Ok, I'll admidt it.....

Today, I can say it. Almost one year to the date I purchased my 
new ( to me) Late 2009 iMac 27inch i7 Quad Core,
to replace my long aging ( and problematic) G4 Dual 1ghz
Mirror Door Power Mac, and I can say I'm really, really
glad I did it.

I've always been a Mac Tower kind of guy, liking to
replace and update my own components as necessary,
getting under the hood and tweaking,  or learning,
how my machine works. I shied away from all-in-ones,
simply becasue I've never been a fan of all-in-one
anything, from TV/VCR/ DVD combos, to all in one
Stereos, to you name it. I like all my electronics to be seperate,
so as if a component needs replacing, I can just replace
that component, and nothing more.

But, my little ( ok, not so little :) ) iMac has grown
on me. It constantly amazes me with its speed, how
fast it renders and saves video in FCP, and how it has
enabled me to get more done, in less time.

Looks like I may have turned a corner on my
stance on all-in-one machines.

OS X 10.7 Lion: Wait to Upgrade

So today marks officially that Apple's newest version
of OS X, 10.7 Lion, has been on the market for
five days ( not counting Sunday).

And I'm still not going to buy it just yet.

Apple's newest version of the OS looks like a real stunner,
and I'll admit I'm intrigued by several things in the new
OS ( among them Full Screen Apps, Mission Control, and
Resume. Launchpad just makes it look too much like
an iPad, I'm fine with Snow Leopard's Dock thank you).

But not intrigued enough to hose my self and make it so
I'm unable to work, thank you.

My tips for a new OS Release :
1. Never update your working machine on a .0 release.
Bugs aren't worked out, and the apps you use the most
usually aren't ready for  the new OS when it is in .0 release.
( Apple has had  a long history of this, from Panther and Tiger
to Leopard, and yes even Snow Leopard)
I usually wait until the OS has reached either the .2 or .3 point
 update release before jumping in.
That's usually six months to a year from the .0,
and my favorite most often used apps will either be ready
by then, or will have been discontinued.
 Either way, I know then what to expect, and can
adjust more accordingly by then.

2. You only as good as your most current Backup.
Enough said. I'd also add "and a way to get the machine
back up and running in less than 12 hours."

3. Take a Cue from Apple that it just isn't as simple as
upgrading to make things "new".
As the recent Final Cut Pro X update has shown us,
new things from Apple aren't always good things.
And new things form Apple will often hose your video
production workflow, causing all kinds of hair pulling,
nail biting, and expletive spouting.
You really don't benefit from being on the cutting edge,
not if it affects incoming revenue.
That should always be your first priority.
Whether a major application Application Change,
or a major OS update, Apple, god bless them,
isn't infallible. Steve Jobs does get it wrong sometimes.
Just ask David Wegley.

4. Last, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
No seven words in the English language
ever made more sense together than these.

My Top 10 Mac Apps of 2010

So as the year 2010 draws to a close, I know that many people will start
compiling their "best of" and "worst of" lists for various things.

I'm no exception it seems, as I'm sitting here thinking of some
of the apps on I use regularly in my day job as as a
Certified Mac Systems Administrator, a video enthusiast,
or just a guy who loves to have fun on his Mac, iPod or iPhone.

So, today, I'm posting my 10 favorite apps I use quite often.
I'll break them down into three categories: Productivity,
Entertainment, and Enhancement.

Productivity: Applications that help me to be more productive
in my day and accomplish more in a shorter time frame:

1. Apple Remote Desktop : I live in this app for about four out of 9 hours
in my work day, and I've managed to get very good at making it handle
a lot of tasks that otherwise would take me much manual labor  to handle.
It is the go to "smart app" for Macintosh Systems management, and though
long overdue for an update, it still is robust enough ( and can be extended
mightily with Unix scripting and Automator actions) to get the job done.

Think of any task that would require you physically touching a mac to do:
Changing IP addresses, naming the computer, getting the serial number information,
Setting up DNS and web filtering, installing software updates, etc....
ARD as it is known, can handle all of that and more.

2. VisualHub
Yes, I know it is discontinued. Yes, I know it is very hard to find on the web,
if you can find it.
But it is well worth the search if you can find it.  When I need to convert
some tutorial videos to put on my iPod for later viewing, this is the app
I turn to. When I have a problematic flv or wmv file that I just need a clip
of to put into Final Cut Pro, or to use for a DVD menu
in DVD Studio Pro, this is the app that transcodes those problem videos
into workable clips.
Or, when I have a few movie or tv shows ripped from my DVDs
and I want them to get put into xvid files for copying to my WD TV Live box,
and I want it to be run in a batch overnight leaving me free to worry about other
things right now...well, you get the idea.

3.  Alfred
What is there to say about Alfred that many other multi-taskers haven't said already about this wonderful app? Once installed on your mac,
Alfred enables you to open apps, folders, perform finder tasks much faster
than click and drag, double clicking, or even using the dock
( for me, it cuts waaay down on my dock being cluttered).
What it saves in keystrokes and mouse clicks, adds back time to my busy day.

4. Mail
Apple's Mail client is the best email client for me period. I can check multiple
email account's and with Rules setup, I can get important email brought
to my attention, semi-important emails flagged for a later read, and I
can forward emails to another email account
( like my mobile me or gmail account) to read on my iPhone while traveling.
I leave it up and running on my mac at home, & it handles all my
emails and attachments without fail. It's like having a dedicated assistant for email.

Entertainment: Applications that might be considered time wasters,
as I often spend what free time I have glued to the computer
or my iPhone immersed in these applications;

5. Peggle
I can't help it: I'm addicted to this game! A game of skill, that as you clear levels,
you get deeper and deeper into playing it...I've once played for 3 hours straight!

6. Zombie Attack Second Wave:  
 Another great game that I find myself addicted to on my iPhone.
The various combinations of building weapons of destruction to take
out the zombie hordes is both entertaining and coming up with ways to
survive while building as many guns to destroy the zombies  that seek
to eat you and destroy your structures can cause
you to lose track of time. I somehow manage to find time to play
this even at 5 to 10 intervals and still manage to get lost in the game.


Enhancement: These applications enhance my ability to get tasks done,
often tasks I do in Applications that should be able to natively to do the
task I want to do, but either the manufacturer of the app was short sighted
on that functionality, or they left the app open-ended so that someone
could come along and enhance it:

7. Automator
Apple's built in app builder is essential for creating little applications
that can (a) cut down on repetitive tasks, (b) create short "auto launchers"
for frequently used apps, and can also be used as a "middle man" app
between other apps, by utilizing Folder Actions.

Want to have a sequence in Final Cut Pro, when exported to a folder, then
have that item sent to Visual Hub to convert to iPod format?
Automator can help with that.
Want to create an "internet" launcher that launches Safari or Firefox to a
specific website, without having to remember the url? Automator to the rescue!
Or one of my often used favorites:
Have several web pages saved from the internet as pdf files, and I have an
Automator Folder Action set to (a) open the PDFs in acrobat pro, and then
(b)make a copy of them to my external drive for backup. Automator has
several uses, and the internet has many tutorials
on how you can use it.

8. Perian, Flip4Mac, and QT Mpeg-2 add-on:
I'm lumping all three here but that's because they all do the same thing:
each extends the functionality of Apple's Quicktime architecture to enable
Quicktime Pro,  or MpegStreamClip, the ability to handle various filetypes
you'll encounter outside of Apple's default .mov file type: .flv , .mkv, or xvid files
(Perian), Windows Media Files ( Flip4Mac) and DVD compliant Mpeg-2 streams
(QT Mpeg-2 addon). If you ever have a relative bring you his mini-cam and want
his files taken off the camera and made into DVDs for your cousin, you'll be glad
you have the QT Mpeg-2 addon. If you have someone send you a video link
from Vimeo or Youtube of your nephew's soccer game, and you want to
convert it to put on your iPhone or iPod touch, you'll be glad for Perian.
If you have a friend on a PC (& we all have those :) ), and they send you
a video they made on their  Compaq and they want you to tell them what's
wrong with the color red on it, you'll be glad for Flip4Mac.

9. R-Name
A great utility that enables you to rename files and folders on volumes quickly.
You may not have to do this often, but the first time your faced with
the task of doing more than 25 individual files that reside in 50 different
individual folders, you'll be glad you had this tool handy.

10. Automatic
Lastly, is this little add-on that helps with my time shifting of tv content
on the mac.
As often busy as I am with work and family, I don't have time to catch
my favorite shows when they come on cable. Luckily for me, this little
add on to my favorite bittorrent client Transmission, allows me to set
up "show lists" that fetch and download my  shows for me to watch
to watch later when it's convenient for me.

Well, those are my choices, Compare them to what you use often and
create your own top 10 apps list. Post it below in the comments,
I'd love to hear what your choices are.

When To Let Go: or How Do You Know When Your Mac Is Getting Too Long In The Tooth?

So today for the third time this week, I'm frustrated

by my Mac.

Today, it's a new annoying thing:  It is dog

slow, acting more like a 10/100 base T connected

machine than the Gigabit ethernet  equipped machine I

know it to be.

Monday, it was the fact that it produced a KP due to

the fact that I tried to push it to do more than it

was capable of it seems:  Burning a DVD in Toast,

 while converting a Video-TS to a DIVX encoded  .avi

file in VisualHub, while copying a folder of digital

files over from server ( a workhorse that is the

2009Mac Mini ).

Right in the middle of 1/3 to a half of everything, 

the KP comes up. I force shut it down & reboot.  I

check iStat Pro and sure enough, the Processor  is at

126C, which in a Dual MDD 1ghz Power Mac,  aka

"Windtunnel" or as it is known in the house, "Eve") is

disatrous.

And last Friday, ahhhh...let's just say that for

whatever wierd reason, one of the  power cables to one

of my 500Gb HDs decided to come undone. (the wires

seperated from the plug) And wouldn't you know it, but

it was my main FCP scratch disc,  a 500GB WD Internal

HD.

Now I admit, the plug was a little worn from having

upgrading the machine  so much over the last three

years:  I've swapped that drive bay out first with a

250gb, then a 300gb, and then finally a 500GB drive,

each time as prices fell on ( what was then standard)

a big drive.

But to completely come undone, the wires literally

pulling themselves out of the plug.... now I have seen

it all!!

But, looking a little deeper inward, I realize what my

true frustration is with my Mac.. not that it is long

in the tooth, and despite ( somewhat) working, it is

the fact that  I have pushed this machine farther than

I have ever pushed one of my macs, and that in

reality, I'm more mad at myself for not replacing it

sooner, letting it go.

I tend to run my electronics into the ground. For

almost 8 years,  I kept my 2nd gen iPod 10Gb around,

as an example,  pushing it with more and more music

playlists, HD use, and in the end, using it as a music

player / external  pocket FW drive. 

Had it not been in my pocket that day I dove into a

pool to save  my floundering oldest from drowning, it

would still be in use today,  and not replaced with a

5th gen 30GB iPod Classic, that,  as I type this, is 4

years old.

My computers are no different: my first mac, a

Performa 460, I kept in service for almost 7 years, I

followed that with  a PowerMac 7100/80, that through

peripheal upgrades  ( an external CD-RW burner that

burned at max 1x,  and a 500MB external HD that I paid

$200 bucks for....),  I kept going for 8 years, until

the Dual 1 MDD Powermac.

So for the most part, I like to keep upgrading my

Macs  at about every 7 years or so, before they

totally wear out. I knew that when I purchased this

one refurbed through the  Apple Store in 2003, I knew

the clock had been set then.

So now, I limp along with the MDD, and one or two

things will eventually happen:  I'll either get off my

duff,  and replace the machine, and move along with a

new mac for another 7 to 8 years, or go another year

fighting the ups and downs  of the MDD, as in this

economy, I'm trying to do my part of  "more with less"

even though it may kill my production output.

I do like the look of last year's i7 model in the 

Refurbished Mac section of the Apple.com website.... 

I think that will be my machine of choice for the next

few years...consolidating much of my clutter  from my

desk, if not to mention just from my computer alone.

For what it's worth as an aside, I highly reccommend

buying your "new" mac  from store.apple.com, under the

refurbished  section ( aka "special deals" section).

Not only do you save as much as $400  on a the cost of

a new mac, but each machine  is certifed to work, and

AppleCare can be bought for the machine  to extend the

warranty on the machine and avoid any hassles.  Once I

learned about how to purchase Macs this way ( with my

Dual 1 MDD), I've been hooked. Both my MDD and  my

wife's iBook G4 were bought this way, and both have

been  solid, stable machies that have been problem

free ( with the exception now of my MDD). For the cost

savings, you can't beat it, and aside from not having

the pretty retail box,  the machine you get performs

just as well as  the retail counterpart.

Say Hello to New Macs, Goodbye to your Cash!

Apple announced FINALLY a new Mac Pro model
today, one I have been waiting on for a long
time! ( my current mac, a Powermac G4 MDD dual 1 ghz,
is long in the tooth.)
This new Powermac takes advantage of a redesigned
case that allows for easier methods of
expansion of all things PCI, Ram and Hard Drives!
I am so stoked about this new machine.
Of course, Apple still charges a premium on it's
Pro Desktop line, but I'm starting that second
job any day now, and will be filling my piggy bank
until Christmas when I get one!

oh, and yeah, Apple also updated the Mac Mini,
as well as the consumer model desktop, the iMac.
photos ™ and © apple.com 2009.