I finally solved the ISync problems I reported in June on my office iMac. It looks like something got really corrupted – I had totally remove iSync from the Mac and reinstall it. Just deleting the preferences files didn’t do it. Now I’m syncing away between my various Macs, .Mac, and my Nokia phone.
Just last week I got my brand spanking new 20-inch iMac for my kitchen and family room at home – what a sweet, sweet, computer! I spent a couple of days fighting networking only to finally figure out that it was the ethernet wiring in my wall that wasn’t working. Went down to the Apple Store, picked up an Airport Extreme card, put it in, and all’s well. Watching video on the 20-inch screen is extremely groovy. In an effort to reduce clutter (Michele hates wires), I added an Apple wireless keyboard and a Kensington wireless mouse (to get two buttons). Here it is looking quite at home in its new place of prominence.
But – right after I got it, Apple announced that they’ve stopped taking orders for iMacs, as a whole new line will be available in September. The rumors have it that the new iMac will sport a vertical “pizza box” display and a G5 processor. While I’m sad to not get the faster processor, I *love* the “desklamp” display on my iMac – it makes viewing from lots of different parts of the room possible, especially for watching DVDs.
On another note, Apple previewed the next version of OS X, codenamed Tiger, at its WorldWide Developer’s Conference last week. Apple’s official preview site is here, and there is lots of detailed coverage of what’s known so far at the Apple Insider. Some interesting tidbits include an RSS-enabled version of the Safari web browser, and something called the Dashboard, which seems to be a way to put html and Javascript applets directly onto the Mac desktop.
And just to finish off the Mac news, Apple announced with much brouhaha that 100 million songs have been sold from the iTunes Music Store. Lucky Kevin Britten won a bunch of booty from Apple for being the one to purchase the 100 millionth song (“Somersault (Dangermouse remix)” by Zero 7, if you’re wondering). While the proprietary rights management encoding on the iTMS songs bothers me more and more as I want to make my music available to a wider range of devices (not all of which are produced by Apple), they clearly are the market leader here, with the best product. I’m waiting for prices to come down as a result of the volume – but not holding my breath.
