I run Tiger on the iMac, Panther on the iBook. I came across this old article by chance, and was amazed about the things I didn't know: Macworld: Feature: Panther Secrets Declassified. The Mac is like that, full of odd abilities.
BTW, the old hack for enabling hidden calculator views in Panther doesn't seem to work any more, I wonder if some Panther upgrade broke it. The hidden views display as silvery metallic windows. These were never officially supported, so I can't complain too much. It does make me want to look again at Tiger's calculatory though.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Security at $6/month: PublicVPN.com
When you use an open hotspot, your network traffic is available for any other user to sample. Passwords can be easily captured.
Unless you first set up a VPN connection. Then, regardless of what network you're on, your traffic is secure. Most of us, however, don't have a VPN server. That's why PublicVPN.com is interesting. Use their server for $6/month.
Unless you first set up a VPN connection. Then, regardless of what network you're on, your traffic is secure. Most of us, however, don't have a VPN server. That's why PublicVPN.com is interesting. Use their server for $6/month.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Apple remote works with iPod universal cradle - what about AirPort Express?
First, I will vent about my iMac. I bought my 20" about 2 months ago. Now it's utterly obsolete. Gnash. Weep.
I'm not interested in the iPod video for now, though I could see using a future version to stream video to in-car monitors when we travel. I am, however, interested in the Apple Remote. For me it was the most interesting part of the presentation:
Update 10/13/05: Alas, won't work. It's IR. From Macintouch: "[Ray Sanders] A tidbit picked up on the ars-technica forums... The new remote control is IR. The new iMac has no IR receiver per se. It appears that they use the iSight cam to receive the IR from the remote. Some of the wags over there *really* want to hack the iSight driver so as to do IR imaging." I love the use of the cam to do IR, I wonder when they'll add gesture control (raise hand to control volume?). Maybe the remote will become obsolete ... IR is very retro; I generally like IR but it won't work for my scheme ...
I'm not interested in the iPod video for now, though I could see using a future version to stream video to in-car monitors when we travel. I am, however, interested in the Apple Remote. For me it was the most interesting part of the presentation:
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)So the universal cradle works with the Apple Remote, eh? Might be just the ticket for the new compact multi-room home stereo setup I'm assembling. If it's wireless [jf: it's not] with decent range it might work just swimmingly. The next thing I want is an add-on to my existing iMac to enable the Apple Remote and/or a version of the AirPort Express that works with it. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for the latter ...
This may not be the biggest new Apple product of the day (not by a long shot), however, it is long overdue. Apple has released the Universal Dock that will fit all versions of the iPod that have a dock connector. iPod photo owners need not hang their heads in shame because of their less than svelte iPods now.
Besides embracing all iPod models, this dock works with the new Apple Remote control (bundled with the new iMacs, and available for purchase separately) so you can control your iPod from across the room. Pretty sweet, and all for $39.
Update 10/13/05: Alas, won't work. It's IR. From Macintouch: "[Ray Sanders] A tidbit picked up on the ars-technica forums... The new remote control is IR. The new iMac has no IR receiver per se. It appears that they use the iSight cam to receive the IR from the remote. Some of the wags over there *really* want to hack the iSight driver so as to do IR imaging." I love the use of the cam to do IR, I wonder when they'll add gesture control (raise hand to control volume?). Maybe the remote will become obsolete ... IR is very retro; I generally like IR but it won't work for my scheme ...
The Palm T|X: Please Palm, just go away ...
From a review of the new Palm T|X:
Update 11/1: An Amazon reviewer writes: "Battery is quite good, long lasting and charges fast through the USB cable, even from my old ThinkPad A21 at home."
PalmInfocenter.com - Palm T|XA PDA that won't charge via USB 2? That's so 1990. Some Chinese startup ought to be buy the company (as they did PalmSource). Please, someone put Palm out its misery. Leave me with my memories of their glory days ...
...The USB cable alone will not charge the handheld from the computer, you must attach the AC cord...
Update 11/1: An Amazon reviewer writes: "Battery is quite good, long lasting and charges fast through the USB cable, even from my old ThinkPad A21 at home."
Macintouch readers: iBook G4 has hardware bug affecting system stability
The good news is the Apple community is good at spotting hardware bugs. The bad news is that there are a lot of hardware bugs. Does Apple have more than Dell? Is it less responsive than Dell? I suspect the answer is probably 'about the same'. In the meantime I'd hold off on buying a G4 iBook for now. Too bad, I really like the iBook line.
MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple MacintoshI wonder if the bug is related to the type of wireless encryption used. Tiger supports a pretty wide range of encryption options beyond the classic (and dysfunctional) WEP.
A big bug with the iBook G4, extra memory and AirPort prompted a number of notes from MacInTouch readers:
[Brian Behrend] There is a huge bug with the new iBooks. When using moderate to heavy network usage via Airport, the iBook will become unresponsive and the cursor becomes jumpy. The problem has been isolated to having additional RAM installed. Apparently it doesn't matter what brand or type, not even the size matters. There's a huge thread on the Apple discussion boards regarding this but no solution has been reached as of yet.
It's very frustrating since Photoshop is more or less unusable with 512MB, and copying files to the network is unreliable with 1GB or 1.5GB installed. The general workaround is to only use Ethernet to copy files to servers or download large files from the Internet.
[MacInTouch Reader] Apple claims that the latest revision of the iBook supports up to 1.5GB of ram, but when that much is installed, Airport ceases to function properly and the whole computer lags. Dozens of iBook owners have reported the issue for over a month without a response from Apple, leaving them with malfunctioning laptops.
[Marijn Raven] A lot of iBook owners (the new 1.33 12" and 1.42 14") complain about the loss of Airport signal, together with slow mouse movement. At this thread you can read more about this issue. Perhaps your readers might benefit from this feedback.
[MacInTouch Reader] I think you should bring up an emerging issue with the new 2005 iBooks.
I just bought a 2005 12" iBook G4/1.3 GHz. I moved over my 1 GB RAM module, which had been used by a 12" 1Ghz model without any problems (RAM is from OWC).
Shortly after using the new computer, I noticed it get very sluggish. Using TOP in the terminal didn't show anything, but using Activity Monitor showed that the kernel_task was using over 75% of my CPU.
At the same time, I would lose my Airport connection. Many people are noticing the Airport losses before noticing the kernel_task overload, and so a lot of the discussion is "my AirPort has died".
The only ways I've found to reliably trigger the overload is through the use of BitTorrent or SoftwareUpdate. Large file transfers to a server trigger it about 50% of the time. I have not have a problem with itunes when consolidating files on a sever, or using it to change ID tags on a server...
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Marware iPod cases
The Nano versions aren't available until the end of October. The silicone wrapper is $9 -- much cheaper than others.
Marware Laptop and iPod Cases - Apple iPod Accessories and mini iPod Case Styles
Marware Laptop and iPod Cases - Apple iPod Accessories and mini iPod Case Styles
Is this the solution to my home amplifier problem?
Updated 10/10/05.
Today I briefly thought this Class T Amplifier would yet me put assemble a two-room speaker solution with an iPod/AirPort Extreme input in a very confined space. Alas, some native suspicion and a very persuasive negative Amazon review led me to investigate an alternative that appeared on Amazon's 'what people bought instead' list.
I ended up ordering the AudioSource Amp 100 2-Channel Power Amplifier from Amazon. There was one review, and the reviewer was looking for the same thing as me. This amplifier is only 8"-9.25" deep (numbers vary) and it accepts two inputs and sends output to A/B speakers. It even has a volume control. Very simple. $140. Seems just right. My only worry is the depth. We'll see!
Now I have to buy the AirPort Extreme (after the 10/12 Apple product announcement) and two pairs of speaksers -- bookshelf and mounted.
Today I briefly thought this Class T Amplifier would yet me put assemble a two-room speaker solution with an iPod/AirPort Extreme input in a very confined space. Alas, some native suspicion and a very persuasive negative Amazon review led me to investigate an alternative that appeared on Amazon's 'what people bought instead' list.
I ended up ordering the AudioSource Amp 100 2-Channel Power Amplifier from Amazon. There was one review, and the reviewer was looking for the same thing as me. This amplifier is only 8"-9.25" deep (numbers vary) and it accepts two inputs and sends output to A/B speakers. It even has a volume control. Very simple. $140. Seems just right. My only worry is the depth. We'll see!
Now I have to buy the AirPort Extreme (after the 10/12 Apple product announcement) and two pairs of speaksers -- bookshelf and mounted.
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