Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten a few question about the Mac, since I was the only one at the office that had one. Many of them think the Mac doesn’t crash. Many of them still think that their files won’t work. In general, just a bit of misinformation.

This is for you Windows users out there that might be a little curious about the Mac. The following observations are from my own experience. Your mileage may vary.

• Yes, Macs crash. Not as often as Windows, but they do.
• The Mac does not have a BSOD. Instead you get a Kernel Panic, and much less often. In 2 years, I’ve seen 2 on my Mac.
• Yes, applications of the Mac crash. Yes, just as often as they do on Windows.
• The Mac, just like your Windows machine, benefits from the occassional reboot.
• The Mac, unlike a Windows PC, works. Wifi works. Networking works. Plug and Play works.
• Just like the ad says, the Mac works out of the box. When I turned on the iMac for the first time, I ran through the initial set-up. Once Leopard was running, I started Garage Band and mixed a podcast.
• The Mac costs more. You definitely can’t go to Walmart and get one for $400. But, if you want to spend a week removing all of the software that is subsidizing the cost of that machine, go right ahead. If you want to compare a Mac to a PC based on price, then at least look at comparable equipment from Dell, HP or Lenovo.
• Anything you create on your PC you can open and edit on your Mac.
• The Mac is easier to use for most tasks. Some things that you can do on Windows easily, however, aren’t as easy on the Mac.
• The Mac will run Windows. You can install Windows directly so you can boot into Windows like you do now or you can install it virtually so it runs like a program on your desktop.

You have probably heard this a million times already, but if you are thinking about a new computer for home, you should take a few minutes to research the Mac. You can get them at BestBuy now, so you don’t have to be intimidated by the Apple Store snobs.

I’ve got more than a few things to get done today. I spent the better part of the week sitting on my hands for the most part and getting nothing done except for a few lackluster workouts.

Well, maybe that is not entirely correct. I did get a few things done this week.

• Got another website customer, and another possible is in the works.
• Created a new business card. Printing them next week.
• Upgraded the iMac to 4GB of RAM. All I can say is holy crap!
• Sent my resume out 5 times
• Gave serious thought towards getting serious about starting my own company
• Napped
• Made another video to test iMovie ‘09. More on this later.
• Made an episode of THCS. I need to order a new mixer bad.
• Spent more time that I care to admit on Facebook

I can tell you about this site, which is cool. It’s a site for an old time Hot Rod guy (like, one of the pioneers of the whole thing) with cool photos and some history. He recently passed away and his family wants to be able to post old articles and photos and all that. Perfect job for Wordpress. I’ll let you know when it’s done so you can check it out.

I also have changes coming to this site. I put together some really cool stuff when I was ‘at the job’ and one of them was the coda slider. I’m going to try to incorporate into this site for latest posts, portfolio snippets, video and a contact form on the home page. Watch for that.

Go watch the video. It’s funny. I might post it here, but I forgot to not cuss, so maybe not.

I still haven’t completely wrapped my head around this concept, but now I have 2 Macs. And, I have data on one that I need on the other, and vice versa. That is how I discovered remembered that I have an Evernote account. It sure is coming in handy with to-do lists and the like.

One thing that I was amazed about was the simplicity that is known as networking 2 Macs. Turn them one, check a box and that’s it? Really? No opening the Network Panel and making sure the TCP/IP connections are the same? No making sure they are on the same subnet or in the same domain/workgroup? No duplicating user accounts? No multiple reboots? What what what?

For those of you not familiar, Windows machines, especially in a home environment, do not network that easily. Well, maybe with Vista, but I haven’t done that yet. Networking XP or Windows 2000 machines not in a domain (re: office) is a serious chore. Workgroup name has to match, users have to match, moon has to be in the correct phase, and you need the magic monkey. Way too much hassle and, frankly, it’s way to difficult.

Next up will be the actual synchronizing of my Macs. Address books, calendars and possibly docs. I hear good thing about Google Sync, so I’m probably going to try that. I would be interested in hearing thoughts about MobileMe however. While I don’t like the idea of having to depend on a service that costs me money every year, if it works, then that’s that.

Yea, this Mac thing is pretty cool. Glad I didn’t switch.

Yes, there is a new Mac on my desk

Yes, I bought a new iMac, the upper end 20″, and it’s a fine machine.

I know I have been complaining about Macs, mine in particular. But I have a feeling that those issues are because it’s a first gen MacBook and it is terribly underpowered for what I’ve been trying to do with it. I also think it might have a few port issues.

I even went so far as to price out a Dell system. Turns out the costs was about the same as this (granted for more machine), but I would have been stuck with Vista until Windows 7 comes out sometime in ‘10 (or so I’m hearing). And I have software for the mac that I own. Quite a bit too. I really didn’t feel like going through all of that again on the windows side.

If you haven’t had the chance to see a new iMac up close, it is really nice. The screen is very bright and crisp. While not HD, watching a DVD movie on it is completely acceptable. Even the sound from the built-in speakers isn’t horrible, on par with television speakers, maybe a little better.

I’m almost completely moved in and have already done a few things on it to break it in. So far, I can’t really tell how much faster than the MacBook it is, but I do know it feels faster.

Here are some thoughts.

Pro

• The screen is outstanding
• The config right out of the box is usable (2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive)
• I got an upgrade coupon for iLife ‘09 so it will only cost me $10 when it comes out.
• Whisper quiet. No, it’s quieter than that. Makes almost no noise
• New Apple Keyboard in the box
• It has 3 USB ports. Nice to have the extra.
• It drives my 20″ display no sweat

Con

• The screen is very shiny and refects pretty much everything. Worse than the gloss screen on the MacBook. It’s slightly distracting.
• New Mighty Mouse in the Box. I actually tried to use it. What a horrible little device that is.
• It seems to run pretty hot. I’ve read about this and it doesn’t cause any problems that I am aware of
• It only has 3 USB Ports. In the day where PC’s have as many as 10 on board USB ports (plus a card reader), this is really unacceptable.

I probably won’t do a full review, but I will say that even with those minor issues, it’s a great machine and I’m glad I bought it.

Updates, Upgrades and Uniques

I’m starting to serious wonder about my resume writing skills. No kidding, I have sent over 40 copies out in the last 3 week without so much as a nibble. Working on a re-write this week, but if anyone has any tips or pointers, please feel free to leave a note below.

As soon as I hit Publish here, I’m going to the gym. This is worthy of posting since I haven’t been since the weekend before MTTS. I managed to catch something that week and was congested and 1/2 deaf (yes, again). It’s finally cleared up, so I’m going. 3 weeks is a long time, and it’s going to be tough getting back into it.

Secretly, I want an iPhone. Not so secretly I don’t want to be an AT&T customer.

I’m still upset about missing the New Media Expo. Cool stuff happened there from what I could tell from the tweets and video posts I saw. I’ll have to try again next year.

I am extremely pleased with the way the new sites have turned out. And the redo on WRR (if you haven’t noticed). Helps keep the self confidence up. All new sites should go live this week.

I have a feeling a new computer will be purchased in the next couple of weeks. It will be for either myself or my Grandfather. I hope it’s me. 15″ MBP or 20″ iMac would be keen. Not sure I want to edit video or help Grandpa relearn his computer with Vista. And, since I will be doing all of the editing…

I hate that Wordpress releases a dot update a month after a new version. I need to figure out how to script Transmit to handle that all at once. Also not happy that the photo feature of “Press This” still doesn’t work for me. Although, they said it’s fixed for IE7.

I have a baby shower and wedding happening in the same weekend. One Saturday, the other on Sunday. Oh, and they are 1,000 miles apart. Wedding wins if I can swing it, otherwise a trip to Vegas will be in order.

Which would be good, since I need to get to the resort for maintenance and checking of things. Big upgrade might be coming their way after the first of the year.

Church bus full of screaming kids just drove by. That was weird.

Just so you know, you can count yourself among the 1,500 or so w(t)f readers. Sure, not huge numbers, but I’m still fairly pleased. Thanks for stopping by. Don’t forget, you can subscribe to get the posts easier. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if there is something worth click back about.

After I take the new sites live, I will be able to get started on The Hollywood Car Show site. Go ahead and click it if you want, should be a placeholder page there. I think by the end of the week it should be up and running.

Ok, that’s it. Time to start my day. Have a great Sunday everyone!

I haven’t had that. Not since my PC died in early ‘07, shortly after I got the MacBook. And, while the MacBook is a great little mobile machine, it just doesn’t have the horsepower I need for doing other things. As it turns out, there are a few other issues I have with it as well.

So I’ve been watching the refurb shop at the Apple store for a 20″ iMac (the good one, not the low-end model), a 24″ iMac and a 15″ MacBook Pro. After my last trip, I’ve made my decision.

15″ MacBook Pro.

This came to me as I was trying to edit video on the road on the 13″ MB screen and watching as iMovie brought the machine to a smoking, screeching halt and declared 200+ minutes to export a 15 minute long video. No good that. Also I got the chance to check one out in person at that ginormous Apple store in Boston. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.

So, when the time comes, I will get a 15″ MBP for my desk. Run it off the juice with the battery removed (if I can) and use it mobile when I need the extra power.

Something else that I discovered after last week was just how cool the iPhone was. Every day during MTTS it saved our asses no less than twice, and some days more often than that. Whether it was finding the nearest Starbucks or giving us directions from point a to point b, just have access to Google Maps, even as slow as it is over EDGE, was a godsend!

Now, I’m not going to do anything foolish like drop Verizon and go to AT&T. Besides not liking AT&T, the coverage, where I spend most of my time, is crap. And, since it’s the only phone I carry, I like it to work all the time.

What I’m actually hoping to be able to do is get my MBP sometime before Apple stops that student special so I can also get an iPod Touch. Um, sure, it’s, um, for teh lad. Yea, that’s the ticket!

All of which hinges, directly or not, on my getting work. Don’t forget, I am for hire! Feel free to pass along my contact info and whatnot to anyone that you think could benefit from my skills.

Ok, back to processing one more video. Then, and only then, will this round of MTTS be done!