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.
Funny tech talk…
A couple who will remain anonymous was overheard saying the following:
Husband: "We need to get you a bluetooth headset for your phone."
Wife: "Yeah, and it needs to be one without wires."
Define: Manager
A person who recruits, hires, and administrates people better at doing a given job than they can do themselves, and then communicating with and relying on the talent, background and experience of those people to make intelligent and informed business decisions.
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...
A Day in the Life of…
Hi... it's Jessica writing. Many of you ask what the heck I do all day, so I decided to chronical an average day. This day was yesterday (August 22th). Here goes...
New Maddie pics…
Been awhile but we finally sorted through and uploaded 3 new albums worth of Maddie pictures. Check them out here.
Sweet Madeline
I know it has been awhile since I have written anything about Madeline. So much has happened and there is too much to tell, so I will just give a few highlights.... and share a really funny story from tonight.
I’m in a show…
Well... despite my thoughts to the contrary, I ended up being in a CCT show this summer. I was pleasantly surprised to get a call and invitation to come play Uncle Max in The Sound of Music on the hill opening July 6th and running through the 22nd. More info here. (No this is not a CYT show, this is CCT (it's an adult cast).) Tix can be had by calling the box office at 619/588-0206. You can mention my name, but I don't know if that will entitle you to anything special. Found writing my bio for the program a humorous exercise the other night... read on to see what I came up with.
New Job and all is well…
Yes Dean... all is well here. And I'll see you Saturday... right?
For those who don't know, I am in my 5th week of a new job (yes... another new job). The story is that the company I had started with in October ended up merging with another company who was more "in charge" than the company I was working for. The other company decided to move everyone down to Del Mar (perhaps the right move business-wise) which, for me, would have meant just about the same commute I had with the job I previously left in October due to the lovely I-5 commute.
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.
Must… write… something…
Wow. Almost 3 months and I haven't posted. Admittedly sad for someone who is supposedly an übergeek and on top of this whole internet thing. I probably have a lot to write about, but doubt I'll think of it all, but at least an update for you all...
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...
Chompers
Maddie's first teeth are coming in and they are so cute. She has two teeth coming in at the same time - her two bottom ones in the middle. They started showing last Sunday (Feb 12th). She has been extra fussy this week and has demanded that I hold her at all times. I don't mind holding her at all, but I definitely am not getting anything done around the house. Just don't come over and expect the house to be clean!
Teh Suck
Found out late last week that my daily commute, which I had managed to shorten from 50-60 minutes to around 8 minutes with the last job change, will be changing back to a 45 minute commute in 2 weeks time.
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.