Service Pack 3 Just In Time

As I mentioned in my previous post, I installed Windows XP on my Mac today and the longest part of the process was installing all of the critical updates for Windows with Service Pack 2.  It's been a while since I had to reformat my old Windows machine so I had forgotten how many updates there were on top of Service Pack 2 now.  

The final tally: 101 critical updates.  Yikes!

Installing all of these took around 30 minutes and most of them were security patches.  IE 7 is now considered a critical update (I never understood why it wasn't when it first came out), but WMP 11 is not, which makes no sense to me.  The primary media player for the OS is now two complete versions ahead of the one bundled with the OS and it's not a critical update!?  I would guess that media probably consumes at least 25% of computer activity these days - How is that not critical?

Service pack 3 should roll up all 101 of these updates into one neat little package this week as it rolls out to users, which seems just in time as the number of critical updates crosses the century mark.

Review: Apple Boot Camp

I installed Windows XP on my MacBook Pro today so I could use a few necessary applications that are Windows only, mainly AutoCAD and the ARE practice software (which might be the most antiquated, poorly written piece of shi...I mean software I've ever used, but I digress).  I won't go through the process as I'm pretty late to the Boot Camp party, and a lot of other really good Boot Camp guides currently hang out on the internets.

There is a level of comfort in knowing that you can dual boot to use some Windows-only software or use a Windows-only device, but what I find really cool is that Boot Camp basically gives you a second computer for around $100.  I would have loved to install Vista on my machine so I could get a little more familiar with the OS (and have a new toy to play with), but my software required XP.  Thanks Prometric!  I think Boot Camp is a really good solution for people who are curious about Macs and don't have to heavily lean on Windows for productivity outside of the office.  Fusion and Parallels are also good, but Boot Camp is free and it runs at native speed, which is nice for heavy software.  Boot Camp provides an easy way to delete your Windows partition if you decide that the big W is too much ugly or too much evil for your new beauty to handle.

The install tells you to print out the "Installation and Setup Guide" (26 pages) prior to starting your Boot Camp party, which you'll need to do as you won't be able to access a digital guide during the process.  The guide is nice and detailed with graphics to help you recognize certain points along the way, although the Windows portion could be a little more detailed - There are several moments during the Windows installation where the computer sort of freezes for a minute or two and there is no note of these pauses in the guide, which would be nice for impatient people like me.  I also had one hiccup during my installation where my computer completely froze and would not boot from the Windows disc until I rebooted the machine.  

Not a whole lot to the install and once it's done, it's just Windows....on your Mac.  My install runs fine.  All of the Leopard drivers work perfectly, my Apple bluetooth keyboard paired without any problems, and the Boot Camp utility makes rebooting to the OS of your choice a snap. 

The part of Boot Camp that takes the longest........installing all the critical Windows updates.

Review: Logitech V470

I was looking for a Bluetooth wireless mouse to compliment my new MacBook Pro, when I found this one from Logitech. I've enjoyed some nice Logitech products over the last few years including several mice. I didn't even consider going the way of Apple's Mighty Mouse as they've deemed the well established scroll wheel "unsatisfactory" in favor of their "scroll ball" for some unknown reason. I've tried the "scroll ball" and it's completely broken in terms of CAD usage (where around half of your commands are executed with the middle, third mouse button). The Logitech V470 is not much different - Namely, it's completely broken.

The Good - The price is right at 25 bucks after rebate, in fact it might be the cheapest Bluetooth mouse around (for good reason). The design is pretty good. I like simple mice and this one is very simple with just three buttons. I've never really found a reason for forward/back buttons on my mouse - I'm not in that much of a hurry. The materials are pretty good for the price. They feel nice to the touch and the size/weight of the mouse feels nice in the hand. Syncing the device with the MBP could not be easier. My notebook instantly found the mouse and synced. That's where the good ends and the fail begins because the performance of this mouse is a joke.

The Bad - A mouse has to have near perfect performance as it acts as the main bridge between the user and his/her computer. Any slight deviations in movement are easily noticed as we use our hands constantly for almost every action daily including computer usage. The Logitech V470 has noticeable lag between the user's hand gestures and their translation of movement on the screen. While the lag is only fractions of a second, it's significant to your eyes and hands communicating with each other. In short it makes this mouse a nice paperweight, but there are more problems. In order for wireless mice to save battery life, they power down after a designated idle time (the V470 seems to take about ten seconds or so before it sleeps). Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the V470 takes a second or two to come out its sleep, which is extremely annoying. You end up sort of shaking the mouse for a second before you can use it......every ten seconds! The problem is actually much worse if you actually power down the mouse using the on/off switch on the bottom of it.

The V470 comes in blue and white, but this fact shouldn't matter as caring about the color of this product would equate to caring about the color of a new car without an engine in it. There's not much else I can say about the V470 as I don't have it in my possession anymore. I sent this one back the next day. Come on, Logitech.

Review: Creative MuVo T100

First, let me explain why I like to buy small, cheap DAPs like they're going out of style.....which they are. These things get thrown around with the rest of my daily possessions like my keys, wallet, and mobile phone so I put them to work pretty hard. If one breaks, it's no big deal as they're fairly inexpensive and I don't get attached to them at all. I've used a few different usb-stick form factor DAPs in the last few years and the MuVo T100 is the best to date.

The form factor and design of the T100 are really nice despite a few flaws that are easy to get over. The player is very solid feeling despite its tiny footprint. The plastic is extremely scratch resistant and the little thing is durable - I've dropped it several times on the pavement with little to no scratching and no damage to the function. The player is light and the usb cap snaps into place firmly and easily (it's never once come off by accident). There are only a few buttons. The front of the player is mapped exactly like the first generation iPod Shuffle (play, pause, volume up/down, and track forward/backward). The right side has a "Bass Boost" button that has three settings, all of which I find similar and somewhat useless on a player like this. The left side has a toggle switch that will put the player in shuffle mode or cycle through folders stored on the player. The folder cycling can actually be extremely useful if you simply drag and drop several folders of music into memory provided that your music collection is nicely organized on your computer to begin with.

The T100 has 2GB of memory and it doubles as a flash drive so you can store all sorts of files it. Compatible audio formats (MP3 / WMA / WAV / Audible) are simply found by the device and played back despite their folder location. At 2GB, it holds around 500 songs. The player charges quickly over usb and battery life is pretty good rated at around 10 hours, which I've found to be pretty close to actual usage. No software is required to use the T100 as it just works drag and drop style like a flash drive. I find the attached usb interface extremely useful as I can load podcasts on the fly from any computer as they are published through the day as well as charge the player without having to remember a cable or dongle.

A few gripes include some bugs that occur after using the player with a Mac and some buttons that could have been designed better. Deleted files still play back until a format after interfacing with a Mac and the set of buttons on the face of the T100 are too flat and occasionally invite undesired button pushes. One nice feature of the player is that it remembers stop points of audio tracks really, really well. Even after loading more data into memory or deleting data, the player will retain a memory of where it left off.

For $39 the durability and versatility of the T100 are hard to beat for a small, light player to compliment workouts or abusive, daily use.

TV Is Dead

I've been blabbing about this for a while (not here) but I think TV as we know it is dead.  The concept of waiting around for shows or having to record them for later (no matter how easy DVR or Tivo make it) seems completely antiquated to me.  Maybe I'm just a geek, but I don't really watch TV anymore - I've replaced the idiot box with another idiot box known as my computer.  If I'm in my car I'm usually listening to audio podcasts, and when I'm home I can usually be found hunched over my desk getting lost on the Internet.  All of this stuff is on demand when I want it - even if something I love is on live, I usually will just try to catch it later via download (with the exception of sports).  Even Sportscenter, which I used to be able to watch a few times a day (of the same highlights over and over) seems like a waste of time to me now when I can get the same news in my car or in a few minutes via Internet video.  

What actually made me think about this now was a recent browsing of the iTunes video podcasts selection.  It's amazing how much video content is being produced that is actually very good (and free for that matter).  Even more amazing is the variety of content - much, much more than what's on television.  I think TV will eventually have to pattern itself after the iTunes sort of model where content is released and viewers subscribe to a channel of content or a specific piece of content and pay per subscription.  The concept of paying for 150 channels, 5 of which you watch with some consistency, will eventually be recognized for what it is - a huge ripoff.