Hardware

November 6, 2005

I picked up some new hardware on Friday evening to replace an aging iMac. I'm impressed, perhaps more than I though I'd be. Having been spoiled with a Dual-G5 for quite awhile now I didn't know if the iMac would really stack up. So far it's great.

A few tips. First, get Apple Care for $119 and then go down to your local Frys or other electronics store and buy 1GB of RAM for $89. You'll end up with 1.5 GB of RAM and an extended warranty for roughly the same price as Apple's $200.

The Mighty Mouse is much more impressive than I thought in the few times I've tried it in the store. It's still sitting beside my Logitech trackball much longer than any previous Apple mouse would (even being plugged in is pretty amazing by my historic standards of Apple mouse loathing). Read more about Hardware

Daylight Savings Time

October 29, 2005

Dave Winer suggests on his weblog that clocks on Macintosh computers don't automatically adjust to Daylight Savings Time. This is incorrect if you have the time set to automatically sync at least. Not only does it know when to end daylight savings time but it knows that for the time being Indianapolis is on Eastern Standard Time, at least until next spring when Indiana begins observing Daylight Savings Time in April. All of this comes just in time for the new federal law which will change the dates for Daylight Savings Time in 2007.

Let the rumors fly

June 4, 2005

News.com calls the rumors it is propagating news.

The hot rumor is that Apple is set to announce a switch from IBM to Intel microprocessors. There are some claiming to also know the timing which purportedly would involve the first round of the switch coming in mid-2006.

If the rumors are true it could be big news. When the Mac mini came out I outlined a killer way Apple could proceed to a few people I know. The plan goes something like this. Come out with the mini and get people to switch. Then, prior to the release of the new Microsoft Longhorn operating system, announce x86 compatibility. If the roll-out of Longhorn goes as well as some other versions of Microsoft's operating system there will be plenty of frustrated users looking for an alternative. Read more about Let the rumors fly

Mini setup

March 25, 2005

The folks over at macminicolo.com have a good guide on setting up a mini to go to a colocation facility. In fact it is good for any mac going to a colocation facility. There are a few additional preferences I think are worth noting.

Energy Saver - Set the machine to automatically start after a power outage.
Expose - Set all corners to do nothing (this is the default but if you've changed it it can be bothersome over a remote connection
CD & DVD - Set all the preferences to ignore. If you have to have a CD inserted remotely you don't want it doing something automatically
Menu Bar Icons - Remove as much from the menu bar as possible
Screen Saver - Turn it off. No point in wasting cycles drawing graphics on a non-existent screen

Apple Hardware Test

March 23, 2005

We spent much too much time this week tracking down a problem with a 15-inch PowerBook. The problem, which initially seemed to be a disk problem, turned out to be a disk problem. After several attempts to copy information, reinstall the operating system and get the machine working again I finally stooped to running Apple Hardware Test. It is not quite as low on the ladder as actually reading the manual but the proximity makes many geekish folk uncomfortable. Of course it took about 3 minutes to diagnose the disk as being bad. Not the hours of frustration and false starts provided by choosing to "do it my way". Lesson learned. At least until next time.

Another thing to be very happy about

February 25, 2005

Today is just a great day. Earlier today a friend was showing me Google Maps. "But it doesn't work in Safari," I said. I'm now happy to be wrong. It didn't work in Safari but it does now!

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