weedygarden.net » Apple

The iWeb, iMail, iGame and occasionally iPhone

admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:00:21 +0000

I wanted to get in on the iPhone action as soon as v1 came around, but due to budget constraints, that just wasn’t possible. Shortly after the release of the 3G model, a number of stars aligned and I picked up an 8gig 3G. This has turned out to be one my best tech purchases ever. There were several times this summer where the Google map feature helpfully guided myself and others to an elusive destination, and caught Kodak moments when I didn’t have my camera with me.

My only problem with the thing is its name. The irony of the label “iPhone” struck me the other day as I was watching the news with the wife and an iPhone commercial came on. More accurately, I should say I was listening to the news. I was technically reading news feeds and catching up on email. It got me thinking about how much time I spent on this device doing various activities. I’m thinking it breaks down as follows:

Reading news feeds – 70%
Email – 10%
Games – 15%
Other – 4%
Phone – 1%

That one percent may be a little high. It might be that I simply subscribe to too many feeds. All I know is that this handy little device is seriously cutting down on the amount of time I spend sitting at my desk in the evenings. That alone is a wonderful thing.

Leopard Dock Spacers

admin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:02:54 +0000

Digital Media Minute has a great bit of terminal magic that allows you to create invisible spacers in the Leopard dock. You can create as many as you like, drag them around, or if you created too many, drag them off.

Only added mine 10 minutes ago and I’m already quite fond.

Leopard Transparent Menu Bar Fix

admin — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:57:33 +0000

One of the first complaints many voiced when Leopard was released was the transparent menu bar. I am well aware that there are a couple of applications out there that will fix this, but there’s also a rather simple way if you have access to an image editor.

Here’s what my menu bar looked like with the transparency:

Now all you have to do is take your desktop picture and edit it in any graphics program you choose. At the very top, select 21 pixels and fill it with white.

Here’s the result:

You could also add a gradient:

Granted, that last one is a bit subtle, but you could experiment and come up with something much nicer than I did. So there you have it. The transparent menu bar in Leopard doesn’t have to be so bad. Try your own and have fun with it. For those who are curious, here’s a full shot of my desktop.

Heed not they who bash thy good name Nano

admin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:20:22 +0000

When Apple first released the iPod in 2001 I thought, “wow, those are pretty cool; I’d like to get one of those someday”. But as the years went on, and the models changed, I never did. For one, I’m cheap. Second, I’m picky. I never needed the vast storage of the nice models, and frankly didn’t want to pay the hefty price tag (see? cheap.). Well what about the shuffle you may ask… and I would refer you back to the picky. If I was going to get an iPod, I wanted to get one that I would enjoy. And that required an actual interface. When the first generation Nano’s arrived, I thought ‘aha, here we go’. But alas, it never happened (back to the cheap). Fast forward to 2007. I knew Apple was about to announce new iPod’s in the fall, so I figured now was my chance. I could get the gen 2 Nano for cheap after they announce the Gen 3. Perfect. I’ll finally take the plunge.

When the first spy photos of the gen 3 Nano first hit the net, there were a lot of folks bashing it. Design, small screen, whatever. It was nothing new. The same thing happens every time an Apple product gets leaked. But after it was announced, I knew I had finally found “the one”. Music, video, photos, calendar, games, etc. Perfect.

After a bit of discussion with the CFO (aka, wife o’ mine) I had my order in at Amazon. After several weeks of use, I must say, I love it. My drive to and from work is about 35 minutes. Previously I would spend the time flipping between stations, but now, I’m in podcast heaven. The screen is great, and the size is perfect. So now from the driveway to my desk and back again, I get uninterrupted entertainment and education.

So good job Apple from a long-time Mac user, first-time iPod owner.