Last summer we bought an LF Front Loading washer which we absolutely love. The only downside was some vibrations through the house when it got into the top spin cycle, around 3100rpm. It was fairly loud but still, it did such a great job at washing, we didn’t care. A few weeks ago I googled… Continue reading Dampening Front Load Washer Vibrations
Faces in iPhoto 8 (iLife ’09)
Faces completed scanning my library in about 90 minutes. The first photo I opened, one of my niece, was not recognized as a face. Odd because it is a fairly clear shot of her, but maybe the face is too small or blurry. There is a button labeled “Add missing face” which I clicked. You… Continue reading Faces in iPhoto 8 (iLife ’09)
iLife 09 has landed!
Thanks go out to Charles at the Beaverton Mac Store for letting me know that iLife was in stock! I picked up my copy (and iWork as well) and have it fully installed. iMovie won’t import the MPEG-2 movie files our team’s HD camera generates without a component from Apple, so I converted the file… Continue reading iLife 09 has landed!
My First Mac – Happy Anniversary, Macintosh!
It was 24 years and 10 months ago when I got my first Mac. Here is my story: My First Macintosh I’ll never forget it. I had seen a Lisa in January of 1983 at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. The graphics were fantastic, unlike anything I had seen before. The Lisa… Continue reading My First Mac – Happy Anniversary, Macintosh!
Windows 7 Beta
I downloaded the Windows 7 beta (32 bit) in about 12 minutes today and installed onto VMWare 2.0.1 (choosing Windows Server 2008). The install took around 15 minutes and went smoothly. The OS is zippy I must say. Chrome launches about as fast as you could expect, well under 1 second. Some games crash the… Continue reading Windows 7 Beta
Sigh Intuit
I wanted to see what was up with Quicken for Mac so I went to the Intuit site. After playing around with the free Quicken Online, I gave up and went back to the client side of the site. Intuit asked me a number of questions about what I want to do with my finances… Continue reading Sigh Intuit
Web ads make me laugh
As seen on NBA.com:
Awful Time Capsule wifi performance
I’ve been having a number of weird performance issues in the last month or so and I’ve finally attributed them to the Time Capsule. My friend Erick mentioned that he had just upped his Comcast speed to DOSCIS 3 and was getting 45mbps down, so I did the same. On ethernet, I would get the… Continue reading Awful Time Capsule wifi performance
So long, MacWorld Expo
I’ve been going to MacWorld Expos since before they were MacWorld Expos. As both an Apple fan and as an exhibitor, I’ve been to around 15 expos. MacWorld Expo 2009 is the last Apple will attend. To make it even worse, Phil Schiller will be giving the keynote, not Steve. I like Phil, but he… Continue reading So long, MacWorld Expo
10.5.6 does not fix Mail.app zombies
It appears that Mail.app is still creating (AddressBookSync) zombies. Boo. You should keep quitting Mail.app every hour or so just to ensure your process count does not get too high……… This is my process list from running Mail.app for about 16 hours: ps -awx | grep “(AddressBookSync)” 1299 ?? 0:00.00 (AddressBookSync) 1303 ?? 0:00.00 (AddressBookSync)… Continue reading 10.5.6 does not fix Mail.app zombies
10.5.6 dramatically improves MobileMe syncing
Before 10.5.6, having MobileMe set to automatic syncing usually meant much grief. The syncing process was slow and the entire computer would slow to a crawl. As of 10.5.6, if you change data of a Address Book record, the sync starts almost instantly and lasts for only a few seconds. Within 30 seconds, the change… Continue reading 10.5.6 dramatically improves MobileMe syncing
Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.6
Check your software update! Things are a bit slow right now as the ever-growing Apple Horde downloads the latest and greatest from Apple, Inc. According to the release notes, the following changes were made: What’s new in this update? Address Book Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications. AirPort… Continue reading Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.6
Affordable Ethernet in the Living Room
Apple TVs and TiVos that stream Netflix movies are putting the stress on wireless networks. Wireless is fine for most things, but when it comes to low latency streaming, even at 802.11n speeds, things can get a little rough. While perusing the TivoCommunity.com website I discovered a cool little device: The Motorola NIM100. These babies… Continue reading Affordable Ethernet in the Living Room
Apple Updates Laptop Firmware
Apple has released updated firmware for recent MacBooks, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs, otherwise known as “Late 2008” machines. Sleep issues among others were corrected.
I give up on Roomba
I’m on my second Roomba. The Discovery SE fell down the stairs, had to be repaired. Was noisy, needed daily cleaning. The Costco 535 is a year old. We had not used it since June. The side brush no longer spins. I took it off, cleaned the hair out from underneath. Worked a little better,… Continue reading I give up on Roomba
Obdev releases LaunchBar 5 Beta
Obdev has released its LaunchBar 5 beta and it is fantastic! I’ve used LaunchBar since the day Mac OS X was released. The application is one of those I just can’t live without on my Mac. What does it do?
RIP Forrest Ackerman
Just heard via Wil Wheton’s blog that Forrey Ackerman died. I did have the pleasure to meet Mr. Ackerman once, when I lived in L.A. back in the early 90s. Criterion had been working on the Jason and the Argonauts laserdisc and Curtis Wong clued me in that on Saturdays I could just go to… Continue reading RIP Forrest Ackerman
Time Capsule Bonjour issue
Last week Apple gave me a Time Capsule because of all of the problems I had with my Mac. That was awesome of them! My network at home consisted of an Airport Extreme as my router and 802.11n wireless access point, with a Linksys acting in bridge mode and a 802.11g wireless access point. I… Continue reading Time Capsule Bonjour issue
10.5.5 Bug – Mail creates zombie processes
I’ve had a fair amount of instability since getting my new machine. One of the issues is that the entire machine will lock up, requiring a reboot. The last time this happened, I logged into my laptop with ssh from the Pro via terminal (MacCampers know how to do this now, too!) and killed the… Continue reading 10.5.5 Bug – Mail creates zombie processes
Of service, expectations and backing up
If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time or come to PMUG you know that we drum backing up into your heads. Some think people like Charles and myself are backup crazy, but let me walk you through a little story that happened recently. I bought a new MacBook Pro last… Continue reading Of service, expectations and backing up