On Monday the 20th I will officially be back to work and am implementing rate changes. I haven’t changed my rates since 2006 in case you’re wondering.

Rate Changes:

Onsite Support
$150 for the first hour. (1 hour minimum)
$125 each additional hour.

Phone Support/Remote Login
$62.50 per half hour (minimum 1/2 hour)

Remote Computer Operation:  Teamviewer 6 Download

Repair at my home
$110 an hour if you drop of your machine to me at my home in Echo Park.

If you have any questions/concerns please shoot me an email or call me.

Thanks!

You don’t need this software to remove menulets. If you hold the COMMAND key while dragging a menulet you can reposition it amongst the others or drag it off the bar and “poof” it will remove it from the bar.

First you will need “Click to Plugin”. This turns off instant loading of Flash,WMV,PDF,and any other kind of video/audio plugin you can think of. You will want to immediately go to the preferences and enable certain ones to always pass through (like Google Maps for instance).

Second, you will need “Media Center” to easily control playback to the AppleTV. This extension adds a toolbar icon that you can add by going to (Safari) View/Customize Toolbar… You will see a new icon to drag down that reads “Airplay” in the shape of a square. Too bad it’s not the familiar Airplay icon we’re used to, but no matter. It works!

Then when you go to a YouTube page that movie will be loaded via HTML5. Pressing the “F” key will play it fullscreen. A floating menu gives you the option to stream it to Airplay, download the file, change the source and more options. It’s really fantastic.

For more information consult the author’s page and this blog post from MacStories.

Summary

Apple has identified an issue on some Time Capsule systems that could potentially make previous backups unavailable. The Time Capsule Backup Update improves reliability of affected Mac OS X v10.6 systems by creating a new backup.

After installing the Time Capsule Backup Update, you may see this alert prior to your next scheduled Time Machine backup:

Time Machine completed a verification of
your backups. To improve reliability, Time
Machine must create a new backup for you.

Click “Start New Backup” to create a new backup. This will
remove your existing backup history.  This could take
several hours.

Click “Back Up Later” to be reminded tomorrow. Time
Machine won’t perform backups during this time.

It is not a replacement for a MacBook. I find the device is best used while a TV show is on in the background and you want to look up something on IMDb, or you want to Facebook a friend, or you want to add a movie to your Netflix queue, or you want to check your feeds in your feed reader, or you want to tweet somebody, or you want to play a game, or check the weather, etc. It’s the media, leisure device that will pretty much suck your life away because of how fast it is. With a standard Mac there always seems to be a drag in Safari or the Mail app that gives you just enough pause to realize you’re in the computer “zone”, which gives you just enough time to step away from the computer and be productive with things that actually need to get done, like doing the laundry or doing the dishes…

If you’re like me and you check your e-mail first thing in the morning while still lying in bed in your jam jams, then it’s going to take a lot longer for you to roll out of bed if you’re using an iPad. The responsiveness of the apps makes it hard for you to get distracted from your task. It is truly faster than the MacBook due to its solid state hard drive, and custom built processor that Apple designed specifically for this device.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking (FREE) is worth the price of the iPad alone. If you don’t like to type, then you can use this app to transcribe your voice. It works stupid good as a friend of mine would say.

The Google maps application is incredible to use on a large screen. Its responsiveness to your pinching and the way it zooms in and out is like nothing you’ve seen before. The Street view, which is already a part of the iPhone and the website for Google maps, takes on a completely different feel with the iPad. It really is all about the “feel ” of the device.

Reading books on the device is fine, but the Kindle is actually a better experience because it has no backlighting. Eye fatigue is more likely to occur with the iPad.

The battery life of this device is remarkable. It will play videos that are loaded onto the device for up to 10 hours or longer and it plays music for 140 hours straight.

I purchased the midrange model which has 32 GB of memory so I can load a lot of movies, music and photos onto the device. I think that a 16 GB version would have suited me just fine because I found an application called Air Video that will stream any movie on my Macintosh to my iPad. This application is only three dollars and it works incredibly well provided you have a fast Mac to handle the streaming.

You can even connect a blue tooth keyboard to the iPad and type e-mails this way. You would want to use this for typing up documents and the Pages application. It’s nice to have this option, but I don’t foresee ever using it, but time will tell.

You can also use the iPad as a video picture frame. It’s built right in. Pretty neat. Although, video picture frames are an ecological disaster because of how much energy they collectively use.

Do you need a 3G version of this device? If you already have an iPhone, I don’t think it’s necessary. It will cost you $15 a month for 250 MB or $30 a month for an unlimited plan to have 3G capability on your iPad. Personally, I see the device being used more around your home. I think it’s better to bone up on your broadband service because the device has 802.11N wi-fi built-in which makes it pretty snappy. But if you’re unsure then pay for the 3G model that comes out at the end of April because there is no way to upgrade the WiFi iPad to a 3G model.

So where is it lacking?

• It has no video camera.
• The iTunes application doesn’t have Cover Flow which is odd.
• It has a mono speaker.
• It does not have a universal mailbox, nor can it flag messages.
• If you buy a case for the iPad then you must remove it from that case if you want to plug it into the docking station that you buy from Apple.
• You currently can’t print from the device (this will be fixed by Fall when the 4.0 OS comes out)

That’s a pretty small list. If you’re thinking you should wait for the next version then you’re really cheating yourself. The iPad is here now. I recommend getting one and not looking back. You can always upgrade to the next version. I know I will.

UPDATE:

This is a terrific post about apps for your brand new iPad.

http://gizmodo.com/5516217/99-ipad-apps-reviewed?skyline=true&s=i

So now there’s no reason you can’t leave your MacBook running at Starbucks and go use the restroom for 20 minutes. Of course recovering your computer would be quite a drag.

Now that 10.6.3 is out I advise everyone to update to this… it’s pretty rock solid.

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Apple released Snow Leopard last Friday and it’s only a $29 upgrade but do you need it? I have to admit that as of now it’s not a “must have” upgrade if your main computing needs are email, web surfing, Microsoft Wurd, address book and iCal. There’s no wow factor to this upgrade. Also, G5 users are left behind.

It has refinements under the hood like OpenCL, Grand Central and it’s now a 64bitoperating system. For instance the Finder has finally been rewritten, but there are no mention worthy features. It’s the same old finder. Oh, right, it now has 512×512 icons. Ha ha.

There are nice things like hard drives now reflecting their real size, iCal has a floating inspector like it used to have in Tiger, your machine will wake and  shutdown faster, iChat has 640×480 video chats, there is Microsoft Exchange support (does anyone care about this?) and other little things you begin to notice as you use it more like opening the scanner from the Printer queue and a more informative Airport menu.

Bottom line… $29 is pretty inexpensive for this release (service pack) and I recommend installing it. Here is a list of all compatible software so make sure your software is compatible before upgrading.

According to a poll I read (can’t seem to find the link) our digital devices are our most treasured possessions to us during these trying times. When they spaz out we find ourselves acting like headless chickens.

Don’t wait for Obama to come to the rescue. If you find yourself not able to afford much right now then please, please, please back up your data. So break out your diagnostic tools and maintain all your digital hand cuffs. How long can you go without updating your FaceBook status should your Mac get ill? Ahhhhh!!!!

This is so completely annoying. If anyone should get this right it’s Apple. Also, while I’m on my virtual soap box, if you think Time Machine backs up your iDisk think again. If you want the iDisk backed up you have to use Chronosync or some other backup solution. Annnnndddd, file dates are wiped out with iDisk. Wanna track when you created a file on your idisk? Forget it. The workaround is to date your files. Thanks Apple!

For these reasons I’ve abandoned Mobileme’s iDisk and have switched to Dropbox.

Dropbox is a free service currently in beta but it is working great for me and other users. If the fact that it’s a beta scares you mind that Gmail is still in beta. Gmail! So don’t go griping if you lose all your Gmail mail someday. Back that stuff up.

Dropbox gives out 2GB of free space. If you go over this amount they charge for more room. The software works SO well with the Mac OS. I have a “writings” folder setup and anytime I change a file inside that folder it seamlessly updates it to my other computer. And it’s really quick. iDisk takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R and their’s no Rosetta stone to decipher any error messages you get.

Notice the large check mark next to the “Photos” folder indicating the folder is up to date. GROWL is also installed along with Dropbox to notify when files have changed. Growl is a preference pane that runs in the background constantly monitoring programs on your computer. It’s main feature is beautifully displaying notifications.

You can also share a a specific folder with another dropbox user. I’m currently sharing a folder with my writing partner. Anytime she changes a file in that folder it’s instantly changes in mine. Plus I can limit what folders she has access. Workarounds like adding a “checked out” folder help solve the problem of both working on the same file at the same time.

Dropbox also keeps older versions allowing you to restore something you might have accidentally erased. All in all I’m loving this program. I wish the iDisk worked this well. It should, it really should.

Then choose to “Back Up Now”. It should put everything in sync. In fact, make sure your Time Machine is working buy choosing “open time machine preferences…” You’ll then get a dialogue telling you when the last successful backup occurred.

Mine says it backed up Yesterday. (I’ve got it on a daily schedule instead of hourly). If you want to change the interval download Time Machine Editor to make adjustments. It’s FAH-FAH-FAH-FREE!