troops who are fighting under American orders. This does not imply that I in favor the war any more than the implication that our American soldiers who are doing their duty as American soldiers are in favor of the war.

While the just announced Mac Mini was very anticipated, the result may not be the low cost option many of my friends are looking for. First and most importantly prospective buyers should go to the Apple site and configure their own desired systems. Here is my initial thoughts.

1. To get the real Mac experience you will want to use a monitor similar in quality to the Apple ones. Apple uses a digital connection (DVI) for their monitors. The cheapest (although still great) Cinema display is the 20 inch at $999.
2. One common theme from many of my friends is the desire to burn DVDs. Plan to upgrade to a Apple Superdrive to support this. Superdrive Mac come with iDVD. Previously, non-Superdrive Macs did not get iDVD.
3. My personal opinion is that Mac OS X needs 512m of memory to run well. This is an upgrade for the base-level systems. Note that I use 1GB of memory in my machines, but I am not sure that I would notice only having 512mb.
4. The keyboard and mouse that you use must be USB or bluetooth. This precludes the assumption that Apple implies that existing PC users will be able to use their existing keyboards. Additionally, Apple keyboards are different since they have the Command (Apple) key and option key. These are critical for operating Mac OS X. I believe that most users will prefer a Apple-specific keyboard.

I have created this table of typical systems, Mac Mini and the least-expensive iMac G5. An important note is the iMac is a G5 processor while the Mac Mini uses the older G4 processor.



It is not possible to get equivalent systems. The Mac Mini I have spec'd has what I believe is cooler and better monitor with the Cinema display, a more friendly bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The iMac could easily and inexpensively have a much bigger hard drive than the 80mb that i have spec'd.

Finally, when it comes down to it, most of my acquaintances end up preferring a laptop, as I do. Making the whole exercise moot.

Readers of my past articles will be aware of problems that I have had with one of my PowerBook batteries recently. As a recap, about a month ago my PowerBook battery went bad. After some research and testing i found out that my battery was beyond repair and needed to be replace.

My first shock was that the $149 battery was not carried in the local Apple Store. Second was that the battery had a three week delivery from the online Apple Store. Finally, Imaging my shock that even though my Titanium PowerBook G4 is not that old, Apple no longer manufacturers the battery but requires you to purchase a third-party battery.

To my pleasant surprise another local authorized Apple Reseller, Mac Hardware, regularly stocks the battery. I was able to purchase a new battery manufactured by Battery Technology, Inc.

Unfortunately, after about a week the battery began to behave erratically. After testing and confirmation on my backup PowerBook i took the battery back to Mac Hardware. In an excellent example of customer-service, Mac Hardware exchanged the battery with a new one straight from a new box. Unfortunately, this battery stopped working correctly after a couple of week. I note here that a original Apple manufactured battery works perfectly in the same PowerBook. A simple visit to the store resulted in another same-time replacement.

Which gets us to the present. After a week or two the current Battery Technology battery stopped charging. More test confirmed the Apple battery works perfect, BTI battery does not work correctly. Another visit to the store. This time Mac Hardware loaned me a Apple battery straight from a sales person's machine. I am to try this to confirm that the battery works correctly. The Mac Hardware employee will try my BTI battery in their machine. In the event that the BTI battery is faulty (which I fully expect) Mac Hardware has indicated that I can keep their battery until a replacement arrives. Great customer service. If you live in Kansas City please consider giving you business to Mac Hardware.

I can not finish this story without the biggest astonishment. Not only does the Apple store not carry or sell the replacement PowerBook G4 titanium battery, but it is no longer available on the online Apple store. Incredible. Thank god for conscientious resellers such as Mac Hardware.

One of the many announcements at the much anticipated MacWorld conference is the iPod flash-based player, dubbed the "iPod Shuffle". The two most significant specs are: 1) Lack of screen. 2) available in 256mb ($99) and 512mb ($149). The importance of having a screen is a personal decision. While my initial reaction was this thing may be great to use during my workouts. I quickly changed my mind when I recalled that I keep my randomly generated workout exercises on my iPod as a text note. No way this works with no screen. Apple marketing advertises and example of holding up to 240 songs. This may be true if you do not use a higher-quality recording. But a typical example is a single playlist of some current songs that I have recorded. I have recorded these as 192kbps, AAC format. This playlist of 64 songs, 3.9 hours playtime, takes 322mb of space.

Created by sophia with a little help from dad.

Here is my thought of the day. Why are Apple Mac users such huge fans but the majority of PC users oblivious to how great Macs (since OS X, at least) are. Answer: You have to experience it. While it is impossible to go very far, especially on the net without reading rave reviews of the Mac, the text always focuses on how great Macs with Mac OS X are and generally how they do not crash. But like many things this does not make a deep impression on a person.

But, once you actually experience a Mac it is hard not to LOVE it. The experience is that good. This is what makes Apple's focus on opening Apple stores so great. While there are many good retailers of Apple products, few do as good a job as the Apple Store in allowing a potential customer to try and experience the Apple Mac.

For all readers who do not use or own a Mac, I challenge you to go to a good retailer (who will actually let you do something on a working Mac) and spend a little time working on a Mac. Here is a few tips on your trial:
1. Make sure the store will actually let you work on the Mac. Looking at one and pressing a few keys will not do it.
2. Make sure the Mac you will be trying is connected to the Internet. Connectivity to the internet is almost a given with Apple computers. Unfortunately, many retailers do not have their demo computers connected to the internet. All Apple stores do though. Try Safari, Apple's browser. Try iTunes. See how good the Apple's built in sound is.
3. Importantly, take a task you actually do or would like to and try it. This may be creating a word processing document (try MS Word for the Mac). Or, it may be working with photos and maybe creating a slide show. Bring a memory card connectable with USB containing some pictures. See how easy it is to load into iPhoto and make a slide show. See how great Apples display photographic images.
4. Be aware that to truly get the Apple Mac experience you have to use the computer for a period of time. Maybe a couple of weeks. While the trial I suggest here will not give you that it will definitely whet your appetite. As you will see in your visit to the store which will be relatively long (1 hour maybe), you may meet other potential "switchers". Many people I have met took more than one visit before actually purchasing.
5. Be conscious of the fact that you will end up wanting a Mac. They are expensive. Be comfortable with how much you are willing to spend prior to your visit. It is easy to get enticed into spending more than you planned. I see nothing wrong with waiting and saving up for one. The Apple purchase experience can be wonderful. First there is the anticipation of the purchase. Then there is the actual purchase and opening of the box. Apple has gone to great lengths to make this a great experience, from the design of the box to the ease of setup. Finally, there is the great feeling that comes some time (several weeks or even months) later where you realize how very happy you are with your purchase decision.
6. Finally, I would like to add that if you are at the edge of making your purchasing decision, realize that Apple owners LOVE their Macs. You will too.

While i am not a big fan of SlashDot, i do occasionally view it. It is interesting tha almost always conversations about personal computers always breaks down to "Apple is great/Apple sucks" in the discussion forum. In a recent discussion I saw the following post:

My hand is raised (Score:5, Insightful)
by dimer0 (461593) on Friday January 07, @08:21AM (#11286609)

Lots of people are new to Apple products because of the iPod. Having seen the iPod and been impressed by it, they are now interested in buying Apple computers, but the entry level price point is a little high.

Exactly.

I bought an iPod. I was impressed even with the box it came in, the packaging, the wrappers the cords were kept in, etc. Blew my mind. These people know how to design stuff!

4 months later, I took the plunge and bought an eMac (loaded up with RAM). Haven't touched my windows machines at home since then - 'cept to play a few games.

4 months after that, I convinced my employer to get me a Dual 2GHz G5 with a 20" cinema display.

My boss saw what it could do and how it played well in the windows network - so about 1 month later, there was another Dual G5 w/ 20" cinema display in the office (good thing he didn't get the 30" display, or else I would have been pissed off.. heh).

Oh, and a couple weeks ago Santa brought my daughter a pink iPod mini. This is the same daughter that has self-taught herself the whole iLife suite, and her and her friends don't leave the eMac alone when they're having sleepovers, etc. They make radio shows with GarageBand, convert to mp3, then drop them on CDs to show their friends. They make movies, edit them, and make really cool DVDs. She just turned 11, and I haven't had to show her anything. (Her Windows machine sits relatively unused in her room now) ... I'm now eyeing the 20" iMac, but am waiting for Tiger, iLife '05, and a DVD9 superdrive before I take the plunge ...

(I think I'm the kind of customer Apple likes)

Yeah, I think that this it they type of customer Apple likes. More importantly I think the poster is a typical Apple customer. The stuff plain works. Once you experience one product you want more. The experience exceeds expectation, even though the expectation is high. And very importantly, the stuff works for children as well as adults.

Anybody who browses the Apple Mac rumor/news sites must have seen many recent postings regarding Apple's filing of lawsuits against several new/rumor sites, most notably ThinkSecret. Apple's claim seems to be that ThinkSecret received proprietary and confidential information from an inside source. Implied is that the inside source had signed a non-disclosure agreement and has violated it.

What amazes me is that a small group of commenters are criticizing Apple's actions. They see nothing wrong with the receipt and public posting of said information. While I can agree that we have all benefited by the far greater access to information since the internet, I am not sure I agree in this specific case.

To illustrate similarities I give you two example arguments. First, let's say you are Mac owner. Someone steals your computer and sells it to buyer A. Buyer A purchases the stolen computer fully aware that it is stolen but not knowing that it is stolen from you. Do you as the rightful owner hold buyer A blameless and unaccountable? A second example is this. Let's say you own a software business. You spend considerable time and money developing a software application. A employee steals your software code and gives it to someone who posts the code source on the internet. This causes you lost revenue and possibly your business. Do you hold the person who posted your code on their site blameless even though they may be one person removed from the person who stole it?

As a huge Apple fan and someone who regularly follows Apple-related news I do not want to see rumor/news sites and blogs to disappear. But there is line that seems to be clear. ThinkSecret apparently crossed over this line. I also note that the news reports indicate that ThinkSecret has been repeated warned about posting Apple confidentai news.

I read this article Firefox and the case of the missing services menu about the new Firefox browser, Mac version. The fact that Firefox is a Carbon application corresponds with my very brief trial of the browser.

The information that Firefox for the Mac is a Carbon program and not a Cocoa program is important to Mac users. A Carbon program is a ported program. A Cocoa program is written in the latest Mac platform with current APIs. There is tons of stuff that comes for free with Cocoa programs. The extra functionality available automatically with Cocoa programs is useful. For the most part most Mac OS X users get so used to these functional features that they never think about them.

This is another reason why I prefer the Safari browser. The main reason I prefer Safari over the Firefox browser is everything about the application just plain looks better. While I have no objective evidence, a quick search of the net will show that many users agree. The one thing that Firefox does have over Safari is a slight increase in page loading speed. This is not a big issue to me as both load pages plenty fast. More importantly that fact that the visual look and feel of the application is such a major factor shows some insight to understanding a Mac user. Being charitable, and the way I think, Mac software generally works so well that the user can graduate to worrying about things on a higher plane, like the visual look of the application. Being uncharitable, and probably how a hardcore PC user thinks about Mac users, Mac users are snobs and shallow and only interested in looks.

For another example, Mac users should try the Newsfire RSS reader. Although not offering some features of other RSS readers, the author just plain gets the aesthetics of a great Mac application.

Cult of Mac reports this article on U2's deal or lack of it with Apple concerning the iTunes/iPod promotions and advertisement. Semms like praiseworthy character combined with good business to me. Gives me new respect for Bono and the group.

Yesterday, I started to read The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey. Many if not all readers should know Stephen Covey from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People fame.

While I am just part way through the book, it is apparent that this book has deep meaning and is a great read. Many who know me will know that I have been profoundly impacted by the Seven Habit book and Seven Habits seminars I have been fortunate to attend. The new 8th Habit book corresponds with information I was very fortunate to hear in a presentation by Stephen Covey in Kansas City a couple of years ago. I highly recommend it to all.

Apple's software just rocks! I hope, like me, you had great holidays recently. As part of the holiday I was reminded how important it is to save these great memories via photos and videos. In the following article I give detailed instructions on how I easily made a "photo video" DVD with Apple's iLife software (included with all Macs)

Recently, my daughter and I took advantage of very unseasonable warm weather to visit her favorite park or in her words "the slides". I took this opportunity to take 28 digital photos with my digital camera. Later as I was loading my photos in the computer I decided it would be cool to make a video of the photos I had taken that day. Following are step by step instructions (to illustrate how easy it is to do this with Apple's iLife software).

iPhoto
1. My first step was getting the photos from my camera's SD memory card to the computer. To do this I just inserted the SD card into my USB memory card reader. The computer is set to automatically open iPhoto when it recognizes a memory card with photos on it.
2. Importing the photos into iPhoto consists of pressing a single "import" button. I have the check mark set to automatically delete the photos from the memory card as soon as the files are copied to the Mac. This leaves the card ready for my next camera session.
3. All the photos copied from the card are put into a "photo album" called "Last Roll" (as well as stored in you main iPhoto Library). At this point I took the opportunity to rotate pictures that I took with the camera in portrait mode. This is very easy (single button click) on single photos or you can select and rotate multiple photos at once.
4. Now, I wanted to create a new photo album named "Sophie in the Park". First, I selected all the photos in the Last Roll photo album. This was easily accomplished by doing the select all command (Cmd-A). I then chose the menu pick File/New Photo Album from Selection. Finally, I named my new photo album as desired.
5. Here comes a cool part. To create a "slide show" viewable on your Mac all you need to do is select the photo album and press the "Slide Show" button. Then you can set different features, most notably music you want to play with your show if desired. Selecting music is easily with everything that is in your iTunes library as well as music files on your computer available. I choose a favorite Van Morrison track. Just press "play" and your slide show is displayed beautifully.
6. All was great, but I want to share this "photo video" with family members without having to use the computer. The obvious solution is to create a DVD. Just select the "iDVD" button in iPhoto.
I note at this point I have spent maybe two minutes on the whole process so far.

iDVD
7. At this point the iDVD application is automatically started and all the information (photos and music) are copied over to iDVD.
8. The next step was to select one of several "themes" available in iDVD. I choose a suitable one. Very little clean up is required at this point. First I dragged a photo from iPhoto into the DVD's main title screen. I wanted the date on the title screen so I added the text with the date. Finally I deleted some unneeded text (indicating "drag photo here" copied from the theme).
9. Curious, but unnecessary, I chose to preview my movie in iDVD. Worked and looked great.
10. All that is left to "burn" the DVD. Press the burn DVD button and insert a blank DVD-R and you are done. I note that "cooking" (my term, not Apples) actually is a time-consuming process but does not require any effort on your part. I use the term cooking because to create the DVD the software needs to perform a lot of processing before actually writing and verifying the DVD. The process takes something like an hour. I found the time is consistently long regardless if you have a 3 minute video or hour-long video. I usually just do it when I go to sleep.
At this point I have spent possibly an additional 5 minutes setting everything up and starting the DVD burn.

The end result DVD is beautiful. It plays is the several Sony DVD players I have tried it on with no problem. From a less technical viewpoint I really encourage you to try this process. Creating short (less than 5 minute) videos is a great way to enjoy a recording of one of life's wonderful events. The short (like a music video) format also makes it easy to watch and encourages viewing.

All of my friends know how much I HATE Sprint. This company sucks. Up to a couple of years ago, Sprint was my service provider (long-distance and more importantly cell phone). Their service (both cell and customer), hands-down, was the worst ever! While spending considerable money on cell service, Sprint always treated me badly. This despite the fact that I live in KC, Sprint's hometown. It is important to note that every interaction with Sprint PCS was horrible.

Well, a couple of years ago, I made the switch to T-Mobile. What a difference! T-Mobile customer service is excellent. Unlike Sprint, T-Mobile has always gotten my bill correct. With Sprint PCS I went 6 months where not a single bill was correct.

Sprint and Nextel recently announced their merger. While not a customer of Nextel I can only hope that Sprint does not bring Nextel down to it's level. More importantly to me is recent discussion of Time-Warner Cable working with Sprint to offer wireless service. As a Time Warner (also doing a fine job) customer I can only hope that Sprint's poor customer service disease does not infect Time Warner.

Please note, I have had several friends switch from other carriers to T-Mobile. Not a single one has been disappointed.

After reading many "Best of 2004" reviews, I got to thinking about one of my best gadgets ever. Like many great products, this item does what it does excellently and unobtrusively. For me probably the best built "gadget" i have ever had or used is my Casio watch.

I have used this particular Casio runners watch many years. I have had a few because I have lost them. A couple lasted more than two years. Each time I have had to replace the watch is due to loss and not because of breakage.

What makes this watch so great? First start with reliability. This watch keeps perfect time. The watch has a perpetual calendar. After you initially set it you never have to change the calendar again, period. Second is cost, despite being deadly reliable, the watch only cost $20. Next is durability. I wear the watch everywhere, including swimming showers, workout, cooking, etc. Never any problem.

The watch has several functions. Of course it has date and time. The watch has built in alarms, one for a hourly alarm and the more useful alarm for a particular time. For a business traveller it is the only alarm clock I trust to always work. The watch has a countdown time, just set the desired time period. The watch has a regular stopwatch (with lap times). The watch has a built in light. just press a button and it lights up. Despite much use, I have never had the light burn out. Finally, the watch as dual time, where you show two different times (presumably for different time zones).

I want to close with the fact that I have owned and purchased several "high-end" watches. None has held a candle to the Casio. I particularly note that when you buy a "luxury" watch such as a Tag Heuer you get much less for way more money. One expensive Tag that I gave as a gift cost $200 just to replace the crystal on. Compare this the plastic Casio screen that is virtually scratch-proof. I have worked on cars wearing the Casio with no problems. I also note that I have never experienced a high end watch that keeps time as well as the Casio.

Well I finally got around to installing a screen protector on my Palm T3. As a long time user of Palm handhelds I have generally not used screen protectors other than to demo them for reviews. My friend J. has been encouraging me to use one on my T3 for quite some time. I just never got around to it.

Well, recently I noticed a couple of scratches (more like worn spots) on my screen. It probably doesn't help that I encourage my young daughter, Sophie, to use my Palm. So, I decided to install that screen protector given to me by J. It works great. The screen viewability is barely (if at all) reduced. Now I have piece of mind against further damage.

As a new year's resolution, I suggest you add a screen protector to your handheld before it gets damaged.

As a special tip: If you were lucky enough to get a iPod Photo for Christmas I strongly suggest you put on one of these screen protectors on the screen. On a regular iPod the screen doesn't matter that much (even though I have not noted any problems with the couple I have had). But with the photo iPod you want to preserve the clarity of the screen. It will be easy enough to cut one of the handheld-sized screen protectors to size.