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The New Flash(y) iPod

In Paging Jennifer Beals Mr. Gruber says that an iPod without a display is just silly. (I’m paraphrasing here…) What he doesn’t know is the new iPod will be using a display that utilizies Spin technology.

That’s right, the new iPod will display information by being rapidly spun in the air by the earbud wires. I know it sounds ridiculous, because it is. Wait. that’s just the leaked story, the real story is that it will project the display onto a flat surface just like that atomic projection clock at your Mom’s house, where you can lie in bed at stare at the time slowly changing while being displayed on the ceiling. Wait. that’s just the leaked story, the real story is that there will not be a Firewire port, USB 1 or 2 port, or even some special new dock. The new iPod actually comes tuned to your brainwave patterns and will be controlled (only by the owner) using thoughts and brainwaves. It will respond to your mood, and what you are thinking. (“Hmmm, I’d like to listen to The Clash” or “That Dawn and Drew Show is funny!”) The fact that it can only be controlled by the owner’s brain will also lower the risk of theft. Oh, also, it won’t actually have a hard drive or flash memory, it will just use the audio stored inside of your brain, talk about DRM‘d music!

Now folks, I must have made hundreds… ok, dozens… well, at least a few posts on Apple’s iPod audio player, and even though I do not own one (yet) don’t you think I’m probably right this time?

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Apple and Mozilla

Apple has Mail.app, Safari, and iCal. They all run on Mac OS X. Well, iCal requires Mac OS X 10.2 I believe, and I’m sure future versions of Mail.app and Safari will require an appropriately recent version of Mac OS X.

(I’ll assume the “standard” apps for Windows would be IE and Outlook, both of which seem to be the source of much trouble for many people…)

For web browsing I tend to use Firefox (and before that Mozilla.) I started using Mozilla back when the versions had things like M1 assigned to them, so I’ve grown fond of it over the years.

At home I’ve been using Apple’s Mail.app for quite a while, and it does an awesome job of determining what is junk, but I also use Thunderbird, which is great at doing IMAP, and I really like the way it handles multiple accounts. At work it’s all Thunderbird all the time. (I won’t touch Outlook!)

Now, when it comes to iCal, I was a bit split. When it came out, it was cool, but I resisted, because I was still using a PowerBook pretty often, and that PowerBook was stuck on Mac OS X 10.1.5, and could not run iCal. I toyed around with the early Mozilla Calendar extension, but now it’s getting closer to being the real deal in Sunbird.

So do you see a pattern? Apple does a great job of producing nice, clean, well-done applications, and if you exclusively or primarily use Mac OS X (the most recent version) you can be “all set” as the kids say. For the average user, there isn’t really anything lacking. Email, web browsing, and calendaring is handled.

But… for the folks who use Windows, Linux, etc. instead of, or in addition to Mac OS X, Mozilla’s got you covered. They put you in the “all set” mode with their offerings. Ah, one more thing, as Steve Jobs likes to say… For the hackers among us, those who like to push things further, extend. enhance, customize, tweak, and just turn inside-out, the Mozilla apps provide such a thing. The list of extensions for Firefox is impressive, and Thunderbird, and (I’m assuming) Sunbird will also follow with a nice list of extensions to do what the makers did not think of, have time for, or did not choose to do.

The Mozilla “platform” is a ripe field for the hackers to plant those seeds…

I would like to thank the Mozilla Foundation, and the supporters of these apps… They’re making computing better all the time.

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Slow S X

We went to the Apple Store last weekend. It was actually Emma’s idea. (I’m a proud dad!) So while the girls played Barbie games on the eMacs (under OS 9 interestingly enough) I checked out all the hardware. Damn technolust!

That iPod. Wow. 20 Gigs. Tiny. And it plays music. Out of my price range.

12″ PowerBook. Nice. Very nice. Tiny. Out of my price range.

17″ PowerBook… oh, not out yet… Pretty sure it’s out of my price range.

So I was using a nice shiny new PowerMac G4 and I tooled around iPhoto a bit, and got the spinning beachball, or lollypop, or whatever it is in Jaguar. I thought, “Well, no surprise, I get that a lot on my G3/250mhz Wallstreet, and my G4/400mhz at work, and even my G4/733mhz at home.” So I looked at the little sign, and realize I’m using a PowerMac G4 with dual 1 Gig processors.. and 1 Gig of RAM.

But I’m not worried, any day now Apple will come out with faster hardware, with more processors, and more RAM slots, and someday my friends, the spinning beachball, or lollypop, or whatever it is in the current version of the Mac OS, will be a distant memory…

Of this I am sure. Maybe.

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The Crazy Ones…

Does anyone besides me remember when computer nerds and jocks were two different groups? Hmmm…

Anyway, for Maddy’s birthday we went to the Build-A-Bear Workshop, which is a place that little girls like. She made a bunny and got some clothes for it to wear, because, you know, you can’t have a naked bunny now, can you?

After the bunny-making we stopped by Libby Lu which is another store that little girls like. It’s a very girly store. The employees (all girls) wear fairy wings and dance and sing when it’s someone’s birthday. This is the first time I’ve had to wait for an employee to finish dancing to make a purchase.

That was all a whole lot of fun, but we then headed over to the store that kids love the best, yes, the Apple Store! While I asked one of the geniuses about external CD burners (for my brother-in-law), and possible firmware updates for my Wallstreet, the kids enjoyed the games in the kids area, just as I knew they would. This was actually the hardest store to get the kids to leave. It makes me proud… I promised to bring them back another day.

Oh, when I was talking to the genius, he told me he had a Wallstreet, until someone puked on it. He was in college at the time, and there was this high-school kid staying with him, and… well, you know…

The guy waiting next to me at the Genius Bar said I got a Titanium PowerBook about 4 months ago… I’m a switcher… which I found amusing. Does Apple make “I’m a Switcher” shirts, it could be a popular item?

Damn Superbowl messed up the whole ABC schedule, putting Alias on later than usual, thanks for nothing you dang football watchers…

I did see an Apple commercial with that little short guy, and the really tall guy, and I believe it was narrated by Jeff Goldblum. Ah, now that’s what I like to see. Apple is still saying, “Hey, our products are for freaks! Look at these freaks! They choose Apple!” And yes, that includes Jeff Goldblum. He’s a freak as well. And I’m not using freak in a derogatory way, but you football-lovin’ superbowl-watchin’ people just wouldn’t understand…

Peace! I’m outta here!

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Other Apple Stuff

In other Apple news, I’m excited about the release of the new Airport Extreme, mainly because it means that I might be able to get a used older Airport by some Apple-nut who always has to get the latest and greatest… And by my calculations I should be able to afford to purchase a used, original Titanium PowerBook in another three years or so…