In order to keep most of the boring Mac-centric drivel out of here, and to fool around with the Mac’s included software, I’ve set up Geren’s Adventures in Mac-Land.
Apple MacBook White
Today was the day — finally — to pick up a replacement for my aging (and slowly dying) Compaq Presario V4000 laptop. Working at HCC gets me a little bit of an “educator discount” on Apple computers, so, I picked up a basic “MacBook White” laptop, a matching external drive and a small collection of software.
I opted for this machine over the newer MacBooks for a couple of reasons. Of course, cost was a part of the equation, but the biggest reason was that the new MacBooks have shed their Firewire port, and I have at least a couple of devices that require IEEE1394 connectivity. And, while they won’t be used super-frequently with this computer, I don’t want to be restricted from using my M-Audio audio/MIDI interface or connect my Canon DVCAM video camera to do audio or video recording in the field.
As with the visiting iMac, this machine setup nearly instantly, finding all the shared resources on our little network. And, all of the software loads for iWork, Bento2, and Final Cut Express went without a hitch, with all the latest updates loading automatically.
There was one momentary scare as I was syncing my iPhone with the new Mac and the MobileMe service. After following all the steps, the iPhone indicated it was finished synchronizing. A quick look at my contacts list, and my heart sunk. All of my contacts were gone! I quickly checked the MacBook, and they were all there, and they were also all online. By the time I got back to looking at the iPhone to figure out why they’d disappeared, they were back.
Now, I’m going through and cleaning out the nearly 12 thousand e-mails I’ve accumulated in my GMail account over the past three years. What am I keeping all this for?
If you’re a user of Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket and other online web galleries, picnik.com offers an innovative and reasonbly advanced online image editor that works very nicely. This is especially useful for quickie image adjustments when you’re on the road (say, on vacation) uploading images but don’t want to spend a lot of time editing images.
Images, such as the one shown here, can be uploaded to Flickr, edited, and saved right back to a new Flickr image or downloaded to your computer’s hard drive. Or, you can load images from your camera to computer, load into picnik for editing, then automatically save the image to Flickr, Facebook or even to your personal blog (if your blog accepts new posts with images via e-mail).
Of course, there’s a “premium” version, too, that adds features such as extended batch uploading, the ability to send images to multiple sites simultaneously, and more advanced editing features.
The links below offer more information on free or low-cost image editing options.
I received this tasty tid-bit in e-mail today:
Two patients limp into two different medical clinics with the same complaint. Both have trouble walking and appear to require a hip replacement.
The FIRST patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day and has a time booked for surgery the following week.
The SECOND sees his family doctor after waiting 3 weeks for an appointment, then waits 8 weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn’t reviewed for another week. And finally has his surgery scheduled for 6 months from then. Why the different treatment for the two patients?
The FIRST is a Golden Retriever … The SECOND is a Senior Citizen.
The really sad thing is that it’s the truth. Why, in the “greatest country in the world,” do our pets receive better health care than our people?
Oh, yeah. Merry Christmas.
So, anyone who tells you that people aren’t shopping this holiday season are completely full of crap. I was out there today, finishing my shopping, and here’s what I saw:
In every case, people where carrying lots of big bags and boxes to their cars.
