May 31st, 2008, 15 Comments »
Here’s the scenario. Bear with me, it’s kind of tedious:
- My local copy of my music files are stored on a Windows desktop. We’ll call that PC1. For the record, I also store a synched backup at MP3Tunes.
- Julie and I both have iPods. We listen to podcasts. I use iTunes on PC1, but she subscribes to her own set of podcasts on her Mac. We’ll call that Mac1.
As far as I can figure, you can’t load stuff (songs and podcasts) on the same iPod from multiple computers, particularly when those computers use different operating systems. When I plug my Windows-formatted iPod into Mac1, it wants to reformat it and wipe the thing clean. The same happens in reverse with Julie’s Apple-formatted iPod.
In short, I want to load music from PC1 and then podcasts from Mac1 onto the same iPod. I think this is impossible, at least if I want to use iTunes. What do you think?
This problem would go away if iTunes offered support for user profiles. I guess I’d better submit a feature request.
I think the least painful solution is to remove my Windows PC from the scenario by copying all of the music to an external hard drive. Then we can just attach that to either of our Macs, and access the music library that way. Alternately we could try to set up a home network amongst all our computers. Both of those solutions feel like way too much solution for such a simple problem. Such is consumer computing in 2008, I guess.
15 Comments »
February 8th, 2008, 9 Comments »
A reader–we’ll call him Junior–writes with an Apple-related quandary. He wants one, but his bosses don’t want him to have one. He works in an educational institution (which is odd, because usually they’re keeners for the Apple):
As my role expands and changes I’m working on more and more rich media. We have an initiative to get started on podcasting, screen casts, video tutorials, image and logo development and other duties.
Problem is, I’m limited my by hardware and software. We have money in the budget of our department and I want a mac but the head of the tech departments says that without a really convincing argument he’s going to purchase a PC for a new editing suite.
The fact that I’m an experienced mac user doesn’t matter, it’s a moot point as he says that wasn’t the reason they hired me plus what if I leave, no one will use it (i counter you can run it as a PC of course). Both platforms can output the same formats, so that in that regard the platforms are equal. I can’t argue that we need one to help with student support as we don’t support macs.
So, the question is, can you think of any reason why I need a mac? How is it superior? How can I break though to the head of technology? Why will a mac help to keep the department and faculty competitive?
Any suggestions?
UPDATE: Junior has replied in the comments with, well, some comments.
9 Comments »
November 8th, 2007, 18 Comments »
I’m a relatively recent convert to the Cult of Apple after a lifetime of Windows usage. I’ve had a nagging question which I hope one of my dear veteran OS X readers can answer.
Here’s the use case: I make a site map in OmniGraffle, and export it as a PDF to send to a client. I open up a Finder window, and I have to navigate through five or six levels of directories to locate the attachment, which I then drag and drop into an email message.
I spend a lot of time just locating files in Finder after I’ve been working with them in a particular app. How can I speed up this process?
I’m imagining a constantly-updating search in a Finder window or separate application that shows me the most recently modified files under Documents.
Alternately, it’d be nice if OmniGraffle (and Pages and Numbers and so forth) had ‘Reveal this file in Finder’ functionality (thought that probably wouldn’t help with my exported PDF case above). Maybe they do?
I never perceived this problem on Windows, so either my usage patterns have changed, or I’ve forgotten about some useful bit of Windows functionality.
18 Comments »
October 4th, 2007, 4 Comments »
I was just paging through my precious, imported issue of Wired, and read a little blurb about Miss Management, a new game for Windows PCs. From their website:
Get ready to manage a team of zany animated coworkers as you step into the shoes of Denise, a young and beleagured [sic] first-time office manager. You’ll have to juggle incoming work tasks, keep everyone from getting stressed out, and help the coworkers achieve their goals, from flirting at the watercooler to getting more work done than anyone else! Office politics was never as hilarious as this!
Wow, just like real work! I shouldn’t mock. After all, The Sims enables you to simulate ordinary lives, and they’ve sold a few copies, haven’t they? Though, tellingly, there’s no SimWork.
Looking at the website, I’m unclear on the game’s target audience. Girls? Adult women? I’ve got nothing.
4 Comments »
June 11th, 2007, 11 Comments »
That’s the agonized scream of half a million web designers around the globe. Why? Because Apple just added another browser plus operating system combination to their test suite.
I’ll let the trouser-rubbing Apple cultists distill the rest of the keynote news, but I read about this on Digg and needed to get my underwhelmed two cents in.
Like iTunes and Quicktime, this is clearly another probing attack into vast Windows frontier. As more and more applications move from the desktop to the Web, the browser becomes the operating system, the ‘last mile’ where users spend more and more of their time.
So, Apple’s move makes sense for the company, but it’s going to be a pain in the ass for everybody building applications for the web. Assuming Safari gets a toe hold on Windows machines, isn’t this going to cost the industry literally thousands of extra hours of compatability testing? Hopefully people won’t switch browsers, they’ll switch operating systems.
Apple’s messaging on the Safari beta page is telling. There’s no killer app here, no “better by a factor of ten” differentiator. It’s just another browser, with bar graphs claiming somewhat better performance. The message: “we’ve got the same features as the browsers you know, and we’re slightly faster”. This move feels about two years too late.
11 Comments »
