Wednesday, January 12, 2005

iProduct: your life in a plastic case

iProduct.gif (GIF Image, 640x1050 pixels)

OS X: not at all flawless

Apple - Mac OS X

I prefer OS X to XP, but, darn it, I wish they could get their network straight. In the 14 or so point releases I've been through, Apple had two where networking worked.

On occasion I get an OS X point release that handles plugging in an ethernet cable correctly. OS X switches from using my 802.11b connection, correctly manages the switchover to 100mbps ethernet, and moves along. Lately 10.3.8 manges the switch, but runs at 802.11b speeds!

BBEdit Lite now Text Wranger 2 - free (OS X)

Bare Bones Software : PRODUCTS : TEXTWRANGLER : Download

Text Wrangler is a "lightweight" version of BBEdit. It was a commercial product, version 2 is free. The free version is a very powerful text editor. I use a similar product for Windows that retails for about $70.

BBEdit is a programmer's tool, but most of us will find value in Text Wrangler. I've been using BBEdit Lite for a while and will now move to Text Wranger.

Some interesting atlas and map links and resources

Atlas of Canada | Metafilter

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

iPhoto 5: a very big upgrade

Apple - iLife - iPhoto - Prints

iPhoto 4 was a major bug fix upgrade with significant performance enhancements. iPhoto 5 is a feature rich upgrade. If I don't get iLife 05 with a Mac purchase (it's a significant percentage of the cost of an iMac mini) I'll pay the full price.

Unfortunately I don't see how I merge libraries! Sigh. Still have to use the undocumented import from DVD feature.

My mother's next machine

Apple - Mac mini

Everything that was rumored and more. Wow.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Feed your iPod: free lectures to load an iPod with

IT Conversations: "Listener-supported audio programs,
interviews and important events."

I'm surprised I'd never heard of this, but neither did my friend Andy who's generally up on these things. He just pointed me to it.

These are largely technical lectures. Listeners write reviews and rank them. You can stream the audio or download lectures as bookmarkable AAC, ideal for iPod lectures:
Download (AAC/MB4 for iTunes/iPod): This is the best choice for listening to IT Conversations on an iPod or in iTunes (Mac or Windows). These files support bookmarks. If you stop listening in the middle of a program, when you return later, you'll be able to continue where you left off. Particularly handy for those programs that run longer than your workouts. :-)
Note: you can make any AAC bookmarkable by changing the extension (PC) or the filetype (Mac)

This is a great find.