everything » Mac

Reincarnation?

ames — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:51:50 +0000

I rarely think about it but in the case of my Macbook, I hope reincarnation is possible. Last week it died and is now spending the Christmas holidays at the shop waiting in line to possibly be fixed. Possibly is the operative word: unfortunately. While I had planned on buying a new Macbook in 2011 I hope it can be revived and that I haven’t lost to much. As a vigilant (or paranoid) computer nerd I back up frequently but somethings had got a bit slack lately with so much happening. Fingers crossed…

Torture, torture, torture

ames — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:21:12 +0000

I’ve been waiting and waiting to get an iPhone since they came out. I get to the UK, and wait again, for my debit card. Then I finally get it, and go to get my iPhone, and because I have no credit history here I have to wait another 3-months! Torture by procedure. It really is.

Maybe, I’m just not meant to have an iPhone?

Virtual box – the computer will not beat me

ames — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:06:18 +0000

With impending travels I have a lot to organise. One of these tasks is to see if it is possible to use windows software on my Mac. It’s a rather awful thought infecting my beautiful Macbook with that awful Windows thing. But unfortunately it had to be done, or buy a new computer altogether and lug two around the world. That was the more expensive and less convient option, although the cute little HP netbooks were quite enticing.

The other option was to attempt to install windows on my Mac and use the windows software on my Mac. Before outlaying $1000 for cuteness I decided to give the windows on mac option a go.

Three hours later I’d added a new language to the dictionary in my head, including:

“FAT32 partition”

“Guest additions”

There is free software called Virtual Box available here. This allows you to load guest operating systems onto anything, such as windows on mac, linux on windows and so on. The beauty of Virtual Box is that it allows you to work quite seamlessly between between your guest (windows), and host (OSX) operating systems. No reboots are required. This was a new challenge for me. I’ve never gone to that level of geekiness before: loading an operating system onto a computer, networking it so the host and guest can share files and so on. My, my, my nerd stripes are prominently adding to my shoulders.

There are a few curly challenges such as sharing folders between the two operating systems, but all in all it was quite easy (with patience in tow), and I can successfully use windows on my mac, which is good and bad! It’s super quick, much quicker than on any PC I’ve ever used, even though I’ve allocated minimal RAM to run it, as I don’t want to slow down my OSX.

Mobile phone cameras

ames — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:53:59 +0000

Until 2005 I had the cheapest mobile phone you could buy. I didn’t see the point in having a fancy phone with a camera, or the internet or whatever. That is what I had my digital camera for, and my diary, and laptop. That was until an ex-girlfriend gave me a Noika camera phone for Xmas. That was the end of my cheapest phone era. All over – I was doomed from then on. It was like been given a business class seat, and I just couldn’t go back to economy. The main reason for this was the phone camera side. I completely fell for the ability to take pictures everywhere, and anywhere I had my phone. I started with a really basic Noika which had a 0.2MP camera, producing grainy, but usable photos.

Nokia 6300

Then I went to a Sony Ecrisson 3.2MP phone camera, which again ruined me for any cheap nasty mobiles… forever. Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. Then I went to a Noika 6300 to find the camera (despite being 2MP) awful. Then it was back to a Sony Ericsson for a K800 but that got stolen, so I then got a 2MP w880i which weirdly enough almost a year on – I still have! Oh the weirdness, a full year with one phone! It is pretty good for a 2MP, which lighting options, sepia, black and white and so on, plus video. But it doesn’t have a flash and is no good for fast shots. But it has a lot of music/walkman features which I don’t use, but I do like that it is only 6mm thick.

Sony w880i

Amanda has a Sanyo, and its camera is awful – worse than the Noika. My sister has a iPhone and the pictures aren’t that good on that either. Just look at Twitter and the blackberry photos are pixelated and yuck. After trying so many I’m convinced Sony has the best phone cameras- probably because they are one of the few mobile phone companies that also specialize in proper cameras. They have a new C902 5MP, GPS model which is itching at my chronic switcher…or the Sony Idou touch screen 12.1 MP camera phone due out later in 2009.

Sony Ecrisson Idou

Safari 4 Beta

ames — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:34:57 +0000

Apple have released the new Safari 4 Beta version of the worlds quickest browser. Simply, it rocks. Super quick, and visually aesthetic, it’s beautiful. Aside from the visuals, and speed there are some cool new features that are similar to Leopards finder, and Top sites which enables you to see all your favourites on one screen, and instantly see if anything has new content, instead of having to click through each one, each day. There is also a windows version. Download either version here.

A new style of riding

ames — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:49:44 +0000

Since I increased my running I have adopted easy cycling in between. Nothing hard at all. But easy is boring! I want to head home in 30-minutes! A few weeks ago I decided to load up my podcasts and cruise along listening to various things from Harvard Business Review (HBR), to Gil Fronsdal’s Audio Dharma. It was superb. My easy ride suddenly doubled in length – just one more podcast!

My favourites (just to highlight how much of a geek I am) are Audio Dharma, HBR, Brain Science, Zencast,

Today HBR had “why smart people make bad decisions.” It was a quick summary of a few key points in a book out soon by Sidney Finkelstein. He surmised that smart people make bad decisions because of:

1. Prior experience – repeating the same process in a similar, yet different situation. So there is bias for a decision similar to the previous one that is in fact not best for this one.

2. Pre-judgments – and not adapting. Making a quick decision and almost accidentally ignoring other feedback.

3. Self-interest – even if it is subconscious.

4. Attachment – emotional instead of common sense.

Torture

ames — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:58:40 +0000

Is a broken Macbook that is going to be at the service centre for 5 days to get fixed. Damn it! No laptop for 5 whole days! Oh well, at least I will get more done around the house…

Blogs I follow

ames — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:12:14 +0000

http://mac.appstorm.net/

A must for a Mac fan. This is where I found “Things” my beloved list writing Mac application.

Things

ames — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:04:37 +0000

Mac applications have this new (duh) application, called “Things.” It is a list writers dream come true with schedules, tasks, projects, tagging, and so on. I’m just using the trial at the moment, but woowha, it’s great!

Blogs I follow

ames — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:48:13 +0000

http://freelanceswitch.com/

An interesting blog with some great articles about freelancing, be it writing, photography, IT or whatever. Worth a read.