Land of Oz

Marketing

If I said I had a nest of mice in the backyard, most folks would probably be telling me to get an exterminator. And how many folks would spend their own money to put out food for rats?

So why is it when I tell people I finally spotted a chipmunk in the backyard, everyone thinks it's cute. And the fact that I put cobs of corn out there for the squirrels is at worst, seen as a bit over indulgent.

But really, what's the difference between rats, squirrels, chipmunks and mice? I'll tell you what it is. chipmunks and squirrels are actually mice and rats with marketing by Apple.

Labels: apple, misc

Apple Magic

Here's just one more example of the Apple marketing magic at work. How many companies are you aware of can take something like their web site being down and change it into a plus. Not only a plus, but something that is greatly anticipated by hordes of fans. Most online places do stuff like this at zero-darkthirty when few visitors would be expected to visit. But not Apple, they do it prime time.

Last week, Amazon went down for a couple of hours and the news was not complimentary. And how often does Amazon add something new and cool to their web site? Apple does it and everyone is on pins and needles to see what locked down, Apple only gadget, Steve is going to release next.

Even OS releases are the same. When Microsoft releases an OS update, everyone complains that Microsoft has to fix yet another stupid OS glitch. Apple releases an OS update and everyone is, ooh, way cool, another OS X tweak! And after all the bitching about Vista not handling everything XP (or for that matter, Windows 95 and 3.1) did why does no one ever comment that when Apple goes from 10.4.11 to 10.5.1, much the same happens? But because it's leopards and tigers and bears instead of XP and Vista, no one really bitches much.

Whatever else you might say about Apple products (like that stupid one-button mouse), the marketing of them is absolutely brilliant. And as an aside, my $9.95 Logitech optical mouse is way-so much better to use than the $49.95 Mighty mouse.

Labels: apple

Apple vrs. PC

Well, I've finally given up. I can't stand the Apple Mighty Mouse. I gave it over a year of trying, but I really need my right mouse button. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed Radio Shack was having a clearance of Logitech optical scroll mouses for US$10 and bought one. I plugged it into the iMac's USB port and HURRAY! - the right-click was back.

This also cleared up two other annoyances with the not-so-mighty Mighty Mouse. First is that the little scroll button on top, which while is very cook, gets dirty too easy. Having to roll the mouse around upside down on a wet paper towel is just bad. Secondly, the touch sensitive buttons on the sides of the mouse are too, well, touch sensitive. I can't tell you how many times I've been moving the cursor when the Dashboard - at least I think that's what it's called - comes popping up.

However, I will admit that the Mighty Mouse is a definite improvement over that round hocky puck looking mouse Apple used to have.

Labels: apple, computers

Apple vrs. PC

I finally gave up on my Apple Mighty Mouse mouse. I've tried, but I miss right-clicking too much. Yep, I know there's keyboard shortcuts to do that stuff, but I really prefer the ease of right-clicking. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Radio Shack had optical Logitech mouses for half-price, so my new mouse only cost me $10. I unplugged the old and plugged in the new, and the iMac kept on trucking with nary a hiccup, except that I can now right-click with my dropdown of options just like the evil Microsoft OS.

Oh, and the other day, I tried out the Apple Express wireless modem. I wanted to listen to Internet radio down in my workshop which is in the basement. I have an old stereo down there, but being underground with the only station I care for on the ragged edge of receptability (?), I couldn't get it too well. There's Internet radio gadgets out there, but they're surprisingly hard to find in brick and mortar stores (at least here in the rust belt) and they're pretty expensive. I ran across the Express by accident in some article and it seemed it would do just what I wanted. I'm running the Apple Extreme wireless in WPA mode in the house right now.

I decided to take the chance and order one and in a few days it was there. I think it took about 20 minutes and a couple trips up and down the stairs before everything was working OK. The instructions (at least to me) weren't the clearest, but I got the job done. It's cool - I can tune in a station, log out to let others use the computer and listen to the music downstairs. Not even the power tools and fluorescent lights have seemed to bother it too much. Good product.

Labels: apple, computers

Apple vrs. PC

Why does your Apple run better than a similar PC? While some will argue this statement, in general, it does seem to be true - sort of, anyway.

But why? Here's probably the biggest reason. Right now, I'm typing this on a Microsoft Windows PC using a Dell keyboard with a Logitech mouse running on a Dell computer loaded with how knows what all. At home I have a Toshiba, a Dell and an IBM Notebook all running Windows. And of course, I have packed into them stuff bought from all over the place made by who knows all companies.

On the other hand, I also use Apple OSX running on an Apple iMac and MacBook. The buttoned-down corporate ogre Microsoft has to make software that will run on just about anything this side of two cans and a string. And heaven forbid their latest overhaul of the OS doesn't run a program that is probably older than most of the engineers writing the new OS. Whereas Apple just changes from 10.4.x to 10.5; and some older stuff doesn't run now, but that seems to be OK. And don't forget, the Apple stuff only has to run on Apple stuff.

Oh, and we just moved. The simple Apple isn't so... I just have a pretty plain iMac running. But, I still have cables from the iMac to a USB hub and cables to the DSL modem via the Airport, and to the printer and to the portable hard drive and to the backup hard drive along with the Apple mouse and Apple keyboard -- oh, and I forgot the speakers. Hee, hee... just a simple iMac setup.

Labels: apple, computers

Apple

If you've seen my other Apple gripes, you might have read the one about where actually Apple and Windows are really the complete opposites of what most marketing would have you believe. The iPhone seems to really emphasize that point.

Apple seems to be doing everything in their power to clamp down on the "creativity" of iPhone users. You have to use Apple's software and Apple's cell network and Apple's choice of ring tones, etc. If you try to expand on the narrow confines of what Apple wants you to do with the iPhone, you'll probably be hearing from Apple's army of lawyers sooner rather than latter.

It seems that Apple gives you freedom as long as you confine that freedom to what Apple allows.

Labels: apple, gripes

Apple & HP

This is probably more a tirade against HP (Hewlett Packard) than Apple, but Apple isn't completely blameless. We have a HP PSC 1500 all-in-one printer hooked up to our newish iMac. it used to be hooked up to the WinXP machine a couple of months ago. One thing I hated about the HP was the gargantuan pile of software that got installed when you installed the supplied driver software.

After running the WinXP installation, HP crap was everywhere - in the startup menu, checking online, running hither and yon all over the Windows expanse. I really-really hated it and regretted ever buying HP. My previous Epson was much more software friendly when running (granted it's a few years older, so Epson may now be just as bad). And of course something simple like checking ink cartridge levels was buried in the system driver routine (I think anyway).

So when I got the Apple and hooked up the printer I was gladened that it seemed to print just fine with what Apple came with. That was OK until I tried to scan with the all-in-one. No matter what I tried the iMac just couldn't see the scanner. So I went to the HP site and downloaded the Mac 10.4 driver - all 170MB or so. I installed it and guess what - it couldn't find the printer. Now I had gobs and gobs of HP crap on my iMac and still couldn't scan. And you know what? Now when I tried to print from Firefox, Firefox would just close - boom, no warning, no nothing - just gone.

I looked for HP driver updates - none, and tried to uninstall and reinstall the existing drivers; I looked for Firefox updates and installed the latest, I plugged and unplugged and booted and rebooted, all to no avail. Finally in desparation I dragged the Mac OSX install disks out and looked on them for printer stuff. I uninstalled the HP stuff - leaving god knows how much HP detrius on my iMac and rebooted and installed the .pkg HP driver stuff from Apple and rebooted again.

Final result is that while I still can't scan and now have little HP bits scattered about, I can at least print from Firefox again.

Labels: apple, computers

Noise

Here's an article about people complaining about noise. While mostly about the noise from an iPod's earphones, it also touches on iPod listeners singing along with their iPod. The following quote is what really got to me:

"Did anyone ever complain about the noise coming from a Walkman or a CD player?" he [Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired magazine's Web site] said. "Unless you're in a quiet environment, you're really gonna have to strain to hear any kind of noise from somebody else's iPod."

Our world, he said, has become freakishly quiet. "It's not noise pollution — it's noise absence. And I find it almost more disturbing and upsetting than I did loud noise. It's sort of unnatural."

Where on earth does this guy live? I live in what I've considered a relatively quiet residential neighborhood, but it is still filled with loud speeding vehicles with bad exhausts, cars with audio units that you can hear blocks away with that annoying boing-rattle of cheap bass speaker units. Not to mention year-round and round-the-clock sirens, helicopters and fireworks. There's the one idiot neighbor who warms his loud car up every cold morning at 7:15 - 7:30 a.m. and another one who never fails to honk his horn, not once of course, for his ride pickup at 6 a.m. And did I mention the next door neighbor with their garage band and the house on the other side of the block that like to entertain the entire block with their musical racket? For awhile, people in the next block were calling the police to complain about the noise level from the house next door to me. Thankfully, one of house inhabitants got hauled off in an ambulance last year (disposition unknown) and it's been relatively (only loud a couple times a month at 2 a.m. now) quiet ever since.

I sit in my cubicle at work and listen to the ever-present growl of the air handling system, loud chattering employees in the next aisle and people holding conference calls with her speaker phone two cubicles away. And when the growl of the air conditioning dies, as it too often does, the apparent level of chatter and noise goes up a couple more notches.

I guess Wired magazine must have some special high-tech quiet zone that Mr. Kahney lives in, because I sure haven't noticed it. Yes, today there isn't the clump of horses hooves, or the rattle of milk cans in the morning and the train tracks a block away were removed several years ago. The growls of bears and howls of wolves have also gone away as well as the steam boats on the river and the clang of the street car three blocks away. But somehow, I don't think they added up to one addled adolescent with a 300 watt stereo system and 15 inch speakers in their car.

Labels: apple, driving, gripes, tech

Mighty Mouse

No, not the muscular little rodent with the operatic voice, but Apple's hand-operated pointing device. To me, the mouse has always been one of Apple's weak points. I can remember trying to operate the round mouse. I couldn't get used to not have something to reference with a direction.

So we get this new iMac and it comes with something called Mighty Mouse - which is named after the cartoon dude. To me, there's two big disadvantages to it. One is the teeny scrolling ball on the top - which conversely is also one of the best points. The problem is that it seems very easy to get dirty and not so easy to get clean. This weekend the mouse scroll ball started to work erratically if at all. This after only six weeks or so of use. Now, I'm not the neatest guy around, in fact, I'm pretty messy, but clean, but I don't expect a mouse to get gummed up after only six months of use. To clean it, you have to press hard and rub it upside down on a moistened (I used some lens cleaner) paper towel. I'm wondering if this is going to be a monthly occurrence?

The other problem is that the side buttons are too sensitive and don't seem to give any feedback. All to often, Exposé pops up when I use the mouse. While Exposé is pretty cool, I don't need it that often. I don't seem to be pushing the side keys, but I'm obviously doing it. I wish they'd be buttons that actually clicked or seem to move instead of just working.

And while I'm on this subject, I'd like to be able to reprogram the home and end key to beginning and end of line - I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't found it yet. And once again, I'd like to say how much I miss my right-click sendto option.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Wireless & Updates

This weekend my DSL (in fact my entire landline phone line) went down. It turned out the exterior wires were "weather worn" according to ATT and needed to be replaced. My phone was out from around noon on Sunday until noon on Monday.

At first I didn't know the phone line was down, literally down. I had no online access, so after recycling modems and hubs and computer trying to get DSL back up, I finally checked the phones and discovered that problem and made my call to ATT repair. Anyway, when I turned on my computer I noticed a wireless network called linksys that wasn't password protected. It seems someone in the neighborhood has a wireless network set up and used the default settings and no password. That got me wondering about my own wireless network and how to make sure I really did set encryption like I thought I did once I got back online.

There is a program called Airport Utility that sets up the Airport Extreme base station I have. I found it, launched it and it said it was too old to use. I went to apple.com and looked for 5.1 and couldn't find it. I did find an airport extreme update package and downloaded it and tried to install it, but it also said the utility was too old to update. I finally thought of the disk that came with the base station and sure enough, that had the 5.1 version on it. I installed it, then ran the update package again and it all seemed to be running - did I mention these were the kind of updates where you have to reboot after loading? This time the airport utility I downloaded (2007-001) was something for graphite and didn't work, so I needed to go back and download and install a different one. So after a couple of reboots and reloads, etc. I start the Airport Utility and it tells me my base station needs a firmware update - sigh. So finally after downloading and installing a bunch of stuff - not all of it the right stuff - I can finally check my base station - and yes, it was password protected.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Mac vrs. ?

I drove back down to Troy on July 4th to pickup my iMac with its new hard drive. Everything was ready when I arrived and I packed it back up and brought it home. Then started the reloading of everything. Luckily (I guess) after only five weeks I didn't have a lot to lose. Most software I'm using on the iMac so far is open source stuff. Things like Text Wrangler, NeoOffice, Cyberduck and more so it was a matter of downloading and installing it all over again.

I did find out that the Graphire tablet software now seems to be working. Maybe there was something in the initial load of OS X that wasn't quite right - perhaps the hard drive problem was interconnected with that - I'm not sure.

Another good thing about starting all over again relatively quickly from start up is that you get a chance to do things like they should have been done. A few weeks is enough to learn where things should go and how things should be set up. In the initial excitement I had put things rather helter-skelter and now have tried to be a bit more logical the second time around.

However, while trying to rearrange things a bit more logically I moved/copied (still haven't quite got the difference down) a folder named after me. Yep, all my settings disappeared which wasn't too bad, but my mail also went away. I finally figured out I moved/deleted my user prefs file which made some stuff work quite oddly. I ended up deleting and resetting my user account which fixed things. And I did find my lost mail - it had somehow ended up in the applications folder so I was able to recover the mail.

So most stuff is back in place and most things are working as they were before the hard drive dying. We'll see how long it lasts.

Labels: apple, computers

Apple vrs. Atari

Yes, Atari. Today I called Apple tech support about my hard drive problem and after many minutes of following directions, we came to the conclusion that the hard drive was indeed busted. By the way, today I learned what "recycle the power management system" means. After I asked for clarification, I found out it meant to unplug the computer!

So I make an appointment online (using my Windows computer by the way) with the Apple Genius bar in Troy, Michigan. Eighty-six point two miles later I'm at the Somerset Mall looking for a parking place. They plugged in the computer and guess what - the hard drive is toast. So, in 7 - 10 days (and another 172.4 round trip) I should have my iMac back.

And where does Atari come in? Back around 1987 I bought my first hard drive. A Supra 20 MB drive for around $300 (I looked at a 500GB Lacie designer external drive at the Apple store for about the same price). After about 8-9 years it took several minutes to warm up and start but still run. That's the worse problem I've ever had with a hard drive since 1989 until my 5 week old Apple iMac.

Labels: apple, computers, oldies, tech

Apple vrs. Windows

This isn't a Mac vrs. PC rant this time, this time it's Apple alone. We ordered a Macbook to go along with our iMac earlier this month. It was originally supposed to be shipped June 20 or so, but no later than June 26. June 26 I finally call Apple and they say, yes, it's going to be shipped June 26. The next morning, June 27, I get an email saying it won't be delivered until July 19 or so - some kind of unmentionable problem. A little later I get a survey from Apple asking about how the call the night before to the liars at Apple went - you can guess what my response was.

So, today I get another email saying the Macbook was shipped today and should be here around July 6. Go figure. I come home around 8pm and lo and behold, my iMac is froze. Nothing works - the desktop can be seen but no cursor, no keyboard, no nothing. I turn it off - having to shut off the power to do so and turn it back on. Nothing except a flashing folder with a question mark in it. And of course nothing in the teeny-tiny manual Apple includes mentions that error.

I turn it back off, disconnect everything, try to turn it on a few times with the same result. I get the OS X reload disk and insert it and nothing happens. I dig through some manuals and find out the hold the C down while restarting will start from CD. It does and a little more reading tells me about a disk utility on the start up disk. I try that and the only disk it shows is the DVD - no hard drive listed. Time to turn it off again. Do you know how hard it is to get a DVD out of an ailing Mac?!

I'm figuring I have a dead hard drive, on a computer less than 6 weeks old. I call the 800 Apple number and find they are only in business from 6 - 6 PT. I'll have to try tomorrow which is Saturday and I can't find any listing for their days of operation. Needless to say, I'm not a real happy camper right now. If there's no phone guy tomorrow, I'll try scheduling an appointment at the nearest Apple store, which is about 2 hours away. To top things off, it's iPhone weekend, so I'm sure the stores will be packed with iPhone wannabees. Rats!! Curses Apple!

Oh, by the way, I'm doing this post on my old Windows machine.

Labels: apple, computers, gripes, tech

Mac vrs. Windows

Here's a few more observations about the Mac/Windows tales. Updates - one of these days this weekend when I logged on, I had a notice about updates. One for iTunes and one for part of OS X. Something like 50MB or so. And about the stability of the platform. I'm using 10.4.9 and as I understand it, the dot numerals aren't all that compatible with each other. For example, when Apple goes from 10.4.9 to 10.5, there's going to be some major changes. Like from Win 95 to Win 98 or XP to Vista. I guess there's also some pretty in 10.3.9 from previous versions as well. Even to things as simple as keyboard shortcuts.

Right-clicking. I really miss the Windows right-click and what you could do with it. I'm sure there's some esoteric keyboard combination in OS X that replicates it, but I haven't found it yet. Close, but not the same. With the Win right-click I can send the file to other programs - text to NoteTab, gifs to irfanview etc. One thing I was unable to do yesterday was to right-click on a fake URL link in a phishing email and then copy the underlying actual URL to the clipboard. I tried ctrl-click to get the menu, but when I copied the shortcut, it was the fake one and not the link it actually connected to. For instance, copy this link http://apple.com/ and see where it really goes before trying it.

I finally discovered the magnetic remote holder on the right side of the screen. I'm not too crazy about having magnetic fields near my computer table - yes, a lot of that is 5.25/3.5" disk paranoia, but I'm still not too crazy about it. That's probably why the magnet is also so weak - doesn't seem to keep a very secure grip on the remote.

We did fix the jumping cursor problem. I found it mentioned in some forum online. It seems that the "mighty mouse" isn't too happy creeping about on strongly contrasting mousepads. I replaced the black and white pad (ironically Dell - Apple didn't supply one) with a piece of neutral gray-blue matt paper and the cursor has settled down nicely. Which makes me wonder about the market for decorated mousepads and iMacs.

And speaking of "mighty mouse," I'm not too happy with the side buttons. They don't seem to have any kind of tactile feedback when used. I can't seem to get the hang of pressing one without pressing both.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Apple vrs. Windows

Here's a few more comments about our Mac/XP experiment. In general, I'm pretty happy with the switch. So far, the Mac has seemed to be pretty stable and well behaved. A lot of the annoyances I have now are just learning pains. Like going from ctrl to the Apple command key, and the Home and End versus cmd key right arrow/cmd key left arrow.

There is a lot made of the updating that is ongoing with Windows. I should note that when I started my Mac, there was about 300MB of updates that were waiting to be downloaded. And that within a couple weeks of being refurbished by Apple.

I bought the Airport Extreme hub and have that hooked up. The LAN part works fine. I have the old XP machine hooked into it and have Internet connectivity, but the XP still loses its connection now and then. I'm trying to get the XP to recognize the printer and USB external drive connected to the hub, but haven't managed that yet. And since we haven't got our MacBook yet, I've been unable to check out the wireless functions either. At least I have my Windows Agent usegroup program to play with again. I tried several Mac versions of a newsgroup reader and have to find one that seems as easy as Agent is.

My Palm IIIxe is another story. I downloaded the Palm Desktop software from Palm and it was a mess. It stuck files all over the Mac - and didn't work besides. After further online research about it, I found I'm not the only with problems and unhappy feelings about it. Since I basically use the Palm IIIxe as an ebook reader and address book, I'll go back to using it with the XP machine. BTW, the reason I still prefer the IIIxe is that it uses AAA cells and they last weeks at a time and are readily available and I don't have to worry about charging up every couple days.

Rather than use the trialware MS Office sitting on my Mac, I downloaded NeoOffice and installed it. I've only tried it with a couple of Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, but so far it's been fine with everything I tried.

The keyboard USB ports caused their first problem. We bought a 1GB USB drive and when I plugged it into the keyboard I got an error message saying it needed to go into a powered port. I guess that (and the USB1.1 format) is the price of keeping the keyboard simple (and saving money on it).

As much as I hate admit it, we did go ahead and install MS Messenger on the Mac. The main user of Messenger is a heavy use and is much more familiar with Messenger instead of Adium. It seemed to work OK for me, but then I don't do much with it. The problem is probably similar to my ctrl/cmd key habits.

And I miss sending stuff to my text editor with a right click. I think there's something similar using one of Mac's many-many keyboard combinations; probably ctrl+cmd+shift+S or something. Which is about one more key than I have fingers for.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Windows vrs. Apple

OK folks, we took the plunge this weekend and switched from a Dell running Windows XP to a Macintosh running, well, OS X. Here's a short rundown after a weekend of Mac. Bear in mind, I'm a long time computer user who first bought a Model 1 back around 1980, then to Model 4P (with CPM no less), finally to an Atari 1040ST and eventually to a run of PCs with various versions of DOS and finally ended up at Windows XP. There have been sporadic forays into Mac land, primarily from four years of college. So, after all that, here's my initial comments.

The AT&T installation program that came with my DSL modem crashed once and when it worked, wouldn't show images. I used it just a couple of weeks earlier on my XP machine so had some idea of what was going on. It took about three installations/removals before it suddenly hooked up with about a 5.1MB connection. (By crash, I mean it showed what looked like a memory dump in a window and asked if I wanted to send the report to Apple - which I did, but obviously since it was DLS software crashing I wasn't internet connected to do so.)

I hate the fact you have to resize windows only at the bottom corner. I really miss dragging a window on any side/corner to resize.

The installation of new software is a little confusing in its simplicity. I like having only one or two icons to drag around to install, but always end up worrying with what to do with the detritus left on the desktop. The graphic books I looked at mostly dealt with commercial installations and not one I found got into downloaded stuff. I finally some info about installing programs into the applications folder for all users and what to do with the left over zips and dmgs. I ended up deleting my first two or three installation attempts and redoing them.

And while icons are cool, it would be nice for a bit of text explaining the cutesy cartoons showing the application icon being moved to the applications folder. It seems every application that uses this gimmick tries to see just how unique it can make the iconic directions. Cute, but not really informative for us newbies.

Command versus control key is a bit maddening. I also need to find Apple's equivalent to the "send to" right click. Another thing I need to study is the wide, and I do mean wide, range of keyboard shortcuts.

Speaking of clicks, the "mighty mouse?" tends to send its cursor flying off to one side of the screen or another with irritating frequency. Another little glitch I need to look into.

I'm a usenet freak and love to download stuff (files; images (yes, some are those images), books, music, OTR shows, etc.). I have been using an older version of Agent on XP, but have yet to find something similar on Mac - but I'm looking and have a couple more candidates to try tonight.

I like the keyboard USB ports, but wonder why they are USB1.1 instead of the USB2.0 in back of the screen.

I never have liked having to rely on software Floppy/CD/DVD ejection and would really like to have a real button to push. I haven't looked to see if the iMac has a hole for a paper clip yet.

The fat and skinny Apple commercial. Sorry, Mac, but you do have your share of trial crap installed as well. I've run across MS Office, AppleWorks and a couple of others so far. And while all that iLife iStuff is cool, a simple, working, word processor would be neat to have installed.

Tonight I'll try moving some OTR MP3 files and .PDB books and see how that all works with my ancient iRiver MP3 player and even more ancient Palm IIIxe. I did notice there's Palm software for the Mac available at palm.com so maybe there's hope there.

Stay tuned for more.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Video iPod

Hype can be deceiving. OK, while I'm not the hippest digital guru around, I am fairly handy tossing around computer files. I know the difference between a .gif and a .bmp and an .mp3 and know that to the point that I'm aware a gif will compress in dramatically different percentages depending on if it has vertical or horizontal stripes.

In spite of all that, the Apple video iPod was a bit too much to deal with. It's become quite obvious that Apple wants you to buy from iTunes - pure and simple. I probably should have done more research on all this, but didn't. We wanted a video iPod to view, not surprisingly, videos. It seems however, and it's not all that much emphasized, that an iPod (and iTunes) is very picky about what it will display. Basically it want's its own version of an .mp3 or .mov format. In fact, iTunes won't even recognize other formats.

The main thing we wanted to watch was some videos in .rmvb format. To get this into an iPod, you need to buy (freeware is seemingly non-existent for this process) a video conversion program. You then have to convert from .rmvb (or rm, or basically anything other than QT or mov) to mp4. This isn't instantaneous. On my computer, granted, it's older, but still pentium based with 512MB, it took about 40 minutes to convert a 40 minute video. Granted the software would let you batch convert, perhaps overnight, but still... Now I could load it into iTunes, but surprisingly, not into the iPod.

Now you have to use iTunes to convert the .mp4 into iPod format which takes another 40 minutes (I think longer, but left the computer to go shopping). And of course after all that you're still viewing this video on a screen which would be hard pressed to display some stamps full size. (But I'll agree the size issue is my personal problem).

Would a Mac have made the process a lot easier? Perhaps, but from what I can guess, you'll still be converting conversions to let the iPod deal with what it wants. Of course the easiest course, both legally and logistically, is to just buy from iTunes. But why should I have to re-buy videos I already own just to watch them at my convenience. I know this is whole different kettle of fish, but one that isn't going away.

The bottom line was that after a week of me and my wife fiddling with and reading about the iPod, we gave up. The folks at Best Buy were great with our return giving us no hassle and no stress. We ended up buying a Zenith DVD portable player we noticed on our way out for $80 and it's working just fine.

Labels: apple, computers, gripes, tech

Apple vrs. Microsoft

I've been reading an article/book. "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson. It's copy written 1999 and seems to be pretty ubiquitous online, but it brought up a very interesting point about the two adversaries that I'd never thought of before.

When you look at the two companies objectively, especially several years ago when Apple was the thing, you find that they're actually the exact opposite of what most advertising leads you to believe. Especially Apple advertising. Apple has always come across as this easy-going, happy-go-lucky iconoclast who just wants you to do things your way. The very opposite of the "big brother" mentality of Microsoft. In actuality, this is completely wrong. Think about it.

If you have Apple software, what can you run it on - Apple and only Apple. Yes, there have been a couple of Apple-like upstarts - Franklin comes to mind - but they were quickly mashed into the ground. Hardware's been the same way. If you wanted something for your Apple, it came from Apple. Yes, they came in goofy colors and melted down shapes, but they were still Apple. On the other hand, what can you run Microsoft on? Just about anything. Dell, e-Machines, Alienware, Compaq, HP, Toshiba, Samsung, and assorted no-names to numerous to even mention. Need a part for your Microsoft running machine? Same thing. I can go to Best Buy - and now even the local drug store - and buy something that will fit in my Microsoft running machine - and more often than not it'll run.

So through the miracle of advertising we have a company that lets you run just about anything from anybody built anywhere on their software as the evil Big Brother stifling creativity while the other company that makes your run their software on their machines using additions that only they approve the hippy-dippy, free-love feel-good company of turtlenecks and half-eaten fruits.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Just How Stupid

and lazy are we getting? Here's recent news story headline, "Apple Releases Software to Set IPod Volume." If you haven't heard, some cretin masquerading as a human is suing Apple because the Ipod can play music too loud. Notice the "can play" part of my statement. It seems that he is complaining that because the Apple Ipod can be played loud it must be played loud. I heard he bit off his volume control finger while listening to Yanni, but I can't confirm that.

I know this may be a leap for many people, but the Ipod has a volume control. OK, I haven't actually used one, but there's strong rumors that it's possible to adjust the volume of the player manually. Even the Apple web site has hints to that effect. Next thing you know people will be suing tobacco companies because they claim they didn't know smoking was bad.

On a similar note, the Beatles music company called Apple is suing the Apple computer company called Apple over the name Apple. It seems that the Beatles' Apple, not to be confused with VW's Beetle or Johnny Appleseed's apple, had an agreement with the computer Apple that the computer Apple wouldn't delve into music under the Apple name, like the Beatle Apple does. Not that I'd even known there was a Beatles' Apple. It seems the Beatle Apple came into being about seven years before the Computer Apple, but quite a bit after the Johnny Appleseed Apple, but interestingly the same year as the VW Beetle. At this time it's unknown if Fiona Apple, Apple Vacations , Washington State Apple Commission, Apple Valley, California or Apple Hill Growers plan to joint the lawsuit.

Labels: apple, gripes, tech

1984 & Mac

Remember a long time ago when Apple hammered away at Big Brother? When Apple tried to target itself as one who fought for the little guy? Whew - are those days gone. Think about this year so far. Apple put the legal hammer to a few web sites that were reporting (too accurately it seems) on upcoming Apple stuff. And of course the courts backed Apple and said that Web reporters don't get no stinking protection.

Now Apple's going after the printed word. Seems like some author had some words about Jobs that Apple has taken affront at. I have no idea what this is all about since I'm not a big Apple fan, and haven't followed this much. While Apple has had a lot of neat stuff in their development, I've always felt they were too pricey. I remember back when I bought my first computer - a TRS-80 Model 1. I priced the Apples and they were way much pricier. The color availability wasn't enough to counter the 40 character screen - especially at the price they wanted. Remember this was back when my Model 1 with 16K of RAM and a cassette player for bulk memory was almost $900. Which brings up another deja vu moment of my first printer - a Quick Printer II that printed 32 characters across on aluminum foil and could be had for the cheap price of $250.

Anyway, it seems that Apple is making sure that -- well, I'm not really sure what Apple is making sure of. I plug along now with a Dell PC and an iRiver MP3 player and don't seem to be missing much by not having an Apple - computer, music player or otherwise.

2fers: TRS-80 Model 1 and Dell

Labels: apple, computers, oldies, tech