Monthly Archives: October 2007

October 18, 2007

Returning to the Mac Community

By chitowngeorge

This isn’t new news by any stretch, but I thought it worth mentioning.

For many of us who have been using Macs for years, and customizing them along the way, ResExcellence* was once the place to go to stay on top of Mac customization.  It was the place to learn about customizing applications and the Mac interface (the name refers to the ResEdit application from the “classic” days, which was used to edit the resource forks of files and applications, where most of the customizations took place), to download other peoples customizations, or to share your own (I had submitted several iTunes customizations of my own (among other things) before it became impractical for to keep updating them).

It was pretty much the central hub on the internet for Mac Hacking (and I use that term in the good sense of “hacking”).

Well, if you’re aware of ResExcellence and it’s history (long and sordid as it may be), you know it’s gone.  It’s likely never to come back.  However, Michael Coyle, the man behind the original ResExcellence, is back (he has been since this summer – hence this not being “new news”) at http://michaelsmac.com.

The idea is to fill the need in the Mac community that the original ResExcellence filled (or even created) in the first place.  Things have been slow there, due to lack of awareness of the site.  That’s why I’m posting this here, to beat the drum in my little corner of the ‘net and build up what awareness that I can.

So, if you’re looking for Mac customizations (heck, even if you’re a Windows or Linux user looking for cool desktop images), or have some to share, check out the growing community over at http://michaelsmac.com.

*I’m not going to link to the site, since it’s pretty much dead and gone now.

Comments Off | posted in Apple, Computers, News

October 17, 2007

Apple Announces iPhone SDK

By chitowngeorge

Apple announced today that they are going to release an SDK for the iPhone (and iPod touch).

Gee, who could have predicted this would happen?  Oh, that’s right, I did!

Of course, anyone with half a friggin’ brain could have seen this coming.  Except, of course, all of those idiots who complained that Apple was attacking 3rd party developers by locking the iPhone.  (I guess they don’t even have half a brain!)

One thing that people seem to forget is that Apple is about quality.  The iPhone is a very sticky situation, because, of course Apple would want 3rd party apps for it, but there’s no way that they can allow just anyone to come to the party.  There has to be a system in place to make sure that any programs running on an iPhone are going to be stable, and not interrupt the functionality of the device.  That’s going to take some time to work out.  Clearly, Apple was planning an SDK all along, but it was more important for them to get the iPhone to market before the SDK was ready.  I’m sure they would have liked to have the SDK ready when the iPhone shipped, but clearly that was not possible.

Anyways, I hope this quiets all of the useless bitching out there on the ‘net about how “Apple is the new Microsoft” and “Apple hates it’s customers”.  (I’m sure that’s why they decided to announce this now, rather than wait until it was ready – to shut those idiots up.) Apple just wants to get it right in the first place.  If Apple were the new Microsoft, they would have released the SDK before it was ready, just to be able to add to the feature checklist of the iPhone.  But, since Apple is still Apple, they’re busy making sure that everything just works.

2 comments | posted in Apple, Computers, News, Tech

October 15, 2007

Old Computers

By chitowngeorge

Here’s a great website for delving into computer history: OldComputers.net

If you’re like me, this site may even be a fond trip down memory lane.  My first computer was the Coleco Adam.  I loved that thing (despite the obnoxiously loud printer); not only could I type papers for school, learn programming in Basic and Logo, but I could also play the Colecovision games.  At the time, the games were the bigger draw for me, as the Colecovision games were light years beyond what we had at the time for our Atari.  (The Atari we had, by the way, was one of those generic ones sold at Sears.)

My favorite games?  The Star Wars game, of course, and Zaxxon.  With all of the renewed interest in vintage video games, I wish I could find Zaxxon somewhere! (Okay, okay, it’s part of the “Sega Genesis” collection for the PS2, but only as an unlockable – and it’s the only game on there I would buy that for, since I already have the Sonic Mega Collection.)

But, like I said, I also learned programming in Basic and Logo, thus starting my descent foray into the life of a computer geek.

The most interesting tidbit of info learned about the Coleco Adam from this page?  That Coleco started as a leather goods company!

Comments Off | posted in Computers, Personal

October 12, 2007

Super Chicken

By chitowngeorge

If you didn’t watch last night’s “The Office” (and if you didn’t, what the hell’s wrong with you?), you missed the short skits during some of the commercials promoting Jerry Seinfeld’s new movie, ”Bee Movie”.  The skits had pretty much nothing to do with the movie, but they were pretty funny.  The best one, by far, features Jerry singing the theme song to ”Super Chicken”.  The original, if you’re unfamiliar with Super Chicken (again, what the hell’s wrong with you?), can be found here.

(Unfortunately, that link to NBC was the only video or audio I could find of this.  If I find a better one, I’ll post that.  Hopefully, it’ll show up on YouTube.)

Comments Off | posted in TV

October 10, 2007

Save a Tree

By chitowngeorge

…or several, as the case may be:

http://www.catalogchoice.org/

(Easily remove yourself from catalog mailing lists.)

Comments Off | posted in News

October 5, 2007

Attention to Detail

By chitowngeorge

One of the things that many people (non-Mac using people) don’t understand about why Mac users are so passionate about their platform, and why the Macintosh experience is so superior to Windows (and, yes, Linux), is Apple’s attention to detail.  This is something I’m constantly noticing when using Apple products.  It’s something that I’ve noticed for years, and years.  It’s not just within the OS, either, it’s all around; software and hardware.

This is a perfect example of that:  http://rentzsch.com/notes/applesantiCAPSLOCK.

How many PC manufacturers would think of that?

This is how you normally notice Apple’s attention to detail, completely by accident.  It’s usually while making a mistake, or doing something that has unexpected (favorable) results, that you run across the things that make you think “Gee, I’m glad they thought of that” or “Boy! That’s COOL!”

I have a good example of this.  It’s something I notice on my iPod quite some time ago, and that is: if the headphone cable becomes unplugged during operation, the player stops.  The iPod actually pauses itself when the headphone cable is unplugged.  Think about that.  The Apple engineers had the foresight to realize that if you accidentally unplugged the headphone cables (by, say, shifting the iPod around in your pocket) you probably wouldn’t want to miss any of what you were listening to when it happened.  The first time it happened to me, that attention to detail blew me away.

This is an example of designing things towards the user experience that other companies don’t get (and thereby, people using other companies’ products don’t understand, either).  Other companies focus on the features of their product, on how they think their product should be used.  Apple focuses on the actual user experience, on how people actually use the product.

There are many, many examples of this all throughout OS X (and with the computer hardware, as well).  If any more come to mind, I’ll point those out as well.  (And, if there are any Mac users out there who actually read my ramblings want to share, feel free to in the comments.)

Comments Off | posted in Apple, Computers

October 4, 2007

Randy’s Restaurant and Funhunter’s Brewery

By chitowngeorge

It suddenly occurred to me that I never wrote about one particular part of Carrie’s and my trip to Wisconsin last month, and that was our dinner at Randy’s Restaurant and Funhunter’s Brewery (possibly the longest name of any brewpub I’ve been to).

It might seem odd to find a quality brewery/restaurant in rural Wisconsin, but Whitewater holds a campus of The University of Wisconsin, so it’s a bit of a “college town”.  But, I digress.

I’ll start with the food, which was very good.  We started with the “famous” Colby Curds (fried Colby cheese curds – think of a fried cheese stick, but in a ball) – which were as tasty and addicting as they were most likely detrimental to our health (sometimes you just have to indulge).  We also had some beer-battered onion rings, which were good, but nothing special.  We waited a while before ordering our entrées, since we wanted to just hang out and enjoy a few of their beers before dinner.  When we did eat, I had the Pulled Pork sandwich, which was excellent – the BBQ sauce was very tasty!  (I don’t even remember what Carrie had; I think it was one of the burgers.  I do remember that she enjoyed it very much.)

Anyways, the reason we’re here, on to the beer.  We both tried a few different selections (and, of course, sampled what each other had ordered).  All of the beers were good, but nothing really stood out.  I don’t even really remember, at this point, what I ordered (I really should start taking notes when I go to places like this).  There was one exception to that, however, and that was the Oatmeal Stout.  If you’re a stout lover, and you find yourself anywhere near Whitewater, WI, make sure you find your way to Randy’s.  That was one of the best Oatmeal Stouts I’ve ever had.

We do plan on staying at Pine Ridge again in the future, and I’ll definitely find my way back to Randy’s for that Oatmeal Stout when we do.

Comments Off | posted in Beer, Personal

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