On iPod/iPhone capacity…
I've heard people take issue on more than one occasion with the perceived storage deficit of newer flash based iPods (or any other portable, media playback device) and the size of one's media collection. It's happened enough times now, that I recently wrote out how it works and how it can work for you. Just wanted to capture that here for those who may be interested and/or those I might need to refer to this blather in the future.
You would be hard pressed to prove to me you could consume (listen to or watch) 4GB of audio/video media in a day's time. The storage capacity of the media playback device you get should be based on the amount of media you consume between the times you sync it with the computer that houses all your media. Device storage capacity should *NOT* be based on the total size of your media library.
I understand you (and other people) want "choice" and the ability to choose any particular thing you might want to listen to at any given time. I find on a day that I do a lot of music listening, I get through 50-70 songs. Averaging say 4MB per song in MP3/AAC format, that's 200-280MB. Let's throw some video in there... we'll be generous and say 1.5GB for 2 hours worth of video I might want to watch whether it's a movie, tv shows, vodcasts, or music videos. We're still under 2GB here. The remaining space can be filled with your "choice" media... the stuff you might want, but not anticipate it ahead of time. You can intelligently anticipate the stuff you want through the use of smart playlists so you're very likely to have something you'll want, or at least be happy with, at a moment's notice.
It works. Trust me. My largest iPod I've ever had is 60GB and my media library is probably in the neighborhood of 200GB, so I've never been able to fit my whole library on my portable device. (Note also the size of that collection won't even fit on the largest of laptop hard disks.) While more space perhaps provides additional comfort or breathing room, the necessity is debatable.
Hope someone finds this useful.
Macworld 2007 thoughts…
The keynote at Macworld 2007 took place today and we had a little "breakfast party" at work to celebrate and watch the live MacRumors feed. Wanted to capture some of my thoughts about it here...
Symfony…
So I've been researching frameworks for writing webapps in my favorite language and I think I might have finally settled on one (is 'settled' the right word?). For those of you who are interested and haven't already... check out Symfony. At a minimum, install MAMP (or whatever works for your platform) and do the Askeet demo.
Windoze on the Intel Macs…
Why are people so interested in running Windows on their Intel powered Macs? I just don't get it. The whole reason we have Macs is so that we don't have to run Windows. I don't want to have to put up with all the crap that Windows users have to suffer through. Random wierdness requiring reboots to resolve, mandatory anti-virus software, mandatory anti-spyware software. So news came out today that the first version(s) of Windows vista will not support EFI firmware after all (a requirement if it's going to boot on Apple's Intel Macs) and I suspect many people will be "disappointed" or even upset at this news. Personally, I don't even want to be tempted to try it. Linux maybe, but not Windows. Folks... listen to me... I have the answer...
The IT Crowd
There's a new show on Channel 4 in the UK about IT geeks. It's called "The IT Crowd" and Jess and I watched the first two episodes last night and it's pretty freakin' funny and hits close to home for me and many of you I'm sure. Check out Cory's post about it. If you even think you might be slightly interested in it, I suggest you download it and check it out.
For those who are interested in what I do…
So I've been wanting to document, in a little more technical detail, what I have done and what I am doing in my work. I think there are some folks out there who might be interested... I don't know. If nothing else, it will be a good reference piece for future resumes and whatnot.
The whole iTunes is Spyware/Malware thing…
Folks... this is getting blown way out of proportion. Yes the iTunes 6.0.2 update adds a "MiniStore" feature that will offer music purchase suggestions based on what you are listening to. It has to communicate back to the iTunes Music Store to do this. You can disable it quite simply by selecting "Hide MiniStore" from the Edit menu. iTunes will no longer communicate back to Apple if you have the MiniStore hidden. Corroboration.
Quit yer bellyachin'!!!!
Calling the Apple Store
Once the dust had settled from the various Christmas events, I had gathered enough gift cards to get what I was really hoping for this Christmas, the black 60GB iPod video. The closest store to me is the UTC store in San Diego, which is still about 25 miles from me. So not wanting to drive there in vain, I thought it would be prudent to call ahead and verify stock since I know these things have been flying off the shelves.
Mac OS X and the whole TPM thing…
I'm with John Gruber on this whole stink. Even if Apple or some other developers use the TPM chip to lock something down, doesn't mean we have to use said software for our daily use. The nice thing about generic operating systems, is that there's typically more than one application that can be used for a given function. If one locks your data to the application, use another one and be happy.
Hasta la Vista, baby
This is just too awesome. Viruses have already been written to compromise Longhorn (Windows Vista). I couldn't be more excited. 
The Apple / Intel thing….
I can't believe how on top of tech news Mr. Briney is! As I'm sure the entire world has heard by now, Apple has announced their intention to replace the touted PowerPC CPU with CPUs from Intel. For my comments/reaction, read on.
New Addiction
I have learned the true meaning of what it means to have an addiction. One of the baby shower gifts we received was really geared more for me... World of Warcraft. I had been putting off installing it for awhile until the aftermath of the shower had settled. I installed it this past Friday night figuring I would play a couple hours this nice, long Memorial Day weekend. Ha! Try more like 20-24 hours maybe? I dunno.... I lost track. Thanks a lot Chris! 
Coming to your senses…
Another story making the rounds in the news about a switcher. My question is, if you see the problem, why not do something about it before you get to the point that you lose data, have your system compromised, or for some reason or other get "mad as hell." It's common sense folks.... the question is why won't people follow it? Too much work? Aren't you really just putting off the work if you're going to end up doing it someday anyway?
Even the new CEO of Intel has said something interesting lately...
Well if WSJ says is, it must be true!
From the Wall Street Journal:
Just another report / endorsement / propaganda piece / whatever on what the true solution to security in home computing is:
And if you're totally fed up with the security crisis but want to continue using your computer for common tasks, consider dumping Windows altogether and switching to Apple's Macintosh, which uses its own operating system, called OS X. There has never been a successful virus reported on OS X, and there is little or no spyware for the Mac.
See the full article here.
Just something I wanted to point out to some folks….
Joel Spolsky wrote something recently I agree with completely (this wouldn't be the first time I find myself agreeing with Joel, even if he primarily writes Windoze software), but this is important...
New PowerMac towers soon?
I can barely contain my excitement anymore. The PowerMac towers are LONG overdue for a revision (as of this writing, 280 days since the last update with an average of 176 days between updates). Finally some clues/news about what might be in store for the next revision is starting to surface, and boy would this kick butt if it's true.
I know I'm going to be needing all this horsepower for the massive amounts of media shuffling (photos/video) I'll be doing with the arrival of the little one come June.