Recently in Apple Category

I really should learn to do a little basic research before I set out to buy something. Today's example:

I decided that, since my Apple TV is (like most of the rest of my belongings) still floating around somewhere in the Western Pacific, I would come up with a creative alternative: use my MacBook Air as a substitute, streaming my videos and music from the MBP in the next room to the TV. Missing from the equation: a Micro-DVI adapter for the Air, and a suitable cable to connect it to the TV. So, off to Akihabara!

A twenty-minute walk to Kitakurihama Station and roughly an hour and change on the train later, I make my way to the Mac Collection (mentioned in a previous post) to acquire the appropriate hardware. After carefully examining each of the options available (read: looking for the cheapest, shortest cable they had), I settled on a 2m DVI-DVI cable and the Micro-DVI to DVI adapter. A quick stop for dinner at Beckers, another train ride, and a stop at the supermarket later, I made my triumphant return to my domain.

Being a proactive sort, immediately after putting away the groceries, I pulled out the cable and went around the back side of the TV...and my folly became very quickly apparent.

I had forgotten to physically verify that the TV actually had a DVI input, as just about every other HDTV I've either owned or used has. It has HDMI, S-video, multiple composite inputs (but no component), a couple of coaxial inputs, RJ11 and RJ45 jacks, but no DVI input.

[cue sound of head impacting repeatedly against desk]

Looks like I'll be making a return trip sometime in the next couple days to correct my oversight. In any case, let this serve as a warning to anyone who might stumble onto this post: always make sure you know exactly what you need to buy, before you buy it!

Greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun!

As those few of you who look at this page regularly probably already know, the USS George Washington finally arrived in Yokosuka, Japan to much fanfare on September 25th (and then promptly turned around and left again less than a week later to steam in circles around the Western Pacific for a couple of months). The twist to this particular tale is that I, your humble blogger, am still here! Due to a minor surgical procedure and an ensuing month-long recovery period, I was placed in a medical holding pattern while the ship is underway, leaving me temporarily attached to the hospital on the base here in Yokosuka.

All that aside, I figure this would be a great opportunity to relate my experiences thus far after two and a half weeks in Japan.

First off, the people. The Japanese are by and far the most friendly, polite, and well-mannered folks I have had the pleasure of dealing with in my twenty-seven years thus far. Despite all the brouhaha in the media about the locals' opposition to GW's deployment here due to its nuclear-powered nature, even the one protest I witnessed up close was very well-organized and well-behaved. Even the taxi drivers are unfailingly polite -- now that's a telling attribute!

Next up, public transit. The train system in Japan is renowned for efficient, timely service, and boy, has it lived up to its reputation. It took me the better part of two days to get familiar with the system -- which lines go where, which trains stop at which stations at what times, and so on -- but within a week I was extremely glad I did. Nearly everything worthwhile in Japan (at least, as far as I have found so far) is within walking distance of a train station. With the RFID-based card system the transit system has in place, you don't even have to take the card out of your wallet -- just tap the whole thing on the appropriate spot on the turnstile, and off you go. Very convenient and efficient. (Just don't try to stick the card in the slot where "regular" tickets go, as I did right after I got mine -- I felt a bit sheepish when the station agent plucked the card from the works after it got stuck inside.)

Then, there's Akihabara. Where to begin...? Akihabara is the home of all things geeky, from videogames to computers of every description, from manga and anime to life-sized models of popular characters. If you have a hobby of nearly any description, you'll likely find a place for it in Akihabara. Among my personal favorite places to frequent: the Mac Collection, four floors of Apple goodness, including two floors of second-hand Macs covering the entire line. Highlights: several classic Macs (including the Mac Plus), two (as of my last visit) G4 Cubes in great condition, a green clamshell iBook, and even a 20th Anniversary Mac, all for sale! On my last visit, I was lucky enough to snag a second-hand (but apparently lightly or never used) Wacom Intuos3 6x8" tablet for $199 ($100 off retail!). All in all, an awesome place for a Mac enthusiast like me.

Speaking of Apple, let me relate a particular experience with the company here in Japan. I picked up an iPhone 3G from SoftBank Telecom at the Navy Exchange on the base, and made the mistake of not checking to see if everything worked right before leaving. When I took it back to my room, turned it on, and fired up Safari, a problem quickly became apparent -- the screen immediately shifted to landscape (as if the phone had been turned to the left side), and no amount of coercing could get it to return to portrait. The same problem exhibited itself in every other accelerometer-enabled application I ran. Upgrading the software to 2.1 and restoring again did not correct the problem. A call to AppleCare in Japan (a very polite lady who spoke clear English) confirmed the problem was hardware-based, and she set up an iPod Bar appointment at the flagship Apple Store in Ginza for the next evening.

The next day, I take the phone to the bar for my appointment. The Genius takes a look at it, asks a few standard questions (did you try restoring the phone? Does it do the same thing in more than one app?), and confirms that the problem is indeed with the hardware. Not ten minutes later, I'm out the door with a brand-new, fully-functional iPhone in hand. No other company I have ever dealt with has given such consistently satisfying support and retail experiences as Apple -- they are absolutely deserving of their reputation as one of the best consumer electronics companies today.

*Ahem*. All evangelizing aside, I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in Japan, and am looking forward to the rest of my tour. I'll doubtless have more stuff to post about in the coming weeks/months, so don't forget to come back later!

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, though I didn't see it coming so soon: the day before yesterday, I became the proud owner of a shiny new MacBook Air. That took, what...less than a month after shipping? I really ought to start keeping a log of when I buy stuff, and calculate the mean time between release and acquisition.

I'm using the MBA right this second to type up this post, sitting at the bar at a Starbucks in Chesapeake. This is exactly the sort of thing this machine was created for; it's so light, I could barely tell I was carrying a laptop around in my backpack. It's thin enough that it fits perfectly in the back pocket of my MacBook Pro's case - the one meant for carrying papers, magazines, that sort of thing. It's the sort of machine you carry around when you don't really feel like carrying a laptop around.

The MBA is not without its faults; the 4200 RPM hard drive is not exactly the fastest thing around, and the machine frequently stutters under heavy disk load; tasks such as Spotlight indexing and permission repairs take significantly longer than on my other Macs, and the entire system occasionally hiccups for no apparent reason. The battery on this particular system takes an inordinately long time to charge, another issue that seems to plague some machines and not others.

Those issues aside, the Air is an outstanding machine that could conceivably serve well as either a secondary or primary computer, depending on what you intend to use it for. For myself, it will fit into the 'secondary' role, mainly for web browsing, blogging, and writing projects; that it takes up very little space and thus fits well into a locker is a nice bonus.

Lots going on in the coming days/weeks/months...really, far too much to mention in a single blog post (especially here). Summarizing...

-Macworld Expo next week: wow, so much going on during Expo this year that I'm seriously wondering whether I'll actually be able to make it to everything (on time, at least). Unlike past years, this time I'm actually (more or less) on a schedule for the entire week, Monday to Friday; between Lightroom training, the Stevenote, meetings, parties, and even a shift at the Apple Consultants Network Tech Assist booth (which I'm really looking forward to, actually), I'm going to be busier this Expo than I've ever been - and that's a good thing, believe me!

-Leaving for Japan: this is coming up quicker than I realized. Among other things, before we leave the East Coast for good, I've got to figure out what to do with my car -- the most likely scenario being considered involves yet another cross-country drive (my fifth) with a one-way flight back to Norfolk. While I very much enjoy visiting home, I much prefer the 'not having to spend eight hours a day in the car' option; in any case, it most likely can't be helped, especially if I want said car to be in decent condition when I (eventually) return to the States. At least I won't be bringing (too) much with me this time.

-Going into business: I'm looking into starting my own consulting and tech support business, primarily based around Apple hardware and software solutions. There are some unique challenges I'll have to overcome, however, before I can actually get this off the ground, one being location: I live on an aircraft carrier, and for the forseeable future (about the next half a year or so) the crew itself would be my primary client base. As-is, there is a small but slowly growing Mac user community aboard the USS George Washington, and in my short time aboard I've been frequently questioned about various aspects of the Mac and iPod families. Another challenge is the lack of reliable Internet access aboard the ship; many aspects of performing technical support or product research require having access to the most up-to-date information available, and the de-facto source of such information is, of course, the Internet. Having limited access to that invaluable resource could potentially make the job much more difficult (but not impossible). Challenges aside, this is an opportunity that I am seriously pursuing, and hopefully things will work out in the end.

-Getting to Japan: we're expecting to arrive at our new homeport of Yokosuka, Japan sometime in the latter half of this year, and I am very much looking forward to seeing my new home in person. One of my first priorities on arriving in Japan is finding a place to call "home": someplace reasonably close to transportation (the train, of course), but far enough from the base that I'm not surrounded by "squids" 24/7. It's not that I don't enjoy working with my shipmates -- far from it. However, I do like having the opportunity to spend some time away from the people I already live with day and night when the ship is out to sea. Even tolerant folks have their limits. :) The nice thing is that I've got a fairly reasonable living budget to work with: ~US$1900/month housing allowance, $500/month utility allowance, and $700/month cost of living allowance -- all tax-free. So, one intends to get the best place available (within the budget, of course). All in all, can't wait to get there.

Not bad for the first post in almost half a year, eh? I'll have to make it a late New Year's resolution to post here more often. (Yeah, like that'll happen.)

Over three months since the last post. A lot can change in three months, as I've learned.

First thing first: I'm no longer in Sacramento. In fact, I'm about a week away from heading across the country to not-so-sunny Norfolk, Virginia, enroute to my next assignment, the USS George Washington, to begin my second carrier tour. The nice thing about going back to sea is that I've already got a fair idea of what's going on, what's good to know, and more specifically, who is good to know. It also gives me an opportunity to start off with a clean slate; I didn't exactly start my first sea tour off on the right foot, and though I did eventually get onto the right track, life would have been much more pleasant had I put forth a bit more effort.

So, in the meantime, I'm cooling my heels (metaphorically speaking) at my folks' place in the hills east of Fresno, enjoying my last week in California by pretty much doing as little as possible (except spend money, which will be touched on in a paragraph or two). I have taken a couple trips up to Kings Canyon National Park, as well as a day trip to Cupertino to visit Apple at 1 Infinite Loop a couple days ago. Selected pictures from these trips are up on my deviantART gallery.

Pictures, I'll add, were taken with my new Canon EOS 30D DSLR camera, which I'm still trying to figure out the controls for. I've got the basics of ISO adjustment down reasonably well, but I haven't even touched on things like shutter speed, aperture settings, etc. I'm too used to the typical point-and-shoot, though the Olympus SP500UZ I previously used had similar user-adjustable settings (which I rarely used). I'll adjust in time, I suppose - after all, practice makes perfect.

The camera was but one of a slew of acquisitions in the past few weeks, which include:

-17-inch MacBook Pro, with high-resolution display, 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive and third-party upgrade to 4GB of RAM

-8GB iPhone (yeah, that was a given)

-Three external hard drives (1TB dual-drive RAID setup, and two 160GB 2.5-inch bus-powered drives)

-Final Cut Studio 2 (which was a #&*$! to install, since I was putting extra content on the new 1TB drive which accidentally got powered down 2/3 of the way through the first attempt)

-FileMaker Pro 8.5 (which, naturally, was superceded by version 9 two whole days later)

-Adobe Lightroom (coupled with Photoshop CS3, this makes processing the 30D's RAW images so much more enjoyable)

In short, I picked up everything I could possibly need to keep myself busy/entertained when I'm stuck on the ship in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, I have a short attention span. What can I say?

I really need to start posting on here more often; I know, I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again in my next post 2-5 months from now. If, for some strange reason, you're wondering what I've been doing lately, better places to look would be my Twitter profile, or my deviantART profile (which has the bonus of including pictures!).

I think that says enough right there.

(Oh, and you can see the real thing right here.)

Yes, it's that time again: time for two and a half months of collected ranting, musing, and raving to be collected in a single, mammoth post (well, mammoth for me, anyway). There's lots to cover, so here goes...

First, the world of technology. The gap since the last post has seen the release (and in some cases, the prompt acquisition) of a myriad of gadgets of every shape and size. Recently added to my personal collection: a BlackBerry Pearl, a replacement 1GB iPod shuffle (hey, it was only $50!), and one shiny new 20" iMac with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo. Which, coincidentally, I'm using to type up this post. I wasn't quite expecting it to be much faster than my MacBook Pro, but I've been impressed so far; a faster hard drive, full-fledged (i.e. non-Mobility) Radeon X1600, and (obviously) the newer generation CPU are to thank for that. The display on this thing is a thing of beauty, too; compared to the old 17" US Logic sitting right next to it...well, really there is no comparison, it's that much better. The new iMac is easily the best computer of any kind I have ever owned, hands-down.

I've also finally gotten around to resurrecting the old tower (with a new 300GB SATA drive that'll be going in as soon as I get around to it), bringing the tally up to a whopping five operational machines, not counting PDAs. I've practically got a full-fledged command center-type setup going on here - two notebooks on my left, the tower's LCD on the left-side rotating shelf, the iMac in front, an HP Photosmart on the right-side shelf, and finally, the MBP on my right. So, the question now becomes, what am I to do with this somewhat ridiculous collection of underutilized hardware?

The answer: Folding, of course! A better description can be found at the linked page, but essentially, folding uses idle CPU time (much like SETI@Home, or any other distributed-computing project) to 'fold' simulated proteins in a massive effort to conduct research on the causes of certain genetic disorders. As with other distributed computing projects, contributors are able to form teams as part of a friendly competition; there is no prize, other than the knowledge that one is contributing to a greater understanding of the underlying causes of disorders such as Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, and others. I'm an active member of Team AppleNova, which is comprised of AppleNova Forum members. We're #125 out of more than 2,000 teams, which is pretty impressive considering that we 'only' have 92 team members (the #1 team has over 10,000, and a fairly significant portion of the top hundred teams have over 1,000 members each).

Moving along...ah, yes, the sadly underutilized anime/manga category. I've finally gotten back into following a few series regularly again. Currently on the list: Ah! My Goddess (both the manga and anime), Aoi House, Chibi Vampire (augh, just give it back the original title, already!), Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Negima!, and the novel series .hack//Another Birth. I'm thinking there are one or two more that should be on there, but I can't remember them right now. Meh.

And now, entertainment! I've really been digging through the iTunes Store recently, and I'm pretty impressed with the sheer amount of content now available. There's more music than you can shake an iPod at, TV shows for every taste, and now full-length movies. I was browsing the iTS recently when I finally broke down and purchased a season pass for Battlestar Galactica Season 3 (the clips on YouTube from the third episode were the straw that finally broke this camel's back), and I haven't been disappointed. Yeah, the video quality isn't the best when scaled to anything more than original size (full-screen is particularly ugly), but it's convenient, and being able to watch it on my iPod is just icing on the cake. I've also been perusing the Japanese version of the store, and while I think that there could be a better variety of anime music on there, I'm still pretty impressed with their current offerings (and the recent addition of BMG Japan's library should help out a bit).

Ummm...I keep thinking that there were a few more things that I was going to post today, but I've once again completely forgotten what they were. If I remember later, I'll append them to the end of this post. In the meantime, have a great rest of the weekend, all you happy people!

So, yeah, I guess this was what I forgot about. It's been, what...two and a half months since my last post? Not a good sign. Guess I'd best start making up for lost time!

First topic: my job thus far. In a nutshell, it's been crazy. Long hours, bouncing all over the place in the "G-jet", filling out enough paperwork to drive an IRS auditor insane...yeah, welcome to the world of Navy recruiting. I'm starting to wish I'd gone for that instructor billet after all... So, work leaves much to be desired. (What else is new?) Thankfully, "it gets better," so they say. We'll see about that.

That rant aside, time to move on. Next up: entertainment! Once I got the apartment setup more or less the way I wanted it, the next step was to start finding ways to keep from being bored for those rare periods I would be able to enjoy between work and sleep. Internet was already taken care of, but you can only surf and play simple games on a computer for so long before the need to do something else sets in. So, after careful deliberation (about 5 minutes' worth), I decided to head out and pick up a decent television. I already had a TV, thanks to my grandparents, but I decided that since I'm going to be here for the long haul I might as well pick up a set with a bit more lasting power. Enter the Westinghouse LTV-32w6, a 32" LCD HDTV on sale at Best Buy for $899. Oooooh, pretty. So, TV: check.

The next step was to obtain decent cable TV. This was a bit more challenging, as it required me to set an appointment that required my physical presence at the apartment during Comcast's working hours. So, that pretty much eliminated Monday to Friday, as my typical arrival at home tends to be between 7 and 9 in the evening. That left Saturday, which was itself hit-or-miss since I've been working quite a few of those, too. So, I set an appointment for the first Saturday they had an opening, which was a week and a half away. Bleh. Saturday rolls around, and the appointment is scheduled for between 1pm-5pm. 5pm rolls around...nothing. I call Comcast, and find out that the cable guy is behind schedule, but should still show up that day. So, the waiting continues. Around 7pm, Comcast calls me, telling me that they're still behind, and confirming that I still want them to install my cable tonight -- of course I do. I continue to wait. Finally, at around 8:45pm, I get a call from the cable guy himself, saying that he's on his way -- but he has no idea how to get to my apartment complex. I give him directions, and tell him to call again when he gets close so I can direct him right to the apartment. Thankfully, he finds the place just fine and shows up about 15 minutes later. Then, the real fun begins.

The first part of the process went by just fine, aside from the fact that the guy didn't show up until nearly 4 hours after the scheduled time. Then, we break out the cable converter (an HDTV box, the only one he had with him since it was a last-minute request), and lo and behold...it doesn't work. We double-check all the connections, power-cycle the box a couple times, but no good -- it refuses to display a single channel, even though we know the cable itself is fine because basic channels work just fine when plugged directly into the TV. So, we pull a regular cable converter box (also the only one he had) out of the guy's van and plug it in...and it doesn't work either. So, the guy shows up four hours late (not really his fault, mind you, but still kinda annoying) and neither of the boxes he brought with him even works. Joy. So, after a few calls to the Comcast help desk, I decide that I'll simply drive down to the customer service center in a couple days and pick up a new HDTV box and install it myself. Thankfully, the new box works just fine, so coupled with a Sony 5-disc HD-upscaling DVD player I now have a halfway decent entertainment center.

Fast-forward a couple weeks. I sense that there's still something missing (actually, a couple somethings, but I'm going to wait a bit before picking up a decent audio system). On a trip to Fry's after work that Friday, I made the mistake of passing through the video game console section...and I felt it calling to me, drawing me in. The temptation was too great to resist, and about twenty minutes (and some $400+) later I found myself lugging a brand-new Xbox 360 to my car. Let me tell you, if you have one of these systems and you don't have an HDTV to go along with it, you're missing out. The graphics on this thing are simply beautiful in HD.

Xbox Live Arcade is probably one of the biggest selling points of the hardware, and now I can see why: some of these games are ridiculously addictive. Geometry Wars: Evolved in particular has consumed the most of my gaming time, along with Joust and, of course, Uno. Overall, the Xbox 360 experience has been so far outstanding, and has given me (so far) a favorable impression of this next-generation console.

Moving along... A few quick notes before I close. First up, WWDC 2006 is coming up fast, and the Mac community is waiting with baited breath to see what surprises Steve and Co. have in store for us. Will the fabled iPhone make its debut? Or will the ridiculously powerful Mac Pro steal the show? The only thing we know for sure is that the next generation of Mac OS X, Leopard, will be featured prominently. I'm looking forward to watching the keynote video stream in a couple weeks -- it's not quite the same as actually being there, but seeing as passes to the conference are a cool $1,595, I think it will have to suffice.

Also, another cool event is coming soon that I'm pondering making the trip for: MacMania V, a Geek Cruise to the Western Caribbean from October 28th to November 4th. I'll be getting my annual re-enlistment bonus payment on October 1st, so if I decide to spring for this, it'll be awfully close to the deadline...but hey, it's a cruise (that I won't have to work on) AND a Mac convention rolled into one! The downside is that I'd have to rush to get a passport before the cruise if I decide to go...something that I've been meaning to do for a few years now but never really got around to. I suppose now is as good a time as any...

Whew. OK, that's all for tonight. Maybe I'll get around to adding a few links to this post in the next day or two...I'm feeling a bit too lazy to do it right now. :P

I just found out that the recruiting station I'm being assigned to in West Sacramento has a Fry's Electronics just over 2 miles away, and an Apple Store within 5 and a half miles.

I haven't even seen the place yet and I'm already in love. *sigh*

Alright... I can almost see the usefulness of this little applet called ChargerChecker, which brings up a Growl notification on your iBook, PowerBook, or MacBook Pro display when your power cord gets disconnected. I say "almost" because odds are, unless you've got an extreme case of tunnel vision, you're likely to see that your power cord has been unplugged without a notification on your monitor.

That being said, in the space of one day this innovative little gem has already spawned two 'me-too!' clones, one of which sports the exact same 'Alerts you when your PowerBook power cord gets disconnected' one-line description on MacUpdate. The only added feature? It plays a sound in addition to the visual notifications when power is disconnected/reconnected. The other clone? No sound, but the author claims a smaller memory footprint and less CPU usage than the other two apps.

I'd be willing to bet that there are no less than a half-dozen more clones of these apps before month's end. Lousy copycats.