Category: technology

I got some more junk mail this morning, and had to finally write something about what I’ve noticed a few times recently – i get a kick out of the sloppy photoshop work and wonder if companies expect consumers of average intelligence to swallow everything they feed us?

The COVER of CDW’s latest mailer:

Big deal right?

Let’s look a little closer:

Ok, little handy-held windows unit right?

wait a minute:

Yup.  That’s OSX’s Safari web browser – not the windows version, but unless someone was using “window blinds” to change the windows shell, we’re definitely looking at a macintosh “command+shift+4, space” screenshot photoshopped onto this unspecting model’s little screen.  Easy enough for the marketing department, but on a national mailer?  What if I wanted to purchase this fantastic little device that seemingly runs OSX?  Could I sue them for false advertising?  Probably not – but it does make me wonder just how far they can push the advertising envelope and cut corners just to get their stuff out the door… I guess “pretty” sells, that’s why they dont use phootos of turned-off computers in their glossy sales fodder.

Sure enough, the world hasn’t stopped since I wrote this post, just another observation of impossibility and how easily we’re hoodwinked by the photoshop elite.

Just recieved the new Palm Treo 800w from sprint today… It’s been hard to contain my excitement… Not that I havent been happy with my Treo 700p for some time – it has served me well…  It’s just… beat up and I’ve had the crave for something a little more techie.

Got the box, the phone feels like a really nice weight, better ballance overall than the 700p, which kind of feels like a happy meal toy.  Everything is plastic of course, so it’s not half as sexy as a new ipod, but following the design of the centro, this unit has no external antenna and a somewhat symmetrical layout.

I’ve had the 800w out of the box for a total of 15 minutes, already I have it connected to the office wifi and have begun downloading my IMAP office e-mail. Oh, and I updated my twitter with it already. Crazy. Eventually i’ll have to call sprint to activate my number, and connect it to my mac to get my contacts going, but until then, I have some work to do – but oh the goodness!  I can’t wait to install opera and try to do some basic administration on my websites.

Having trouble syncing your smartphone with your mac?  I did, and decided to post a short writeup to expand the wealth of knowledge on the internet.  This method worked fine for me with my Treo 700p and MacBook Pro intel 2.4 – it probably will for you too.

I had to re-install my macbook over the weekend because I upgraded the hard drive.  (I pulled a 250 from a recent costco purchase, so thanks to Western Digital, I’m now fast, fat and happy!) So… to gain the added experience of restoring a macbook from files of a crashed drive, I swapped out the drives (after making a backup of course) rather than run time machine (which is hella cool btw) and did it with straight data from the old drive.

So anyways, the method that I used and hoops I jumped through to get my Treo Sync’d with iCal and Address Book:

1. Install Palm Desktop 4.2.1 Rev D
http://www.palm.com/us/support/macintosh/macdesk421revd.html

2. Sync the Treo using USB cable (not sure if this step is needed or not, but I assumed the conduit connections need to be created first – and I didn’t mind making a backup to the palm desktop software)

3. Open iSync – select “Devices -> Enable Palm OS Syncing…” This should disable the conventional palm conduit and get you ready to sync in iSync

4.  From Palm Desktop, Select “HotSync -> Conduit Settings” – notice that iSync Conduit says “see Conduit Settings” – click it and then click the “conduit settings” button.

5. “Enable iSync for this Palm device” MUST have a check – do this, click “ok”

6. Re-open iSync if you closed it – you should now have your treo in the list.  Click the “Sync Devices” button and perform a hotsync from your palm – voila!

I realize this method isn’t all inclusive, and may work with other devices.  Like I said, it worked for me, maybe it can help you too!

Peace

Made the decision to disable the HD audio to the HDMI port in the bios. I know, i hate workarounds too, but I wasted more than an hour looking for a solution, and i’ll never get that hour back. I could have been having fun playing “Phantom Hourglass” instead.

So, rather than waste more time talking about the motherboard with the flaw, I’m going to spend the rest of the time talking about how fun the “Phantom Hourglass” is. It is really fun. If you own 1 game for your Nintendo DS system, it definitely should be new super mario bros. If you can afford two, definitely pick up Zelda: The Pantom Hourglass… It has the same feel that made Zelda for the super nintendo so great – but since it uses a real 3d graphics engine and the stylus for all control, it’s way funner. It has sailing, so if you hated that in the Wind Waker, you’ll still hate it here… but at least the cannon is fun, and you can blast things to your heart’s contempt.