psimac’s blog

PSiMac's Plurk timeline

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:46:12 -0700

PSiMac's Plurk timeline

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Steve Jobs' Grave

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:12:55 -0700

Steve Jobs' Grave, originally uploaded by donatreides.

A must view.

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iPhone Launch #3: The Countdown at the Irvine Spectrum

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:23:04 -0700

See the final countdown as the first people in line get in to finally purchase their iPhones. Share the love, the excitement and the relief with the crowd at the Apple Store in Irvine, CA. AppleSavant.com

iPhone Launch #3: The Countdown at the Irvine Spectrum

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iPhone Launch #2: Waiting in Line at Apple Store Newport Beach

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:45:58 -0700

AppleSavant.com

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iPhone Launch #1: Waiting in line in SoCal

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:40:40 -0700

AppleSavant.com - iPhone Launch #1

We also meet Victor from the Typical Mac User Podcast!

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iPhone Thoughts: Battery Life

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:48:17 -0700

To Preface: I've decided to make these entries snippets, rather than an essay.

iPhone by Apple

The blogosphere and traditional media are awash with controversy surrounding the battery life of the upcoming iPhone, by the all-things-"i"-maker (quote credit: Ken Ray www.macosken.com). People are simply flabbergasted that Apple would design a product without a removable battery. It's okay that 100-million iPod batteries cannot be replaced, because iPod's are not a critical tool, yet critics feel with the iPhone, this is a huge design flaw.

Conversely, the question is: when was the last time you, or anyone you know, has had spare batteries for their phones? When was the last time you or someone you knew, had to purchase a new battery for your phone, because the old one was sputtering? I actually do have a spare battery for my Sony-Ericsson phone, which was acquired when my old one was run over by a thoughtless motorist--never-mind the phone was laying in the street. This battery is located somewhere--somewhere in my office or home or briefcase--one cannot be sure! I am sure it's dead and may not even take a charge, because I've NEVER used it. Should my 3-year old Sony-Ericsson's battery ever work less than one full day of operation, I'll be sure to replace it's battery--as soon as I locate said replacement. However, the battery seems to work flawlessly and the phone is charged every day to 1.5 days.

My 3G iPod's battery is also working fine. At least, when I last used it--the hard-drive crapped out long before the battery. It is also around 3 years old or so.

So people should stop looking for reasons not to buy the iPhone and embrace it as a breakthrough design. Battery life, albeit not great, will be adequate for most users. The after-market will help out the power users, with solutions that plug into the dock--this we can be sure of. A little bit of care and battery conditioning will keep that battery lasting as long as, or longer than, my 3G iPod.

Just when the media dream-stealers have filled my head with doubt, Apple released iPhone commercials. Upon watching those TV spots, it's clear that this phone is truly amazing, intuitive and brilliant. Unlike any other. Ever. Coming June 29th, 6PM.

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Windows Computers Are SLOW

nobody@vox.com(psimac) — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:12:24 -0700

Sure, I'll get flamed for this, but Windows computers are slow. There, I've said it.

Sometimes when using the Pee Cee, I feel like I'm back in the old DOS days when it comes to speed. Here's my theory:

Windows computers develop bit-rot, that just keeps perpetuating until your computer slows down to the speed of log cabin syrup on a cold day.
A 1.6GHz Intel or AMD processor, running Windows XP with all 2,000 updates, runs about as quickly as a 333Mhz iMac G3 running the latest version of MacOSX-10.4 "Tiger."
The same machine as outlined in #2, runs twice as fast using Linux, but because hardware proliferation, you have to be a rocket scientist to get most distros to work reliably on a home-brew machine. Better off getting a Dell or something.
Speaking of Dell, the Pentium 4, 2.4Ghz Dell Optiplex sitting on my desk, complete with 1Gig of RAM, runs Vista just slightly worse than my 4 year-old iMac G4/800 running MacOS 10.4.x.

Someone please explain to me why my buddies have told me for years that Windows machines are faster? Maybe they were faster out of the box, but after years of use, spending countless dollars on virus protection software, optimization software and more software you must have to survive in the nefariousness that surrounds the Windows universe, I'm giving up. I cannot handle the 10 minutes of actual start-up time (you know, where Windows boots and appears ready, but really isn't ready, because it's loading stuff in the background--that loading render any "clicking" futile). I just can't do it. I try to keep up, but I can't.

So, I've installed Parallels Desktop on my Intel iMac, with it's glorious 20" screen. Vista boots right up and starts, because I park it in a saved state, so I no longer have to wait for things to load---they're loaded when Parallels loads. And speed: about the same as my 2.4GHz Dell and I get to switch between MacOS and Vista. Nothing could be easier.

Plus, the best part? No extra display on my desk dedicated to the Dell (it's plugged into my iMac, too), no extra keyboard or mouse, no KVM. Just an elegant, flat iMac and one keyboard and one mouse. Oh, and after using the Mighty Mouse for a few weeks, I love it. I am really not sure why people like Leo LaPorte despise it so.

Get a Mac, save your sanity and your time.

Change hasn't really happened here.

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