It seems like more and more vendors are jumping in to the USB micro/mini-drive game these days. Iomega has a hip-looking USB 2.0 version, but for the money I think I would prefer the versatility of Victorinox’s USB Swiss Army Knife. With my total mailbox currently over 600 MB, it’s not like I can take my e-mail around with me on either one anyway.
And it is just me, or does anyone else think that USB flash memory drives are still too expensive for the capacity you get? Especially in light of what you can get in the form of SD or CF cards. I know, the USB drives don’t require a reader like the aforementioned cards, but I still think they should be cheaper for what you get in storage space.
Tag: tech
Get your Dick Tracy on with the new LaCie Data Watch, which jams 128 MB of flash memory in to a decent-looking, black analog watch for 70 bucks. Works with Mac OS 9 and up, but the only version of Windows you can use is XP. I’m tempted.
(via MacMinute)
The Mac Marginalization report at MacInTouch has seen a spurt of activity in recent days, notably about certain web sites not working with Safari or other non-IE browsers. In today’s postings, MacInTouch reader “Steve” suggests:
Safari users often are subjected to annoying web page redirection to inform them that their browser is not supported. Microsoft’s subversion of web standards deserves a similar tactic: “Your browser does not adhere to international web standards. Please contact Microsoft support to request standards compliance so that we can provide a better web experience for everyone. You will be redirected to our non-standard pages momentarily…”
If every web page handled MSIE this way, the stream of customer support inquiries might eventually annoy Microsoft enough that they would clean up their act.
While I highly doubt the latter would ever happen, it is amusing to consider the former nonetheless. Windoze users reading this, and other web standards-composing web sites, would do well to look to Firefox/Mozilla.
I stopped by the Willow Bend Apple Store last week for two reasons. First, I needed to pick up a couple of extra FireWire-to-Dock cables for iPod use. Second, I wanted to see how the Genius Bar LCD retrofit turned out, since that has been my principal project at work for the past month.
While there, I also played around with the new iPod mini. If I didn’t already have the 40 GB iPod, and was still using the original 5 GB one, I would jump on the mini. I love how they’re using Espy Sans for the screen font; I hope that carries over to the next-gen full-size Pods.
Likewise, I hope to see the combination mechanical/capacitance-sensitive scroll wheel with the built-in buttons on the next-gen full-size Pod. It make navigation so much simpler.
Of course, with my 40 GB iPod, I use it 50-50 as a music player and as an external hard drive. Every day, I back up my Mailsmith and Entourage mail folders to it to shuffle to and from work. Between the two, I’ve got about 1.3 GB of stuff, not to mention anything I may have downloaded during the day that I want to take home. So from that usage standpoint, a mini is not in my future. Then again, by the time I’m ready to upgrade again, the mini may just have the storage capacity to suit my habits.
Sweetie, can I have one? I promise to use it and my other powers only for good…
Last month, Aaron Swartz noted some new features of Google, a few I was not aware of. Is it any wonder that Apple has a Google search field built right in to Safari?
So PalmSource has decided to discontinue Mac support in upcoming versions of the Palm OS, despite the fact that they have a larger market share percentage-wise in the Macintosh side of the computing world than out. Mac users will be left to third-party solutions to sync future Palm devices with their Macintosh systems, costing us more money. Palm Desktop (which Palm bought from Apple as Claris Organizer) will no longer be updated.
Last night, I migrated all of my Palm Desktop data to Address Book, iCal, and BBEdit-created text files. I then proceeded to use iSync to sync my contact and calendar info,first on my iPod, then to my .Mac account, the latter of which was a first for me. I then synced my new-to-me, work-provided 1.42 GHz dual-G4 to my .Mac account, so that my Address Book info and Safari bookmarks matched with those on my Cube. All syncs worked without any problems, just as they should.
I have been debating over what kind of phone to move to. My wife’s law firm makes extensive use of the Blackberry RIMs amongst the attorneys, and she will be getting one soon, with service through T-Mobile. I had been considering the Treo 600, but now I’m not so sure. I may go with the Sony-Ericsson T630 when U.S. providers begin carrying it over the next month or two.
I don’t think Address Book and iCal will fill all of my PIM needs; I already feel like I’m going to butt against the limits of the applications, and am looking at alternatives. For now, however, Palm no longer has a place on my systems’ desktops.
In the Feburary 2d issue of BusinessWeek, Robert D. Hof has a column on why the latest technology isn’t always the best (paid registration required). No Luddite, Hof is just worried that our culture may be on so much of a digital kick, that we push too soon to the wayside analog technologies that are time-tested and, in some cases, still superior.
The latter example Hof focuses on is photography, and film. For most people, there isn’t much difference between a 4×6 print from a digital camera versus a 35mm camera. Not much of a difference, that is, unless you’re shooting for detail, where even the top-of-the-line digital cameras still can’t match up against their film counterparts. My wife and I still tote a 35mm camera with us on vacation, as sort of a backup to our digital.
On our first trip to Kaua’i, I took two shots of the Kalalua Valley, the most widely photographed spot in the South Pacific. One was with my digital, the other with Kelly’s 35mm film camera. I’m so glad I took the second picture with the film camera. For one, it came out much better than the one from my digital, as some of the clouds in the area had moved out (the trade winds there move those clouds in and out pretty quick). Second, I have plans to get the print blown up, courtesy of a friend and his plotter. I couldn’t do the latter with the digital photo, as its resolution limits its print size. Hof’s point is well taken.
He also mentions the audio realm, which hearkened me back to a discussion we had on the ATPM staff list. We have several audiophiles on staff, notably Evan, whose latest audio fetish is reel-to-reels dubbed from the studio masters. While most of us couldn’t tell the difference between a MP3, the CD it was ripped from, or the master, guys like Evan, David, and others won’t touch the compressed digital stuff, especially when it comes to genres like classical, jazz, blues, and other non-mainstream music.
Like Hof, I still have a battery-powered, non-digital timepiece, which, unlike my Mac, has never gotten out of sync except when the battery actually died. There are some analog things worth hanging on to, as the digital world still has a long way to go. Nothing Luddite in using what still works the best.
If you’re not subscribing to the NYT’s Circuits e-mail list (free registration required), you’re missing out on some classic Pogue, who this week talks about Gateway’s big-screen plasma displays:
Cut to last week. I saw a TV ad for Gateway’s plasma flat-screen TV, trumpeting its success as the “Number 1 bestselling plasma in America.”
Well, duh — the thing costs $2,500 for a 42-inch model (after rebates). No wonder it’s so popular, considering that most 42-inch plasmas are white-hot even at $6,500.
So how does Gateway get away with it? As I wrote when I reviewed this screen last March, the Gateway TV’s are not, in fact, HDTV sets. “Instead of composing the picture from 1280 by 720 tiny square pixels, as a 42-inch HDTV screen does, these screens offer only 852 by 480 pixels, a lower resolution that the industry calls enhanced definition (EDTV). If you stand four inches from any plasma set, the coarse EDTV pixel grid does a convincing impression of a screen door.”
In short, Gateway is selling the cubic zirconia of plasma screens: a cheap imitation that will fool your family and friends. You’re getting all the status and that Bill-Gates’s-house chic of a plasma screen at less than half the price. Only you need to know that you didn’t actually bite the big bullet and blow the big bucks.
You know your computer company is in trouble when (a) you feature ads where you talk to a cow, and the cow talks back, and (b) when you have to move beyond selling computers to selling lame plasma displays that aren’t as good as the real thing. To quote Michael Dull from about five years ago, “If I were in charge, I’d shut it down and give the money to the shareholders.”
Jeff Knapp writes in to MacInTouch with his experience with the new Windows-only Wal-Mart music store. It seems that one can use a Mac to view the store, register, and even download files. The no-Mac clause comes in the form of the DRM being used by Windows Media Player, as Mr. Knapp was unable to play any of the songs he downloaded. He summarized:
The user experience (non-compatibility issues aside) is OK, not great, but OK – certainly not the smooth, fluid experience iTMS is. Even if it were Mac compatible, I would be reluctant to use it because of this intrusive, “phone home” thing that appears to be happening. Otherwise, I see no reason to want to use it over the iTMS other than price.
That, and it is Wal-Mart…