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New Airport Extreme ReviewOver at MacWorld, Glen Fleishman does a very thorough job reviewing the new Airport Extreme Base Station. I'd love to get one of these
Vista Doesn't Trust YouHere are yet more reasons to buy a Mac instead of a new PC when you realize your current computer won't run the new Microsoft operating system. It really does seem that Microsoft thinks its customers are suckers too dumb to avoid buying things that are bad for them.
How to Ruin Your Monitor
Seriously, this is as close as I've ever come to doing a spit take on my computer.
Handy Method of Escaping a Verizon ContractThis script can get you out of your Verizon cell contract if you have text as part of your service but don't have a separate text plan add on. You know, in case you have some reason you might want to switch to some other carrier. Cingular, for example.
Let iTunes Keep You Aware of Upcoming ConcertsiConcertCal is a really amazing iTunes plug in that matches the groups in your playlists to concert dates in your area. No idea how complete it is--big acts don't get to Charlottesville all that often, and my tastes run to odd groups who may not hit the small venues here. I'm very impressed, even though it only found the two Blue Man Group shows coming up. It's probably too much to hope for that it can match up with shows at smaller venues like Starr Hill.
Price of an iPhoneReading the MacWorld Keynote coverage right now, I initially thought that $499-599 for a new phone might be kind of steep. But then I remembered that about ten years ago, I happily paid about that same amount of money for a used Newton 2000. Glad I have an old cell phone, am out of my contract term and never bought an iPod for myself! I just hope that Cingular improves their service in my area by June.
Bring on the Zune Hacks!Based on the wide variety of lackluster and hostile reviews, the Zune is heading the way of Nehru jackets, Audreys and Newtons.Considering how poorly thought out many of the technical features of the Zune are, it is no surprise. I imagine a time a few months from now when retailers dump their unsold Zunes for substantial discounts. Since Microsoft's margins on a consumer device must be razor thin, once the clearance discounts start, a Zune will probably be worth more as parts than as a whole device. So, like these previous devices in search of customers, before you know it industrious hackers will be tearing Zunes apart in order to use the drive, screen and other internal parts for their own hardware projects. I'm sure the software guys will also work hard to break into the Zune's operating system, just like they found a way to turn the Xbox into the Xbox media center. Just like hackers are already working hard to do to the Xbox 360. I can't wait to see what comes first. Here are a few of my guesses:
What hacks do you imagine will be possible on the Zune platform?
Why I'm Still Using an Old Cell PhoneThis story about the Apple iPhone makes me impatient for the beginning of 2007. I sure wish I could get to MacWorld in San Francisco. I just hope that whatever phone they put out, it is able to pull some decent signal at my house. I live in a pretty rural area, even though we're not that far from the interstate.
Amazon Unbox Doesn't Trust You. Don't Trust Amazon UnboxI'll bet you never read the "terms and service" agreements that almost everyone forces on you before you use their product. If you're considering using the Amazon Unbox movie service, be glad that the folks at Boing Boing have taken the trouble to read and analyze it for you: Boing Boing: Amazon Unbox to customers: Eat shit and die For example, here's his analysis of their "privacy" terms: Amazon says it respects your privacy, but this clause tells the real story. Click "I agree" and you've just signed away permission for Amazon to wiretap all of your viewing habits, and to search your entire hard drive continuously and report back on all the software you've installed. The entertainment industry can produce a blacklist of legal software that it just doesn't care for -- say, software that lets you take screenshots, or screen-movies -- and refuse to allow your movies to run if you've installed it. In other words, this clause lets Hollywood specify how you must configure your PC.
Big Fat Console Log ErrorToday I used the lovely Disk Inventory X to find excess large files on my Mac. A three gigabyte log file?! That's gigantic! Log files are just text, and text doesn't take up much space. So that must be a lot of text. So I tried to find out what made the log so big. To say the least, I was unsurprised when Console locked up trying to open a 3 gigabyte log file. Thank goodness for the command line. A bit of more action in the right directory and some paging through what started out as a normal log file got me to Thank goodness that console needed to record this error every half a second for days. Of course, the end of this file wrote out while I was on vacation. Which begs the question--why was the Weather Widget even doing anything while my screen saver was on?
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to replace my 2wire DSL modem/802.11b gateway, which isn't very securable. Though there's not much reason to do so at the moment, because all my wireless gear is 802.11b. I suppose the range would improve enough that I could stream iTunes to my shop.