Tag / Apple

by Greg

Mac-Related News

I’m sure you’ll remember that we stood in line on the night that Apple released their new operating system—Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard—and got ourselves some snazzy t-shirts… well, we finally got the OS, too! I have installed it on my laptop, and it’s pretty neat. There are still many questions I have about it (Safari—the browser—crashes a lot, and the networking seems… fishy, among other things) but overall I do like a lot of the new features. Will be better when I can install it on my main machine here. (Too busy to risk doing that right now!!)

Besides Leopard there are a couple other items of interest I saw come across the RSS feed today…

Macs indeed cheaper than PCs
Multiplying Mac Trojan not epidemic yet

Yes folks, there are rumors of another Mac virus, and though I’ll admit to not investigating thoroughly, it’s still not the same as a self-propagating virus as you see infecting the Windows world. Not making excuses here, just trying to quell the shouts of, “Macs get viruses too!!!” Apparently there is a LOT of user input necessary for this virus to do anything. (Downloading, clicking, installing, etc.) And again, it’s not self-propagating.

So, interesting stuff if you’re a Mac fan.

And really… who isn’t? 🙂

by Greg

The Busyness Continues

Here I am at the Apple store, waiting to meet with a Genius for our Mac Mini. (Was trying to install the newest OS, Leopard, on it last night and that didn’t work.) 🙂 This is the first chance I have had since getting back from vacation to post anything to GregsHead.net! (I used to do this more often…..) 🙂

I still do want to tell more of the stories that I did write down from our trip, but again… it’s finding/making the time to get them up here. I will be posting a “highlights” version soon, though. It was SUCH a great trip!!

I’m #3 on the list here, so I am keeping one eye on the Genius Bar… but trying to remember what I was going to say here… 🙂

A couple things of interest… first, the busyness does continue. Going on vacation was a nice escape from reality, but did make the work pile up a bit more. And, when I finally get to the projects I need to be working on, then I get a call or email from someone needing tech support on their sites. You never can quite predict how a day will go, eh?

Also, last night I watched Spider-Man 3 while re-installing the system software on my broken Mac Mini. 🙂 Actually really liked it. The violence is weirdly over the top, but “cartoony” enough to not be that bad. Aside from that, the story lines were very good. There were three different story lines of characters being consumed by revenge, and eventually overcoming it through forgiveness. Not as cheesy as that sounded. 🙂 Also just cool examples of the power of loving someone, even enough to die for them. (Don’t want to give away the ending…) 😉

So, I recommend it.

OK… it’s gotta be my turn soon!!!

I am here by myself also. We had dinner with some friends, and we were late 🙂 Just got to finish my waffle and head out for this appointment. Hope to get to hang out a bit once we finish this.

I hope we start it… 🙂

by Greg

This Time Tomorrow…

So, it’s really here. For months—maybe even years?—we’ve waited for this day, this trip. We’re packing stuff up now, getting the house ready to leave. The kids are ready for their vacation, too. A whole 8 days at Grandma & Grandpa’s!!

And for us? Eight beautiful days at a resort on the Pacific Ocean near Monterey, CA… without our kids!

Now THAT’S an anniversary present! 🙂

We leave Buffalo tomorrow at 8am local time, and get to the San Jose airport around 12:30 local time. We’ll find our rental car and drive about an hour or so to the coast. After checking in, and checking out our place, getting settled, etc… we’ll head BACK to SJ for the evening to get some dinner, and get a copy of LEOPARD at the local Apple Store! 🙂 (First 500 people at the store get free t-shirts! We’re so there!)

We’ll just be spending time together, celebrating 10 years of marriage, and just enjoying each other’s company. Walks on the beach, walks through town, nice dinners… QUIET days. 🙂 Can’t wait. Really can’t wait.

I may post some here during the week, or I may not. 🙂 Depends on what Jen is doing. This week, I’m totally with her, and I don’t want to miss any of that!

I will definitely miss our kids. I can tell already. But I can’t wait to have 8 uninterrupted days with my wife. I love her more now than ever before (which was already a lot!) and can’t wait to just be with her!

(Can you tell?) 🙂

We will also get to visit with some friends from college who live out that way, so that will be a huge bonus, too.

And it all starts very, VERY soon! So…

Gotta go! 🙂

by Greg

Apple Announces Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Mac OS X Leopard - Pre-Order Today!Just in case you are not subscribed to my Apple blog… thought I would let you know that Apple announced a release date for their long-awaited OS update. October 26th will be the day you can get your hands on the latest and greatest OS! There are links to pages detailing the many new features and upgrades on the article I posted at my Apple blog. Head over and check it out!

(If you already know you just want to buy it, you can click on the software retail box above…) 🙂

by Greg

The Public Debate Continues

AppleAs I mentioned last week, Apple & NBC are not getting along. First Apple publicly announced they would drop NBC shows from iTunes in the month of September. NBC rebutted Apple’s public statement, saying that in fact it was not asking to sell shows for more, rather, they wanted to sell seasons for less, which Apple did not want to do. Then a few days later, it was announced that they would remain on iTunes through the end of the contract in December.

It’s all rather confusing.

In the meantime, NBC announced that they would be selling shows via Amazon’s Unbox service, which lets you purchase videos to play on your Windows systems, or download directly to your TiVo.

Now it has come out that Apple wanted NBC to sell their shows for $0.99/episode, as Apple does with their individual songs at iTunes. NBC was concerned that such a price structure would eat into DVD sales far too much as a series season sells for $40 on DVD, and would be less than $23 at iTunes.

The public feud continues. Stay tuned.

by Greg

More on the New iPod Line

New Family of iPods
I was able to post several articles to my Apple blog yesterday regarding the updates to Apple’s iPod and even iTunes line. I mentioned that I would be doing that earlier, and thought perhaps you’d like the links. Some pretty neat stuff. Lots of links off of my pages to great content at Apple’s website as well.

And, if you click the photo above, you’ll be taken to my GregsApples.com site, where you’ll first have a chance to sign up for my Apple eNews. If you’re at all interested in the stuff Apple is doing these days – and maybe especially how to get the best deal on some for yourself – I think you’ll enjoy receiving the Apple @ BWD eNews. I send it out about 4 times a year, and when there are major Apple updates. (Like, I’ll be sending one today.) 🙂

Here are the links to yesterday’s articles. More to come!

Greg’s Apple News:
New iPods: Refreshed & Revealed
iPhone Price Tag Reduced 33%
iTunes WI-Fi Music Store & Starbucks
iTunes 7.4 Brings Custom Ringtones
VIDEO: iPod touch Overview and Tutorial (from Apple.com)
iPod Touch, iTunes Wireless… Wow. (Article @ Newsvine)

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Greg’s Apple Blog:
Greg’s Newsvine Column:

by Greg

All New iPods, iTunes Wireless

New iPod TouchApple made their big announcements today. Nothing really unexpected, and most expectations were met. No Beatles announcement, but it won’t be long. I’ll be writing up much more on my Apple Blog later tonight, but for now, here are the highlights:

  • iPod Shuffle in new colors
  • iPod Nano is shorter, bigger screen, video, larger hard drives
  • iPod is now iPod classic, and available in 80GB and 160GB.
  • iPod Touch – the iPhone without the phone! 8GB & 16GB. Built-in wi-fi!
  • iPhone is now $200 less, only 8GB size. ($399)
  • iTunes Wireless. Purchase music over wi-fi connection right on your iPod!

Lots more to come. You can read up on it yourself at Macworld.com, they did a nice live update article as the presentation was unfolding today. Or, go straight to Apple’s iPod page.

If you already know you want one… you can get one from my Apple store!

by Greg

Apple Feuding with NBC

AppleApparently, Apple is sick and tired of NBC’s shenanigans! The 3rd largest music retailer in the world (who also sells video content…) is parting ways with all of it’s NBC content (30% of it’s top shows!) in the month of September! Seems a drastic move by Apple, but they contend that NBC wanted to double the wholesale price of their shows, which would have raised the cost to consumers from $1.99 currently to $4.99/episode.

NBC on the other hand seems to claim almost the opposite… that they wanted to combine some of their content to make the package more attractive to the consumer.

Either way, the consumer is losing in this spat.

You can read more most anywhere on line, but here’s a link to get you started.

I hope they make up soon. We got the Knight Rider from iTunes, and NBC also has the Sci-Fi channel as part of their content. And, it’s just not nice to fight…

by Greg

Apple Event September 5th

Another Apple Event is just around the corner. Apple is planning to hold a special event on September 5th, according to Arstechnica. Most rumor sites are expecting Apple’s updated line of iPods to be revealed, including a possible full screen video iPod. (The iPhone without the Phone.) Also rumored, iPhone Nanos and video-capable Nanos. (Perhaps the same thing?)

I don’t think we’ll see a smaller iPhone… but, ya never know.

Stay tuned to my Apple blog for details.

UPDATE: Apple officially sent out invites to the event today, it’s pictured above. There are some interesting things about the invite that most likely point to 1) an ipod-related event, 2) an iPod with CoverFlow view (much like on the iPhone?), and 3) the phrase “the beat goes on” was in the Beatles’ final press release. Perhaps we’ll finally see the Beatles at iTunes on the 5th?

More from MacNN

by Greg

Blueberry Hill

Isn’t there a song about blueberry hill? I know it was the name of the hill behind the main part of Mountainview Christian Camp where I have spent several weeks of several summers of my life. But tonight, though there weren’t really any noticeable hills… I’d say we visited THE blueberry hill!

We’re in Clarence at the moment, visiting with Jen’s mom & dad. The kids love visits to Grandma & Grandpa’s and this time, Mom & Dad stayed too! 🙂 We went to the Bills game last night – it was a blast, read about it here – and then today we played football, visited with some friends, saw another friend off on a trip to Africa, played more football, and then took a trip down to East Otto, NY to Burdick’s Blueberries.

The experience begins by heading as far into the middle of nowhere as you possibly can. Then, once you’re there, you “check in” by weighing your blueberry containers before they are filled… whereupon you are whisked away in a giant blue pickup truck (further into the middle of nowhere) to your row of blueberry bushes. The help walk you to a specific spot and tell you to begin picking here and go that direction, making sure to strip off all the ripe berries.

(Blueberry picking is serious business!) 🙂

We had a blast! Picked (and ATE!) blueberries for about an hour I’d say! When we got there, one branch of one of our assigned bushes had bent to the ground – perfect for Julia!!! And our little Julia LOVES fruit!!! So, she stood there and picked and ate blueberries – at least 2 or 3 dozen – for the first 20 minutes or so while we picked elsewhere. Too cute!

After the big blueberry fest was over, we rode the blue pickup back to the home base and weighed in. We had almost 20 POUNDS of blueberries!!! Ha! That’s a LOT of blueberries!!! They taste great, and we’re going to be having lots of great blueberry-related foods for a while. I guess they freeze pretty well, too.

So, after we left the super fun blueberry place, we shared a meal at Ponderosa together. That used to be a more frequent outing for the Walker clan, but I think size and grandkids growing up have been factors in making it a much more rare – and special – occasion. We had a very nice meal (still full now!) and then came back home.

Tomorrow we spend the day at the fair. Jen’s dad is preaching there in the morning, and we’re hoping to get some fun in either before it rains, or in between the rain drops. Wish us luck. (It’s looking pretty rainy…)

Much more to come here at GregsHead.net. I’m wishing I had wireless internet… 🙂 BUT, I am typing this blog from my in-laws’ computer (a Windows computer) using Safari! It looks amazing! It’s almost… almost close to what I would see on my Mac! Now that’s impressive!!

Until after the crazy weekend…