Computer Tales

AntiVirus and the Mac

The Mac, the Virus and the Risk Read More...
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Review: AppleJack

I would recommend AppleJack to you, if you have a Mac, are comfortable with the terminal and are concerned that you may have problems. AppleJack is a collection of scripts that you run from Single-User Mode that perform a variety of tasks to repair, help maintain and try to prevent difficulties. However, if the term Single-User Mode is unknown to you, then maybe AppleJack is not for you.

Single-User Mode is initiated from start up by Pressing Command-S (aka Apple-S). You will get to a black screen with a very old-style command line. From there, you run
applejack. Once done, then you can restart the machine, or let AppleJack do it for you.

Don't just take my word for it, see also
MacFixIt - Troubleshooting Tools: AppleJack

I heard about AppleJack from the
MacBreak 18 podcast and I'm imnpressed with AppleJack.
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Is the tide turning?

It seems strange, but I seem to know many people who now have Macs, or are getting one, or are seriously thinking of getting one. After all these years of wandering in the wilderness preaching the Apple gospel, things may be changing. What I do see is that people are liking the totality of the Mac experience - whether it be camcorder+iLife+Mac with Firewire or audio or iPod or just trying something new. But I have heard good things about the Apple retail experience - when people go to the Apple Store and seriously talk to a person. Though you could argue that improving upon the level of expertise in most large stores (you know who I mean) would not be difficult. But again this philosophy of the totality of the experience is in complete contrast to the other sides.

It makes me think how Apple could do something with the much-rumoured iPhone and the impending code-named iTV. The thing is, as a UK-resident, neither of these devices will be initially aimed at the non-US market. So it'll be the USA cell phone (aka mobile phone) standards and the USA TV standards (NSTC, etc.) that will get the fanfare of the initial products. But, as sure as the iTunes Music Store has (slowly) reached beyond the shores of the USA, the iTV will get PAL, I really hope that they get stuff to tie in with DVB-T and DVB-S and please even DAB radio. As for the iPhone then getting a service like the Apple Store experience will be a mighty challenge, because the most likely thing is that they will rebadge/leverage an existing service of the incumbents who stumped up the prices for the licences (the gang of 4 in the UK: O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and the other one: 3). Clearly none of these has the totality of the experience that Apple provides. I would not be risking too much to assume that this is similar with the USA incumbents such as Verizon, Cingular, etc.

All of this talk about the phone part of the iPhone talk is usually missing - others seem to go on about the iPod Integration or the User Interface, or whether it will have one or two batteries. Maybe we'll all be surprised in 2007 - even the Newton could be resurrected more than the Inkwell technology currently in OSX 10.4!
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A neat thing with Linux

New things discovered about Linux Read More...
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Tales of woe from Dantz

Problems with backup support from Dantz - the makers of Retrospect Read More...
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Annoying things about the Linux box

Continuing things that annoy me with the Athlon Linux (SuSE) box. Read More...
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Starting Things Automatically

Getting to grips with Linux when trying to get apps and services to run automatically on starting the system. Read More...
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Linux - Ready for Prime Time?

Various stories of my struggles with Linux Read More...
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