Just remember, "Black holes are where God divided by zero."* It makes sense that the Christian Science Monitor should be the first ones to make a black hole, all they have to do is pray hard enough and God will create one for them.
Look at it this way, for $120 a year you would be buying 12 albums a year at $10 each at the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). You would then own these songs and pretty much be able to do whatever you want with them. Even if you go broke and can't pay $120 for the next year you will still have the songs if you buy them.
Many people buy less than 12 albums a year so those people will save money by using iTMS rather than renting the music. I seriously doubt that anyone will fork over $7500 all at once to fill their iPods. The reason most people get a 30 meg iPod is not to fill it with new music but to put in the songs bought over the years, along with some new stuff. Not only that but the iPod has many uses other than to store music - I use it all the time to move gigs of files from one machine to another in work, or even as a quick way to boot up a machine if I'm a pinch.
Lastly, I know for a fact that Apple's DRM can hardly be called a DRM. How many people would HONESTLY have a reason to use an audio file on more than 3 computers? Even if you did how hard is it to burn a CD with the songs and then use that CD on as many computers as you want? Judging from Microsoft's history I just don't see them offering DRM files with this degree of freedom. You know for sure that you won't be allowed to burn standard CDs with Microsoft's rental service, if you could then you would now own that song forever and the rental idea would be dead.
it will be a matter of weeks before a shareware maker comes up with a program that takes your aac files...tricks iTunes into writing them to a cd Image and then allowing you to rip to mp3 from the cdImage
You mean like this program? It takes the audio output from pretty much any source, including a running program like iTunes, and encodes it into mp3 or AIFF. It can even pipe the sound data into a command-line program so you can encode using FLAC, Lame, Ogg, or whatever.
Pretty sweet program. You can even use it like to do timed recordings of internet radio shows, kind of like a Tivo for streaming audio.
You are, of course, completely correct. I don't know how I managed to get THAT screwed up but I did.
My best numbers for a TRUE four coin system come up to be 1, 3, 10, 32. My calculation for the number of coins needed for change with these numbers is 4.16 coins per exchange.
Now I see that there is apparently some difference between how I calculate coins exchanged and how the author calculates them. I calculated the coins exchanged by the "greedy" method. With this method you take the change amount and first use as many large coins as you can, then next smaller, and so on. Doing this for every amount of change from 1 to 99 cents, adding up the total coins used, and dividing by the 99 solutions I get the following values:
US 5 coins: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 = 4.24 coins per exchange
US 4 coins: 1, 5, 10, 25 = 4.75 coins per exchange
My 4 coins: 1, 3, 10, 32 = 4.16 coins per exchange
My 5 coins: 1, 3, 6, 16, 40 = 3.60 coins per exchange
Why do my calculations differ from Shallit's? I'm not sure, it is probably related to the use of the "greedy" method. For example: with the set of coins {1, 5, 18, 25} I could use the greedy method make change for 36 cents. This would be a 25 cent coin, a 10 cent coin and a 1 cent coin = 3 coins. A more optimal solution would be to just use two 18 cent coins = 2 coins. Shallit suggests using the Pearson method of allocating coins and I haven't bothered to do this, so I don't know how my coin selection would turn out against that.
Ahh well, just goes to show that you should never post something in one sitting. Write it off to one side and come back and check it before it is posted. Good thing this is just a web forum and not some major bridge engineering project or we'd all be really screwed!:)
I had a little more time to fool around with the numbers. This time the best result I was able to come up with a 4 coin system is using 1, 3, 7, 16, 40. Using these coins I would give an average of 3.49 coins in change, easily beating the system proposed in the article.
For a 5 coin system I came up with the following coins: 1, 2, 5, 10, 22, 47 - with these coins I would need 3.25 coins per transaction, again better than his 5 coin system.
It really doesn't matter how efficient any of these systems are, they are a pain to make change with. The old 1, 5, 10, 25 system works just fine and is easy to use, why "change" it?:)
By the way, for anyone who wants to know how I came up with the values I used here - all I did was assume that 100 cents was the 5th result in a power series (for the 4 coins) or the 6th result in a power series (for the 5 coins). I then calculated the base (b) for the power series by taking the 5th root of 100 or the 6th root of 100. I then calculated b^0, b^1, b^2, b^3, b^4, b^5 and rounded them off to the nearest integer. These numbers were my base coins. I then treated them as the number positions in a n-ary number system and used a quick algorithm to make change for 1 to 99 cents, adding up the number of coins used and dividing by the number of cases (99) I went through.
Heh, thanks. Sometimes you pick up those phrases wrong. Damn spoken word verses written word!:)
It's one better...
on
Making Change
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· Score: 4, Funny
Hey, I can beat this guy at this math thing. According to my calculations there are much more efficient combinations. For example, if you use the coins 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 it will take approximately 3.19 coins per transaction (this is simple binary arithmetic). That's way better than his system which takes 3.89 coins per transaction. The only problem is that the geeks will do just fine with these denominations but just try and ask the average waitress to make change using those coins. Go ahead and ask, I'm sure it will work out just fine!:)
You know, if we mint 1 coin for every amount of change (like a 57 cent coin, a 58 cent one, etc.) then it will only take 1 coin per transaction. Of course then we have to worry about having 99 different coins, making them distinguishable from each other, etc.
The current United States system of currency works just fine. Denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 are easy enough to calculate and efficient enough for all intensive purposes. Sure this proposed new system may be 17% "more efficient" for a computer but real people need to use the system also.
did anyone else notice how they faded out her snatch?
Uh, no. I opened that link with my hands on the key shortcut to close the window, got a quick glimpse and closed it. I didn't take the time to notice any of the subtleties!:)
Pictures like that are like watching the sun, you have to take a quick glance and then look away or it can leave permanent damage!
Not only is the Nomad larger, it is also over 55% heavier than the iPod. Now maybe the extra size and weight don't matter to some people but when I'm carrying around a wallet, keys, cell phone, PDA, and a music player I like to cut down the bulk and weight of all those items any way I can. The Nomad may be nice but I think the iPod is better suited for my needs.
The only way it could get better is if Apple would just make a combination cell phone/PDA/music player! I know, I know - there are some out there already but what I want is true handwriting support, not some gimped, made-up script system or a tiny keyboard. Dammit, bring back the Newton in an updated form already!:)
There is much more good potential in the service than you give it credit for.
Not to mention that, while I'm sure they are thrilled to make money on selling music, Apple is a COMPUTER company. All of the hype for the iTunes Music Service is free advertising for the Macintosh. It is sure to help boost sales of Macs, MacOS X 10.2, iPods, and all the other little goodies Apple sells.
It's like the Apple stores, even if the Apple stores or the music business break 100% even, they will still be worth it for the advertising value.
Depending on how DRM is implemented, you may not be able to easily back up and restore the music from CD. Because under these models you don't have the right to freely copy the data that makes up that music.
No such problems with the music you download from Apple. Although you are limited to playing the songs on 3 different computers (which you can switch at will to 3 completely different computers), you can copy those song files as easily as any other file. You can even burn them to an unlimited number of CDs as standard CD AIFF files, which has the side effect of removing all playing restrictions.
So just use your normal backup software to store a copy of your iTunes music library on a CD or whatever and your music should be as safe as you want it to be.
Note that all the length of all instructions, regardless of mode (32,64) is always 32-bit. So just because you're running in 64-bit mode doesn't mean that all your instructions are twice as long (contrary to popular opinion). Just that all your addresses are twice as long.
Anyway, I don't want to come off as a PITA.
Right, I understand that totally. I was just simplifying and replying quickly to what was said. I should have clarified that the instructions and the addresses together are longer, not that the instructions themselves are longer.
And you didn't come off as a PITA, you clarified something that I forgot to post about in my haste. A PITA would be someone who called me a n00b and proceeded to flame me for my improper use of commas!:)
Only the kernel has to support the 64-bit mode and switching back and forth for the individual applications.
From what I understand there is no 32 or 64 bit modes. 32 bit PPC code is understood natively by the 64 bit Power 970 processor. Think of it as the 32 bit instructions being a subset of the 64 bit instruction set.
The only real difference between 32 bit and 64 bit for the Power 970 is the size of the instruction and how far-reaching the instruction can be. So there should be no slowdown in executing 32 bit instructions.
And there are many more. The point really is that if you start talking to people about "free" software you have to then go through the whole litany about speech and beer and how the software is not just free, it's also free, blah blah blah.
A better name would have made this all moot, but then again I guess that it makes a good topic for the FSF to start a conversation about its ideas. Honestly, it seems to me that there is another type of license that better follows the ideas of "free" software considering it has practically no restrictions on it at all, but that's another argument entirely...:)
why they decided to use the moniker "free" in FSF instead of Freedom is anyones guess really.
Could it be that freedom is a noun while free is an adjective?
There is an adjective in English which is similar to "free as in speech", it's "open". Why not just call software "open software" instead of "free software". You could also use liberal, unconstrained, unrestricted, or several other terms. It's really a shame they chose to use the term "free software" as it is so misleading in English.
Ok, for those who haven't bought used stuff from Amazon's "partners" here's the translation:
"21 used & new" 21 used, you might find a new but don't count on it
"from $7.98" The most sticky, gooey, nasty, scratched up CD is $7.98, count on paying much more for a decent copy
"See more product details" Product details will say that the CDs are "good as new", "almost new", "plays fine" but when you get them they will skip like crazy from being used as coasters by the previous owners.
Now if I buy from the Apple Music Library I am guaranteed to get music that sounds pretty close to original (I can't tell the difference, YMMV), costs $0.99 a song or $9.99 an album, and I can cut out the sucky songs to get more music that I care about. Oh, and no shipping and no waiting for my music. If I want to have a real CD with a jewel case and all they cost like 25 cents and take 5 minutes to burn.
You may prefer to take your chances with buying stuff from Amazon's "partners", however I would rather bypass them entirely and be certain of getting my songs right now and in good condition.
The downside for Apple is that I will be hesitant to buy another product from them. For much less than the $3500 I shelled out, I could have gotten a small Linux laptop that would function to meet my needs. The reason I bought an Apple was for the "fit and finish" and quality I used to associate with them, and I am very disappointed.
I know this doesn't help you but I have found your situation to be very, very rare with Apple. I have had to get a few things fixed over many years of working with Macs and have never had this type of problems out of the box or with their customer service. I have handled over 100 Macs for family, friends, and at work and I have only needed to send 4 computers and a laser printer back in for service. Two of those were laptops and I simply called Apple, got the problem verified, they sent out a mailer and I shipped it out to them. Three days later (one day out there, one day there, one day back) the laptops were back in my hands, fully fixed and they even had some other minor issues fixed that I didn't send them in for.
For the two desktop units and the laser printer I brought them into a local service center. They took a couple of days to get repaired but they came back in perfect shape with the problems fixed. Throughout the whole process everyone was helpful and easy to deal with.
I'm sure that you had these problems but rest assured that they are fairly unique. From what I've heard from many others, Apple's service is very good and usually goes extremely smoothly. Again, it probably doesn't matter to you now and it doesn't help you much to know this. I would say that you should pass your experience on to someone higher up in the Apple food chain, maybe they can make things right.
Bingo, and if you really need 10 cd's of your favourite album then just take one of the burnt cd's and reburn it?
Totally 100% right. Most people forget that you don't HAVE to rip a CD to mp3 or AAC. Just rip the CD to AIFF files and use those to burn a billion copies, all as perfect as the first one.
Apple's restriction on making 10 CDs from the original downloaded AAC files is just there to calm down the music execs. It is not a serious barrier to anyone who is hell-bent on pirating.
Unless you have a LAPTOP and want it to have more than one button. Your suggestion isn't really a viable option on a plane, train, bus, or a lot of the many of places people buy laptops so they can use them in.
Then get one of these mice. They don't require a surface to move on and they have two mouse buttons. Honestly though, there is no real need for a second mouse button in MacOS. Every function is either in a menu up top, or you can hold down the control key and click to bring up a contextual menu. Because of these two things I hardly ever use the second button on my third-party mouse.
Making the entire mouse a button means you can't rest your hand on the mouse.
Turn the mouse over. On the bottom of the mouse is a sensitivity adjustment. Turn it and the mouse will take more force before it clicks. I've never had a problem with my hand accidently clicking on the Apple mice, but if you do that's why there is an adjustment for it.
does it seem like Apple makes things too simplistic, while Unix makes things too complex, yet Microsoft sort-of just sits in the middle?
No, MacOS provides a well-organized and simple interface that allows you to get to the real reason you bought your computer: to do work. Windows just takes over and does what it wants, so you either have to conform to the way Microsoft has set things up, or go on a customization spree to get it to all work the way you want it to.
Even then I've seen stuff in Windows XP like printer settings changing without me touching them, network connections refusing to set up properly, programs running fine one minute and then acting up the next. This is stuff that I've never experienced in MacOS X.
Unix is just there. It is unadulterated, complicated power. Learn it if you need it or get one of the simpler GUI systems if you don't.
Remember, MacOS includes a form of Unix so you can have both the simplicity of the GUI and the power of a Unix-like command line.
Of course there my be a middle man between the two not owned by the record company that drops the companyies cut some. But if not the profit is about equal and slightly favoring the companies.
Just remember that those numbers are not profits, they are income. Profits are what is left over from your income after you have subtracted all of your costs such as electricity, salary, insurance, loans, etc.
Yes, companies are probably making a tidy profit on CDs, but it is nowhere near $6 a CD.
...at 16 colors, you'd have 1/2 of 10base-t speed, and that's assuming 1 flash/sec. I think there's room for at least 5 a second, since most webcams these days do 30fps.
It's be good for phsyical isolation of networks and other devices.
They already have something like this out there - it's called fiber optic networking.
Re:OS X Finder Laundry List - Please add yours.
on
A Better Finder?
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· Score: 1
Click and keep the mouse pointer over the file name. After 2 seconds it goes into rename mode, no further click required. (Yes, the delay is still required)
Actually if you click on the file name and then move the mouse just a little bit it will go into rename mode immediately.
All of my servers are crammed into a small corner of a small room. I do my best to keep it need and tidy, but I have to hook up a 15 inch monitor to a KVM switch. Even with the best cable managment system, it is a nightmare of KVM cables. If I could have these screens in the servers, then I could eliminate the cables, KVM switch, and monitor
Why use a KVM switch and cables at all? I assume that these machines are on a network so just put a VNC client, keyboard, monitor and all on one of them (or any convenient computer) and a VNC server on the rest. Whenever you need to do something on those other servers just connect via the VNC client and do what you need to do.
I'm not saying this mod is useless but it is kinda costly for something you'll probably only use once in a while and can be duplicated practically for free.
$60ish is probably going into Shadowbane instead of NWN now, as it really is going to ship hybrid at launch
I couldn't agree more. I was really hoping to play Neverwinter Nights with the rest of my gaming group, and also to create my own modules for them to play. It is now months later and I have yet to see even a beta of the MacOS client. Not only that, but they have also said that there will be NO toolset for MacOS. It's bad enough that they short Mac users, but they totally lied to us just about right up to the launch about the availability of Mac and Linux clients.
On the other hand, Ubi Soft has done the right thing and is releasing a full-featured, multi-platform Shadowbane. They took the extra time to make sure the game is done right and works for everyone. I've already pre-ordered Shadowbane and I can't wait to fire it up. It is companies such as this that get my gaming dollars.
Slashdot Mirror
Just remember, "Black holes are where God divided by zero."* It makes sense that the Christian Science Monitor should be the first ones to make a black hole, all they have to do is pray hard enough and God will create one for them.
:)
Right?
*quoted from Steven Wright
Look at it this way, for $120 a year you would be buying 12 albums a year at $10 each at the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). You would then own these songs and pretty much be able to do whatever you want with them. Even if you go broke and can't pay $120 for the next year you will still have the songs if you buy them.
Many people buy less than 12 albums a year so those people will save money by using iTMS rather than renting the music. I seriously doubt that anyone will fork over $7500 all at once to fill their iPods. The reason most people get a 30 meg iPod is not to fill it with new music but to put in the songs bought over the years, along with some new stuff. Not only that but the iPod has many uses other than to store music - I use it all the time to move gigs of files from one machine to another in work, or even as a quick way to boot up a machine if I'm a pinch.
Lastly, I know for a fact that Apple's DRM can hardly be called a DRM. How many people would HONESTLY have a reason to use an audio file on more than 3 computers? Even if you did how hard is it to burn a CD with the songs and then use that CD on as many computers as you want? Judging from Microsoft's history I just don't see them offering DRM files with this degree of freedom. You know for sure that you won't be allowed to burn standard CDs with Microsoft's rental service, if you could then you would now own that song forever and the rental idea would be dead.
You mean like this program? It takes the audio output from pretty much any source, including a running program like iTunes, and encodes it into mp3 or AIFF. It can even pipe the sound data into a command-line program so you can encode using FLAC, Lame, Ogg, or whatever.
Pretty sweet program. You can even use it like to do timed recordings of internet radio shows, kind of like a Tivo for streaming audio.
You are, of course, completely correct. I don't know how I managed to get THAT screwed up but I did.
:)
My best numbers for a TRUE four coin system come up to be 1, 3, 10, 32. My calculation for the number of coins needed for change with these numbers is 4.16 coins per exchange.
Now I see that there is apparently some difference between how I calculate coins exchanged and how the author calculates them. I calculated the coins exchanged by the "greedy" method. With this method you take the change amount and first use as many large coins as you can, then next smaller, and so on. Doing this for every amount of change from 1 to 99 cents, adding up the total coins used, and dividing by the 99 solutions I get the following values:
US 5 coins:
1, 5, 10, 25, 50 = 4.24 coins per exchange
US 4 coins:
1, 5, 10, 25 = 4.75 coins per exchange
Shallit's 4 coins:
1, 5, 18, 25 = 4.63 coins per exchange
1, 5, 18, 29 = 4.49 coins per exchange
My 4 coins:
1, 3, 10, 32 = 4.16 coins per exchange
My 5 coins:
1, 3, 6, 16, 40 = 3.60 coins per exchange
Why do my calculations differ from Shallit's? I'm not sure, it is probably related to the use of the "greedy" method. For example: with the set of coins {1, 5, 18, 25} I could use the greedy method make change for 36 cents. This would be a 25 cent coin, a 10 cent coin and a 1 cent coin = 3 coins. A more optimal solution would be to just use two 18 cent coins = 2 coins. Shallit suggests using the Pearson method of allocating coins and I haven't bothered to do this, so I don't know how my coin selection would turn out against that.
Ahh well, just goes to show that you should never post something in one sitting. Write it off to one side and come back and check it before it is posted. Good thing this is just a web forum and not some major bridge engineering project or we'd all be really screwed!
I had a little more time to fool around with the numbers. This time the best result I was able to come up with a 4 coin system is using 1, 3, 7, 16, 40. Using these coins I would give an average of 3.49 coins in change, easily beating the system proposed in the article.
:)
For a 5 coin system I came up with the following coins: 1, 2, 5, 10, 22, 47 - with these coins I would need 3.25 coins per transaction, again better than his 5 coin system.
It really doesn't matter how efficient any of these systems are, they are a pain to make change with. The old 1, 5, 10, 25 system works just fine and is easy to use, why "change" it?
By the way, for anyone who wants to know how I came up with the values I used here - all I did was assume that 100 cents was the 5th result in a power series (for the 4 coins) or the 6th result in a power series (for the 5 coins). I then calculated the base (b) for the power series by taking the 5th root of 100 or the 6th root of 100. I then calculated b^0, b^1, b^2, b^3, b^4, b^5 and rounded them off to the nearest integer. These numbers were my base coins. I then treated them as the number positions in a n-ary number system and used a quick algorithm to make change for 1 to 99 cents, adding up the number of coins used and dividing by the number of cases (99) I went through.
Heh, thanks. Sometimes you pick up those phrases wrong. Damn spoken word verses written word!
Hey, I can beat this guy at this math thing. According to my calculations there are much more efficient combinations. For example, if you use the coins 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 it will take approximately 3.19 coins per transaction (this is simple binary arithmetic). That's way better than his system which takes 3.89 coins per transaction. The only problem is that the geeks will do just fine with these denominations but just try and ask the average waitress to make change using those coins. Go ahead and ask, I'm sure it will work out just fine! :)
You know, if we mint 1 coin for every amount of change (like a 57 cent coin, a 58 cent one, etc.) then it will only take 1 coin per transaction. Of course then we have to worry about having 99 different coins, making them distinguishable from each other, etc.
The current United States system of currency works just fine. Denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 are easy enough to calculate and efficient enough for all intensive purposes. Sure this proposed new system may be 17% "more efficient" for a computer but real people need to use the system also.
Some things are best off just left alone...
Uh, no. I opened that link with my hands on the key shortcut to close the window, got a quick glimpse and closed it. I didn't take the time to notice any of the subtleties!
Pictures like that are like watching the sun, you have to take a quick glance and then look away or it can leave permanent damage!
Not only is the Nomad larger, it is also over 55% heavier than the iPod. Now maybe the extra size and weight don't matter to some people but when I'm carrying around a wallet, keys, cell phone, PDA, and a music player I like to cut down the bulk and weight of all those items any way I can. The Nomad may be nice but I think the iPod is better suited for my needs.
:)
The only way it could get better is if Apple would just make a combination cell phone/PDA/music player! I know, I know - there are some out there already but what I want is true handwriting support, not some gimped, made-up script system or a tiny keyboard. Dammit, bring back the Newton in an updated form already!
Not to mention that, while I'm sure they are thrilled to make money on selling music, Apple is a COMPUTER company. All of the hype for the iTunes Music Service is free advertising for the Macintosh. It is sure to help boost sales of Macs, MacOS X 10.2, iPods, and all the other little goodies Apple sells.
It's like the Apple stores, even if the Apple stores or the music business break 100% even, they will still be worth it for the advertising value.
No such problems with the music you download from Apple. Although you are limited to playing the songs on 3 different computers (which you can switch at will to 3 completely different computers), you can copy those song files as easily as any other file. You can even burn them to an unlimited number of CDs as standard CD AIFF files, which has the side effect of removing all playing restrictions.
So just use your normal backup software to store a copy of your iTunes music library on a CD or whatever and your music should be as safe as you want it to be.
Right, I understand that totally. I was just simplifying and replying quickly to what was said. I should have clarified that the instructions and the addresses together are longer, not that the instructions themselves are longer.
And you didn't come off as a PITA, you clarified something that I forgot to post about in my haste. A PITA would be someone who called me a n00b and proceeded to flame me for my improper use of commas!
From what I understand there is no 32 or 64 bit modes. 32 bit PPC code is understood natively by the 64 bit Power 970 processor. Think of it as the 32 bit instructions being a subset of the 64 bit instruction set.
The only real difference between 32 bit and 64 bit for the Power 970 is the size of the instruction and how far-reaching the instruction can be. So there should be no slowdown in executing 32 bit instructions.
Hmm, and I thought this was the enemy camp. Well, no matter. This is why I made other suggestions. How about these ideas:
Liberated Software
Unrestricted Software
Unfettered Software
And there are many more. The point really is that if you start talking to people about "free" software you have to then go through the whole litany about speech and beer and how the software is not just free, it's also free, blah blah blah.
A better name would have made this all moot, but then again I guess that it makes a good topic for the FSF to start a conversation about its ideas. Honestly, it seems to me that there is another type of license that better follows the ideas of "free" software considering it has practically no restrictions on it at all, but that's another argument entirely...
There is an adjective in English which is similar to "free as in speech", it's "open". Why not just call software "open software" instead of "free software". You could also use liberal, unconstrained, unrestricted, or several other terms. It's really a shame they chose to use the term "free software" as it is so misleading in English.
Ok, for those who haven't bought used stuff from Amazon's "partners" here's the translation:
"21 used & new"
21 used, you might find a new but don't count on it
"from $7.98"
The most sticky, gooey, nasty, scratched up CD is $7.98, count on paying much more for a decent copy
"See more product details"
Product details will say that the CDs are "good as new", "almost new", "plays fine" but when you get them they will skip like crazy from being used as coasters by the previous owners.
Now if I buy from the Apple Music Library I am guaranteed to get music that sounds pretty close to original (I can't tell the difference, YMMV), costs $0.99 a song or $9.99 an album, and I can cut out the sucky songs to get more music that I care about. Oh, and no shipping and no waiting for my music. If I want to have a real CD with a jewel case and all they cost like 25 cents and take 5 minutes to burn.
You may prefer to take your chances with buying stuff from Amazon's "partners", however I would rather bypass them entirely and be certain of getting my songs right now and in good condition.
I know this doesn't help you but I have found your situation to be very, very rare with Apple. I have had to get a few things fixed over many years of working with Macs and have never had this type of problems out of the box or with their customer service. I have handled over 100 Macs for family, friends, and at work and I have only needed to send 4 computers and a laser printer back in for service. Two of those were laptops and I simply called Apple, got the problem verified, they sent out a mailer and I shipped it out to them. Three days later (one day out there, one day there, one day back) the laptops were back in my hands, fully fixed and they even had some other minor issues fixed that I didn't send them in for.
For the two desktop units and the laser printer I brought them into a local service center. They took a couple of days to get repaired but they came back in perfect shape with the problems fixed. Throughout the whole process everyone was helpful and easy to deal with.
I'm sure that you had these problems but rest assured that they are fairly unique. From what I've heard from many others, Apple's service is very good and usually goes extremely smoothly. Again, it probably doesn't matter to you now and it doesn't help you much to know this. I would say that you should pass your experience on to someone higher up in the Apple food chain, maybe they can make things right.
Totally 100% right. Most people forget that you don't HAVE to rip a CD to mp3 or AAC. Just rip the CD to AIFF files and use those to burn a billion copies, all as perfect as the first one.
Apple's restriction on making 10 CDs from the original downloaded AAC files is just there to calm down the music execs. It is not a serious barrier to anyone who is hell-bent on pirating.
Then get one of these mice. They don't require a surface to move on and they have two mouse buttons. Honestly though, there is no real need for a second mouse button in MacOS. Every function is either in a menu up top, or you can hold down the control key and click to bring up a contextual menu. Because of these two things I hardly ever use the second button on my third-party mouse.
Turn the mouse over. On the bottom of the mouse is a sensitivity adjustment. Turn it and the mouse will take more force before it clicks. I've never had a problem with my hand accidently clicking on the Apple mice, but if you do that's why there is an adjustment for it.
No, MacOS provides a well-organized and simple interface that allows you to get to the real reason you bought your computer: to do work. Windows just takes over and does what it wants, so you either have to conform to the way Microsoft has set things up, or go on a customization spree to get it to all work the way you want it to.
Even then I've seen stuff in Windows XP like printer settings changing without me touching them, network connections refusing to set up properly, programs running fine one minute and then acting up the next. This is stuff that I've never experienced in MacOS X.
Unix is just there. It is unadulterated, complicated power. Learn it if you need it or get one of the simpler GUI systems if you don't.
Remember, MacOS includes a form of Unix so you can have both the simplicity of the GUI and the power of a Unix-like command line.
Just remember that those numbers are not profits, they are income. Profits are what is left over from your income after you have subtracted all of your costs such as electricity, salary, insurance, loans, etc.
Yes, companies are probably making a tidy profit on CDs, but it is nowhere near $6 a CD.
They already have something like this out there - it's called fiber optic networking.
Actually if you click on the file name and then move the mouse just a little bit it will go into rename mode immediately.
Why use a KVM switch and cables at all? I assume that these machines are on a network so just put a VNC client, keyboard, monitor and all on one of them (or any convenient computer) and a VNC server on the rest. Whenever you need to do something on those other servers just connect via the VNC client and do what you need to do.
I'm not saying this mod is useless but it is kinda costly for something you'll probably only use once in a while and can be duplicated practically for free.
Here's that link for the VNC stuff, same as the one used in the story.
I couldn't agree more. I was really hoping to play Neverwinter Nights with the rest of my gaming group, and also to create my own modules for them to play. It is now months later and I have yet to see even a beta of the MacOS client. Not only that, but they have also said that there will be NO toolset for MacOS. It's bad enough that they short Mac users, but they totally lied to us just about right up to the launch about the availability of Mac and Linux clients.
On the other hand, Ubi Soft has done the right thing and is releasing a full-featured, multi-platform Shadowbane. They took the extra time to make sure the game is done right and works for everyone. I've already pre-ordered Shadowbane and I can't wait to fire it up. It is companies such as this that get my gaming dollars.