“You’re riding in the car and a great song comes on the radio. You’re dying to know what it is so you can go buy it ASAP but there’s no satellite radio receiver to tell you what’s playing. How can you find out what song it is? Whip out your iPhone, put it near the car speakers, and watch the screen. Poof! There’s the song, artist, and album.” — TUAW.COM
Okay. This could make me trade in my Tracfone. iPhoner Tom promises to try this out and let me know how it works.
I remember when installing a new operating system took a huge stack of 3.5 inch floppies (or 5.25 inch floppies!). And a lot of time. But what was really needed back then –at least by me– was patience and courage.
You knew to a near certainty that your computer wouldn’t work at the end of the process. Or some of your applications wouldn’t work or you’d spend hours tracking down and installing drivers.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped upgrading my computers with new operating systems and just purchased a new computer with the newest OS already installed. An expensive solution.
So I have had mixed emotions about the new release of Mac OS X (Leopard). Lots of new features I’m eager for, but trepidation. My plan was to wait until my Mac sensei, George, had time to do the installation.
On Saturday he informed me that this was something that I could do. Back up my data, and stick in the installation DVD.
I took the added precaution of burning my photos and music to DVD and then (with hunched shoulders and squinted eyes) slipped in the installation DVD for Leopard. Less than an hour later, the new OS was running and –so far– nary a problem.
I won’t bore you with my early impressions of the features of this new system. The web is swarming with those. I will share one thing…
Time Machine is the new backup/restore application that comes with Leopard. So I bought a new external HD, plugged it in, and let Time Machine make another full back up of my computer. It will update that back up every time I connect the laptop and the drive.
The real test of any such app is the restoration. When the time comes I need to recover a file or –god forbid– the entire contents of my computer. Let’s hope that’s off in the future. But it’s a pretty slick tool and so easy to use, I will.
But the installation was as advertised: slot the DVD and take a nap.
Apple has come out with a bunch of updates for the new iLife suite. And based on this post at AppleInsider, they’ve addressed a number of issues that were driving me nuts.
"Frame-by-Frame trimming, Audio Ducking level control, Manual Audio Fades, a duration settings for Transitions and Stills, an option to show the current playhead time, and other performance improvements."
This post has zero interest if you’re not using iPhoto or iMovie. And only a smidgen if you are. If these updates are in response to unhappy users, that’s a pretty quick fix.
I’ve done my share of gushing about the MacBook Pro and, more recently, the beautiful new iMac. So it’s only fair I share some of the rough spots I’ve encountered the last few days.
Firefox is crashing like crazy on OSX. Almost unusable. Same for Photoshop. Not sure what’s happening but look forward to getting it sorted out.
Phil has me set up with XP running on VMware and I’m suffering from mild schizophrenia, trying to move back and forth from Windows (for Outlook, mostly) and OSX. I finally just closed the win version of Outlook and started getting email via the Exchange server (when I could keep Firefox running).
I’m sure I’ll get the hang of this but trying to live in both worlds is challenging. Once we get the crashes under control (I know, I know)… I plan to spend as much time in Mac Land as possible and I’m hoping that makes things easier.
But I’m in for the duration. My experience on the MacBook Pro has been delightful and I’d like to have that warm glow at work, too. That’s gonna take some fiddling and some mental adjustment on my part.
Help Desk Eric installed my new iMac (24 inch) yesterday. Getting the iMac at work was one of Life’s Pleasant Little Surprises. Phil (our head IT guy) came me a few weeks ago to let me know I was up for a hardware refresh and gave me the option of an iMac. I almost said no.
Learfield COO Roger Gardner opted for an iMac and that –I suspect– paved the way for me. As far as I know, we’re the only two in the company with a Mac on the desktop.
This is an example of what a great IT department we have a Learfield. Instead of taking a we-only-do-Windows stance, they’re open to trying something new. In my case, it makes a lot of sense, because most of the stuff I do can be done a little easier/better on the Mac than the PC.
I still have Windows XP running (on VMware). This means I have to adapt to sliding back and forth between Windows and OSX. It’s gonna take some getting used to.
The iMac is a magnificent piece of hardware. Feels more like a piece of sculpture than a machine. But we won’t go there.
The Office-Cam is down for now. Maybe for good. I’ve got a PC in the office as well and once we get it back online, I might turn the Office-Cam back on.
I’m looking forward to doing some video chats with those of you who have the capability and interest. Email me and I’ll send my AIM name.
What else… Oh yeah, the new iMac keyboard. I love it. Didn’t think I would be it feels great and works well.
So there you have it. Two operating systems running on one sleek device. Best of both worlds. Stay tuned.
The new iPod nano looked great at the product launch up on the big screen behind Steve Jobs. It looks great on the Apple website. And it looks great in the TV spot. But it looks/feels/smells even better in my hot, sweaty little hand.
How does video look on that wee screen? Amazing. I keep turning the nano over, tying to figure out how something that thin can play sharp, bright, crisp video.
I’m looking forward to watching more video podscasts and maybe a TV show or two.
In closing, a word about the iPod UI. I thought it was damn near perfect before but I must say they’ve improved it.
My first brush with the new iMovie was bumpy. I’m looking forward to taking another run at it, after watching the first of a two-part tutorial from from ScreenCasts Online.
ScreenCastsOnline is a weekly video podcast of computer based video tutorials. The video tutorials cover many different topics from week to week but predominantly cover mac related subjects. The video tutorials are in the form of "screencasts" which are basically videos of screen captures demonstrating a particular application or service, with a spoken commentary explaining what is happening on screen.
Don McAllister’s easy-to-follow demo/tour was just what I needed. I’ll still use iMovie HD (the previous version) for a lot of stuff, but when I need to throw something together quickly…
I can’t recommend ScreenCastsOnline highly enough. It’s a free podcasts but I recommend the Extra! membership ($50 a year).
“Polk Audio will announce the next generation of HD Radio tuners that will establish a direction connection between HD and iPods — and in the process bring e-commerce to HD. In an alliance with Apple, Polk’s new I-Sonic ES2 HD Radio will include an iPod docking station that features a “tagging button” which will allow listeners to buy songs they hear on HD Radio stations via iTunes. The advancement requires HD stations to encode their signals and insiders say eight radio groups have committed to encoding.” –
– INSIDE RADIO
Only Apple could make spreadsheets fun. I only open Excel when someone sends me a file with some data and I have to take a look. But there are some tasks that really need a spreadsheet.
I had 5 minutes between tasks earlier this week, so I fired up Numbers, the new spreadsheet app in Apple iWork. I didn’t get far because as soon as I started playing with the chart tool, I was like a monkey with a piece of tin foil.
Yes, Excel can make charts and graphs but I always struggled with them and they didn’t look all that sexy when I did figure it out. I wish I could show you how much fun it was to swivel and turn and tweak this little chart (Ooh, ooh, ooh!)
I think the Apple folks would concede that Numbers is not for power users. More for math cripples like me that need a spreadsheet from time to time. I could list some of the neat features but don’t want to listen to MS Office vets tell me how easy it is to do the same thing in Excel.