Messages

1

2009 / Dvorak: "M$ Should make computers!"

« on: October 28, 2009, 03:53:18 PM »

After listening to TWIT for the past few years It has become obvious that even Dvorak doesn't believe the stuff he writes.  He truly is a troll and he is proud of it.  For those of us that know better, Dvorak's wild assertions seem naive or just plain dumb, but he has managed get a lot of attention and drive a lot of traffic to his columns etc...   The ethics in this kind of journalism are questionable at best, but it has definitely produced the effect he is looking for.

Steve

[Einstein His Life and Universe]

2

2009 / Kindle?

« on: March 25, 2009, 04:32:26 PM »

I have been using the Kindle App on my iPhone.  I am currently reading Einstein His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.  I am about halfway through it and so far, I really like reading it on the iPhone.  Aside from not having the periodicals that are available on the Kindle, I have no problem with the iPhione App.  The only drawback is that you have to use a web browser, either on your mac, or the one on the phone to actually buy books.  You cannot buy books from within the app itself.  While this is not ideal, I didn't find it to be a big deal.

Steve

3

2009 / iPhone query

« on: February 04, 2009, 01:43:40 PM »

I can't explain why you are making extraneous calls, but simply pressing that switch does not power off the iphone.  It simply powers off the touch screen.  If you are truly trying to power down the phone you need to hold that switch in for several seconds until you get the animated "slide to power off" screen.  You then need to actually slide the power off slider to the right and watch the iphone power down.

If you are simply pushing the button until you hear the click, the phone is still active and able to receive calls.  However, even if you were to hit the button while it was in your pocket, I don't see how you could accidentally slide the unlock slider over.  So..... we are back to where you started I have no idea why your phone is making calls.


Steve

4

2009 / Upgrading functionality on an AppleTV!

« on: February 03, 2009, 01:15:59 PM »

I have the original 40GB AppleTv.   I stream almost everything... so I don't need anything bigger.  I use an airport extreme and I hardwire the AppleTV to that which is much more reliable than wiFI.  Incidentally, Most of my DVD's are ripped and encoded via Visual Hub at the max settings i.e. the resulting files are still in excess of 3 GB each.  These stream to the AppleTV without a hitch.  I also rent quite  few Hi Def movies from iTunes and they play fine as well.

Steve

5

2009 / Upgrading functionality on an AppleTV!

« on: February 02, 2009, 05:46:14 PM »

I have been running Boxee on my AppleTV for a few months now.  For me, it makes the AppleTV complete.  I already have my entire video collection ripped to my iTunes Library (making it over 600GB in size     )  and now, with Boxee, I find myself watching old tv shows from HULU on my Plasma TV via the AppleTV.  The hack was really not all that difficult if you are patient typing terminal commands.  The actual change to the AppleTV involves plugging a specially formatted flash drive into the USB port of the AppleTV at boot.  You can do this for free (as I did) if you do some searching.  If you would rather pay about $50.00, you can download the files preformatted from http://www.atvflash.com/   As I understand it, the previous site's files work fine, however, there is some bad blood between them and the original hackers over at AwkwardTV which is where I found the original hacks.

Steve

6

2008 / "Intel only"

« on: August 17, 2008, 10:09:30 AM »

KBear,


I wouldn't count on that.

Steve

7

2008 / Site to test pages on IE

« on: May 18, 2008, 03:46:47 PM »

Yeah... I have gone completely Intel for quite some time now.  I have an original Macbook Pro and a newer aluminum iMac.  I hardly ever run Windows, but I do have Parallels and Windows XP for the rare occasion where it becomes needed.  Windows runs beautifully as long as you have at least 2GB of Ram.

Steve

8

2008 / Site to test pages on IE

« on: May 18, 2008, 03:32:39 PM »

Sorry but that does not help you in this case.  Changing the user agent only tells the webserver what browser you are using.  It does NOT change the manner in which your browser renders the page.   Occasionally, a web developer will limit access to a page to certain browsers such as IE for no good technical reason.  Changing your user agent will allow you access to this page.  However, more frequently access is denied because the page uses Microsoft specific active X controls that cannot be used on the Mac. Changing the user agent will not help you here because your browser and your operating system simply do not have the capabilities to decode the page.

None of this is really the point here though, The original question dealt with finding a way to test a page in IE on a Mac.  Changing your User Agent does not accomplish this.  While using IE 5.xx is a start, I have to emphasize the fact that it is so outdated that I really question the validity of any test done using it.  If you don't want to, or can't run Windows on your mac, I would suggest getting access to a cheap PC.

Steve

9

2008 / Site to test pages on IE

« on: May 18, 2008, 12:37:17 PM »

If you are running an Intel Mac, I would seriously consider Parallels along with an installation of Windows XP.  Running the current version of IE in Windows is really the only way you are going to get an accurate test.

Steve

10

2007 / AppleTV, my short review

« on: October 13, 2007, 06:55:40 AM »

oh I agree with that....

I am just hoping that they continue developing for it, because there are many more things they could do just with software updates that I would love.  For example I would like to be able to attach an external USB drive to the thing to solve the aforementioned issues with streaming.  There is a hack out there to do this, but I'm afraid it's beyond my ability to get it working.

Steve

11

2007 / AppleTV, my short review

« on: October 12, 2007, 08:49:17 PM »

Well,

As much as I love my AppleTV, it is my understanding that they haven't sold very well.  Steve Jobs even said that Apple looked at the AppleTV as a hobby.  I am hoping that Apple continues supporting/ developing the platform, but I am worried that they may not.

Steve

12

2007 / AppleTV, my short review

« on: October 12, 2007, 03:40:57 PM »

RHP,

 In this case the streaming vs. "downloading" is a function of where you are storing the media.  My AppleTV is an original and therefore only has a 40 GB harddrive.   While the current models have a 160 GB drive, this is still far shy of the 400Gbs that my iTunes Library requires.  Given this limitation, one has to decide what media to store on the AppleTV itself  (AKA syncing)and what media to simply stream across the local network from the host computer.  The main advantage that syncing provides is that you can watch the media with no buffering. Fast forward and rewind work much better as well. I generally stream podcasts, music, and videos purchased from the iTunes store.  These types of media stream well and generally don't cause me any problems.  I also stream things from other macs on the network like my macbook pro.  For full length movies ripped at a very high quality with files sizes in excess of 3 GB's I generally sync it to the AppleTV first to avoid network congestion.

Steve

13

2007 / AppleTV, my short review

« on: October 12, 2007, 01:01:37 PM »

I have had the AppleTV since it was released.  Overall, I love it.  I have it connected to a 42" Panasonic Plasma.  I mainly use it for watching Video Podcasts and my DVD Library.  I have all of my DVD's ripped and transcoded to H.264 Apple TV format.  My iTunes Library is currently over 400GB's     I have a few Western Digital "My Book" firewire drives attached via firewire 800 to my new iMac to hold the itunes Library.  I have both the iMac and the Apple TV attached via ethernet to my router.  I used Visual Hub to transcode the DVD Video_TS folders into H.264 Mpeg 4 files using the  "GO Nuts" setting for AppleTV in Visual Hub. When I want to watch one of these movies, I do not stream them because They will eventually stop playback and rebuffer in the same manner as JohnKentucky describes.  I too find it necessary to sync full length movies even though I am actually attached directly to the router.  I do not have this problem streaming smaller files, or the lower quality files that are downloaded from the iTunes Store.  These will stream fine... even over wireless G from my Macbook Pro.

Steve

14

2007 / Apple, Jobs, AT&T sued over iPhone price cut, rebates

« on: September 29, 2007, 03:37:06 PM »

Not if I was on the jury.


We can argue all day long about whether it was the right thing or the smart thing for a company to do.  But, you will never convince me that a company should not have the legal right to do it.

Steve

15

2007 / The Devil's in the Details!

« on: September 20, 2007, 05:39:46 PM »

I hear what you are saying and I'm sympathetic.  I don't know what the answer is, but I'm afraid things are going to get worse before /if they are to get better.  People should not have to be IT professionals to get their email or surf the web safely.  Unfortunately, that seems to be where things are headed. I wish I had the details, but I saw an article the other day that referred to some security researcher who has been tracking the activities of a "bot net"  and the incredible degree of control that the bot controller appeared to have.  It was estimated that this bot net numbered  at least 2 million computers and could be more than 50 million.  The controller seemed to be testing his network and was demonstrating the ability to "turn on or off" any number of computers that he/she wished at will.

Again, I don't know exactly what to say.  I have several family members for which I am their only real tech support.  One of them is running windows... I have already done more than one format and reinstall due to spyware infestations.  He is running antivirus, antispyware, he is behind a NAT router and has automatic updates turned on.   You can only practice so much security.  Proper user behavior is really the only effective solution. I guess I am back to that user responsibility thing.     Obviously there are always going to be a large percentage of computer users who just won't or can't protect themselves.  What we do about that is a question that I can't answer.

Steve