iBook

Posted in Mac on October 25th, 2001 by Дмитрий

I got my iBook last night. I think I’ve finally found true love. I haven’t slept in over 30 hours now…

Superfluid He3 show tonight at Fred’s. Maybe I should call in sick Friday so I can catch up on sleep…

[A note on my computer history up til now:

1990-1992: First computer: a used Mac from some old Mac lab. An original MacII, if I remember right.

1992-1995: An Amiga with a bunch of cheap word processing and other office software installed. I used it mostly to play video games, though. I also got a little 1200-baud external modem with which I made my first forays into Netdom, mostly chat rooms and the local Fresno BBS, “LegacyNet”.

1995-1996: A Packard Bell all-in-one, with a tiny 15” monitor wrapped up into a box containing the CPU, 3.5” drive, 5.3” drive, CD-ROM, and various other things. The monitor went bad about 6 months in, and thus I had it hooked up to a second monitor for another 6 months before I literally threw the thing away.

1996-1999: Used computer from my Dad’s shop which was good enough to do my schoolwork with and look at porn online with. This was, strangely, the computer I had longer than any other.

1999-2001: Cheap Gateway computer which I used to finish out my Master’s Degree years, promptly selling it as soon as I had my graduate app in.

2006-Current: Performa - David’s main Mac from 1995-1999 (Currently loaded with OS 8.x, but being used exclusively as a television in my home office)

2007-Current: iMac BondiBlue/1998 - David’s Mom’s Mac from 1998-2007 (Currently loaded with 10.1 and being used exclusively as a net station and card catalogue in my home library)

2005-Current: G5/300 - David’s main Mac from 1999-2005, and my main Mac from 2005-2006 (Currently decommissioned after a foiled attempt to load 10.4)

2001-Current: iBook G3/600 (currently loaded with OS 10.4). Still in use when I travel and when I want to surf and watch TV in the living room at the same time at home.

2006-Current: iMac CoreDuo 2.4 - My current desktop machine.

Of course, you’ve probably noticed that in 2001 I started only keeping track of my Macs, and not getting rid of them when I moved on, and I even try to keep them in use to some capacity. Hopefully one day people will see my home as one of the most complete working Mac museums in existence...]

iPod Beckons

Posted in Mac on December 3rd, 2001 by Дмитрий

Here I had the biggest most important update in weeks all typed out and ready to post, and I hit some key accidentally and it’s all gone. I’m not in the mood to try to come up with all of it again, so you’ll all have to settle for another sub-standard post.

It was mainly about my latest essay, which I’ll be reciting at Open Mic tonight, as well as some reactions I’ve been getting about it. If you want to discuss it, why not head on over to my message board or contact me?

In other news, I officially need an iPod. Thanks to David’s buddy Dan for the short but convincing demo, as well as the persuasive information from Apple.

Maybe more later. I have to do my weekly shopping now.

iHunger Satiation Delayed

Posted in Mac on February 1st, 2002 by Дмитрий

The Apple Store officially has a sad reputation with me, now. Last month I ordered the ForMac Studio, which took 3 weeks to arrive, after I paid $15.00 for express delivery. Now I’ve ordered the iPod, back on Monday, to be shipped priority overnight. Fedex tracking tells me it should be delivered by NEXT Tuesday morning.

I’m sorry, when did “priority overnight” translate to “8 days from now”? I could see it taking 3 days or so: I order it on day 1, they ship it day 2, it arrives day 3. Even 4 days if they miss the cutoff time on day 2, is understandable. But 8 days???

Anyway, there’s my rant. I wish I were seeing David this weekend. But I guess it’s good to have at least one uncommitted weekend each month, and in this case, I have Lauren’s birthday to look after tomorrow night…

Mac Flakyness

Posted in Mac on May 23rd, 2002 by Дмитрий

I’m convinced there’s a bug in OS X which only allows one to use the “Classic” OS 9 environment a certain number of hours or bytes before it fails. First, about 2 months ago, I stopped being able to connect to the internet through any OS 9 application (eg. Dreamweaver) while in Classic mode, which has made my site updates hell without the benefit of an FTP program. Then a few weeks later, I found I was unable to open files in Photoshop . Thus, I’ve had absolutely no luck in my endeavor to re-graphic murderingmouth. Then Monday I found that Canoscan would not work in OS X and I actually had to reboot in OS 9 in order to do some scans for work. Thus, as of today, the only program I’m able to run in Classic mode is Filemaker . Thank god I can still use Filemaker…

I’m not sure if it’s just a cheap ploy to get me to buy the new versions of the software for all programs I’m using, or if my computer just has a nasty bug… Either way, until I stumble onto a bunch of money or a CD with new versions of all my favorite programs magically lands in my lap, there will probably be no more major reworkings to the site… Including the change in the main graphic and navigation which I so much want to do right now…

But like I said, at least I can still use Filemaker. If that goes kaput, I’m taking the thing in to the local Mac doctor for help. Now if only they could help me with the horrible horrible thing which is Yahoo! mail. I thought I was just having a slow week in the email department, but when David informed me that he had sent me 4 emails this week, I got supicious. He tried resending them, but they still never arrived. I can only guess at how much mail I have missed since Monday…

So if you desperately need to get a message to me (or if you thought you sent something and are wondering why I’m ignoring you), you are welcome to use my message board for now, so long as you don’t think the matter is too private (not that Iconsider anything to be all that private on my end). You can continue using the contact form if you have something private to say, but I can’t guarantee it will reach me until I get this email thing straightened out.

Good luck to Amy on her last final of the semester. If I’m not snuggling with my baby on Friday night, I’ll make sure I’m having a wild sober -partying with her.

iMac

Posted in Mac on December 23rd, 2005 by Дмитрий

I’ve decided my next computer will be an iMac. I need a new desktop more than a new laptop, and from everything I’ve seen, the iMac is a better value than the G5 tower. Now I just have to wait until after MacWorld to make sure they don’t do any massive changes or price drops.

“Hi, I’m an Elitist” - “And I’m a Tool”

Posted in Mac on July 3rd, 2006 by Дмитрий

As much as our society pretends to love the geek and the ‘creative class’, there really is a subtle war against genuine geeks and nerds.

I’ve contemplated making a rather caustic journal entry about Americans for the Arts, a group that thinks getting kids interested in art is more important than letting them be interested in things they otherwise latch onto (their commercials specifically attacked kids interested in urban planning and accounting, which is why I took such personal offense).

Now we have good ol’ Apple Computer. Their new commercials also join in on this anti-nerd campaign.

“Hi I’m a Mac”.

“And I’m a PC”.

The commercial which specifically bugs me is the one where the gross metrosexual Mac guy says he does “fun stuff” whilst the geeky corporate PC guy says he *also* does fun stuff like spreadsheets and pie charts and stuff.

The gist of the commercial is to portray the PC guy, who thinks spreadsheets and financials are “fun” as some bad tool of Microsoft, implicitly branding the PC’s preferred geekery as wrong, or at least “uncool.”

I’ve never really been under the illusion that I was cool. But I will say that I’m perfectly happy playing around with spreadsheets, creating budgets and messing around with my personal finances. Excel is one of my favorite programs ever invented, and I use it for personal entertainment almost as much as I do for work.

I do most of this on a Mac. I understand the reason for the campaign is to portray Macs as more fun - which I personally agree they are. However, the campaign is ineffective if it’s method of building such portrayal is by demeaning a legitimate human interest. Just goes to show that even when pop culture makes pretenses at deifying geekery, it’s always a hip, whitewashed and alienating image when actual nerds and geeks come face to face with it and realize, still, that they just don’t belong.

What if we did something like make the Mac guy a white guy who says something like “I’m good at dominating macroeconomics and running multinational corporations” and the PC guy was a black guy who said “And I’m good at basketball and starring as token stereotypes in brainless action movies”, after which the white guy makes some condescending remark about how his professions are more important or morally superior.

I don’t really see much difference between the two scenarios. One is simply more explicit in its portrayal of paternalistic elitism.

Apple’s “Cool”. Ew.

Posted in Mac, creative clASS on April 27th, 2007 by Дмитрий

I am seriously considering switching over to all-Windows products. Why?

Because this never-ending, annoying marketing campaign by Apple has convinced me that if I keep using Apple products I’ll turn into a gross metrosexual hipster who doesn’t know how to use a spreadsheet.

How do these hipsters afford their expensive Mac do-dads when they can’t even stomach doing anything but playing with photos and mp3 files? Since when did Apple become the frontman for denigrating productive, knowledgeable people as too uncool for their products?

MacBook Airhead

Posted in Mac on January 17th, 2008 by Дмитрий

No, actually, I’m not too enticed by an ultra-thin laptop. I’m always scared I’m gonna break my current laptop as it is. I hope Apple doesn’t switch all their portables to this profile over the next few years… It’s icky.

… In any case, I had my last iBook for over 6 years before I replaced it with my new MacBook just last month, so unless my new one’s a total piece of crap or some new chip revolution happens, I doubt I’ll need one any time soon.

iTunes at Mid-Nite

Posted in Mac, Naughty, Travel on May 17th, 2008 by Дмитрий

There really is something just sort of cool-sp00ky-creepy about sitting in an airport at 3am, playing on the internetz and then opening iTunes and seeing the three other people in the terminal who are also obviously doing the same thing, and then snooping through their iTunes library to see what sort of screwed-up tastes they have… And realizing they might be doing the same.

…And then remembering that I’ve got about 30 porn movies in my iTunes library…

iLemming

Posted in Mac on July 12th, 2008 by Дмитрий

Like a lemming, I bought an iPhone yesterday. Unlike a lemming, I didn’t have to wait in line for it. Rather than take time off work to spend hours in line for several days being repeatedly told they’re out of stock on the 16-Black (Apple being notorious for creating intentional supply-chain problems to generate “hype” through false scarcity), I just placed a special order with my local AT&T store and will be getting my phone at my leisure a week or so from now. I can then go into the store a few minutes before closing on the day of my choosing, and the only like I’ll have to wait in is the checkout like, if there is any (which is unlikely).

But I must say I am looking forward to having one device to act as my phone, iPod and voice recorder for my language lessons. Yay for multi-function fun!

iPhone Verdict

Posted in Mac on July 31st, 2008 by Дмитрий

There is lots of digital drool going around about all sorts of ‘problems’ with the iPhone. I just don’t get it.

Yaw, there are some things that the iPhone could theoretically do that it doesn’t. There’s also lots of stuff that most politicians could theoretically do and don’t. The key is recognizing when then things at least do lots of stuff they didn’t do before.

The iPhone kicks ass pretty much in every way imaginable. And this is coming from someone who for the past year has been using a zippy 3G SmartPhone with a web browser and a keyboard and a 2-megapixel camera. If iPhone can impress me, I don’t understand why it can’t impress Joe Mobile who just ditched his crappy monochrome Samsung clamshell.

Basically, iPhone is quite possibly the coolest, most satisfyingly wonderful electronic device I’ve ever purchased.

I’m only ‘sort of’ a gadget person. By this I mean that I likes my gadgets but I don’t necessarily have to always be on the ‘cutting edge’, and I’m usually happy waiting for new technology to be tried out on those with heftier means than I. Thus I went iPhoning at iteration two rather than last year at 1.1. This was done, actually, not just because I did not want to pay to be market research, but also because the month prior to iPhone’s release I’d been forced into the Windows Mobile world (and a 1 year contract) by work. It was nice that it coincided though, coz it made me feel better about holding off on my iPhone splurging.

The thing is like a powerful, beautiful little computer with the most robust audio conferencing software in the world built in, with no attachments required to operate it. iPhone is truly Apple’s Coup de Gras and they deserve everything the hype machine is throwing at them. Not sure they deserve all the whining and complaining that seems more ubiquitous than the praise, but I assume it’s bound to happen. Happleheads are are fickle bunch.

The Fall of the House of Apple

Posted in Mac, Rants on August 13th, 2008 by Дмитрий

It’s been seven years since I bought my first new Mac. Over that time, I’m been a pretty intense Apple fanboy. For the first few years I was repeatedly amazed at the things Apple hardware and software enabled me to do that I didn’t even realize I wanted to do.

My oh my how times change. Just a couple weeks ago I wrote a missive about how pleased I was with the new iPhone. Now I must temper that enthusiasm with a sobering look at how Apple has changed, for the worse, since I started using the OS X suite of affiliated products seven years ago.

Let’s begin with my statement several sentences back: one thing Apple proved itself very adept at early on was opening new markets in useability. Not only did Apple make already-known application types easier to use, it offered up new applications and devices which created their own market. Its innovation was not necessarily in creating the Music-Computer linkup (it didn’t), but in making it usable and fun and creating an integrated and intuitive shopping cart on to of that application (iTunes). Apple’s innovation was not creating a digital music player, but scaling-down the feature set and user interface to make people actually want to use it all the time, and constantly adapting the hardware to complement their own music software, not to mention obtaining a market share which quickly dragged disparate industry interests together and forced them to come up with a new digital music market paradigm.

Read more »

Bye.

Posted in Mac on August 21st, 2008 by Дмитрий

Today whilst exploring some past entries and my hubby’s new databasy site, I discovered that in addition to being buggy, resource intensive, and producing ugly web pages, iWeb apparently enjoys randomly changing the URLs it generates. At the urging of David (and his recent ease at using his new php of choice), I have decided that I am going to make the movement off of iWeb a priority of this time.

iLife is now free to suck my unhip big one.

Good God.

Posted in Mac on September 11th, 2008 by Дмитрий

Does someone at Apple just sit around saying “how can we eliminate the best and most usable features of our software or make it buggier and more resource-intensive?”

iTunes took away the only view I used - album view. I loved that because I like list view but I also like to see the album covers (mainly so I can easily see which albums I’m missing covers for without having to lose the song details and still be able to sort by whatever field I choose).

I’m beginning to consider alternatives