Archive for June, 2008
You waiting for Me?
Jun 24th
Following the announcement of MobileMe at WWDC a couple of weeks ago I have been looking forward to the early July release so I could sign up with a brand new username and be able to sync my Macs and iPod touch over ‘the cloud’. When I bought my Mac Mini three years ago I tried out the 60-day trial of .Mac but didn’t use any of the services as I wasn’t keen on renewing with a price-tag of £69.
I was going to wait until the Apple Store were shipping before ordering MobileMe, but my friend Chris mentioned that he bought a discounted .Mac Family Pack on Amazon.com which I thought was a great idea. I had a look around and saw an eBay listing for the .Mac user and Family Packs cheaper than elsewhere. I bought .Mac (user) for £48 – a saving of £11 on the soon-to-be MobileMe price. The activation code was e-mailed to me 5 days after purchase due to the increased demand. I headed to the .Mac site late last week and was pleased to grab the name I wanted.
Usually I wouldn’t be too bothered about a saving of around £10 or £11, but at least registering before the upgrade takes place means I have the option of having mail sent to either @mac.com or @me.com. If you want to grab a discounted .Mac so you’re ready and waiting for the switchover then search eBay for ‘dotmac’ and there should be a few listed. Once MobileMe is officially launched then I’ll most likely use it as my main personal address as I’ll be able to access my mail far easier, especially on my iPod touch which never did seem too happy about dealing with my POP3/IMAP mail accounts.
So, here’s the big question…
If you are buying (or moving from .Mac) what features are you particularly looking forward to? One of the features I’m newly excited about since my switch back to Safari yesterday is being able to sync my bookmarks across my Macs and iPod touch. I’ve noticed some intermittent outages on .Mac over the 5 days I’ve had it, mostly with Mail. Since I’m not relying on the service yet then it’s not a problem and I guess this can only be expected during the run up to the MobileMe launch, then hopefully it will be a lot more stable.
Remember, there’ll be a 60-day free trial of MobileMe when it launches so you don’t have to commit right away if you are unsure whether it will suit your needs. I was thinking of signing up for the trial, but then I couldn’t really see why I won’t immediately love and embrace all the features right away since the guided tour has me positively salivating 
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Beautify your WordPress Admin Panel
Jun 23rd
I’m guessing that there are a lot of Mac OS X Leopard users visiting Fruit Bytes and you may even have a WordPress blog of your own. How cool would it be to have a Leopard style WP Admin Panel to replace the default one which is, well, a little bit bland and boring shall we say? Enter Leopard Admin.
It’s the easiest thing to get up and running. Simply download the plugin, upload to your /wp-contents/plugins/ folder in your WordPress installation, activate and voila, a sexy new look to your Admin Panel that will make you want to spend more time blogging, which has got to be a good thing.
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Browser Wars
Jun 23rd
For around two years I have been a Camino user on my Mac. It didn’t start out this way when I got my first Mac three years ago – I was very much a Safari girl. However, I started running into annoying issues where I was being beachballed and had to Force Quit on a regular basis.
I then switched to Firefox for the Mac but it’s distinct Mac-look-lack was a turn off for me and then I heard about Camino which is Mozilla power with Mac Style. It wasn’t long before this became my browser of choice and I’ve used it pretty much exclusively since. There are occasions when websites won’t work correctly in Camino such as my online banking or the o2 website which throws an annoying pop-up at me which repeatedly tells me that my browser is out of date, so for these occasions I almost always use Firefox.
I downloaded Firefox 3 last week on release day to help break the Guinness World Record for most downloaded software in 24 hours. I used it briefly but one thing I noticed was how fast it was. Blazingly so, even compared to Camino 1.6. I was also impressed with it’s slick Mac look. I’m glad it’s finally been updated to at least look like a Mac browser. But, I don’t think it’s one that I could switch over to completely. It’s useful for the sites that won’t play ball in my browser, however.
The problem now is the choice: Camino, Firefox, Safari. I *want* to go back to using Safari as it’s much more stable now and I do like the fact that it’s Apple’s own and has a gorgeous UI (fangirl alert!). Plus on testing it out again today I have found it is MUCH faster than Camino. Of course, the other great thing about switching back to Safari on the iMac and PowerBook will be the ability to sync bookmarks across machines with .Mac/MobileMe. So, looks like I’ll be letting Safari back into my affections…
So, what’s your favourite browser?
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Looking for an affordable High Definition Camcorder?
Jun 22nd
In March I bought an Aiptek AHD200 720p High Definition Camcorder from QVCUK for less than £110. It’s an excellent quality camcorder that feels like it should be twice the price. But now there’s an even higher spec Aiptek for £175 at QVCUK.com which will be available only up until 12 midnight tonight (Sunday 22nd) on 3 easy payments of £58.40. It’s the Aiptek AHD Z500 1080p HD camcorder.
Looks like the big brother to my AHD200 has finally arrived and as you can see in this review here the recommended price for this model is £250, so it looks like QVC have a fabulous deal on today.
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Woopra
Jun 22nd
A couple of weeks ago I found a very comprehensive web tracking and analysis web application called Woopra. After a quick look through it’s feature section I signed up for a free (in beta) account then added my website details in the members section. It took around 5 days for my site to be approved then I was able to choose from putting a few lines of code on the site or installing a plugin for Wordpress. Incidentally, in order to add a website, you need to have direct access to the server in order to install the Woopra tracking JavaScript.
Once I’d installed and activated the Wordpress plugin I then downloaded the Woopra desktop client for Mac (must be a 64-bit Mac to work). There were a few niggling problems with that as it repeatedly told me I needed the latest Java 1.6, which I already had. A quick look through the Woopra support forums and I soon resolved the issue which I will outline here just incase anyone else experiences the same problem. Go to Applications > Utilities > Java > click on Java Preferences and ensure that Java SE 6 (64-bit) is at the top of the Java Application Runtime Settings list, as you can see in this screenshot. If it isn’t then simply click, hold and drag it to the top of the list. You should then be able to install the Mac desktop client without issue.
The desktop client is feature rich and packed with information about your site visitors with lots of tabs to flick through within the Analytics menu. It’s live tracking means it knows who is on your website the minute they hit it and you can view their details (IP, platform, browser, screen resolution, country, referrer etc…). I can easily see which keywords and queries have brought visitors to my site, how long they stay on the site and so much more. Sure, there are stats packages provided with my web hosting, but nothing beats live up to the minute information that is available as a desktop client. A ticker tape also runs along the bottom of the Woopra app window with up-to-the-minute details such as how many visits today, how many new visitors, how long they’ve spent on the site and so on. Woopra is easily the best web tracking app I’ve tried.
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Made to make your mouth water
Jun 10th
Yesterday Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 3G at the WWDC08 Keynote in San Francisco. For weeks there have been all kinds of rumours as to what would be announced during the event, but the more solid rumour was the new iPhone.
During the keynote which started at 6pm UK time, I was in an AIM/iChat with a few people from Twitter, including my favourite Apple Geeks. We decided to have a chatroom on the go as we suspected Twitter wouldn’t be able to cope with the extra traffic during that busy time as it’s been falling over for weeks without something as huge as the Stevenote bringing it to it’s knees. Most of us were also listening to the secret keynote audio stream through ustream.tv and getting deafened by the applause and whoops of delight, especially when the new $199 iPhone pricetag was announced! But, that was fun.
o2 were very quick to update their site with information about the iPhone 3G and how existing customers can get their hands on it come July 11th, with a list of the tariffs and prices. The other great news is the new iPhone will be available for business customers. This will please my other half as he is an o2 Business customer and late last year he held off upgrading his phone in the hope that come November/December he would be able to upgrade to the iPhone and slide across keeping his existing number. Sadly that wasn’t possible, and moving to the iPhone and changing his number isn’t an option. So, late December he begrudgingly upgraded his handset from an old and broken one and now won’t be eligible for an upgrade until Springtime next year, but I’m betting the iPhone will be his next phone.
The other exciting news, however, is o2 are going to offer Pay & Go customers the opportunity to get the iPhone without signing any lengthy contracts. I’m on a contract which I can leave at anytime as long as I give a month’s notice. I changed from my £14-99 a month contract last year to the £15 o2 SIMplicity contract which is just 1 month long, as long as I kept my existing handset. What I would like to do is buy the P&G iPhone and put my SIM into that. I have no idea whether that’s possible as there isn’t any details on the o2 website just yet, but I’ll most probably speak to someone soon at o2 about it to find out whether this is indeed a possibility. I really want the new iPhone and am fully prepared to pay up to £300 for the handset if Uncle Steve and o2 allow me to pop in my own SIM and keep going with my £15 a month tariff. My money is ready and waiting in the bank, just hope it gets to spend itself on the gadget of my choice 
I love o2, been a mobile phone customer for years aswell as an o2 Broadband customer since last November. I will love them even more if I can get in on the iPhone.
Then there’s something else I’ll be throwing my money at come July: MobileMe.
This replaces .Mac and current subscribers will be upgraded for free when the service launches mid-July…and what a fantastic service – well worth the £59 pricetag, in my opinion. Wherever you are, your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac (and/or PC) will always stay in sync via the “cloud”. You can watch the guided tour video here – well worth a look. I didn’t ever get tempted by the .Mac service, but MobileMe blows that out of the water.
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Jun 2nd
This is how chaotic things get in the Fruit Bytes HQ some days.
Created with iStopMotion 2 which is very addictive and a lot of fun. This is the first time-lapse video I created a couple of days ago.
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Plurk Me!
Jun 2nd
It seems like every week I’m discovering new social sites and signing up to them to give them a trial run as I’m always up for trying new things so I can give my opinion (yes, I’ve tried Facebore. Verdict: Zzzzzz) Yesterday it was the turn of Plurk which is a micro-blogging site where you give short 140 character updates.
The site design is nice – bright and fun looking, although I think the “share your emo-ness” is a bit lame and I did wonder if this was going to be aimed towards the 12-16y/misery-teenage-types. The timeline is a bit weird to keep on top of. When I log onto the site a little message comes up to say there’s XX updates…and I never catch up or read what’s been posted as there’s often a lot going on. If there was a Plurk desktop client for Mac then that may make life easier to keep on top of things. I’m not keen on the Karma rating – that’s not something that interests me at all and to be honest I can only see that encouraging people to post for the sake of posting, so they reach new levels and get more emoticons.
Anyway, I’ll be looking in on it every now and again to witness it’s growth – feel free to Plurk me.
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Jun 1st
I had to chuckle when reading this article on TUAW last night which says Mac users are less likely to let friends try out their new gadgets than users of other platforms. The TUAW folk said they let others play with their toys but I have to admit that I am a little bit on the “stingy” side where my techy stuff is concerned…but not exclusive to my Macs either it has to be said. In the TUAW poll I voted “They can try it out for a few minutes while I supervise” – and it looks like 69% of people who voted agree with me.
I don’t mind anyone touching the iMac G3…well, as long as they’re over 18 and have washed their hands I frequently let family members/friends use the G3 to browse the net and check their e-mails, but I always stand guard over my iMac and even my PowerBook. My other half sometimes uses my iMac for a quick net look-up if he doesn’t have time to boot up his laptop and I am cool with that, although I have been known to ask “Are your hands clean?”. I guess part of this ‘don’t touch my stuff’ comes from when my Brothers children grabbed my (then brand-new) SONY Cybershot camera and promptly covered the LCD screen in sticky fingerprints which wouldn’t totally wipe off. I was not happy and eversince then I have kept my cameras at arms length, allowing them to look and not touch. That’s how it should be with kids anyway, along with the “seen and not heard thing”…but even the seen thing is taking it a bit too far. I’m a fun Auntie really 
But yeah, trying out my gadgets while supervised sounds about right to me. I’m a clean person (not in an overly freaky way) but I like to keep things in good condition and free from grubby fingerprints. Yeah, I’m never going to let that one go…
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Six gadgets in Six months
Jun 1st
Since we’re now halfway through the year, I’d like to reflect on the gadgets that have entered my lair over the past 6 months and more importantly discover whether some were just novelties or worth every penny…and perhaps it’ll help others make a decision on whether they should buy.
Apple PowerBook G4 – I bought this from eBay for less than £300 in January. This was bought to take to the studio with me a few times a week, aswell as a ‘bed browsing’ machine. I have used it pretty much everyday since I bought it and it hasn’t let me down. Well worth the (low) price, runs Leopard fine and still such an attractive machine.
Fuji S5700 7MP Digital Camera – Superb camera. It’s easy to use, lots of functions and still lots to learn which is just the way I like it. I paid £104 for this and it’s been worth every penny – using just about every single day. I also bought a couple of extra lenses from eBay for it – a wide angle and a macro.
Aiptek AHD200 High Definition Digital Camcorder – I don’t use this everyday but I guess nobody would expect me to. For a high definition camera the price was amazing, at less than £110. Fantastic video quality as you can see over at my Vimeo page. I still want to create some ‘creative’ videos and now that summer is here (well, on a day like today you wouldn’t think so) I should be able to capture some more.
LOMO Fisheye Camera – I bought this (£22) with the absolute intention of it being a novelty, so it has totally lived up to that. I have taken one roll of film with it which didn’t turn out great, but since I took random shots in 3 days then I didn’t really expect them to. I have used about half a roll of the second film so I suppose I should use up the other half of the film and get it developed to see if there’s much improvement. I don’t regret buying it as I didn’t have huge expectations and film/developing is dirt cheap.
Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet – After doing some graphics work and photo-editing/touching up which was proving fiddly with my Mighty Mouse, I decided to buy the Wacom Bamboo (£59). I wasn’t sure whether this would replace my MM altogether but after a few days it felt completely natural and I used it solid in place of my mouse for 3 weeks. Then one day I just felt like giving my hand a rest so I plugged my mouse back in and have used this eversince. I haven’t had any fiddly graphics work to do in recent weeks but that doesn’t mean I won’t have in the coming ones. It’s on the other desk beside me and can easily be plugged into my USB hub when I need to use it. After the first day of using the pen on the graphics tablet my underarm and arm muscles felt quite tense and sore. That’s because my arm was getting more of a workout than it does with the mouse as my hand was moving around a lot more. After a couple of days I got used to it and had no more tense muscles.
Elgato EyeTV – I’ve had this for a couple of weeks and have found myself recording far more TV shows than I ordinarily would. It’s great to be able to watch live TV at the computer and record my favourite shows, then burn to disc. I have only burned about 5 DVD’s so far as it does take rather a long time for the export process, then burning in iDVD…and that’s just a 30 minute show. If I had Apple TV then I wouldn’t need to use DVD’s, I’d just pop them into my iTunes library and view on my TV screen. I can also stream my recordings via wi-fi to my iPod touch which is very cool.
So, what for the next 6 months? I have a back catalogue in my head, hopefully I’ll get around to buying them.
I’d like Apple TV, for the reason mentioned above but also for the upcoming iTunes Movie Rentals in the UK. Definitely keeping one eye on that.
Time Capsule. Not something I want/need immediately, but it would be nice for TC to handle all my Time Machine backups and I could then use my LaCie 320GB external hard drive exclusively for additional storage space…especially when I start stuffing up my internal HD with the things I record via EyeTV Of the people I know who have Time Capsule they absolutely swear by it.
Apple Cinema Display…as long as it’s refreshed and brought up to date with a similar look to the iMac – built-in iSight, black rim, alu and glass with the choice of Matte or Glossy screen. I’d go for the glossy to be in keeping with my iMac as I prefer glossy. Oh and it also needs to be reduced in price…significantly
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