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With my trip to Tanzania just 25 days away, I need to hurry and get the necessary vaccines that are recommended before a trip to Africa. The recommended vaccines are:
Time to visit my doctor.
The Seattle Times had two interesting articles this week discussing the real estate market in the area.
When we were searching for a house earlier in the year, we found the house supply very limited and prices very high. It looks like the real estate market continues to be very hot with a limited supply of high quality homes. Not the best time to be a home buyer.
The Seattle Times today has an article on a new feature of Windows Vista designed to make it easier to read newspapers online (is there any other way to read a newspaper?),
The article includes the picture bellow:
Photograph by ELAINE THOMPSON / AP
Is it me or is the tablet screen showing the standard "unable to open web page" error message?
Hum...
A friend just discovered today that his email has been compromised. Some asshole has gained illegal access to his email and has been reading it and sharing confidential information. His password was "secure", following all best practice guidelines - longer than 8 characters, mixed upper and lower cases, numerical characters, and special characters. Not necessarily easy to crack, and impossible to deduce.
He runs an anti-virus software, a spyware software, a software firewall, keeps Windows always updated, and doesn't experiment with any 3rd party software -- his office machine is all about business.
The best guess is that his system got compromised through a key logger - most likely a physical key logger attached to the keyboard cable. Needless to say, multiple laws have been broken and a crime has been committed.
His best recourse now is to change every password on every system/site he uses and to enhance physical site security with cameras, motion detectors, and new key codes.
Bummer.
It is here! My FJ Cruiser has arrived in glorious yellow! I am super excited with the car, lots of character, lots of personality, and package to go with the image!
Just need to add a navigation system, off road lights, and brush guards and the car will be fully configured!
Say hello to 18 mpg!
Continuing with my effort to have a Windows XP free house when we move, I realized that I will need a replacement for my Orb/Windows Media Center combination. I have been a user of Orb since they launched last year. It has worked great for us, but it requires a Windows Media Center PC in order to stream TV across the internet. Since there won't be a Media Center PC in the new house, I loose my ability to use Orb.
In comes SlingBox - SlingBox replaces the Orb/Media Center combination and it enables you to stream your TV to any internet connected PC or windows mobile device.
Unfortunately, the SlingPlayer requires a Windows PC. Ahhhhrrr. The switching pains continues to add up.
SlingMedia needs to update their tagline to say "The only place you can't take your TV IS THE AFTERLIFE or your MAC OS/X Computer".
Can I install the SlingPlayer on an Apple Mac OS-based device?
Not yet, unfortunately. We just demonstrated a Mac version and expect it to be available in the first half of 2006. It will be fully compatible with the current Slingbox hardware.
Skype released a universal binary Skype today ( v.1.4.0.39) only to have it pulled a few hours later. I download it, and of course it doesn't work. I haven't found a single Intel Mac user that got this version to work.
What is Skype doing? One must wonder what sort of release criteria, if any, the Skype folks are using. It teaches me to install software on the day it is released. And this time Skype didn't even call it a beta.
Mind you, this is still not version 2.0 with build in video conference support.
I decided to give Parallels Workstation a try, even thought it is still in beta - beta 5 was just released today. Parallels Workstation is a virtualization solution designed to work with Intel-powered Apple computers! It enables users the ability to use Windows at the same time as Mac OS X - no need to reboot.
Unfortunately, I wasn't even able to install the product. The install disk image refuses to mount. I re-downloaded the product 3 times, and each time the image failed to mount.
The joys of beta testing. I guess I am back to using two laptops for the time being.
There is one feature in Windows XP that I wish OS X offered - the ability to use the arrow keys to scroll back to view a photo that was just displayed by the screen saver.
Our last remaining Windows PC sits at the kitchen area and spends its idle time scrolling through our photo collection. Invariable, someone will call out for others to see a photo, only to have it cycle to the next photo as people approach. However, the XP screen saver is smart enough to give you basic control without disengaging the screen saver. I can press left-arrow and the previous photo is displayed again. Great feature!
Unfortunately, the photo screen saver on the Mac does not give you any overwriting control, as soon as you press any key on the keyboard, the screen saver disengages and the previous photo displayed is lost.
The Windows PC is not going to be joining us at the new house, I need to quickly search for a better OS X screen saver that will give us user control over the displayed pictures.
I had to remove BootCamp from my MacBook Pro today. Windows XP was blue-screeing on every boot, with no user interaction. This was a near clean Windows XP SP 2 install with only Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Defender, Windows Live Messenger, Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 and nothing else.
Not sure what was causing the blue-screen, but since BootCamp is still in beta I thought I would just uninstall it for now and wait for a newer version to be released. If I have time, I will try re-installing it again, but I don't see this happening for at least 2 months.
I will also give Parallels Workstation a try once they are out their beta cycle as well.
The Tanzania embassy has finally returned my US passport with the appropriate visa! It took 20 days, instead of the stated 5, but the passport is here with 30 days to spare!
I am only 30 days away from leaving on my first safari to Tanzania! Everything is ready, I just want to practice packing to ensure that everything fits and to ensure that we are not too much over our weight limit.
It is still not clear if I will be physically ready to go on safari only 5 weeks after my back operation.
For now, I am assuming that I am going and I will make the final call in the last week. Luckily, I bought travel insurance; in case I can't go, I will at least get a full refund.
Apple no longer bundles GraphicConverter with the MacBook Pro (they did with the PowerBook G4).
What a shame, I actually use this software for quick and simple graphics editing when Photoshop would be an overkill.
GraphicConverter has a Universal binary and works great on an Intel Mac. Luckly, GraphicConverter is a shareware application and can be bought for $30 from Lemke Software.
Apple just announced a new program where they will pay for shipping and environmentally friendly disposal of any old computer with the purchase of a new Mac from the company's retail or online stores.
Here is what I do to my hard drives before I donate a PC to charity. The same applies to selling your old hard drive, or sending your PC to a recycle program such as the one soon to be offered by Apple.
I take the following precautions to ensure that my data is properly and permanently deleted from my old hard-drive.
• Select all of the saved files from the deleted accounts and send them to the trash. Use OS X Secure Empty Trash feature to delete the trash. Not only were the files encrypted, but now they will be written over 35 times just to be sure.
• Go to ~/applications/utilities and run Disk Utility. Under Disk Utility, select the hard drive that you are going to donate and securely wide all free disk space.
Boot your computer from a separate hard drive and use Disk Utility to format the drive you want to donate - do not use the quick format option.
This is not a quick process, but you can feel very confident that, if you follow it completely, your old data will be permanently deleted from your hard drive and can't be restored by any 3rd party software or forensics process.
Continuing to increase system security, I paid a visit to security applet under System Preferences.
Here is how I configured my security settings:
I am in the process of tightening security on all of my machines. I plan on taking the following steps:
The other action I should take is to enable an anti-virus checker such as ClamXav or Norton Anti-Virus. Not sure that I am ready to do this on my Macs yet. But probably should if I really want to ensure that my systems are as secure as they can be.
The longly Windows PC that remains at my house will also get a similar treatment plus a spyware detector such as Windows Defender.
By taking these simple actions, the consequences of a lost or stolen PC will be reduced to a simple financial loss instead of a more complicated and serious risk of identity theft.
I was remembering an article I read a month ago about a Fidelity Laptop that was stolen with the personal records of 196,000 HP employees. I have always secured my traveling laptop with a full backup and file encryption before I embark on any trip. But my own home machines have not, until now, received a similar treatment.
With Mac minis and Mac laptops in use at home, the possibility of one of these machines walking away is much greater than with my previous desktop systems.
All of my digital data is divided into libraries - personal, financial, photos, music, temp, homework, etc. Not all computers have all of the libraries available locally, but even so, they each have personal data that I would rather keep personal.
Tax forms, social security numbers, bank account and investment information, contact information, and various other personal and confidential data items can be found scattered on my various machines. If any of my computers were stolen, I would have to go to great lengths to protect my assets and identity.
By taking simple security measures I can safeguard my digital data without compromising my computer experience. It is time to tighten the security for my home systems.
I went to create a new administrator account on my Powerbook and got this friendly message from OS X.
I suspect this is a direct result of the Unix underpinnings of OS X where the "Admin" user is by definition a computer administrator. Not nice, it is my darn machine and I should be able to control what access level any user has.
Tricks of the Trade has a great tip for those who still leave voicemail messages.
Caller - When leaving a voicemail, it's considerate to provide your number or other contact information at the beginning of the message, rather than at the end. That way, if the person wasn't able to get the info written down or memorized on the first pass, they don't have to re-listen to the entire message to hear it a second listen.
I couldn't agree more! It would be even better if people would text instead of leaving a voicemail.
Start Private Browsing - Interesting feature found in Safari - OS X 10.4 Tiger version. I hadn't paid much attention to it before.
With Start Private Browsing, no information about where you visit on the Web, personal information you enter or pages you visit are saved or cached. As far as the local computer is concerned, it’s as if you were never there.
When private browsing is turned on, webpages are not added to the history, items are automatically removed from the Downloads window, information isn't saved for AutoFill (including names and passwords), and searches are not added to the pop-up menu in the Google search box.
Important to note that you are not private from the sites you visit. Start Private Browsing is intended to prevent any data being kept locally on a "guest" computer, as opposed to obscuring your from the sites you visit.
Flip4Mac, the free utility that enable me to watch Windows Media Videos on a Mac, does not work on an Intel Mac. Not unless you force Safari to run under Rosetta - (the is no way I am forcing Safari to run under emulation).
Subject: Flip4Mac support for Intel based Macs
Our developers are working hard to revise the code to support the Intel version of the Mac. We hope to have this release available soon but don't have an ETA for you! Watch our website for an announcement.
How long has Telestream had to port this application? At least 12 months. Doesn't sound like it is a priority for them. Unfortunately, there aren't many alternatives out there (that works with embedded WMV clips). For now, I am stuck waiting for a Universal version of Flip4Mac.
The new magnetic power cable on a MacBook Pro sounds cool, looks cool, and it is neat to use. But in practice the MagSafe plug is a pain - it falls off all of the time, with only the slight pressure.
I am bed ridden because of my back surgery. As I toss and move in bed, invariably the MagSafe plug comes off and the power cord rolls off the bed.
I wish there was a way to "lock" the cable in place to avoid accidental disconnect. I am sure that under normal circumstances (using the laptop at a desk, on airplane seat, dinner table, etc) the MagSafe plug will do more good than harm. But right now, I am longing for the old style plug found in the PowerBook G4.
"Use Interference Robustness" this option available on wireless Macs has bugged me since the day I switched to Macs. What does it do? Why would I not want to use Interference Robustness? On the surface, it seems like something you would want to have "on" all of the time. Why is it an option? What's the drawback of having it on all of the time?
From what I have been able to piece together, "internet robustness" is designed to address Microwave Interference. The 802.11 protocol timing was designed to interleave transmissions and adjust packet size to accommodate periodic
interference.
The basic idea behind Interference Robustness is to not revert back to bigger packets/slower frequency upon receiving interference because that will extend the air time per packet, which in turn will increase the probability that a microwave oven pulse will clobber the packet.
Better to stay at the higher frequency and use very small packets. All of the packets will not get through, but a much larger number will pass than with huge packets.
The drawback is that MIR also forces small packets on a continuous basis. Each packet has a considerable overhead burden. The greater the number of packets, the greater the overhead, the smaller the throughput.
Net net - if throughput is critical leave "Interference Robustness" off - unless interference becomes a problem.
Take Control EBooks has an ebook on "Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac". Since I am bed-ridden for another 2 days, I thought this could be an interesting read. I bought it and read it in about 1 hour. I thought that being new to Macs and all that I might learn a thing or two from this book; and in the process, ensure that my Macs continue to run smoothly.
Unfortunately, the ebook is not worth the $10 or the 1 hour it took to read it. Very basic information that any Mac user will already know by their 3rd month of use.
My opinion - save your money. If you really want to learn more about Mac, buy this book instead Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Ed.
National Geographic Magazine's wallpaper for May 2006 is a photo from Mount Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania’s Rift Valley.
First, there was the severe draught, then there is this little volcano, and now my back surgery. This is sure shaping up to be a great trip ;-)
River of Fire
Photograph by Olivier Grunewald
From "Visions of Earth," National Geographic, May 2006
Thomas Hawk has posted his "10 Tips for the New Digital SLR Photographer". Great tips, the only one I don't follow is Flickr, I tried it before but didn't like it, so I don't use it all. I prefer instead to share my photos via iPhoto/iWeb.
The Yellow Pages industry in the USA distributed 540 million printed directories this past year. That's more than one per person.
I don't know about you, but the last time that I used one of those printed yellow book was more than 5 years ago. Yet, I receive 2 different versions of Yellow Pages and White Pages directories delivered to me about twice a year. I also get two sets of each as well - one for the East Side and one for Seattle. That's 8 books a year that never gets looked at.
PaperlessPetition.org is running a petition to request that the Yellow Pages Association shift to an opt-in system whereby paper directories would only be printed for people who ask for them.
Instead of the printed Yellow Pages, I tend to use:
Needless to say, i signed up!
It looks like the HTTPMail Plug in that enables Mac Mail to access Hotmail and MSN accounts using Apple Mail does not work on an Intel Mac. You need to manually force Mac Mail to run under emulation mode in order for the plug in to work.
There is no way that I am forcing any application to run under emulation mode. For now, I will access Hotmail via the web and transition my messages to my GMail account.
In case you want to run mail under emulation:
Open Application Folder
Command Click on Mail
Select Get Info
Check Open using Rosetta
Now your HTTPMail plugin will work. In my opinion, it is not worth it. Time to find a new plugin for Hotmail or to leave that account behind.
B&H Photos is my preferred online camera store, the one where I place 95% of all of my photo equipment orders. Recently, as in maybe 6 month ago, B&H made a chance to their online store hours, they used to be closed on Friday and Saturday but you could order online and shipping would take place when they re-opened on Sundays.
Now, you cannot even place an order online during their holidays or weekends. This is the only online store I know that is not open 24x7.
I like their prices, selection, their return policies, and their reputation is second to none. You always know you are getting top quality product with no bait and switch schemes found elsewhere on the net. I respect their religious believes, but boy, this sure makes online shopping inconvenient when you can't even submit a purchase to be shipped when they re-open.
I wonder how much business they are loosing as a result of their new online store hour policy, certainly the impulse buyer will be shopping elsewhere.
With the new house comes new phone numbers, and the necessity to register for the Do Not Call registry. This service worked great for us in the past, but it seems that more and more tele-marketers are figuring out ways around it. Even so, this is a free service and it might provide you with a legal recourse against the tele-marketers that do call you unsolicited.
The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most tele-marketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, you can file a complaint at this Website. You can register your home or mobile phone for free. Your registration will be effective for five years.
PC Mag has a report on the Novatel XV620 - first EV-DO card that will work on a MacBook Pro (and other similarly equipped ExpressCard Windows laptops).
Where can I pre-order one?
If you buy music from the iTunes music store, the music file comes with a nice cover art, and it looks great on a iPod color screen. If you get your music by importing it directly from your audio CDs you do not get the cover art automatically - thank you Apple.
Corripio is utility designed too automate the process of adding cover art to your iTunes music collection. It searches iTunes itself for cover art and automatically adds it to your music files.
The process is very very slow, and unfortunately it is not hands free, not yet at least. If Corripio finds duplicate cover arts for the same song it prompts you to select the one you want. This works ok with a music collection of about 30 songs, anything greater and you are going to spend your afternoon waiting for Corripio to process your music collection. In my case, with 8,500 songs without cover art I abandoned the process after about 10 files with duplicate cover art.
However, v.0.3 of the software will address this limitation by allowing you to auto-select the first image, or batching all user selection to the end of the process - allowing you to set Corripio to search your entire library before requiring any futher user input.
My verdict - wait for v.0.3, expected by this Friday, before you download it. Once this limitation is fixed, this is definitely a useful app which will earn my donation.
Price: donation ware.
Everybody loves the drag and drop nature of OS X. Drag an app into your applications folder, and it's installed. You'd think it would be that easy to delete an app — just a matter of dragging it to the trash. But it's not. Applications install preferences, caches, and other support files throughout your computer that take up space and generate clutter. Deleting these by hand every time you delete an app is a pain.
My usual approach is to do a Spotlight search on the Application name and delete every file, folder, preferences that are found to belong to the application. In other words - a royal pain. AppZapper automates this process for you, giving you a drag and drop method to uninstall any application in your system.
Cost: $12.95 for a single license, $18 family license, with free upgrades for life.
WhatSize is a simple OS X utility that enables you to quickly measure the size of any folder in your Mac. Ever wonder where your 100GB of free space went? With WhatSize you get an complete view of the size of every folder in your HD, as well as every hidden folder. Much easier than using Finder Command-I which is what I had been using until now.
WhatSize is free, and supports Intel macs with an Universal binary.
I am back home! The surgery went well and the doctor believes that the herniated disc has been fixed. I am restricted to bed rest for 4 days now, but I am feeling great with little pain right now - less pain than before the surgery.
I am hoping for a speedy recovery and have a secret desire to complete the STP event after all - but most importantly, I am going to take it easy and make sure that I heal properly so i can put this issue behind me once and for all! Cycling and photography can wait their turn.
There is a good review on CarcorderInfo.com on Sony's latest consumer HD camcorder - the Sony HDR-HC3. This would be a great camera to bring along on Safari, especially with the addition of a High Grade 2.0X Telephoto Lens.
An HD camera would make a great companion for my father to bring along to the Safari, and a good way to slip our roles - I will take care of still pictures, and he can focus on videos!
Good thing that B&H is currently closed!
The deal is done! We bought our house. It is confirmed and re-confirmed, as of today, April 17th, 2005 the house on English Hill in Redmond, WA is ours! Long rocky road to purchase it with lots of false starts and negotiation, but the deal is finally done and sealed.
It is a great house in need of some love. The pressure is now on to move in before May 9th, 2006!
Apple is in a giving mood recently. Apple released Aperture 1.1 1 week ago - key feature for me is native Intel support! Not only is v1.1 a free upgrade for 1.0 users, but Apple is giving a $200 coupon for existing 1.0 customers! Go here to claim your Apple store coupon.
Nothing like free money! Thanks Apple!
I am confused about the workings of my broadband connection. I have Comcast cable modem with a rating of 6 Mbps maximum download and 384 Kbps maximum upload speeds. I recently re-started my Foldershare "network" in order to ensure that my files were properly backed up. (I have a love hate relationship with Foldershare - great concept, but poor implementation.)
My iTunes library needed backing up to my Mac Mini, which resides in my office - a broadband connection away. My G4 laptop was uploading a file to the mini at speeds of ~20 Kbps, my G5 iMac was uploading another file to the mini at ~22 Kbps, and all seemed fine.
However, my overall broadband connection for all other systems was painfully slow. Opening any web page from my MacBook Pro, or my family's Windows XP desktop was taking 20 seconds or more. As soon as I shutdown Foldershare, web sites would load almost immediately.
Why does file upload cripple my download performance? I thought that my download/upload was an asynchronous process, but maybe not.
I hope the next revision of Foldershare, now a Microsoft Windows Live service, will allow me to schedule file synchronization to occur only during the night hours. For now, I will continue to manually start and shutdown my Foldershre network in order to preserve my broadband connection during the day.
Hawk Wings has a review on a utility called BackityMac that has enabled me to migrate my Mac Mail data to my new MacBook Pro. BackityMac, a donation-ware, makes it easy to archive all of my Mac Mail data into a disk image. I can then just take this image to my new machine and have all of my old emails accessible via Spotlight, or I can restore the image to the new computer and have all the old emails available within Mac Mail.
Simple utility that seems to solve my problem - if this becomes my final mail migration tool, a donation will be forthcoming.
At what point should I worry that my password has been lost? On April 4th, we sent our US passports to the Tanzania embassy in Washington to get the necessary travel visas for our safari. The visa application clearly stated that it would take 5 business days for the passports to be returned. It has been 8 business days now and our included pre-paid fedex return envelop has not been used.
We know, via fedex tracking, that the Tanzania embassy received the passports on April 5th, so they have had ample time to return the documents. I will wait until the end of the week before I get really worried.
It looks like I jumped the gun with my criticism of Toyota of Kirkland. A genuine mistake was made on their part and "my" car had in fact not yet arrived at the dealership. An identical FJ Cruiser arrived, with the exception of it being a manual transmission car, instead of the automatic that I had requested.
Toyota of Kirkland gave me the choice to purchase the manual transmission car (which is still available BTW), or to wait for the automatic version which should be arriving any day now. I opted to wait for the automatic.
One should learn to hold judgment until all facts are on the table - sorry.
My back problems have put a damper on my migration to the MacBook Pro, and everything else for that matter. I got nearly 100% migrated to the MacBook Pro before the back pain caused every activity to stop.
The last remaining item to solve is migrating my archived Mac mail so I can access it from the new machine. I am not quite sure how to do this yet. There is an import mailbox command, but no reciprocating export mailbox command.
I also haven't gotten Hotmail to work on the Intel Mac. It works great on my PowerBook using HTTMail plugin, but I can't get Hotmail to show up on the MacBook Pro.
Everything else is working great. And it will be even better now that Aperture 1.1 supports Intel Macs natively!
Windows XP is also installed and running on a 16GB partition. Installation was smooth and the machine seems to work well with the exception that power management does not seem to work on my install. The screen never turns off, and the screen saver never kicks in. This is ok for now, as Windows XP is installed only as a backwards compatibility layer for the few apps with no OS X counterparts.
I may play around with the installation some more and see if I can get power management to work. Other than that, the install is a success. It will be even better when Apple adds Windows XP driver support for the built in camera.
We signed, for the second time, the papers for our house purchase. But the waiting game continues. The sellers were late by one day, and for a moment there it looked like the whole deal was getting undone.
We are on track to close on Monday, but I will hold off judgement until we have changed the door locks! With my surgery, it doesn't look like I will be celebrating much tomorrow, but it will be great to know that this purchase is finally completed.
Time's up. After 1 week of medication and rest, my back pain is only marginally better. I have a herniated disc that is putting pressure on my sciatica nerve causing severe pain, numb left leg, and limited feeling. My flexibility also is down 90%. One week ago I could easily put the palm of my hands to the ground without bending my knees, today I can't even reach half-way.
Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 3:30 pm.
So long to my 06 cycling season.
I just found out today that I will have to undergo back surgery to repair a slipped disk. Surgery will occur on Monday, August 17th. This is just 5 weeks before I head off to Africa for a 3 week photo safari. This may not be enough time to recuperate from surgery and be able to track around Africa with 35 lbs worth of photo gear.
Lovely. We are past the point of no return for a refund, but I did get insurance for just this type of situation. I need to see what options I have, I certainly don't want to delay the trip, but I need to be well enough to be able to enjoy it as well.
A call to the travel agency is in order - Thomson Safari. Let's see what my options are.
My cycling season is over just 1 week after I started serious training. I haven't been on the bike for 2 weeks now due to an injured back. MRI results today have confirmed a re-occurance of a slipped disk S5-L1. A trip to the doctor has resulted in a scheduled operation for Monday.
I will be off the bike for at least 2 months. This will leave me with just 4 weeks to train for an STP attempt - hardly enough time. Maybe I will focus on a late summer or early fall event such as RAW on Aug 19 to 26.
But for now I will focus on getting better and I will worry about cycling after the surgery.
Bummer.
Even our lender was under the impression that the purchase took place on March 31st, so much so that they reported the loan to the credit agencies. To add insult to the failed house purchase last week, my loan for the house that I did not purchase has now showed up on my credit report as active. One more proof that this system is broken and one more reason why everyone should be monitoring their credit report.
I am now in the process of challenging the entries and having them removed from my record. After-all, we did not purchase the house, at least not yet. If we do purchase it, it will be with a different loan as the first one was voided once the seller failed to return their part of the paperwork.
Just another endorsement for closely monitoring the information in your credit report.
My MacBook Pro has Apple's Front Row application. Front Row is a software that allows you to "enjoy your music, photos and videos from across the room and even across the house with the Front Row media experience and Apple Remote."
My first experience playing with Front Row was a failure. On my PowerBook G4 I have season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, purchased and downloaded using iTunes.
I was hoping to catch up on the last 2 episodes this evening; perfect opportunity to test out Front Row. I picked up my remote control, selected Videos and Bonjour found my iTunes media library residing on the PowerBook. I selected the episode I wanted and pressed play.
"There is a problem playing this shared video: The shared video server may be having problems playing this video."
That's all - no help, nothing. Just refused to play a video I purchased via iTunes. I put down the MacBook Pro, picked up my PowerMac G4 and watched the video locally. Frustrating.
After the show, a Google search pointed me to this support article on Apple.com - "There is a problem playing this shared video". The support article suggests that I need to authorize my MacBook Pro on iTunes content before I can stream purchased iTunes media.
I haven't had a chance to try this yet. But if that's the case, why can't Front Row ask me to authorize the computer first? Far from an ideal first experience.
How many regular users will figure this out without a customer support call? I think most will just give up on it altogether. Not quite ready for the living room experience.
9 months after my switch to Apple OS/X it is time for my first system migration, from a PowerBook G4 to a MacBook Pro. I opted to not do the automated migrations offered during the new machine setup - I much rather know exactly what data is being migrated.
Below are the software packages that have survived the usage test and remain installed on my PowerBook - this is the same list that I will need to install on my new machine.
Apps with Universal Binary available
Apps that will have to run on under Rosetta emulation.
Office, Photoshop, and Aperture are a real problem as Rosetta won't be fast enough. Aperture will be ported over shortly (as in this month), but I think Office and Photoshop will take another year until a Universal Binary version is available.
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