iPod Battery FAQ

Dave Schroeder, an Apple Distinguished Educator, has posted the quite sensible and easy-to-follow iPod Battery FAQ. Hopefully this will go a long way toward disproving any falsehoods raised by those spreading "dirty secrets" about the iPod. (via MacInTouch)

Yes, more SpamSieve flattery

Away from home, on the annual Christmas trek, for four days. Mailsmith is left humming along on the Cube, pulling mail every few hours. Upon the return home, and subsequent email check:

  • Total number of messages moved to Trash by SpamSieve:over 1,200
  • Total number of false positives moved to Trash: Zero
  • Total number of false negatives left in active mailboxes: Zero

Yes, yet another shameless plug for a friend's software, but it's worth every penny, and pays for itself in time saved.

IT-Enquirer on Mailsmith

The official Retrophisch™ email client has been reviewed at IT-Enquirer, and Michael's SpamSieve gets some more good press.

Wal-Mart music store

Jeff Knapp writes in to MacInTouch with his experience with the new Windows-only Wal-Mart music store. It seems that one can use a Mac to view the store, register, and even download files. The no-Mac clause comes in the form of the DRM being used by Windows Media Player, as Mr. Knapp was unable to play any of the songs he downloaded. He summarized:

The user experience (non-compatibility issues aside) is OK, not great, but OK - certainly not the smooth, fluid experience iTMS is. Even if it were Mac compatible, I would be reluctant to use it because of this intrusive, "phone home" thing that appears to be happening. Otherwise, I see no reason to want to use it over the iTMS other than price. That, and it is Wal-Mart...

Power Mac G4 Cube G5

Those Japanese Mac lovers sure have some copious spare time on their hands. One Cube owner decided he wanted an enclosure that mimicked the look of the Power Mac G5. I must say, I'm impressed with the effort, and would buy such an enclosure, if mass-produced, over PowerLogix's version.

Yeah, a standard port would have been nice

And now we have experienced the other druther of the 3G iPods: the non-standard dock connector. I get to work today, pull out the new iPod, and then realize I have no dock here and I left the FireWire-to-dock cable at home, connected, appropriately enough, to the iPod dock on my desk. So the old 5 GB iPod, which was still in my bag, is happily pumping out tunes now...

New iPod

So I had long ago outgrown my original 5 GB iPod, but I lived with moving music off and on to it from my Mac as my tastes dictated. An early Christmas present from my wonderful wife, however, has yielded a 40 GB third-generation iPod. Now I have to grow in to the new little white wonder on my hip--I only have about 15 GB of music ripped to MP3 format. Using iSync, my latest "phischpod" carries my contact and calendar info, and I've started playing around with the Notes function. I do miss the input ability I had with a Palm device, and I know I'm not alone. I lived in the Memo function of my Palm, so maybe the Belkin Voice Recorder would help alleviate the input druthers of the 'Pod. In other news, I am waffling over how to sheath my iPod. It will either be this or that. Thoughts and comments on this issue are welcome.

Mac Fax

Hivelogic has the low-down on setting up your Panther-ized Mac as a fax server. (via MacInTouch)

SpamSieve makes the MacInTouch poll

Just as I mentioned that I would like to have voted for SpamSieve for the MacInTouch Reader Choice Poll for 2003, so does Ric Ford go and allow readers to vote for third-party software. So I got the chance to vote for Michael's software after all. With that, congratulations are in order to Michael for being a runner-up in the Communications category of the refreshed list. Kudos also to one of my other favorite developers, Brent Simmons (and his wife, Sheila), for the runner-up spot claimed by another awesome piece of software, NetNewsWire. It's the only way to read RSS feeds on the Mac.

Microsoft's next monopoly

MDJ has a dead-on assessment in today's issue of how Microsoft is seeking to co-op the online music market:

Nonetheless, even more companies are jumping into the fray, helping Microsoft's attempts to portray its completely proprietary and highly-restrictive Windows Media format as "standard" and QuickTime as "proprietary."

[...]

The proliferation of "music stores" pleases Microsoft greatly. The company wants to point to about a hundred different services, all selling songs at US$0.99 each, and say that 9 of them use Windows Media and only one does not - iTunes Music Store. This is how new monopolies are born, and Microsoft doesn't even seem to be leveraging Windows to do it. The company simply added capabilities for highly restrictive and revocable rights into Windows Media, and content creators are flocking to it, pleased at being able to keep purchasers from using their songs or video how they please. Fortunately, Apple has all the bulk of the mindshare right now when it comes to buying music online. Magazines, polls, sites, et al are lining up to declare the iTunes Music Store or the iPod as product of the year, or including them in some sort of Top 10/20/50/100 list. Not to mention that while files downloaded from the iTMS do contain a form of digital rights management (DRM), said form isn't anywhere near as restrictive as that of the Windows Media format. Not to mention that what some of the other online music services are peddling are nothing more than revamped subscription formats. People who buy digital music don't want to subscribe to it. They want to buy it, download it, pop it in to a MP3 player, burn it to a CD, and get on with their lives. They don't want to keep paying for the same song again and again. This is the life those services trumpeting WMA are trying to lock consumers in to. Personally, I haven't bought anything from the iTunes Music Store. I like my CDs, with a physical item that contains the mastered AIFF files. I like my liner notes. I like being able to rip my CDs at any rate I wish, rather than have to take the rate an online service delivers in. The dirty secret of the iTMS is that you can pay just a couple of bucks more for a full album from Amazon and get all of that. Michael and I have had variations of this conversation on more than one occasion, and he is of like mind. That said, if I were an online music buying fiend, there is no doubt it would all be from the iTunes Music Store. Best selection, even if it's not complete. For a DRM system, it's pretty fair. Quite simply, it's the best, Chairman Gates can't stomach that, and Matt D. & company take Microsoft to task over it.

MacInTouch Readers Choice Poll 2003

Ric Ford has posted the results of his totally informal poll on the best Apple products for 2003. The iPod/iTunes combo takes overall best product. You can check out the other winners on the poll page. Personally, I would have voted for Michael's SpamSieve as the best software product, but the poll was for Apple-only items. I can't tell you what a time saver SpamSieve has become for me, and even though I have little to no day-to-day interaction with the app, I am addicted to its usage. (Which is the way I'm beginning to feel about LaunchBar...)

You want to jack in to my what?

Unlike Lee, I don't think I'd appreciate this new trend of non-verbal, can-I-listen-to-your-iPod-for-a-moment "communication" with perfect strangers. With someone I know, even on an acquaintance level, I'd feel much more generous. I've known my new boss less than two weeks, and we've already listened in to one another's iPods. But we're the only two people in our department, both total Mac heads, both love our iPods, he's a major music geek, etc., etc. We have a lot of stuff in common outside of our work relationship. But I would likely balk if someone just walked up to me on the street and wanted to plug in...

ProTouch PB

The folks at iSkin have rolled out a new keyboard protector for current PowerBooks and iBooks. I reviewed an older version of the iSkin Keyboard Protector earlier this year, and recommend the product.

Paying for iPod color?

I have to wonder at the prospect of paying for a professional paint job for one's iPod or PowerBook. Granted, the iPod job only costs fifty bucks, but how many different colored skins could you buy for your iPod for fifty bucks? And the skins are removable, plus generally offer other features (non-skid, for example). I know it's not a full-blown paint job, but you can get cover panels for your PowerBook. Not to mention that having your iPod or 'Book painted will void your AppleCare warranty. (via MacMinute)

Jobs: Rolling Stone

A good interview with Steve Jobs over on RollingStone.com. Having had discussions about the music biz with folks who have worked in it, including my new boss, I have to say that I think Steve's remedy for the music biz to increase its profits is dead-on.

Overhaul

If you've actually been hitting the site over the past couple of days rather than reading posts via RSS feeds, you will have noticed the new look. To go along with the new look is something of a new mandate I gave myself. Retrophisch refocuses its coverage on the Mac world and technology in general, with a few bits of personal fun, like my observations on college football (Geaux Tigers!) and hockey, thrown in. From this point forward, I'm shifting the following topics to respective blogs:

All sites carry a common layout that identifies them as the Retrophisch Family of Blogs™, and all of the above sites link to the others. There may be some crossover posting, going on, as religious liberties might well be discussed on both Godblog and Ludichris, just as firearms freedoms could be discussed on both Ludichris and Forty Caliber. But for the most part, each will remain distinct from the others. I wanted to do this both for myself and those of you kind enough to frequent my site. I have felt that perhaps I was trying to cover too much in one site, and, heck, I've had the domains just sitting around waiting to be used. I must send out major thanks to Raena for her invaluable assistance in getting the backend code tweaked and the CSS working right. Thanks also to Jon, Lee, Michael, and anyone else I may have bugged over the past few months about taking a look and helping me with items that were wrong. Errors in the content are purely my own. I'm still working on code for some of the auxiliary pages, so, yes, I know the Photos and Read pages don't share the same layout. I likely won't touch the Photo albums until the Trotts & Co. release Movable Type Pro, which will feature photo album creation. (Yes, I know about Gallery and myriad other such products, but I've issues with trying to get them to work, and I can only guess how well the whole album thing will work in MT Pro, so I'm content to wait.) Comments on the new look are welcome and appreciated, as are any bug reports readers may feel necessary.

SpamSieve 2.1

Michael released version 2.1 of SpamSieve today. This version adds more support to Apple Mail that was begun in version 2.0.2, as well as numerous other improvements. There's a new Training Tip window that offers advice on how to improve the app's accuracy. The Entourage address book can now be used as a white list, something that will come in handy for me at my new job. And I swear this thing just keeps getting faster. With its tight integration with Mailsmith, I hardly know it's running at all, though I most certainly know that it's working. Over the past couple of weeks, I've gotten two false positives--relatives who had never emailed me before--and a few false negatives from new spam that was swiftly added to the corpus and now flow in to the Trash. SpamSieve 2.1 requires Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later, and is the best $25 a Mac user can spend.

Least deserving of title shot

Poll running right now on ESPN's College Football page: which team least deserves to play for the national championship? Oklahoma leads by a wide margin, with over 7,700 total voters thus far. The team with the fewest votes--meaning they most deserve to play for the title? My alma mater, of course.

BCmess

I've said it before, I'll say it again: the BCS is a bunch of hooey. It happens to be the best the NCAA can do right now, even if their best isn't good enough. I find it hard to believe that LSU and USC aren't playing in the Sugar Bowl. I thought that my reasons for LSU being #2 sort of hinted at why Oklahoma shouldn't be going to the Sugar Bowl. Over twelve thousand voters on an ESPN.com poll agreed; they all wanted to see a USC-LSU match-up, one I believe would have favored LSU greatly. Granted, I think OU-LSU will be much more entertaining football game, and that Michigan is going to crush USC. So all you Trojan fans can just get those thoughts of a split championship out of your pretty little heads.

GEAUX TIGERS!!

The case for #2

LSU should play in the national championship game as the #2, maybe even the #1 team in the country. Here's why: 1. Oklahoma lost to Kansas State tonight, and lost quite convincingly. They lose to an opponent ranked 14 spots below them, and do not emerge as the Big 12 Conference champs. 2. LSU has beaten more Top 25 teams than OU or USC. With the win tonight over Georgia in the SEC Championship, the Tigers have now beaten a ranked team four times, versus only two wins each over ranked opponents by the Sooners and Trojans. Sure, LSU beat Georgia twice, but if you want to use the BCS's own rankings against it, the Bulldogs were a better team the second time around and the Tigers crushed them. 3. LSU and OU had to play one more game this year than USC. Both the SEC and the Big 12 have a championship game, while the PAC 10 does not. OU lost its championship game; LSU won theirs--over a Top 5 opponent. USC annihilated an unranked team in yet another gimme game. Both LSU and OU will end up with one more win than USC. Hello, BCS geniuses...having to win more games counts for something. 4. You can take USC's "strength of schedule" and go bury it in the backyard. Going back to winning against ranked teams, LSU has a 2-0 lead over the Trojans. Not to mention that Syracuse helped LSU out today with a win over the Fighting Irish (who lost to USC), and at the time of this posting, Boise State was winning against Hawaii (who lost to USC). Suddenly, USC's schedule isn't looking too impressive. UPDATE, 9:45 AM: Boise State crushed Hawaii, 45-28. Of course, it's all left up the subjectivity of the pollsters, since the NCAA refuses to institute a playoff system in college football to determine the national champion. With the way the Tigers have been playing since the Auburn game and that convincing win, I'd put them up against anyone in the country right now.

GEAUX TIGERS!!