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Sun - December 19, 2004Deauthorize This!Over the last year+ since leaving Apple, I've
been doing some consulting, and working for a number of different companies.
During a couple of longer stints, I authorized computers that I was using for
iTunes playback, so I could listen to my music library on the job. Being human,
when it came time to move on for new opportunities, I had other things on my
mind besides remembering to "deauthorize" those computers. Now I find myself
down to only three authorizations, and getting help from Apple to solve the
problem has been quite exasperating. Today Apple Support finally "reset" my
authorizations, which means that now all of my computers are no longer
authorized to play my purchased music, but I again have five authorizations, so
I can re-authorize them at my leasure. This "solution," which is akin to having
to replace all the locks on your car because you lost one key copy, is not very
satisfying; to say the least!
Posted at 05:08 PM Read More Tue - May 25, 2004When is a Disk Image Not a Disk Image?When it's a gaping security hole! If you haven't
yet heard, last week saw confirmation of the most serious security hole in Mac
OS X to date. Details were sketchy, and there was a lot of debate about the
exact nature and scope of the threat, but one thing is now clear: the process by
which OS X downloads and handles remote files is at the heart of the
matter.
Posted at 09:29 PM Read More Sat - February 21, 2004A Script Fix for Panther Mail.app Crash ProblemLast week brought an unwelcome time-suck;
persistent crashing on the part of Mail.app running under Panther (10.3). As if
I don't have enough issues vying for my time right now, Mail.app, began
unexpectedly quitting when I attempted to move messages around to different
folders (mailboxes), and sometimes all on its own as it was running my
collection schedule. I began searching the web for others experiencing this
problem, and sure enough, found a thread on Apple's support discussion boards
that led me to a solution, for which I have created an AppleScript that should
help keep the problem from reoccurring.
Posted at 11:15 AM Read More Thu - February 12, 2004Using the P800 as a Wireless Bluetooth Modem on a PowerBookI recently made the jump from Cingular to
T-Mobile as my cell phone service provider in order to take advantage of
T-Mobile's $20 per month, all-you-can-eat internet/data services. The move was
smooth and flawless, with my cell number getting transferred over to T-Mobile
within 24 hours -- a time that surprised even the T-Mobile sales reps I spoke
with! Configuring my phone for voicemail and internet browsing was a snap, and
now I can browse the web and do e-mail on my phone without worrying about
exceeding my monthly "data limit" and having to pay exorbitant, per-kilobyte
data charges. And of course, now that I have this low-cost, wireless pipeline
to the internet, I want to use my P800 as a wireless modem, connected via
Bluetooth to my 12" PowerBook G4. That's where things got a little
tricky.
Posted at 11:02 AM Read More Sat - January 3, 2004Happy New MacWorld!Happy New Year and a belated Merry/Happy
Christmas/Chanuka/Kwanzaa to everyone. As I related in my previous post about my
Comcast trials and tribulations, it's impossible for me to update anything on my
iDisk from home using Comcast, so the only time I can upload new information is
when I'm out at a wireless cafe. The good news is that I've been so busy doing
FileMaker development/web integration consulting, that I haven't had much time
for blog updates anyway. On that note, I'm going to be working at MacWorld in
San Francisco this year, and I thought I'd post my schedule in case any of you
want to stop by to say hello -- or just to tell me to my face how much you
disagree with my left-wing political musings. ;-)
Posted at 04:06 PM Read More Sun - December 14, 2003I Prefer "Evolution" To "Transition"It's amazing just how busy one can keep oneself
without a silly distraction like a full-time job! I've begun putting serious
effort into launching my own freelance consulting business, and I'm already
beginning to feel a little overwhelmed, but more on that later. The main thing
that led me down this path was looking at the job openings on the web and
exploring "career transition" options with the "career transition" consultants
that Apple retains for "transitioned" employees. I've learned a lot of really
valuable information from these consultants, but it's also been kind of
depressing to keep hearing about my career making a "transition." That's because
in some religions, the word "transition" is a synonym for
death.
Posted at 02:09 PM Read More Wed - October 29, 2003The End of the Long and Winding RoadDuring my 11+ years at Apple, I've seen many
people come and go. When they go, it's usually as a result of one of Apple's
fabled and infamous "reorgs," when they find that the position they held within
the company no longer exists. I always figured that if and when I was to leave
the company, I would probably go in the same way...and I was right.
Posted at 10:15 AM Read More Fri - October 24, 2003Let This Black Cat Cross Your PathTonight Apple lets its latest cat out of the bag.
From 8pm 'til midnight tonight, you can finally get your hands on Panther at an
Apple Store near you. I've been living with Panther for several months now, and
I can tell you that I've had a much easier time with this big cat than Roy did
with his. Still, this is quite a different animal from Jaguar, and so I hope it
might be helpful to list a few things I've learned about living with a
Panther.
Posted at 09:50 AM Read More Thu - October 16, 2003Give the Gift of MusicI just left the telecast of Steve Jobs'
presentation at Moscone Center and Sarah McLaughlin was performing her second
number. I was extremely pleased to see that in addition to a version of iTunes for Windows, my prediction for the
independent labels came true. Apple has signed 200 independent record labels to
the iTunes Music Store, which means that we can now buy music from new
up-and-comers like The White Stripes. But Steve announced a lot
more this morning too.
Posted at 11:45 AM Read More Wed - October 15, 2003Profits Today And More Tomorrow?Today Apple announced a $44 million profit for
the last quarter of 2003. At 12-cents per diluted share that's about double what
the analysts had predicted for the company. Of course that's really good news
for all Apple aficionados, but the event for which the majority of the computing
world has been waiting is probably going to take place at 10 a.m. tomorrow
morning at Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Posted at 08:18 PM Read More Sun - September 14, 2003Apple Sues AppleYes folks, it's time once again for The Beatles
record label, Apple Corps, to dust off their lawyers and send them after their
favorite cash cow, Apple Computer.
Posted at 10:40 PM Read More Wed - July 23, 2003Expose Can You SeeI've been "living" on
Panther
(OS X 10.3) on one of my machines since the pre-release at WWDC last month. For
the most part I'm really pleased. It's a lot faster and has a lot of really cool
features like
Expose.
Expose is a set of commands -- assigned to function keys, and/or onscreen mouse
positions -- that let you quickly clear your desktop of all windows, choose a
particular window from the windows of all the open applications, or choose a
particular window from one particular application. Expose is typically Apple in
that it's fully animated and makes people go, "Oooh! Let me try!" the moment
they see it in action. The problem with Expose is that it doesn't really do away
with the age-old problem of screen
clutter; it simply gives the user a faster way
to do an end-run around the problem. But what about F11, the shortcut that moves
all windows off-screen, revealing the desktop, you may wonder. Yes, that's a
really nice feature, but unfortunately background application activity and some
mouse movements can make all the windows suddenly jump back onto the
screen.
Posted at 12:16 PM Read More Mon - July 14, 2003Mon - July 7, 2003Thu - June 26, 2003 |
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