Category: Geeky

Posted on

Yes, I Love Technology

My laptop via my new cell phoneWe got new cell phones! And they’re neat and cool and lots of fun to play with. Rebecca hooked us up through Rogers with a couple of sweet Motorolas, obviously with cameras. Click on the picture to see my evidence of completely geeking out with these lovely new toys for pretty much all of today.

The even better deal is that they came with bluetooth. And even better, they work with my Powerbook. I can upload and download movies, pictures, audio, ringtones, and so on. This made me get all excited and I spent most of today sampling various things, applying different effects, and making my own ringtones.

I spit out about ten different rings. And they’re rings. Not samples or clips of songs. Straight up rings that alert you that a phone call is coming in. All done in mp3, so I’m debating about keeping them for ourselves or perhaps posting them for all to download. Curious? Let me know.

Posted on

Viruses Still Work On the Ill-fated

For the longest time, there hasn’t been much to worry about in the world of viruses when it comes to being a user of Apple computers. In my memory, there has been a few times that things have freaked out in the MacOS world, but that is nothing compared to the two plus years of tech support I did in the Windows world.

It’s only been a matter of time that Apple users would be targeted, but the media is flipping out because there are already attacks out there that can get to the new Intel Macs. However, most of these issues are being over hyped because it takes the user execute them onto their own machine. Continue reading “Viruses Still Work On the Ill-fated”

Posted on

Hornby Island Eagle Cam

Eagle Cam I actually watched the Eagle Cam for a while today, and the bird just sat there looking left to right.  That’s it.  And I was totally sucked into it.

Streaming, live video with sound.  The eggs should be hatching soon.  It’s kinda neat.  Check it out.

Posted on

17inch MacBook Pro

I am very happy to see this product come from Apple. I currently own the first version of the 17″ Powerbook, so the fact that they are going to keep making laptops this massive makes me a little giddy.

The big thing to me is the inclusion of FireWire 800[wiki]. I use an external hard drive to store a lot of data and work from it as well. It comes in uber handy with audio editing. In fact, I record all my podcasts to my external. It never misses a beat. (no pun intended)

I’m far off from upgrading my current laptop, but this is at the top of the list for when I can.

Posted on

Drinking the Flickr Kool-Aid

I’ve been debating it for a long while. I have all these random photos that I take, but not sure how to go about sharing them unless I invite the world over to go through my iPhoto library. Flickr seems to be the next best thing.

I hope to be good about adding what I can to it. My hope is to show off my experiences in Vancouver in the visual sense. Like it or don’t, I’m giving it a shot.

Posted on

People Listen to the Radio More Than You Think

Who says no one listens to the radio anymore because we’re all listening to our iPods? That’s rubbish. People are listening to the radio a lot more than the industry thinks. We’re just not listening to broadcast radio. We’re piping iPods through the stereo using all sorts of neat little transmitters.

I have one. It works through my Powerbook via USB. It’s brilliant for music and listening to podcasts all throughout the apartment. I often wonder if anyone else is tuning in, but they’d have to hit the right frequency.

I can picture someone now, tuning into what they think is a pretty cool music station, only to have a podcast come up next in the playlist. This morning, I went from New Pornographers, to Aberdeen City, to a CNN news update, to a NPR news update, to the Onion Radio News, to the Daily Breakfast. That would completely throw off the unsuspecting.

Posted on

Ogopogo

Sign for sighting Ogopogo at the Gray Monk WineryIt’s no secret to people who know me that I have an affinity for the supernatural. There is this magical, magnetic draw that will suck me in things that seem so rediculous to some people that there is part of me that thinks there might be truth in the story somewhere.

Ogopogo is just that. This is a legend that has just recently come to my attention, and I find it to be fairly fascinating. A mythical creature that lives on the bottom of a lake. Dragon or serpent like, the legend has been around for hundreds of years. Now I will admit that I still don’t grasp the reality that I am living in Sasquatch country and the legacy of that myth, but that’s another topic for later.

I had heard Rebecca’s mom mention the name before we left, but I wasn’t sure what they were talking about until we set out on our wine adventure. That’s when I started getting more and more curious. Continue reading “Ogopogo”

Posted on

‘Boot Camp’ Brings XP to Intel Macs

I’ve been watching a lot of websites and listenings to various Mac related podcasts about getting Windows XP to boot on a Mac with an Intel processor inside of it. There is this huge hack that was done to get it to work, but it’s not for the faint of heart. On top of that, you need the cash to do it because you could completely destroy the computer if it goes wrong. Then some other people found other ways to do it, and so on.

However, Apple unveiled Boot Camp today. This is a piece of software that will let people with the already mentioned Intel Macs be able to run Windows XP. You need the latest MacOS update to 10.4, and this software will be bundled with 10.5 when it comes out.

When the Intel Macs first came out, they were kind of negative on the idea about XP running on these machines. This is a huge turn around, and a major shift to the industry if it holds out. Does it run well? Will people buy into it? And more importantly, will Microsoft do anything to stop this? I don’t see why they would, but you never know. Stranger things have happened.

So there you go. Sexy Macs running… XP.

Posted on

Apple Releases MacOS Update 10.4.6

This update seems to address a core of issues within the new Apple computer products with Intel processors. The other interesting note that comes with this release that came out yesterday, April 3rd, is the warnings posted along with it.

From Apple’s website:

Important: Please read before installing.

– If you use iSync, you should perform a full sync with your devices before installing this update. Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update includes a later version of iSync with several improvements. For more information and before-you-install steps, see iSync 2.2: Read before updating to Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later, or before first sync.

– With the Mac OS X 10.4.6 system software update, PowerPC-based Macs will restart twice, instead of once, after the initial installation.

– You may experience unexpected results if you have third-party system software modifications installed, or if you’ve modified the operating system through other means. (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)

– The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation, use the standalone installer (see below) from Apple Downloads to update.

If issues occur during installation–for example, Software Update quits unexpectedly, please see this article.

Yikes. This seems to be a pretty hefty update that might catch some people by surprise. As always, back up your computer before you apply this upgrade. Get more info here on Apple’s website. And that’s just for upgrading from 10.4.5 to 10.4.6. Info on older systems can be found here, and this is the update method I prefer to use and really recommend.

Also, check out other resources on the web. MacInTouch is a great site to read user comments and feedback. The MacNN forums are a great, real time source as well.  Find out how upgrades are going for other users and get feedback from professionals who have the ability to test these things out before you find yourself completely and totally screwed.

Posted on

Dear, Makers Of Camino

Please put a spell checker into your great and wonderful browser.  I love using WordPress, but it pains me to no end that I have a lackluster abilty to check my sppeling.  Grammer is a constant annoyance that I can deal with, but being able to make sure that you spell everything right on the fly like you can in Safira is a life sacber.

Opoen source, fast, slick, and a prety great browwer.  Camino is awesome, but it could be awesomrer.

And if you guys know of some other way that I can get this put into Camino without some uber hack, that would be outstanding.

Thank you.