A Sad Tale of Technology Run Amok!
The Queen went up to bed. Around 9 PM or so I decided to listen to some music via iTunes.
Went looking for some "No Doubt"-age type stuff. Ah Gwen!
iTunes lets you play a little 30 second snippet of the song in question. A "try before you buy" situation. So I was trying to play some of these tunes before I made my purchase. I could hear music...Barely. It was just an undertone. Nothing coming out of my speakers at all. I kept fiddling with the volume which was turned almost all the way up any way ( as advised).
Of a sudden I hear The Queen yelling down the stairs, "Must you have the music blasting up in your BEDROOM! It is bad enough when you play it loud downstairs!"
*blink* Well Monday night aside ~ I had no idea she was averse to loud music. Didn't used to be...
Oops!
You see, I have a couple of these Airport Express doodads (technical term ~ heh) spaced around the house. These jewels are really handy.
One of the features is it lets you stream music to remote speakers from iTunes via your computer. I have one in the garage. And one in the ~ you guessed it ~ BEDROOM. Hooked up to the stereo up there.
~ AirPort Express works with both Mac's and PC's.
Other features include:
✓ Wireless printing
✓ Sharing an internet connection
✓ 802.11n wireless compatability
✓ Internet security
✓ Extension of your wireless network
But I digress...Apparently I had left the bedroom selected the last time I was listening to music up there and had also left the tuner on...Sooooo...It was most assuredly blasting away loud enough to wake Herself up. And when she is awakened rudely, she tends to not be in a good mood! As any one would. I muted fairly quickly and apologized profusely and explained I was trying to figure out was the hell was wrong down here...Kind of funny now...But of course The Queen is out of town...
Xposted @ TexasT’s Invades LiveJournal!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
iPhone
The camera...
Finally had to move the icon off the main screen. Apparently I kept hitting the icon either putting the phone in the holster, Or when taking it out.
At any rate, about half of the time when removing it from the holster, instead of seeing the startup screen, I’d see the camera screen.
Finally had to move the icon off the main screen. Apparently I kept hitting the icon either putting the phone in the holster, Or when taking it out.
At any rate, about half of the time when removing it from the holster, instead of seeing the startup screen, I’d see the camera screen.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
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...
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...
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
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.
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)
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)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
There's A New Cat In The House
Honestly, I like all the eye candy in OS X Leopard...
Monday, October 15, 2007
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...
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.
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.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
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!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)