I have been amused by the postings today that many 30GB Zune players died today. The cause is apparently, Microsoft forgot that there are leap years which have 366 days per year.

I love the item on the www.zune.net webpage. "Trouble with your Zune 30? The fix is simple." If you click on the link, it essentially tells you to let the batteries run out, and wait until January 1st to restart it.

I wonder if Zune owners can get compensated for the fact that they can't use their players on December 31st.

On the good side, Microsoft has promised a fix before 2012....

Tags: Humor

Found on an internal mailing list today.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/11/10/how-we-know-that-matrix-doesnt-run-on-windows-xp/

This is a good one, in my opinion.

Tags: Humor

After upgrading my iPhone to the new 2.1 version of firmware, the first picture the camera took was, well, bizarre. You can click on the picture for the full size version....



It’s not just bizarre because of the bumper sticker I was taking a picture of (that was just funny), but it has to do with the way this picture is broken up. Also realize that that soccer ball on top was part of the bumper and this bumper sticker was on the tailgate. So the camera took a picture, put the bottom half of the picture on the top half, vice versa, and then offset the last 1/3 of the picture by a bunch of pixels...

The camera appears to have been fine since.

Hmmph!

Tags: Humor

Whether or not it’s true, it’s pretty funny. At least for those of us who don’t care for Microsoft.

http://gizmodo.com/5035456/blue-screen-of-death-strikes-birds-nest-during-opening-ceremonies-torch-lighting

Tags: Technology

No doubt, you’ve heard about Apple’s great meltdown today with the release of the new iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2.0 software.

So no, I don’t have a new iPhone 3G. I’m not in a hurry to get one. I waited 6 months to get my iPhone. I don’t feel a need to be first.

Unfortunately, I did feel a need to get the new iPhone 2.0 software. Why? It wasn’t the new Application download capabilities (though it’s nice and I’ve downloaded a couple). It was the fact that they finally added separate calendars to the calendar program and fixed a long standing gripe I’ve had about the mail reader where it couldn’t read forwarded emails. So when they posted the updated image yesterday on some of the typical Mac interest sites and no one complained of any problems, I went ahead and updated.

Bad idea to try to do anything in a way not sanctioned by Steve Jobs.

So the firmware that was distributed yesterday was different from the official release version of today. And the one distributed yesterday wedged my iPhone so solid overnight, I had to put it into recovery mode and reload from scratch. Then, what was already a painfully long recovery process got compounded by the fact that every iPhone user in the world (new and old) was trying to update and reactivate their iPhones too. ARRRGHHHH!

However, I finally got the right firmware file, did the right incantations, and at 4:15pm today, fully 8 hours after I discovered my iPhone was an iBrick, I had my phone properly upgraded.

I’m hoping it doesn’t crash again tonight.

Lesson learned - don’t be the first, don’t be impatient, and don’t do what Mr. Jobs says not to do.

Sigh.

With all the hype surrounding the "imminent" announcement of the new iPhone, perhaps we can hope that Steve's announcement will go smoother than some of these moments.



This made my day.

Tags: Technology, Humor

Not that I really like the coffee at Starbucks that much, but here's something nice to know:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/01/atandt-wifi-hotspots-free-to-iphone-owners-anyone-with-a-brain/

Even if they plug the access hole, I still have an iPhone to use.

Tags: Technology

Saw this interesting picture today.

http://gizmodo.com/384479/steve-ballmers-presentation-laptop-is-a-strange-choice

Though I don't know why it's so strange - it runs Windows just fine (though I wouldn't....)

Probably fake, but regardless, wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

Tags: Technology

A couple of years back, I passed up the chance to get one of the first MacBook Pro laptops with an Intel instead of PowerPC chip in it. I purchased a refurbished PowerBook G4 at a huge discount and was very, very happy with the decision.

So for my birthday, my wife allowed me to upgrade my old trusty G4. Apple also decided to nicely cooperate by releasing new MacBook Pros which meant that the now previous generation refurbs went into fire sale mode. Just what I had been hoping for!

I picked up a refurb MacBook Pro 2.6GHz system for $1849 plus tax. A full 33% off the new price from the week before. The system arrived in the traditional refurb plain brown box, but is otherwise pretty much perfect. It came pre-installed with Leopard and after about an hour of downloading updates and such, had a nice and quick new system.

The big motivation to the new MacBook Pro was to leverage virtualization to run Solaris (working for Sun, I really need to use Solaris a lot). I chose VMWare's Fusion product with Solaris 10 Update 4 (Solaris 10 08/07). It loaded up without issues, right off the DVD and I have the virtual machine running as its own separate IP address from my laptop on my home network.

It works so well in fact, that I have removed my old Dell AMD64 dual core system from my desk along with one of its monitors and hooked up the 22" ViewSonic monitor to my MacBook Pro. This has freed up a *lot* of desk space, and will probably save me a few bucks on electricity. I haven't had this much space on my desk in years!

Truly this has to be progress through technology!

Tags: Technology

Many folks have wondered when I would cave in and get an iPhone. Oddly, some people *assumed* I got one on day 1. So let's get something straight - I'm not *that* crazy.

That said, the appeal of a handheld device that I could use to browse the web and check email over WiFi at home and when out really got me. Add the fact that I heard that as a *phone*, the iPhone was excellent finally convinced me to shell out more dollars than I should have for the iPhone, protective shield for the screen, and a holster case.

I have not been disappointed with the phone (two exceptions which I'll discuss later).

First, the phone does just look cool. You think it's big, and maybe compared to my Nokia 6126, it is. But not offensively so. The screen is the most readable thing I've used in a long time. Intuitive interface. And the thing has, to me, the best sound quality for phone calls over any phone I've owned in the last 4 years at least. It also holds calls my 6126 used to have problems with, and I thought the 6126 did a great job. I live in a notoriously bad signal area (because all cellular towers tend to point away from my house). This phone makes cell usage usable in the house.

It paired up easily with my Nokia BH-900 headset. Works great. No complaints there. I was somewhat relieved about that - I like my BH-900 very much and I really didn't have the money for a new Jawbone headset (even though I hear those are great too).

As an iPod, I like it very much. I never thought I'd find a use for the YouTube program, but it has come in handy. And of course, because it's an Apple product, it syncs perfectly with my Mac. Movies are also a bit nicer to watch on this device than on my previous iPod. You just have to remember, though, that this is also your phone so if you kill the battery watching a movie, your cell phone is off too.

Battery life is pretty good - 3 days easily without charging unless I'm heavily into email or movie watching....

There are two irritants. The first is ringtones and Apple's somewhat heavy-handed tactics to drum up business from the iTunes Music Store. I have a series of old MIDI ringtones (converted to MP3) that I am just used to. And want to continue using. And find it just very difficult to do so. If Apple offered these goofy ringtones that I like on iTMS, well, I'd probably buy them. But they don't and they go out of their way to keep me from using them. Fortunately, there's iToner which has allowed me to install a bunch of my old MIDI ringtones.

The second is a little more esoteric. iPhone mail refuses to display email messages which were forwarded as an attachment. If someone takes a client like Thunderbird, selects a message and forwards that message as an attachment, the message shows up on the iPhone as an icon named "mime-attachment". The issue is that iPhone mail appears to not understand message/rfc822 message types. This is exceedingly frustrating for me and I have filed a bug with Apple.

I am hopeful that Apple will open up the iPhone to developers. This may sound silly, but it would be nice to get a game of solitaire on this thing....

People have also complained about being limited to using EDGE only instead of WCDMA or "3G". For me, this isn't so much an issue - when I'm surfing or reading email, it's usually from on a WiFi network. If I'm truly out and about, I'm usually only checking mail or trying to do a few specific things (like check flight arrivals) which really aren't bandwidth intensive. I also do wish Apple would get a Flash viewer on the iPhone as well - if only so some websites don't come up completely blank (that said, that's poor coding to me anyways, but...)

8 out of 10. This is the only first generation Apple product that I can say that so far I've been this happy with.

Tags: Technology

Yesterday (Oct 26) was the official "release" day of Mac OS X 10.5 or "Leopard". Highly anticipated and awaited by the Apple faithful.

The "bleeding edge" folks were trading comments back and forth on several Mac mailing lists I'm on about when their copies would/did arrive. I found one particular comment amusing. One person reported that their package arrived in the late afternoon, and that the UPS driver said it took so long because the number of deliveries of this "iPod" (sic) nearly doubled her route and the routes of all drivers in San Francisco.

Makes me wonder what Harry Potter did to UPS....

Tags: Humor

Don't faint - two postings from me in one day.

Apple yesterday started taking orders for Leopard - their newest version of MacOS X. They also announced that those who purchased systems on October 1st or later could obtain an upgrade for only $9.95.

Immediately, people who bought their new Macs right before October 1st started to whine.

I had for many years used a story that was taught to me as the "Fallacy of the Beard". Or, more simply, at what point does a beard become a beard? One hair? Two hairs? 100 hairs? The "just one more" argument. At some point, you just have to draw a line and declare the beard a beard.

I learned today that that story (or logic) is called a "sorites". I was pointed to a website http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sorites-paradox/ which describes the term in more detail.

So to all your whiners out there -- tough. Read the URL. Apple drew the line. Get over it. Just like all of you who whined about the iPhone price cut.

And something new learned. And from now on, instead of explaining the story, I can just give them a URL!

Tags: Technology

A couple of interesting websites with videos I've found today.

The first one begs the question "Does it spill your drink when you get a Blue Screen of Death"? Click here for the first video.

The second one gives me a chance to answer a question I've been asked a bunch lately - did I get an iPhone. The answer is no. But if I did, I certainly wouldn't treat it as seen in this video. Click here for the second video. Warning - not for iPhone owners that are faint of heart.

Tags: Technology

The blog should now be fixed.

Maybe it's because I'm not plugged into the right developer network, but it turns out the problem was an incompatibility "feature" with the new web publishing software I use - RapidWeaver.

The issue was the theme (or the magic that formats the web page so nicely). The new version of the software required some modifications to the theme. Without them, the really odd side effect was that my archive files (the links that allow you to see my previous postings by month) didn't get named correctly. And my blog entries had this text at the top of the posting. Updating a file called Theme.plist in the custom theme seems to have resolved the issue.

So much for transparent upgrades.

Version 3.6.1 of RapidWeaver does seem to be a nice improvement. It appears to be faster and the blog feature is a lot more flexible than in previous versions. I especially like the ability in the RSS Feed to always publish the last 4 or 5 entries. I was annoyed at the beginning of each month when all previous entries got reset. There are some bugs in the new version, but things otherwise seem happy. Hopefully it stays this way.

Tags: Technology

Found this little item on a mailing list at work. Hilarious.

http://www.applegazette.com/macrumors.php

Looks like the following:



The actual website has an auto-generator to create a rumor for you.

Quicken for Mac is such a sad state of affairs. No competition. No incentive to get better.

The Mac version lags far behind the Windows version. And Intuit has no motivation to fix this situation.

It's frustrating. They've got us by the neck.

Today, I fired up Quicken 2004 to be greeted with a message that support for Quicken 2004 would be discontinued on April 30. With that, my ability to download transactions, update security prices, stuff that I do quite a bit, was going to go away. Essentially, Intuit was saying, "We haven't gotten money from you in a while - pay up." The equivalent to electronic blackmail....

It's totally reasonable for companies to obsolete support for software. Most obsolete software after 5 years or so, and usually by then, there's enough new features to warrant an upgrade. Not so with Quicken. Oh sure, some things have gotten nicer, and they've fixed a few of my complaints. But it wasn't enough to make me pay $70 to upgrade. Well, they finally forced me into it, and I'm not happy. Even with the $20 discount, it's still extortion. There aren't enough "new features" to warrant an upgrade. I call this a $50 mandatory software maintenance fee.

And, to show how much Intuit doesn't care - they couldn't even be bothered to make Quicken 2007 a Universal app to natively support the new Intel-based Macs. Everyone else has or has it on their roadmap. Intuit doesn't. Quicken users don't have any other options.

For once, I wish Microsoft would step in here and write some software. Microsoft Money for Mac. MMMmmmmmm....

So of course I have to make a comment about today's "Big Announcement". I will admit the iPhone sure looks cool. I hope Steve Jobs has enough influence to make sure that the phone doesn't end up bastardized by Cingular. Cingular seems to have a history of doing that to perfectly good phones.

If Cingular and Apple do screw it up, though, there's always the Microsoft alternative - the Zunephone....

I'm a huge fan of Apple products. However, I'm tired of all the hype we go through at this time of the year when the "Big Announcements" are made in Apple's product line.

There's so much guessing going on. iTV. iPhone. Apple buying Sun. I stopped reading the speculation weeks ago.

Apple will announce stuff tomorrow. It will be cool and interesting. I'll read about it after it happens. Doesn't anyone else have a life? Does hypothesizing about what is going to come about going to really change what gets announced? Save your brain cycles already....

Steve Jobs yesterday introduce movies at the iTunes store. I am happy to say I *just* beat that trend by downloading my first movie to my new Video iPod last week. I figured out how to download a copy of a movie on my shelf to it late one night last week, after taking delivery of my refurbished 30GB Black Video iPod. I originally bought it as a giant portable photo album - as my wallet is too crammed with junk to carry decent family pictures.

It's interesting watching a move when your screen is only 320 pixels wide. But the quality is good and it sure is easier to hold than my 15" PowerBook.

Next - download multiple episodes of "Little Einsteins" so Andrew can watch them on the plane.

So I've been having this little issue with the latest Apple Battery Recall. Frustrated, I posted my comments to a well known Apple support site - http://www.macfixit.com.

Well, I made the big time....if you call macfixit the big time....look at the bottom of the image....



Turns out, Apple had the affected serial number ranges posted incorrectly at their website. They've since fixed that.

But you heard it from me first, sports fans!

I installed the latest version 1.1 Boot Camp update on my wife's MacBook over the weekend.

In addition to the addition of iSight camera support in WinXP, that time jumping thing is now a thing of the past. Yipppeee!!!!

Since I bought my refurbished Apple PowerBook G4 a few months back, I've been plagued by a sticking trackpad button. It would occasionally crunch, not respond to clicks, and or do other odd things. Previous trips to the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store resulted in a diagnosis of a loose screw in the trackpad assembly, and getting it tightened up.

After bringing it in for the 3rd time, the folks at the Genius Bar determined the contacts on the trackpad button itself were sticking. The extra force I guess was causing the screws to come loose. So Monday, I took it in for a new "Top Unit" (which contains new keyboard, etc.). I was happy about this since I had always been experiencing intermittent keypress drops on my keyboard as well....

I got the unit back. Ahhhhh.....I love having a working trackpad button. And, the keyboard is definitely more responsive now.

Would have been perfect had they not given me a heart attack when I noticed the system only has 1GB of RAM instead of 1.5GB. Turns out the 512MB module wasn't fully seated. Fixed that up in a jiffy, but....

Thanks to Apple nonetheless for good customer service and doing the right thing by replacing the defective part instead of repeatedly applying band-aids....

So my previous entry about time and Apple BootCamp needs an update - the fix is not 100% complete. It actually has nothing to do with the fact that it's on a MacBook, it seems to just be Windows as I've discovered the same issue on my AMD64 laptop which has the same hack.

Apparently, something comes along in Windows every so often and makes Windows forget about RealTimeIsUniversal....I suspect it's the screen saver or something related to the screen saver.

When you boot, everything is fine, but some amount of time thereafter, you can look down and see that your time is off by exactly the number of hours between GMT and your timezone. If you reboot Windows, it's fine again, until whatever messes things up messes it up again...

Back to the drawing board....

So my wife's new MacBook arrived late last week. It's a great little machine. I've not experienced the heat problems that others have had (it idles mid-50's C to a max of 80C). I loaded BootCamp on it, then WindowsXP on it to meet the requirements my wife had for work. Everything went flawlessly. My wife loves the system so much, I haven't had any time to play on it since the day I set it up!

Well, there was one issue -- my wife came to me yesterday and asked why every time she switched back and forth between WinXP and MacOSX the time always got screwed up. Hmmph.

Then, I realized this is exactly the same problem I had with my AMD Athlon64 laptop which dual-boots WinXP and Solaris. The time was always screwed up. So, I borrowed a solution from this entry in Casper Dik's Blog. This entry also has a link to explain why this works the way it does....

Boot MacOSX first. Make sure date, time, and timezones are set correctly.
Reboot into WinXP.
Run regedt32 (if you don't know how to do this, you shouldn't try this....)
Set the following registry key (note, it doesn't exist - you have to create it).

HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/TimeZoneInformation/RealTimeIsUniversal

Set the value of the key to

REG_DWORD = 1

In the control panel for Day and Time, make sure your timezone is set correctly and check the "automatically adjust for daylight savings time" box.

Reboot WinXP, you should be set.

I think my wife will be happier with this change.

So today, I finally bit the bullet and ordered my wife a new MacBook. It's a CTO config - extra RAM and disk from the base config. White. I don't believe in the $150 premium for the black one, even if it does look cool.

I am generally against first generation Apple hardware. Especially the first generation motherboards, etc. But the ability to run Mac OS X and WinXP (yuck) and the fact that even with the (I think mandatory) AppleCare, we're still hundreds cheaper than a comparable Sony VAIO....well...it was worth the chance.