mac

This post goes out to all my fellow Mac mouse haters:

Mac OS X doesn't always get along with my Logitech wireless mouse. The main symptom is weirdness when trying to hover over menus or hover over the dock… basically, it doesn't. The only way to get a "hover" style action is to right click where I want to hover. Which is a problem.

At first it looks like Apple operating system quirkiness, but rebooting the compy won't fix it. Poking the "connect" button won't fix it. If you're having the same problem as me, try unplugging the wireless receiver for a couple of seconds and plugging it back in.

It isn't enough to unplug the hub that the receiver is plugged into, most likely because my hub is powered. But unplugging the receiver kicks it in the pants and everything starts working again.

A few weeks ago I purchased the MacHeist II bundle, a program that hooks up Mac users with great deals on software and earns money for charity in the process... This year they donated almost half a million dollars. I've got no beef with MacHeist. I do, however, have a problem with Yazsoft, the vendors of Speed Download, which was included in the MacHeist bundle.

You see, Speed Download, like most applications, automatically checks for updates. In fact, Speed Download installs them automatically as well. This worked out just fine until version 5.0 was released. Right on cue, Speed Download installed the update and popped up a notification that I should relaunch the application.

The difference between this and previous updates is that version 5.0 was not included in the license I purchased. Without warning, without confirmation, Speed Download "updated" itself to a 21 day trial version. I entered the registration information, which I purchased less than three weeks ago as part of MacHeist. But since this update was from version 4 to 5.0, my old license was no good.

Several people (including my buddy Jacob) have posted lists of the supposed failures of the MacBook Air, Apple's latest offering in the notebook computer market. I didn't listen to any of the naysayers. I bought a MacBook Air.

I was surprised how many times I heard comments like "If it had a 15+ inch screen, I might get one" or "I can't live without a DVD drive/high end graphics card/ethernet port..." I couldn't disagree more with these sentiments.

First, the videos, images, ads and specs don't do this thing justice. Sure, you can fit it in a manila envelope. But you could do the same with the 12" PowerBook. I still wasn't prepared for just how small and light this thing is.

Imagine taping two single subject spiral notebooks together. That's how big this laptop actually is. At the thick end. And that's about what it weighs, too.

For all the space savings, Apple didn't skimp on keyboard size. The keyboard is identical in almost every aspect to the Apple bluetooth keyboard I've been using on my desktop for several month. Well, they added backlighting. But other than that it's identical. That means it's comfortable, the keys are well spaced (unlike most ultraportables), and they have pleasant, albeit light, feedback.

The trackpad is amazing. It's about twice as wide as any touch pad I've used in the past. Apple's multitouch implementation is evolving, and I love the results. It zooms, drags, scrolls and swipes effortlessly. And did I mention how huge it is?

Despite all the fuss about the lack of ports, connectivity is not an issue for me. I think Apple has covered all the essentials with the three available ports. The wireless is good enough that I haven't needed an ethernet port. I haven't yet thought "I wish this had another usb port on it".

Should it have more than one usb port? maybe. But I wouldn't use it. On my desktop computer I plug a bluetooth adapter, my uninterruptible power supply and my wireless mouse receiver into the USB ports. Sometimes I add a flash drive or an external hard drive to that list, but not too often. With my laptop, I don't need any of those (built in bluetooth, battery, etc). I can't see needing to plug more than one thing into this guy at once.

I know that two days isn't the longest trial run, but I haven't needed an optical drive yet. Come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time I used the optical drive on my desktop computer to do something other than rip a CD or watch a movie.

I remember a computer I bought several years ago. It didn't have a floppy drive, or even a place to put one. At the time that was a fairly bold proposition. My roommate scoffed, saying that I would surely need to read a floppy at some point. He couldn't have been more wrong. I haven't owned a computer with a floppy drive since then.

Perhaps the MacBook Air is the beginning of the end of CDs?

Update: I couldn't remember my Apple account password to log into their website and download Xcode, so I just used the "remote disc" feature for the first time to install Xcode from the leopard DVD. And I have to say, it's pretty slick.

The internal battery could be a bit of a hassle. That means I can't take a second with me and swap it when the juice gets low. It also means a bit more trouble once the battery starts going bad and needs replaced. Luckily Apple will offer affordable replacements, and it turns out that the batteries are quite easy to get to if you want to mess with it yourself.

I got the non solid-state hard drive in my Air. Honestly, I couldn't justify spending an additional $1000 for the upgrade. This means I have an 80 gig hard drive. 80 gig seems a bit small, compared to the terabyte monstrosities available for desktops. And it would be small, if I needed to store my entire music collection, or all of my photos, or backups of every DVD I own. But I don't need to carry all that stuff with me. That's why I have a desktop computer. In fact, after I installed most of the software I need (with the exception of CS3, since I've gotta buy a new license), it was sitting at about 25 gig used. I ran Monolingual, and I'm back to 64 gig free—approximately 11.5 GB used. Since I'm not filling it up with a bunch of media, that will be more than enough.

The "low" processor speed (1.6/1.8 gHz) is actually a bonus. I have a 3.2 gHz core 2 duo sitting on my desk at home. When I first read the specs on the Air, I was worried about the low processor speed. So I started paying attention to my desktop's actual speed. It turns out that my desktop almost always throttles the CPU to under 1.4 gHz. If my desktop can handle all the abuse I throw at it without breaking a sweat, I can't imagine needing more than 1.4 gHz for most things I would do on a laptop...

Granted, this laptop isn't as full featured as a MacBook Pro. But it addresses a completely separate need. It doesn't make a good first computer, and it isn't the right computer for an always-on machine. Most of the people complaining about its lack of features would be better suited to a PowerBook. I would argue that none of these people fit the MacBook Air's target market.

In short, the MacBook Air is a great second computer. I wouldn't use it for my primary machine, because I ask a lot more of that computer. I love having a desktop with a giant monitor, a DVD drive and close to a terabyte of internal storage. But this computer isn't supposed to sit on my desk, it's supposed to stay by my side. It's supposed to fit in the glove box of my scooter. It's the perfect ultraportable computer for me.

i've been using leopard for a couple of weeks now. and i don't know about you, but i have a hard time telling at a glance which stack is which... a handful of blogs have posted about the japanese blogger (note: blog is all in japanese) who hooked us up with really spiffy custom stack overlays. now the overlays are available in color, and there are a ton more of them.

the latest version of the overlay icons come pre-tweaked, so they'll work whether you sort by name, by "date modified", or by "date created". but my downloads stack is sorted by "date added", and the it turns out that "date added" is tough to spoof with timestamps.

a couple of blogs have posted applescript or automator solutions, but none of them were quite slick enough for me. so here's my shot at it:

1. download the custom stack overlays, choose some you like, and add them to your stacks. if you have the old overlays already, make sure to grab the new ones for this to work.
2. download and unzip my refresh stack overlays script.
3. copy it to /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts
4. add the new folder action to any folder you want—i use it on "ToDo" and "Downloads". (instructions for adding folder actions here).
5. whenever a file is added to your folder, the stack overlay will move to the front.

think is my new favorite productivity app. the other day i was trying to read an ebook on my computer. but computers have a tendency to distract me. there's always something interesting going on. twitter, instant messaging, email and blog feeds each clamor for my attention. in looking for the mac equivalent to a compiz-fusion module called "ADD helper", i stumbled onto think.

it's pretty simple. it darkens the desktop everywhere but the window i'm using... it gives me the edge i need to overcome my tendency toward distraction, and it does it in a slick, maclike way. check it out.

i love firefox. really, i do. it can be speedy. it can be extensible. but apparently it can't be both at the same time... all my development plugins make it slow, and all my browsing plugins make it even slower.

how i fixed my my super slow firefox after the jump.

firefox for mac has something seriously funky going on with the scroll action on my blog. not sure what's causing it, but i'll look into it when i get a minute. until then, i guess you'll have to use the scroll buttons on the side.

sorry 'bout that :-S