Mac mini blog

Instead of a Mac get an OLPC XO or Asus EEE

2007-11-12T19:27:00.001-05:00

I've bought one of each and will do a review when they come in. I've written up a first look on my new blog.

My Other Blog

2007-02-20T09:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry I ended the Mac mini blog so abruptly but I ended up getting a MacBook and never did pick up one of the Intel Mac minis. I would get one right now because I want to have a small server again but I'm waiting for Apple to update the mini to Core 2 Duo.

Anyway to keep up with me you can always read my main blog and check out all my other sites through my portal.

The King Is Dead, All Hail The King

2006-03-02T06:13:00.000-05:00

I'm psyched about the new mini. I'm going to get one next paycheck.

Here's my first impressions:

Price
The price went up but so did the features. It would have rocked if Apple had been able to keep the price at $500-700 but you can tell they don't have a lot of margin because the educational discount is $30.

Duo Core
Love it. I'm glad I didn't buy a MacBook Pro now. I want the new iBook (which will be called just MacBook) because I don't like the aluminum case of the Pro and it's too big. But I want dual core goodness which I thought Apple wouldn't put in the MacBook because they would want to force me to buy the Pro. Now that the mini has it I'm sure the MacBook will as well. Yeah!

Gigabit
This kicks so much ass. Case has a super fast network and now I'll be able to download crap in seconds instead of minutes. Plus I know it's going to be on the MacBook as well.

GMA950
It kind of sucks that its a crappy Intel video chip with shared memory. But on the plus side it's gotten decent reviews and with the f'ing fast memory bus it should be OK. I'll benchmark when I get my mini and find out.

FrontRow
This is going to be so much better than Sailing Clicker and the video streaming is sweet.

I swear I'm not as much of an Apple fan boy as others. When you cut me I don't bleed rainbow colors but this mini is exactly what I was waiting for. Thanks Steve!

Cleveland Tiger Party Pics

2005-05-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

Brad Farnsworth and myself took pictures at our Case party. While Sherrie from the Apple Store at Legacy Village was having a blast with her staff!

Check out this enterprising Apple user who brought his tower in style:

Humor: Cult Meeting

2005-05-01T14:18:00.000-05:00

I though this was really funny.

News: Tiger Doesn't Work With Cisco VPN

2005-04-29T05:38:00.000-05:00

Tiger is not compatible with the Cisco VPN Client. The fix is supposed to be out in May. Until then if you need VPN do not upgrade to Tiger. If you would still like to try it out you can repartition your hard drive and dual boot Tiger, or install it onto another drive such as an iPod. I have had bad luck with the non destructive repartitioning software on the Mac. If you've used something that works reliably and quickly please let me know. The best solution I see right now is to backup your data and wipe the drive and then create the partitions.

News: Tiger Party Details

2005-04-28T07:06:00.000-05:00

Come one, come all, to the Tiger Release Party at Case's Thwing Student Center. It's open to the public and there will be drinks, food and giveaways. And if your a Case student we will help you install Tiger after 6PM when its released. Let's see how many systems we can get installed!

ACM and SIGMAC are the student groups that setup the event. Apple and PerceptIS (my employer) are sponsoring the event.

Much love to all the people that have helped make this happen. And a special thanks to Samer Karim one of our great student employes. Without his help I couldn't have made this happen.

There is also a party going on at the Apple Store at Legacy Village. I'm sure they'll have more giveaways but we'll be installing more copies of Tiger!

News: Tiger Release Party @ Case

2005-04-28T07:03:00.000-05:00

News: My New blog

2005-04-09T19:03:00.000-05:00

I've put up a personal blog. I will keep updating the Mac mini blog. I just wanted a place to put things that are not about the Mac. Let me know what you think.

News: Where I've Been

2005-03-29T19:32:00.000-05:00

Hello gentle readers,

You've sent me more than a few emails asking where I've been. Has Microsoft silenced me? Have they got me in a South American torture compound reconditioning me to recant my love for the Mac and conform to the Windows world?

Turns out nothing quite as exciting. I just got a new job. It is a really cool gig working for PerceptIS which is kind of like Case's outsourced IT department. I'm working in the Weatherhead School of Management's crazy Peter B. Lewis Building which is quite cool since I've long admired it's kooky curves.

I'm splitting my time between SysAdmin and General Tech work, which unfortunately means I have to deal with Windows on a daily basis. But I have to give them points for giving me a PowerBook G4 800 for my work computer and having me co-admin a Xserve G4 cluster.

I really like everyone I work with. They are a motley crew so I fit right in. I just hope my big mouth doesn't get me in hot water, but for once it seems like a large company actually wants to hear what it's people think.

We've got some cool things coming up like a Linux Install Fest this weekend. I'm going to take my mini and show it off running Linux. There's free food so if your in the area drop in and say hey.

And I'm working on a review of my new external Western Digital Hard Drive, which I'll try to post tomorrow.

Link: My mini Overview

2005-03-21T09:39:00.000-05:00

Checkout my overview of the mini over at Sudhian.

I want to thank everyone at Sudhian for their help including Joel, Jasper, Adam and Paul.

HowTo: Download TV Shows

2005-03-17T11:06:00.000-05:00

First off you should only do this if you have legal access to the shows by subscribing to cable or satellite TV.

1. Download Azureus and RSS Feeds.

2. Drag Azureus to your Applications dir. Next launch it and then quit. Now you will have an Azureus folder in ~/Library/Application Support. Drag the rssfeed_1 folder into ~/Library/Application Support/Azureus/plugins.

3. Restart Azureus select Azureus>Preferences. Under Connection set a high port number like 49167 and make sure this is forwarded through your router. Select Transfer and set the global max upload to something less than your upstream. For example if you have a 1.5/768 DSL connection set the max upload to 50. Otherwise you'll over saturate your upstream and kill you downstream speeds. Next choose Files>Torrents and select your Save Directory. Close options.

4. Now it's time to configure the RSS Feeds. Goto the Plugins menu and select RSSFeed. Then click on options and set an RSS Feed URL by click the + sign. Enter in BTEfnet as the name and http://www.btefnet.net/backend.php as the URL check Enabled and click Accept. Now click + next to filters and enter The Daily Show for the name and daily as the filter. Then check Filter searches title and Enable then Accept.

5. Enjoy your shows with VLC or MPlayer OS X.

Screen Grab of RSS Feed URL and RSS Feed Filter.

News: I'm Alive

2005-03-13T14:17:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not posting in a long time. I've been busy writing a review of the mini for a major hardware review site.

I finally got around to installing my RAM upgrade.

This video makes opening the mini easy but I found a better technique to put it back together. Put the back on first then use the putty knife to clip on the front.

BTW I used Kingston Value RAM and it's working great. Maybe it's just me but the mini feels a little bit snapper and I think it may be due to the fact the Kingston RAM has a lower CAS Latency of 2.5 vs the Hynix's 3.0.

Someone asked for a HOWTO on downloading TV shows. I promise I'll post one tonight.

News: No Doom III

2005-03-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

Always trying to hold my title as master of the obvious it looks like Doom III will not run on the mini. But when Apple shoehorns a 64MB video card and a slightly faster G4 in the next gen mini it will.

For Sale: Sharp PG-M10S DLP Projector

2005-03-04T23:33:00.000-05:00

I'm selling my Sharp PG-M10S. It's not getting much use anymore. I prefer my BenQ PB2120 but the Sharp is a great little projector and deserves a good home. The lamp was replaced and the current one has less than 100 hours on it. All reasonable offers will be considered. Of course if I don't get a decent offer I'll just keep it as a backup.

News: Here Come the Knockoffs

2005-03-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

Intel has been showing off this concept PC that looks a lot like our favorite computer.

Link: Switch Guide

2005-03-03T01:41:00.000-05:00

In his normal zen way The Tao of Mac writes an excellent guide for newbie mac owners.

Humor: mini Slowest Super Computer

2005-03-02T23:24:00.000-05:00

But it now comes with cheese.

AV: syncOtunes

2005-03-02T22:38:00.000-05:00

syncOtunes is a great way to sync iTunes between different Macs.

Link: MacGamer

2005-03-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

While the Mac isn't going to get anyone to switch based on it's game selection you can still have fun. MacGamer has enough news and reviews to keep you happy.

Switch: uControl

2005-02-26T18:35:00.000-05:00

If your using a Windows keyboard on the Mac the Alt/Option and Apple/Command keys map the opposite of a normal Mac keyboard. uControl lets you change the key mappings and reverse them to their normal Mac order.

AV: ANT

2005-02-25T09:16:00.000-05:00

ANT stands for ANT's Not Television and it sure isn't. While a little ruff it's "good enough". This is a great way to download a ton of vlogs. My favorite is RocketBoom.

The community needs to do more of this rather than just recirculating what the media industry gives us.

HowTo: Shrink Videos

2005-02-24T22:47:00.000-05:00

I have a fast 5Mb cable modem but a lot of my friends around the globe are still on slow analog lines. So when I want to send them a video clip I need to shrink it as much as possible.

Thankfully a underused feature of QuickTime does this in two easy steps.

1. Open video in Quicktime click File>Export

2. Select new filename, codec, and quality settings. For this example I'm using

Export: Movie to MPEG-4
Use: Modem (Quality)

Click Save.

Your done. Here's an example where I shrunk a 1.6MB clip to an amazing 184KB!

Humor: G5 mini

2005-02-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

Now in colors.

Deal: Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse $33

2005-02-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

I have the black version and love it. This white one looks like it will match the mini perfectly. The best part is it has Mac as well as Windows keys and the driver works great.

Cordless Navigator Duo Keyboard and Mouse $32.79 shipped

If you buy one let me know what you think.