PowerBook goodies
A couple of PowerBook-related goodies were announced yesterday that has the phisch bowl churning. MCE announced a new 100 GB internal drive for every PowerBook out there back to the Kanga G3. However, at US $279, it won't be finding its way in to the phischbook any time soon. MacMinute also noted the announcement of Targus's Notebook ChillHub, a US $50 laptop stand that incorporates two cooling fans as well as four USB 2.0 ports. Further details aren't yet available, but it appears that it's necessary to lug around an extra AC adapter to power the ChillHub's fans and USB ports. Ugh.
Mr. Bennett Goes to Dallas
So Lee was in town for an annual conference, and spent Saturday afternoon hanging out with me, the missus, and the little phisch. A great time was had by all chewing on cow at Outback. We may be phisch, but we hail from the piranha side of the species. ;-) It is very, very cool that I have gotten to meet my best friend from the online world in person. Looking forward to the next visit!
MacSurfShop returns!
My favorite merchant of Mac-related apparel has re-opened for business. Mike Yraelbra, the Big Kahuna, has brought back the MacSurfShop, with a new business model that should allow him to keep costs low while still serving up great pro-Apple designs. I'm off to order my Pod People shirt...
Ballmer smackdown continuation
As usual, Mr. Gruber does a better job than most at dissecting a topic, in this case Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's crude comments regarding Apple and the iPod:
I'd love to see his source for this. I have no source either, but I'd place a wager with Mr. Ballmer that the most common source of music on most iPods are unencrypted songs legally ripped from CDs. Most iPod users I know own hundreds of CDs; it'd take ages to bootleg the amount of music they already own on CD.
[...]
The point of all this seems to be that Ballmer is saying that Apple can't lead the way here -- where by "here" I'm talking about the convergence between the computer, entertainment, and consumer electronics industries -- because the iPod allows for and even encourages the use of non-DRM-protected digital media.
But I would argue that Apple is already leading the way in terms of music -- in large part because they don't enforce draconian DRM measures.
Sticking with BBEdit, thanks
Michael, who is much more knowledgeable of such things than I, has an overview of MacroMates' newly-released TextMate, which purports to be a BBEdit killer. I downloaded and took a look at TextMate, too, and I was fairly unimpressed. If I weren't using BBEdit, I would likely go with SubEthaEdit. I've been using BBEdit since, oh, 1996 or so, and version 8 is the best version yet of the ultra-powerful text editor. Like mi amigo, I won't be cranking up TextMate any time soon for my own needs, but more power to MacroMates for going after the switcher market.
Categories no more
So after deliberating over whether or not to eliminate categories--and thank you so much for all those comments with feedback--I have decided to can the categories on this and all of my blogs. (Seriously, I do thank those few who did weigh in on the issue, either through comments, e-mail, or instant message.) I feel Raena summed it up best in an IM: "Seeing as how you have the uber blog empire, I wonder whether it's worth using categories either. If you were using one blog for all that stuff, then yeah." After replying that she flattered me--while I'm running five separate public blogs, I in no way feel I have a "blog empire" a la my favorite n3rdling--Raena then stated the obvious, which I suppose I hadn't really considered: "Seriously, though. You have separate blogs for separate interests, so I don't see that categories are as much of a concern." She's right. Initially, everything was posted under Retrophisch, and categories were a necessity. No longer, however. With the different blogs for different interests, categories within each blog seemed nitpickish and maybe even a wee bit obsessive-complusive. Yeah, I think we can do away with anything obsessive-compulsive... While I will no longer be posting within categories, the old category pages are still there, if you know how to find them, or you previously linked to or bookmarked them.
Soyuz PowerBook Laptop bag
Dan rightly points out how wicked cool it would be to own a laptop bag made from parts of a parachute that has been in orbit around the Earth. Space junkies and NASA groupies will understand; all others need not apply. Too bad I am so dirt poor right now due to unemployment. What are the odds of scoring one of these for a review, do you think?
Such maturity for a CEO
Lee points to another Silicon.com article which reveals Steve Ballmer is even more of a childish imbecile than was previously thought.
Memo to Steve Ballmer
Mr. Ballmer:
Despite your reckless and libelous statements regarding Apple and the iPod, please note that your 12-year-old is likely hiding stolen music in all kinds of places, given that your 12-year-old is likely much smarter than you are, having grown up with the technology your company had to steal copy "innovate". (He's also probably hiding a lot of other stuff he has found on the Internet.)
A challenge then, to the CEO of Microsoft: without any warning whatsoever, conduct a full-scale examination of the hard drive of every Microsoft employee, including every PDA, every digital music player, every MP3-playing mobile phone. Cross-check the findings of digital music with each employee's personal CD collection. Report the findings of how much stolen music is residing inside Microsoft itself. That is, if you're not too busy dancing around on stage like a fool and flinging your feces at your competition, monkey-boy.
(Via MacMinute)
Happy Tenth, Ric
Yesterday, Ric Ford celebrated the 10th anniversary of MacInTouch. MacInTouch is, to my best recollection, the original Macintosh news blog, from before the terms "weblog" and "blog" were coined. To quote Ric, "here's to another ten years!"
A prettier Firefox?
There seems to be a movement afoot to pretty-up the Mac version of Firefox. Jon Hicks came up with some native-looking widgets, and Kevin Gerich has been busy with new button icons, as well as other widgets. Not being a Firefox user--though I do plan to install the latest preview release--I am left wondering: why not just use Camino and all of its native Mac GUI goodness? It's my browser backup of choice behind Safari.
Brain Bag trade?
Anyone out there with a black Brain Bag willing to trade for a sapphire (blue) Brain Bag? Mine is in like-new condition, was originally sent to me as a review item, and hasn't been used in more than two years (mostly because I've been using other bags for review purposes). I love the Brain Bag, but would like one in basic black, and cannot afford to buy a new one. If you're interested in a trade, please e-mail me, and hopefully you're savvy enough to know what to do with that e-mail address.
Fun with statistics 2
In the first 17 hours of October 2004, these are the Top 10 Search Phrases for retrophisch.com: 1. earthquakes in france 2. definition of a liberal 3. mac archives 4. www daddy yakee com 5. dilbert clone knickknack 6. zero intelligence 7. osan beanie babies store korea 8. citizen persona amex card 9. lrs2 blaser 10. directv jobs charlotte I was a bit thrown with the "osan beanie babies store korea" phrase, until I dropped it in to Google to see that I was the fourth link returned. Yeah, I blogged about a beanie baby, okay?
Tattoo residue
Engadget is reporting that the iPod tattoos being provided by HP can leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
Virgin Galactic
No, that's not a typo. Richard "I-have-more-money-than-I-know-what-to-do-with" Branson is going to cater to his peers with the new Virgin Galactic, slated to rocket spaceward in 2007. As Dan says, the future is now. Well, almost now, at any rate.
Gmail for Newties
I have some Gmail invitations to give away. All of my friends and online acquaintances already have accounts. It seems that Gmail4Troops has a surplus of invitations to give out. So, here's your chance to get in the club. These are the criteria, and you can leave them in the comments: 1. You must be a current Newton MessagePad or eMate owner. Not a former owner, not a wanna-be owner. It doesn't matter which model Newton you own. 2. State your Newton's model number, and provide a link to a picture of the device. A picture of your personal Newton, not a generic photo of your particular model. It can even be a crappy mobile phone shot. 3. Let us know if you still use your Newton every day, or is it more of a novelty you tinker with from time to time (like my 2100). Obviously, there is a certain amount of trust involved on my end, and a lot of honesty involved on your end. Don't be a lame faker. The first six (6) respondents get a Gmail account.
To categorize or not to categorize?
That is the question. I have wondered, of late, if I should continue to bother. If I shouldn't just stop categorizing, and kill all current categories. As a blogger, some times it is downright annoying trying to categorize a post. If a category doesn't yet exist, you have to create one. If you create one, then you may go months without a post assigned to that category again. I have found, as a blog reader, that I really don't pay attention to categories on others' sites. If I discover a new blog, and want to read more than just the post that brought me there, I usually go in reverse chronological order, rather than sorting through categories. I know some of my fellow bloggers out there utilize categories, and some do not. I'm looking for both bloggers and blog readers to weigh in on this issue. Leave your thoughts, pro or con (or both), in the comments.
Register.com's radio nonsense
Have you head the radio ad from Register.com with the two guys, "We lost the client because we didn't have a web site"? What utter tripe. Apparently, Register.com doesn't have a clue how an actual sales meeting would work. If I am a sales person, already in a client's office, meeting face to face, half the battle is already won. I am the face of my company, especially if the company is my own. I have full knowledge and pricing of my company's products, and can show examples to the client in question. Presumably, on my business card will be an e-mail address of some kind, so the client can get in touch with me in some manner other than by phone. If said client--who has met me, seen my examples, been given a catalog, brochure, or other marketing materials, as well as my prices--then decides to not buy my products or services simply because I do not have a web site, then said client is insane. If by not having a web site means one would not have an e-mail address, then Register.com should note that in their commercial. The whole thing is nonsense, and really annoys me each time I have to hear it. And for crying out loud, don't pay Register.com twenty bucks when you can go to GoDaddy and register a domain name for nine dollars.
Fun with statistics
Top 10 search phrases for retrophisch.com for the first three days of September: 1. powerbook skin 2. definition of a liberal 3. sweet 4. conservative democrats 5. disassemble ipod 6. blaser r93 lrs2 7. barney cam 8. lsu tiger stadium 9. apple powerbook g4 12 10. powerbook benchmarks
ATPM 10.09
The September issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available. Ellyn sneaks in a word on integration, while Matt pontificates over the new iMac. David Ozab discusses a recent copyright case, and Paul has the latest from the world wide web. It's the Chris Lawson review issue, as the licensed pilot (be afraid, be very afraid) examines a hardware hacking book, the iRac, and the MicFlex. Oh, and Eric looks at DEVONnote while Michael puts my next keyboard through its paces. Some great renderings by Mark Feemster are available as desktop pictures. Enjoy the fruits of our volunteer labor on behalf of the Macintosh-using public!