Happy Birthday Apple

Wireless internet

Isn't wireless internet service in public places great. I'm sitting here in my favorite lunch-time spot, surfing the web and typing away on my blog. A man is playing guitar — and singing badly — while a group of people sit around and chat over sandwiches and burgers.

Some communities have even started putting up free internet access in areas of town. Seattle is suppose to be putting it in citywide. That's almost a good enough reason to move.

Well, foods here, so got to go.

The Funny Thing About Blogging

The funny thing about blogging is that you never really know if any one out there is listening. You may have a site meter which will tell you if people have been on your site, but not if they are actually reading what you have written.

And whose to say anyone actually cares what you have written. Unless you tell your friends and family members, but you probably don't because you would be embarrassed if they read your blog. Strangers okay, but not the people who know you.

I know my wife reads my blog. She loves me. She has to, but no one else has to read it, and I haven't told any other family members or friends about it. I don't want to.

So all of my words may just be lost in the great vastness of the World Wide Web somewhere out there.

Funny really, when you think about it.

Want an iMac But Stuck on a PC

Are you tired of waiting for Windows Vista, delayed until next year, but want a smoother interface like Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger. The only problem is that you are using a PC.

FlyakiteOSX.com has the solution.

FlyakiteOSX is a transformation pack. It will transform the look of an ordinary Windows XP system to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installer simply automates the process of replacing critical system files, setting registry tweaks, and installing extras such as cursors, sounds, visual styles, etc. FlyakiteOSX DOES NOT contain any spyware or ad-ware of any kind. All files needed for FlyakiteOSX are stored in the Windows directory in a folder named 'FlyakiteOSX' that is hidden by default.

And it looks really cool, too. One warning: If you do use FlyakiteOSX, it won't protect you from viruses or other problems usually associated with a PC.

Looking For a Better iChat

Apple Bytes: Looking For a Better iChat

If You're a Star Trek Fan, This is For You

Star Trek New Voyages picks up where the original Star Trek television series leaves off in the middle of a five-year mission. Using authentic-looking sets and costumes, the troupe has managed to recreate the look and feel of the 1960s show cancelled after only three seasons.

For any Star Trek fan, this site is a must-see. You can download their first two episodes, a vignette and trailer for their next show.

Star Trek New Voyages does not intoduce new charaters like some others. Instead, the episodes continue the story line of Kirk, Spock and McCoy and others from the original show with new actors. Walter Koenig, Pavel Chekov from the series and movies, is set to make a guest apperance, too.

You can download the available episodes from different mirror sites, and if you want you can download an iPod version which also plays in iTunes.

So, if you like Star Trek and wish they could have made more of the original series go check it out. You won't be disappointed.

My Addiction and Neogeography

OK, I'll admit it. I have an addiction to the Internet - mmmm, if only there was some way of using that for good - so when I stumbled onto Platial.com around midnight last night, I was hooked. I spent the next hour poking around on this site and believe there is plenty to poke around on it.

So, the first obvious question is what the hell is a neogeography. Mmmm, Well, beats me. But the site lets anyone, even a nut like me, create maps marking their favorite places and telling the world all about them. I like anything that lets people like me share our insanity.

There are maps on there about restaurants, bicycle dealers, tattoos and even liquor stores. Odd thought that there's no listing for porn shops.

The site is relatively new. It was the brainchild of a couple who started drawing maps of local interest for friends and visitors. I guess they figured it would be easier to do it online, and to the let the whole world in on it.

On Platial.com, you can search for specific things or specific places. Or, you can just browse maps others have already made. So far, my favorite is the Bars We've Been Thrown Out Of by Mike and Dominic.

You can create your own maps for free, but you do have to register. The site is a little difficult to navigate, but those problems just mean you get to see more of the site.

I just wonder how long it will take for someone to post the "places we've had sex" or the "best strip club" maps? It is the Internet and let's face it, if it weren't for porn, there wouldn't be an Internet.

Q&A With ScreenCastsOnline

Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline produces a weekly video podcast demonstrating various applications and uses of Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger". It is an excellent tutorial for both the beginner and the expierenced user.
He recently announced that he has decided to make ScreenCastsOnline his full-time job.
Don was good enough to answer a few question for me about podcasting and his recent move to become a full-time video podcaster. Here are his answers:

> What made you decide to start your own podcast?

I'd always quite liked the idea of a podcast but couldn't really think of a suitable theme, or at least one that wasn't already being covered.

Back in July 2005, a family member bought a mac on my recommendation and I wanted to show them how to do some simple stuff. The problem was they lived about 40 miles from me so I hit on the idea of creating screencasts that they could play on their mac to learn the basics. I soon realised that if I could help her, I could help others with the screencasts and ScreenCastsOnline was born.

> Did you receive any special training or have certain skills which are necessary for podcasting?

No, I've dabbed with video production before but very much as a hobbyist and I'm completely self taught.

As far as skills go, ScreenCastsOnline does require a certain logical approach to showing how things work or thinking up sensible scenarios on which to demonstrate something, so planning is very much needed. For ScreenCastsOnline, things are done in sections and some of it is scripted, such as the intro but the other segments are very much free flowing. My other podcast - The EuroMac podcast - is a news based audio podcast on the mac scene in Europe. I find that a completely new skill set is required for that and the whole show is very much scripted.

I've so much admiration for these guys who can just start talking for 40 minutes with no editing - unbelievable!

> What do you see in the future of podcasting? More paid advertisements or fees for downloads?

To be honest I think that for the majority of podcasts, targeted advertising is probably the way things will go as long as it's kept within reason. The paid download or subscription model will only work when the show can provide enhanced or additional content.

This is why I've gone with a bit of a hybrid model with the ScreenCastsOnline Extra! subscription (plug - only $25 for a full 6 months) as I'll be providing the back catalogue of ScreenCastsOnline shows on DVD, the future free shows in enhanced formats (High Def and Enhanced Desktop) together with at least one special subscription only show per month. The usual show will still be free and I'm hoping to get some sponsorship to support that,

> How had your decision to become a full-time podcaster changed your life?

Well it's early days yet, but it's both exciting and scary at the same time. It's been the culmination of 6 months hard work providing a decent show each week and yet trying to balance work and home life. The setting up of the subscription model has in itself been extremely hard work and the management of it, especially in these early days is quite labour intensive and something I need to streamline.

I was hoping for a flood of subscribers in the first week to remove some of the anxiety of going it alone but its been more of a steady drip of people signing up. That will be fine as long as it's sustainable! I'll feel a lot happier when I get a sponsor on board as well!

What has been encouraging has been the amount of goodwill sent via emails to me congratulating me on the move. It's a bit worrying the number of people who keep calling me brave though!

> What podcasts do you subscribe to and watch regularly?

Well I've got a long list of podcasts that I subscribe to but the ones I jump on when a new episode is released are:

Daily Source Code
Podcaster Confessions
Digital Flotsum
Mac Geek Gab
Podcast Brothers
TWIT
Maccast
Mac OS Ken
Podcheck Review

Thanks again, Don.
You can subscribe to ScreenCastsOnline and more podcasts using

Apple Box Art?

I recently read a report that a lot of Apple customers keep the boxes their products come packaged in and some even display those boxes. Whew! What a releif. I thought I was the only nut who did that. Hell, I keep the bags, too!

But, hey, who can blame me? Apple's packaging is as much a work of beauty as some of their products. So, this got me to thinking, and wondering, what do people do with all of these boxes?

If you keep your Apple boxes, or make them into some sort of art display, I'd love to hear about it. Send me an
e-mail telling me about it or with a picture.

Mighty Mouse

I started using the new mouse at work this week, and although some other Mac fans I know aren't too thrilled with it, I love it.

One reason may be because as a regular Windows user, I am accustom to a two-button mouse, while most regular Mac users like the one-button design. I enjoy the simplicity of a single button, I really enjoy some of the features including the wheel, which is a small ball on the new Apple Mighty Mouse.

Of course, Apple added their own twists to the two-button mouse. The scroll ball works both verticlly and horizontally. It also is a button which open Dashboard in Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger", and I do love them widgets. The two buttons on the side of the Apple Mighty Mouse also can be used to open Expose. Probably the most impressive thing of all is that there really is only one button, but the Mighty Mouse knows when you click on the left or the right side of it.

Cool.

The best part of all of these features, is that you can change the action associated with each button. In this way, you can customize it to your needs.

One important note: When you first plug in the Mighty Mouse, you have to go into the preferances and set the action for the right-click. The default action is the same for both left- and right-clicks.

Trust Me, You Need This

ShieldsUp is a site that allows you to check the security of your computer and internet connections by checking what ports are openned and allowing access to your computer. I ran the program on my computer and found everything to be in good shape, but I spend a lot of time updating my software so I doubt most people will do as well.

In fact, I know most of the people who are viewng ths blog - even only for a second - won't do so well. That's becuase the reports generated by this site show me a lot of information about the people who visit.

From one report, I get your IP address, physical location, operating system and what type of browser you are using. It also tells me what screen resolution you are using.

That bad part about all of this is that the site meter service I use which gives me all of this information on you is free. Imagine what I could find out if I wasn't so cheap and paid for these reports.

By the way, I can tell the reports it generate on me when I check my site becuase it always shows up as "unkown location," but when my wife checks from her office it even tells me the domain name of where she works, and if you have read any of my previous posts that's pretty funny since the IT guys where she works are so militant.

So, judging by the information that I am getting about you, right now, while you are reading this, you may want to check out ShieldsUP and tighten up your security a bit.

30-Second Bunnies

I briefly mentioned the bunnies at the end of the Planet TV Daily video podcast and thought I should point out the number of other bunny parodies.

Angry Alien Productions has a host of bunny parodies from Star Wars to Brokeback Mountain each re-enacted in 30 seconds, more or less. Some newer episodes have been commissioned by Starz on Demand, which says something for the quality of the work.

The 30-Second Bunnies are the work of Jennifer Shiman, a cartoonist and digital designer based in Los Angeles, according to her bio, and definitely worth checking our.

Planet TV Daily Podcast

I am subscribed to several podcasts, and I am constantly looking at new ones, but one of my favorites is Planet TV Daily. The show is hosted by Lucian, who talks about things from new Apple video iPod rumors to UFOs to nanopartical capacitors.

I don't know what Lucian does when he's not podcasting but it must be a pretty technical job, because some times he gets to talking, and I have no idea what the heck he's talking about. What's a nanopartical capacitor, anyway? And, I really don't get this thing he does about the spin for the day is clockwise, or sometimes counter-clockwise. What spin?

I'm also not so sure why it is so important that viewers vote for the podcast. The show is listed on PodcastAlley which ranks the shows based on those votes, but I don't know what that means to the podcaster other than a pat on the back. He asks for your vote every day, so I do, just because I like the show.

While I don't always get what Lucian is talking about, he is always entertaining, and I appreciate that the show is, as the name suggests, a daily program. There's a new episode downloaded to my iTunes every day for me to watch.

Subscribe to thousands of free podcasts at the iTunes Music Store.
Lucian also has an audio podcast he does with his wife Marie. I understand from the podcast that Marie is pregnant. Congratulations to them. There's also a picture of Marie on their Web site, and she looks like a babe, so way to go Lucian.

But, my favorite parts of the Planet TV show without a doubt are the hamster dance and the bunnies at the end.

Bill, Say it Ain't So

This week, our friend Bill Gates had a "mea culpa" of sorts when he admitted that Internet Explorer might be lagging behind the other browser out there a bit. Gee, Bill, you think?

I have the new beta IE 7 running on my Windows-based PC at home and honestly, it sucks. The sad part is that it is 100 times better than IE 6. For any one still using IE 6 I strongly recommend you unistall it, download the beta and then run your head into a brick wall about a dozen times for waiting so slow.

By the way, I'm writing this blog using Firefox.

But, what I really can't understand is why it took Bill so long to figure out what thousands of computer users around the world already knew. What internet browser has he been using, anyway? I'm pretty sure Steve Jobs uses Safari, because it doesn't suck, so you would think if Bill has been using Internet Explorer he would have asked for some changes before now.

At the end of the day, I guess the good news for Windows users is they can look forward to a new and hopefully better version in the new future. Probably right after the second Vista service pack is released some time in late 2008.

iCal Exchange

If you use Apple iCal, you should check out iCal Exchange. iCal Exhange is a free service that works with the iCal program like a .Mac account to publish and share your calendar.

After setting up an account with iCal Exchange, you can publish private calendars, which require a user name and a password to view, or public calendars. Public calendars can be viewed online by any one so friends, family members or colleagues can keep up with your schedule.

Using iCal Exchange is free, but if you want multiple passwords so people can subscribe to your private calendar without having your main account password, there is a $1 per month fee. There also appears to be plans to showcase some of the public calendars later.

One other good feature of iCal Exchange is that it works with iCal and the Mozilla calendar feature, so you can share a calendar from an iMac with someone using Windows.

Why I Miss Spam

OK, I'll admit it. Sometimes I miss spam e-mail. Don't you?

Don't you ever miss coming to work on a Monday morning, getting a fresh, hot cup of three-day old coffee from the community coffee pot which you haven't contributed any money to in a couple of years, sitting down at your desk and opening your e-mail account to find about 176 e-mails from people you don't know.

Of course, you open each of them any way. Why not. It's the company's computer so who cares if it gets a virus and what? Like you're going to work on a Monday morning anyway?

You would go through deleting each one of them one at a time even though it would be easier just to select all — because again, it's Monday morning and what else are you going to do all day — and then there it would be:

Bouncing Boobies! Or maybe an ad for some foreign chick willing to marry you from Russia. Or my favorite the enlarge-your-whatever-body-part-of-the-week-special even if you don't actually have that particular body part.

It was just like a great, big, virtual Cracker Jack box every morning.

Yep, I miss spam.

Podcaster Goes Pro

One of my favorite video podcasters, Screen Casts Online, announced today that he is quitting his day job to become a full-time podcaster. I guess this podcasting deal is really taking off. I have noticed more and more video podcasts are including commercials which undoubtedly help support the free content.

Personally, I wish I had a good idea for a video podcast, because I would love to start my own and give up my 8 to 5 job, too. Any body got any good ideas they want to share?

I guess what remains to be seen is if podcasting can become a full-time, paying job. I'm sure people can make money, but who knows if it will be worth it to them. On the other hand, I'm sure people said the same thing about the first radio stations, television station and Web sites.

Are we seeing yet another evolution of the media?

If so, I sure wish I was in on the beginning of this instead of at the end of it. But, until inspiration hits me, I will support people like Don McAllister of Screen Casts Online, and you can, too. Don has started a special subscription service in addition to the free video podcast. For $25, subscribers get extra services including a high definition version of the podcast and newsletter.

Trust me, it's worth it. And, it will help support a new and growing outlet. So, good luck Don and any others who toss the dice on podcasting. Lead the way for the rest of us to follow.

Windows XP on a Mac? Why?

It was announced this week that Windows XP on a Mac has awarded the $13,854 prize for booting Windows XP on an Intel based iMac. Isn't the point in owning a Mac so that you don't have to run Windows? I know that's why I want a Mac.

And, my understanding is that you can only run one platform at a time, so you can't just switch between Windows and Mac OS X. It's one or the other.

What I don't get about this whole project is that if you simply want to runs Windows XP why not go by a cheap Dell. Why spend the money on an iMac just to corupt it with Windows XP?


Of course, the videovideo of them booting the iMac with Windows seems to explain a lot to me. Check out the camera work. Obviously these guys have had a little too much to drink or something.

Do You own an iMac?

I've read plenty of reviews praising the new iMac 17-inch 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, but I have heard little from actual users. Most of the tech people I know say they are waiting to see if there will be any bugs to work out before switching over.

Personally, I'd like to hear from some real users. Not more talk about technical specifications.

So, if you have one of the new Intel iMacs send me an email, leave a comment or drop off a pic and let me know what you think.

If I get any good reviews, I'll post them to the blogg, too.

Mac Sounds

At home I use a Compaq Presario 5838 running Windows XP while at work I use an iBook G4 running Mac OS 10.4.5. Now up until Tiger came out I wouldn't have traded my PC, but now I am in love with with everything Mac.



One of my favorite things about this new OS X are the sounds. I had previously worked with Mac OX 9 in the old blue box. I hated it and always had the sound turned off.

So, when I got this new iBook, it was the first time in years I had heard any noise coming out of a Mac.

At first, I thought I must have broken something. Every time I moved something or deleted something or did just about any thing, it made a noise. I turned them down, but then I started missing them, especially some of my favorites like the swish when it sends my mail or the clunk when I move a file.

Now I love my sounds, and the only problem is that I can't find those sounds any where.

HELP!

Please, if you know where I can get all the sounds my Mac makes in MP3 let me know. I found a site for MacTones, but the link is dead. You can find some of the Mac sounds in the system folder, but only the ones that can be changed from the preference pane.

So, please help if you can.