Sky 184 - tribute

Safari with Cover Flow - for the PC, too!

Wow! I had an automatic software update notice, so I installed the update. I had no idea what it was. Usually the little status line says what it's installing but not this time. Later, as I was doing the morning wake up, I checked the install log and there it was, new Safari update. So, okay, launch Safari and ... Wow! Really great Top Sites feature showing page snaps (my top sites - that was definitely an eye opener). And then I found cover flow.

The insanely great thing is I needed no preparation and did not have to read a manual to figure out how it all worked. Simply launch and go. Under "self evident" see "Apple Software."

The only thing I was curious about was the cute star in the upper corner of the page snaps. That I had to look up. Turns out it means that the site has been updated. Here are some screen shots for you. Gosh. Never mind. Go get it!

Current Fads
Listening. America Simon and Garfunkel; rain
Watching. Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991)
Activity. waking up
Gadget. stainless steel teaspoon
News Source. the news feeds in Safari
Reading. From Doon With Death - Rendell; Real Energy - Bonewits; A Wish Can Change Your Life - Sasson and Weinstein
Writing. "Bronwen's First Age" (screenplay)

The Miracle That is iTunes Visualizer

There isn't enough attention and praise for that magnificent freebie that comes with iTunes: The Visualizer*. While the music plays, Visualizer generates colorful patterns on the fly. All of the patterns evolve dynamically and are directly linked to the beat and melody of the music played. They turn in 3-D space, burst apart like fireworks and morph freely. These screen shots are just wretched facsimiles.

I show here the "new" visualizer. There is also the Classic visualizer, which you can choose, if you prefer. You can also choose to restrict the spontaneous art to one of three themes: Lathe, Jelly or Stix. My mind boggles.

Once a couple of guys stood in front of my monitor trying to identify the "repeating" patterns but they finally had to admit, after 30 minutes of viewing, that the patterns were, in fact, generated on the fly in response to the music.

These colorful patterned designs look to me like breakthrough fractal algorithms. I suppose I could do some research and figure out just exactly how this spontaneous art is generated, but I prefer to marvel at the magic.

Current Fads
Listening. recent acquisitions and classical genre (iTunes playlists); high pitched ringing in ears
Watching. Donkey Skin (1970?) and HD Digital Free Over-The-Air TV (they gotta come up with a better name for that)
Activity. looking for work
Gadget. Elegato Eye TV
News Source. Google News
Reading. The Druids - Peter Berresford Ellis; Ill Met by Moonlight - Sarah A. Hoyt; Heart Steps - Julia Cameron

*And, of course, iTunes is free, which makes this all even more amazing. How can anyone wonder why I'm an Apple fan?

Blue Screen of Death - Coming to an Apple Near You

The Apple I used to know and love was a friendly, happy company – the lovable big guy on the block who would take on all comers and put flowers in their gun barrels. The guy to whom you could go to with all your problems and who would say, "No problem! I've got that covered." He was a welcoming dude with a living room as large as however many people wanted to jump into it. Those days are over.

I understand, somewhat, that an iPhone software upgrade broke the hacks that opened the phone (well, transportable mini-super computer, actually) to extreme litigation by the people we used to call Ma Bell. Hacking and breaking are, after all, illegal and hobbies akin to stealing. I'm all for paying people for the work they do.

I understand also that if you want to make really cool software that runs happily on Mac OS you need to make a fianacial contribution and join the club. If I had put a lot of time and effort into making a really efficient system with features that border on AI, I'd want anyone who wanted to mess with it to show some commitment, too.

iPhone users got their warning. iMac users didn't. Or if they did it was only in media that doesn't get to me.

Last night I watched a DVD on my brand new iMac running Jaguar. When I was finished I shut down the system and went to bed. This morning I started it up and launched Safari. Or tried to. Safari wouldn't launch. I launched Firefox. Okay. I have Firefox up and running. So, what's up with Safari?

I ran the Update Software utility. Three updates were waiting for me. I installed them. The updates required restart. I restarted. Voila! Blue screen of death (although it's a much nicer blue than the dozy one) followed by the Welcome Screen. Like, where has all my personal information gone? No problem. I enter it all again, click continue and I'm back at the Welcome Screen. After about five retries (yes, I am persistent) I give up and call Apple. It's too early for California – they're all still in bed (ty 1-800-MYAPPLE).

Fortunately, I still have my old (non-Intel) G4 and can look up solutions on the Apple website. I try the least destructive solution: removing ApplicationEnhancer.bundle and it doesn't work. The next solution jumps way back to 1995 with what we used to call a "Clean Install" of the system. That's what I'm doing right now and have been doing for over an hour.

Dear Mr. Jobs, please send a warning next time you want to boot out my system enhancers (of which I have none – is this an Apple vs. Adobe thing? Do you have a bee in your bonnet about Tasty Aps?) and rob me of 2 hours of production time. I'm happy to remove substandard items from my machine or at least to set aside needed time to fix something. I'm not happy with this new bully on the street. Put him away, please.

Normally I would not be writing this sort of thing but I've watered the plants, fed the dog, swept the floors and there is still time left over to be angry about having to reinstall my system. Fortunately, I've been using Time Machine. The most I will lose is one day. Yes, I did consider restoring the system with Time Machine, but that option removes everything on the hard drive. Theoretically I would get it all back in the restore but, no, thank you. I've been there and done that. There's always some little nit that I dearly loved which turns out to be irreparably damaged or gone AWOL.

Argggh!! Well, now I have time to take a shower and get dressed. And take the dog for a walk ... and watch the sun rise over the neighborhood ... and ...