Brian Sweeting

Screen Mimic is probably the best screen recording tool I’ve found for the Mac so far. Outputs to .swf, .flv, or .mov. It’s also a universal binary.

Okay, so like all other Mac-heads, I was intently tuned into what was going down this morning at the Steve-note. I was looking forward to the preview of Leopard OS X 10.5. I was looking forward to Apple making the Intel transition complete. Those two things happened today, plus a few surprises. I don’t think today’s preview of Leopard exposes everything that this OS update has in store for us by the time it hits the street next Spring. At least I hope, because most of what was shown today, was marginally impressive.

Time Machine. I think the idea of automated backup and restore is a great one, but I think the interface is corny. I agree with Jon Hicks’ assessment that Apple’s UI designers were smoking something when they came up with that one.

Spaces. Split on this one. I hate to see Apple encroach on third-party developers, but the purist in me loves to see this kind of stuff rolled into the OS.

Updates to iChat, Mail, iCal, Core Graphics, Spotlight. Zzzzzz.

Things that I hoped to see today, but may still happen before Spring:

• Improved Finder
• Unified window chrome (Death to brushed metal and pinstripe!)
• Unification of Mail, Address Book, and iCal into a single app.
• Resolution Independent UI
• Tabbed iChat (yeah I know I can use Chax for this)
• iSync that supports my Blackberry (via Bluetooth)

Back in the old days, which for me was about 1998, I remember how much of a pain it was to set up a web development environment on a computer. Go get this package, install this component, build with these options, etc.

That pain has been completely eliminated for me now. I use two standalone applications that give me a robust environment for developing with Ruby on Rails, PHP, MySQL, and Apache/LightTPD on my PowerBook. For Rails I use Locomotive, which gives me a quick way to get a Ruby on Rails Environment up and running with LightTPD and FastCGI. I also use MAMP, to get a Apache, MySQL, and PHP environment setup quickly. MAMP even has a dashboard widget that lets you start and stop the servers.

If you’re on Windows and need a good Apache, MySQL, and PHP environment, I recommend WAMP. For Rails you can use: InstantRails

Update: Randy recommends XAMPP for Windows. I tried this today, and I must say it seems quite a bit better than WAMP. Thanks Randy.

I recently discovered Handbrake, free DVD Ripping/Encoding software for the Mac. There are plenty of apps for Windows that will rip DVD and turn it into an .avi or .mpg file, but it has been an arduous process on the Mac until now. Handbrake will rip DVDs into .avi files, mp4, or H.264 format all in one simple step.

Okay, so at the risk of being forever branded a “Mac Nerd” I was about the 50th or so in line for the grand opening of the Apple Store at the Gateway. I arrived at about 7:30am, but the first person in line was there at 9:00pm the night before. I felt like 2 and half hours of waiting was “nerdy” enough. So the store looks great, the employees were really getting into all the excitement, and overall it was pretty fun. They started letting 70 people at a time in at 10:00am. I left there about 45 minutes later, and the line was about 2-3 people wide and about two blocks long! I took some photos, you can see them on this site or on Flickr.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a new Apple Store will be opening in The Gateway sometime in November.  News and spy photos can be found in the forums of ifoapplestore.com.

Ever heard of the saying, “One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch”? Well, that’s what’s happening to me.

I use 20″ iMac G5 at work. My employer, though a windows guy, graciously allows me to use the OS of my choice. The iMac is a great computer—it is sexy, compact, and quite powerful. But I would never buy one again. Why? Because the logic board just went out for the second time in 4 months.

The first time this happened was back in May, at the ripe old age of 3 months. I came in one morning, and the machine wouldn’t even turn on. In turned out that the logic board and the power supply were dead. We took the machine into a local Mac repair shop and didn’t end up getting it back for 5 weeks because the logic boards were out of stock for Apple.

So here I’ve been running smoothly again, until just a few days ago. I came in, and never got past the grey Apple screen. Turns out the logic board is dead once again. I asked the guy at the CompUSA service center if they dealt with many logic board problems with the iMacs. He answered, “Lots”. So now I’m looking at about 2 weeks with no iMac.

The problems this causes are two-fold. First, I have to use a laptop as my primary computer for a couple of weeks. I like my PowerBook, but it gets hard to hunch over a laptop looking at a 15″ screen all day, especially when you are used to a beautiful, bright 20″ screen that actually sits at eye-level. Secondly, Apple is losing all sorts of credibility with my Windows user boss who recently purchased a Mac Mini for his family’s home computer. How can I say anything at all about how great Apple and their computers are, with this looming over my head. This is how “One bad Apple, can spoil the whole bunch”, at least in the minds of people who might be thinking of switching to the Mac. Another thing that is even worse, is that this seems to be a common problem with the G5 iMac. So common, in fact, that the standard warranty has been extended to two years vs one. So if it is so common, why wouldn’t Apple be vigilant about keeping these parts in stock, and even overnighting them to the repair centers? You’d think if Apple really cared about it’s customers (a.k.a. fans) that they would do this, instead of letting them sit for 2-5 weeks without a computer.

Update 1:
I called 1-800-SOS-APPLE and explained my situation. I was escalated to a “Product Specialist” who said that he needed to give CompUSA their 5-7 days to fix it (which the seventh day is Monday). He said if they are unable to fix it by then, to e-mail him back with my case # and “they’ll see what other options are available”, which I hope means, we’ll give you a Rev B model.

Update 2:
Well fortunately/unfortunately CompUSA had my computer fixed within the 7 days, so now I guess I’ll just have to wait for the logic board to go out the next time. Frustrating.

Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later, but I am having a terrible experience with Apple right now. On May 12th, I came into work, pressed the power button on my 20″ G5 iMac and nothing happened, after having no luck trying possible solutions to the problem on Apple’s support website, I took the machine into a local authorized repair center (MacSomething). It turns out the Logic board had gone bad. To make matters worse, Apple switch suppliers of this part and it has been on back order for the last 4 weeks. MacSomething didn’t really have control over the situation as they are at the will of Apple to ship them the part, and they are given no ETA until the part actually ships.

On June 3, I called 1-800-SOS-APPLE and explained what was going on. The customer service rep was friendly and apologetic for the situation, but said all she could do was submit a BOSP (Back-Ordered Service Part) email and that I should check back on the 8th.

That is just ridiculous, I am the one who has been waiting 4 weeks for a part and I have to call them? That is terrible customer service. I can’t believe I’m having these problems. I’ve had a couple experiences with Apple support before regarding my PowerBook and an iPod, but those went so smooth, and I had no disruption in service. I would think that if Apple really wants to get more of a foothold in the business computing space they would take better care of their business customers.

Update:
I finally got the iMac back. When I called on the 8th, Apple said my part had shipped, and MacSomething had the machine fixed the same day they received the part.

I’ve pre-ordered Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger from Amazon.com and it should be arriving soon. The features I look forward to most are Spotlight, Dashboard, and Automator…in that order.

Spotlight

I think Spotlight is going to be the biggest change in my everyday computer use. I always find myself needing to search for things (other than just files) from a single interface. The introduction of Spotlight is only the beginning, in the future there should be some cool ways of extending this functionality.

Dashboard

Dashboard consists of widgets: mini-applications that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information. With a single click, Dashboard appears, complete with widgets that bring you a world of information — real-time weather, stock tickers, flight information and more — instantly. Dashboard disappears just as easily, so you can get back to what you were doing. Since these widgets are just javascript, html, & css, I’m looking forward to developing a few of my own.

Automator

Automator allows you to create workflows to accomplish repetitive tasks. This is really going to put the power of AppleScript into the hands of the masses.

A few months ago, I heard about people who participated in the referral program at FreeIpods.com. I’ve seen these people with their iPods, and this is totally legit. In fact I believe one of the local tv news stations did a story on this. So now the same company (Gratis Network) is doing the same for the iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini.

If you would like to help me out and get on your way to getting your own free Mac Mini, go to: http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=13999225

If you would like to help me out and get on your way to getting your own free iPod Shuffle, go to: http://www.FreeiPodShuffle.com/?r=14005764