Tag: Apple & All Things Mac Posts

From here Windows Vista rated one of the worse products ever by CNET: Any operating system that provokes a campaign for its predecessor’s reintroduction deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that quietly has a downgrade-to- previous-edition option introduced for PC makers deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that takes six years of development but is instantly hated by hordes of PC professionals and enthusiasts deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Windows Vista conforms to all of the above. Its incompatibility with hardware, its obsessive requirement of human interaction to clear security dialogue box warnings and its abusive use of hated DRM, not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade, are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list. Given that the first purchase of a Mac I made this year […]

For all of you people who upgraded to Leopard and are using GMail, you have have noticed a few weird things going on. For me, my contacts no longer auto complete properly, and periodically all the javascript in gmail stops working. I’ve checked a lot of newsgroups and many people are having the same problems. Apparently gmail has tried moving to a newer version that isn’t really compatible with Safari 3.0 yet. The solution is to just go up to the top right in gmail and click “old version”, which will roll back your GMail version to one that does work with Safari. You’re welcome 🙂

Wow. I just spent the last 30 seconds walking around my apartment looking for my laptop so I could pack it up and take it to work like I usually do. Then I remembered that I no longer have a laptop, as it’s in for servicing. Which means I can leave my big bulky bag at home today. Which is weird, and honestly, sort of feels a bit freeing. I can walk to work today and actually just enjoy the nice sunny day with my iPod. I tried finding a nice sunny autumn shot for this entry, but this Central Park Shot came up from last year, and it made me miss New York. So enjoy. PS – My new iMac kicks some serious ass. It’s so nice having a desktop at home again, and being able to sit in my room and listen to music with it.. Plus, the […]

As everyone knows, I’ve spent the last six months battling my Macbook Pro. It’s been plagued with various problems, the most severe of which lately is intermittent connectivity wherever I go. Not coming back whenever it sleeps it pretty lame too. Anyways, I went to drop it off at the repair facility, and they said it would be gone for at least two weeks. So, being the impulsive buyer that I am, I decided to pick up an iMac for home. And to be honest, I used to always use a desktop computer, even though I had a Windows laptop before. But when I got my Mac, I ended up formatting my Windows machine and turning it into a Linux server — can’t really remember why I did that. So anyways, I now have a pretty sweet iMac at home, and it’s a nice change to have a fully working […]

I know for a fact that Leopard seems to work fine with Apple’s router, but I’ve been having a lot of problems with Leopard and my Linksys Wireless N router here at home. Once and a while it will just give itself a self-assigned IP address and that’s that. The only way to fix it is to reboot my Mac and my router, which usually causes it to grab a real one. Funny thing is I can switch to my neighbours connection (sssh, don’t tell), and it works fine even in that state, so it’s something about the Linksys it doesn’t like. Seems like there’s a problem with 10.5.1 and some wireless routers. Mine actually comes up in my menu as “Device” instead of where it normally is. Strange. I’ve put all the settings to default as well. Looks like I might need to go buy an Apple Airport Router […]

I’ve been waiting patiently for this update, since I’ve had quite a few problems with wireless since switching to Leopard. I also need to drop my Mac off at the repair facility to probably replace the logic board in it, since I’ve been having weird LCD and sleep problems on my Mac. Unfortunately, there seems to be over a week delay at MacStation for even looking at these things, which means I’ll basically be computerless for a while. I’m sure I’ll survive, but will be weird not to have a computer at home. Maybe I can go back to doing “normal” things again for a while. To get the new update, just go to the Apple Menu and pick Software Update. You can read about some of the changes here. I’ll let everyone know how it goes when I’m all done.

So, I know there are a bunch of programs available on the Mac for doing photo work and what not, but I’d like to ask everyone what they use on a daily basis. I have for the most part made due with iPhoto, but the organization capabilities of it suck, and I end up with directories full of photos without any real means to identify them. Unfortunately, I also need something with a relatively quick workflow (photoshop is too slow to use for me except in extreme cases). Any recommendations?

I just read an article online that did a comparison between a bunch of different machines running Windows Vista. You know who the winner was? A Macbook Pro. The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year–or for that matter, ever–is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro’s PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway’s E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook’s score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn’t care less whether you run Windows. Hard to believe Microsoft and their distributors had all their shit together once.

This should be my last Apple post for a while, but I thought this was newsworthy. Photo from here A friend sent me an email this morning which basically talks about Vancouver being chosen for a new Apple store. After years of speculation and anticipation, there is finally confirmation that that an Apple store will occupy a space inside the Pacific Centre Mall in downtown Vancouver (BC). The three-block indoor mall has been undergoing a long-term and extensive renovation that included demolition, construction and the juggling and moving of several retailers, along with the addition of new stores. But Apple isn’t among those new tenants. Instead, additional construction will begin in 2009 for retail space where Apple will locate its first western Canada store. That work will be finished by the holiday season of 2009 and, most importantly, for the 2010 Olympic Games that begin in February. It’s still a […]

A few weeks ago I went down to the Bell Mobility store and asked how much longer I was shackled to their service. Unfortunately, it’s on the order of two more years, which means I really can’t get a iPhone and switch to Rogers (although, I’m still not sure that’s a great option either). So tonight, while talking to Jason, he was telling me about his recent iPod Touch purchase. It’s basically the same as the iPhone, except it doesn’t have a camera or obviously a phone. But the user-interface is roughly the same, and it has Wi-Fi, so you can surf the web wherever you are. The first thing I have to say about Apple is I how much I appeciate the effort they take in reducing their packaging size. Seriously, the packaging is hardly much bigger than the device itself, which I think is really cool. The next […]