The sad thing is, there are probably people who actually buy these. Check out their commercial for a good laugh (or cry). Sometimes I’m so embarrassed to be an american.
via Geekologie
Month: October 2007
Right Brain v Left Brain
Do you see the figure above turning clockwise, or counter clockwise? According to this article, in the Australia Herald Sun, if you see her turning clockwise, then you must be one of those creative types, using more of the right side of your brain. If you see counter clockwise, then you’re more analytical, using primarily the left side of your brain.
Personally, when I first looked, it was clearly spinning clockwise. As I moved my focus over to the article I could still see it out of the corner of my eye, and it changed direction and begun to spin counter-clockwise. It took a minute, but I found that I could look away and then come back and see it clockwise again.
According to the article, most people see counter clockwise. I’m not sure if I by into the test, but it’s definitely interesting.
Lets do a test of our own. First, look away from the picture and do complex math in your head, then look back. Is she spinning counter clockwise? Next, look away from the picture and think about eating chinese food on a submarine with Snuffleupagus, then look back. Is she spinning clockwise?
via Quality Peoples
Proper care of your MagSafe Power Cable
If you haven’t heard, Apple has had some significant problems with their MagSafe laptop power cables becoming damaged or wearing out prematurely. So much so that they have halted shipments on the current model. They are expected to come out with a revised cable soon.
In the meantime, Apple has posted two knowledge base articles on the subject of properly conecting/disconecting the cable, and reducing strain. I recommend checking them out if you own one of these cables.
Links:
Apple Portables: How to disconnect the MagSafe power adapter
Apple Portables: Reducing cable strain on your MagSafe power adapter
via MacFixit
Can you spot the 5 differences?
Here’s an excellent opportunity to test your powers of observation and attention to detail. Five Differences is an awesome flash game that presents you with a series of almost identical images and it’s your job to find the differences. Some are relatively easy, but others are down right hard.
As you click on an item that is in one image but not the other, a running countdown lets you know how many are left. On the first test the countdown is obvious, but on subsequent tests the countdown becomes part of the scene, so pay special attention to where it is.
The site seems to be having some technical difficulties, so if the link doesn’t work the first time, try again in a minute or two.
via neatorama
New Policies for Lighters, Electronics, and Breast Milk
I have to admit that part of my reasoning for posting this is just the fact that I like how the TSA has titled this document, “New Policies for Lighters, Electronics, and Breast Milk“. Because, you know… those items are so commonly used together, :)
For me the gist of this document is that I can now carry my lighter on a plane again…
“In an effort to concentrate resources on detecting explosive threats, TSA will no longer ban common lighters in carry-on luggage as of August 4, 2007. Torch lighters remain banned in carry-ons.
Lifting the lighter ban is consistent with TSA’s risk-based approach to aviation security. First and foremost, lighters no longer pose a significant threat. Freeing security officers up from fishing for 22,000 lighters every day (the current number surrendered daily across the country) enables them to focus more on finding explosives, using behavior recognition, conducting random screening procedures and other measures that increase complexity in the system, deterring terrorists. The U.S. is the only country in the world to ban lighters – all other nations, including Israel and the U.K., do not.”
I like how they say, “lighters no longer pose a significant threat”. As if they ever did. One other thing that cought my eye was in the FAQs…
Q. Do passengers carrying breast milk need to taste it to prove it is not a liquid explosive?
A. No. We will not ask a traveler to taste breast milk.
VMware Fusion for $36
I don’t even have an intel mac (yet), but I have my solution for running Windows under virtualization. I chose VMware Fusion over Parallels Desktop. Everything I’ve read says that there is no comparison when it comes to performance. Fusion wins hands down.
I was planning on buying it after I upgraded my machine (when Leopard is released), but then I saw this post on TUAW, that talked about $30 in discounts from Buy.com through a mail-in rebate and a special offer from Google Checkout. When I first saw it the final price for Fusion was $31.99, but I didn’t act quickly enough and the price went up to $35.99. It was still an excellent price, so I went ahead and grabbed it. Buy.com offers free shipping too.
If you’re still on the fence about which one you’re going to use, check out this post on LaughingSquid.com. It has videos and links to various comparisons of the two products. Make sure to check out the comments left on that post too, as they have some additional helpful info/links.
Now I just need Apple to release Leopard so I can buy my new machine.
Rocket-powered 21-foot X-Wing
A group of Star Wars enthusiasts built this very cool 21-foot model of an X-Wing fighter, and equipped it with actual rockets. The plan was to launch it in a similar fashion as a traditional model rocket and recover it in one piece through the use of parachutes. You can read the whole story and see many more pictures and a video over at Gizmado, here and here.
Unfortunately, as this video shows, the launch didn’t go quite as planned. But, the first few seconds still looked pretty cool.
via Geekologie
I’ve ditched .Mac
If you have an email address for me that ends with mac.com, you should delete it. I’ve finally ditched my .Mac account. If I didn’t send you my new address, you can use my contact page to get ahold of me.
I’ve had a mac.com address since the day they introduced them, back when the service was called iTools, and it was free. Like many others, I’ve been debating (for years) on if I should continue to renew my account. Every year I asked myself, is this service really worth $99/yr.? The answer is no, at least for me. I actually should have cancelled it years ago.
For many people, the biggest feature of .Mac is the media publishing. I don’t really need that service, so it wasn’t a big draw for me. The best things I liked about .Mac are syncing of email accounts, calendars, bookmarks, etc… between multiple computers, access to Apple’s Backup application, and the best webmail client I’ve ever used. Some of those things will become obsolete when Leopard comes out.
I’ve decided that with my next upgrade (when Leopard comes out), I’ll be switching to a Macbook Pro only, instead of having a laptop and a desktop. So, I won’t really need the syncing feature. Leopard’s Time Machine will handle my daily backups, so I don’t really need Backup.app. That just leaves webmail, which I don’t really use that often, so it’s hard to justify that $99 per year.
Ba-bye .Mac.
It’s been a month since I blogged?
Holy Crap! It’s been a month since I last posted anything here. I really have been a slacker, haven’t I. I haven’t been very good about blogging (for several months now), but in this case I really did think it had only been a couple of weeks. I was shocked when I realized the truth.
The last thing I wrote about was the $200 price drop on the iPhone. I actually had a lot more to say about that, including why I think Apple did what they did, but I’m going to go ahead and let it drop. Too much time has passed now.
New posts will be coming shortly.