This iPod needs a name!

Because I am getting sick of the Concerned refrences, (www.hlcomic.com) I will be renaming my iPod soon. Please comment with suggestions of your own!

Bork’d dock connector

This iPod hates me, I guess. Today, I attempted to plug it in, and the dock connector hangs out a bit. I have to hold it in, and it doesn’t snap into place like it should.

I’ll look into it when I have time, but at the moment, I have to leave it as-is and hope the cats don’t knock it loose while I’m sleeping. I have a spare cable somewhere, I’ll have to try that. I really don’t exactly care at the moment.

In other news, I think I spotted a possible project…I noticed that my DS Lite is similar to an iBook in the fact that it is painted white, and covered in a transparent shell. I figure I could paint it a different color, as done here: http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/203

I’m thinking black would be nice.

The Mac TV lives!

I just happen to be one of the lucky 10,000 Mac TV owners, of which there are few today. I am selling my Mac TV off to the infamous Dan Knight, webmaster of Low End Mac (www.lowendmac.com). I can’t believe I found this thing sitting on an Oakland street at 7AM in the morning!

Unfortunately, as I fired it up to see it was working, it had problems.

-Missing CD caddy.

For my younger readers…back in the early 90’s before CDs went mainstream, we had to put our CD media into a enclosure (Resembled a large floppy disk), and slide this floppy disk-like enclosure into the actual drive. If you were missing this enclosure, you couldn’t use the CD-ROM. Well, it was with the computer, but careless old me lost it. I managed to find it though, and the CD-ROM works.

-Distorted screen.

The screen was distorted because it looked like someone took a magnet to it. I let the MacTV sit…for two weeks. The problem cured itself.

-Slightly damaged chassis.

It’s all banged up, but I can clean it up. What do you expect from something sitting out on the street?

So far, operations have been sucessful.

NationStates hilarity

This from NationStates (www.nationstates.net)

—
“For too long, our bodies have been trapped in these prisons of cotton and polyester!” yelled protester May Broadside, while apparently developing a nasty case of sunburn. “We must repeal the puritanical laws that make public nudity a crime. My body–my choice to dangle!”

This is the position your government is preparing to adopt.
—
That’s friggin gold, that is.

Reformat and restore

Had to reformat ye olde Power Mac G4 today. Looks like the hard disk may be failing. Yay.

Getting the backups from my iPod was painful (USB 1.1 adding insult to injury), and it took over two hours to get all my music, documents, and other backups off the iPod. Talk about boring.

And soon, the last Windows machine I officially own, the HP Pavilion 6735 that has served me since 2003, will be gone. My home network will consist of a Power Mac G4 and an iMac G3 (And later, a MacBook).

What is your back-to-school setup?

As many have no doubt asked, what is my back to school setup for next week, and how has it changed from before?

Of course, I’m talking about the various technology I take to school with me.

Let’s go over what changed.

First:

iPod Shuffle >> iPod nano >> iPod Video (30GB)

I got the Shuffle in January 2006, then I ended up with the nano when I did a job for someone in May, and just recently, I got the Video, which leads to the second equation:

Toshba Tecra (Laptop) >> iPod Video

I traded the laptop because it was a piece of shit. And it was falling apart as well.

GBA >> GBA SP >> DS

I got the Game boy Advance in 2002, but rarely used it. My friend got me back into using it with Metroid Fusion/Zero Mission, and then I got a SP in December 2005. GBA’s are becoming obsolete, so I got a DS on the 15th of August.

Nokia 2270 >>> Motorola V262

Nuff said, Color beats out monochrome, and custom ringtones. Yay.

So that’s what I go back to school with, an iPod video, Nintendo DS, and a Moto V262.

And PSP’s are the work of the devil, mind yeh.

I hate it when people do this…

Why is it that everyone seems to be pulling the rug out from under me right now?

Thomas Miller, on the Proboards forum, is inhaling all the damned credit for being the saving grace of the forum, setting backup forums, and such, when I had two backup forums already set up. (One on SMF, the other being another Proboards forum)

He says he deserves mod power for “saving the forum”. SHUT UP OH GUD JUST SHUT UP

I swear people can just be such cockbites.

What the fucking fuck!

I managed to get a good standing in two games of Metroid Prime Hunters today.

I scored six points. “Victory is imminent” the game says. I grin, and go for my last kill…

“You have been disconnected from Nintendo Wi-fi. Press the A button to go back to the main menu.”

WHAT THE-!? Oh COME ON!

I try again. Same exact thing.

Seriously, what the hell.

I reset both my wireless router and my DSL modem, and it fixes the problem…but now I appear to lose every game due to me being thrown into a game with people who outrank me.

That seriously sucks. And I was so close to getting the one hunter I need, Trace.

A small rant against the american media

Warning: Ranting may occur.

Why is it that Apple is taking all the negative press about the recent incidents of exploding laptops nowadays? Even on the news when a Dell is mentioned, a picture of an Apple iBook is shown seconds later.

But WHY is this?

If I recall correctly, Apple only had one exploding laptop (Said iBook), and that occurred because the stupid idiots set the damned thing down on the CARPET, which BLOCKS THE VENTILATION, causing the computer to OVERHEAT TO DANGEROUS LEVELS and causing the BATTERY TO OVERHEAT! Why Apple takes negativity for something it takes common sense to know, I have no idea. This is about as valid as the lawsuit against the iPod (the one that says iPod damages hearing). That’s like suing McDonald’s because you decided to pull a Supersize Me and got really fat doing so.

Back to the point, Apple is only responsible for the iBook, which exploded, not the Dell, which exploded at the Japanese conference. So why is the media saying that Apple is a bad company when it is Dell’s laptops that exploded?

I don’t get the idiots at the media sometimes.

Also being tossed around is the fact that these laptops are being considered “weapons” by people, and is being ranked down there with terrorism and crime. Real great, America.

Welcome, welcome to the new blog

I transferred here from blogger. New posts coming soon.

New iPod!

Hmm. Now that I have had the time to screw around with my new iPod, let’s crack it open and review it.

Um…not really. Let’s just stick with the reviewing part.

This is a 30GB iPod Video, and it’s been pretty beaten up from first glance. The click wheel has a nice gash on it (Still works, though), and the screen has some blemishes on it (From what I don’t know). However, turning it on, the screen is completely intact and can be seen clearly.

Now, another concern was the Battery. I tested it and it only lasted four hours. Upon looking at Apple’s website, they say to maintain best performance, to at least go through one full charge/recharge cycle per month (In other words, Reconditioning the battery). So, doing this, I completely drained the battery, restored the iPod, and tried again.

Much more satisfactory, for sure. I managed to get around 8 hours out of this charge (Partially due to mixing Videos with music).

That raises another point: The video quality. I used a converter to convert all my videos to iPod format, and damn, they look great downsized. A five minute music video is about 20MB.

So, how does this iPod stack up on my nano? Well, I’m pretty sure the nano and the video would come VERY close to eachother in a battery war. Also, album art and text files are much easier to view on a Video. The last point is the medium in which the information is stored. Flash memory is extremely fast, but the hard disk in the Video is a tad slower. As such, it takes a small delay before a song is copied into memory and then played. In the nano, all songs are already in memory, so no delay.

EDIT: The iPod video beats the shit out of the nano now that the new 1.2 update is out.

1464

It seems whenever I cure one problem, another arises. It seems that way with anything, in fact.

I fixed the annoying problem with the iPod’s battery (Just took a reconditioning, not that bad), and now this.

As you may or may not know, the iPod’s screen has some blotches on it from who-knows-what, due to my sister abusing the thing and not using the slipcover as she should have. Problem is, ever since I got it, more and more blotches have appeared, and more keep appearing. Where they keep coming from, I don’t know, but I do know this happened to a PS2 game I owned a while back (Had to toss it, unfortunately), so I have no idea what may be causing this…

I tried nail polish remover on a part of the screen. Didn’t work very well, and some of it which got on the click wheel put a nice discolored blotch on the click wheel. It still functions well, though.

Next I tried this marble scratch sealer. No avail.

Then I tried some Fantastik Oxy Cleaner. A little results from this…

I noticed when I used the Oxy cleaner, the blotches disappeared. But the blotches only stay away when there is Oxy cleaner on it…

Strange.

Macs suck no longer valid? A debating essay

Many people say that “Macs suck” based on the point that no one cares about them or uses them. Back in the early 00’s, that might have been true, but that myth is getting proven false day by day.

PC pundits claim that there are no viruses for Macs because no one develops for Macs, as they are a minority. Not so true. A few people have designed viruses for Mac OS X, but they are almost instantly foiled by a quick update. Another cause of viruses on Macs would be the fact that a user is very gullible or is intentionally opening the doors for the virus.

Simply put, the simple presence of a Mac virus, no matter how harmless, proves that some people do care about Macs.

As if that wasn’t enough, another point is that Microsoft, Adobe, and many other known names in software develop their software for the Mac, as well as PC. If no one cared about Macs, then why are people still actively developing software for the platform?

Obviously, everyone is cashing in on a growing user base of Macintosh users.

Many people switched to the Mac due to Microsoft Windows Vista being delayed countless times. At Macworld and the WWDC, Apple has even poked fun at this fact, boasting that Apple has been paying more attention to Mac OS X than Microsoft to Windows. PC manufacturers are also becoming irritated at the fact that Vista is being continuously delayed.

This calls to mind another point in argument: Microsoft appears to be copying features from Mac OS X. Shown at the WWDC 2006, screenshots of Vista and Mac OS X were shown side-by-side. The most notable feature stolen from Mac OS X was the Spotlight feature, which was rebranded as “Instant Search” in Vista. Due to this, Apple put out a series of ads, stating “Redmond, start your photocopiers.”

While off topic, Microsoft is even trying to clone the iPod, which they codenamed “Zune”. Weather or not it is successful, only time will tell, but the general public isn’t thrilled by this, as Microsoft has a track record of really bad interfaces with such devices.

Another reason Macs are becoming more popular, as pointed out in WWDC 2006, that the Macs are cheaper than PC’s with the same exact configuration. Used in the comparison were the Mac Pro compared to a Dell desktop, and a Xeon Xserve compared to a Dell Server using the same processor, memory, and hard disk configuration. The Macs in each comparison were up to $800US cheaper than the Dell machines. Even with that, Apple has the affordable Mac Mini in it’s arsenal, going at only $500US, which means they got a lot of the price points covered.

This is similar to the iPod’s pricing model, where you got all kinds of iPods covering all the different price points.

As of this writing, Apple’s notebook sales have reached 12% market share, and is still rising, meaning that Macs are definitely on the way in. And if Microsoft completely botches Vista, Apple may come out victorious in this round of the OS Wars. Unfortunately, as Microsoft may want in on some of Apple’s luster, they may just wait until Mac OS 10.5 comes out, and try to meet their standard, or surpass it.

Only time will tell.

Mac OS X Leopard shown at WWDC

Mac OS X Leopard was shown at the WWDC 2006 a few days ago. It looks like a great operating system, but the problem is that it will probably hog a lot of resources and tax the CPU more, a la Tiger. While this may be the bad part, There are tons of good parts, a few of which Apple really exceed.

One of these points is Time Machine, for which I applaud Apple for. They took something that only many power-users or network administrators do and made it so that casual people can use it.

If you don’t get the gist of what I’m saying, Apple has made Backing up a breeze, so that even simple people who are afraid to hit the power buttons on their computers are able to back up their stuff.

Another great selling point of Leopard is the WebClip feature for Safari. It allows you to take a portion of a web page, and turn it into a real time widget that will always watch that portion of that page, until you close the widget.

There have also been numerous improvements to existing programs as well, and also, the Spaces feature (Not new to me, it was already in Ubuntu linux).

Also at the WWDC, we heard about the new Mac Pro, which replaces the G5. Unfortunately for us PPC users, that means the clock has begun ticking. Sooner or later, we will be cut out of Apple’s OS’s, programs, and whatever else. Sure, Shareware developers will still make stuff for us, but it’s going to be like Mac OS 9; none of the big guys will develop for PPC anymore.

Fortunately for me, I am buying a MacBook in Spring 2006, when Leopard should be out. That will be replacing my G4.

Also another thing I have been doing lately is pushing Windows away. I got rid of my Toshiba Tecra M2, and am also getting rid of my Compaq Armada 110. That leaves my HP Pavilion 6735, and once that’s gone, there will be no more Windows machines in my house.

Bite me, Microshaft.

And Apple did great on the “Redmond, Start your photocopiers” ads. You will have to watch the WWDC06 on Apple’s website if you don’t get it.

First days of LA

Well, Los Angeles has been far worse than my home so far. The air is hardly breathable, and people drive like maniacs. But that doesn’t exactly mean my experience is bad.

When I got to where we were staying (Aunt’s old condominium), I discovered one thing that was totally kickass, my dad’s old Kenwood component stereo, with some really old Altec Lansing speakers. How old? Very old. The speaker cones are so old that cracks are developing along the outside of the speakers. No problem, I got plenty powerful ones at home. Upon testing it out, it still worked, and quite effectively at that.

That brings me to another subject. I have a quite decent laptop (Toshiba Tecra M2, circa 2004) that would be decent…save for the fact that the keyboard is half broken and it overheats quite often. Well, my sister made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

My laptop, for her 30GB iPod video.

Seeing as this thing was so damn broken, I took the deal without another thought (Getting a MacBook anyway, since it can run Windows, no point in keeping the piece of crap around anyway), since I can use the school-rented Compaq Armada (What I’m typing this on now, in fact), or my Power Mac G4 at home.

I had a look at the iPod. It didn’t look that great at first. The screen had weird blotches on it (Like water stains that won’t go away), and the click wheel was scratched up. My iPod nano had numerous scratches upon the back (It looked like brushed metal), but I was surprised to find that this iPod had almost no scratches along the back.

Well, without waiting, I turned it on, and the screen still appeared as bright as ever. Unfortunately, this thing hasn’t been used for months. The dock connector and headphones are still in the junk drawer, the dock connector having its caps still on it.

I put some of my own music on it, and it sounds SO MUCH BETTER than my nano ever did. Sounds deeper, and clearer. Also, I can actually view album art on it as well.

Videos? Well, I had no videos in which to try it out, but it should work.

Update: Upon going back to my Sister’s house, I was able to get some videos on it. Looks very nice, to me.

The only gripe I had with it was it’s seemingly short battery. Just on the 4 hour drive back from San Diego to LA (Traffic was chaotic), I had drained it to a hair of battery life. Right now, I am reconditioning it (Fully depleting and recharging battery) and seeing if that is the culprit.

Hopefully it is.