Wild Tangents
Marc talks about life in Nashville, life as a Catholic and life as a geek.

So I was chatting with my friend Rob about Garageband. Since I just started podcasting using Garageband and he’s been doing it for a while, I tend to ask some n00b questions. Now there are somethings to keep in mind. Rob and I are both Macintosh users. Garageband is a multitrack recording software that come with the Mac OS. It’s not quite perfect for podcast, but it’s getting better. Obviously from our comments, it still has a few shortcomings in the podcast recording department. In most people’s opinion, the best software to record podcasts is Castblaster. Unfortunately, Castblaster ony works with Microsoft Windows. With all that in mind, the conversation we had should be amusing. Let’s take a look….

Marc: If I record bumpers for my show, is there a way to add them to the section at the bottom for loops?
Marc: If not, how do you manage them?
Rob: I keep them in iTunes and pull them over from Audio in the media browser
Marc: I was afraid of that…. That just seems wrong to me. But I guess I will have to get over it.
Rob: yeah I’m hoping they will fix that
Rob: in a perfect world CastBlaster would have a Mac version
Marc: So it’s all Adam and Eve’s fault…..
Rob: yes Original Sin caused Microsoft

I laughed for a good four or five seconds after that one…..

Technorati Tags: Apple, Microsoft, humor

Well, it looks like LogMeIn is going to make aversion for the Palm Folio.

Well, as with any computing device, it turns out the Palm Foleo will only be as good as its software. And the more we hear about the software available or the Foleo, the more we warm up to this little device. First of all, the Foleo runs Linux, which means you might be able to slap some custom software on there in addition to the default applications.

And it turns out you can also use the Foleo to access and control your home or work PC on the go. LogMeIn is showing off a software client for the Palm Foleo at this week’s LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco.

LogMeIn is a “remote control” software for a computer. What it does basically is allow you open a “window” on one computer that will actually be the screen on another computer. For instance, you have a laptop and a desktop. When you travel with the laptop, you would be able to open a window on your laptop that would allow you to see and do almost everything on your desktop back home. It of course requires an internet connection on both ends. Otherwise it’s pretty simple.

If people find more inventive ways such as this to use this little machine, it might have a future. HM…Maybe it wasn’t a yawn after all.

Technorati Tags: computers, geek, Palm, Windows, software, remote

It looks like Amazon is already taking pre-orders for MacOSX Leopard on their website. It carries their “Pre-order pice Guarantee” as well. I’ve only pre-ordered a couple of books before, so I can’t say how well it works. It does however sound like they are trying to take care of their customers with it. If I wanted Leopard on release day and there wasn’t an Apple Store here in Nashville, I might be inclined to do this. I don’t think however that we’ll see the frenzy on Leopard’s release we saw with say, the iPhone. I bet a lot of Mac users will take a “wait and see” approach with it. I know I will. The new feature really aren’t enough for me to install until some of the user community has already decided to be the guinea pigs.

Technorati Tags: amazon, Apple, computers, macosx, software

Well, what an anti-climax today was. The only real big announcements made were complete duds.

First we have Safari browser for Windows. This has got to be the biggest “what were they thinking?” moment for me since Palm announced the Foleo. I mean really. I’m a die hard Mac user and I don’t use Safari. What makes anyone at Apple think that Windows users will convert in droves to Safari? Most of the people who would even have a clue what they doing by installing Safari on their PC would probably already be hooked on Firefox, or maybe Opera.

The other biggie was that there would be a way for third party developers to develop apps for the iPhone. They would have hooks that would allow access to functions on the phone. So basically the answer is that you can develop apps for that sub-par browser I just mentioned and that’s your way to put your own apps on the iPhone. My first thought was that it was a real cop out. My second thought was that anyone who develops…..at all…..would realize this already. I’m not sure why it was even a topic for discussion at this. It was jsut very disappointing.

A few other things of note were of course the previews for Leopard and some gaming news. The Leopard previews were really cool. I’m really looking forward to it. It doesn’t come out until October though. Apple recently announced that it was delayed due to having to shift some resources from Mac OS development to iPhone development. It makes me wonder where the resources to port Safari to Windows came from. The gaming news was that two major gaming players (sorry, couldn’t resist), EA and ID would start producing Mac versions of their games. This is a good thing. Even with the new version of Parallels that allows for 3DFX support for Windows VMs, I would still much rather play games in the native OS.

Overall though, I considered this Stevenote to be rather lame. To think, I could have spent that time getting a cavity drilled or something along those lines instead of sitting at my desk waiting for MacRumorsLive to refresh. All the Twitter conversation was fun though.

Technorati Tags: Apple, computers, development, macintosh, macosx, software, web

I forgot what the magic number is on Lost! Does anyone know if this is it???

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Maybe Brittney at Nashville is talking can help…

Technorati Tags: computers, geek, news, tv

I just picked up one off the new MacBook Pros with the Core 2 Duo processors. I couldn’t be happier, so far.

One of the main reasons for the post is to make my co-worker Andrew jealous. While he’s lucky enough to have been issued a MBP by our company, it’s one of the old ones. I had to pay for it myself, but mine is the latest and greatest.

Right now I am working on getting the software installed and setting copied from my iMac. If I run into any issues, I’ll pass them along. So far it’s been smooth sailing though. I was kind of surprised to see that the only software updates were to a couple of applications, Keynote and Pages if IIRC.

So far it doesn’t seem to generate anything near the amount of heat the first rev of the MBP Pros did. It’s also doesn’t make as much noise. As a matter of fact, I haven’t heard a peep out of it except the tune it plays during the initial setup.

On a side note, you can find plenty of hardcore tech information here….

On another side note, I wonder why it took so long for the Apple store here in Nashville, to get them. The store in Memphis had last Wednesday. The store the guy I linked to above bought his at his local store lasst Tuesday, the day Apple announced them.
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WOW…..When I wrote “How to get Spellbound spell checker working with Firefox 1.5.0.1″ I never dreamed there would be such a positive response. The comments over there aren’t the half of it either. I have received a ton of email saying thanks for the help.

Well, here’s the bad news. I can’t use this extension anymore. Ever since switching to one of the Intel based iMacs, Spellbound quit working. It seems the extension is actually a porting of the code used by Thunderbird, Firefox’s sister email app for spell checking. Of course in order to work on so many different platforms the way it does, it has to call some OS specific libraries. Well, the Mac libraries it’s expecting are the PowerPC (read “Old Mac”) libraries. This makes it not work on the Intel iMacs. Now that you’ve read all that, you probably think you’ve heard the bad news. I ‘m sorry to say you haven’t. According to this forum, there are no plans to fix the extension. Yes, that is the bad news. But have no fear. There is good news. The reason no one is too eager to fix this nifty little extension is simple. The next major release of Firefox will have this functionality built in. I can’t wait.

I mean it….Really……I can’t wait. I hope I spelled everything right here….

So on my new job, I’m working on a project at a little fruit company in Cupertino, CA.  I was leading a meeting yesterday, when my Dell laptop suddenly “blue screened“.  It was so embarrassing.  There were literally cat calls when it happened.  I felt compelled to yell out “I’m a Mac user, don’t make fun of me!”….

So now that Apple has come out with these, I’m sorely tempted to pick one up and carry it around with me instead of the Dell my employer issued to me.

Ever since I posted my most played list the other day, I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing with my podcasts in iTunes to show my subscriptions. Well, here they are.

• “Catholic Insider” feed website - Father Roderick’s first podcast.
• “Catholic Cast Podcast” feed website - I don’t think Jason’s still doing this, but I keep it around just in case. I really miss “Conversations with an old man” the most.
• “Catholic NGO Voice” feed website
• “Praystation Portable” feed website - Morning and Evening Prayer from the Roman Breviary
• “MacCast - For Mac Geeks, by Mac Geeks” feed website - The only Mac cast I’ll listen to for more than a few minutes.
• “Cinecast” feed website - Movies reviews that are always amusing. *
• “Michael and Evo’s Slice of Scifi - Science fiction TV and movie news podcast” feed website - News about the world of Sci-Fi. *
• “SCI FI Channel - Official BSG Podcast” feed website - Executive Producer Ron Moore gives commentary to each episode. **
• “The Combat Information Center” feed website - Another BSG podcast. If anyone knows of another one done by someone less anal, let me know.
• “President’s Weekly Radio Address” feed website - W tellin’ it like it is….
• “PodcastWho” feed website - A Doctor Who podcast from a real Doctor Who geek. He goes over episodes new and old and other Who news.
• “this WEEK in TECH” feed website - A panel discussion with well known tech geeks. *
• “Security Now!” feed website - Steve Gibson tells Leo Laporte what networking and security is all about.
• “Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes Podcast” feed website - This guy has an amazinf site full of Apple scripts for iTunes.
• “Arinze - Podcasting with a Vatican Official” feed website - I love this man. He’s such a gentle and simple teacher. I always love his answers to those non-existent “stupid questions”.
• “43 Folders” feed website - UM…Just listen…..Great if you are trying to get organized or have ADD. Merlin puts out a new podcast when he remembers to…. **
• “The Official LOST Podcast” feed website - I listen to this more for the bit with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Not only are they funny, but sometimes they give away things they may or may not have meant to.
• “Inside the Net” feed website - Amber MacArthur give Leo the 411 on the latest Web 2.0 apps and sites.
• “Star Trek: The Section 31 Files” feed website - It’s not really a podcast so much as a radio drama type thing. You get to follow the crew of Section 31 ship as they try to save the galaxy and who knows, perhaps even time itself.
• “Daily Breakfast” feed website - Father Roderick’s new daily podcast. I love that banjo music!
• “One Minute Tip” feed website - Tips on how to better use you Mac. Sorry Windows folks….
• “commandN (iPod format)” feed website - A vidcast of Amber MacArthur, Jeff MacArthur and Mike Lazazzera. It’s more tech stuff.
• “Diggnation (videos)” feed website - As Alex would say, a discussion of some of the top stories from the social bookmarking site digg.com, that’s d-i-g-g-dot-com.
• “generally speaking - Lost Edition” feed website - A fan run Lost podcast, often includes a Christian prespective.
• “The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack” feed website - Just another Lost podcast. But, these guys are hilarious.
• “Star Trek: Pioneers” feed website - Another Star Trek radio drama type show.
• “Catholic Minute” feed website - Father Roderick’s video cast.
• “The Cafeteria is Closed” feed website - Gerald’s podcast. It seems like he’s dong some Latin and getting us acquainted with old school liturgy.

Warning: The ones marked with an asterisk (*), sometimes have profanity in them. The ones marked with two (**) almost always have profanity.
Since Suzette started school this semester, I’ve been driving a lot. On her school days (MWF), I drive forty five minutes to her school, then an hour to my office. I then make the reverse trip in the evening. So, I get a lot of time to listen to podcasts. Please comment back with you favorite podcasts. I need some more to pass this time. Plus I would just like to know what everyone else is listening to. Thanks!

OK….I’ve got more to say on this later, but I got one of the new Intel iMacs yesterday. My only real disappointment is the lack of support from some of the software products out there for the new Intel systems. Sometimes it’s just hard to find the universal version of the program though, like in the case of the iScrobbler plugin used to report your listening habits to last.fm. I use this myself to keep my “Current status” page updated with the last few songs I’ve listened to in iTunes. I’ve also been able to find other music I was not familiar with but ended up liking through this service.
So, like I said I’m really ready to fully go into my Intel Mac experience yet. But I did want to go ahead and put this out there. You can download the universal binary of iScrobbler by clicking on the link below.
[iScrobbler Universal - iTunes (Mac Version) - Last.fm]