Congrats, Michael
Friend of the phisch Michael Tsai has been awarded an Eddy by Macworld magazine for his awesome spam-killing app, SpamSieve. I've been using SpamSieve since before it was first released, as a beta tester, and it's a top-notch piece of work from a top-notch guy. Sorry, Windows users, but this spam killer works on Macintosh only. Congratulations, Michael!
All-nighter
What happens when your client realizes they're running the wrong version of two commercials in all thirty-nine of their stores that have a theater setup? You spend all night pushing the new versions down to those stores. That's exactly what happened on my third day of work, my birthday no less. Apple wants its current commercials to be popped in to the video loops shown at the retail stores with theaters, and the latest iPod commercials (HipHop, Rock, and Dance), were either wrong or nonexistent. We received the raw footage from Apple on DV tapes in the morning, spent the afternoon capturing and cutting a new video loop, then uploaded the new loop to a staging server--all 1.2 GB of it. Then it was waiting until the stores began closing, and staggering the push across the time zones. Crawled in to bed about five this morning, got up about noon. Standard operating procedure is nothing but support calls on the day after a big push, and I don't know enough about the systems to take any calls, so I get a day off. Pretty simple editing in Final Cut Express, but it has whetted my appetite for more.
ATPM 9.12
The December issue of About This Particular Macintosh is out. Articles of interest include Ellyn's look at the changing face of research, part six of Andrew's excellent design tutorial, and Ted's continuation of his intensive outliner series. Eric has a review of the Risk game for OS X (no, it's not from Milton-Bradely), Chris Lawson gets everyone addicted to Snood, and yours truly reviews iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual. The usual great stuff abounds.
Change your iPod battery
Thinking that my iPod's battery may be dying--it is an original 5 GB model--I've been looking around for replacements from third parties. The fine folks at iPodbattery.com have even elected to show you how to disassemble your iPod to make the battery swap. Kudos!
FrontPage coders, take note
If you really want to get the most out of your web code, and don't have a Mac, please, please, please use this.
Beginning of VPC's end?
Karl Dandenell reports to Ric Ford on MacInTouch that Virtual PC 6 is not supported on Power Mac G5s. There is potential hope in that Microsoft states in the tech note they are working on G5 support for the application. This avoids a Retrophisch™ "I told you so" moment for the time being. After all, how long did it take Microsoft to bring HALO to another platform?
33
I think most people would agree, with the possible exceptions of decade birthdays (30, 40, 50), that year-to-year, they really don't feel that much different on their birthday. It's only when you compare, say, your thirty-third birthday to your twenty-third birthday that you "feel old." Likewise for yours truly. This birthday is a bit different, however, and that is completely due to my four month-old son. Maybe it's just psychosomatic, but being a new dad does bring with it certain feelings of getting older. Not that that's a bad thing. No, not in the least. Becoming a dad is one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me, and if that brings with it feelings of growing older, then that's fine by me. In the mean time, if you're so inclined, I'm always open to the receiving of presents and swag. ;-)
The real reason behind IT purchasing
In the most recent Macintosh Daily Journal, Matt Deatherage & Co. take Information Week to task over their recent PC Vendor poll and rankings. MDJ correctly points out what's really behind the buying decisions of most corporate IT managers:
IT buyers list many important factors, but when Apple meets them, they ignore them because Apple is not the "standard." The most important consideration for IT buyers is not cost, customer service, quality, reputation, or proven technology, even if the magazine's survey said so. The most important factor is that the PCs be Intel-compatible so they can run Windows, but no one wants to say that because it makes them look inflexible. Windows is the elephant in the middle of the room, and rather than talk about it, InformationWeek made up reasons why Apple doesn't meet criteria when it obviously does. It's hard to see how that is information, even if it does come out weekly.
iPod as big as the Mac?
It's certainly looking that way to Apple. The iPod is the highest-volume item the company moves right now, with 1.4 million sold.
''It's something that's as big a brand to Apple as the Mac,'' is how Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, puts it. ''And that's a pretty big deal.''
Back to work
Today was my first day at my new job. The company I'm working for is AMX, based in Richardson, Texas. In business since 1982, AMX specializes in audio/visual automation and control systems for both commercial and residential customers. The project I'm working on happens to be the Apple Retail Stores. AMX has partnered with Apple to deliver and maintain all of the control systems for the Apple Stores' theater and music setups. All those movies that play on the store's big screen? The cool tunes you hear playing over the loudspeakers? All run by a combination of AMX's hardware and software and Macintosh systems. My new boss Mark just had a hellacious holiday weekend prepping the Ginza store opening. Things look to be fairly quiet for a couple of weeks, then it's time to prep all the content the stores will need after the Stevenote that first week in January...
C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963
Today's American Minute over at WND honors an Englishman, whose works, including Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Chronicles of Narnia are considered seminal volumes in not only Christian, but all English, literature. Not bad for a former agnostic. One of Lewis's contemporaries was another famous English author, who was also a professor at Oxford, and wrote what is considered the standard for all fantasy fiction: J.R.R. Tolkien.
Thanksgiving wishes
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family and friends! Major Thanksgiving wishes are extended to the forward-deployed men and women of our armed forces, who sacrifice time from their own loved ones to defend our nation. We thank you for your service, and you are continually in our thoughts and prayers.
Subway funny
Have you seen the latest Subway commerical with the Airborne Ranger type talking about pulling the ripcord and nothing happening? I've seen this one about four times now, and it cracks me up every time.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T for LSU
What a difference a week, and losses by perennial "contenders," makes. As Miami fell to Tennessee, Virginia Tech lost to Pittsburgh, and unranked Clemson knocked off Florida State in a stunning upset, upward goes the stock of the Fighting Tigers in the BCS rankings. Both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll and the AP poll have LSU ranked at #3 this week. (The Tigers did not play this weekend.) The BCS ranking system has the Tigers at #4, behind Ohio State, flip-flopping positions with the Buckeyes from the other major polls. I can live with that. The Big 10 is a powerhouse conference, and Ohio State is the defending national champion, not a pretender like the Hurricanes or Seminoles. Now the Tigers have a tough, SEC-only schedule for the rest of the season. This Saturday will be the Crimson Tide, in Alabama, on national television, courtesy of ESPN. Alabama has been pretty weak this season, but you can never discount a SEC opponent. I confess to being a bit worried; the last time the Tigers came off a bye week, they suffered their only loss of the season to Florida, the difference between #4 in the BCS and #2. Should LSU prevail, the game of their season to date would be the following week, at Ole Miss. After this past weekend, the Rebels are undefeated in the SEC, 6-0, and currently sit atop the SEC West. Looking at the Ole Miss schedule, the only thing I see stopping them from going to the SEC Championship is LSU. Not that all three remaining games aren't must-wins for the Tigers, but this will be the game, should LSU ride in to Oxford at 9-1. (Something that could work to the Tigers' favor: while LSU plays Alabama this coming weekend, Ole Miss is off.) And should LSU enter their last regular season game at 10-1, the Razorbacks of Arkansas are always looking to spoil the Tigers' chances in the postseason. As far as the SEC championship is concerned, the Tigers control their own destiny; win all three remaining games, and they're headed to Atlanta on December 6th. Win the SEC championship, and there is the slim chance they could actually play for the national title. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening; like I said, it's a slim chance. Oklahoma is going to finish the season undefeated, with the Big 12 championship. USC has Arizona (2-8) and UCLA (6-4) left in its season; the Trojans will roll over the Wildcats, leaving the Bruins as the only potential spoiler. It could happen, but again, the chances are slim. Ohio State does have its work cut out for it, however. The Buckeyes, like LSU, have a tough schedule to finish on, first taking on Purdue, then arch-rival Michigan. Should Ohio State cap off their season with wins in these two games, I believe you'll see them in New Orleans defending their title against Oklahoma, no matter what USC does. I'm sorry, BCS, but you can't compare the Pac-10 to the Big 10 when it comes to schedule strength. So, here's hoping that the Bruins down the Trojans, and I'll be rooting for the Boilermakers and the Wolverines. Should LSU wrap up all three of its remaining games, and any of the above happens, they would end the season as the only one-loss team. (The TCU Horned Frogs notwithstanding; I like TCU--they're a hometown favorite--but they're not in the same league.) Which means the Tigers would head to New Orleans to be promptly crushed by the Sooners. Hey, I love my Tigers, but I'm a realist. Unless there's a football miracle out there that none of us can see, Bob Stoops will win his third national championship this season, no matter who Oklahoma faces in the Big Easy.
Sim City without the pressure
That's City Creator. Currently there are three different styles to choose from: Blankton, a modern metropolis, Snoland, your typical snowy village, and what I know will be Rick's favorite, Medieville, which should need no explanation.
Something Wicked Cool on MacDesktops
Earlier this year, yours truly used an Apple PR hi-res product photo of the third-generation iPods to create a desktop picture. That picture was subsequently submitted to MacDesktops.com, and has finally been posted. Due to the vagaries of life, I missed the email notification sent to me a couple of weeks ago that it was posted until checking through earlier this evening. It can be found on the iPod page, and is "Something Wicked Cool." Enjoy, and please leave feedback on the desktop picture.
Ranked 4th, but no respect from the BCS
Both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, and the AP sportswriters' poll have LSU at number 4, yet because of the "computer averages" used in their determination, the BCS still has them at number 7. At least the Tigers have finally vaulted past Georgia, something they should have done after the Bulldogs barely scraped by a second-tier team like UAB. LSU, by contrast, had no trouble with their second-tier-team gimme game of the year. Both Georgia and LSU have had their troubles with those pesky Gators, though, haven't they?
I dare anyone to show me how Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Miami have tougher schedules than LSU. (This is one of the things the BCS computers use to determine rankings.) The toughest teams these three face each year is each other! Miami owns the Big East, and VT and FSU own the ACC. Next year, all three can happily beat up on everyone else and one another in the ACC. Again, by contrast, SEC teams have to beat up on one another week after week, with the occasional gimme game. For Miami, practically every game, week after week, is a gimme game, and I was happy to watch VT stuff them in to the ground. Granted, LSU has traditionally had a problem winning the "big one," or blowing their chances at getting to the "big one." With a #4 ranking, and the rest of their games all televised (not always a variable that plays to the Tigers' favor), the strength and resolve of Nick Saban's team will be tested like never before since he assumed the head coach's mantle.
GEAUX TIGERS!
New Cube for Cube owners
I love my Power Mac G4 Cube. Small. Elegant. Takes up little desk space, and you want it on your desk so it can be displayed as the work of art it is. The only problem with owning a Cube is that you are somewhat limited in processor and video card upgrades. Because the Cube uses convection cooling, you have to be careful that you don't overtax the external power supply and overheat the system. Most processor upgrades for the Cube come with a small fan that, once installed, blows air up the Cube's "chimney," assisting in keeping the little Power Mac at peak operating performance. As video cards have become more and more powerful, they have also increased somewhat in physical size. Sure, anything you buy these days will easily fit in the AGP or PCI slots of your Power Mac tower, but the Cube is limited to certain models whose physical proportions match those of the Cube. PowerLogix thinks they have the answer to these Cube-owning quandries: the PowerCube Enclosure. The PowerCube offers improved ventilation, allowing faster processor upgrades to be used without adding on fans. It also features 20 times more room for video cards than the original Cube enclosure, by moving the DC/DC card. I realize that these enclosures are hand-crafted from machined aluminum, but I'm not sure if it's worth $269. Yes, I understand that (a) this is an expensive process to produce these enclosures, and (b) that the Cube-owning market is pretty small. All the same, I'd be more tempted to buy one if it were running around $150. My Cube is pretty much maxed out in all areas. It has the full complement of 1.5 GB of RAM. It has a 100 GB hard drive; the only larger drive I could put in would be a 120 GB model, since the Cube's bus limits drive size to 128 GB or smaller. My Cube sports a nVidia GeForce3 video card. I'm not a gamer, and at this stage, I'm not working with a lot of digital video, so it's a great card for me. The only upgrade missing is a new processor, and the price on 1.2 GHz upgrades keep slowly falling, so that's just a matter of time (and finances, now that I'm unemployed). I had always thought that after the proc upgrade, I would eventually just buy a faster Mac, lusting after a new 15" PowerBook and the dual 2 GHz G5. The Cube could then be put to other uses. Laurie Duncan had a hand in seeing the PowerCube brought to production, and offers thoughts on her two test enclosures, as well as giving an overview of the transplant procedure. Response on Laurie's forums and the Cube email list run by Eric Prentice seems very favorable. I watched the online version of the install video. (Warning: designed for low bandwidth, so it's low-res and really jumpy. The one that comes on DVD with the enclosure is very smooth, according to Laurie.) There are a couple of items of note that should give the Cube purists out there pause. One, the new recessed power button. On the one hand, a good idea, since many a Cube owner has put his system to sleep by accidentally brushing the button on top of the Cube. On the other hand, there is something so inherently cool about there not being any push buttons on the original Cube, that simply gliding one's finger across the acrylic top will power on the system. Second, no more "core removal." While the internal chassis of the original Cube is used, with a slight modification of the Airport antenna and the DC/DC board, said chassis is screwed to the PowerCube enclosure. So you can't simply flip your PowerCube over, push down on the latch, and lift the chassis out by the handle. Not that Cube owners do that all the time, but it's still an incredibly easy way to get to the Cube's internals, no longer available with the PowerCube. Finally, and this is the purest of the purely aesthetic: I just like the way the original Cube enclosure looks. The clear acrylic shell, with nothing behind it for a good two inches or more at the bottom, makes the system look like it's floating on one's desk. You don't get that with the PowerCube Enclosure. So even if I could afford it, I just don't think the PowerCube is for me. Though I wouldn't say no if Robert at PowerLogix wishes to send me one to review...