This is a test
August 28th, 2008
This is a test to see if my WP blog post shows up in Windows Live.
The Mac Halo
June 22nd, 2008
I’ve had a mac for several months now and have basked in the Halo. That is, the aura of computing coolness and software design delight. I envy how Apple’s marketing has convinced consumers that the Mac is far more user friendly, robust and secure than it’s Windows counterpart. However, for me, the Halo has begun to tarnish. I’ve had as many issues with the Mac as I have with any PC I’ve ever had. And I must admit, I am a little happy about it.
To name a few:
System Crash: oh yes, they happen. I can’t attribute it to anything specific. It appears Macs have some of the same voodoo Windows PCs have. It too likes to play a little Russian roulette.
Broken software: iMovie has a very clear directive to drag and drop items in to the movie’s story board. However when I tried to do this it completely failed to work. The items appeared there, but they would not play as part of the movie. Hitting ‘play’ showed only the items in the ‘event library’. Publishing a movie to .Mac was simple, but it totally broke when I made some edits and tried ‘update’ the movie. The gallery page said it was ‘unavailable’.
Stupid bugs: iTunes library won’t update when new items are added to it’s directory. How lame is that? You have to go to the directory and play the song first, then iTunes will acknowledge its existence. This seems like a pretty grouse flaw in the file system.
The built-in iSight camera suddenly stopped working. No apparent reason… it was working one day, broken the next.
Oh, and Apple isn’t really the panacea of software design. I’ll concede that they’ve done a great job and have upped the ante, but their (genius) marketing has convinced everyone that their software is easier than it really is. People have the perception that it’s easy, so effectively it is… until they run in to a problem. Then they think it must be them… that they’re stupid or they’re doing something wrong.
For example, I spent an hour in iMovie trying to figure out how to bring photo stills in to it. It’s apparent how to bring in video assuming you imported it through iMovie, but if you want to bring in anything else from the system good luck. And eventually when you do find the Easter egg, unless your photos are in the one or two locations iMovie predetermined, you still won’t find them. They have to be where iMovie says they have to be.
Ah, the infallible Apple has a worm.
My Faves for Friday, December 07, 2007
December 9th, 2007
Heheh…
Quoted: Back when IE7 launched, Yahoo! created a customized version and began to market it to our existing IE users… Today it seems that Google has similar intentions. So similar, that they decided to basically copy our page and slightly Googlify it. If you look, the design, layout, and most of the text are the same!
My Faves for Wednesday, November 21, 2007
November 23rd, 2007
Vista and UAC: Apple prompts the user to enter credentials when installing new apps just like Vista does. Why is Vista the bad guy in this? You don’t hear any one mention Apple’s security prompts.
Any way you look at it, for users, security is a lose-lose proposition. The more you ratchet things down, the more hoops users need to jump through.
Quoted: Hansen also said that Microsoft traded general OS usability to add some of Vista’s security features, such as UAC (User Account Control), and is “feeling pressure from Apple” to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly OS.
My Faves for Monday, November 19, 2007
November 21st, 2007
What an ass wipe..
Quoted: Today I want to ponder the question: what if Microsoft, not Google, had created Gmail? What would be the differences in that web mail client for users today? What if we apply some of the same design rules that brought us Hotmail, for instance?
My Faves for Sunday, November 18, 2007
November 20th, 2007
Dude, these speakers are lame.
Quoted: The Audiobyte is now available in a variety of finishes and price points: silver, charchoal, black or white standard synthetic matte finish ($349); cherry or burled walnut high-gloss synthetic ($399); and lacquered real-wood burled cherry or walnut ($559). Each package includes a pair of stereo speakers and a separate amplifier module…
[tags: media, technology, Apple]
My Faves for Saturday, November 17, 2007
November 19th, 2007
Love this Scobleizer post…
Quoted: …people started talking about my Apple problems. Everyone at the table is a Macintosh user. What was fun is that at one point people started telling me about the problems they have had with their Macs. Many with far more serious problems than I have had.
Quoted: …they all blamed themselves for the problems of their Macs and I think they also bought into the “Apple cult” which says that if you use a Mac you must be cool.
Quoted: We believe Apple’s marketing so deeply that we aren’t willing to question it…. it’s MY FAULT that my Apple machine is having trouble.
Quoted: See, on my Windows machine I’m willing to accept this. After all, I know that Microsoft can’t really test every combination of hardware out there. My Windows machines can take dozens, if not hundreds, of different video cards, sound cards, hard drives, memory configurations, etc. The thing is on my Mac I didn’t load any third-party RAM — Apple’s brand promise is that you never will need to open your box to customize it. Heck, the iPhone goes further. You CAN’T customize it and if you try you have to “break” into it.
My Faves for Monday, November 12, 2007
November 14th, 2007
Favorable reviews overall…
Quoted: We’ll just come out and say it: The 80GB Zune trumps the iPod Classic…For the same $250 price as the 80GB iPod classic, the new Zune 80GB offers a much larger screen, FM radio, wireless player-to-player sharing, Wi-Fi syncing with your PC, and a rear panel that can be customized with some cool artwork–for free. Simply put, Apple is no longer the leader in the realm of hard drive-based players. - PC Mag
My Faves for Sunday, November 11, 2007
November 13th, 2007
How long before we see an ‘A.B.G.’ mantra ensue? Or how about ‘A.B.A.’ (Anybody but Apple, or a seventees disco band?)
Quoted: When the connection with Google was revealed more than a year ago, the question on popular tech Web sites like Slashdot.org was whether Mozilla was acting as a proxy in Google’s larger war with Microsoft and others.
Quoted: The browser’s other, unstated advantage, shared with other open-source projects, was A.B.M: Anybody but Microsoft.
Quoted: Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft’s general manager for Internet Explorer, noted that the market still showed a marked preference for Explorer, but he did concede that Microsoft, for structural reasons, could not show the enthusiasm Firefox developers have…