News
Apple - the final countdown
no, not a mid-eighties rocker ballad. it is, in fact, come to the final countdown for my g5, still in the hands of the glendale apple store. but here’s a miraculous bit of news that i got just yesterday. a nice young man from the store called and told me that due to them having my computer “for so long” and not being able to repair it, they have decided to give me a new one.
yes, you heard it right (or read it, actually). apple is giving me a new computer to replace the one they cannot fix. is this a great country or what? kudos to the entire team at the apple store glendale and especially my new best friend conan. i think this is what could be called outstanding customer service.
granted, i did originally pay over 3 grand for the computer only a year and a half ago and i do have apple care and i did leave the computer there to be fixed almost a month ago and i already replaced it with a new g5 tower at my expense but hey, at least they are finally doing the right thing. i think its very cool. it makes sense. if they can’t fix it, they should just replace it.
i have heard of apple doing this before but not very often. i’m sure this is a last resort type of thing. not something that they want to do. but its nice to know that they will, if they have no other option. and i didn’t even have to ask them to do it. it might also help that my mac consulting company is a preferred consultancy for the store and that i am personal friends with the top managers. so, as they say, your mileage may vary if you try to get them to replace your mac.
regardless of my personal relationships, its just nice that a company will take the steps necessary to satisfy a customer. it gives me hope in these uncertain times of intel chips and sagging ipod shuffle sales. despite all the turmoil, i think things are going to turn out ok. at least in my little apple computer world. its the rest of the world i’m not so sure about.
in other news not necessarily about me (yes, there is some, believe it or not):
apple scraps their shiny new “switch” campaign without firing a shot.
apparently, the rumors of drm preventing you from installing osx for intel on a non-macintosh are not so true after all.
martin sargent, late of the screensavers and unscrewed fame, returns to the web, ready, it seems, to get back to work.
CBGB’s gets to stay put.
and, my favorite news anchor, peter jennings, died recently of lung cancer. he was a class act and loved the daily show. was he cool or what? RIP peter.
Testing Dashboard
i’m testing a dashboard widget that allows you to post to my blog. so, how does it look? i guess its the same. why wouldn’t it look the same?
anyway, things are going well. busy and all that. saw “the island” on sunday and i gotta say, it wasn’t that bad. of course, i went into it with low expectations after hearing all the critics bash it and it not making much money, but i was very surprised.
its not perfect but it is fun and has a great look. plus, scarlett johansen looks fantastic so that’s a plus. i mean she really looks fantastic. almost unbelievable. ewan mcgreagor looks pretty good too, if you go that way. but really, just look at scarlett, will ya?
Friday report
last night we spent some time in los feliz. i have to say that although it was pretty trendy i had a good time. we ate at a restaurant called fred 62 and then went on to the LAist one year anniversary party at the vermont bar. a good time was had by all. or, at least, me and most everyone. i went with add and jrod. add has little trouble talking to other people and i can walk away from him to mingle and he will be fine.
jrod, on the other hand, is a little more socially handicapped. he’s a great guy and i like him. he just seems to have trouble in social situations. its easy for me. i can walk up to pretty much anyone and strike up a conversation. and, as this was a party for LAist, a website i write for, it was even easier for me to talk to people. not so much for jrod.
although, i don’t know exactly what i expect. do i think he will be the life of the party and go around charming all the ladies? maybe i expect too much of him. i just want him to be happy. he is single and has a new job that he regrets taking. he was making good money in the freelance world but had an opportunity to move to a full-time gig with room for advancement so he took it. now, he regrets it as the new job hasn’t yielded the results he was hoping for. that’s life i guess. perhaps it will work out in the end.
anyway, i met some nice people like the go fug yourself girls (they were cool and didn’t make fun of my outfit), Mark from Buzznet, Tracy of Little Lady Red and had some good conversation and stayed completely sober the entire night.
i’m sure there are pictures floating around the internets from the event but i didn’t take even one. if i find any, i will post them or link to them. i know people had cameras as i got flashed in the face a few times. as to what happened to the pictures, its anyone’s guess. well, on to the weekend.
Last Call (and some news)
i’m at my “office” (aka Starbucks) and people watching a little. The summer is always interesting here in the warmer climes. much more skin is shown and many times that’s a good thing. in fact, there are some pretty good examples of that here right now.
sadly, sometimes it isn’t. you know what I mean. now, i’m not small or thin by any means. In fact, i’m pretty big. however, at least I have the sense not to wear a shirt where my entire stomach is exposed so it can hang way over my belt. although, mine doesn’t do that. anyway, you’ve seen that person before, i know you have. people just should look in the mirror a little more before leaving the house. i’m not against them, i feel bad for them.
anyway, i am at least taking steps to remedy my situation. first, and this will definitely come as a surprise to many, i have stopped drinking alcohol completely. yes, that’s right. no more booze. i’l give you a minute. . . .ok, you may wonder why? its not because i think i have a problem or that i think alcohol is bad or that i’ve found God or anything. nothing so dramatic. it is just time to stop.
all the rest of you can keep drinking as much as you want. i am not going to judge anyone. what i’m doing is only for me. just to see if i can. it’s really more of an exercise to help me get healthier. i don’t like the feeling i get after a night of going out for a few. the next day (sometimes the next two days) are just not as fun when you have a hangover and feel like crap.
this started after my last trip to vegas for add’s birthday party. that was early june. so it has been a couple months already. i won’t say i have not had a drink at all in the last few months. i have had one or two. stopping completely is harder than it sounds. however, my intake is way, way, way down and is going to stay that way. its just time for a change, that’s all.
also, i have started back to the gym and am eating less and exercising more. just like you are supposed to. i want to try it this way and see if things improve. i don’t want to resort to an all liquid diet like my friends tm and jh are trying. a doctor supervised ucla experiment. i guess its come to that for them. not for me. not yet anyway.
in other news of the world:
apple comes out with a 2-button mouse! hell does not, in fact, freeze over.
the space shuttle will get some in-space repairs.
and, NASA shows a few designs for the next-gen shuttle (nyt reg required). change for the better is good. let’s hope they are on the right track.
a noted Windows expert calls for a boycott of the next version of Internet Explorer (IE7).
and this guy has a lot of time on his hands but he might have a point. i have heard of this. at least it hasn’t happened to me yet. i hope netflix isn’t like that but you never know.
Interesting Sites ‘O the Day (and a little news)
From across the www direct to you. Some interesting sites that might be worth a visit. Especially if you are looking to kill a few minutes (or a few hours). Enjoy.
The Playstation 3 info page of things known so far.
Microsoft Windows Vista (i really love that name. no, really. at least no animal names. kinda tired of that too) info page with screenshots.
Some speculation on the innards of the Video iPod, to be released real soon (i am holding my breath. i hope it doesn’t take too long).
Some good tips that every webmaster (like me!) needs to know to enhance his or her use of Google Adsense.
This looks promising. Record everything on TV and play what you want. When you want. No more season passes or setting the timer on the VCR (although, if you really have a VCR, its time to move into the 21st century and get a Tivo at least. I mean really people, tape is so nineties).
And, it seems some debris fell off during the latest shuttle launch. It looked so perfect too. So, NASA has grounded the fleet again. Well, the comet thing was cool anyway. Can we get something else besides foam? It doesn’t work guys. You’re really, really, really smart. Think of something else. Please.
And last but certainly not least, some very cool tips on how to speed up Mac OSX. Many of these I already use. I guess I could have posted them too. Oh well, easier just to link to this guy. Less work for me.
Interesting Sites 'O the Day (and a little news)
From across the www direct to you. Some interesting sites that might be worth a visit. Especially if you are looking to kill a few minutes (or a few hours). Enjoy.
The Playstation 3 info page of things known so far.
Microsoft Windows Vista (i really love that name. no, really. at least no animal names. kinda tired of that too) info page with screenshots.
Some speculation on the innards of the Video iPod, to be released real soon (i am holding my breath. i hope it doesn’t take too long).
Some good tips that every webmaster (like me!) needs to know to enhance his or her use of Google Adsense.
This looks promising. Record everything on TV and play what you want. When you want. No more season passes or setting the timer on the VCR (although, if you really have a VCR, its time to move into the 21st century and get a Tivo at least. I mean really people, tape is so nineties).
And, it seems some debris fell off during the latest shuttle launch. It looked so perfect too. So, NASA has grounded the fleet again. Well, the comet thing was cool anyway. Can we get something else besides foam? It doesn’t work guys. You’re really, really, really smart. Think of something else. Please.
And last but certainly not least, some very cool tips on how to speed up Mac OSX. Many of these I already use. I guess I could have posted them too. Oh well, easier just to link to this guy. Less work for me.
Yahoo gets into the widget business and other stuff
Yahoo! for some reason decided that widgets were another great way of competing with Google. So, they purchased Konfabulator and today, debuted their own Yahoo! widgets site. They say Mac support will continue and may even get better as they want to be more “cross platform”. That’s nice. Will that make up for the less than stellar version of Yahoo! messenger now on the Mac? I hope so.
Also, quite a bit of fanfare for the new XBox 360 in Tokyo recently. Having seen it at the recent E3 event here in LA, I can say that it looks great and could help push Microsoft ahead in the console wars. Of course, there is a big difference between a demo and actual released product so anything is possible. It could still suck.
Lastly, Microsoft also wants to bring you the world. Or is that dominate the world? I get those mixed up sometimes. Anyway, they now have the Microsoft Virtual Earth site. Which is, of course, in direct competition with Google Maps. Which is better? Too early to say. However, I did have some issues using Virtual Earth with Safari 2.0 in Tiger so . . . . I guess it’s still Google Maps for me for now, which works perfectly fine in Safari.
London Bombs
Of course you have heard about the bombs in London today. For good coverage, check out my friends at Londonist and also quite a few links at BoingBoing and at Flickr there are several ongoing photo groups with pictures from the blasts etc.
As for me, my only response to this latest terrorist attack is to be even more determined to go on living my life and doing all the shit that I normally do. No fucking coward living in a hole in the desert who doesn’t have the balls to put on a uniform and face us like a man in a real war deserves any more of my attention than for me to say “fuck you”.
Anyone who straps explosives to his body and blows up a bus or train full of innocent working people isn’t worth a moment of pity or consideration. That person is a complete fucking moron deluded into thinking that he is somehow doing God’s work.
I’ve got news for you dickhead and for all you other terrorists out there, there isn’t a hole you can hide in forever. Sooner or later, we’re gonna be there. Then, you will know what real power feels like. Enjoy what few moments you have left fuckers because they are numbered.
Sorry if I am using more colorful language than usual but this kind of thing makes me angry and I feel like I need to express it. Anyway, I’m lucky that anyone I know or care about wasn’t hurt today. To those of you who have people you know and care about that were affected by these events, my thoughts are with you.
Ok, I’m done.
Happy 4th, eh?
What, again? It seemed like only yesterday that we were celebrating the 4th of July. Well, here it is again. Have a safe and sane 4th. Don’t drink too much or blow your finger off with fireworks. That is, if fireworks are even legal in you area. I miss fireworks. They were fun and had a slight element of danger which made them even more fun.
Also, happy Canada Day to our northern brothers and sisters. I have to say that as I have relatives who are Canadian. Plus, why not extend a laurel and hardy handshake across the border and say “hello” and “have a good time”. Would it kill you to be nice once?
M is for Monday
today is monday. not my favorite day of the week by any means. however, a necessary evil so i will just have to let it go. besides, if there were no monday than i would have to be less than enthusiastic about tuesday so what can you do. anyway, to the point, as it were. couple things happening in the world at large and in my world as well.
first, those sneaky mpaa dudes are still trying to ram the broadcast flag down our throats with a last ditch effort to attach it to a senate appropriations bill due for a vote this week. if you live in one of the states that has a representative on the house appropriations committee, give your congress person a call, email or fax and tell them you oppose the broadcast flag. or, live with the government in your computer and other electronic devices forever.
as a public service, here is the list of congress people who make up the house appropriations committee, courtesy of the folks over at boing boing. or, go to the eff site for helpful links to get to the right person.
in other news, kodak is going to stop making black and white photo paper. i know, i know, two or three people are really bummed out right now. i haven’t been in a darkroom in about three years but when i was, it smelled bad and i had a headache for about a day afterward. as i can do all the same stuff, and much more, on my mac at home, where it actually smells pretty good, there really isn’t any reason to go back to a darkroom. still, its a little sad. end of an era and all that.
and last week, Mastercard announced that up to 40,000,000 credit card numbers may have been compromised by one of their processing companies. today, the New York Times (registration, along with first born child, required) is reporting that the company in question, CardSystems Solutions, should not have been handling that data to begin with. John M. Perry, CEO of the processor in question, claims the data was merely being kept for “research purposes”.
priceless.
The number of compromised Master Card accounts has been revised downward to about 68,000, with another 132,000 possibly compromised accounts belonging to Visa, American Express, and other companies.
well, i feel better now. how about you?
and, no word on my sick g5 yet from the guys at melrose mac in burbank on olive ave. (and on melrose as well, one would assume). i hope they know what they are doing. i’ll let you know what the diagnosis is and what the cure is when i know. that way, others can benefit from my suffering.
The Batsuit, not for kids.
here’s how the batsuit in the new Batman movie works. cool. i hope the movie is good too. i won’t hold my breath.
in other news of my world, I have not taken my ailing G5 mac into the shop to see what the heck is wrong with it so no report there. i’m going tomorrow to a place called melrose mac in burbank. i’ll let you know if the suck. nor have i done any more work on my canon 20d article or much of anything for any of the other sites or publications i am supposed to be writing for. i have just been too busy to do much of anything but work. I think parents should prepare their kids a little better for how life really is. what do i mean?
well, i think parents should tell their children that life is sometimes hard and that they will most likely end up doing a job they don’t love for inadequate wages and slaving away for most of their natural lives. i’m not taking about me, i have it pretty good in that i do what i want most of the time and work when i want for whom i want. that’s one of the advantages of being on your own. of course, if you don’t have any work, you can become screwed pretty fast. so the freelance, self-employed, owning your own business route isn’t for everyone.
my main problem is that i have a hard time working for other people. i’m not a very good employee and not a good follower. i guess you could say that i’m a leader. i like to be the boss. i probably could be far more successful today if that wasn’t the case. i could have spent the last ten or so years working for a company, climbing the corporate ladder. unfortunately, i just can’t do it. i tried. really i did. it’s just not for me.
right or wrong, i need to be on my own. be my own boss. take chances and follow my own path no matter what happens. i think that this kind of life can be a happy one. and i am happy almost all of the time. yes, it carries with it a large degree of uncertainty and sometimes can be very stressful.
but at the end of the day, you only have to rely on yourself to make things happen. you are your own boss and when you succeed, even in small ways, it’s a great feeing because you did it. on your own, your way. not much else can compare to that feeling. notice, i said not much else. there are a few things . . .
of course, when you don’t succeed, you can always blame someone else. not that i would ever do that. so, its a win win all around. but seriously folks, it is good to be your own boss and it has many rewards. i suggest everyone try it once. don’t be put off by fear. fear is the number one killer of innovation and success.
fear isn’t real. it can’t really hurt you. it’s just a feeling about something that might happen. it might not happen too. you could get lucky. it happens all the time. don’t let fear be a buzzkill. get out there and do something, even if it scare the crap out of you. well, this turned out much more “tony robbins” than i thought it would. ok, so, stay in school and don’t do drugs. that’s enough.
This time the rumors are true
Yes, its true. Apple is switching to Intel. I can feel hell freezing over right now. However, I think its a smart move if Intel can provide better, faster, stronger chips than IBM can. Apple needs faster chips and needs them in large quantities and for less money. I think Intel can deliver on this.
Who really cares what is under the hood? It’s still the same great OS and the same great hardware. In other words, its still a Macintosh. Let’s hope this leads to less expensive Macs. That would be cool.
A little vacation and some “deep” stuff
Me and mine are going out of town for several days to, among other things, celebrate the 40th anniversary of the birth of our friend Anthony. He's a good guy and decided to have a party so we decided to attend. Why not.
So, the posting may be a little lite for the next few days as we are going to be away. Not flying this time because of my last experience waiting at the Burbank airport for four hours. This time, I’m gonna drive. Of course, I fully expect a huge accident will delay me even more and I will wish I had flown,
Oh well, at least it will give me something to complain about. Also, before I forget, I am working on my review of the Canon 20d and some other stuff which I will post as soon as I can. Until then, content yourself with the musings of my friends at LAist or feel free to go back and read some of my archives. They are always good for a laugh or at the very least, a slow shake of the head as if to say “what they hell is he thinking”.
Happy weekend all. Oh, how could I forget this. Deep Throat revealed! He waited a long time and kept his secret. That’s pretty impressive as most people can’t keep a secret at all. This guy is something. 2nd in command of the FBI and chief investigator of the Watergate break in. Now, who will be playing him in the movie? Russell Crowe? Johnny Depp? George Clooney? Me? We’ll see.
Happy weekend again.
tu Ciudad
Last night we went to the launch party for a new magazine here in Los Angeles called tu Ciudad or just “City”. I wrote about it for LAist but there are more pictures on my flickr page, in case you are interested. It was a fun party with lots of free-flowing music and booze. Plus, lots of beautiful people having fun. And, the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was the setting. Good times.
Apple to use Intel chips?
This again? Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Really it would not be too hard to get OSX to run on Intel or AMD chip. Well, at least for the smart engineers at Apple. I'm sure that in some vault at Apple it is already doing just that. Humming along nicely, thank you.
Star Wars: E3ROTS is already online
Already? I’m surprised it took this long. Not that I condone this kind of thing (illegal downloads, that is) and I don’t always agree with Cory Doctorow (although, he probably doesn’t know or care). He is pretty much right on the money with his latest post at Boing Boing. I question what good DRM is all the time.
Although, as I probably know one or two of those “shouting, petulant babies” he refers to I must make a hasty disclaimeer: If any of you are reading this, that’s one of the parts I don’t agree with. I’ve never heard you shout, at least at me. There, happy now.
Ok, gotta go see “Star Wars:E3ROTS” in a theater now.
Busy couple of weeks . . .
It’s looking to be a pretty hectic next few weeks for your humble writer (me, in case you can’t figure it). This week I will be all over the City of Angels at various events. Monday night is a screening of a new film at Cinespace, which is a great venue to see films while drinking (not that I condone that). It should be an interesting time.
Also, at the LA convention center is the Electronic Entertainment Expo, aka e3. This event promises to be very interesting as it was in years past. New games, new consoles (like the XBox 360 or the PS3) and all kinds of other cool toys for me to play with. Plus, there are usually one or two attractive booth girls to talk to. Not that i care about that or anything. I’m there to work, dammit.
This time, I will not only be going just for fun I will be covering the event for LAist. So, I will actually have to take a few notes and a few pictures with something other than the Treo. I hope having to do a little work won’t interfere with my fun.
And of course, the other big event this week, at least for many, is Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I will be seeing it on Thursday at high noon at the fantastic Arclight theater. If you have never been to the Arclight, I highly suggest going.
The best part is that you can buy your tickets in advance and get an assigned seat. No waiting in line or getting there an hour early. And, another great feature is that the Arclight doesn’t show those annoying commercials before the movie. Just previews and then the movie. That’s it. It’s the only way to go.
If you are going to E3 or to see Star Wars, be sure to say “hello”. The secret word is “Teraflops.” Why? Why not?
George Lucas is a rich mofo . . .
Forbes has the info. “It all started with a story treatment, handwritten in pencil on a few sheets of lined yellow legal paper.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
They also have a breakdown of the “Star Wars” franchise and how the dollars flow and where they go. Inspiring or depressing? Take your pick. I’ll go with both.
Laying Low and Putting Tiger To the Test
I have been busy for the last week or so. Thanks, in part, to the good folks at Apple Computer putting out a new version of OSX that has, shall we say, a few “issues”. There are many things to like about Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger. Features such as Spotlight, the new iChat AV, new Mail, improved speed and a host of other features make it a great upgrade in most cases. There are some problems and some annoyances that I have been dealing with not only on my own machines, but on machines of people I work with as well.
As always, MacFixit has the scoop on many of the problems as well as some solution that have worked for other users. Macintouch also has a cool matrix of reported software incompatibilities. And, there is, of course, the Apple Tiger Discussion Forums. No matter what, always make a complete backup of anything you care about on your computer before installing a major upgrade like Tiger. Better safe than sorry.
It’s no secret that people are having problems. Take your pic as to where to find a possible solution or work-around for any issues you might be having. There might be one or it might take a little time for one to be available. No matter what third-party software vendors do, i’m sure we’ll be seeing Mac OSX 10.4.1 sooner rather than later.
Tiger arrives
Apple’s latest OS, Mac OSX Tiger has arrived. We went down to the Pasadena Apple Store last night to get our copy. I installed it on my Powerbook and my G5 and all is well. So, go out and get yours right now and enjoy. I have provided a convenient link for you on the right. Isn’t that nice of me?
Happy Tigering (is that a word?) Sure, why not.