Saved by Broadband

Good luck to those that have dial-up and want to keep their computers up to date these days.



That's nearly 300 meg of updates for this round.

The Dream iTunes Disk?

The dream part will make a little more sense once I finish up a post in progress.

LaCie just announced a new hard drive with iTunes Server support! We've been talking about this at work. We want an iTunes data store that isn't chained to a computer. I don't want to have to run a 200W computer just to access some podcasts on my Apple TV. This looks perfect. From their manual...


Apple has its own protocol known as iTunes. All HipServ’s include iTunes Server support. Computers and DMPs with iTunes support can enjoy their media that is stored on the HipServ. Selected protected content using Apple’s FairPlay DRM will need to adhere to the rules that the content creator has specified. HipServ complies to these requirements and will allow playback if those requirements are met. When UPnP sharing for a folder on your Ethernet Disk mini Home Edition is turned on, the device will appear in iTunes under Shared.


I read that as supporting protected content, as long as the playback device is authorized. Hopefully that includes Apple TVs, and not just authorized computers. This drive isn't nearly as good looking as the new Western Digital My Books or Iomega drives, but it isn't bad, and I should be able to hide it away. Half of me wants to preorder right now. The other half says wait for a review about Apple TV support.

5 of the Now

• The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance This was an instant favorite from the new album. It's wacky but a good tune. The video is great, and kids love it, which makes it nice that they edited the track for the video. Here's the YouTube copy. If you like it, I suggest you pick it up from the iTunes store.
  
  


• Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama I was jamming to this the other day and realized I haven't had any Scissor Sisters in the 5otn. This 30 second preview doesn't really capture the fun and energy of the track. This is a great album.


• The Crystal Method - Cherry Twist I had the good fortune of seeing the Method live, twice, back in '97 and '98. They've just released a deluxe edition of their album Vegas to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It really is one of the great electronic dance music albums. Cherry Twist didn't see as much success as some of the other tracks on the album, but I especially enjoyed it live.


• Moby - South Side (Hybrid's Dishing Pump Remix) Chem Bros, Crystal Method, Moby, and Hybrid. Is it the late 90s? Gwen Stefani helps Moby take it up a notch and then Hybrid knocks it out of the park. I'm a sucker for strings in electronic music.


• Adam Freeland - Silverlake Pills Rockin

Lock it Down

Electronics have lots of buttons. Sometimes you don't want to press those buttons. You just want to leave things the way they are. iPods have Hold switches. Phones allow you to lock the keys and unlock with a key sequence. Windows Mobile PDAs allow you to lock and unlock using the touch screen. Modern cars let you lock the window controls. The thing is, these are all mobile devices. Are they the only ones that can use a lock feature?



How about locks for all types of electronics? I want to be able to lock my TV, DVD, and receiver controls. If you have kids, annoying friends, or even drunk uncles, you know that there are plenty of people that want to push your buttons when you don't want them pushed.

Give me a software lock. Put it on the remote next to mute. Put up a small, translucent, lock icon when operations are attempted while locked. Remove the lock when power to the device is interrupted, just in case you lock it and lose that remote :)

The Other iPod Dock

It's not the thing that goes on your desk. It's the thing that now looks more like your desk, with icons on it.

The new iPod touch dock doesn't match the iPhone. Instead, it matches the new dock coming in Leopard.



Isn't it funny how Apple can make basically identical products look different? The do the same thing with apps. Aqua, brushed metal, dark gray. Ugg, it annoys me.

The New Apple Keyboard and VI Pain

So far, I've been pleased with the new Apple keyboard...except for VI. I'm a heavy VI user, and if you're familiar with the text editor, you know that you use the Escape key, a ton. That's bad news for the new Apple keyboard. The esc key is now a half-height key, up with the F keys.



This is terrible for my VI usage. I miss the key all the time. Sometimes when I miss, I hit F1 and dim my monitor because that's the brightness down key! Grrrrrr. The esc key on the old Apple keyboard was not only full size, but double wide. I had no problems hitting that one. I'm going to give it a little longer, but I can't suffer when using VI.

Quick is Key(words)

Tagging your photos is a grueling process, but the end result is magical. You feel so great when you type your friend's name into the search box and up pops all the pictures of them.

As an iPhoto user, I previously used KeywordAssistant because the tagging tools in iPhoto were just too slow. iPhoto '08 has fixed that. The new keyword tools are amazing. You can now easily enable keywords and tab between photos to fill in the keywords. I suggest using the View menu to enable keywords and disable everything else so you can quickly tab and type.



Even better, you can promote your most used keywords to your Quick Group. This will assign one letter quick keys to your keywords. Hit the letter to add the keyword, hit it again to remove it. You can tag hundreds of photos in minutes, all from the keyboard. I will use this a ton.

Presence Pitfalls

Away messages, busy icons, and green dots. Online presence is becoming common and people are relying on it more and more.

Outlook does a good job of tightly integrating Windows Messenger presence. If the person is in my Messenger client, I'll get presence icons in emails from them. This is nice, but I really don't find myself using it that much. What would really be useful to me is tight integration with the out of office reply.

Summer is the season of vacation. Every week there are a handful of people that I need to work with, but they are on vacation. I know this because the email I sent them came back with an out of office reply. That's great, but that information is just a blink. I read it, delete it, and then forget 2 hours later when they are returning to the office. How come Outlook, especially Exchange connected Outlook, can't integrate that presence? Make that icon work for me. Instead of an away icon, show me the out of office icon. Let me hover over it and see their out of office message.

While we're at it, if I'm sending a message labeled high priority or scheduling a meeting to a known out of office recipient, Outlook should warn me. Finally, you could take this out of office data and generate a report showing who is out for the current week. It would be very helpful. I can barely remember when I'm supposed to be on vacation. I don't know how I'm supposed to remember when you will be.

Note: I'm running Office 2003 at work, so if things have progressed since then, let me know and I'll retract my rant.

Design Touches in Apple's New Keyboard

I'm such a Mac geek. Check out the desing touches of the new Apple keyboard. I have to believe the designers have a pile of Apple gear at their disposal and the design isn't done until it looks good with all of it.

It's old school, but I still use it. When I plugged in my shuffle to sync, I found it fit perfectly in the gap between the keyboard and the desk surface.



Far more folks will have iPod docks ready to plug-in. Notice how the USB plug housing blends perfectly with the keyboard lines.





I love it.

5 of The Now

• Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
  My love for Aesop Rock continues to grow. Mellow flow.


• Z-Trip (feat. Chali 2na) - Something Different
  Z-Trip production and Chali 2na on the mic? What's not to like? I think I could rock out listening to Chali 2na read the ingredients off a box of Cheerios. Also available on .


• Gui Boratto - Mr. Decay (Robert Babicz Universum Disco Mix)
  That's the stuff! I can't link directly, but you can get this at Beatport.com


• Filta - Abuse
  Great use of samples from the movie Taxi Driver. De Niro as Travis Brickle - here's a man that would not take it anymore. Placed in a proper mix, this one will grind your mind...in a good way.


• LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
  It's really hard to not fill this whole 5otn with tracks off of this album. Sound of Silver and Bloc Party's A Weekend in the City don't leave my CD changer. This 30 second sample does nothing for the track. You can get a little better feel with the video on iTunes, or screw all that and just watch it on YouTube.

iMac for Mother Earth

The new iMacs are out (yes!) and I couldn't help but notice how much Apple is highlighting the green aspects of the computer. Maybe it's because they've taken such a beating before, but perhaps it's just the new, kinder, gentler, Apple at work.

So where are the highlights? Well, the tech specs tout Energy Star compliance. Which version of Energy Star might be in debate. The standard recently changed and the old iMac was not compliant. You can check the list (Excel file), but it was mostly the Mac mini and the MacBook that met the new standards.

Apple also proudly states "The use of recyclable glass and aluminum makes iMac friendlier to the environment, too." on their design page.

To complete the link parade, don't forget to check out the environment section of Apple's website.

Drumming Your Fingers on a Table

Engadget has a rumor and purported images of a keyboard said to be ready for the upcoming iMac from Apple. The keyboard is stripped down to the bare essentials in materials but keeps the expected keys and even looks to add some function keys.

I'll assume this is the new keyboard. I like most of what I see. A few observations:

• The keys are like the ones found on the MacBook - I like the keys on the MacBook. Lots of folks dismissed the chiclet style keys, but I don't mind them. Then again, I don't mind the current Apple keyboards either, but if you read some Apple forums you'd find that plenty of people hate that keyboard. I used to be a keyboard snob and would only use a Microsoft natural board. I've since mellowed and even traded in my disgusting natural at work for a clean new Dell that seems to borrow some design cues from Apple.


• No Apple key - The Command key currently has an Apple logo on it. The trouble is, the Apple is never referred to in documentation. Users are told to hit the command key and keyboard shortcuts list the feature key logo. This is very confusing for switchers. At least it isn't like the old days with the closed apple key and the open apple key. Anyway, everyone is crying fake on the keyboard because the apple logo is gone. I'll interpret it as Apple drinking some of their own simplify juice and getting rid of the confusing icon for the key that is never called the apple key. Wouldn't it be great if Microsoft did the same and got rid of the silly Windows key?


• Design - I like the clean design and the design looks like it will be easier to keep clean! While the clear plastic enclosure on the current Apple keyboard looks nice, it's really just a window display for dirt and crud.


• Design Part 2 - By refining the keyboard down to its simplest form, Apple may be opening the door for 3rd parties again. One of the side effects of Apple's minimalist design is the non-minimals (what kind of word is that?) will accessorize the crap out of it. Look how many billions of dollars there are in the iPod accessories market. Do you like your keyboard to slant forward? No problem. Someone will come out with a slab of plastic that this keyboard will click in to. Like more USB ports? Sure, how about a glowing blue enclosure with 6 USB ports out the side. Want an iPod dock in your keyboard? Seems like that would be easy enough to mold in the plastic as well. Now, you won't be able to change the curve of the keyboard, but if that's your style, you wouldn't be happy with this keyboard anyway and would already know what you like (see earlier comment about keyboard snob). This already happened with the Mac mini. Companies like Plasticsmith rolled out multiple products to fit your Mac mini needs.

In the end, if Apple can get you excited about your computer over $20 worth of keyboard parts, that's great for them. If they can't, then so what. You can pick from hundreds of keyboards out there.

Conquer Cord Clutter

My latest simplification involves taming cords on the kitchen counter. I saw the Socket Pocket and had to have one. I don't know why the comments on sites like lifehacker seemed to hate it so much. Are cords on the counter that big of a deal? Yes, when cats play with them. When kids yank on them. When you can't set groceries down because there is a cord pile in the way. These are all problems I don't want to have. The Socket Pocket is simple, not too ugly, and it gets the job done.



That's my wife's cell phone, and now it lives nice and tidy on the wall. The second one (they come in packs of two) is in the garage holding my bicycle light so I always know where to find it and it is charged and ready to blaze the night.

There are a few things I would change about the Socket Pocket. First, I'd change the construction and design and have it come in one piece. Currently in ships in 3 pieces -- the plate, the pocket, and the bottom of the pocket. The pocket is actually flat and you have to bend it to shape and slide it into slots on the plate. It works, but it is flimsy. Mold the pocket and plate in one piece. Having the bottom a seperate snap-in still makes sense the way the fingers in the bottom can flip up and snap back down. Second, give us something other than white plastic. I think stainless steel would be nice. Plenty of folks have stainless steel appliances these days, so stainless would fit in the kitchen nicely and it wouldn't look bad in the garage either.

Subscribe and Save

You may or may not have noticed that Amazon added a subscription capability a few months back. It isn't available on all things (who needs a monthly Britney Spears delivery?), but most consumables can be subscribed to. Things like cleaner, diapers, and cereal are all available.

It's a good deal too. You save 15% off the price by subscribing. The odd thing is, you can cancel at any time, so it seems like you could subscribe to a single shipment just to get 15% off. Maybe someone can find the small print that says you can't do that. Anyway, here's a nice example of the money you can save with Amazon subscriptions. It's really nice that super saver shipping continues to apply.

5 of The Now

It's not hard to tell I'm in a techy, clicky, phase at the moment.

• Broker/Dealer - Satin Jacket Techy, minimal, and warm


• Booka Shade - In White Rooms (Neo Remix) Booka Shade makes another appearance on the 5otn. The synth line really gets me in this one. It teases you with its simplicity and power.


• Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler Another track off Dubfire's Global Underground 31. Blipy and funky.


• Garbage - Cherry Lips (Howie B Remix) This is an old track but I didn't get a chance to hear it until I picked up the Howie B FABRICLIVE. Sorry, I can't find a link to hear this one.


• One+One - Rover James Zabiela and Nic Fanciulli make up One+One and it's a great team. The first time I heard this track playing, when it gets popping, I actually said out loud "Goddamn that's yummy".

Replacing Dew

I've written about drinking Mountain Dew on 2 previous occasions. I've tried reducing my intake, but I always bounce back up. This time I've gone cold turkey. I'm proud to say that neither Dew nor any other "soda" has touched my lips in 42 days. I don't think I've gone that long since I was 5.

I'm drinking more water, but I still like something with some taste, so I've been trying various drinks to replace where I'd normally drink pop. I've tried more diet varieties, but I really can't stand fake sugar. The problem with stuff that isn't pop is that it is expensive. Dew is pennies compared to drinking Naked Juice, Sobe, and Izze.

My ultimate goal is to find a good tasting, reasonably priced, lower calorie drink. Here's a chart I made of some of the drinks I've been drinking recently.



Maybe it is no surprise to you, but drinking Tropicana Lemonade is like drinking Pepsi. The healthy Green Tea has lots of calories. As for the rest, factor in price, and surprisingly, Gatorade comes out the winner. Low in calories. Tastes good. Cheaper than most drinks that aren't pop.

As a final motivator to stay off Dew, 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories. If you drink 48 ounces of dew a day, that's 660 calories. If you simply switch to Gatorade, you save 360 calories a day and will lose a pound every 10 days with no other changes to your diet. That's 36 pounds in a year!

What are your favorite drinks that are low in calories (but not zero calories)?

StarLytes of Wonder

If we're showing off our old toys, then I'd like to submit this mid-80s gem extracted from my parent's basement.

I have two working LazerTag guns plus sensors. That's all my brother and I ever had. They had cool stuff like rifles and vests, but they were always too expensive for us. That didn't matter though. We spent countless hours running around the neighborhood shooting each other and even more hours setting up target practice and diving around the living room. I can't help but think someone would call 911 on us these days. Juveniles with guns would be the report.

I guess LazerTag is still around, but it ain't the same, ya know? Check out some great history at this LazerTag fan site.

Stupid Shopping on the Web

While trying to buy some items at Home Depot, I came across this not-so-helpful message.



Ok, the software is smart enough to know that item isn't available and to tell me, but isn't smart enough to not add it to my cart in the first place? How about disabling the "add to cart" for items that aren't available. I guess there could have been a chance that the item became unavailable in the time it took to load the page and for me to add it, but I doubt it.

Juice for Belvedere

Last October, I posted about combining a desktop valet and a charger. Apparently others had the same idea. A few months ago I saw a charging valet in the SkyMall catalog. Brookstone was the vendor.

You can see some more charging valets at Wedding Bee. They suggest using them as groomsman gifts. Seems like a pretty good idea to me. My best men got stormproof lighters :)

KangaRooM has a very reasonably priced charging valet as well.


I still think it would be fun to build your own. A drill and a power bar is about all you need.

Symbols for the Colorblind

It's been a year since my last colorblind post, so I thought I'd bring up the topic again. This one is even iPhone related, because I know you can't possibly be sick of hearing about the iPhone. Definitely not.

If you are making web pages, please don't use tiny blips of color to convey meaning. Here is the example of what not to do.


It doesn't take much to fix this problem. Simply add some subtle symbols to the icons to allow those with poor color vision to discern the difference.