Mac +/- for Macs & Mac users, plus or minus, more or less.

I've got a Blackberry 8830 through work, so I can become the expert on Blackberry for the university.

Never used one before. Never had any smart phone before, though I used a Palm for years, and a Newton before that.

I really, really hate this phone. If I hadn't purchased an iPod Touch a few weeks before getting the work phone, I'd probably only dislike it. But I have seen the Promised Land of interfaces, and Rim could not find it with a map.

Documentation is very scarce in the box. I am a tech guy, I can spend time learning it, because it is my job to do so. But it has left me completely convinced that the typical mode of set up for this device is for the user to hand it to his or her IT person and say "Make this work."

Mark Space's Missing Sync syncing is unreliable and very very slow. And it is insulting that we have to buy software to make it work at all--the free from Rim pocketmac sw was a complete failure.

Reading anything on the tiny, overly busy screen is a pain.

It comes pre-configured with an (in)convenience button that goes off randomly, leaving my pants repeating "Say a command!" at random times.

Oh, and it's broken now, with a scroll button that only goes up, left and right. No, I didn't drop it or spill anything on it. Hopefully I can get that fixed at Alltel tonight.

Blech.

Technorati Tags: Alltel, Tech, UVa

I'm reading Blindsight by Peter Watts right now. Man, is it terrific, awe-inspiring and frightening all at once:

And if the best toys do end up in the hands of those who've never forgotten that life itself is an act of war against intelligent opponents, what does that say about a race whose machines travel between the stars?

Apparently this book is selling so fast and is so hard to find at the moment that the author has released the entire book online as a pdf.

The West Cafeteria in the Hospital makes some disturbingly addictive chicken fingers, but the pizza is terrible. Even when I put it in the toaster to reheat and crisp up, it tasted of bitter cheap cheese.

I miss Bambina's Pizza.

Technorati Tags: Around Grounds, UVa, Virginia

While working to disable Spotlight in OS 10.4 on a new lab mac build, Tim and I suddenly smelled smoke. Looking around at the ceiling first, we didn't immediately notice smoke rolling up from under the lab desk. Pulling plugs as fast as we could, Tim found that the smoke came from the back of one of the Dells next to the Mac workstation I was working with.

This Dell was on but not even logged in and there were no unusual power issues before the smoke. It's on a UPS anyway.

Significant amounts of smoke, by the way.

Now the whole lab area smells of Dell quality.

Check out this story on the Register to see exactly how much it shows.

"Dell continues its race to the bottom with the new management strategy: If your customers continue to ask annoying questions, stop listening."

Here's another, interesting story I found while looking for a graphic to use with the above link.

Clemons Media library is quite the resource for UVa staff. (I mention that as a justification for putting this entry here, and in no way encourage you to check out something I want to watch this weekend.) As I type this, I’m watching Insomnia, one of the two things I borrowed. I’m just at the “accidental” shooting, where I first begin to suspect Pacino’s character as the killer.

Today I borrowed Spider too, and watched that first, thank goodness. That was a big waste of a DVD, not to mention the millions of dollars to make the movie and the time Ralph Finnes could have been spending on a more interesting script. Blech. I should know better than to expect satisfactory story telling from David Cronenborg.

Pretty hilarious though, to see the actor who plays the "never nude" guy from Arrested Development as a county deputy in Insomnia.

Not exactly Mac-related, but after something like 7 years wait, Bodo's Bagels opened at the Corner today.

It's very nice inside. Seems likely they're trying to lure the Starbuck's crowd. I didn't notice if they have free Wireless. I guess a field trip is in order.

6 days ago I handed over a Titanium PowerBook to Cavalier Computers because the bottom right case was separating at the top and bottom from the middle frame. It had a blank hard drive when it went out.

I just called to find out the status of that repair. Here's the scoop:

• Apple either imaged a new system on it, or replaced the hard drive. A new drive would be nice. (The tech mentioned that Apple no longer sends back the old drive when they replace it with a new one. Good thing the drive was blank in this case.)
• Apple replaced (at least) the frame surrounding the top LCD lid. I don't think they replaced the LCD itself. To my eye, there wasn't anything wrong with the top lid.
• Apple did not repair the bottom frame, which is what it went in for. So it's going back to have that repaired.

So, theoretically, when it comes back, the whole exterior case may be new.

I guess it will ultimately qualify as excellent service, but at the moment, it seems pretty puzzling. I'm sure glad I don't actually need that PowerBook for day-to-day work.