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

Why in the world would the new, otherwise super-cool-give-me-one-now iPod Touch not include the same Mail application that comes on the iPhone? Can anyone explain a business reason for this? I can't imagine there's a technical reason, since Mail already works on the iPhone.

Sure, an 8 GB iPod touch might not be the best thing for syncing two or three big email accounts, but default download preferences for IMAP accounts could fix that issue.

So I can only think of a business issue, something that I'm no analyst of. All the lack of Mail on the touch does is drive everyone to their various webmail gateways, which does fix the problem of storing mail on the touch, but I still don't see why. Apple has nothing to gain by that, since dot Mac mail isn't advertising supported.

Until Yahoo, gmail and the other big webmail providers have a good versions of their interface for iPhone and touch, the user experience for touch users will be terrible.

Let's hope for a pre-release software update!

I've been setting up my own test/practice server for some stuff unrelated to I&I. Or at least I thought it was unrelated. I guess it falls under #2, "Freedom to Experiment."

Looking for open source WebObjects projects, this one rose to the top.

I think implementing something like SiteMaker qualifies as a solution to a problem our users don't know they have, and it's also investigating what other institutions are doing. All part of I&I's vision.  I know I've heard somewhere about UVa investigating a content management system that would be available to all staff and faculty. SiteMaker looks pretty compelling. 

Campus Technology magazine recognizes UM.SiteMaker as the winner of its Innovators-2006 award, in the area of "The Web". — August 1, 2006

Where I had initially intended this server for messing around in PHP and MySQL, now I think I may install SiteMaker and play around with that.

Roughly Drafted does some great tech analysis.

In this article, they share some fascinating stuff I didn't know.

You should read the whole article, especially if you're considering rolling out an Exchange server in an enterprise environment. Say, a major public university for example.

One excerpt:

Users can easily fill up a 2 GB mailbox with saved email attachments on Exchange. The Standard Edition of Exchange only allows a 16 GB mail database, which can easily be filled to capacity by a little as 8 users.

Exchange can become a catastrophic nightmare to support once users start thinking of their Exchange mailbox as a file share alternative which handily sorts their huge attached files by date and message thread.

Technorati Tags: Tech, UVa

iConcertCal is a really amazing iTunes plug in that matches the groups in your playlists to concert dates in your area. No idea how complete it is--big acts don't get to Charlottesville all that often, and my tastes run to odd groups who may not hit the small venues here.

We are not a company and this is not a commercial venture. We are just two grad students in electrical engineering. We wrote this plug-in in our spare time because we were tired of missing concerts for our favorite bands and we figured other people probably are too. We are still working to improve iConcertCal, so if you have suggestions please send them along to us.

I'm very impressed, even though it only found the two Blue Man Group shows coming up. It's probably too much to hope for that it can match up with shows at smaller venues like Starr Hill.

Nice job, o anonymous engineering students!

Based on the wide variety of lackluster and hostile reviews, the Zune is heading the way of Nehru jackets, Audreys and Newtons.

Considering how poorly thought out many of the technical features of the Zune are, it is no surprise.

I imagine a time a few months from now when retailers dump their unsold Zunes for substantial discounts. Since Microsoft's margins on a consumer device must be razor thin, once the clearance discounts start, a Zune will probably be worth more as parts than as a whole device.

So, like these previous devices in search of customers, before you know it industrious hackers will be tearing Zunes apart in order to use the drive, screen and other internal parts for their own hardware projects.



I'm sure the software guys will also work hard to break into the Zune's operating system, just like they found a way to turn the Xbox into the Xbox media center. Just like hackers are already working hard to do to the Xbox 360. I can't wait to see what comes first.

Here are a few of my guesses:

• Linux (really a prerequisite for many of the following things)
• wireless-based walkie-talkie (does Zune have sound in? No specs I could find list it)
• MAME Compatibility
• Doom

What hacks do you imagine will be possible on the Zune platform?

Technorati Tags: hack, Tech, Zune

I'm sitting in the Norfolk airport at the moment, beginning a trip to Florida for family reasons.

Through previous experience I'm resigned to not having any wireless access here, because some dumb pay-for-service company runs the wireless here. (As a result, I try to never fly out of Norfolk.) The vendor, whoever they are, runs something called "flynorfolk"--at least that's how it appears on my Airport menu. I can select it and connect to the flynorfolk network.

Trouble is, when I launch my browser, I just get the blank "Not connected to the internet" message. Clearly, there's supposed to be some sort of paid authentication happening, but I don't get any such thing.

So, since I'm a tech head, I pull up the network pref pane to see what the network looks like. Nothing. Maybe they'll get a little message when I change my DHCP ID to "Paid Wireless Sucks."

So, for a little fun, as I write this, I'm creating an ad-hoc wireless network with the ID "George Allen is a Racist Jerk."

Not that hard to amuse me when I'm this groggy. It's 7:07 am, and I've been up for 2 hours.

When the airport recording comes on to "advise" us about the current TSA Threat Advisory Status, does anyone else experience a moment where they feel like they're in a distopian science fiction movie?

I'll bet you never read the "terms and service" agreements that almost everyone forces on you before you use their product.

If you're considering using the Amazon Unbox movie service, be glad that the folks at Boing Boing have taken the trouble to read and analyze it for you:

Boing Boing: Amazon Unbox to customers: Eat shit and die

For example, here's his analysis of their "privacy" terms:

Amazon says it respects your privacy, but this clause tells the real story. Click "I agree" and you've just signed away permission for Amazon to wiretap all of your viewing habits, and to search your entire hard drive continuously and report back on all the software you've installed. The entertainment industry can produce a blacklist of legal software that it just doesn't care for -- say, software that lets you take screenshots, or screen-movies -- and refuse to allow your movies to run if you've installed it. In other words, this clause lets Hollywood specify how you must configure your PC.

Like Cory Doctorow, I'll never ever buy one of Unbox's movies. At least not while these terms are in place. You shouldn't either.

Technorati Tags: Tech

These are some of my very favorite links, found through years of refined web browsing.

Mac Stuff

• MacNN
• VersionTracker X
• dealmac
• MacSurfer
• The Cult of Mac Blog
• MacFixIt

Tech Coolness

• hack a day
• Instructables: step-by-step collaboration
• Gizmodo
• CommonBits multimedia
• popurls.com | popular urls to the latest web buzz
• The Best Media in Life is Free

General Coolness

Not pictured: two quad core G5 video stations with 23" LCDs. Whee! End of the year spending is fun.

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, UVa

I hate hate hate Formac's support site.

I don't want to look up serial numbers just to have to get a driver.

I don't want to register just to get some info.

Skipping the fact that they should never force a visitor to register in order to get what they need, their terrible terrible terrible support site won't accept my registration of a product, but won't tell me what's wrong with the registration so I can jump through whatever ridiculous hoop they want me to jump through just so I can keep using the hardware I have.

I will very very carefully look for ANY other option besides formac products whenever I purchase such equipment again. If they hope to get my business, they had better be the only company on earth that sells what I need.