Randomn3ss

The iPhone just keeps getting better. I updated my phone just two days ago. This update has been the biggest one since September.

The new features on the phone are even more exciting than the new season of American Idol!

I can now rearrange the icons on the homepage. They do a cute little jig on the screen when you hold an icon down for a second. Also, I can make “web clips” enabling me to add a website onto the main page.

Google Maps now accesses my location by cell phone towers and wireless internet. It pinpoints your location on the map which you can save. There is also a new feature to view the map in a hybrid function. This means the map shows a satellite and street name perspective. Real time traffic is a fantastic feature added as well.

The strangest new function that has come to Apple is iTunes movie rental. You are able to do this via computer or iPhone. I don’t understand why anyone would want to watch anything on a such a small screen. I can hardly make out the videos on YouTube. In anycase, you are able to rent it through iTunes. The rental will download onto your phone with an expiration date when you sync it.

The best thing about the January ‘08 iPhone update is multiple person text messaging. I can finally send one text message to a ton of people. This would have been handy on New Year’s when I had to send about a million different text messages to a million different people.

I am now waiting for a copy and paste function.

I honestly can still say this phone treats me well and I have no regrets still. I can’t wait for the next update!

In the spirit of the Macworld 2008 keynote address which announced four new products and services, all of which can be recapped through this live feed from Gizmodo, I present to you the simple question, How addicted to Apple are you?

I’m not that addicted and doubt that I’ll increase my score anytime soon.

Personally, I’m bored with this years announcements and nothing makes me want to jump out of my seat and scream, “I want that! How on earth did I live without it?” I really like some of the features of the newly announced Macbook Air like the black, backlit keys, but not enough to sell my still smells like new Macbook to get one.

So how addicted to Apple are you?

With all the hub-bub about Randomn3ss turning 1 yesterday, I totally forgot to cover the iPhone release one year anniversary as well. It still amazes me when friends of mine will get all giddy when they pull one out of their pocket and, with glee show me how cool it is. I’m not all that impressed, still. It’s big, over-priced and, well its too big still.

As of 5pm EST, I became the proud owner of a brand spankin’ new 13.3″ screen, white, 2.2GHz something, 120 GB of something, and 2 GB of something else MacBook laptop.  It’s super freaking cool.  It is sexy and light and totally full of memory and I have yet to take it out of the box.  And I probably won’t take it out of the box until Tuesday, when I will be able to take it back to the store to get my data transferred from my old laptop.  Until then, I will continue to use my 2001 Toshiba Satellite with no more memory, a broken CD drive, and the inability to delete programs to make more space.

Why, you ask, did I just drop $1500 (plus tax, minus the “student discount,” thank you Hamilton College, your IDs without dates and the $160,000 I spent for them are the gifts that keep on giving) on a computer I’m not totally psyched to dive into?  Because I’m afraid.  Yes, I am intimidated by new, sexy, smart piece of machinery.  I will not be used to a computer that is speedy and doesn’t immediately get a virus as soon as I check my email.  I am not ready to not hit the “ctrl” key everytime I need to click a link so that I can fool my pop-up blocker.  I can’t commit to long battery life, nor to the time it will take to rip all of the CDs I’ve accumulated in the last 15 months since my CD drive broke.  Will I finally subscribe to NetFlix now that I have a functioning DVD player?  Am I sure I want to be able to download and delete programs with ease?  Do I want to be modern and sexy?

No.

I want the status quo until I have the courage to take my MacBook out of the box.  Also, I have an uncanny tendency to ruin electronics immediately upon first use, like the time I bought my Treo 700wx and dropped it when I went to show it to my friends.  Yeah.  Or the time I bought my new iPod, then went to Japan, got on a bike and wiped out with it, getting the headphones caught in the gear chain.  I’m pretty sure that as soon as I open that MacBook box, I will dump spaghetti sauce on it, drop it into my humidifier, get a coin jammed in the CD drive, and then, suddenly, lose the “r” key. 

Wish me luck.

Now that I’m (kind of) an adult, I don’t really get to make a Christmas list anymore. There are fewer presents under the tree and more cards with some cash in them. It’s not that I’m complaining - money is great - but it’s more fun to open gifts than to buy them for yourself. There are a few choice things I would like to see under the tree this year. Sadly, much of what I would like could be filed under “practical and boring” but, being female, I think I can find some frivolous things to throw in there.

Dear Santa:

I was only naughty on a handful of occasions this year, so I think I’m deserving of the items on this list. I mean, the naughty-ness occurred in the company of good friends and was all in the name of fun. If there was any naughty-ness that was not in the name of fun, I was too drunk to remember it so it doesn’t count. I’m pretty broke, so if you could like, pass this on to people who are loaded, that would be great.

1. A humidifier. I’ve had this persistent sinus infection for the past three weeks and I think it’s partially because of how dry the heat is in my apartment (it’s also due to drinking). But, I think this would help. This one is fancy and cute and from The Sharper Image. It’s also $150. Something between this and “cup of water next to the bed” would be stellar.
2. The Led Zeppelin 2-disc retrospective. I’m really into them lately and would love to have it in my music collection. I can’t get “Kashmir” or “Immigrant Song” or “All of My Love” out of my head lately (and I even like some of Robert Plant’s solo stuff). I’ll also take an iTunes giftcard. I’m kind of a music whore.
3. My computer is dying. It’s a six-year-old Toshiba Satellite laptop that has been very good to me, but is definitely in its last days. The CD drive doesn’t work and I’m pretty much out of disk space on my hard drive. Since I blog, I kind of need a computer (and it’s nice to have a portable one at that). I realize that I could get a regular Windows OS laptop for way cheaper, but I am sick of viruses and popups and installing extra programs to prevent the aforementioned. I just want to buy a computer, have all my files transferred, and call it a day. I want a Mac. Not only are they extremely sexy, but they are easy to use and don’t get all funky from rogue programs. I’ve decided on the 15″ MacBook Pro - it has a matte screen (unlike the 13″, which only comes in “glossy” which is damn annoying). However, I am really sad that it doesn’t come in black to match my two iPods and Bose speakers. Yes - color is important to me. Don’t judge.
4. Because you can never go wrong with this gift… but I can’t guarentee it’ll last past New Year’s.
5. A job with health benefits. I don’t think that’s a whole lot to ask for. Right, Santa? And yeah - that’s a picture of Steve Jobs… get it? JOBS?? HA! Also, if he reads this, it might help my case with getting that MacBook.
6. Maynard James Keenan. You don’t need to put him under the tree, just undress him and leave him tied to my bed, please. He can keep his cowboy hat on. Thanks.

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So, my cousin texts my drunk ass this morning at 8am to tell me to check my email (yes, I was definitely still drunk at 8am. It was that kind of night). I roll over, feebly log into Gmail (almost falling out of bed in the process), and find this picture:

She’s entitled it “Respect the Apple.” Contrary what you might think, Jenna is 25 and not developmentally challenged in the slightest. However, she’s obviously very, very “special.”

Go to apple.com and search for the term virus.  The results should be what you see in the photo below.  I did it and it didn’t work for me though.

Source: Tumble.us

OK not really the world, but the market share is up a good 40% from last year. Mac users, don’t get to excited, Windows still owns 91% of the marketplace. Yahoo news reported today,

Mac’s worldwide market share among Web users increased to 6.6 percent in September, compared to 4.7 percent a year ago

It’s been almost a month now since I bought my way into the cool club and ordered a Macbook, my Windows desktop has been fired up I think twice over the last month. There is still some photos and data, along with music and movies I need on it, but I don’t need them on the laptop. One of the primary reasons the laptop is getting more use then the desktop is because I can park my ass on the couch and watch TV and surf the net. Outside of that, it is merely a tool for me to use.

The learning curve for me has been pretty mild, simple stuff, keyboard shortcuts, working in terminal, stuff like that. Outside of that, most programs I use operate the same for me. I don’t love my Mac the way others told me I would, I enjoy the speed it has and the ability to do what I need when I need it, it is stress-free, that is what is important.

This recent spike in Mac users, like myself, is only likely to grow though. I’ve had my sticky fingers on Vista enough to know I don’t like it. I have to support it for work, but I still much prefer XP or even win2k. Most computer users now-a-days are not buying their first computer. They have time vested, programs they are used to using, things that work and don’t work and ways of working around the hardware not living up to what they thought it would be. In my case, buying a Mac was a matter of getting the most from a computer with the least amount of money. To equip a Windows powered laptop with the hardware to match that of my Macbook, the price was only dollars apart, for me it was a choice of operating systems and expandability, most of which I covered several articles ago. I still couldn’t imagine spending $2,500 or more on a Macbook Pro or even $1,500 on an iMac.

Apple could continue to grow its user base if, and only if, they continue to offer products that are financially viable for most users. The fact that Dell and HP offer desktop units that do what most home users need, email, internet, photos, etc for half the price of an entry level Mac desktop will mean that they will continue to dominate the home market. Not until someone has specific needs do they start to look elsewhere. It is also my belief that, with Vista being as shitty as it is, more average users will start to look into other operating systems like Ubuntu. Ubuntu offers what the vast majority of home users want and need, even though mine is currently dusty, as soon as someone figures out an affordable way to offer support and get some marketing behind it, it will grow.

For now I am a content Mac user who also utilizes Windows and likes to play with Ubuntu now and again.

Over the last few years I’ve had several iPods, they are simply a part of my life at this point and I couldn’t imagine living without one. In my car, the radio is rarely used anymore, my iPod now connects directly to my head unit and is nicely hidden away, I can scroll through the entire contents through the screen on the head unit. When I go to the gym I watch video podcasts or TV shows I want to get caught up on. For plane rides it has become essential, both to listen to music on and watch movies, as a laptop is nearly impossible to open up and watch in coach.

During this time, I’ve realized that the first thing anyone should do when they get an iPod is to get a skin to help protect against scratching and give it a bit more cushion. My first skin was from some country out near China, I really don’t recall the name, but this is going back about three years now. At the time, they were one of the only companies that offered a product that covered the touch wheel. It was nice, but the quality of plastic was such that it attracted dust and lint. If you put it in your pocket, it would come out fuzzy from the fabric lining.

About a year and a half ago I upgraded to the newer 5th generation video iPods and again went out searching for a skin. After some quick research and asking questions on forums, everyone and their mom suggested the iSkin Evo3. Point blank, this is the best skin / case you can buy for your iPod.

OK great, I’ve made my point, I really like this case, its held up with no signs of use or abuse in the last 18 months of use and several friends have bought it on my recommendations and really enjoy it as well. There is a downside to this thing though, it won’t fit in the Apple dock or any other dock for any other third party piece of hardware. All those nice looking all-in-one speaker units, like the iHome, won’t work without painfully removing the skin, which defeats the purpose. Not a super big deal for me, I can charge it without using the dock, hell Apple doesn’t even give you one for free like they used to, and I can play music through my home stereo by using the headphone jack. Still, I’ve like the idea of an iHome for the bedroom, but haven’t been able to even consider purchasing one because my iPod simply won’t fit.

Along comes a product that was, at the time, just a concept on some tech blog I read, this was close to a year ago. I signed up on their site to be notified if the product ever went into production, well it finally has. It is called the Dock Extender and is designed for iPods with skins to be able to use docking devices. It simply gives clearance by about an inch and has two thin metal supports up the back for the iPod, so it doesn’t fall backwards. Brilliant!

Admittedly, I haven’t bought one yet, I’ve got some other bills to take care of before I look at buying an iHome, but this product is a no-brainer and should have come on the market a long time ago. If anyone is using this, please leave a comment.

As scheduled, the Macbook I ordered last week showed up today, I’ve officially bought my way into the cool club. With a bit of glee, I opened the box at work and plugged in the shiny white plastic covered notebook that so many swore would make me smile and love mac. After a few minutes, the laptop was configured and on the Wi-Fi at work and the mass downloads started for all the updates. Good thing I could let this run while I was doing other work, there was nearly a gig of data that had to come down.

With all the updates done and my lunch coming up soon, I looked forward to configuring the system and installing software. First thing I did was install Firefox, this proved to be a bit more of a hassle than I was anticipating. One of my first computers was a Mac Classic II back around 1990, about 5 years ago I had a G3 iBook for a while but got rid of it and I use Macs on occasion at work, but I’m not nearly as proficient in using software as I am with Windows. So I go on to download the .dmg file onto my desktop and double click it. I’m shown a funny screen that is the familiar Firefox icon and the Applications folder, a plus symbol between them. I click on the Firefox logo and it launches Firefox, but it’s still not installed. Not after some poking around did I come to figure out that I needed to now drag the mounted image into the Application folder in Finder. Great, first thing I do on a Mac and I feel like an idiot, and I’m a network admin. Now that I feel dumb, I move onto some other quirky things about the Mac that are, well they are quirky for a Windows users.

Now I’m not saying one is better than the other, but there are some really funky things to get used to. For me, I’m very dependent on the CTRL key in Windows for several things, the Command key in Mac does nearly the same things but is in a different physical location on the keyboard. While my touch typing hands are very used to striking the CTRL key with my left pinky, I now must figure out how to efficiently strike the Command key with my left hand, curling my thumb in seems to give me the best results thus far.

There is a lot of shit installed, nearly 18 gigs of data were installed upon first boot. Only two pieces of trial software, those are now ditched, tons of stuff that I’m still trying to figure out what exactly it does and what I’m supposed to do to work it into my daily routine. A co-worker tells me that he can clean a lot of this out, mostly the foreign languages and printer driver crap that I’ll never use

Turn the bloody screen brightness down! Holy shit, this is really bright, I feel like I need suntan lotion on my eyeballs from looking at the screen. I have every intention of doing a color calibration on the screen when I have some free time at work, until then I have some minor tweaking done and the brightness turned down to about 40%.

On a positive note, there is lots I’m very happy with.

• The keyboard, although slightly off-center, is really a joy to type on
• The mag-charger is such a stupidly simple design, works so well
• Although bright, I’m very impressed with the resolution of the monitor
• Software installs are fairly quick, once I figured out how to do it
• I’ve only bogged down the system once, got to love Core-2 duo
• After installing the CS3 suite, I opened it all at once, it all opened!
• 1GB of RAM is actually very impressive
• The hinge. I’ve loved the hinge design since the original iBook, it makes so much sense
• Spell check built into everything by default
• Bluetooth works great with my cell phone, although I haven’t tried to sync with iCal
• Touchpad has right click! Granted it is not the traditional way of doing it, but it works. Two finger scrolling is also pretty dang nice

There are also a few things that I’m still scratching my temple about.

• Dashboard. Yes there are a lot of cool applications, not sure how often I’m likely to use it though
• TextEdit, the program I”m writing this in is nice, but I think I’m going to look into Open Office or another rich text editor
• It’s so white. I’m almost afraid that I’ll have to carry hand wipes with me just to keep it clean
• It’s so soft - the case that is. I’m very afraid that this thing is going to scratch, badly. My G3 did the first day I had it.
• Is a remote really needed? Yes, very cool and seems to work well, but I doubt it will get any use outside of showing non Mac users what it does.
• The Delete key really is a backspace key, there is no dedicated Delete key, which I often do use in the Windows world.

Overall, I have about 2 hours logged in actual time on this. I’m writing this article from my couch, in front of my TV with Bella, my dog, trying her best to snuggle on my lap under my arms between me and the Mac to sleep. Hopefully I can start to utilize some of the other features and functions that are in this laptop, I didn’t buy all this extra power just to surf the web. Until then, it will be sitting comfortably in the Crumpler Considerable Embarrassment messenger bag (full review coming soon) that I bought to transport it in.

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