Apple Mail

Yes I still use the simple and default OS X Mail app, Apple Mail. I'm too lazy to research better alternatives and it does the job for my basic mail needs. It works fine except for when I try to type a name in the To field when composing a new message. It tries to autocomplete a previously known address and with everybody changing email accounts, I can't remember which is the new default. The result is that I use the wrong account without knowing.

Rob and I were talking about this so I finally got around to googling the fix. Apple Mail has a Previous Recipients window which allows you to hunt down and kill these legacy addresses. If you still use Apple Mail like I do then its best to periodically check this for defunct addresses.

GoW 3

One year! In the meantime, feast on this cool trailer! They are 3 for 3 when it comes to trailers.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ashes-to-gears-of-war/64419#comments_top

iMac Hard Drive Upgrade

The stock 320GB HD on my 2007 iMac isn't cutting it anymore as I'm constantly deleting files in order to make room for newer things. I enjoy the simple all in one design of the iMac so I'm hesitant to just buy an external HD as an upgrade. So what about an internal drive?

I came across this video which demonstrates in detail how to upgrade the internal HD of a seemingly user unserviceable computer.

Am I crazy to consider this? Doing so seems akin to open heart surgery. The price difference isn't very much- around $100 for either an internal or external 1 TB drive but I would need to buy some special tools such as Torx screwdrivers and suction cups for an internal.

The Passing

Valve just announced their downloadable add on for the ever popular Left for Dead 2 game, called The Passing, is finally being released next week.

I heard it's going to cost $7.50 in Microsoft Points for Xbox 360 owners while PC users will get it for free. Normally I would complain but since Kruddler and I are starving for a new campaign, I will gladly pay for it.

MacBook Pro Update

There's three blogs I want to complete before Dave and Rob's upcoming trip. MacWorld 2010, my digital video camera and this more full featured one (I didn't say much about it in my first blog) about my "new" MacBook Pro. I only wrote "new" in quotes because today Apple released an updated version (Spring 2010) of the 13" MacBook Pro (Summer 2009) that my work paid for so I no longer have the latest and greatest.

This isn't a full review as you can find many great ones online, but rather is my initial impressions after putting it in its paces the past half year. In short it's the best portable computer I've ever used. The size is perfect for traveling and fits great on an airline coach seat tray table. It's very light compared to my Dell Latitude that it replaced and doesn't need any accessories other than a power adapter. The battery life is freaking awesome and blows away anything that the Dell did even after I added a big and heavy 9-cell extended life battery.

The MPB sports the highly touted Unibody enclosure made from a single piece of aluminum. It's rock solid and never flexes like my plastic Dell did. In fact my son has stepped on it a few times with never a mark to show for it.

As Apple normally does, it's the barely spoken features that make it unique. Specifically there is a thin bar of light that pulsates when the MacBook is in sleep mode. When completely powered off (or when powered on) the light disappears into the metal case. According to Apple they machined the part where the light shows super thin and perforated the area with tiny holes to allow the LED light to shine through. Amazing.

I remember the feature that impressed me the most when I saw Kruddler's MacBook wasn't the design or the screen size, but rather the innovative MagSafe power connector. I believe his was the first model to incorporate it. With my MBP, the feature that blew me away wasn't the unibody construction or the never ending battery life but the glass trackpad. So silky smooth it makes my Dell feel like sandpaper. In fact I got so used to it that I often mistakenly try to perform gestures when going back to the Dell.

There are other features people made big deal about like the return of firewire, but to be honest I never used that port yet. The SD card slot is nice but since my iPhoto library is stored on my Power Mac G5 I found little use for it. It runs Snow Leopard like a champ as well as Windows 7 using Boot Camp (which I have to run for work purposes).

Any negatives? Very few but one is that the metal edge where your wrists naturally lean against is too sharp for my tastes. With my Dell the extended life battery had a built in wrist rest that was very comfortable. I suppose Apple went for form over function with this particular design.

The only other minor gripe I have is the screen resolution of 1280 x 800 is too small for certain tasks (don't even dream of using Modo or Final Cut Pro on it). I guess that's to be expected with a 13" widescreen display but I wasn't approved to order anything more expensive so I didn't have a choice. I connect it to a 20" LCD display at work so for the most part it doesn't bother me but when undocked I have to constantly scroll windows around. What's worse is that there are some Mac OS X Server admin tools that refuse to run with that small of resolution and will automatically close. I think that the 15" MBP is the best size compromise for screen size vs portability.

It's finally nice to have a portable computer that I want to take with me to trips, especially MacWorld earlier this year. I also like busting out with it on company business meetings where everybody else has a Wintel machine and they start asking me questions like why a Windows administrator owns a Mac.

iPhone OS 4

First my once mighty Power Mac G5 became obsolete with the inability to run Snow Leopard and now my first generation iPod touch is going to go down the same path but not being able to run iPhone OS 4. Oh well its had a good run, and it still runs most apps just great (although its pokey with Plants vs Zombies when faced with a massive zombie attack).

Hopefull I can get a next gen iPhone that is optimized for the next OS 4.0 for work purposes. Someone has to test Exchange 2010 compatibility!

Xbox LIVE Problems

It all started like a strange illness. The first symptom was that I could barely hear Kruddler talk using the Xbox 360 Headset. We both had to turn up the volume to the max level just to hear each other, especially over all the noise of zombie slaying.

The next symptom happened recently (sometime last week). We couldn't hear each other at all. Playing a game like Left 4 Dead 2 usually requires constant communication in order to successfully complete a level, especially an achievement like Guardin' Gnome. We tried to work around this issue by sending each other voice messages but this was awkward at best and fatal at worst since you had to remain idle as you composed a new message as well as listen to one. During that time a Charger could easily have pummeled you to death.

The final straw happened last night as I was getting constant lag. There were several occasions where my screen went crazy and I was stuck in the same view. After the lag was cleared up I found myself in a puddle of green goo, my health down to a measly +5. That's when I decided to put my troubleshooting skills to the test and research the issue on Google.

The official Xbox LIVE Status page stated all services were up and operational. I then tried to search for people with similar problems but that didn't go anywhere since they were fixated on a broken headset or controller.

Then it struck me. What about blocked ports? I ran the Xbox LIVE Connection Test and it came back with the following error message:

Your NAT type is Strict (or Moderate). People on networks with this NAT type may not be able to join certain games or hear other people while playing online.

This described our problem! I remember configuring my router for proper port forwarding when I first got my 360 but that was years ago. I checked again and sure enough, my firewall rules were set to port forward the Xbox LIVE ports to the wrong internal IP address. After correcting my error I ran the same Connection Test and it came back clean. Of course proof is in the pudding so I had to play a quick L4D2 match with some strangers on the internet and their voices came in loud and clear.

After finally fixing the issue I can't wait for Krudd and I to try to complete the "Sob Story" achievement this weekend. Krudd read that link for some hints we need!

Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure

After finishing the hit adventure game Myst (1993) in 1994, I started looking for my next adventure based, 3D pre-rendered, CD-ROM fix. Faced with a wave of "Myst clones" flooding the market, the first title I chose to purchase was Gadget (1993).

I read the reviews beforehand so I wasn't disappointed to discover that Gadget wasn't a true interactive game but more of an interactive movie with a very linear plot. What attracted me to this game was the industrial steampunk art direction, the intricately designed 3D models and the creepy, isolated atmosphere. It was an influential title as I noticed similar themes in Valve's Half-Life 2 which was released over a decade later. You can read a good review of Gadget at ACG.

Although it had an ambiguous ending, which I find typical for many Japanese games, my main issue was the unsightly dithering used for the 8-bit images. Most of the images that I examined upon close inspection amounted to a measly 80 of a possible 256 colors. In contrast, Cyan chose to use an adaptive pallet for their 8-bit images to closely mimic full color, 24-bit images for Myst.

Recently, while watching the movie Barton Fink (1991), I noticed some strangely familiar, visual similarities in the set designs. On a hunch, I popped in my Gadget CD-ROM on my PC and sure enough, I wasn't misremembering things. It looks like the developers of Gadget were "inspired" by the Coen brothers film! No credit was given on the CD-ROM game however.

iPad Mania

Today Steve Jobs hereby proclaims, is iPad Launch Day (well at least in the Americas). As with any new Apple product the vultures are already out in full force trying to make a fast buck on eBay. The four "high demand" iPad related domain names for $4999 cracks me up. IPAD3G4U.com??? Really?

You can also supposedly buy an actually iPad for way above the retail price in case you didn't pre-order and don't want to wait in any lines. It's nice they are making things so convenient for us!

Here's a video of people waiting very early this morning at the Los Angeles Grove. Kinda reminds me when I was waiting in line for Paranormal Activity (although I didn't exactly spend the night).

***EDIT*** - Had to replace the old picture with a more appropriate one that captures the mood!