All Forces

And the countdown begins. Apple announced today it will be shipping Leopard, it’s next version of Mac OSX on October 26th. That is only 10 days away! I’m particularly looking forward to the new Mail, Spaces, Quick Look and the new Finder. Oh and of course, one of my most used and beloved apps, TextEdit, which will have OpenDocument and Word 2007 Formats support. I know Apple is touting Time Machine as the killer feature, but we’ll see how many people end up using it.

Referral Link: Pre-Order from amazon.com

Last week, upon returning from a trip to New York I told my daughter to make a list of fun things we could do together. It was daddy and daughter day. Her number two item on the list, the Apple Store. She loves hanging out in the kids area while daddy drools over new gear. Needless to say, she is very computer savvy for her age.

Determining what computer a kid should have and at what age is a very tricky and personal matter. It varies from kid to kid and from parent to parent. For example, my daughter(5 years old) has yet to break anything on her iMac. However, my son(2 years old) has gone through 3 keyboards, two mice and has filled up the DVD drive with coins (a common trait amongst boys i’ve found). They each have had their own iMac since day one. These old iMacs are sturdy and durable. And although 12 gigs is not that much hard disk space, it can hold a good 10 to 15 game CD images.

This is Part 1 in a series for a kids Mac setup.

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Sent in by my friend Jason Fields

The Tiger treasures continue to surprise us as we find out that the new iChat has a built in feature that can set the current iTunes track as your available message. Although, this feature has been available through third party applications before Tiger, Apple took it a step further by adding a Link Button next to it. Just like the one in iTunes, it takes you to the iTunes Music Store directly to the artist’s album page ready for you to “Buy”. This is a great feature that will allow people to preview what their friends are listening too and even purchasing it on the spot. Great iLfe integration, kudos for Apple. It would be great if a future version can include the icon of the album as my buddy icon as well. ;-)

Minimum requirements for 4-way video conferences

Thank you Steve for forgetting to mention the minimum requirements for iChat for 4-way video conferencing when you demoed it.

Moving big files through the internet can prove to be one of the most challenging things to do. There are issues of transfer speeds, dropped connections and file size restrictions.

What’s available right now?

1. Email - Most servers have a file size limit for attachments
2. FTP to a server - Most servers have a size limit
3. P2P - Peer to peer transfer is not a private network
4. iChat - Does not provide “Resume” in case you need to reconnect
5. FTP Sharing - Not any size restriction other that your hard drive, can support many connections

This guide will help you set up an FTP server on your Mac in less than 15 minutes using PureFTPd. We’re not setting up the FTP Sharing that comes as part of Mac OSX because that one is tied in to an OSX user. On the other hand, PureFTPd allows you to set up FTP users just for FTP access. It allows you to disconnect them, limit their bandwidth, monitor their activity etc. We are also going to set it up using no-ip.com, a service that will give u a server name in case your dynamic IP address changes.

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It was hard to part from it, but it was time to update my faithfull 22″ Cinema Display. A good monitor that looked sharp and was impressive to visitors. But, five years in computer time is an eternity. And add to that the Apple factor. Apple’s constant redesign of their hardware line that made the monitor feel like it’s 10 years old when sitting next to a new one. Out with the transparent plastic and in with the new aluminum enclosures. I sold my 22″ and upgraded to a new 20″. Did I dare to say upgrade when i bought a smaller one? I upgraded indeed. So what did I buy into other than the new hip silver look and less pixels?

• This new monitor has DVI as opposed to the ADC which makes it work really nicely with the rest of the world.
• A thiner margin around the screen makes it seem slimmer.
• It has both USB and Firewire ports right behind the screen.
• I can tow away my keyboard right underneath it.
• Has a way smaller footprint
• Has a usefull powerbrick. I nitially disliked that it had a powerbrick, but as it turns out it’s a great feature for powerbooks because it can help keep the cords in reach if it is kept up on the desk top. Check out the picture above to visualize it. I no longer need to reach down to the floor to get my monitor cables everytime I hook up the powerbook to the monitor.

I went down 2 inches because I noticed I never really used the whole screen on my 22″. Besides, I’m trying to decluter and simplify my digital lifestyle and the 20″ fits the bill.

At last, the new version of tiger arrives at my doorstep a whole day early. I love that online Apple Store.

I had no problems with installation but it took several minutes for my user login to complete. I suspect it was Spotlight because it was the only thing visible and it was giving me that beloved beach-ball.

Will be updating soon…

I was reading the article on the current MacWorld about traveling light ( Hit The Road Mac ) and it hit me. Traveling light is not just about weight. There is a whole other dimension of elegance and simplicity that is usually not thought of. So I decided to do do something about it, starting with my long iSight and Original iPod cable.

Here’s my to do list:

• 1.8 meters firewire cable vs. .5 meter firewire cable
• Phone AC Charger vs. Phone USB Charger
• USB Digital Camera Cable vs. Internal PCMCIA Smart Media Card Reader
• iPod Dock Cable vs. PocketDock Adapter
• 15″ Powerbook vs. 12″ Powerbook ( once they add the lighted keyboard of course )