81 North Blog

Last week I cancelled my Kindle eBook reader order at Amazon. It felt a bit strange doing this. And I knew that if I should change my mind, the delivery wait would begin all over again.

Why did I cancel? Lack of books that I required. These are books that are work-related and hobby related. Books on xHTML, CSS and standards. The current ones. Books on Apple’s OS X Leopard - the latest operating system for my Mac computer. In searching through the Kindle eBook offerings, I find only OS X Tiger.

As of today, Amazon lists 5,065 ebooks in the Computers And Internet category. Of those, 138 titles are listed in Operating Systems and a mere 7 for Mac OS. When you drill down, you find two titles that are specifically about the OS. The remaing titles are more concerned with programmng in Cocoa and learning about XCode. There are no current ebook titles that cover Leopard (OS X 10.5.x)

For one week, I searched for books that I wanted to read - mostly computer or hobby related (I like to make soap in my spare time). I found none for the Kindle. It was not a good sign. I read so little fiction - and this seems to be the area where Kindle shines.

So it was with much regret that I logged in to my Amazon account and began the cancellation process. I know that I will probably order one again, but only after the publishing houses and authors are able to come to terms with this option and release their current titles right along with their print editions. And perhaps also when generation 2is released.

Back in 2002, I owned a desktop PC and a Hewlitt Packard notebook. I had enough money, at the time, to buy the 17" Flat-Panel iMac running at 800 mHZ.

It was a sweet computer. But it never felt "snappy" enough. Although I wanted to be a switcher, I ended up using it as a testing platform for web sites I worked on. And sometimes I used it to do all my browsing, when the number of viruses, trojans and worms were just too high to feel safe using the Windows computers.

When Apple announced that it would use Intel processors in their future lines, I knew I would become a switcher at some point, for good. The Intel chipsets would bring the same speed and snappiness to the Macs, plus allow me to install virtual Windows and run the software I already owned. As much as I would like to forgo that task, I can’t. I have too much invested in Adobe/Macromedia products. A platform change is something they won’t do. Why, I will never know. Is it really that bad for the bottom line, Adobe?

The good folks over at Color Schemer happily switched my license platform to Mac OS X for me. If they didn’t have a problem with it, why did Adobe? I spent$1,400 on their suite. And they won’t let me move the license to my Mac, and they won’t let me upgrade a single piece of software at a time, because their new suite prices are so over the top I can never afford to upgrade the entire thing again. And they also threatened me with a sort of turing off of my license - you heard that right. That’s another story, though…

Ok, so you get the gist …I liked the new Intel Macs and I could run any software easily on one. And by owning one, I could relax a little about the virus-trojan-worm fears. Maybe not completely, but for a little while, I could stop obsessing about it.

They introduced the new aluminum iMacs in early August. Was it the 7th? I think so. And on the 10th, I bought mine.

It had 1 gig ram installed. I had blown all my cash and had to scrape around just to get the second 1-gigabyte DDR2 module from Crucial. I have heard that this is not a good idea - that if you want more ram, you need to buy the entire amount you want in your computer, and re-allocate the existing ram to something else. The ram in the sets is more or less "matched" and will work together smoothly. I chose not to do that, however. I had to get a second gig in there so I could run Fusion. At the August 2007 prices, I couldn’t afford anything more. I am paying for that decision, though it’s not too bad. Just some slowness on occasion. The rotating beach ball more often than I’d like. If I order the 4-gig set this week, I hope that the beach ball goes away.

And I think I’ve had just a bit of system instability because of that. So my goal, sometime this winter, is to get the 4-gigabyte set and replace the ram I have installed. When I purchased the 1-gig chip in August, it was $50-60. Today’s prices just blow me away - the 4 gigabyte set now costs just $107. Half the price from 5 months ago.

But even with all that, I have to say that running Windows is nice. It’s as fast as if I were running it on the PC desktop I had. Very different from 2002-2003, when I was trying to use "Virtual PC." Virtual PC let you install Windows, but it was so slow that I had to install Windows 98 SE, and even then, I was practically bashing my head against the nearest wall whenever I used it more than 15 minutes. Microsoft even bought Virtual PC and upgraded it, but it never helped as far as I was concerned. The head-bashing, teeth gnashing inclinations were still present. I think they finally retired it.

To summarize, I am completely satisfied with my iMac. It does everything I need it to do, and it is fast. At least fast enough for me. The screen is gorgeous and the colors are rich. My desk is facing outward from the wall - positioned kitty-corner - and so I never have to worry about reflections. The machine itself is so quiet, you could not tell it was running if you weren’t looking at the screen. My old desktop was LOUD - the fans (3 of them) constantly whined. We hated that. Apple has always seemed to take extra care in the silence of their computers. At least that’s my opinion after owning two and demo-ing many more.

So if you are thinking about switching, Id say "go for it." Microsoft doesn’t care - they are, after all, a software company. They know that offices still use their products. And offices can switch to OS X/Macs and still install and use all the Microsoft products, including their operating system.

It’s 8:25 AM, EST. Just 3-1/2 more hours until the keynote speech begins…and the Apple store is closed.

I’ll have a small browser window open, with the MacWorld.com live update page refreshing on it. I’m working on a project this morning, but that doesn’t mean I can’t glance at a page every now and then, right?

It’s always interesting to see what new product will be announced - and in past years I have always felt more than just a little twinge of excitement and anticipation.

Not this year, though

On August 10th, I drove to the nearest Apple store, convinced that I was going to purchase a Mac Mini, because I didn’t “need more than that.” That resolve lasted approximately 5 seconds, once I entered the Apple store. 5 seconds is how long it took me to walk to the iMac section - where Apple’s brand new aluminum version practically glowed with a heavenly light. The screen was gorgeous. The colors rich and saturated, even under the harsh fluorescent lights. It looked me straight in the eye and said “You’ve got enough money to pay for me, why are you even thinking about the baby over there?”

It was crazy - I could almost feel a switch flipping on in my brain. The switch that begins the process of buying the iMac instead of the Mac Mini. The mini’s switch was flicked off like THAT!

Note to Apple - You may want to think about adding some nice white rubber plastic silicone wooden wheels to the bottom of those boxes - along with a handle for pulling it. Just like a nice (nicer) version of a wheeled suitcase. The Apple store I went to is on the 2nd floor of a large mall, and my SUV was parked waaaaayyyyyy out on the fringes of the front parking area. I am not tall enough to carry an iMac box without bending my arm at the elbow to allow it to clear the ground. I am 5’3” tall. That trek to the parking lot was excruciatingly slow. I stopped and let my arm rest so many times. The muscles burned. My back hurt. I just wanted to get that thing in the truck and get myself home. WHy don’t they advise you to bring a wheeled luggage carrier with you. You know the kind I mean? Like this…

I decided one thing that day. The next time I buy a computer, I am going to mail-order it. Forget the luggage carrier. Straight from Apple it comes. My UPS delivery guy will pull into my driveway and bring it right to my doorstep. I can ask him to place it just inside the door, and I’ll open it right there.

Shortly after that, I bought an iPod Nano. I was replacing a Shuffle, which I used while walking/running each day. I think the Nano is adorable. And I have actually watched 3 episodes of “Saving Grace” on it, during various waiting room sessions. It really comes in handy for something like that.

But for my daily outdoor exercise, you know I still prefer the Shuffle. I like the fact that it is so small. I like the heavy-duty clip that is built into it - I clip it to my waistband, under my jacket where it is close to my body. The Nano is too big for that. And although I have looked at the sports armbands, they just wouldn’t do it. On my daily walks, I can encounter 10 degree temperatures with wind-chills lower than that. The dog and I walk in any kind of weather, except freezing rain or ice storms. The iPod Nano didn’t like 20 degree weather. The click wheel stopped working one day, when it got too cold. That’s when I realized that the Shuffle was best for northern outdoor activities.