Outer Rim Territories

The early adopter tax, along with any associated tech risks, has not escaped the notice of most tech enthusiasts. In the end, its not much of a factor. We dont buy early because its a good deal. We dont buy early because its fiscally sound. We buy early because the technology is cool and we simply cannot or do not want to wait for our preciousssssss to finally come home with us.

We are the People Who Stand In Line.

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Apple’s ability to produce innovative hardware is inextricably intertwined with its ability to produce innovative software. The iPhone is an even better example than the Mac.

It’s not just that Apple is different among computer makers. It’s that Apple is the only one that even can be different, because it’s the only one that has its own OS. Part of the industry-wide herd mentality is an assumption that no one else can make a computer OS — that anyone can make a computer but only Microsoft can make an OS. It should be embarrassing to companies like Dell and Sony, with deep pockets and strong brand names, that they’re stuck selling computers with the same copy of Windows installed as the no-name brands.

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Facebook Users Are Poorer Students — And Dont Know It | Epicenter from Wired.com

Like drunk drivers who insist to the arresting officer that the booze has no affect on their ability behind the wheel, college students who are on Facebook are poorer students than those who dont partake — and say it has no impact on their studies.
A study by a Ohio State University education researcher Aryn Karpinski found that the GPAs of Facebook users were in the 3.0 to 3.5 range, compared to 3.5-4.0 for non users. Not a huge spread, but maybe the difference between the grad school of your choice and your safe school.
True scientist that she is, Karpinski reports this as a correlation, not necessarily a matter of cause and effect.

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This is a blatantly computer (and Mac) related post. If you have no interest, move along.

A fellow seminarian at StL and Mac user asked how I keep the family computers and phones in sync with each other. Most of this is Mac-based but might be adaptable to the PC realm. First, I tried Apple’s MobileMe and was not impressed. For a newbie, its good solution. For the geeky crowd, its too limited. So, my solution is to use other free or inexpensive solutions. Over the last day I did some more tweaking that has helped significantly.

1) I host my website/blog with iPower. Today I’d use Dreamhost. Both are low cost web hosting providers. I prefer Wordpress over the iWeb blog templates. Plus with FTP/MySQL support you can do almost anything. Cost: $60/yr

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 Largely, the experts on this terrific podcast agree: music in surround can work… but it must be conceived in surround. Too often music is composed in stereo (two speakers) then jiggered into 4 or 6 speakers. The net result is vacuous and unintentional. The future of music in surround is download. Unfortunately few consumer interfaces can encourage this, not offering a multichannel output except lossy DTS or Dolby Digital. On the other hand, physical media players (Bluray) can accomodate high-resolution multichannel via both analog and digital outputs. 

The real issue is basically ignored in the podcast. Music is not intentionally listened to but serves a function of background noise or ambiance. I’m not disputing the usefulness of some music as creating positive sonic atmosphere. But much of the serious music composition is intended for listening and contemplation. 

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This site is now optimized for browsing with an iPhone. This probably only benefits me and a few others. Oh well.

In other news, we have no home phone and instead opted for cell phones. Anne’s new number is 260-579-6772. My number is 260-579-0833. Email and snail mail address stay the same. Questions? Just call!

Apple – MacBook Air

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So, a little over a year from now we won’t be able to watch TV using an antenna and standard analog TV without a converter box. Thankfully for those of us without cable or satellite, the feds hear our pain and are subsidizing the transition with a rebate on the necessary converter boxes. They will be about $60 but the feds are offering a $40 rebate. Even though they’ll make our TVs more complicated to use, the reception via digital using an antenna is typically all-or-nothing, meaning no fuzzy images. Either it will be clear or completely unwatchable and usually the former.

So go to http://www.dtv2009.org/ and submit for your rebate.

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I love the classic “Frosty the Snowman” or “Rudolph” stop-motion animated shows. Well, here’s Apple’s take on them:

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