Tom Pierce: Mac

iTunes rocking my world

Thu, 27 Nov 2003 12:27:06 GMT

iTunes is really, really cool. However, I've never really taken time to explore it thoroughly. I just do my basic file management and go on my merry way.

This morning I found something new. I had several new files that didn't get the metadata wasn't found in CDDB correctly. So, I decided that I would edit the metadata myself. I selected all the files and went to File, Get Info. iTunes asked me if I was sure I wanted to edit the information for multiple files. I said, "Yes. Yes I do."

At this point was when I said, "AWWWW YEAH!" I saw that not only could you edit artist, albumn, and genre information, but you could add artwork adjust the volume of the files, and (best of all) set an equalizer preset for the files! YES! Not only did I assign the correct information, but I also set the equalizer to Spoken Word so that I no longer have to adjust it manually on my iPod. I really want to go through and do this for several of my albumns. I'm jazzed!

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 18:40:50 GMT

OS X 10.3 Has Built-in File Defragmentation [MacSlash] [Jon Israelson's Blog]

Very, very, very cool. Another great reason why Apple is kickin' ass with the new operating platform.

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 14:03:00 GMT

Mark Pilgrim presents an EXTENSIVE overview of Panther with gratuitous screen shots. Rock on!

Tue, 28 Oct 2003 05:24:21 GMT

I purchased Mac OS X 10.3 Panther over the weekend. Yeehaa! I've been having all kinds of fun with it. It seems to be peppier than Jaguar on my machine, and there's all the nice tweaks. Like everyone else, I love Expose and Fast User Switching. I'm also a huge fan of the new Finder. Love it!

Thu, 07 Aug 2003 23:07:52 GMT

US Navy buys Linux on Apple kit. Biggest ever Xserve sale [The Register]

You're reading that right. Xserve hardware with Linux OS. Hmmm...

Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:09:37 GMT

Dan Gilmore talks about a great Mac utility he found and many people have responded with their own favorites.

Tue, 29 Jul 2003 19:03:45 GMT

Finally, a working videophone.

I just had a terrific iChat session with Steve Gillmor ó the first one, in fact, that deserves the t-word adjective.

Here's what did if for me: being able to talk with my hands. After awhile, it felt like Steve and I were together in the same room. It was weird. And good.

[The Doc Searls Weblog]

In case anyone wants to offer, I'll take iSight now.

Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:39:09 GMT

iPod and Volkswagen Beetle unite. Volkswagen has announced that it is pairing with Apple to provide 2003 New Beetle sedan buyers with a complimentary iPod, the world's top-selling digital music player, according to the press release... [MacMinute.com: Up-to-the-Minute Apple Mac News]

I wish that VW had an offer like this when I bought my Passat six weeks ago!

[Jon Israelson's Blog]

It's finally happened. The formal marriage of Volkswagen and Apple. Now all that needs to happen is for Birkenstock to start offering a pair of sandals with a VW...

Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:34:12 GMT

Microsoft Office and Virtual PC. Microsoft to integrate Virtual PC with Office [MacRumors]

EH? I guess it makes sense, though. Keep the users running Microsoft products, even on Mac hardware.

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 18:59:54 GMT

IBM: Power5 four times faster than Power4. Big Blue Boasts as chip runs in lab servers [The Register]

Sounds really cool. I'm ready for my Power 5 Mac running Panther now. If someone would convince the rest of the business world to follow me to Apple Promised Land, that would be great.

If you read this article, it mentions that the chip will have IBM's self-management technology called eLiza. Does this mean the chip will be able to vaguely psychoanalyze itself?

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:17:10 GMT

I just found out about the Cocoa Development wiki. If I ever get enough time on my hands to play with Cocoa, I'll be sure to check this site out.

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 14:08:30 GMT

DJ iPod.

Rather than actually showing up himself to spin, a DJ in Philadelphia has taken to renting out iPods filled with his custom mixes to restaurants, stores, and salons. BoingBoing has a good thread going on whether or not this is actually legal to do, since the DJ is making copies of songs for non-personal use.
Philadelphia City Paper - In iPod He Trusts
BoingBoing - DJ in Philly rents iPods to venues instead of spinning vinyl in person

[Gizmodo]

I may be dense, but the DJ would need permission to play the songs in a club even if he were there, right? So, what's the difference? Is it a question of multiplicity?

Regardless, it's a really funny idea.

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 20:34:09 GMT

No More IE for Mac. MS appears to be abandoning development of IE for MAc [MacRumors]

Oh well. Maybe now more web designers will develop pages for other browsers. This could be a very good thing.

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 17:13:47 GMT

I'm falling more and more in love with my Mac every day. I finally got Mail working with imap on my Linux box. The problem was that my imap folders were stored directly in my home directory. I found that this was the reason Mail was taking forever to process my imap folders. So, I moved all my folders under the "mail" directory on my Linux box and changed the imap prefix in Mail to "mail". Bingo. Now Mail will process efficiently.

I have also found a way to wake my Mac up remotely. Check this out. This allows me to connect to my Linux box via ssh and then connect to my Mac after waking it up. Tre cool.

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 03:56:01 GMT

Missing Sync for Pocket PC supports iCal, Address Book. Mark/Space Inc. is preparing Missing Sync for Pocket PC, which will enable users of Pocket PC-based handheld devices to synchronize and exchange content with iCal, Address Book iTunes and iPhoto. The software is planned for an "Early Adopter" release to coincide with July's Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo. Missing Sync for PocketPC will synchronize with calendar items, to do items and contacts via iSync conduits. From within iTunes, the Pocket PC-based handheld and its memory cards will show up as an MP3 player, allowing users to add and remove audio files. Missing Sync will allow iPhoto users to export and resize photos for optimal viewing on a Pocket PC-based handheld. [MacCentral] [Jon Israelson's Blog]

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 03:54:10 GMT

F-Script is a lightweight object-oriented scripting layer specifically designed for Mac OS X object system (i.e. Cocoa). F-Script provides scripting and interactive access to Cocoa frameworks and custom Objective-C objects.

[Jon Israelson's Blog]

Very cool find. This looks like something I'll want to play with more.

Fri, 30 May 2003 18:42:32 GMT

Panther vs. Longhorn: The Rematch. Readers weigh in on the grudge match of the decade. [Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley]

Good article on what her readers think of the next version of Mac OS X vs. the next version of Windows. As for me, I'm in agreement that OS X is set to trounce Windows over the next few years.

PPTP Connection for your Mac

Sat, 24 May 2003 14:52:34 GMT

This article discusses how to set up PPTP VPN access from your Mac to a remote PPTP server. Very nice for working from home on the platform of your choice! ;-)

Making My First Movie with iMovie

Tue, 20 May 2003 03:47:27 GMT

In addition to getting my iPod this weekend, I also got a Sony TRV22 digital camcorder. This was a key purchase since my wife and I are expecting our first child soon. It is also key that Daddy (me) be proficient with the camera before his daughter arrives.

The Sony is a very easy camera to learn and to actually use. The controls are straightforward and easy to reach. The manual is well organized and designed to get you going quickly. (One area that is not covered in any detail is importing movies into your computer via firewire.) The camera (to my eye) performs reasonably well in various lighting conditions, and has a decent microphone. Daddy likes the touch screen, too!

I used my new camera to make a walk-through movie of the baby's room. I planned my shot and executed it pretty quickly. I was pretty pleased with the raw results. I then decided it was time to import it into my iMac and make some iMovie magic!

I connected the firewire cable that I bought (Sony doesn't supply one!) from my iMac to the camera. I rewound my tape to the appropriate spot, and hit Import on iMovie. BAM! iMovie took control of the camera and imported the video clip. When it hit the end of the video, it automagically stopped the camera. Tre cool.

After I had the clip in iMovie, I drug it onto the project area and added a fade in and fade out transition at the beginning and end. Then, I dropped a song from my iTunes library underneath. I adjusted the volume of the song down so that it didn't compete with my wonderful narration. (Oh, it's wonderful! Don't get me started.)

I played my project through a couple of times and realized that any more fooling with it would lose the grittiness and make it too comercial. So, I went to print with it. I exported it as a Quicktime and added it to the family web site.

Finally, I called the soon-to-be grandparents and let them know they could see their granddaughter's room. They were overjoyed! I was a big hero! All that hard work, all 45 minutes of it, had paid off.

Damn, I love my Mac.

The Beginning of My Love Affair with Apple

Mon, 19 May 2003 14:04:53 GMT

I realized this weekend I'm becoming one of those Apple users that I used to hate. You know the kind: always talking about how well engineered their Mac hardware and software is, always struggling to understand why Intel users don't understand, etc. With the recent purchase of my iMac, my iPod, and my digital camcorder I've become what I used to loathe. I love it.

I've been talking about getting an iPod for a while now. I have a birthday this month, and my wife was saying that I should get one for my birthday. However, I couldn't justify spending the money.

Last week, I walk into the house talking about how I was on the iPod kick again. Once again my wife is telling me that I should just go buy one. I said, "Maybe I'll just stop by and buy one on my way home one night." She said, "You can't! You can't let anyone surprise you, can you?!?!?" Apparently she had bought me one that day at lunch. I know - she IS an angel.

Just unpacking the iPod you get to experience the care and detail behind the product. The packaging is excellent (just like all other Apple products). You can tell they care about protecting their children until they are adopted by a loving parent. The cords are extremely neatly packed with protective covering over each end, the unit itself is buried deep in Styrofoam and static wrap, and the box itself is cleverly crafted. I was really impressed.

I immediately connected the cradle to my Mac via the supplied firewire cable. I settled the iPod into the cradle and started reading the book while my music was transferred without any user interaction to my device. It took a little longer than I expected (I have about 4GB of my music on my Mac), but it was amazing none the less.

Once I started using the iPod and actually listening to my music, I was floored. This is some kind of fantastic device. (Better be for the price, huh?) The controls are super easy to use. They make it very easy to navigate a large music library. In fact, if you set up playlists, it's even easier.

I have nothing but love for my iPod so far. Because of its size and convenience, I found myself wanting to take it everywhere. In fact, my wife did put it in the car as we ran errands and listened to it via one of those cassette tape adapters. We were a little overwhelmed by having a large amount of our music at our disposal, but I think we'll get used to it.

If you are considering buying an iPod and you can afford it, just do it. It's definitely a music lover's dream come true.

Sat, 10 May 2003 15:54:41 GMT

There is an RSS news feed that will keep you up-to-date on Mac OS X Fink package releases. You can get the details here.

Sat, 10 May 2003 15:52:26 GMT

Since I'm now a Mac (iMac) owner, I've created a Mac category to my blog. I expect to be posting Mac content.