MacBook Screen issues
Sunday, January 25, 2009 ~ 10 comments so far
There is a dot on my screen. It’s not a small dot, it’s not a distinct dot so I guess it’s more of a blurry circle.
But it’s there, in the middle of the screen, glowing at me. It’s slightly worrying. It’s most noticeable when I dim the screen all the way down. On the MacBook you can use the F1 and F2 keys to decrease and increase the brightness. What the following photo tries to show is the screen set to minimum brightness (the next step down is completely dark/off).
Ignore all the reflections and screen dazzle, that weird glowing circle in the middle looks almost exactly like that (I’ve adjusted the pic very slightly to make it more obvious).
The most annoying thing is that it doesn’t always appear. It comes and goes on a random basis. I’ve tried it with and without the power cable in, with and without various applications open, I’ve restarted several times, yet still it comes back.
Any suggestions?? Anyone?
Picasa for the Mac
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 ~ 3 comments so far
I’ve used Picasa on my Windows machine for a few years now, it is my photo library and where I probably do most of my photo editing as well. I just love the way the application works as it ‘just works’.
So to hear that, finally, it is available for Macs certainly does warm my cockles.
(hang on, I’m not a cockney… there are no cockles here!)
The thing about Picasa, something I’ve only really considered since hearing this news, is that the way it’s been designed seems almost Apple-like, with small touches well designed and well thought out. Of all the applications I run on my Windows PC, Picasa is the most pleasurable to use, it is a powerful application that seems simple. Not something that can be said for every Windows based application.
When I got my MacBook I did consider making it the main computer in the house, moving all my media files and work files to an external drive and switching my personal computing habits over to the way Apple do things. I never did make that switch and one of the reasons was that, with 6 years of digital photos in the library, the prospect of having to use iPhoto to manage them filled me with dread.
I wonder now if I can finally make the switch.
Music wise I use iTunes, so that’s fine. Work wise most of my projects are web based so all I need is an FTP client and text editor, again the Mac is well equipped to handle those things (Coda for example). Beyond that I already know the Mac will handle everything else I need it to do.
So, for me, Picasa is the cherry on the icing. The finishing touch that should let me, finally, work the way I want to work, independently of any constraint enforced on me by the operating system and choice of applications. Yup, sounds like it is time to get that QNAP NAS drive I’ve been pondering.
For those interested:
This and that
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 ~ 8 comments so far
Summer holidays make it easy to keep on top of RSS feeds, and easier to spot some ace new blogs. Check out this one, I think it could be quite good.
My father-in-law is back in Scotland for the month, so we’re off to see him tonight and I’m really REALLY hoping he wants us to bring in a fish supper for dinner. I’ve not had fish and chips for ages and currently have a real craving for them.
XNeat Windows Manager is yet another application capable of doing some nice UI effects in Windows. Best of all, and the reason it wins out over many other similar applications for me, is that with it installed you can MIDDLE-CLICK TO CLOSE APPLICATIONS STRAIGHT FROM THE TASKBAR. Sounds simple I know but it’s a habit I use all the time in Firefox to close a tab, and it’s been bugging me for YEARS that I couldn’t do this in Windows until I stumble across XNeat.
A quick thanks to Daisy for nominating me for a Post of the Week award, I didn’t win but was quite surprised to see my name in the shortlist. Who knows, it might inspire me to indulge my creative side a little more often (there was a similar post later on last week too).
Since I bought my iPhone I’ve changed the way I think about how I work when I’m at home, and find myself leaning towards my MacBook more often than my PC, it’s just so much nicer to use. The only downside is the small screen and limited hard drive (my music collection is larger than my MacBook’s hard drive). So I’m looking to the Belkin Flip (DVI version) as a solution.
Physio tomorrow, we’ll see if the eccentric loading exercises I’ve been doing (and for a change I’ve been pretty good at remembering to do them!) have had an impact. They FEEL like they have, fingers crossed.
Quick iPhone Thoughts
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 ~ 8 comments so far
Whilst it isn’t as full featured as, say, the HTC Touch Diamond, I can’t think of anything that I’m really missing.
Text messages appearing as a conversation thread is so much better than the traditional display method (one text per screen).
Intuitive? Very. Although there are a few funny things, for example, you CAN set the keyboard shift button to turn into a CAPS LOCK style key, but it’s disable in the Settings by default.
Tip: To switch between keyboard modes (to add a ? for example), press and hold your finger on the 123 mode toggle button, keep your finger on the screen and slide to the ? and then let go. The keyboard inserts the ? and automatically flips you back to the ABC mode. Smart!
The screens is stunning, I’ve encoded Blade Runner to MP4 and… WOW.
Surfing the web and want to dial a number on a webpage? Click it. Simple.
Apps – 10 million were downloaded over the weekend. Impressive numbers. Some aren’t so good, but some, like Vicinity are awesome. It uses the built-in GPS to figure out your current location, then polls Yahoo Local directories to get you lists of taxis, restaurants and so on.
In short, I’m glad I waited a year to get my hands on this phone. The list of niggles is small and, quite honestly (and yeah yeah, call me a fanboy) it’s the best phone I’ve ever used.
Caveat: my last phone, a Samsung D800, was a crock of shit, but still. The iPhone is a helluva piece of kit. It, honestly, just works.