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Dec
31
Happy New Year – Welcome 2009
Filed Under Views | 4 Comments
(Steve and Woz, Apple Founders)
The end of the year is here and a new one is upon us. For my last blog of 2008 – one of the more interesting years on record – there is much to reflect upon. An historic election in the United States. An unprecendented economic crisis (except for the Depression!), wars in the Gulf, the Middle East, environmental threats all around – Yikes! And here I is sit in Minden, Ontario on New Year’s Eve looking out upon a beautiful frozen lake with friends and family surrounding me, cooking, talking, communing, listening to music I love and with my portable internet communicating with the world in peaceful Canada!
I personally have much to be grateful for – peace, security, love of my family and friends, a successful business that I love – I feel very fortunate indeed.
There is a sweet sadness in the air – so much promise, so many of the same old problems. The most important thing, the thing that we can all do, is to do our best. To make the world a better place in the moment for the situation in front of us. Some of us are fortunate enough to have an influence on a multitude, some on a lessor number. We can never know the amount of lives we touch (It’s a Wonderful Life after all as George Bailey found out), but we can look after this moment.
In these important and interesting times may we all try to look after one another, being firm where firmness is called for, open where openness is needed and above all, to love as fully as possible. It’s up to all of us.
Dec
30
Get Well Soon…
Filed Under Alerts!, Apple News | Leave a Comment
The fact that Steve Jobs is not giving this year’s keynote at MacWorld was a shock to all concerned with things Apple. The official position of Apple – that the company doesn’t see the relevance of MacWorld etc… – just doesn’t seem right. Steve Jobs’s absence from the keynote – the first he has missed since 1997 – is of real concern and it is truly strange that he has not made any public statements for quite a while or commented at all about the latest developments. Gizmodo reluctantly reports that Mr. Jobs’s health situation may be much more dire than the Apple Core is letting on. I truly hope this is not the case, but the signs do not look good. In any event I’m sure we all hope that if he is deteriorating that he gets well soon or doesn’t suffer greatly. Apple will carry on. I believe it is in a great position and that there are cutting edge products in the pipeline for years to come. However, there is no doubt that if Steve is gone from the scene – in whatever manner – it will be a blow to us all. Hopefully these are just macabre rumours. If they turn out to be true I wish this visionary only the best.
Dec
28
Cellular Stowaway
Filed Under Tech News, Views | Leave a Comment
I came across this very interesting article in the NY Times Technology section on cell phone carriers and their text messaging charges. Another example of the consumer being milked for cash by the cell companies. It’s quite astounding, especially the section where a:
Professor Keshav, whose academic research received financial support from one of the four major American carriers, discovered just how secretive the carriers are when it comes to this business. Two years ago, when he requested information from his sponsor about its network operations in the past so that his students could study a real-world text-messaging network, he was turned down. He said the company liaison told him, “Even our own researchers are not permitted to see that data.”
Text messages travel on the same frequency as the basic communication channel that is necessary for a handset (phone) to talk to a cell tower. The companies pay for this bandwidth regardless of text messaging data. In other words, text messages ride for free:
Perhaps the costs for the wireless portion at either end are high — spectrum is finite, after all, and carriers pay dearly for the rights to use it. But text messages are not just tiny; they are also free riders, tucked into what’s called a control channel, space reserved for operation of the wireless network.
That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.
Dec
24
An Institution? An Icon?
Filed Under Apple News | Leave a Comment
As a followup to the disappearance of Apple from future MacWorld’s (if there are any) as well the absence of Steve Jobs from this year’s keynote (and in general) I found THIS. You can probably tell this subject is on my mind. The picture is the original icon for Steve Jobs.
Dec
24
Just Plain Fun
Filed Under Fun | Leave a Comment
Dec
23
10.5.6 Apple Mail Fix
Filed Under Apple Mail, Apple Updates | Leave a Comment
A boring title and an unassuming 100th post but an important update to let you know about. If you have updated to 10.5.6 and use Apple Mail you may want to know about this patch released today from Apple – a note about can be found HERE. It is supposed to fix frequent crashes so if your Mail application is experiencing such symptoms click HERE for a direct link to the download. Again, back up your important information before updating/upgrading anything like this.
Dec
23
MacWorld 2009 Nerd Out
Filed Under Rumours | Leave a Comment
A somewhat interesting take on the future of MacWorld. It echos what I feel that is great about MacWorld – the chance to connect with colleagues, developers and friends, get ideas etc…and I loved his term – nerd out!
Also rumoured – an iPhone Nano?
Dec
19
Opening New Worlds
Filed Under Tech News, Views | Leave a Comment
….ONE computer program would allow vision-impaired shoppers to point their cellphones at supermarket shelves and hear descriptions of products and prices. Another would allow a physically disabled person to guide a computer mouse using brain waves and eye movements….
I came across this article in the NY Times which makes for inspirational reading. It’s a great reminder of what is possible when we focus our energy and attention on helping others and enhancing our shared life experiences. So much is possible. So much is happening. It boggles the mind.
Dec
19
Christmas In Appleland
Filed Under Fun | Leave a Comment
Apple has introduced two new holiday-themed animated pieces to their ads page. John Hodgeman and Justin Long continue to play their ‘I’m a Mac, I’m a PC’ characters – which I’m still not tired of. You can view all of the ads in the campaign from the provided link. The new ones will begin playing right away. Direct links to them can be found below (thank you Appleinsider for your summaries):
Tree Trimming: “Mac” and “PC” are trimming a Christmas tree together, with “Mac” expressing happiness that the two of them have put aside their differences to do something fun together. A nervous “PC” is reluctant to plug in the lights on the tree, and when he finally does so, a surprise is revealed.
I Can Do Anything: “PC” shows off some of the benefits of being animated, including being able to talk with a bunny. When the bunny reveals where he is headed in order to do his holiday shopping, “PC” exacts a bit of revenge.
Dec
18
Software Update Issue
Filed Under Advice, Alerts!, Apple Updates, Recommendations, Tips | Leave a Comment
Here’s a classic case of Catch 22. Apple has documented an issue with their software update feature in 10.5 – found under the Apple Menu and usually scheduled to prompt a user with newly available updates:
Symptoms
When attempting to update software using Software Update in Mac OS X 10.5, the update process may stop responding while “Configuring installation” is visible in the update window. This can occur if Software Update attempts to install an update that was only partially downloaded.
They claim the latest 10.5.6 update fixes this problem. Their solution is to use the problematic Software Update to download the update!
Resolution
1. Quit (or if necessary, Force Quit) Software Update. Note: If the issue occurs while installing an update after log out (such as an update that requires a restart), shut down your Mac by holding down the power button, then power it back on.
2. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
3. From the Go menu choose “Go to Folder”.
4. Type: /Library/Updates
5. Click Go. The /Library/Updates folder opens.
6. Select all contents of this folder and move them to the Trash.
Once the above steps are complete, use Software Update again to re-download and install the update.
To avoid this issue, download and install the Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update or later. Note that this update must first be installed to avoid the issue; the issue may occur while downloading the Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update or later.
So – keep reading the Leopard reader reports if you’re concerned about the latest update and if you’re having difficulty follow the instructions above. I also suggest downloading the 10.5.6 Combo Update as a stand-alone installation which Apple always provides to avoid the whole software update issue altogether. This is a standard and recommended practice. Here are links to Apple’s stand-alone updates (note: it’s a rather large download):