So I find on the Internet that Apple recently released a video tour of the next Mac OSX operating system, Leopard. I have to tell ya. Seeing someone using some of those features makes me want that new operating system much sooner than the October 26th release date. Don’t know what it is. It’s like being brain-washed by the company. I can’t wait to use features like “Time-Machine” for back-ups and “Spaces” for desktop management (similar to many Linux GUI interface).
I found myself perusing their website for more of these videos and saw one for iLife. OMG, this was a good one. I was almost going to dismiss the entire iLife application to be something cool and may one day use it. But after watching this video, I wanted to jump on and begin managing my pictures better with iPhoto. The video showed the basics of using the application and got me up and running. So tonight I spent my time importing all my pictures into iPhoto. I have to say the software is very well thought out. I mean I imported an entire folder of albums and it knew that each folder was an album for a particular event and automatically created “Events” for each sets of folders. Amazing to say the least. I think I’m finally getting why Apple products are such fan favorites. For example, things like knowing when to turn on and off when you insert and remove your headphones on your iPod is awesome! They really thought about their products before they even begin building it. That attention to details and making everything so damn easy to use, really wins over demanding users like myself. It’s so hard to not want to use an Apple system now. I find myself missing things like Expose when I’m on the PC. Damn you Apple for brain-washing me!
My free time has been completely consumed with 3 things this week.
- Radiohead‘s In Rainbows album
- My new Mac Mini
- My new Uninterruptible Power Supply
I did get some Halo 3 in the mix but I must digress. In Rainbows has been playing non-stop on my work computers and my iPod. The more I listen to this album, the more I love it. Yes that’s right, love it! I find myself looking forward to Jigsaw Falling Into Places everytime the album loops around. I still haven’t decided if this is top 3 of my RH albums. It’s so hard because the more you listen to it, the more you enjoy an album. This happened to Amnesiac and Kid A. I didn’t like those album at first but when I started to listen to them more and more, it grew on me. In my opinion In Rainbows is another masterpiece.
I used the hell out of my Mac Mini this week. It’s been on 5 days straight. I’ve been making it my own by installing various freeware and testing out Parallels. I got my laptop’s WinXP loaded on my my Mac Mini. Only thing left is to get an activation key from Microsoft. My iTunes is setup similar to my PC but I don’t think I’m going to reformat my iPod with the Mac. The PC has all the interesting historical data like the star ratings and the times I’ve played a song. It’s so stupid how little things like that makes such a good experience in using an iPod. Moving it over to the Mac is a cumbersome task. My entire library is on my Linux fileserver.
I also had to replace my UPS this weekend. I got it setup but was interested in getting it to shutdown my server in the event of a power failure. The model I got was an APC BACK UPS XS 900. It came with software for Macs and PCs. Unfortunately none for Linux. I found out that there is an open-source solution called apcupsd. It basically are scripts that allows you to do shutdowns for APC branded UPS. I also found that people have used my UPS with this software solution successfully. I installed the source code and compiled it. Everything is working fine, I think. I’m in the middle of running various tests. So far it passed the few early tests. I need to simulate a complete power failure and see if it shuts down my server. May not sound fun to you but gobs of fun for a geek like me.
I’ve been obsessing about this for about 2 months so far and finally my wish was granted. I received a nice shiny iPod 80GB in black in exchange of my Magellan Roadmate 2000. It was a great gps. I got me out of some weird neighborhoods and showed me how to get home from work through paths I’ve never been through. I felt confident when I had it and was never afraid of ever getting lost. The reason why I opted to go with an iPod was because the Magellan’s cradle that held it on my mount kept on breaking. So after the 2nd time happening, we decided to return it to get something else. Originally I was okay with just swapping it out for a 3rd one but these things sell out! So with a little bit more money, I am a proud owner of the an iPod. Thanks to my hon who bought this for me. A great Chistmas/Valentines day gift.
I used to hate iTunes. But now that I have an iPod, I don’t think I can live with out it. It is so great to organize all my music and build playlists so easily. The ability to filter certain songs from a shuffle is ingenious. The more I learn about iTunes and its simple ways but yet powerful organization features, the more I enjoy using it. Unfortunately while updating my library it’s been very slow due to my slow 802.11b wireless connection. It took me over 12 hours for the first sync of half of my entire library. I eventually took my system off the wireless and plugged it directly to my wired network. It finished the remaining half in less than an hour.
I’ll also be picking up an Xbox 360 this weekend. The extended warranty on my PS2 runs out on the 21st so I have to take advantage of that purchase. This will be great on my 3 day weekend!
Some pictures of Kylee’s birthday dinner earlier this month.
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