Archive for January, 2005

Rachelicious Birthday

Monday, January 31st, 2005

Rachel and Me

More soon, but here is a pic from my sister’s birthday visit to Boston.

Snow Bomb

Saturday, January 22nd, 2005

Maybe a Noreaster is God’s way of protecting Boston from terrorists.

Quote

Wednesday, January 19th, 2005

Certainly there are many applications to the study of ethics. You gave the example of law and ethics. Another might be a media class studying FAA regulations. –Professor Baeten

I am not sure how likely that conversation is to take place in that particular class, but I do know that FCC Chairman Michael Powell does want you to know that in the event of a water landing, Janet Jackson’s boob can be used as a floatation device.

Free Mac Mini

Thursday, January 13th, 2005

After getting a free iPod through the same company, I enthusiastically participate in this promotion for a free Mac Mini. Here’s the deal:

  1. Sign up.
  2. Complete a free trial offer.
  3. Cancel free trial before it charges your credit card.
  4. Refer 10 friends and have them do the same.

No, these types of promotions are not scams. My personal experience, the experiences of several of my friends, and mainstream press have proven that these types of promotions are real.

When I get this computer, I am going to send it to my siblings in VA because they do not have a computer that works. So do it for them, not for me.

MWSF: HD Announcements

Tuesday, January 11th, 2005

Several product announcements have me intrigued. This year has been a great year for awesome product announcements at Expo, particularly for high-definition. It’s here folks and, as Emerson has been preaching since I arrived, there is no life left in standard definition programming.

  1. Elgato EyeTV 500 adds digital cable support: This means that if you buy this product before July 1, 2005, you will be able to record high-definition broadcast television and do whatever you want with the recordings. After July 1, 2005, unless Congress acts, no digital broadcast signals will be able to be captured without very restricting DRM. Buy one of these TODAY to enjoy forever free use of HD broadcast content and then write a pissy letter to your Congressmen to halt the digital broadcast flag rollout.
  2. FinalTouch HD offers Quicktime color correction: This expensive color correction software allows for real time high-definition color correcting. It’s hott and it’s worth the money, especially if you’ve ever had to sit through *days* of Final Cut Pro re-rendering all of your video just for color correction.
  3. PURE offers accelerated rendering on Mac OS X, G5: One PCI card replaces a whole render farm for high-end Maya rendering. I hope that Emerson buys many of these.

5 Mac OS X Default Settings to Instantly Change

Tuesday, January 11th, 2005

Here are five default settings in Mac OS X that I instantly change on any new install.

  1. Turn on file extensions. We live in a Windows dominated world. Accept this fact and turn on file extensions. This option is found in Finder > Preferences : Advanced
  2. Turn on Full Keyboard Access. When I use Windows, I rarely ever touch the mouse because I can control almost every menu via the keyboard. You can control the menu bar in Mac OS X by hitting Control+F2 and using the arrows. To navigate dialog boxes, you must enable Full Keyboard Access in Apple > System Preferences : Keyboard & Mouse : Keyboard Shortcuts. Now when presented with a dialog box, you can tab between buttons and use the space bar to select. This also allows you to control drop-down form elements in Safari.
  3. Flash the screen when alert sounds. If you often work in noisy environments where you cannot hear system noises or work in quiet environments where you have your speakers low or muted, having the screen flash when there is an alert is often a better indicator that something needs your attention. To enable, go to Apple > System Preferences : Universal Access : Hearing
  4. Block Pop-up Windows. In Safari, select Block Pop-up Windows under the application menu.
  5. Enable Tabbed Browsing. In Safari, go to Preferences : Tabs to enable.

Updated: Thanks to several people for pointing out that you can use Control+ F2 to navigate the menu bar with the arrow keys.

2005 Site Improvements

Tuesday, January 11th, 2005

Okay, I need some feedback from the hundreds of people who visit my site daily e.g. YOU!

I am planning a series of minor and massive updates to my blog and am looking for suggestions. Comment to this entry what I could do to improve my blog. Here are a few things people have already e-mailed me (feel free to support/oppose/elaborate):

How I’m coping with the loss of the Macworld Expo keynote web stream

Monday, January 10th, 2005

For the first time ever since I even became a Mac user, Apple will not webcast Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Macworld Expo San Francisco. And being that Ryan had to be silly and get an internship that would not permit him to attend, I cancelled my plans to attend Expo this year.

Double bummer.

So to cope with the loss, which really is a loss to me because I can never get enough RDF, I am going to work on a project until 6 AM ET. With 8 hours of sleep, I will awake around 2 PM ET. The keynote will be over, Apple’s website will be updated, the Mac web will be teeming with commentary, and I’ll be so overwhelmed with excitement that I won’t wish I didn’t miss the keynote. Sounds like a plan.

Free Personal Video Player

Monday, January 10th, 2005

Archos PVP

Sorry Steve, but the iPod needs video. You are so wrong on this one. But what Steve doesn’t give, Archos does. And this site gives them away for free.

After getting a free iPod through a similar promotion, I have set my sights on a Personal Video Player. Here’s the deal:

  1. Sign up.
  2. Complete a free trial offer.
  3. Cancel free trial before it charges your credit card.
  4. Refer 10 friends and have them do the same.
  5. Optional: Refer 2 more friends, complete one more free trial, and get the most excellent Shure E2C Earphones too.

No, these type of promotions are not scams. My personal experience, the experience of several of my friends, and mainstream press have proven that these type of promotions are real.

Listening to

Friday, January 7th, 2005

God is God by Steven Curtis Chapman

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