TPN::MacHelp from Maui

Where is he?

Scott — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:11:01 +0000

Just in case anyone is looking, some of the conversation continues at: http://www.machelpmaui.com/blog

Other than that, Carmen and I miss ya’ll.

It’s about time - watches are going away

Scott — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:45:34 +0000

Watches bug me. I have two; one that costs too much and another, cheap calculator/geek watch that I wear when required. But the as soon as I get my shoes off, the watch and wallet follow.

When I forget to wear my watch - which is often - it’s never a problem because my iPod and cell phone know the time. My car knows the time, there are little clocks on just about everything. The last thing I really need is something strapped to my body to do the same thing.

Yet a while back, prescient tech-guru Bill Gates was all atwitter over the possibility of an internet watch to get the news, sports scores, stock numbers and Brittany’s husband count. Microsoft actually introduced an expensive watch that does this, but only a few overpaid gear-sluts bothered with it.

And once again, Bills grasp of the future, like his awareness of the present is called into question and academics and researchers discover that watches have become no more than jewelry for the compulsive.

Watches lose Gorund to Cell Phones
Market researchers say more people are carrying electronic devices that also tell time, whether a phone, an iPod or a BlackBerry. They’re also finding that young people, in particular, are more interested in spending their money on other kinds of accessories, such as shoes and hand bags.

In a survey last fall, investment bank Piper Jaffray & Co. found that nearly two-thirds of teens never wear a watch — and only about one in 10 wears one every day.

…while Americans spent more than $5.9 billion on watches in 2006, that figure
was down 17 percent when compared with five years earlier.

This is about more than watches, the lock-step synchronization of the work force is being eroded my technology. As distance disappears on the internet, so does time. The need for every one to be somewhere and be there at the same time has diminished, so the need to have a dedicatedly piece of hardware is also disappearing.

There’s still a pathology about time though that has yet to be beaten down. People all go to lunch at noon then complain about the crowds. The primary reason why traffic is bad in most areas is because everyone is going someplace at the same

Even when holding my cellphone I’ll still look at my wrist when I need to know the time. we have a little ways to go yet to be free of the shackles of time.

MacHelp from Maui #84 Makena Interview

Scott — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 07:28:34 +0000

Da Cute!
The Makena Interview - Siena & Toast tell how they did everything on their iBook.
Then we hear them play “Waikiki Hula”
Keola reappears with a great Hawaiian Technology word of the fortnight.

What a MAROON!

Scott — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:19:18 +0000

No matter how stupid you’ve been lately, this little news item should make you feel better. It seems that Ford’s CEO isn’t the only dimwit in the state.

Michigan treasurer falls for Nigerian scam

A public treasurer in the Michigan county of Alcona stands accused of embezzling tax payers out of more than $1.2m, at least part of which was used to cover costs he incurred falling for a Nigerian banking fraud.

Thomas Katona, the former Treasurer of Alcona County, was charged with nine felonies. According (http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-34739_34811-160250–,00.html) to the Michigan Attorney General’s office, the 56-year-old beancounter, who held his post for 13 years, also plowed $72,000 of his own money into the fraud.

County officials first suspected something was amiss late last year, when bank employees informed them Katona had sent eight payments totaling $186,500 to overseas accounts, six of which were associated with peddlers of the Nigerian scheme. He stepped down in November as authorities commenced an investigation.

…bank employees had warned Katona that the investment was a sham, but the treasurer ignored the warnings. An audit eventually showed that more than $1.2m was missing from county coffers…

Now get up off the floor and go read the rest: LINKOID

MacHelp #82 OZ!

Scott — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:53:10 +0000

The First MacHelp Trans-Pacific Interview

We interview Mick Liubinskas, Chief Customer Officer of Tangler in Sydney, about his new MacintoshBook. (…”just graphics…?)
Keola picks on Bill@Redmond
At Last! Raiatea Helm sings again - but there’s a question…

Wordpress

Scott — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:51:38 +0000

It’s been difficult to keep the blog up right now because my OTHER blogsite where this content is mirrored blew up REAL BIG a few weeks ago.

Rather than fuss with repairing it yet again, I have taken the radical step of reloading and rebuilding it from scratch, which in spite of what anyone says is not that easy! I’m reminded of what a friend once said:

“Just think of all the character you are building. The only problem now will be finding out what to do with a twelve-hundred pound character!”

This was the same wit who came up with:

“Don’t say ‘fuck’ in front of the ‘kay-eye-dee-ess.”

And my peronsonal favorite:

“Scott you have a mind like a steel sponge!”

So when the dust settles I’ll be more regular about insulting your intellegence on this here blog. I promise!

Unannounced Apple Products

Scott — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 15:33:14 +0000

Worth100 has made my day with a new contest that asks entrants to imagine and then Photoshop (a new verb!) an un announced iApple iProduct [White].

Too bad that about half of the entries are versions of “iToilet” demonstrating a staggering lack of imagination, but the “iFibrillator” and “iDate” make up for tha, though I just don’t get the “iBra” though.

iLINK

ChimpSpeak

Scott — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:19:20 +0000

The truth of that matter is, if you listen carefully, Saddam would still be in power if he were the president of the United States, and the world would be a lot better off.
–George W. Bush

St. Louis, MO
10/08/2004
Second presidential debate

MacHelp from Maui #78

Scott — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 04:46:06 +0000

Mele Kalikimaka Ya’ll

Mac gift ideas and hints from Scott and Carmen.
Bad Apple Tech Support
Pekelo plays this time about Kahoolawe
Tea by Tetley’s with Peanut Butter Cups

Scott, What’s Google Mail?

Scott — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:12:35 +0000

Just out of curiosity: several people have raved to me about the joys
of G.mail; Mac’s mail is still the best, right? I try to tell them but
they won’t listen. What’s the one thing that we have that they don’t?
I’d like something to tell them so they’ll go into a corner to ponder
their predicament!

Google mail is a webmail service - probably the best one out there. What makes it different from AOL or HotMail or Yahoo is that It can also be accessed via Apple’s Mail program. You aren’t limited to using the browser to get your mail.

But you can also use a browser on anyone else’s computer to get and send Gmail when you travel. It has a good interface and a lot of extra geek goodies. Best of all it’s free!

You will still need an internet connection, but it’s a Gmail is a good way to add email addresses or get your mail if you travel a lot. If you are happy with your service now, there’s no need to get GMai though it’s a lot better than Microsoft’s programs, HotMail or Yahoo.

I have three Gmail accounts and just switched my wife to one.

So you can have it both ways.

Scott

This layout is ugly and it wants to die!

Scott — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:30:14 +0000

Please contact The Podcasting Network and tell them that this layout sucks and the name of our Podcast is MacHelp from Maui.

Mahalo!

Zune, zune, zero v2

Scott — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:44:45 +0000

Pink? Brown wasn’t bad enough they had to make a special pink Zune? This from the company that named an operating system “WINce.”

How to Crap All Over a Product Launch, by Microsoft Corp.

It appears that Microsoft has secretly seeded 100 pink Zunes into the market
so that very lucky, very unsuspecting buyers will get in a car to drive
somewhere to get their presumably brown Zune, buy it, drive back home,
open the package, and realize they have a pink Zune instead.
Apparently, on Planet Microsoft, this is very cool marketing and not at
all a way to piss off customers and shit all over a product launch any
more than you already have.

LINKoid

Mac Tablet Rumors Emerge

Scott — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:04:23 +0000

Who knows?

The geeks in the tinfoil Apple caps have been busy. This item was found crawling along the baseboards until I smashed it with a shoe. LINK

Apple Mac Tablet PC With Docking Station In 07

Apple researchers have built a full working prototype of a Mac tablet PC and three Companies in Taiwan are now costing a product for a potential launch in mid 2007.

Sources in Taiwan have said that the focus has been more on the home and the education environment than the enterprise marketplace. Several months ago I was told that Apple was exploring a neat new device that is basically a touch screen that links to various source devices including a brand new media centre that Apple is planning to launch next year.

The Mac tablet has been designed to handle third party applications such as home automation software that will allow users to control lighting, audio, entertainment devices and security feeds. It also acts as a full blown PC has wireless linking for a new generation of Wireless Hi Fi speakers that are currently being tested by Apple.

One set of speakers which are similar in size to the small Bose speakers have been developed by an Australian Company.

Also taken into consideration was the use of the device in educational environments where presenters often want to walk around while having access to source material being presented to a screen or auditorium speakers.

The new MAC tablet has Intel processors as well as a docking station that allows the device to link to screens with HDMI input. The docking station also has additional memo0ry capability so that users can stream content to either the tablet PC or the docking station or directly to a media centre if one is being used.

During the past year Apple has lodged several touch screen patents. They have also lodged patents for wireless devices. However three patents according to sources have been lodged by third part Companies who are licensing technology to Apple.

During the last two weeks, Apple’s stock price has soared to record highs, as investors bet on the success of the new iPhone which will be launched early in 2007.

On November 16, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple’s patent application titled ‘mechanical overlay’ which was originally filed in May 2005. Apple’s patent relates generally to overlays for touch sensing devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to mechanical overlays that include one or more mechanical actuators that provide touch inputs to the touch sensing devices. This powerful patent provides several great examples of mechanical touch screen overlays which could be used with a future iPod, cell phone, PDA, remote control or gaming device. Furthermore, the patent provides us with a unique glimpse into how touch screens will eventually replace traditional MacBook keyboards in addition to providing users with the ability to transform the new keyboard-GUI into being a piano keyboard amongst other applications.

Quanta and Hon Hai Precision Industry are Taiwanese Companies that make notebooks and other devices for Apple. Both have signed confidentiality agreements with Apple for the Tablet Mac.

Zune, zune, zero

Scott — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 08:55:43 +0000

It’s been a great holiday season - lots of parties good food and fun. There’s been no noise from Cupertino so game makers to dominate the geek press. But since I don’t really care about the Play Station or X-Box you won’t hear about them herel Sorry.

But Microsoft’s Zune music player has been a real treat, like watching a slow motion train-wreck. Now the word is out and it’s not pretty. Microsoft has done just about everything wrong and Andy Ihnatko from the Chicago Sun-Times finally puts then last nail in.

Avoid the loony Zune

BY ANDY IHNATKO

Yes, Microsoft’s new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I’ve spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face.

“Avoid,” is my general message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that’s so absurd and so obviously immune to success that it evokes something akin to a sense of pity…

…The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure. Toshiba’s Gigabeat player, for example, is far more versatile, it has none of the Zune’s limitations, and Amazon sells the 30-gig model for 40 bucks less.

Throw in the Zune’s tail-wagging relationship with music publishers, and it almost becomes important that you encourage people not to buy one…

…The iPod owns 85 percent of the market because it deserves to. Apple consistently makes decisions that benefit the company, the users and the media publishers — and they continue to innovatively expand the device’s capabilities without sacrificing its simplicity.

Microsoft’s colossal blunder was to knock the user out of that question and put the music industry in its place.

Result: The Zune will be dead and gone within six months. Good riddance.

The rest:LINK

Taiwan Manufactures Leak Like a Sieve

Scott — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:03:55 +0000

Someone’s gonads will be on a split over this, Steve does not like his contractors talking out of school. But it is nice to have yet another confirmation that there may soon be an iPhone.

Just remember “When it beeps - then it’s shipping.”

Taiwan’s Hon Hai wins Apple orders for mobile handsets, notebook PCs

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (2317.TW) has secured contracts from Apple Computer for 12 mln mobile handsets that also function as music players, the Commercial Times quoted industry sources as saying.

Apple will launch the mobile handsets in the first half of next year, the newspaper said, without providing financial details of the contract.

The daily also reported that Hon Hai won orders from Apple for its new 15-inch ‘MacBook’ personal computers which it will deliver starting next month or in January.

Strong Demand for Macs - Zune is Brown

Scott — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:18:26 +0000

From some news site that I’m too lazy to link, comes this not
suprising report on Apple’s holiday opportunities as well as reviewer’s
discovery that Microsoft’s “iPod-Killer” is a turd in a box.

Retailers see strong Mac demand, little excitement over Zune

Checks
with retailers in the north east indicate there is strong demand for
Apple Computer’s Intel Mac line leading into the holiday shopping
season, with sales of its iPod digital music players also gaining
traction, analysts for UBS Investment Research said Tuesday. Meanwhile,
the firm’s inquiries turned up “little excitement” over Microsoft’s
Zune digital music player,

“…our checks show little excitement
around the new product and we are not expecting much of an impact to
iPod sales from the new MP3 player,” the analyst wrote. “In fact,
initial reviews for the Zune have been far from impressive.”

“While
we will be keeping a close eye on the impact of Zune, we do not see
this product as much of a threat to Apple’s iPod given Apple’s loyal
customer base, easy to use iTunes software and sleek, innovative form
factors.”

“We are not expecting Zune to have a meaningful impact on iPod sales,” he said.

“During
our checks over the past few months, representatives at CompUSA, as
well as at Apple stores, continue to see solid demand for the MacBooks,
with checks this month again indicating that MacBook strength has
continued beyond the peak back to school spending season, which ended
in mid-September,” he wrote.

“We continue to believe solid
demand for Macs will continue into [fiscal 2007] with upgraded MacBooks
and MacBook Pros both now featuring new Core 2 Duo processors, in time
for the holiday season,” he wrote.

“In addition, we believe new
iMacs announced on September 6th should encourage switching from
Windows to Mac and support estimates into calendar year-end.

“As
we have stated in previous reports, we believe Apple may be working on
some kind of ‘ultra- portable PC’ or some devices that can bridge the
gap between media playing, basic wireless computing needs and even some
type of gaming,” he wrote. “We would not be surprised to see new
devices within the next year.”

BBC”The Story of One”

Scott — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:54:14 +0000

This isn’t about Macs or Hawaii. It is though an amazing demonstration of what technology can do, especially in education.

Here’s a one-hour BBC documentary on the history of “the” prime number by Tery Jones, late of Monty Python. It’s funny, brilliant and succeeds in teaching some otherwise boring maths and history.

Another letter

Scott — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 02:03:10 +0000

Go read this:

Another letter to my best friend

Please Vote Carefully!

Scott — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:25:34 +0000

New Mac Virus Idea - Everyone Panic and Buy Lots of Useless Software

Scott — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 18:11:33 +0000

Presented here in its near entirety, here’s a great blog post from ArsTechnica about the latest Mac Virus scare. This author has the right attitude and real, true facts. Anyone who pays attention to a virus software company’s warnings about Mac security probably also thinks Faux New has somthing real to say about politics.

New Mac “virus” is proof of concept that hysteria sells anti-virus software.
…What is it about viruses that engenders so much hair tearing? Are you sick of hearing about how we’re—the whole world of us—not prepared for the avian flu? A resurgence of Spanish Flu? This winter’s flu-of-the-month (just four easy payments of $19.95!) The next Mac virus?

PANIC!!!!!!!!!!
So says the Mac mag-of-mags Macworld. Now, we’re all supposed to run—not walk—out and buy anti-virus software because it’s so necessary. I mean, six proof of concept viruses have been found since February. An outbreak of the Mac flu that will slice, dice, and cobblerify your Mac is imminent. After all, we’re panicking.

Remember when Mac virus software was actually necessary?
I remember the last time that one of my computers got infested with a virus. It wasn’t actually my computer. It was the instructor’s computer in the CMU Intro to Programming lab (yes, Wean 5419 for fellow alums). It was the MPEG—no, wait, the MVOX—oh DARN, I don’t remember the name because it was frickin’ 1991! Since I don’t recall, I looked it up. It was the MDEF A virus. I got it from a pirate copy of PipeDream (an early but VERY cool Mac game from Lucas Film Inc). Remember MDEF? WDEF? Scores? No?

The point is, it was 19-frickin’-91 the last time anyone I knew had a Mac virus.
So what exactly are we supposed to be panicking about? Is OSX.Macarena prevalent in the wild? Nope. There are fewer than 49 infections worldwide. Just like the other dangerous Mac viruses reported in the last 6 months. Has OSX.Macarena actually done any damage? Nope. It was a “proof of concept” exploit. Just like the others. And it doesn’t do any damage, just propagates itself. Is it hard to contain or remove? Nope.

Remind me why we are panicking again?
We’re not. The people who have anti-virus software already have it. Any large installation should have it, without a doubt. But you and me? I’ll wait for an actual threat, thanks.

It sounds too much like Symantec—and everyone else who can’t assess actual risk—has a bad case of hyper-ventilating hypochondriac hysteria. Either that, or they just want to sell more anti-virus software

Quoth:

Scott — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:01:38 +0000

“This isn’t an election anymore, it’s an intervention.” - Andrew Sullivan on CNN.

Tesla Video @ Google

Scott — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:21:51 +0000

I found this really neat video documentary about Nicola Tesla at Google Video. It’s not the usual same-old-shot fair about how smart he was, this one actually gets into his more radical inventions, the one’s that could have really changed the world for better or worse.

“Someone’s coming to shoot you - stay home”

Scott — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:47:05 +0000

Hawaii has recently had earthquakes, flash floods. volcanic smog - but nothing from Florida. It’s like the whole state finally got their meds right. Well, may not Katherine Harriss, but she doesn’t count any higher than her bra size or IQ, which ever is more plausible.

Now from sunny Bradenton comes this sad but strange bit about a ‘relationship’ gone bad. My advice: when you get a call that someone is come over to shoot you , especially in Bradenton, you should crawl under your trailer or jump in the pickup and head for swamp and take your chances with the ‘gators.

A Hialeah couple got an anonymous telephone call on Saturday warning them that Jorge Estevez was on his way to kill them, police say.

It was no hoax.

Estevez shot Yohelis Cervera in the face on the front lawn of her home at 1069 Northwest 30th Street as her husband and two daughters looked on. When Jorge Saint Estaban, the woman’s 41-year-old husband, tried to defend her, the gunman tried to shoot him, too, but his handgun jammed. Then Estevez shot himself in the chest, police said.

Police believe Estevez, 51, and Cervera, 33, had some sort of relationship. ‘’To what extent, we don’t know,'’ Hialeah Police spokesman Frank Gonzalez said. He said Estevez faces an attempted murder charge.

Both were flown to Ryder Trauma Center, where Cervera is in critical condition. Estevez’s condition is unknown.

Eduardo Cordero, 39, who lives just around the corner, heard the shots and came running, and found Cervera on the ground. “When they were flying them away, she looked OK. It was him who looked bad.'’

Neighbors at the Medley mobile home park where Estevez used to live said he worked as a security guard. He had a concealed weapons permit, according to state records.

Fark.com comes through again.

Apple’s did real good last quarter

Scott — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:43:43 +0000

Here are a few bullet points culled from news reports of Apple’s last quarter,

Sales of Apple’s Macintosh computers over the past twelve month’s have grown faster than any other major PC manufacturer
The company’s share of the U.S. PC market is now 6.1 percent
Apple posted a fiscal fourth quarter profit of $546 million on sales of $4.84 billion
8.7 million iPods and 1.6 million Macs were shipped during the quarter
Apple has more than $10 billion in cash hand.
Apple shipped nearly one million laptops during the quarter
Mac sales account for 58 percent of the company’s revenue
Laptops contribute 61
Apple expects sales for its fiscal first quarter to come in between $6 billion and $6.2 billion, with profits around $600 million.
Dell held onto the No. 1 position in the U.S. PC market with a 32.1 percent share despite a 7.1 percent decline in shipments year-over-year.
The U.S. PC market experienced a year-over-year shipment decline of 2 percent.

Running Vista on a MacBook Pro

Scott — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 03:11:02 +0000

From a Mac user at ComputerWorld.
(There’s a Mac user at Computerworld?)

Apple’s top-end laptop runs Vista better than a high-end Sony Vaio

Who can resist a chance to surf the Web with a beta version of something like Firefox, running on a beta version of Microsoft’s next operating system, using a beta version of Apple’s Boot Camp software? Not I.

I have to say at the outset that after more than a decade as a hard-core Apple fan, running Windows on a MacBook Pro is bit, well, weird. It’s sort of like living your whole life as a BMW fan and waking one day to find yourself behind the wheel of a shiny new Chevy, or wearing sunglasses after dark. You can do it, but it just somehow seems wrong…

…To paraphrase the praise usually reserved for Apple’s Mac OS X, it just works. And on Apple hardware, it just works exceptionally well.

LINK

Quoth

Scott — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:49:39 +0000

“We live in a global world.”
-GW Bush

No Comment

Scott — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:06:22 +0000

Lightning exits woman’s bottom

October 09, 2006 12:00am
Article from: The Australian

A WOMAN has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body.

Natasha Timarovic, 27, was cleaning her teeth at home when lightning struck the building.

She said: “I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building.

I don’t remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had travelled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body.

It was incredibly painful, I felt it pass through my torso and then I don’t remember much at all.” Doctors at the city hospital where she was treated for burns to the mouth and rear said: “The accident is bizarre but not impossible.

She was wearing rubber bathroom shoes at the time and so instead of earthing through her feet it appears the electricity shot out of her backside,” a medic told local television news channel, 24 Sata.

“It appears to have earthed through the damp shower curtain that she was touching as she bent over to put her mouth under the tap. If she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed by the blast.”

Other People’s Kids

Scott — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 19:09:31 +0000

I’m in class this morning learning how to help kids with computers. That’s not the right way to say it - how about: using computers to help kids.

Kids don’t need any help with computers, they are born knowing that just like I was born knowing about guitars and my dad was born ith an inherent understanding of automobiles. Some kids need help suriving a broken educational system. A few great teachers, friends and counselors got me through school and into life so I hope to return the favor by helping some schools do better without more work or hassle.

Getting taught something is new for me, I usually go find it myself, read as much as I need then hope for the best. This time I have to be very professional because the future of some other protoplasm depends on how well I do this thing.

There are few things more fun than other people’s children.

Quoth

Scott — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:15:31 +0000

Floridiots in Uniform

Scott — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:54:36 +0000

We’ll ignore Mark Foley for now, you’ll already have heard about him. But, in case you want to study for the test here’s a link to the canonical list of Republican pedophiles: HERE

Our Gator-Bait of the week is a Miami Cop who sold coke while wearing his uniform. It’s so embarrassing when amateurs get involved in serious endeavors.

Miami-Dade Police Officer Allegedly Sold 13 Pounds Of Cocaine
MIAMI, Fla. — A Miami-Dade County police officer faces drug charges after an undercover investigation revealed that he sold about 13 pounds of cocaine while wearing his uniform, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.

Errol Washington Benjamin was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine. If convicted on the charges, he faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a top fine of $4 million, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

Benjamin was suspended without pay, Miami-Dade police spokesman Roy Rutland said. “We aggressively investigate any type of activities involving any corruption,” Rutland said.

An official at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County said Benjamin had not yet been booked into the jail.

It’s comforting that he was suspended without pay - you can’t let crimes like this go unrewarded.

MacHelp from Maui #68

Scott — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:37:29 +0000

Carmen does the Maui Country Fair
• All about the MacHelp Podcast mics, mixers and audio set up
• Apple’s iUpdates and new Old Fart Features!
• Keola’s Hawaiian Technology Word of the Week
• Music from the mainland c/o “The Slight Eccentric”

Foley’s Folly

Scott — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 23:04:15 +0000

The current addition to my rouges gallery of unflattering caricatures.

Click for scary view

Woz Talks to NPR

Scott — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 17:28:47 +0000

NPR Talk of the Nation has an extended interview with Woz. With more time than he had on Colbert, Steve discusses his philosophies of life, engineering and how Apple lost the lead, among many other things.

Ira Faltow also reveals himself as a real geek who even built a ‘blue-box’ phone dialer when he was younger.

The Real Audio is HERE
This also showed up on my Podcast feed for Talk of the Nation Science Friday, but I can’t find the feed in iTunes.

Guy Kawasaki Hosts the Next Generation

Scott — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 16:40:07 +0000

Guy Kawasaki, Apple’s former lead ‘Evangelist’ and current venture capitalist recently hosted a panel on what youngsters do with technology. The answers to his questions are very enlightening. As usual, the kids are doing things that us old farts don’t even understand. The manufacturers are shown as clueless about the features that this market wants and uses.These are all bright, white kids, but their attitudes towards technolgy such as cell phones and MySpace seems to represent the reality of this next generation of consumers and will give you a good sense of where we’re really going. It’s interesting that none of them use the cameras in their cell phones, don’t have land lines, live their social lives on MySpace, buy everything on line, send thousands of text messages and buy 40-50 songs each month.

Some important points are that these kids don’t watch more than an hour of TV a week, they skip all the commercials and most of the product information they get comes from print magazines!

Finally, the presentation of this video is amazing - it tracks the questions in a side panel and provides additional info in a little window. This adds significant value to the video and lets you jump ahead or back to a particular topic.

You’ll find it at veotag.com

“Mac is resurgent” says IBM Borg

Scott — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:56:30 +0000

The news is good - IBM have realised that the Mac platform is doing quite well - growing and adding new users every day. For this reason they will now make their mediocre “Notes” application as bad on Macs as it is on PCs.

But would it be too much for them to use the same language that we humans use? Instead of ‘Mac is resurgent’ which has so many tense errors that it makes my brain itch, he could have said “The Mac is Back” or “We want your money too!”

‘Mac is resurgent’ - IBM exec

IBM has plans to improve Mac support in its Notes application, a senior exec has said. Speaking to CRN, IBM general manager Mike Rhodin said that the current beta of the Mac Notes client will be “on par” on features with the Windows client.

The application offers a Mac-based user interface, and the next release will add support for IBM’s light web client, iNotes

“We have millions of Notes seats on the Mac now, and some very large customers are active in the beta and are very vocal about that,” Rhodin told CRN. “The Mac is a resurgent platform.”

They have millions of large, vocal seats out being active in the beta? That is more
information than I really need. And it is so nice of them to include a ‘Mac-based’ user interface instead of forcing Mac victims to use the same crappy Borg design they inflict on PC pawns.

Anyway, this was found at MacUser UK

iWoz Does Colbert

Scott — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:08:35 +0000

The Woz was just on on the Colbert Report doing what he does best. Colbert said he would “nail him in a language her can understand 01011001″ but it looks like Woz freaked him out.