MacBook Back Up Strategy Part 2

A couple years ago, I duct-tape-and-baling-twined a backup strategy together with rsync and ical with an offsite backup to the down defunct StrongSpace. Since then, I’ve attempted to use Apple’s TimeMachine – both with a local drive and a driver connected to my AirPort Extreme. Too frequently, I ended up corrupt backup files or the …

Hackintosh Success: OS X on Dell Mini 9

There’s been lots of chatter about the sub-$300 laptops, dubbed “netbooks” and their ability to run OS X. After reading through the How-To instructions on hacking OS X onto a Dell Mini, my initial thought was: By Step 5, I’ve already paid for a used MacBook. I picked up an 8GB Mini 9 for $250 …

iPod Touch 2nd Generation 16GB: First Impressions

A couple weeks back, I picked up a 2nd Generation Apple iPod Touch – partially so I could start playing with web apps for it and partially cause my much beloved 3rd Gen 40gig iPod is starting to flake out. I’ve been primarily for programming-related movies (PeepCode, SDRuby, and Pragmatic Programers), a calendar & address …

The New Apple Product Dilemma

Apple’s been great about keeping their product offerings simple and straight forward. Historically, the biggest question when deciding on which Apple computer to purchase was: Do I want the power & storage of a desktop or the portability of a laptop? Even today, the prices between a 2.4GHz iMac and a similarly spec’d 2.0GHz Mac …

Thinking About iPhone Web Apps for the Enterprise

Apple’s initial iPhone application model (build a decent website) is brilliant. Websites are easily the fastest, most compatible, most maintainable, most popular, way to create software applications. Once Apple supported adding specific website’s to the icons on the iPhone’s home screen, you’ve got the equivalent of applications on the Palm Treo – with internet access …

Leopard Installs Not Always Problem Free

After the customary until-you-cant-take-it-anymore 30-minute waiting period, I installed 10.5 Leopard on the Mac mini that serves my local network. The mini isn’t my primary work machine, and it’s regular duties are fairly straight forward: transport backups, be invisible. As such, the upgrade was quick and straight-forward (but I wasn’t really paying attention, I was …

RSS Everywhere: Mail.app

Rex Hammock confirms Mac OS X 10.5’s Mail.app supports reading RSS. While I’ve yet to see Apple implement RSS in a smart way, RSS in Mail.app proves RSS support will be ubiquitous. Just as I mentioned last month. Can’t wait to see if Mail.app is a better podcast-receiver than iTunes. If you’ve got Leopard installed …