Category: Apple

Censorship: here to stay

2008-08-12 rolfje No Comments

For those of you who think that media and information are free and uncontroled, guess again. Lately I have been seeing more and more incidents of large corporations hiding information, and even telling other people to hide it for them. I think this is plain wrong, and the guys involved should have been fired or punished otherwise.

If you have information which is of interest to the public, and somebody is making you sign a paper with which he can force you to shut up, you should think twice (and then not do it). Not because of the money, not because of the information itself, but for the sheer principle. Information should not be controled in that way. By anyone. It is dangerous.

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Apple, Microsoft

Turn your iPhone into a Drive

2008-08-10 rolfje 1 Comment

My Nokia 6300 behaves like a flash or thumb drive when I connect it to a computer using an USB cable. I think this should be standard functionality nowadays. Cellphones are replacing the Filofax and MP3 players. I can read mail on my cellphone, take pictures and movies. It contains an 4GB memory stick, sometimes even more. So why do I need to carry this silly thumbdrive with me?

Apple, Software

Cowbell++;

2008-08-07 rolfje 2 Comments

I just came across this great post about creating captivating content. The punchline: It’s not about getting the scoop, it’s about finding the cowbell and amplifying it.

More funny cowbell references:

Alex Johnson’s version the popular playstation game.
The wikipedia page on the cowbell sketch
The Cowbell project
And… The More Cowbell app for your iPhone (rock on!)

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to “explore the studio space”. No, really. 🙂

Apple, Fun, Software

Apple I Basic Reconstructed

2008-08-05 rolfje No Comments

Feast your eyes on this:

0000000 4c b0 e2 ad 11 d0 10 fb ad 10 d0 60 8a 29 20 f0
0000010 23 a9 a0 85 e4 4c c9 e3 a9 20 c5 24 b0 0c a9 8d
0000020 a0 07 20 c9 e3 a9 a0 88 d0 f8 a0 00 b1 e2 e6 e2
0000030 d0 02 e6 e3 60 20 15 e7 20 76 e5 a5 e2 c5 e6 a5

It is the first 64 bytes of the Apple I Basic, as reconstructed from tape by Michael Steil. You can read all about how he did this on his blog. A nice read for the people out there who can still remember putting tapes with strange sounds on it into the computer.

Apple, Fun, Software

Laptop Stolen? See who did it…

2008-08-04 rolfje No Comments

In this strange world, people can’t seem to leave your stuff alone. All the electronic gadgets of today are too attractive to the lowlife of this world. So what do you do if somebody swipes your laptop? You take a few pictures of him, and trace his IP address!

Apple, Hardware, Microsoft, Software

Migrate from Windows to OSX

2008-06-18 rolfje 1 Comment

My wife got tired of her Windows/Compaq laptop. So 2 weeks ago, she decides to go out and buy a 15″ macbook pro (an excelent choice I might add). She was a bit worried about getting used to the new machine, but decided to take the risk. After no more than 3 days, with surprisingly little help, she figured out how to do everything she did on the Windows machine, and even installed her own software.

The last thing to do was to migrate all the stuff from her old Windows machine to her new “lappie” (yes, she actually gave this one a nickname 🙂 ). Although Microsoft tries hard to keep Outlook Express users locked in, I did find a tool that solved the problem completely for me.

Apple, Microsoft, Software

WWDC 2008 Keynote video

2008-06-10 rolfje No Comments

I was watching the WWDC2008 text feeds yesterday (like the one from Engadget), and today the WWDC2008 video is online. It’s always better to watch this than to read an interpreted twitter feed. Today it was a bit of a challenge to view it because a lot of people are probably with me. I always set Quicktime to use the HTTP protocol over port 80, because that forces all the network packets to arrive in the correct order, and does not allow dropped packets.

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Apple, Hardware, Uncategorized

Clone Windows HD on Apple OSX machine

2008-06-06 rolfje 21 Comments

Last week, lightning struck at my parents apartment building (literaly). Other damages aside, my dad’s PC also died.

The guy at the PC repair shop warned my dad that “we may need to wipe the HD, do you have a backup”? Ofcourse, all data was backed up daily and “off-site” at my house so all important data was safe. But just in case, we wanted to make an exact disk image of the drive, so that we could easily restore it when the PC returns from the store

Apple, Microsoft, Software

Difference between Windows and OSX

2008-05-27 rolfje No Comments

Another great example showing the differences between OSX and Windows. Bot applications synchronize your phone over bluetooth. Both applications are simple to use, but one is simpler. And contrary to expectations, this time the Windows version (left) will cost you money, and the OSX version (right) is free.

Although you’d expect the Windows version to do more with all these bells and wistles on the screen, but it’s actually iSync that also synchronizes the calendar to my phone, and back. Automatically. No configuration needed, it does what is considered logical to the sensible mind.

Apple and OSX are just like a Volkswagen New Beetle. Either you like it, or you don’t. But either way, it’s good that it’s here.

For the record: I don’t like the Volkswagen New Beetle, and I do like OSX. My Mac Mini is absolutely by far the best computer I have bought in the past 5 years, maybe even the best computer I’ve bought ever. No kidding.

Apple, Microsoft, Software

Don’t buy: Belkin TuneCast II

2008-05-23 rolfje 3 Comments

I am in the market for a new car. That means I’m in the market for a new car stereo. I decided that the iPod is a far better way to listen to my music in stead of keeping CD’s in the car or listening to the 10.000 crappy FM stations in the Netherlands. Since Dension does not make a cable for my new car, I decided to go for an FM transmitter. Buying the cheap Belkin TuneCast II FM transmitter, I got even less then what I payed for.

Apple