seanwillson.com

own a apple laptop? maybe an ipod? looking for longer battery life? who isn’t right … seems apple has decided to share some knowledge about their batteries. not only do they explain how lithium-ion batteries charge, discharge, optimal temperatures and more but they also offer some icalender files you can subscribe too that will remind you to charge and discharge your ipod and laptop. it’s good seeing a technology company like apple educating their user base, they are indeed their biggest proponents and sales force.

a quick command i found online to check your current battery capacity on your powerbook. run this from within terminal application:

ioreg -l | grep -i IOBatteryInfo

based on different postings from the thread on macnn it appears that if you have a 12” your capacity should be around 4200, 15” around 4500, and 17” around 5800.

i’ve always though that my battery was a bit weak, and this proves it. my capacity from the command was:

“IOBatteryInfo” = ({”Capacity”=3432, “Amperage”=1200, “Current”=3432, “Voltage”=12481, “Flags”=1090519045})

where it should be around 4500, it’s instead 1000 less than that, yikes. right now i get around 2.5 - 3.0 hours if i turn my screen down to about half. in the next few months i’ll likely need a new one, just in time to place my airport express order.

i found this site surfing online the other day. it’s a site called imoviefest that acts as an outlet for amateur movie makers to publish their work and have others provide feedback and view it. a few of the movies are download only, but most of them are streamable via quicktime. a few of the movies are pretty lame, but there are a some that i recommend checking out when you get a chance.

x3i was edited on final cut pro and is a spin off of xmen. though a bit slow at points with some corny acting, it was actually neat seeing the effects that were applied. this one is pretty long and is a download only. the key for me was at the end after watching it i wanted to know what happened next. not that it was the best movie i saw there, just that i wanted to see more.

sound wall is a very creative short that juxtaposes black and white silence with color music in a cool way. as the sound is released from the wall the color enters the world, but of course it must be controlled and stopped. very fun to watch.

there are others, but rather than rehash what you can watch for yourself you should just check them out. i certainly can’t do them justice. it does make me wish i had some skillz in video though.

well after 3+ years i broke down and finally picked up a new cell phone. after much bidding on ebay and monitoring on froogle i won the auction at the price i was willing to pay. what phone did i end up getting? i picked up the new sony ericsson z600, new to the united states at least. i picked up an unlocked version so that i could use it on the t-mobile network.

a few of the features: 128×160 pixel 65,536 color screen display, bluetooth wireless, tri-band (1900, 1800, 900), java, infrared, modem, wap 2.0, isync support, polyphonic ringtones, built in organizer, talk time of 9 hours and stand by of 300 hours. pretty cool ahe?

i picked it up not only because i was tired of the crap nokia phone i had but because it is so tightly integrated with my mac. i can have the phone in my bag while using it to surf the web on the train, message my friends and family via sms, and it can automatically sync with ical and the mac address book. i can remotely control my computer to play songs, give presentations, lock when i walk away, and more. basically it allows me to become more mobile and more connected at the same time. all brought to me by mac os x and it’s tight bluetooth integration. it’s not very often that a computer company really gets it right, but this is one of those times.

i recently upgraded the ilife applications that came with my new mac to new ilife ’04 suite. it contains updates to iphoto, idvd, imovie and has the latest version of itunes. it also comes with a cool new application called garage band. this cool application contains a simple interface that allows you to combine various musical instruments and audio loops to create your own songs. you can then easily use those songs in other ilife applications, put up on the internet, or download to your ipod.

i know it sounds weird, heck most of us have no idea how to play an instrument let alone compose music. but, i have to honestly tell you that it’s amazingly easy and even addicting. you simply select an instrument type, a style of music, and then a sub style if you want. from there you can then select the loop name, tempo, key or beat that you want (you can also just scroll through all of the loops if you want). have no idea what any of that means, that’s fine to, just click the name of the loop and it will play the loop for you within your song or by itself. once you find the loop you want, you can drag and drop it into the view above resizing and positioning it within the song wherever you want it. you can repeat parts of it or the whole loop itself. it’s that easy …

if your semi musically inclined you can hook up a midi device to your computer via usb and use garage band to record your own musical segments. from there you can slice and dice it, change volume, or see how it would sound if played with another instrument.

i highly recommend that you check out ilife ’04 or the garageband jam pack which adds 2,000 more loops, 100 more software instruments and other effects. i haven’t picked up the jam pack yet, but it has crossed my mind. i was even thinking about picking up the pro version of garage band called soundtrack. amy and i have even discussed buying a keyboard with midi/usb input so we can both learn the keyboard. she already knows it pretty well because she is very musically inclined, i on the other hand have always wanted to play but never gotten around to it. this may be the catalyst to finally get that party started.

update — i decided to post a 1 minute track that i made with garage band. it’s not that great but it gives you a feel for what you can create quickly. you can check it out here: aiff (10.1mb), aac (1.4mb), quicktime (780k). this is an electronic piece that is purely a bunch a loops put together with no original content. if only i had a keyboard, i’d be dangerous.

those of you that read the various computer news sites may have seen the misinformed badly written article over at pc magazine about the supposed security vulnerabilities of macs. this is honestly one of the worst written articles i have read in a number of years. you may call me biased because i own a mac, but honestly, read the article. the underlying tone, writing style, and the authors complete misunderstanding of not only macs, the mac community, but viruses and security holes in general is hysterical. i’m not the only person that thinks this guys is a joke either, even the former chief security officer at network solutions, richard forno, has a few choice words on the topic. a poignant quote at the beginning of the article says it all … “mac os x is solid, secure, and perhaps the most trustworthy mainstream computing environment available today” … read richards article for more insight into macintoshes, security, computers, and a look at the inept writers on the pc magazine staff.

i installed php icalendar today, it took about 5 minutes to install and configure. i was looking for a tool that would allow me to make my calendar files from ical usable by my wife and others. the files are standard vcal files that applications like ical, mozilla, ximian, and others can import and export.

php icalendar is a html web interface that gives you complete access to one or more of these vcal files. it allows you to view them one at a time, all together, and through various timeframe views like day, week, and month. i was surprised at the quality of this application given that it is a 1.0 release and it’s free. it was easy to use, the icons and configurability are top notch, and it worked without a hitch no matter what i tried. to import a calendar all you have to do is take your vcal files and put them into the right directory and you instantly have access to them.

if your looking for a web based calendar application that looks great, is highly usable, and is free i recommend you download and install it. if you own mac os x you may need directions to turn on php.