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Monday, July 1, 2002 |
The downside of laptop computers
I realized the downside of working with a laptop computer this weekend when, for the first time in my experience, one of the batteries for my Pismo PowerBook stopped working. It won't charge, it often won't even show that it is in the machine, and without it a laptop computer is really a laptop desktop, tied to the wall with at least a power cord.
The laptop in question is more than two years old, and I have seen the life span of each charge drop slowly over time as the battery has been with me, but Friday night I realized that the battery was completely dead. I will call Apple soon and see if I am covered under the extended AppleCare policy I have on this machine. Hopefully that is the case. A new battery for this machine costs more than $200...
While this is going on, I am still struggling with other aging computer gear. Our Epson Stylus 740 inkjet printer refuses to print reliably - so far even after I have bought and run a special print head cleaning cartridge on the machine - and while I have been working with the inkjet printer I hooked up the ancient Laserwriter LS and remembered very quickly why I stopped using it...it doesn't work well either because of a problem with the toner cartridge.
There is a cost to using older computer equipment and stretching dollars at a small business...
4:19:59 PM 
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Ergonomic keyboards for OS X?
Macintouch has a reader report underway about ergonomic keyboards for the Mac, but many posts are not specific enough about whether a particular keyboard solution will work under OS X. I am interested in this topic because my work load is picking up this month on one job and I am just at the start of major writing on our book Birding Washington. I would love to hear any tips from MNJ readers who use ergonomic keyboards with their Macs under OS X. Send me comments through the Commonent link...
1:57:29 PM
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Wireless access turns into a battlefield
A Dispute Over Wireless Networks. Time Warner Cable has warned some cable-modem subscribers that operating wireless networks and inviting others to freely share them violates their subscription agreements. By Peter Meyers. [New York Times: Technology]
The excellent 80211b News Weblog has more on the story.
11:45:41 AM
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Some recent OS X software updates of note
These are updates found on Macupdate:
- Proteus X 2.0 - Billed as an early preview release, this update brings new features to the multi-protocol chat program that works with AIM, Jabber, Yahoo, ICQ, and MSN.
- NewsHunter X 2.0 - A new version of the Usenet news reader.
- Screen2Web 1.0 - Freeware tool that uploads screenshots to an FTP server at preset intervals.
- Snard X 1.5.1 - A shareware application launcher.
- TVJab 0.7.1 - An alpha release of a Jabber chat client that also works with ICQ, AIM, and MSN. I haven't taken a look at this one yet...
- BlogScript X 1.6 - Update to the AppleScript that posts to Blogger from your desktop.
- Pepper 4.0.5 - A shareware text editor with tools for working with Perl and HTML.
- Tenon iTools X 6.5.2 - Updated tools for the commercial program that makes managing the Apache Web server easier.
11:13:00 AM
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Keyboard Maestro updated to version 1.1.3
Keyboard Maestro v1.1.3. - Keyboard Maestro performs many different tasks simply by pressing a few keys. It can switch applications, insert commonly used graphics, run AppleScripts and hide windows. [version history] [AppleScript Info]
10:09:21 AM
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iPhoto Librarian update available
iPhoto Librarian v1.1. - iPhoto Librarian is an AppleScript script that can be used to launch iPhoto with a different library folder. This allows the user to have multiple collections of photos that are not viewable as one large collection. Version changes: Fix for error "zsh: command not found: defaults" preventing iPhoto Librarian from working properly on some machines. Added feature to track recently selected iPhoto libraries. You can select the library from a list of full paths. [AppleScript Info]
9:40:28 AM
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How does iPhoto stack up to Windows Image Acquisition?
MacCentral notes a Washington Post review of iPhoto compared with Windows Image Acquisition in XP and OS X square off in digital photo shootout. The conclusion: The author thinks that if you are willing to bend to Apple's way of doing things in iPhoto, you will be more likely to buy a Mac for managing and working with digital images.
I am still shooting hundreds of digital photos each month and managing them simply with the tools available in the excellent GraphicConverter program. I am still looking for a good alternative to iPhoto, which I find too sluggish on my Pismo PowerBook when the image library gets large. Among the candidates, the leader looks like iView Media Pro. I just haven't had the time to play with the program yet...
8:51:58 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Rob McNair-Huff.
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