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)