wireless is so useful

Our wireless router is located in the basement, near the front of the house. When we park the car in the front laneway, I can connect to our router from inside the car. Which is what I'm doing now, keeping J company in the car as she naps. Too hard to move her, so we just let her sleep in the car. Good thing, we have an evening service to go to tonight. It's better that she naps.

Oh, speaking of which, I think she's awake now... :) gotta go. Have a wonderful Easter!

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one of the things I love

... about Mac is the ability to make multiple users. Now I know, Windows can do this too, I'm not here to bash XP today. But with my recent iBook failure (I got the data off, but it won't boot up now, even with the Heinz bottle...) I moved to a temporary Powerbook graciously lent to me by N & E while they are away on vacation. So I simply set up a new user account, set up my .Mac information, synced my address book and calendar, and I had all the information I needed right there on this new computer. I'm so glad I turned on .Mac sync on the iBook set to "Daily". I realize that I rely on my address book and iCal a lot, so it only makes sense to keep it synced to the main .Mac server. Hey, I'm paying for this service, I might as well use it as much as possible, right? If it saves my bacon in case of a hardware failure, then at least the pain of migrating to a new machine is lessened somewhat. If you don't have .Mac, a lot of this kind of functionality could be achieved by Google Calendar, Contacts, and so forth. I've always been an advocate of a web based email address, rather than one provided by your ISP, since I'm always changing ISP's, but tired of changing emails. What I like about offline email tools and offline calendars is that, well, they can be used offline.

This is becoming less and less of an issue, at least in major urban centres. There's internet access pretty much everywhere. Anyone used the Toronto Hydro One Zone yet? It's still free for a few more months. Just enough time to get used to it, and then miss it enough to sign on when it's no longer free. What a great business model! Make yourself indispensable. I still haven't gotten used to Toronto Hydro being a telecom company. My dad worked for Ontario Hydro before it became Ontario Power Generation, or Hydro One, or whatever it is now... :) Aren't these companies in the business of electricity? When did they start dipping into fiber optics and networks? Ah well, it's all the same thing now, isn't it.

Wow, this was my most rambling post ever, I think.

my tale of woe

My iBook died yesterday. It was working fine, we set it down, came back to it, and the screen was black. Tried to restart it, and it came on with the fan running full blast, and no startup chime. Uh oh. Tried a few basic diagnostics, but nothing worked. Everything ended up with about 20 seconds of working time, and then poof! Black screen.

Being Saturday, I didn't have much time to figure it out until the evening. It turns out it's the infamous iBook G4 logic board "issue", which involves a loose connector on the graphics processor. You can get the machine to work by applying pressure on the case, just under the 'option' key, on the palm rest. Here's what I used to keep the pressure on while I did an emergency backup of all the data... good ol' Heinz!

giddy, positively giddy

I'm such a geek, but I just discovered I can send contacts from Address Book to my cell phone via Bluetooth. This is awesome. Now I don't have to enter people's phone numbers and names using the phone... I wish I had figured this out sooner! :) w00t! Happy nonetheless!

week 1 of my new phone odyssey

There's nothing like spending a little time with something (or someone) to really get to know their personality and little quirks.

Quirks about my phone:

• picky about memory cards - apparently, only Kingston and some other brand work with my phone. I only discovered this after I bought one of the non-working brands and found that, surprise, it doesn't work. A quick Google search would have saved me the hassle, but who would have thought that it would be so fussy?
• features locked - Telus has kindly locked out the ability to set your own mp3, AAC and midi files as ringtones or alerts. Try to do it and it will give you a warning. So you can play the files, so I can listen to music and podcasts, but I can't set Diana Krall or Chris Tomlin as a ringtone unless I buy it from the Telus store. Nice. (There's a workaround involving a USB connector and some hacking software called Diego, but it's only for PC and I can't be bothered... yet...)

I'm really excited about bluetooth, though. I'm looking for a handsfree headset thing now... I think it really sad what it says about me, but one of the factors in getting a bluetooth headset is that I won't have to touch the phone as much, and so it won't get scratched or fingerprints all over it... oh no... i've turned into one of THOSE people... aaaaaaaaaaaah!!

day 2 with my new phone

So I've had a day to play with my new phone and so far, i like it.

• The screen is big, bright, and has a wide viewing angle.
• the UI is pretty easy to use, and resonably customizable
• 'meeting' mode is genius: beep once when a call comes in, and that's all
• the sliding keypad is cool (when J saw it she said, "Ooooh, cool!")

Some things that I could live without:

• the form factor makes it difficult for me to hold the phone one-handed and punch the numbers with my thumb. Not impossible, just a little awkward.
• fingerprints...
• putting my finger over the camera lens part
• having to buy an adapter to utilize the MP3 feature

This last 'gotcha' is kind of annoying. I was hoping to use the phone as a MP3 player, but it seems I can't just plug in a pair of headphones and start listening to tunes and podcasts. I have to buy another plug in accessory in order to enable this function. It's something they don't tell you when you read the description on the box.

Anyway, I will have to go find an audio adapter at Pac Mall, maybe. And get some miniSD memory too, since it's practically the only way you can get MP3's on the phone. Definitely NOT ready to go out of the box. Very much unlike what the iPhone experience will be, I'm sure... :)

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the 'benefits' of renewing early

So I got a new phone today from Telus... even though my contract wasn't up till August, I guess they want to lock in their customers before the ability to keep your number with any cell service comes into effect. (And K practically pushed me into the Telus store) :0 Anyway, whatever the reason, good for me. I got a Nokia 6265i for $30 with a 3 year contract. And 3 months of free unlimited local calling as a bonus. That's pretty cool.

Now I just need a Mac with Bluetooth so I can transfer stuff onto the phone, and I'm golden. Get a new computer just to use the phone... there's something vaguely unsettling about this line of reasoning... LOL.

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(yet another) new blog

I'm splitting up. Just me, though, don't worry. From now on, all the tech/camera/computer stuff is going to be on my photography site blog, which I just launched this week. Here you'll still find the kids stuff, the parenting stuff, and most of the Mac stuff. Photography stuff will be here:

www.eugenehuophotography.com/blog

I hope you find it enjoyable, and hopefully I won't bore you to tears over here with my camera/printer/Lightroom ramblings. :) cheers!

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sick

ugh.

After watching the iPhone being demo'd by Steve at the keynote, I am inflamed by desire to have one. So bad.

But really, I am actually sick. I have a wretchedly sore throat. hurts to swallow. Food goes down funny. Food tastes funny. I don't like that.

New Dream Rig:

• MacBook Pro 15" Core2Duo (must have 2GB of RAM)
• Rugged Portable drive (like the ToughTech eSATA from WiebeTech)
• (wait, the MBP doesn't have eSATA...)
• eSATA Express34 Card
• Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom (whenever it's ready to ship)
  
• and I've been eyeing the HP B9180 printer

And all this for what? I feel like an incomplete artist if I can't hold something in my hand. A print. We must do everything in service of the print. Every photographer wants to see his or her work in a print, preferably a big one.

I don't know, maybe I'm sick in the head. Anyway, the list is just the dream. The reality is a little bit slower, a little more pokey, but it works. So I just need to make some prints! :)

technorati tags:wiebetech, sick, sore, eSATA, Mac

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a tale of two keynotes

Bert Decker, CEO of Decker Communications, had this to say about Jobs vs Gates.

Presenting: Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates

In their contrasting keynotes today and yesterday, there was no contest of course. Steve Jobs presents an experience and Bill Gates presents data. But it’s worth a brief look to see their different approaches, so we can do the former, not the latter.

You can read the whole article here:

Jobs versus Gates

technorati tags:keynote, communication, jobs, gates

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MacWorld Keynote

[my pseudo live reporting on the Keynote... as I read it on macrumorslive.com and engadget.com, and yeah, I stole the pictures from engadet...]

So, what have we here?

Apple TV. Knew about it already, the iTV. Cool. Only 720p.

The new device. A widescreen, touch contol, iPod/mobile phone/internet mobile communicator. Do I want one? Not sure yet. Looks like a revolutionary UI, though. iPhone. iPhone? Can they call it the iPhone?

RUNS OSX. wow, it looks sleek. Desktop class applications? They're giving Blackberry a run for their money. Cool. Looks like widgets to me...

Syncs with iTunes. shows 8GB on screen? is that enough? must be flash. Is that just for iPod?

2MP camera. Slim... 11.6mm. wow. Don't sit on that baby...

screenshot with Nemo (clown fish) looks gorgeous. my kids would love that. Nemo!

Oh, playing the Beatles on his iPhone. Finally!

Automatic sensors for orientation, automatically rotates. Very smart.

It's a GSM + EDGE phone. Will we be able to use that in Canada? My poor phone is looking pretty beat up by comparison... I think I need a new one, don't you?

SMS/texting is like iChat now. Nice. Probably still never use it, but nice.

Photo management. nice use of gestures, you grab the picture with two fingers and 'pinch' it to resize the picture.

Hmm, he's summing up the iPhone now, and there's still 45 minutes left in the keynote. What's next, what's next?

Push IMAP email with yahoo. smart. Web surfing with Safari. Mail with, well... Mail. OSX on a mobile. Who would'a thunk it?

Ok, so he's not wrapping up. Now it's the Internet capabilities. He's demoing Google Maps... which now senses where you are, and gives you a map of your surroundings. So that's what Google and Apple have been up to... Eric Schmidt makes a guest appearance on the show.

(engadget is so funny. They keep commenting on the crowd reaction. They're leaning forward, on the edge of their seats. Going crazy. "People are rapt, everyone is actually literally leaning forward and on the edge of their seat. We've never seen a presentation like this before." Guys, that's because you're used to watching Bill Gates talk. Sorry, Bill. Welcome to the Reality Distortion Field that is a Steve Jobs keynote.)

Steve is now showing the iPhone in use. He's not demo-ing the features, but he's using it like you or I would. Listening to music, call comes in, music fades, looks for a photo to send, looks up movie time, ends call and music fades back in.

I'm waiting for him to say "And it's available today." And how much? Wait for it... wait for it... details, I want details!

OK, here it is. 4GB for $499, 8GB for $599, shipping in June. Cingular in the US. Europe by 4th Quarter 2007. Asia by 2008. Canada... who cares to mention Canada? Nobody lives there.

So.

Anything else?

(wow, they're roasting Stan Sigman, CEO of Cingular. He's using cue cards. Aparrently, he's really boring.)

(ooh, Steve's presentation clicker went AWOL. The backup too. A rare hiccup in an otherwise stellar keynote so far... we could say it all went downhill after Sigman came on... so funny, he tells a story about Woz and their high school hijinks... smooth...)

Announces change of company name to Apple, Inc. dropping the "Computer" from their name. Look out Sony.

That's it?!

John Mayer is there to play. Cool. But... that's it?!

Mayer plays: Gravity • Waiting for the World to Change

And it's over.

technorati tags:apple, keynote, reaction, iPhone, AppleTV, Canada

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gaah... do I wait or do I tune in?

decisions decisions.... do I wait for the keynote video stream to be posted online, or do I tune in to the text only live update?

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IPTV? come on...

I... P... TV. Hmm..

Doesn't sound very comfortable.

Does Microsoft THINK before they name their products and services?

technorati tags:microsoft, IPTV, comment, silly

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CES is on, but I don't care

The big buzz is on in Las Vegas. Microsoft is spending millions to market Vista and XBOX, I guess. I don't care. I'm a true Mac-head, I just want to see what new stuff Apple is going to bring out on Tuesday.

True, there are a few trends that will affect Apple in the near short term. 802.11n, for example. Or HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray.

Bill Gates' keynote is this evening. Steve Jobs' keynote is Tuesday. (funny how both their names end with an "s"... huh...)

What would I like from Apple? A Mac. Not a Mac Pro, just a Mac. Not an iMac, a Mac. Something without a screen, with a Core2Duo, with 3 slots and a real graphics card. A place for 3 hard drives.

But since everything is going portable, I guess I won't be getting what I want. Look for something new in the laptop space.

Just two more sleeps till Tuesday!

technorati tags:keynote, apple, macworld, wish, dream, mac

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things to know about OSX, part II

Hey, hope you all enjoyed teenagefanboy's OSX tips. Here are some of my own:

1) Don't turn on Filevault unless you absolutely have to. It's a hassle and a slowdown It's found in the Security preference pane. It's most annoying feature is that whenever you delete something, it has to do a secure delete from your encrypted user space whenever you shut down or restart, which can take quite a long time (5 minutes?) when all you wanted to do was restart because you installed a new program or something. Annoying.

2) Where do you put your Dock? Mine is on the right. I find it's easier to zip the cursor over to the right than to the bottom.

3) If you have a Macbook (Pro), you can two finger scroll on the trackpad. Put two fingers on the trackpad and drag up and down. Voila, you have scrolling!

4) If you want to convert an audio file from one format to another, say WAV to mp3, you can use iTunes. First set the import format to what you want to convert to (a little counterintuitive) and then select "Advanced -> Convert selection to"

5) Command-Option-Esc. This is the "Ctrl-Alt-Delete" of the Mac world. It will bring up the Force Quit window, in case you're experiencing the "spinning beachball of death". I like it better than Ctrl-Alt-Delete because you can do it with one hand instead of two. Use your thumb on the Command-Option keys, and hit Esc with whatever finger reaches up there and feels most natural. Maybe it's because of piano lessons, but it feels totally right to press two keys with the thumb.

let me know your favourite OSX tips, or questions you might have. I'm here to help. :)