http://www.johnmasone.com The life and times of my camera phone Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:54:33 -0400 en http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=232 79271cf2 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:40:27 EDT I\'m not 100% sure. But I am like 95% sure. ...that this is my favorite youtube video, ever. Ever ever ever. And that includes all the video I\'m in on there. http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=231 a0015fff Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:25:14 EDT One of the common questions a person has when they are thinking about switching to Mac\'s for the first time, is \"Can I run Microsoft Office?\". They usually word it in a way that doesn\'t quite make sense, but that\'s what they mean. They want to be able to create and edit Word and Excel files. The short answer to this question, is \"Yes.\" Microsoft makes a version of Office just for Macs. And like the Windows version, it\'s pretty expensive. Apple also make their own office suite, called iWork. It contains a word processor (Pages) and a spreadsheet (Numbers), and also a presentation app (Keynote). Apple\'s programs are nice, and they are cheaper than Microsoft\'s. Enter OpenOffice OpenOffice is a totally free office suite. Yes that\'s right, totally free. It\'s an open source project, which means it\'s not made by a company, it\'s made by it\'s users and fans. To a traditional Mac or Windows user, free software usually means a poor quality demo. But in the unix world where OpenOffice was born, nearly everything is free. How does OpenOffice compare to MS Office and Apple iWork? Well OpenOffice\'s interface is a little more retro. It has square buttons and lots of grey, that reminds you of the classic days of OS 9. It\'s not quite as fast as Apple iWork, but it\'s probably on par with current versions of MS Office. As far as functionality, it\'s great. It has a fully functional word processor and a fully functional spreadsheet program. In fact, it kind of reminds you of using older versions of MS Office, before Microsoft started changing the look every release. But it\'s not office. And it\'s free (have I mentioned that?) Compatibility is great too. Each office suite (MS Office, Apple iWork, OpenOffice) creates new documents in their own format by default. MS Office uses Word and Excel files, which have become a de-facto standard, but they are not true standards. OpenOffice saves files to the standard OpenDocument format. While this format is a standard, few applications use it, so it\'s kind of de-facto proprietary. Apple\'s iWork of course uses it\'s own proprietary format for new documents too. It\'s the Apple way. HOWEVER (this is the most important part), both OpenOffice and Apple\'s iWork can open MS Office files, and can save as MS Office files. With Apple\'s iWork, it\'s a little clumsy. iWork automatically opens copies of Microsoft files, then if you make a change and want to save, you have to save that copy as a Microsoft file. OpenOffice makes it even easier. OpenOffice lets you open and save Microsoft files directly. This lets you use OpenOffice on a Mac, while sitting in an office full of Windows users who send you (proprietary) Microsoft Office documents, seamlessly. So what does it all mean? Yes, you can get Microsoft Office for Mac, so you can create Word and Excel files. BUT you can also get OpenOffice on your Mac, which is a totally free, and slightly less visually attractive office application, that lets you do all the same things as MS Office. Prices of Microsoft Office range from $149 to $399. http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=230 171c9efb Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:37:48 EDT I could tow this thing with my mountain bike!! http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=229 c42d4e0b Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:38:13 EDT So, by the transitive property, does jesus love my cash? http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=228 73308f0f Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:19:27 EDT Years ago, a small section of the Mac community would often complain that Apple should release a \"headless iMac\". The rest of the Mac community argued that this made no sense. If you want an all in one, buy a G4 iMac ($1300). If you want something headless, buy a G4 tower ($1700). Apple eventually even released the Mac mini ($500). The idea of a headless iMac made very little sense. But times have changed. iMacs have become a significantly more powerful machine. iMacs have more than enough power for the average Mac user. Very few users need the processing power of a Mac Pro. But many users do still need the expandability of a tower. This can be a problem because unlike the days of the G4, the Mac Pro towers are extremely high priced. They start at $2500 and the current high end models are as much as $5000. A computer that expensive is not a good fit for someone that needs no more CPU or GPU power than an iMac, but needs maybe one or two PCI cards installed, and could benefit from more than one internal hard drive. Adding to the difficulty of \"getting by\" with an iMac, about half of Mac users prefer n anti-glare screen, but Apple has no anti-glare option on iMacs. Also the iMac has only one FireWire port, and zero eSata ports. So the hole in Apple\'s lineup is a product for people who would be perfectly happy with the processor and graphics power of the current generation of iMacs, but need some amount of expandability, and would prefer anti-gloss screens. This machine would also appeal to a large segment of the PC user population that still cling to towers for their tinker-ability. This 4th model of desktop computer really didn\'t make sense 8 years ago. But things have changed significantly since then, most importantly including Apple\'s market share. The image included with this article is not a spy shot. It\'s just a quick photoshop mangling of a photo of a Mac Pro. Replace the two full size optical bays with a single slimline drive, remove one of the PCI slots, replace the server class Xeon processors with Corei5s and Corei7s, and replace the fully buffered, super hot RAM with several (8) standard laptop DDR3 slots. This artwork is to scale in front of an actual Mac Pro. This would be a great little Mac. My prediction: This Mac will never happen. Apple does not have much interest in desktop computers. Every engineer working on a desktop Mac, is an engineer not working on iPad 2 / iPhone 5 / MacBook 19. http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=226 79900133 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:17:19 EDT Went for an awesome boat ride today. It was very windy out, so by the time I got out into the harbor, I was hitting some big waves. Big for a little boat like this anyway. I killed the motor and drifted around getting shaken up while I ate lunch out there. It was a pretty awesome day. I just need to get new seats and I\'ll be golden! http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=225 a0b6423e Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:09:40 EDT A tree crane. I want one. No, I don\'t have any trees to take down. But I still want one. http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=224 17ab833a Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:24:18 EDT Every time Apple updates the Mac mini, some people are left disappointed. I think this is because such a nice, powerful little machine has so much potential filling all sorts of niches. The Mac mini is always one or two features away from being an amazing [fill in the blank]. The previous two Mac mini updates were great in my book. There were still a few more features I\'d want, but it was still a great little machine. However, this most recently update, is very disappointing to me. When it comes down to it, I feel like Apple just put the Mac mini in a fancy case, and then jacked the price. It\'s true, they did upgrade the processor and the graphics chip. But they didn\'t put high-end processors and graphics in the mini, they just bumped them up to match the same low-end that the MacBook and MacBook Pro\'s have. High end mobile graphics, at least as an option, was one of the things on my Mac mini wish list. Something on par with what\'s in the more expensive MacBook Pros. Apple also changed the video-out ports. From one miniDP plus one miniDVI port, to one miniDP and one HDMI port. Lots of people have been waiting for this for a long time. But again, I find this disappointing. miniDP to HDMI adapters are only $10. I would MUCH rather have seen the new Mac mini have two miniDP\'s, with a miniDP to HDMI adapter included in the box. That way they could still advertise it as \"having HDMI\", but it would give the mini a lot more versatility. Two large LCD displays powered by a single Mac mini would be a GREAT setup for 2D graphics, like print and web work. Apple did add an SD card slot. Most of their laptops have an SD card slot too. It\'s very handy on a laptop. You\'re on the go, so you don\'t want to carry an extra USB device around. You just spin your MacBook around and stick the memory card in. But the Mac mini is a desktop. It\'s not a hassle keeping a card reader around. And the SD slot is on the back of the machine. The way most people set up their desks, the back of their Mac mini is not easily-accessible. I see the SD slot as more of a gimmick than a useable feature. Also, while I did have an expansion slot on my Mac mini wish list, I was thinking more along the lines of an ExpressCard slot, not an SD slot. That way you could install something like a dual port eSata card, and run up to 10 external hard drives through your mac mini. Or maybe a second gigabit ethernet port. A little expandability goes a long way. But the SD card… isn\'t it. The new Mac mini has a fancy new \'Unibody\' aluminum case like the MacBook Pros. And I agree, they do look nice. And they no longer have an external power supply, it\'s all included in the case, which is also nice. But, these are desktops. The biggest benefit of unibody isn\'t the look, it\'s the strength. MacBook Pro\'s are super rigid, which makes them much nicer to handle and work with. You don\'t handle a Mac mini. You put it on your desk, you tuck it\'s external power supply (on older models) in a corner somewhere, and you never give them another thought. This style of case is MUCH less necessary for a desktop computer. And I do not see this new case as justifying the $100 price increase, from $599 to $699. $699 is a lot of money for an entry level desktop. This Mac mini still only has 2 GB of RAM, and you still need to buy a keyboard, mouse and monitor to go with it. It\'s as if Apple is trying to take the \"features\" of the 13\" MacBook Pro (Apple\'s best selling Mac) over the MacBook, and apply them to the Mac mini. But it\'s a whole different story when you\'re talking desktops. The value just isn\'t there in my opinion. So in conclusion, I\'m fairly disappointed by this new Mac mini upgrade. I was tentatively thinking about buying two of them before they came out. But i\'m just going to stick with what I have for now. http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=223 12fbc424 Tue, 25 May 2010 05:14:06 EDT This is the switch panel I plan on installing in my boat. It will replace all the ghetto switches on my dash, and add many more. It also explains what every switch will do. This is a long term project, it will probably be a long time before everything on the panel is working. If ever. http://www.johnmasone.com/article.php?id=222 a5e60520 Tue, 25 May 2010 05:08:06 EDT I am the muthafucking king of Kitty Cannon.