iCal Annoyance

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to sync my work calendar at work which is, you guessed it - Outlook, with iCal on my mac.

iCal has this annoying trait of automatically sending emails to the originator of “events” in Apple speak. You don’t really get a choice as to whether or not you actually want to send the email.

I had just about resigned myself to manual entries in iCal for this. The new iPod update for the Touch 1.1.2 will now let you enter “events” on the device. A good thing. But somewhat unwieldy for quick entries. The keyboard app on the touch, like the iPhone takes some effort to use.

Just on a whim, (almost an afterthought) I cruised the Apple forums. I found this thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1206182&tstart=0

And in that thread I found this jewel: hptt://www.nhoj.co.uk/icalreplychecker

iCal Reply Checker is a handy little app that tags along with iCal and lets the user decide whether or not to send a reply, not iCal! Coolness...

Back in the Stone Age

I acquired my first Macintosh Computer. It was a MAC IIx. One of the first models where they made the case separate from the CRT (monitor). Even back then, Apple still had it all over any other machine.

I had had the machine a year or so, and started getting some funky I/O errors. Seemingly random, they would cause the machine to crash at the most in-opportune times. I finally got frustrated enough after working through all my Mac owning friends and they were far and few between (We were all clueless about these) that I called Appel Tech support.

I described my issue to the support tech on the other end of the line. He listened patiently while I ran through my rant. When I fianlly wound down, he asked me if I was ready to try something a little un-orthodox.

I was somewhat taken aback by this, but so frustrated that I was indeed open to suggestion. He asked me if the monitor was sitting on top of the case (It was) and would I power the system down and set the monitor aside? I didn’t see what this had to do with anything as when I asked him if we were going to open the case he answered no. But I powered down and moved the monitor.

He: This is going to be a very low tech solution.

Me: OK.

He: Please pick the case up about two and a half to three inches off the desk top. [I did this] OK now drop it! he said.

Me: Are you sure about this?

He: Yes sir, quite sure. So I dropped the case back to the desktop. He had me do it two or three more times. The he had me power it back up.

At this point I was kind of laughing, but the machine seemed to be humming along. We chatted for a minute or two and then rang off.

Turns out the expansion cards were spring loaded and dropping the unit to the desktop a time or two reseated the cards. I did this every 3 or 4 months after this call.

I never had another problem with the mac.

While I was being a lump this past weekend...

I rediscovered a piece of computer equipment that I failed to return to the Apple Store within the allotted time period they allow for this (an arbitrary 14 days??). Rather pay whatever re-stocking fee Jobs and Co. decide to levy, I decided to keep the thing.

Airport Express with Airtunes is a multi-function piece of equipment in a very small package. (3.7 inches x 2.95 inches x 1.12 inches) It let’s you surf the web wirelessly, connect to your existing wireless network to strengthen or extend your signal. Use it to share a USB printer ], You can use it to stream iTunes to any stereo from any computer (with an AUX connection) which is what I am using it for now. he capability to use and store five different profiles lets you take it on the road and use it for several inter-related purposes.

As with most things Apple, it was a cinch to setup. As a matter of fact it took me longer to round up the cables (which I did have in various places around the house) to connect to the thing than it did to hook it up, install it, and start iTunes. I need a few more of these things. One for each room we gots stereo!

Comes with an ethernet port, a USB port, and a 3.5 mm mini audio socket. This is the same size as your iPod or MP3 player uses. Doesn’t come with any cables though. So you’ve got to provide those yourself.

TexasT’s rates this thingamajig:

TTTTT (5 out of 5 T’s)

There's A New Cat In The House

...And it is good!


Honestly, I like all the eye candy in OS X Leopard...

I Had No Idea...

That an iPod that wasn’t installed on a PC would not even be able to use the USB port(s) to charge the battery.

One day last week:

Took mine to work even though the battery was near dead. Figured I’d be able to charge the durned thing even though I wouldn’t be able to install it. Most of the machines in Cube City are locked down. Which means a user cannot install hardware or software without an admin account.

No dice - So I basically had an electronic brick with me.

Whatever...

Pirating Bandwidth: Saturday I Was Sitting in Some Friend's...

Backyard. They live literally on the other side of town from us.

Just for grins I thought I would see if I cold pick up any WiFi. Picked up a 1/2 dozen different signals. 2 were unsecured, Was able to connect to one. Surfed for a while as my friend was busy talking to her mother.

Why do people leave their shit unprotected like that? I mean I know some bandwidth pirate could probably figure out the passphrase on our Airport extreme, but I want them to at least have to work a little for my bandwidth.

Plug It In and It Works...Yeah Baby!

So thanx to friend Jules telling me to get off my ass and get the DigiCam working with my mac.

Couldn't find my original disk, so thought i would just plug the thing in via USB. iPhoto picked it up and unloaded the photos! I'm lovin' it!

Anyway here is the picture that Jules was demanding. If you look really closely you can see the reply to a post on my LJ account that he was 'encouraging' me in!

Finally

Got my cabling issues in the office sorted today. Seems to be a wrap for the MBP wireless issues. Put two cables in around the walls after a trip to Fry’s for cable(s).

I’d been told by a couple of people not to exceed about thirty feet in length as you’ll notice a drop in transfer speed. I put two fifty foot cables in. Haven’t really noticed any difference. But i could just be slow. *grin*

What a Difference a Day or Two Can Make

I have reported here and elsewhere that my MBP and the Airport Extreme (Apple’s own 802n router) were having a few problems communicating.

I had taken the MBP into the Apple Store in Shugahland last week and had the WiFi tested after it wouldn’t connect with the Airport Extreme that was sitting in my office. Well, it would connect if it was three to six feet away(!) and the signal was either for shit or fluctuated wildly from one end of the scale to another. Loss of signal and / or connection was frustrating as shit. It connected to all three routers in the Apple Store. So I knew it wasn’t the computer. I even exchanged the router, just in case I got a bad one. No dice.

I took the ‘puter to a friend’s house (got WiFi?) last night to see if I could get a connection that was consistent. The verdict? I could connect with great signal quality. And it stayed conected consistently too! This was making me crazy. Really crazy! REALLY REALLY CRAZY!

What the hell is the point of having a laptop if you can’t get any further than 6 or so feet from what is supposed to be a powerful router?

Stopped by my local Best Buy to talk to the nerds there. About all we could come up with was:
Move the router to a different location.
Try a bridge of some kind.
Google it and see if someone had the same issue I did.

I thought, and I still do, that something my neighbor has in the room closest to my property line (and the office) is causing some serious interference.

So I’m typing this entry in MacJournal from my front and back yard. And the living room. The backlit keys are sooooooo cool! And I am stil connected! I jus refreshed my friends page in LiveJournal. There was a litle hesitation, but not much.

I moved the router to the opposite wall in the office. From an outer wall to an inner one. The change in connectivity was phenominal! I haven’t tried to run from upstairs yet and I’m hoping there won’t be too much of a drop in signal.

Oh and I’m gonna need a lot more ethernet cable! Heh!

Gotta run it around two walls and over a door.

I told you no damned machine has ever got the best of me...

Gotta make the coffee for in the morning. See ya!

Transfers

Getting all my music transferred from one machine from the other turned out to be a task. Convinced me that I must have the friggin’ network setup improperly.

Probably had more to do with Windoze file sharing protocols than anything else and my inability to understand windows-ese.

Ended up using my ipod nano to do the transfers. Couldn’t seem to get my 8GB Touch to become a portable disk. Another new change for the new generation of ipod? Or maybe just the Touch.

But I Am So Easily Distracted...

I haven’t taken the Mac into work with me yet. Folks have asked to see it...I know though if it was there, I probably wouldn’t get any real work done for trying to reduce the learning curve. Plus folks would want to see stuff. As yet I don’t have the knowledge or the time to put Mac through his paces.

The Track Pad

Now I’ve been a mouse user for a long time. Never liked the track pads on laptops. Even when i was carrying a laptop for work, I usually carried a mouse in the bag as well. The track pads made me crazy!

This is something that could change, though. That double fingered scrolling thing on the mac is pretty cool! There are (of course!) other built in features available. But one thing at a time, please.

The Experience...

Well being new to macs and the software therein, I thought a good place to start would be with this software, Mac Journal. Perhaps I’ll use it to document my transformation from PC user to PC and mac user. Can’t get completely away as The Support I do in my regular job is of course, windoze based.

I figure I should be smart enough to be able to hold 2 OS’s in my noggin!