Mac

Missing Sync Is Out

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OK, I am not going to bash Mark / Space or their product the Missing Sync. I actually like the product. I bought it for the Palm and Pocket PC. I am just having issues with limitations the mac has on PIM software. What I mean is that I like outlook. I really do. I use the catigories in the address book, tasks, and calender allot. The problem with that is the Mac equivelant software Address book, and ical does not do cagitories or does not do them in a way they are compatible with what I do in Outlook.

I use outlook at work. I go home to my mac and would like the work to carry over. Instead I get all my categories I do at work getting erased when I go home and sync with my mac. I had to spend 2 hours redoing all the categories on all my address book contacts on Saturday because of this.

For this reason I am on hold with using my mac as a PIM again. I still use the Missing Sync to update Avantogo on my iPaq, but that is it for now. Hopefully Markspace and apple inprove their products to allow me to do this. I don’t think it is a limitation on Mark Space’s side, but on the Apple PIM side. Either way I am not able to do what I want.

To me this is one of the last hurdles for me to get rid of my PC at home for all day to day tasks. The other things I need the PC for are all work related. Come on Apple, make a better PIM, that is compatible with it’s PC cousin’s!!!

Office 2004 For the Mac

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I have actually done it. I went out and bought Office for the Mac. Usually I refuse to buy Office unless it comes with a computer or unless work puts it on a machine. I wanted it for my mac though. That presented a problem since this version of office just came out, and I wanted it. It isn’t a work expense, so I had to shell out the $$$. I await going home to install it. Reviews to follow. It better have been worth the money.

iMac Or Powerbook, Or Both

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I am getting pressure to get rid of my iMac. I love it. it has a huge screen and it is pretty fast, but do I really need two Mac’s? I have my 12″ Powerbook. I like it allot. I also use it allot. When I am home I use the iMac, but I think I over my Powerbook just because I have it. All the reasons why I bought the imac are still valid, but the question remains do I really need it?

I can always sell it on ebay. It would be difficult since it is heavy and would be a pain to ship, but it is in mint condition so I could get decent cash for it.

On the other I loose nothing by keeping it. granted I can make some cash by selling it, but I already bought and paid for it last year. I still use it, so why get rid of it? These are the things I am thinking about with regards to my computers recently.

This blog entry was written while listening to Hysteria from the album “Hysteria” by Def Leppard

Konfabulator Rocks

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Way back (almost a year to the day) in May 2003 I talked about Konfabulator. I have been using it for over a year. it is a fantastic program. It is what Microsoft tried to do with Active Desktop, but couldn’t. I have widgets (what each component is called) for the weather, itunes remote, moon phases (it is cool), cpu utilization, airport signal strength, and a host of others that I can use. I have about 4-5 widgets running at all times on my Powerbook or iMac and I haven’t once had a cpu or memory issue because of it. it sips the memory.

Some of the widgets are cool, but useless. Others like the weather and itunes remote widgets I use all the time. Ok, my endless praise of Konfabulator is over now. Back to my normal ranting….

Apple Has New Laptops

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Whenever apple comes out with an updated version of hardware that I have, I need to stop and look at it. When they went from the original 12″ Powerbook to the one that I have, I noticed differences that I wanted to take advantage of. The third generation 12″ doesn’t look like it is much different at all from the 2nd generation one that I have.

It has a 33% faster process, and that is great. What else does it have? Built in airport extreme and a faster video card. So what. I don’t play games on this thing and I have airport extreme on mine. The only thing of interest was the bigger standard hard drive, but that is not enough to want to get a new one. their is no other differences. That is good news to me, since I won’t feel compelled to upgrade anytime soon.

My current PB does good by me so far.

Ring Tones And More

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When I got my Sony Ericsson T610 I realized I had a ring tone or two on my old T68i. What to do? I paid for those tones, and I sure wanted to keep them. Turns out it was a snap to move them. I tried IR to beam the tones to my new phone. That didn’t really work. I figured it out via Bluetooth. I paired both phones with each other and just sent the tones. Took like 3 minutes total. The tones work fine on my new phone because it is also a Sony Ericsson.

I also got the new phone to pair with my Powerbook (talked about that in detail before) and now my HP iPaq 1945. The iPaq took some time. I had to figure out the dial up networking settings on it, but now I got it. I can browse the internet on my iPaq using the GPRS of the phone anywhere I have a signal. I was trying it out from my desk at work when the phone was in my bag. I also was able to connect to the phone when it was charging in my bedroom and I was on my couch. Nice!

My next mission is to get this setup to work with my Win XP PC. I think my problems are related to the Xircom card I am using. Their are no new drivers for it, since Xircom got bought up by intel. I am looking for another PCMCIA bluetooth card or maybe a USB one.

Bluetooth, Powerbook, And A T610 = Awesome

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I have had a new Sony Ericsson T610 for a little over a week now. Actually I am on my second one. The first one’s camera stopped working on day 2, so T-Mobile gave me a new one. So far this one seems fine.

This phone is nice, but the best feature is the bluetooth. I can sync with my Powerbook while the phone is in my bag. No more entering contact information into the phone. I know I could have (and have) done this on other phones, but the sync software on the pc and the usb or ir methods sucked. This is a breeze. Setup on the powerbook was easy too. I also got GPRS dial up to work. Now I can use my T610 as a modem anywhere I get good signal while using my Powerbook. I was just checking my mail on the rail road. The phone was still in my bag. Now that is technology that works.

The only kink is that the GPRS is slow, and on the train the signal is sometimes spotty. When I get good signal the connection rocks.

OS X & It’s BSD Root

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Every time I talk to a hard core computer guy (or girl) and tell them I am into Mac’s now, they say “cool, have you done anything with the terminal?” Or something like that. Meaning have I used the BSD commands in it? Until today, not really. I finally had a project I wanted to do, and it required me to play with config files. I wanted to do something with Samba that would allow me to share other files besides my home folder on the network. I played around and got Swat to work. Swat is a web GUI based configurator for Samba. I know I could have just edited the smb.conf file, but I wanted to play with swat also.

Next up is playing with apatche a bit, and maybe try moveable type on a Mac. it has been done, and a mac is after all built on BSD!!!

Stuff To Do

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I wasted most of this evening already. My mom is out of town on vacation with some friends, so my dad is all alone. We went out to dinner tonight. After dinner I got home and checked my mail and did the usual reading the news sites, etc.

I then fixed my problem with my Powerbook & Bluetooth dialing the internet on my new Sony Ericsson T610 phone. Not sure that I did anything differently from yesterday but when I started over for the 3rd time it worked. More on that later.

I know I have other things I have to do. I need to probably do food shopping. Tons of work beckons me from the office. I also need some clothes that I have to buy off of some websites. One or two other things I think I have to take care of, yet what they are escapes me as I sit here and write. I am in my comfy chair listening to music and writing. All is right with the universe. If my doctor saw how I was sitting right now he would laugh and tell me “no wonder you get back pains”. I am just so comfy right now I don’t want to move.

I started taking my allergy medication again 2 days ago. I take Zertec. Today I finally noticed it working. My sinus’s are killing me. I was so stuffed up for so long it is weird how good it is to feel them clearing out. Man I never knew how much mucus a person can produce. Enough nasty thoughts for you tonight.

Now I a lullaby song came on and I am more tired than I was before. Great song but I need sleep. Maybe more writing tomorrow.

This blog entry was written while listening to When You Dream from the album “Stunt” by Barenaked Ladies

Powerbook Ram Boost

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After using my new 12″ 1Ghz Powerbook for a while I realized that I can’t live with the on board 256megs of ram. I tried since it isn’t my main computer and I use it for light work most of the time. I realized that when I use it in the office (even though it is my personal computer) I need the extra ram boost. I went out and got a 512 meg upgrade giving me a total of 768megs of ram.

So far the boost in ram is working. I haven’t seen the powerbook lag when opening a program.

I also got another mini DVI to VGA adapter just in case I want to use the laptop at home on my flat panel.

This blog entry was written while listening to Father of Mine – ACOUSTIC from the album “So Much for the Afterglow” by Everclear