1 Month of 7

So I've been using Windows 7 as my day-to-day OS for over a month now, and as someone who's used every version of Windows since 3.0 (yes, even NT versions), several distributions of Linux, and Mac OS X extensively, I am actually very close to proclaiming Windows 7 as my favorite OS. That's saying a lot considering I love the functionality and stability of Leopard, and the customization options of Ubuntu. Yes, most programs are made for Windows, which makes it arguably the "best" operating system out there, but it's historically been unstable (often due to the huge library of software available) and resource heavy, comparatively. Windows 7 has yet to crash on me, and runs much faster, and lighter, than Vista does on my laptop. I don't have a "high-end" machine to run on (my laptop was Best Buy's Black Friday special last year), so I was constantly frustrated by Vista when run in comparison with Ubuntu and, later, Leopard. While only a pre-beta, 7 has completely surprised me on many levels. As I mentioned in my last post, I was completely prepared to play around with 7 for a few hours on Election Night, and then restore Leopard while asleep. 7 pulled me in, and hasn't let me go as of yet.

Everything runs perfectly, and I've only hit one single compatibility issue while trying to install Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare. I've installed several games, and I was quite surprised that they not only ran without issue, but that they perform on par with gaming on XP. Spore (much to the delight of the kids) runs like a champ, and I've even gone way back and installed Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Of course, Office 2007 runs wonderfully, as does Adobe's CS4 suite of programs. Paint has actually become a staple for when I need do so a quick and easy image edit, and I'm loving the new Calculator.

With the public beta only weeks away, Microsoft looks to be on target for a release sometime between April and August, at the earliest and latest, respectfully. They've been quoted as saying "beta" and "release candidate", not "betas" or "release candidates", implying that they are only planning one beta and one RC before going gold. If the pre-beta is any implication, then they will easily be able to push Windows 7 out on schedule.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my US readers out there, Happy Turkey Day!  I have a couple of posts comin' down the pipeline including a recap of my past few weeks with Windows 7, a cell phone review (UTStarcom Shuttle for Virgin Mobile USA), and a real-world review of the Sony A200 DSLR camera.  But today is dedicated to the grand tradition of putting on some pounds and fighting the turkey-induced nap!  Gobble gobble!

Zune 3.1

Last week, I officially ended the use of my 120GB iPod Classic.  I ended up selling it to someone who could use it more than I, and I'm okay with that.  I'm back to using a Zune again, though this time an 8GB one.  Yes, I could go back to the 80GB, but I want something that fits in my pocket completely comfortably.  It's also forced me to whittle down my music collection to stuff that I really want to take with me, as opposed to everything I have.  The Zune makes it really easy to "vote songs off" by using a simple rating system.  Anything that I rate "broken hearted" automatically gets pulled off the Zune the next time I sync, making space for other songs that I might want to listen too.  Yes, with the iPod, I could create a Smart Playlist that only syncs songs of certain ratings, but this is much simpler and more intuitive.  The move from Leopard to Windows 7 (watch for an update on that soon) also means that I have wifi-syncing capabilities again (something that was broken while using VMWare Fusion under Leopard).  While not as fast as USB syncing, it is REALLY convenient.  Also back is the Zune Pass, allowing me to download any music I want, and opening up the possibilities of The Social.  Picks and Channels give me weekly updated plalists that expose me to new music.

Yesterday, Microsoft suprised us all with a .1 update that, on the surface, added some more games, but also improved syncing of media between the desktop software and the player.  I'm hoping this means that resume points in videos will now sync; I've been watching movies on my Zune 8 lately, and I noticed that when going to the desktop and watching the video, it doesn't resume (like iTunes and iPods do).  Here's Microsoft's official listing, care of Zune Insider:

"Starting today, Zune gets a little update which will bring a handful of free games, a refresh to Zune Social and incremental improvements to the software.
On the games front, we are giving away three new additions, Checkers, Sudoku and Space Battle, plus a new multiplayer mode and single player difficulty levels for Texas Hold’em.
The team also did some great work the Zune Social visual refresh to make it easier to navigate, as well as adding a new feature called “like minded listeners,” which will let you see how compatible your music tastes are with other listeners and friends.
On the more techie side we focused on improving overall stability and performance in the Zune PC software and device firmware, such as improved play count reporting and content synchronization between the Zune software and the Zune device."

 

They also tossed up a few screens of the new games:

   

While I can't speak for Soduku (I've never played it, IRL or on the Zune) or Checkers, Space Battle is insanely fun.  If memory serves me correctly, this is the game that was shown way back when Games for Zune was announced, and a game I've been waiting for.  Anyway, give it all a check out if you have a Zune and haven't updated yet!

 

Along with this announcement, Microsoft also announced a price drop on the flash Zunes (4, 8, and 16 modesl) along with most accessories.  It looks like they might be taking a serous aim at Apple this holiday season!

EDIT:
Microsoft today announced that Zune Pass subscribers will now get 10 free songs a month to keep forever!  If you have a Zune, why would you NOT be a Zune Pass subscriber now?  It greatly enhances the Zune, and you get free music to keep, even if you cancel your membership!  Microsoft is really turning up the heat, and now with 90% (according to them) of their Marketplace library being DRM free MP3 files, they are really positioning themselves to take on the iPod.  So let's recap: in the past few days, Microsoft has: A) updated the firmware for ALL Zunes (even back to first generation 30s), B) dropped the prices on the flash Zunes (4, 8, and 16 models) and most accesories and, C) added incredible value to the Zune Pass subscription. Apple, are you taking notes?  If Microsoft ever makes the Zune Mac (and possibly Linux) compatible, Apple might have a serious problem on their hands...

Windows 7

Tuesday marked not only a historic day for my country, but also the start of what has been a surprisingly wonderful relationship. I wiped my laptop (after creating a perfect copy of my hard drive with Mac OS X Leopard with SuperDuper!) and installed the pre-beta of Windows 7. Now, I'm admittedly a Mac fanboy, and while I've used Windows, with varying degrees of success, in the past, I was not expecting to play with Windows 7 for more than a few hours. I intended to restore my laptop with Leopard while I was sleeping that night. Well, I'm still in Windows. And for all the right reasons.

While an early, pre-beta build, Windows 7 has been extremely stable, fast, and usable for me. I only hit one compatibility issue, ironically while trying to install Microsoft's OneCare anti-virus suite. Other than that, I've installed Office 2007, Photoshop CS4, Lightroom 2.1, Firefox, Trillian Astra, iTunes, and a slew of other programs with no problem. I have yet to have a crash, and Windows 7 is very noticeably faster than Vista, Leopard, and almost even XP!

The UI has undergone some changes since Vista, most notably with the task bar. The task bar works more like a dock now, with only icons residing there; no more text labels for programs. While that might sound like it could get confusing, the genius is that no matter how many windows of a particular program you are running, only one icon shows. As you can see above, multiple "blades" next to an icon represent the number of open windows. Hovering over the icon pops up real-time thumbnails of each window that are selectable. Hovering over each window preview produces a small red X in the right corner, used to close the window without selecting it. This has vastly sped up program switching for me, which, in turn, has increased my productivity.

Aero has undergone a slight tweaking, making it less resource-intensive (translating to better battery life on a laptop) and looking a bit smoother. Personally, I expect it to be visually tweaked some more to match the new task bar, but I could be wrong. Also receiving some MUCH overdue "tweaking" (more of an overhaul), are Paint and Wordpad. Paint actually becomes a usable program for the first time since it's inception; I used it to do the screenshot crops for this article. In addition to retaining it's speed and lightness, it now has adopted the Ribbon interface from Office 2007 along with an arsenal of tools, making it my new choice for quick image edits!

The dreaded UAC (User Account Control) has been toned down so it's not nearly as intrusive as it was in Vista, while still gently providing the guidance needed to keep the user secure.

These are just a few of the things that I've come across that I've found notable. As time goes on, I'll post more about my experiences with Windows 7. I've read several reports out there saying it's very much a pre-beta, not yet near ready to ship. I contend that it could ship very soon (even though it's not going to) for the average user. It's at least as stable as Vista was when it shipped, if not more. It's my day-to-day system for the foreseeable future.

Quick Tip: Aperture and Your iPod

As the launch of Liphart Studios approaches (my first official shoot is tomorrow), I've faced a serious dilema; hard disk space.  I have a 120 GB internal hard drive (down to 5 GB free), and an external 120 GB drive for Time Machine.  I could have wiped the external and used that for photo storage, but I knew that the second I did that, I'd need that backup.  So I researched getting new hard drives, but the money just wasn't there.  The other night, a huge light bulb went off over my head.  My iPod!  For years now, you've been able to use the iPod as a general storage device, just like an external hard drive, by enabling disc use.  I knew this, and I've used it on and off in the past, but hadn't thought about it since I had my iPod Mini.  Anyway, by putting the Aperture Library on my iPod, I have 50 GB of free space to play with for photos.  And it freed up some space on my lappy too.  Here's how to do it:

1) Enable disc use of your iPod through iTunes (in Other Options, under the Summary tab of your iPod in iTunes).

2) Move your Aperture Library to the iPod location of your choice (I chose Photos).

3) Move your computer's copy of the Aperture Library somewhere as a backup.

4) Load Aperture, and if not prompted to locate your library, go to Preferences/General/Library Location and point it to the library on your iPod.

That's it!  Now you  have a portable Aperture Library.  The downside is that you have to have your iPod plugged in to use Aperture, but if you've got a bunch of free space on your iPod, you might as well use it!  Also, if you lose your iPod, you lose your photographs.  Always keep a backup! This tip will also work with iPhoto, and I'm sure other programs as well.

Mini-Review: Sony A200 DSLR

So I finally got my camera.  I had to work with a tight budget, and I ultimately went with the Sony A200.  It's very lightweight, has a great interface (even for someone coming off of Canons for the past 2 years), and is pretty fast for it's price point.  That price point being the $500 entry-level.   For the cost, you don't get a lot of features, and indeed, there are flaws.  The A200's flaw lies in it's noise levels (and bad noise reduction) at higher ISOs.  Going over ISO 800 introduces more noise than one would expect, and the noise reduction causes smearing, especially when you get to 1600 or 3200.  (Shooting RAW helps, but does not eliminative, this issue.)  It does produce very crisp and clear photographs, with reproduction (at lower ISOs) greater than one would expect of a $500 DSLR.  It also comes with a kit lens that ranges 18-70mm, beyond the typical kit lens that only reaches 55mm.  This is great for shooting portraits.  I shoot exclusively in RAW, and the results are wonderful.  It only does 3 frames per second (up to 6 frames total RAW), but I find this to be adequate even for animal shots so far. 

I'm still in the "testing" phase, as I've not had my own DSLR to go wild with before.  I've taken a few cool shots, and a lot of really bad ones!  The shot in this post was taken earlier this afternoon on my property with the A200.  Of course, I processed it a bit to get that result, but you can still see great amounts of detail in the larger size version, which can be seen here if you have a deviantART account. I've also played around with making some HDR (High Dynamic Range) pictures, and the results have been pretty cool.  I'm going to add a sidebar here on the blog so you can track my recent photos and other artwork (for those interested) on my deviantART account .  I did have to laugh a bit at the included software; Sony knows that Mac users already have a management system built in (iPhoto), so the included software is very simple RAW adjustment and conversion tools, nothing more.  I installed the stuff, but I have yet to actually use it since I use Aperture.  I don't foresee the need for it, but you never know.  At any rate, don't expect this blog to become a photo-journal; I'm going to keep it tech based here.  I just wanted to post a very short review of the A200.  And yes, I will probably post about all the cool gadgets I get to go with the camera.

Bose Audio

Tonight, I give you reviews of two Bose products: the Companion 2 Series II desktop speakers, and the In-Ear Headphones. Both have their ups and downs, so let's get to it:

Companion 2 Series II Speakers:

This paired set of speakers is great for the desktop, not requiring even floor space for a subwoofer. Sound is very clear, with excellent bass response, given that there is no subwoofer. These clearly demonstrate to me what I saw on commercials as a kid when they advertised their clock radios; they can give rich, full sound out of small speakers.  They have a second line-in on the rear of the right speaker with RCA jacks, so you can add another sound source. There is also a headphone jack on the front of the right speaker. They're not cheap; we're talking $100, but they are fairly portable, and sound awesome.

In-Ear Headphones:

These took a bit of getting used to for me. I'm more of a drill-it-into-my-ear-canal headphone kinda guy, so it took me a day or so to let these sit in the ear like they're supposed to. The sound is awesome, with great bass response, though I find the noise-canceling feature to be negated by the fact that these don't go into the ear canal. Ambient sound goes right around them. Again, we're talking $100, though in this price range, I'd wager they might be unmatched. The sound is very deep and rich, and once I got used to them, they were very comfortable. They do come with a great lanyard that keeps the headphones around the neck; I LOVE this. I haven't tried the Shure headphones of the same price, so I can't give a comparison. I do think they'll take a hit when the new headphones are released from Apple, but we'll see. I do plan on picking those up, so I'll write a review when I do.

The Switch

So I landed an iPod Classic 120GB. No, I did not purchase it; I won it at a recent event. At any rate, I've decided to give it a go for a while against my Zune 80. I've been using it for a few days now, and I've got some thoughts on it:

Good:
1) I got the black one, and it's pretty slick looking. Years of design have leant the iPod a great, almost natural feel in the hand.

2) The screen is the same resolution as the Zune's, though smaller, so it has a higher pixel-density. This makes everything look gorgeous.

3) iTunes integration is a thing of beauty for me. But do I really need to touch on that?

Bad:
1) No WiFi. This may not seem like a big deal to those who have never had it, but it sucks. I really liked having Zune Marketplace available in the week that I was actively using it.

2) Channels and The Social. I know iTunes has Genius (which is pretty cool to create playlists), but to have a professional DJ create a list that changes and syncs every week is awesome. To have a list of similar listeners and friends that you can see what they're listening to is even more awesome.

3) No subscription. Zune Pass is awesome on more levels than one. WiFi Marketplace, Channels, and The Social are all fully accessible without even plugging in for one price! I really think Microsoft is doing the subscription thing the right way this time. Rhapsody, Napster, and others have all had only flagging success, but The Social takes things to a whole new level.

4) The interface. I really love the "Crossbar" interface the Zune has. It's just more intuitive, in my opinion.

And there are more differences, mostly minor, between the two that I'm not going to dig into. In the long run, I'm not sure which player I'll stick with. While I like the Zune a bit more, 10 GB of dedicated hard drive space for Windows just to use it sucks. It's very tempting to nuke that virtual machine and just use iTunes. Time will tell, as will I in a future blog post.

I can now actually say both players are really nice, and I personally think the Zune edges out the iPod due to it's integration of WiFi and the Zune Pass. That's pretty impressive for someone who's only been in an iPod-dominated marketplace for a few years. Will it kill the iPod? No. Being a little better than the iPod isn't good enough. You have to redefine the arena. And Apple already did that with the iPhone/touch. I hope Microsoft continues with the Zune as it is a great product, but I don't know if it'll garner the market traction before it gets the axe. The question is, how long will Microsoft give it, and how much market share is enough?

Post 50: Zune 3.0 and VMWare Fusion 2.0

50?! Has it really been that many posts? Wow... I've got a double-post tonight: new versions of VMWare Fusion and Zune launched Monday night and Tuesday morning, respectively!

VMWare Fusion 2.0:

As many of you know from reading my previous posts, I run Mac OS X Leopard (hacked to run on my PC laptop). I need Windows for one thing only: my Zune. I love my Zune 80, to the point that I have 10 GB allocated for my XP virtual machine JUST for Zune Desktop. Anyway, while waiting for Zune 3.0 (or Z3, from here on) to launch Monday night, VMWare updated Fusion to 2.0. What does this new version bring? I've noticed some performance upgrades, and it can mirror your user folders (desktop, music, movies, etc) in the Windows' My Documents folders. It also integrates further with Leopard. For example: I downloaded a WMV file with Safari, and it launched inside XP using Windows Media Player. I can also launch Mac Mail from within Internet Explorer if I click an email link. It's kinda nice. Now, Fusion still isn't anywhere near as fast as native Windows is, but for my use, it's fast enough. If I had more RAM or a faster processor, it'd be a whole lot faster, but Ruri (my laptop) has her limitations.

Zune 3.0
I waited a week in high anticipation for Z3, and I was rewarded justly. The launch wasn't the smoothest thing ever; I was unable to purchase a Zune Pass until Tuesday afternoon due to Zune.net lot linking all of its pages properly. It was no MobileMe though. By Tuesday evening, most of the wrinkles were ironed out. Let's start with the Zune Desktop. What's new? Picks is Zune's answer the Genius in the new iTunes. It basically does the same thing as Genius in regards to finding new music. The Mix view of Now Playing is really cool; it lays out a stack of artists and albums that are like what you're listening to that you can visually click through. Channels are new too. With a Zune Pass, it'll download dynamic playlists and songs on a recurring basis for you. I have electronica, rock, and soundtracks channels set up for me. On to the Zune Player! Biggest new thing? WiFi Marketplace. You can now search, browse, purchase, and download music right from the player through WiFi, much like iPod touch or iPhone. Buy from FM is really cool too. The Zune has a built-in FM radio that can pick up track, album, and artist metadata from supported stations. You can queue up the song you're listening to to be purchased and downloaded when you're in WiFi coverage! I love it! Games are also new, but there are only 2 right now. While fun, they don't really blow me away. Also, support for Audible audiobooks has been added, though you have to download those with the Audible application, not Zune Marketplace. There's a few other little things too like the addition of a clock to the home screen, but nothing else big. Oh! Channels and Friends favorites can be updated over WiFi too! With a Zune Pass, this means I can browse and download unlimited songs over WiFi, not to mention have my Channels update without docking too! I wish podcasts could be, but hopefully they'll toss that into 3.5. It should be noted that Z3 is able to installed on ALL Zunes, even the first gen ones. I think that's huge, and it shows awesome support for early adopters. I know it's a pipe dream, but I really wish they'd roll out a Zune Desktop for Mac. You also still can't add art to video files still. See my last post for my tip on doing that. It's literally the only thing keeping Windows floating around on my laptop.

I also moved all of my media to my external hard drive Monday night, freeing up about 80 GB on my laptop to expand my XP virtual machine and improve overall performance. After the move, I formatted the laptop and reinstalled Leopard with a vanilla (as "unhacked" as possible) install to clear up some compatibility issues I was running into. It was a busy night! lol

Quick Zune Tips

So Zune 3.0 is coming out next week. Not only does this mean new Zunes, but it also means a software update for existing hardware out there. I thought I'd toss out a couple cool tips as we near the launch of Z3:

1) Adding Poster/Case Art to Videos: If you're like me, you've loaded up your Zune movies. Coming to Zune from an iPod touch, I really despised the fact that Zune Desktop doesn't allow you to modify the video file to add "album art". Ironically enough, iTunes is my work around. To do this, you'll need to add the video file to your iTunes library. This is easy enough if you aren't converting to WMV. I convert my files to MP4s or M4Vs with Quicktime, so it's compatible with both iTunes and Zune. Anyway, once imported, you can right click the file in iTunes and go to "Get Info". Go to Album Artwork and past in your artwork. As long as Zune Desktop is monitoring the folder the video file is in, it'll reflect the album artwork. From there, I right click the file in Zune Desktop, click "Edit", and input the type, release date, and summary info. It makes for a much nicer (and more "official") experience when using your Zune.

2) DVD Quality to TV: This tip actually made me feel stupid when I figured it out. Be warned, it'll make purchased videos take up more space! In Zune Desktop, go to Settings. Click on Device, and Conversion Settings. Under Video, click "Optimize video for TV output". This is turned off by default, and you'll notice a huge bump in quality when viewing your purchased videos on your TV.

And there you have it. A couple quick tips for working with video on your Zune. Perhaps 3.0 will allow you to natively add album art to videos, negating tip #1. We'll see Tuesday! If you have any other Zune tips, drop me a comment!

Podcasts

In my job, I spend literally hours on end each day in the car. I long ago bored of listening to just music, and the radio in my car doesn't work, so I can't listen to talk radio. When I had my iPod touch, I listened to audiobooks. When I gave that up, I was using my Sansa Connect, which couldn't listen to audiobooks. Upon getting my Zune 80 a few months ago, I decided to give podcasts a go. The Zune software made it easy to find, add, and manage podcasts, and I found a couple that sounded good. I started with the Tech Guy netcast, with Leo Laporte, and the ForceCast. I was hooked. I currently listen to 21 podcasts! And yes, I spend enough time in the car to keep current on all of them.

So what is a podcast? Think of it as a recorded talk radio show centered around a specific genre. The shortest ones I listen to are 15 minutes long, while the longest can be upwards of two and a half hours. Mine primarily center around technology (go figure) and Star Wars (I am a dork, after all). I also have several horse-related shows in there too. But you can find podcasts ranging from childcare, to cooking, to security, and everything in between. I just came across a hospital one and a philosophy podcast. It's awesome, and a great way to stay current with news and knowledge. And you're not limited to audio; there are plenty of video podcasts out there too. I subscribe to several G4TV podcasts that highlight shows that I don't get to watch (since I don't get G4). Podcasts auto-update, so you get new stuff every time you sync. They require no maintenance beyond adding, and perhaps removing, the podcast.

Podcasts (or netcasts, as they're called on the TWiT network) have really made my commute an enjoyable part of my job. I actually look forward to longer rides now, just so I can listen to more podcasts. If you've never listened to a podcast, give it a go. Jump into iTunes (or whatever you media management software) and find the podcast section. Add a couple, and give it a week to see how it all works. They require no maintenance beyond adding, and perhaps removing, the podcast.

If you listen to podcasts, which ones are your favorite?

New Web Address & Clone Wars Review

First off, I've moved the blog to it's own domain name: www.TechyRamblings.com. The reason is obvious as it is the title of this blog. It really needed it's own site, but there is a greater reason. As some of you know, I live on a horse farm. We are starting a breeding business with Arabian horses (with the Khemosabi++++// line, for those who know what I'm talking about), and need a website for said business. Instead of paying for a new MobileMe account, I took Liphart.com down to make way for www.TreasureGroveArabians.com. MobileMe only allows for one website per hosting plan, and the business took precedence. Don't worry, there won't be any horse posts, unless there's some really cool tech in the horse world (which I have yet to come across). lol

A couple of weeks ago, I told you to keep an eye out for a Star Wars: The Clone Wars review. Well, it took a bit longer for me to get to see it (due to 4 horses coming in last weekend), but I finally did. First off, yes, it's animated, and yes, it's targeted a bit younger than the other films. But it is VERY well done, to the point that I almost like it more than the other prequels. Anakin finally feels like a person, not a stiff actor. For the first time, well, ever, on screen, I actually believed Anakin. Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen (and Mat Lucas in the cartoon series) all portrayed Anakin in what I felt was a very flat, emotionless way. Even in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin felt overly dramatic in his anger and rage. Matt Lanter breathes a breath of fresh air into Anakin and makes him feel like a real, believable person, despite the fact that he's computer generated. On that note, the CG is great. I'd put it in the TMNT category of realistic-caricature style. You don't have individual hair and follicle rendering, like in Final Fantasy, but it's still quite enjoyable. You may remember the Cartoon Network Clone Wars series a few years back, and the movie does take some character design cues from it. Palpatine is a prime example of this. Anakin is at the other extreme, sharing almost no traits with his Cartoon Network analogue. The voices are spot-on this go-round too. I've already mentioned Matt Lanter as Anakin, but James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan is phenominal. He's a perfect voice match for Ewan McGregor to the point that until I found out it wasn't Ewan, I was convinced it was. He also voiced Obi-Wan in the Cartoon Network series. Returning to reprise their roles are Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu), and Anthony Daniels (C3PO). Tom Kane voices Yoda as he did in the Cartoon Network series. The story line is pretty cool, kicking off with a great battle and a surprise for Anakin. This surprise (for the viewer as well) takes the form of a Padawan for him. Ahsoka Tano (excelently voiced by Ashley Drane) is a witty 14 year old who keeps Anakin on his toes in much the way he keeps Obi-Wan on his. I'm not going to delve into any details so as to not spoil anything, but it turns out to be a great story. Also, I got the soundtrack the day it came out, and I have to say, I wasn't that enthused by it at first. In fact, I didn't like it all that much until I saw the movie. In that context, it's is an excellent soundtrack; very militaristic. It should be noted that this movie is not a stand-alone production. This is the "pilot episode" for the Clone Wars TV series that kicks off this fall. But even on it's own, it's a great movie, and one that I will see over and over.

While only loosely tech-related (it is CGI), I did want to write a review. I'll try not to toss out movie reviews very often, I promise!

PSP Review

So in going through some old boxes out in the garage, I made a startling discovery: a PSP with a couple movies and a game. Where they came from, I have no idea. I have a few theories, but they all date back to before I left my ex-wife (it was in a box that I had never gone through before). At any rate, I've wanted one for years, and though it isn't the nice, slim 2000 version, it's still pretty damn cool. I haven't hacked it for homebrew simply because it seems to be a daunting and time-consuming task. It serves me just fine right now anyway.

For the movies, I have Final Fantasy: Advent Children and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (AKA Knocking on Heaven's Door). They look great on the screen, and while I wish they had special features, the chapter stops alone make them better than ripped movies. On to the games!

LocoRoco is INSANELY addictive. From the gameplay to the music, I can't put it down. You have a little fat ball guy that eats things to get fatter and can split into smaller guys. You can then reconstitute into the big guy again. You don't move him at all; you move the world. Using the L and R keys, you tilt the world. Use them both to "flick" the world, effectively making him jump. I know it sounds bizarre, and it is at first. But if you have a PSP and haven't picked up this game, put it on your list. For those that have ever played Katamari, you'll fall in love with this blatantly Japanese game in the same way.

I also have Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. Now, admittedly, I haven't played FFVII, but I do love Final Fantasy games. I know the story line to the original FFVII and have watched Advent Children several times. Crisis Core takes place prior to the original game, and feeds into a lot of the backstory. The controls are intuitive for any Final Fantasy gamer, and the graphics are great. My one gripe is the lack of turn-based combat. While it does enhance the game somewhat, I am very used to being able to put the game down for a couple of minutes without getting my a$$ handed to me in the interim. lol Pausing works just fine, but it's something I'm having to get used to. I highly recommend this game for any Final Fantasy fan with a PSP (though you probably already have it).

Well, that's it for the reviews this post. Watch next weekend for a Clone Wars review; I'll be seeing the new Star Wars flick this Friday when it comes out! I can't wait!

Overdue Review: Aperture 2

I'm a huge fan of Apple's iLife suite, and as a longtime user of iPhoto, I wanted something along those lines when I started doing more serious photography.  iPhoto worked for some stuff (and it's gotten more powerful), but I needed something professional grade.  I first used Aperture when it was originally released at version 1.  At the time, I didn't feel quite comfortable, and the interface wasn't intuitive enough for me.  I moved on and tried other solutions, such as Lightroom, never really finding what I wanted.  With the release of Aperture 2, I decided to give it a more serious go, making myself sit down with some tutorials.  Aperture 2 was a big step up from 1 for me.  I'm very comfortable using it, the interface makes sense, and the tools are powerful.  Adjustments are a snap, the stacks work very well for organization, and importing couldn't be easier.  I quickly learned to take command of even the most difficult of tasks, and I'm still learning more every time I use the program.  As with most professional photography programs, all edits are reversible, and the original is never changed.  Aperture also supports 3rd party plugins, which greatly extends it's ability.  You can also create dynamic web galleries with MobileMe.  I have a feeling that most Mac photographers out there are already using (or have at least tried) Aperture, so I won't make an appeal for you to do so unless you haven't already.  With a free trial, there's nothing to lose.  Aperture costs $199 (or $99 for upgrading from Aperture 1).  www.Apple.com/Aperture

Overdue Review: Pixelmator

For those on Mac (or Hacs, as I am) looking for a Photoshop alternative, you should check out Pixelmator. While it's not quite on par with full Photoshop, it loads fast, has a very familiar (and gorgeous) interface, and is quite powerful with it's use of Core Graphics and Quartz Composer.  It works so well, in fact, that in the past 2 weeks of being back on Leopard, I have yet to install Photoshop.  Pixelmator has easily covered what I've needed.  That's not to say that I won't need to install Photoshop, but I haven't even felt the twinge yet to do so.  It runs smooth, fast, and the menu structure is very familiar for any Photoshop user.  The latest release (1.2.2, as of this writing) added a cool new gradient feature that allows you to see in real-time the gradient you are creating.  It is fully compatible with PSD files created in Photoshop (at least, all the ones I've opened), and it's use of Quartz Composer for certain filters actually extends some of it's functionality beyond that of Photoshop's.  I highly recommend that any digital artist give Pixelmator a go; they have a 30 day trial available.  Pixelmator costs $59 (well below even Photoshop Elements).  www.Pixelmator.com

Zune Up and Running

I finally got my Zune working with Leopard after two days of setup.  First, I couldn't find my XP disc, then I couldn't find the sync cable (I used the A/V dock to charge and wirelessly sync with Vista).  Then the Zune software wouldn't install until after I installed SP3.  Then it wiped my Zune and resynced all my music, pictures, and videos since the directory wasn't where it expected it to be.  That took all freakin' night since virtualized Windows isn't nearly as fast as native Windows.  It's just finishing up downloading all my podcasts and syncing them.  I guess now that it's set up, it probably won't be such a pain in the future.  I do lose my wireless sync capability, and simply plugging in the Zune won't crank up the software (unless XP is already running), but if I run a sync a couple of times a week, I should be able to keep up with all my podcasts.  I would say that I want an iPod again, but the convenience of it wouldn't be worth it.  I have more than enough room on my Zune, and I like the interface better.  Not to mention, the dock works a LOT better than the iPod's in that it has an on screen display for the TV.  Yeah, I had to kill 5 GB of hard drive space for XP, but I really do like the Zune more than the iPod.

Giving Thanks

There are two things in modern computer technology that I am truly, honestly thankful for: Live CDs and Time Machine.  While attempting a system update yesterday, right after transferring all my documents and media off of my external hard drive, my infant son smacked the keyboard, somehow freezing the computer in the update process.  This wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I hadn't wiped the external drive in anticipation of creating a Time Machine backup after the update.  The system wouldn't boot, and I had killed my backup not 10 minutes earlier.  5 years worth of documents, photos, music, and video, gone.  Or so I thought.

After about 20 minutes of freaking out, I realized that I might be able to gain access to my files through my Ubuntu CD.  I popped the CD in and booted into the Live CD.  I elated realized that I could see my hard drive, and the folders contained within.  But upon going into my home directory, I was blocked access (as I was hoping to avoid).  Another few minutes of sweating bullets, and then I remembered how to get sudo file access through the terminal.  After entering the requisite commands, I was given the ability to see the files.  Upon trying to copy the individual folders (Documents, Music, Movies, Photos), I was told that I didn't have that access.  This is where I really started to panic, as I was out of the options I knew.  After a few minutes, I just tried to copy the entire home directory to the external drive, and was rewarded with an hour of glorious file transfer.

After that, I reinstalled Leopard and copied all of my media over.  I did a Time Machine backup as soon as that was complete (a freakin' 4 hour process, for some reason), and then went ahead with my system updates, application installs, etc.  Now, as I'm running a Hacintosh, I can't do the Apple Combo Updates from Software Update as most do.  I have to use specially formulated Combo Updates just for us Mac-on-PC types.  Well, the update for 10.5.3 (I'm installed at 10.5.2) has repeatedly bricked my install.  Time Machine has saved my ass multiple times in the past few days, and allowed me the flexibility to trial and error a wifi issue without worrying about reinstalling.  A full restore from my Time Machine takes about an hour, whereas installing the system, copying files, installing updates, and installing applications takes around 6-8 hours.  I love Leopard and Time Machine.  In my opinion, it's the best backup system out there.

So what's the moral of this story?  Don't ever wipe your backup and install a system update while holding an infant in your lap.  You WILL regret the results.  Trust me.

Another Byte of the Apple

Working in Ubuntu, and my last post that I made, got me wondering how development of Leopard was going on my particular laptop model.  Come to find out, some of the bugs (ie. the dragon breath from the vents in the laptop) were fixed.  Since I already had all of my media and documents on an external hard drive, I created a third partition (well, fourth if you count the Linux swap partition) and gave it a go again.  Following very specific installation instructions, I successfully booted into a working version of Leopard, sans the the stovetop/keyboard.  I killed Vista and, slightly sadly, Ubuntu to clear the whole hard drive for Leopard.  Now, it's not to say I'm without issues; as I always had to before, I have to boot with the DVD in the drive.  I'm not sure what I've always done wrong in that regard, but it's a non-issue in my book since I'm so used to it.  I also had no wifi, which meant piggybacking off my wife's PowerBook through ethernet.  Of course, this cut both of our connection speeds, so I worked diligently today to restore wifi.

Try as I might, I could find nothing on how to fix my particular model's wifi.  It was supposed to work "out of the box", but for some reason, it wasn't for me, nor the person who I copied the install instructions from (we did install all available networking options, so it wasn't for lack of trying).  I eventually broadened my search to look for similar wifi chips and how to enable those.  Still nothing useful.  I eventually pieced together enough parts of the puzzle to realize that a driver within a driver was missing.  The only way to get that was to download a huge system update file from Apple, crack it open, and individually install just that single file.  After rebooting, I was up and running on wireless.  It felt good to troubleshoot and solve a problem on my own (though it was an afternoon full of trial and error). Frustrating as it was, it was pretty damn cool to fix a problem that hadn't been specifically fixed before.

So I'm back in Leopard, where I'm completely comfortable, with the programs that I love.  While not as extensive as Vista, or as customizable as Ubuntu, Leopard is fast, reliable, and does exactly what I want it to do.  Call me an OS Switcher, but barring any unforseen future mega-issues, I'm going to stick with OS X on my PC laptop.  Yes, I have a Zune, and that won't work with Mac OS X, but I do own a license for VMWare Fusion and I have a full copy of XP Pro laying around gathering dust.  And that'll be my Zune solution.  With PocketMac for my BlackBerry, I'm all set!

Aaaaand, we're back. Kinda...

Back to Ubuntu.  Well, okay, not completely.  I still have a heavy dependency on Office and Photoshop.  Not to mention, my Zune and Blackberry won't sync with Ubuntu...

A couple of days ago, I realized my hard drive was down to 6 GB free due to my media usage.  Yeah, not cool.  So I killed my backup drive and moved all my documents and media to it (since that's all that truly matters in a backup anyway).  That left me with 66 GB free to do with what I want.  I toyed with the idea of installing Leopard again, but I can't remember the settings I used to get it to run like I did, I don't have a Time Machine backup anymore, and most importantly, it threatened to make my lappy spontaneously combust at a moments notice.  Having not tried Ubuntu beyond the Live CD since it hit 8.04, I decided to give it a 20 GB slice.  With all my documents and media on an external hard drive, I have full access to it within Linux too.

I just wish that Microsoft would get off it's high horse and support Linux, or at least the major distros (such as Ubuntu) with it's software.  I know there are Office alternatives, such as OpenOffice.org, but none have the full functionality or ease of use that I get with Microsoft Office.  Compatibility with Office-created documents is pretty good, but not all there.  The same goes with Photoshop.  Yeah, there's Gimp, and it's good, but it's no Photoshop.  Without getting into the intracacies of building software to be compatible with a totally different code-base, I do understand why Microsoft and Adobe don't support such a minor percentage of the OS population.  But it would be really nice to kick Windows to the curb permanantly.  Yes, I could do that with Leopard, but considering the actual, physical risk it poses to my laptop, it's not really worth it.  Now, when someone get's it running with no heat issues and all the hardware working, I'll be there in a heartbeat.

And we haven't even talked about the Zune (which is Windows only) or my BlackBerry (which will sync with either Vista or Leopard).  Apparently Linux folk don't touch the Zune.  I've only found a few references to people asking questions on forums in regards to that.  There's Barry for the BlackBerry, but it's command-line only right now, and I haven't actually gotten it to work.  Not to mention, MobileMe only syncs with Outlook (or Mail, Address Book, and iCal in Leopard), so I lose my cloud-sync without those avenues.  Again, I wish Apple would expand support, but I seriously doubt they'd do that.  The only 2 big programs they've done for outside of OS X are iTunes and Safari.  Neither of those have a Linux package.

All that being said, I know I seem like a habitual OS switcher.  And no, I don't like Ubuntu just because it's an alternative to Windows.  As much as I sometimes complain about Windows and my preference to alternatives such as Leopard and Ubuntu, I don't really hold that much beef with it.  It's a good, stable operating system (yes, even Vista).  Is it bloated?  Yeah.  Does it run slower than I think it should (especially considering how fast Ubuntu and Leopard run on the same hardware)?  Oh yeah! 

But it does everything I need it to do.  It has Office and Photoshop, so I can't cut the chain that binds me to it.  Leopard gets me away from it, but binds the laptop to a desk with fans.  Ubuntu is fast, streamlined, and super-customizable, but lacks the few programs that I really need.  So until the alternatives get better, or I get more used to them, I dual-boot.  But Ubuntu is my primary system, while Windows is there for my Zune, Blackberry, and a few programs.  In fact, I'll be logging into Vista in a few to clean out some programs that I won't use anymore...

Why I Don't Want an iPhone

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the new iPhone launched yesterday.  Honestly, I've been more immersed in it's sister service, MobileMe.  But if you're a reader here, you know my thoughts on that.  Horrible launches aside, my interest in the iPhone has been mediocre at best for the past week.  Last week, I got a BlackBerry Pearl (8100), and I haven't looked back.  Let me preface this by saying that push email hasn't been anything new to me for years now.  When Gmail launched (well, I guess it's still in perpetual beta, but that's another discussion), I set my emails to forward to my MMS account on my phone.  As soon as I got an email, boom, it was on my phone.  So the push email isn't all that amazing to me as I set up a push system years back.  Nor is the organizer function; on my Nokia phones, I've set them to sync calendars, tasks, and contacts.  Full web browsing?  Opera Mini.  So what is so cool that it has quelled my desire for the coveted iPhone?  The tight integration of everything is one thing.  Background application processes are another (Viigo, my RSS reader, grabs feeds without even being open, for example).  It all just works.  SureType was something I thought I would abhore, but it's actually turned out to be very intuitive, much moreso than the iPhone's keyboard (remember, I had an iPod touch for a few months).  Everything is fast, easy, and overall smooth.  There's a ton of 3rd party support out there, so I can get an app to do just about anything I need.  It has some seriously fast EDGE performance; I've had several EDGE phones, and none have even come close to this speed.  Media functions?  The Pearl can do that, but I have my 80 GB Zune to cover me on that front anyway.

Now, spec for spec, the iPhone beats out the Pearl.  I don't begrudge that at all.  And one day, I might pick up one on the cheap, but I don't have any desire for one anymore.  My Pearl is almost perfect; it's gold, which is fugly, but I got it second hand, and I'll be ordering an OEM black housing kit next week to fix that!  My Pearl has become my connection due to it's tight integration of everything I need on the go.  No longer am I jury-rigging a push email solution, proxying internet through Opera Mini (though I do have that installed for some things), and digging through a menu structure to get to my calendar.  And now that MobileMe syncs with my Outlook, I can keep all of my information "in the cloud" and my calendar synced with with my wife's computer.  I love my BlackBerry, and honestly, my next phone will either be a newer Pearl (I'd love onboard GPS), Bold, or I'll hold out for a Thunder.

The MobileMe Fiasco

I, like many, have been very excited about MobileMe since it was announced (see past post about it).  I've been eagerly waiting for the new features to transform .Mac into something really useful.  Wednesday, we were told that the transition would occur between 6P and 12A (starting at 9P my time) Thursday night.  Come Thursday, that was pushed to 8P.  Friday morning rolls around, and still nothing (I was able to hit the login screen once, but was kicked to Apple's MobileMe marketing site after that).  Those of us on Windows (I know, as a .Mac subscriber, I'm in the minority) weren't told at all how to integrate MobileMe.  Come to find out, after installing iTunes 7.7, it puts a Control Panel under the Network settings.  So without the new web apps to play with, I download and install 7.7.  Now, on the .Mac status page, it explicitely states at this point that web apps are not working, but that syncing is up.  After cranking up the new MobileMe control panel, I input my username and password and I'm promptly told that the MobileMe service cannot be connected to.  This didn't work until last night, almost 24 hours after the supposed deployment.  Web apps had limited functionality; I could get into my Mail (which is awesome, but REALLY needs a Reply To setting), iDisk, and Gallery (which again, is awesome).  I couldn't get to my Contacts until today, and Calendar is still really flaky.  I got a BlackBerry Pearl (8100) last week, and while I know MobileMe doesn't support it, I do religiously sync it with Outlook, which syncs with MobileMe.

Which brings me to my next sticking point; Tiger integration.  My wife has a 12" PowerBook G4 with Tiger on it, and I still can't get her synced.  All I want is for her to have instant access to my calendar through iCal, and though the .Mac panel shows me as logged in with a verified password (I even have iDisk access), it gives me an error when clicking on the sync tab that ".Mac login failed".  I did some research, and a TON of people on forums are hitting this same issue, though again, there's nothing about this issue on the MobileMe status page.  Wanting to hear some encouraging "we know, we're working on it" response, I hit up the MobileMe support chat.  The rep walked me through resetting this, deleting that, and creating that before she finally said she'd submit a ticket.  How hard is it to regurgitate a canned "We're working on that known issue" response?  Don't tell me Apple doesn't know about this.  There are still a lot of people on Tiger, and they list 10.4.11 as the supported version of Tiger (which she is).  Just acknowledge the issue, say you're working on it, and swallow your pride.  Ignoring the issue (even if only publicly) will NOT fix it.  It only angers people.  I know I'm pissed.

And it wouldn't matter so much if it wasn't a PAID service.  I pay for this.  While I love that they are making it worth the $99 a year, there shouldn't be such a big gap in service.  And I know that the reason this deployment has been a clusterf*ck has been them rushing to get the new iPhone ready and out the door, but they've even managed to botch that, I hear.  It's rediculous that a company as large as Apple could, and would, hype something (in this case, 2 somethings) so much, and then not be prepared when they said they would be.  Yeah, in a couple of days, this stuff will all be smoothed out, but they predicted it would be a 6 hour deployment of MobileMe (in order to be ready when the new iPhones went live).  We're a day and a half later, and stuff still doesn't work right.  There's a lot of people in Cupertino working extra hours this weekend, that's for sure.  Let's just hope they get it together and figure this out...

EDIT: If you're on Tiger and having the same issue, search in Finder for all files that contain "dotmac".  For me, it brought up 3 files.  Send those to the trash, empty the trash, restart, and try syncing again in System Preferences.  Worked for me!  I wish Apple would publish this fix; I found it on a support forum.

MobileMe

So the iPhone 3G was all over the news this past week, and people just can't wait to get their hands on one. Along with that, Apple announced that the new firmware 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch will go live June 27th. But I want to talk about the other announcement Apple pumped out: MobileMe.

At it's core, MobileMe is "Exchange for the rest of us". The .Mac rebrand will keep your Mac, PC, iPhone, and iPod touch all synced wirelessly through an Exchange-like server. Add a contact to your iPhone and it will be pushed to Address Book on your Mac and Outlook on your PC. Update your calendar in Outlook at work, and iCal at home will reflect that, as will your iPod touch. This all happens automatically (after the initial setup, of course) and within seconds.

I'm so excited about MobileMe that I switched from using Windows Live Mail, Windows Calendar, and Windows Contacts to Outlook 2007. Having never really used an address book or calendar program much before a few months ago, I always thought Outlook was a bit bulky of a program for me. Now, it will make total sense as I do keep track of my work schedule and contacts on my laptop. Windows Calendar and Contacts are great little programs, but wrapping it all up into one program that will be able to be worked with from any computer with an Internet connection is perfect.

Also new and of note is the new web interface. Here, you will have access to all the MobileMe features, including Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Gallery, and iDisk. When I had to switch to Vista from Mac OS X last month, I lamented the loss of iLife. I loved the feature of iPhoto and Aperture to post dynamic galleries to .Mac. Well, now I will have that ability again through the web interface for MobileMe. The Gallary section allows you to upload, label, and organize multiple galleries that look just like they came from iPhoto. I don't expect this to be as zippy as iPhoto or Aperture, but I have yet to find a gallery builder that I like the results as much. Through the web interface, you can also access your iDisk with a drag and drop interface, much like Finder. This is a HUGE improvement over the web access for iDisk as it stands now. You will also be able to access iDisk through Finder (as you always have) and Windows Explorer (which you can do if you use the iDisk utility every time you start up) without having to run any programs. Again, another huge improvement.

.Mac was never intended to be used with Windows, and with the advent of the iPhone (and iPod touch), it needed to be changed. Obviously, as I just had to switch from Leopard to Vista, I'm very excited about the functionality that I will regain. I did just sell my iPod touch (it was a great tool, but one that was proving to be more of a distraction than an asset), but when I eventually get an iPhone (and it will happen), MobileMe will be waiting.

Digsby

If you're a regular visitor (I don't think anyone is, but just in case), you might notice a new addition to the sidebar to your right there: Digsby. "What is Digsby?" you might ask. That little guy is a multi-protocol instant messaging system, similar to Trillian, Pidgin, and Adium. It's got a few different features that are geared more towards the "social" aspect of the web: Facebook IM, MySpace IM, and Twitter. It can also check your email for you. Add to that the standard AIM/Yahoo!/MSN/Jabber/etc, and you have a neat little package. Not too bad on the system resources either. Definitely not as bad as Trillian, or AIM itself. Now, back to the little guy on the right: that'll get you right in touch with me if I'm online, and it's an official widget right off the Digsby homepage. Pretty cool, if you ask me. Yeah, not much of a real update, but I thought I'd give a little explanation to the change.

Back to the Dark Side

So I'm back to Vista on Ruri. No, I do not hate Mac OS X or think that Vista is better in any way, shape, or form, other than one: Ruri doesn't spontaneously combust under Vista. She ran so hot under Leopard (and yes, I tried different kernels) that she was no longer useful as a laptop. If I took her off the USB chillpad, she shut down within several minutes. Yeah, it was bad. Dual-boot, you say? Well, I ran that route for a couple of days before my iTunes library and photo library became so corrupted that Mac OS X actually refused to start, while Vista was droppin' BSODs like they were going out of style. It was bad. So, alas, I had to give up the ghost and go groveling back to the feet of the Vista gods. Am I happy about it? No, I MUCH preferred Leopard and it's speed and abilities. I mourn the loss of iLife (I'll be using my wife's Powerbook to do what I need to do with it for photo galleries and website work). I miss the stability (though, since going exclusively Vista, I have yet to hit any more BSODs). Ah well, at least my iPod touch runs Mac OS X, right?

Review Roundup: Apple Edition

So after a long hiatus (I recently moved, among other things), I'm back with a few reviews.

First up is the iPod touch. I won an 8 GB touch through work, and I love it. While I wouldn't mind more storage, this thing is far and beyond an MP3 player. In fact, I would put it somewhere between an iPod and a PDA (though not below either). Aside from the cool multi-touch interface that's been written about a million times, the screen is gorgeous and it has a bevy of PDA functions. With Address Book and iCal syncing, I have full access to all my contacts and the ability to work with my schedule on the fly. The calculator has become indispensable for my work, and I'm really looking forward to it's upgrade in the 2.0 firmware. The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but it auto-corrects better than I expected (even puts the apostrophe in contractions for you), so it's actually very fast. The sound is on par for an iPod (duh), and the video experience is wonderful. I picked up a dock and composite cables for my 52 inch (non-HD) TV and it's great to watch my movies through it. That big, you would expect to see degradation of the video quality, but since I'm not HD yet, it looks fine. I also picked up the Apple iPod In-Ear Headphones as my $60 Sony buds had distortion on the bass-end. They were a solid investment at $40, and very comfortable to boot. So what's missing? I would have liked to see Bluetooth ,even if only A2DP, as there are now lower-end MP3 players out there with it (Best Buy's Insignia line, for example). Built-in speakers would be wonderful too; there are plenty of MP3 players and PDAs with speakers. I also would have liked to seen a camera; again, there are PDAs out there with it. There are valid reasons for those omissions, most notably that those are draws to the iPhone. And most people would never use those things on an iPod anyway. But it's a great device that has certainly made my life simpler, if not easier.

Next is Apple's aluminum keyboard. Now, I went with the wired version because I can't stand not having a 10-key setup to work with numerically. I thought that I would have to get used to it's low profile (the thing is barely thicker than my iPod touch), but I had no "learning curve" at all. The tactile feedback is perfect; the keys click perfectly with not too much or too little pressure. It has built in keys for Expose and Dashboard, as well as media and volume controls. It also has an Eject key. While it has brightness controls, those don't work for me and my Hacintosh (hardly surprising). It also has two USB ports on the bottom side of the keyboard; in fact, these act as the keyboard stand to give it a little angle. While plugging in my iPod touch gave me a Low Power warning box, I have my tiny Kensington USB Mini Bluetooth adapter plugged in with no problem (it's so small, in fact, that you can't even tell it's there). It is a great keyboard; better than I expected given that I just wanted a non-Windows-key keyboard.

Finally, we have the Wireless Mighty Mouse. I must say, I was skeptical at first of the scroll-ball, but I've come to love it. 360 degree scrolling is wonderful in Photoshop, Pixelmator, Illustrator, and even iTunes and Safari. My last mouse did have horizontal scroll, but this is a whole new ball game. It's funny to think that something like that could impact my workflow so much, but it has. While the Mighty Mouse may look like a 1 button mouse, it's actually got 4. You have your right click and left click, of course, but you also have your 3rd button with the scroll-ball (which takes some getting used to as the whole mouse clicks when you use it) and the 4th as a squeeze to both sides at once (again, takes a bit of getting used to). All the buttons are user-mappable. It's a fairly comfortable design (it is based on their tried-and-true mouse design), but it doesn't quite stand up to some of the more ergonomic mouses I've used in the past. On the wireless side, it uses Bluetooth, so there's not any interference with anything else, and it stays connected very well. Overall, it's a good mouse. It's one-click design, but 4 button functionality, takes a bit of getting used to, but the scroll-ball makes that curve well worth it.

Motorola MOTOROKR S9

So I stopped in my local T-Mobile store the other day to fix a small account issue (I ended up with a month of free service too!) and saw that they had dropped the prices on some of their Bluetooth headsets. I've been wanting a stereo Bluetooth headset for my Nokia 5300 for a while, but didn't want to drop almost a hundred bucks on one. They had the S9 on sale for $49.99 and I jumped all over it. I have to say, I was quite surprised; it completely surpassed what I had expected. It looks a bit uncomfortable, especially when you're handling it, but once on your head, you almost forget about it after a while (as you should with any headset, in my opinion). The "earbuds" aren't actually earbuds as they're designed to sit right over the ear canal, but with the right sized bud covers (three sizes are included), they deliver pretty good sound. Not necessarily thumping bass, but it's loud and clear, with decent low ranges. It's actually just if good, if not better, than my canal-phones sound when connected to the headset port (via the included adapter). This tells me the lack of deep low ranges is more a limitation of the phone's output than the headphones. The right side has the music controls while the left contains call controls and volume. While music plays from both sides, calls are only heard on the left side, which takes some getting used to if you're used to a single headset on the right side. I have no clue where the microphone is, but I have yet to have any complaint from callers about being able to hear me. They're rated at about 6 hours of music-time and 8 hours of talk-time, though I haven't pushed those envelopes. They're a great buy at $50 if you're lookin' for some wireless stereo headphones.

*It should be noted that Motorola has recently released the S9-HD with SRS-WOW technology, which I'm sure is the reason for the price drop. They are exactly the same design, just with enhanced sound.

.Mac and iLife Integration/Google Apps

So I bit the bullet and sprung for a .Mac account for my photography site. I had been using the .Mac trial for the past 60 days to back up settings and host a small gallery, so I knew what I was buying into. And I have to say, I'm very happy with it. iWeb is a great, simple, and fast program for building a website, and with 1-button publishing, updating my site couldn't be easier. With iPhoto, I can create any number of slick looking galleries (anyone seen the cool Carousel gallery feature?) and keep them free-standing, integrate them into my site (via iWeb), or even create users/passwords for individuals to access private galleries. I can do the same thing through Aperture for my professional photography (I manage my personal pictures through iPhoto and professional ones through Aperture). This feature will be great when I launch my photography company. I'll be able to go to an event with cards that have a generic username and password and pass that out so people can access the event's pictures. Or, I can take e-mail addresses and send out specific usernames/passwords to each person so they can see only their own pictures. It's all so simple to do, super-fast with 1-click uploading, and the results look great! Add to that, you can use your own domain name for your .Mac site, and it's suddenly very professional too. I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface of what I can do with iLife and .Mac; I can't wait to see what else is in store as I dig deeper!

Google Apps is something I've been playing around with for a while now (in fact, I purchased my domain with GoDaddy through them), and it's been indispensable. I have Gmail with my own domain name (which forwards a copy of every email to my cell phone instantly), a nice looking start page, and an online calendar (synced with iCal via Spanning Sync). Not to mention, Google Docs, if I ever need 'em. I have all this (plus this blog) under one roof because .Mac doesn't take full control of the domain, just the 'www' CNAME. It's been a long time since I've worked on DNS side of building a website, so this is all (re)new to me, and I love it. The last site I had built was hosted by the registrar, and I couldn't change anything to use stuff outside of my own site. Being able to have the best of several different worlds under one domain is wonderful!

Booyah, T-Mobile!

So I got around T-Mobile's crippling of the Nokia 5300! I can now use Salling Clicker, Opera Mini, Google Maps, and whatever other programs I want without the connectivity being blocked. I hacked the phone's serial number (not IMEI) using NSS and ran the Nokia Software Update (through VMWare Fusion) and now I'm running a "generic" 5300. Debranding the phone unlocked plenty of little gems for me; EDGE now works at full speed, T-Mobile was hiding an e-mail client (along with other programs), and there were quite a few settings locked out that I can access now. Oh, and reception is way better now too; it also unlocked extended roaming capabilities (ie. not blocking AT&T access in certain areas). The downside? Um... Well, I can't access MyFaves on the phone, but I can manage those online, so no biggie. Now, if I can just get the e-mail client to finish synchronizing, I'll be pretty damn happy! lol

For the brave, check this link for instructions. Just be sure to read and have an understanding before diving in. And understand that you will be voiding your warranty with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and the Nokia 5300

I recently switched to T-Mobile because of their awesome FlexPay system. Basically, you prepay for service, but you sign a 2 year contract and get all the post-paid plans and options. Not to mention the sweet discount on the phone for signing a contract. This option is wonderful for my fiance and I, both of whom have exes who killed our credit. If you're on pre-paid or don't want to pay a high deposit (if your credit isn't that great) for cell phone service, give it a bit of research. It seems like a "too good to be true" option, but I assure you, it is real.

At any rate, I went with the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic slider phone. The phone itself is great; dedicated music shortcut keys on the side, a really smooth, spring assisted slide, a ton of customization options, and, most importantly, full Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR. I've already created a Leopard theme for it, and I'm loving everything about it. The sound is loud and clear through the speaker; I'm almost scared to use the ringer at full volume because it's so loud! At the highest volume, music is a bit distorted, but it's so loud that you'd rarely need to have it that high. Nokia did include a nice little headphone/speaker adapter that takes the 2.5mm headset jack and converts it to a 3.5mm audio jack. While T-Mobile hasn't launched their 3G network yet, this phone does have EDGE, and it's surprisingly fast. I had an EDGE phone (Nokia 6230) with Cingular a few years back, and I swear it wasn't this fast. I can start up the browser and load Weather.com faster than my fiance can get the page to load in a pre-existing browser window on her laptop. Yes, the pages are optimized for it, but it's pretty damn fast! I just wish I could use Opera Mini with it (see next paragraph). The camera is okay; it's 1.3 MP with no flash, and it takes pretty decent pictures in the sunlight, but get it under any kind of dark lighting and it gets really grainy, really fast. I like having it there for snapshots, but it hardly puts a dent in my real camera use. lol Battery life is lacking (I need to charge every night), but I also use it A LOT. I listen to music and browse the web constantly, so I'm probably the heaviest load this battery is designed for. lol Reception has been excellent so far; I've been in a few places way out in the country where I've dropped signal, but I expected that. The memory card can be acccessed by using a USB cable to connect the phone with the computer. Upon plugging it in, the phone gives 3 options: Nokia Mode (for use with Nokia PC Suite for Windows), Music Sync (puts the phone in MTP mode for WMP11), or Data Storage. Data Storage is compatible with Mac, so that's what I use. Under Windows, both Nokia Mode and Music Sync work flawlessly (I have VMWare Fusion to run Windows). Bluetooth access is also complete, allowing for file transfers and data syncing. That being said, I had to hack iSync to add support for the 5300, but it works very fast over the Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR now. You can also use a customizable "Active Standby" screen in place of the the blank home screen that shows you what music is playing, today's calendar entries, and a customizable Shortcut Bar. This screen is great, and was honestly a selling point for me on the phone. I keep all my photography and sales appointments, along with my school assignments, in iSync, so after syncing it with the phone, these show on the main screen.

There is one glaring issue: T-Mobile blocks, through the firmware, blocks "unauthorized" 3rd party apps from using any data connectivity. That means no Opera Mini, Google Maps, or even Salling Clicker. I've gotten used to it now, but it was really disappointing at first. I was really looking forward to trying out the location ability with the new Google Maps, and I've always loved using Opera Mini and Salling Clicker (the firmware won't let an "unauthorised" 3rd party apps access Bluetooth properly). T-Mobile also blocks some SMS short codes, so I can't Twitter through text, but I can get at it through the WAP page. One last gripe: it only supports up to 2 GB MicroSD cards (beyond that, the cards are MicroSDHC). MicroSDHC support can apparently be added by a firmware update, so I'm hoping that it'll come down the pipeline soon.

Overall, the 5300 is a great phone. Good reception, awesome music controls, loud sound, and a great physical interface (smooth slider and easy-to-find-by-touch keys). It has a few flaws, but what phone doesn't? For high end users, it might not be enough, but for music lovers, it's a great phone.

SteerMouse

SteerMouse is a great program that has really enhanced Leopard for me.  I was pondering getting a Mighty Mouse to replace my wireless mouse as it had extra customizable buttons, but this program completely changed my mind.  I use a Logitech MX700 wireless mouse and I've been a bit disappointed that I couldn't use the forward and back buttons for anything in Mac OS X.  Logitech doesn't support the MX710 keyboard/mouse combo in Mac, so I thought I was out of luck.  The other day, I remembered that I had used a program in the past to customize my mouse with my PowerBook; upon some research, I came across SteerMouse.  

I decided to give it a go, and I imediately fell in love.  Not only can I finally customize all my buttons, but it's given Spaces an entirely new functionality for me.  I use the forward and back keys to switch between my 3 Spaces (Internet, Art, School) effortlessly now, which has sped up my productivity amazingly.  Now I can switch between Word, PhotoShop, and Safari with two little clicks.  Yes, there are keyboard shortcuts (which are actually what I mapped to the mouse keys), but when I'm working with my mouse already in PhotoShop or Photo Professional, it works MUCH better.

Not only does it work, but it works so well, I don't think I'll ever drop the money on a Mighty Mouse now.  But, if I do, SteerMouse supports it as well, taking it beyond the functionality of Apple's software.  If you're a Mac user with  "Designed for Windows" mouse, give SteerMouse a go for the 30 day trial.  I was so impressed that I had no hesitations paying for it when the trial was up.

Creative Xmod

So in my search for a way to listen to my music and watch movies on my laptop through speakers, I decided to look in the realm of USB audio adapters.  While there's lots of little cheap-o things that look like thumb-drives with an audio jack, I came across something at Circuit City that really caught my eye.  

The Creative Xmod plugs in to a USB port and has three audio ports; one for speakers, one for headphones (that over-ride the speakers when plugged in), and one for input (microphone or other external source such as MP3 player, gaming system, etc).  It has a built in volume and mute control via a slick brushed metal jog dial too.  But the greatest thing (besides true plug-and-play with Macs) is the "X-Fi" enhancements that are built in and controllable.  One, the Crystalizer, "cleans the sound to studio quality" by enhancing the lows and highs and cleaning out artifacts on highly compressed sound.  I was fairly skeptical at first, but it makes a huge impact.  I really didn't know what I was missing before this; as cheesy as that sounds, it is leaps and bounds past what it sounds like without it turned on.  This makes is noticeably better than the on-board sound the laptop has (even if there was some way to enable the audio out to work with my Hacintosh install; I am comparing it to the sound out of the jacks using Windows).  The second enhancement is the CMSS-3D enhancement.  It basically simulates surround-sound with two speakers.  It does add depth to the sound, but I'm not sure I'd call it surround-sound.  Where it really shines, though, is with headphones.  It really transforms a stereo sound into something much, much deeper.  Both of these enhancements are user-customizable through a mouse-like click button on the controller itself in conjunction with the jog-dial.

Not only am I excited to have real speakers again for my music and movie library (the on-board speakers, like all laptop speakers, are tinny and too quite for this), I was highly, highly impressed with the Xmod's sound enhancements.  Add to that, a slick, on-control customization system (which allows the enhancements to be controlled when using the Xmod with something other than a computer), and Creative put out a great little USB audio adapter.  Now for the good and bad news:  Circuit City has it on clearance.  This makes it a great deal, but it also spells doom for this wonderful little device.  Creative has taken the Xmod name and turned it into a wireless sound system solution.  If you're in the market for a great USB audio adapter, don't pass up this deal.  It is far and beyond what the on-board audio sounds like on my laptop, and I'm willing to bet it will sound better than most soundcards, short of more expensive high-end cards.

VMWare Fusion

Wow.  This program is cool.  I need Windows for one very important thing (my Sansa Connect MP3 player), and thus far have tried every MTP solution out there for Mac to no avail.  I realized tonight that I could avoid chucking the player or repartitioning and dual booting by creating a virtual machine with XP.  For those less geekier than I, virtualization involves running another operating system within your native one (Mac OS X Leopard, for me).  VMWare Fusion creates a false hard drive for Window XP  (or Vista, or any Linux distro, etc) to install to.  For me, I kept it small as I only needed it for Windows Media Player to connect to my MP3 player.  And having access to Internet Explorer for school and work will be nice too.

The cool thing about Fusion?  Not only is it fast (just as fast as any native program; I'm assuming that's because I have a dual-core processor to split tasks), but it fully integrates with my Leopard desktop.  This means that Windows windows float with my Mac windows on my desktop seamlessly (except for their borders, of course).  And get this: Leopard somehow knows (I'm assuming that some part of Fusion tells it) that my MP3 player will only work with Windows, and therefore automatically passes it through when connected, as long as XP is running too.  Any of my other USB devices I have to explicitly tell to connect to XP if I need them (which I don't).  I'm pretty damn impressed.

Theoretically, I can run games through it too since it has DirectX 9 support, but I don't really feel the need to.  I'll probably give it a go at some point though; I need a FPS fix soon.  lol

The Update

So after several failed attempts at updating to 10.5.2 for Leopard, I finally got it working.  I'm fully updated with 10.5.2, the Graphics Update, and Aperture 2 now.  I've really lucked out with Ruri; it seems from reading the forums over at InsanelyMac.com that the Presario c714NR is the perfect laptop for Leopard.  The upgraded versions of this laptop (the ones that have come out since I got mine) have changed a few things hardware wise and don't work as well.  I'm still having my issue with audio where I can't use the headphone/mic jacks, but that's nothing more than a minor annoyance.  

I've installed the programs that I need to make my laptop work for my job too; they send us XP laptops to do photo-editing with, and we're supposed to only use those to do said edits.  Since we shoot in a RAW format (Canon's CR2 to be exact), we have to use Canon Photo Professional to do our "edits" (it's really just rotating the pictures, reordering them when needed, and deleting bad frames).  Leopard has built-in support for RAW format, but I couldn't rotate the pictures.  It took a while, but I tracked down a copy of Photo Professional, so I can do my edits on my own lappy without them knowing.  While that sounds like a minor (if not insignificant) accomplishment, it means I can carry my own laptop around with me to do my work without having to lug an extra laptop bag.  I also needed support for burning a DVD-RW in reburnable format, so I tracked down BurnAgain DVD.  Even Toast can't do an RW right, so if you're looking for an RW solution for Mac OS, check out BurnAgain.  Well worth the money, in my opinion.  

So, after a few weeks of using Mac OS X exclusively, what is the #1 feature for me?  Hands down, Time Machine.  It has saved me countless times and allowed me to experiment with updates, drivers, and kernels with losing nothing more than the time it takes to restore.  This is the best backup solution I've ever used, and I've used a lot in the past.  I have a 120 GB external hard drive dedicated for it and that seems to be adequate for me (my internal drive is 120 GB too with 50 GB free).  Not to mention, it's got a pretty slick interface.  lol

Do I have any regrets about nuking Vista?  Nope.  Gaming is fun, but hardly worth the hassle when it comes to Windows.  Windows is slow and takes up way too much room; I'm running a comparable setup, application wise, under Leopard that I did under Vista and I have WAY more room (like 40 extra GB) over what I did with Vista.  Will I ever go back to Windows?  Probably not seeing as how I know I can get a $400 MacBook (with some tweaking).  lol  I love my "Mac".

Hac OS X Leopard

I am loving Leopard.  I got Photoshop fixed (uninstalled, wiped all related files, reinstalled, and it worked), Office 2008 is really nice, I can do most of my schoolwork through Safari, and what I can't do in Safari, I can knock out in Firefox.  I have my N-Gage QD set to sync with iCal and Address Book through iSync, and I can control Ruri with the N-Gage using Salling Clicker.  I have iPhoto and Aperture synced with all the photos from both Ruri and Omoikane, all my music is tagged with album art in iTunes, and CoverSutra has given me a great interface with shortcut keys to control iTunes.  Cover Flow in Finder along with Quick Look has sped up my workflow incredibly.  I imported a couple thousand photos off of Omoikane and was able to trim out everything I didn't need in only 20 minutes!  And I don't know how I used a Mac without Stacks before.  Some people don't like them, but I love 'em.  Time Machine is not only cool as hell, it's already saved my butt once (when I needed to resize my partitions).  Everything just works.  And that's pretty impressive considering I'm not on a Macintosh; Hacintosh is more like it.  lol  I only have one lingering issue, and that is that sound will only play through the internal speakers.  I'm going to get an Airport Express router soon which will take care of that; our WiFi router died anyway, and with that, I can use AirTunes with my powered speakers and subwoofer to play my music (the only thing I really need bass for).  All in all, I love it.  It's fast, gorgeous, and works out much better for my photography and graphical needs than Vista.  Vista has the gaming support, but Leopard kills it in the artistic department.  And that is a big thing for as I just landed a job as a professional children's photographer, so I have a bunch of new toys to play with...

I'm a Mac... And a PC!

I have Leopard up and running (near) perfectly on Ruri!  I only have 3 issues, and two are simply compatibility issues.  I can only get sound out of the on-board speakers, but I can live with that.  Photoshop CS3 crashes when I try to load it, but that's a known issue.  Hoping they'll get a fix out for that soon.  Acquisition doesn't connect at all, but again, this is a known issue.  Other than that, I couldn't be happier!  I love Leopard!  With Office 2008, I almost can stay out of Vista for everything but gaming.  Now, I just need Photoshop CS3 to run and I'll be set!

Ubuntu and Mac OS X Leopard

I installed Ubuntu the other day with no issues except one tiny one; the propietary drivers for my video card don't support CompizFuzion. Not a killer for me, but I'm a huge fan of the eyecandy. lol

Tonight, I'm working on installing Mac OS X Leopard. On my laptop. Yup, it's not a Mac, but I've found a GREAT guide to getting it to dual-boot on a PC, and I'm so close to it working. I have the dual-boot set up just fine, Vista works, Leopard installed, but I can't get all the way into Leopard. I get so far into the boot process and it visually freezes. I say that because my mouse cursor will appear up top, but the load screen (or diagnostic screen, either way) doesn't go away. After a while, some dance music starts that I can only guess is part of the "Welcome to Leopard" process. Soooo close! I'm hoping I can get this resolved soon; I want to play with Leopard!

Back from the Dead

Sorry for the lack of posts, but with the holiday season, things have been hectic around here. Sophia officially died last month, and I replaced her with a brand new Compaq Presario C714NR. Her name is Ruri Ruri (or just Ruri for short). She has a Pentium Dual-Core processor, 2 GB of RAM (came with 1 GB), Intel integrated graphics (which surprised me in how good they actually are), DVD Burner, Vista Home Premium (which also surprised me in how well it works, but more on that in a bit), 15.4" widescreen, blah, blah, blah. We'll get the big question out of the way right now: No, I have not put Ubuntu on her yet. I will, but I just haven't gotten that far yet. Vista is running surprisingly well, and with the hectic world of the holidays, I haven't taken the time to partition and install Ubuntu. That being said, Ruri will dual-boot; Vista runs so well that I don't feel the need (or even a slight urge) to get rid of it.

Thoughts on Vista

What are my thoughts? Have I run into any of the horror stories? Does it really turn your peripherals into flesh-eating zombies that try to rip your face off? The surprising thing is that it runs great for me. Ruri was a little sluggish on the boot and during gaming (though still WAY faster than Sophia was) out of the box, but that was due to only having 1 GB of RAM. So there is credence to that claim; I really wouldn't suggest running it with less than 2 GB. I popped in a couple of 1 GB sticks within a week (they were on sale at Best Buy for $30 a pop). Other than that, I have no complaints. While it's a RAM hog (sits at roughly 55% of RAM usage on average), it doesn't seem to eat much of the processor; I hover around 10% of usage with iTunes, Outlook, Sidebar, and Pidgin running in the background. I like it better than XP as far as the interface goes. I have always loved the Aero look. I think the blur is way cool (I'm ADD, so pretty things tend to hold my attention!), and it runs smooth. I am in love with the new Start menu system; having a scrollable box with all your programs as opposed to columns of lists is wonderful! And you can just type the name of the program (or file) you're looking for for instant access. The Sidebar is pretty cool, though hardly original. I wish it had as many options as Google Sidebar, but I don't like that Google emblazons it's name twice, so I'm not using it. At any rate, it has everything that I need (weather, calendar, slideshow, etc).

Gaming

I haven't put a lot of games on here yet, but those that I have worked well. The highest end game I've tried is Call of Duty 4, and it's only a little slow with visuals set high. I ramped them down a bit and it runs fine. That game is insane, by the way. I've played and beat the demo about 4 times and I still love it. It's definitely on my list of games to get. Star Wars: Empire at War runs smoothly at full resolution and visuals. WoW? I don't play it (I know I'd get addicted, and I don't need that), so I can't comment there.

Applications

Aside from actually running smoothly, the biggest surprise for me is how fast applications load. Office 2007 apps load as if they're just a part of the system, and even large apps like Photoshop CS3 load within seconds. Now, all of this has to be taken with a grain of salt as I'm coming off of a 4 year old laptop to a brand new one. I went from single to dual-core and doubled my RAM. (That being said, I did have a desktop with a 2.5 GHz Athalon and a G-Force FX card a few years ago, so I do have a bit of a basis of comparison.) Vista is actually known for slowing down everything, but with 2 GB of RAM, it's not noticible. Everything loads fast, and I have yet to run into anything that isn't fully loaded within 10 seconds. Sophia was having a great day if she loaded anything in 10 seconds in XP or Ubuntu. lol

Peripherals

I have yet to plug something into Ruri that Vista can't imediately identify and load. At any given moment, I have my Maxtor OneTouch 120 GB external hard drive, WACOM tablet, Targus Bluetooth USB adapter, Logitech LX710 cordless keyboard and mouse, HP F340 printer/scanner/copier, and usually my Archos 404 and Sansa Connect all plugged in. No issues at all.

Conclusions

All in all, I actually like Vista. I had expected bad performance, BSODs, and freeze ups, but I have yet to run into any of those. I'm fairly certain that this is because of running a Dual-Core laptop that was built specifically for Vista, so I don't necessarily recommend it to those with older machines. I have yet to run into any software compatibility issues, but I know there are a lot out there, so do your research if you're considering a switch. For example, my Dad is about to replace his computer, but some of his essential software isn't Vista-compatible yet, so I'm going to have to wipe it and put XP Pro on it for him. Do the research and find out if everything you need works with Vista. For me, it works and I love it. Not as much as Ubuntu, but I like it better than any other version of Windows.