New Stuff from Apple

Okay, so there were updates for the Mini, the iMac, and the MacBook, as well as a new mouse and remote. I've been thinking about getting a Mac Mini to use as a media server. I've also been thinking about getting a new TV. That 27" iMac would take care of both needs at once. The wireless mouse and keyboard could make it just right for what I'm wanting. Hmm.

What's New from Apple?

The Apple store is currently off-line and has been for much of the past hour. What's going to be there when it's back up?

The PowerBook Is Down Again

Last night, I wanted to use the old 2000 G3 PowerBook to check a new CD my wife bought. The CD has an adhesive label signed by the artist, and it didn't play in her car or in her laptop. Since the PowerBook has a CD tray, I thought it might be the right machine to test the CD and copy it to another disc. Well, the PowerBook wouldn't start at all. No sound, no lights, nothing. It may be the PRAM battery. Researching the issue, I found that a dead battery will not let the 'Book do anything. Tonight, I plan to break down the laptop and pull the battery to see if I can get the 'Book to start.

New TiVo "Feature"

Last night, when I turned on the TV attached to my DIRECTV TiVo, the picture looked very wrong. I changed the channel and saw the same thing there. The TiVo had started grabbing the widescreen feed and was trying to show it on the old 4:3 TV screen. I checked the settings and found that the video was set for 16:9. I remembered I had set it when we bought the widescreen TV several months ago, but, then, it appeared to have no effect on the output. Apparently, DIRECTV sent out an update yesterday that activated the feature. I did find an extra item in the settings menu for the display that had not been there before. It allows you to set the output to letterbox or pan-and-scan when showing a widescreen picture on a 4:3 screen.

Another Cool Feature on the iPod Touch

This feature may have been there from the beginning, but I just noticed it last night. I assume it works the same way on the iPhone. If you've scrolled far down a Webpage or a list in an app, you can quickly return to the top by tapping the bar at the top of the screen, the one where you see the time and the battery. I've seen it work in Safari, in the Facebook app, and in the Settings app. I found it very useful with Twitter.

iTunes 9 Observation

I've noticed a cool little new feature in iTunes 9, or, at least, I've never noticed it before. The little blue dots that appear to the left of the title of a podcast now show if it's been partially listened to. It's almost like a phases of the moon graphic to show your progress on the podcast. As before, the dot completely disappears if you've listened all the way through. Cool.

Snow Leopard-Reactions

So far, the only problem I've seen with Snow Leopard is a really odd one. Since the upgrade, certain email messages received in my mail.com account appear as a jumbled, unreadable mess. These messages include updates from Facebook and emails from DIRECTV. On other computers, including the old PowerBook, also using Safari, these messages are perfectly legible. Also, if I forward them to my gmail account, they're as clear as they should be.

Snow Leopard, part 5

I kept thinking about it all morning, but when it came time to do the upgrade, I forgot to jot down the available space on my HD so that I'd know how much, if any, space that Snow Leopard recovered for me. From memory, it seems to be about 6.5 GB. The upgrade's now done, and I can't see much of a difference. Safari may have started more quickly than before.

Snow Leopard, part 4

Snow Leopard has arrived. While the MacBook is backing up to the new external HD in preparation for the clean install, I am working on the old Pismo PowerBook. I also got iLife '09 since I haven't upgraded it since I bought the MacBook three years ago. These two upgrades should make the MacBook seem like a new machine. Once the installs are done, the PowerBook gets a full backup.

Snow Leopard, part 3

I'm still waiting for Snow Leopard to arrive. I've heard some good and some not so good things about it. Tom Merritt and Cali Lewis both recovered considerable hard disk space with it, but Roger Chang said his didn't change much. Roger has the same model MacBook I have.

Weekend Scare

I was sitting on the sofa, reading some Website or other, and my wife asked me to look for something for her that she thought our granddaughter may have last had. I put my MacBook down, next to the sofa, on its side, power cable up. I began to search under the cushions and knocked one of the throw pillows off the sofa, and it knocked over the MacBook, which fell onto its power supply with a pretty loud thump. The screen went blank. I nearly panicked, but then saw that it was rebooting. It came back to life just fine, and I didn't see anything go wrong the rest of the day.

Snow Leopard, part 2

Amazon says my copy of Snow Leopard has not yet shipped. Sigh.

Snow Leopard

In June, I purchased Leopard to prepare my MacBook for Snow Leopard, which, at the time, was supposed to be released in September. As I was backing up the MacBook to prepare for the Leopard installation, the HD failed. I had to buy a new HD for the laptop. I've really liked Leopard in the now nearly two months that I've been using it. By now, you've probably read or heard that Snow Leopard goes on sale tomorrow. I ordered it from Amazon Monday, and they're telling me I'll receive it around September 9. I'll probably do a complete backup again and do an "Erase and Install" when I get Snow Leopard. Today, I've read in a couple of places that I may have been able to skip Leopard and could have gone from Tiger straight to Snow Leopard. Doh!

Back that data up! -- part two

I bought the WD hard drive at Best Buy. The first thing I did was back up my old external HD to the new one. It works fine so far. I'll probably back up my wife's laptop tonight.

Back that data up!

Check this week's ads from Best Buy and Office Max for deals on 1TB drives. They're both selling them this week for the same price as some of the 500GB drives they're also selling. Buy more than one and secure your data!

Here's the one at Best Buy: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8475777&type=product&id=1185271084278

Office Max's Website is not showing the same as the printed ad.

How Do I Play mkv Files on Mac OS X Leopard?

I was having trouble playing an mkv file on my MacBook--I'm running Leopard on a Core Duo MacBook. Using VLC, I would get the sound, but no picture. With QuickTime or DivX Player, they'd say they could not open the file. A Google search turned up Perian, and I installed it. Still no go. I then found that I was not running the latest VLC player. I had .86 or somesuch, so I updated to 1.0.1. Now the file plays fine.

Looking Forward to WWDC

I wish I could actually be there, but I am looking forward to seeing what Apple announces this week.