I’m waiting at ORD for my flight back home to TUS. Passing through TSA territory was not BAD. Here is a TIP or TWO to help you FLY with as much ease and comfort as you CAN.
1. Travel light. If you have to think about it, don’t bring it. Winter travel season is here, with flight delays and luggage confusion. Bring only what you need, and pack as much as you can into your suitcase. Carry-on luggage is under scrutiny like never before, and updated info is posted at TSA. When in doubt, leave it out. Buy and use a rolling suitcase that is either a strange color or uniquely decorated with peculiar tape designs or ribbons, for instant identification. Have your personal information inserted into several places within each item you bring.
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Creating your own computer program in REALbasic 2006 is straightforward and remarkably good fun. With a little practise, you can craft all kinds of neat applications tailor-made to your business or hobbies. In this tutorial, we’ll make a program that access the Meteorological Office web site and then downloads the latest cloud cover satellite image. Definitely useful, the British summer being what it is. In the process, we’ll look at how REALbasic programming works, and how to create a logical interface and add all the little extras like menu items and tool-tips.
Programming in REALbasic involves three main stages. The first is formulating what you want the application to do. This may be as simple as performing a calculation on some number entered by the user, through to more complex tasks that involve graphics, connections to the Internet, multimedia files, and more. Once you have outlined what you want your application to do, you need to create an interface. REALbasic provides lots of tools for this, and for many newbie programmers, this is the most immediately fun and rewarding part of the process. Because the Mac has a clearly defined “toolbox” of buttons and other interface components, almost anything you create in REALbasic will have that Macintosh look and feel you like so much. The last stage in the process is adding the code, the part of the project that tells the computer what to do when a certain command is issued, such as when a button is pressed.
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A contest on the Mini podcast? You bet, courtesy of Nemo! Download now for your chance to win! John has FIVE Case-Mate iPod cases to give away. Also, Robert reviews Adobe Stock Photos, David Cohen talks his usual Fenestration segment, as well as a report on GreenPeace at MacExpo, and Guy Serle’s Not Mac News.
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Ah, there is nothing like new Apple gear, eh? And what could be better than one of the smallest Apple hardware products of all time, the all new, second generation iPod Shuffle!
Dan Rodriguez, good friend of MyMac.com, emailed us his unpacking pictures of the new little iPod. Thanks, Dan! Check out the packaging, and see just how small the iPod Shuffle really is!
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Tim and Guy solo this week and interview writer and producer Dwayne McDuffie. Dwayne has been nominated for two Emmy Awards, a Writers Guild Award, and three Eisner Awards. Currently the writer of Marvel Comics Fantastic Four, Dwayne is also a one-time MyMac.com writer, and a long time Mac user.
A report by Gartner has been floating around the web calling for Apple to leave the hardware business and let someone else, like sayDell, make their Macs for them. While this is a preposterous proposal, parts of is not so ridiculous.
First let’s get the madness out of way so we can concentrate later on the parts that actually make sense. In the report, Gartner states, “Apple should concentrate on what it does best – create software – and make use of Dell’s production and distribution infrastructure. Apple should leverage its close relationship with Intel and team up with Intel’s closest ally, Dell. We recognize that this move would surprise and even shock many. We are aware that Steve Jobs cancelled previous Mac licenses when he took over at Apple and that he guards the Apple brand zealously. Apple’s margins for its Mac business, currently around 40 per cent, are only sustainable because component makers such as Intel choose to prop up the business.”
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My high-speed Qwest DSL home office Internet service performed flawlessly for an entire year, without any drops or interruptions. Then it rained, long and hard, with plenty of thunder and lightning. Our phone line started crackling and the DSL network became unreliable.
James from Qwest replaced every component in our phone and networking hardware during the weeks we continued to experience daily DSL drops. I have his personal mobile number, and when we need more on site help he sets up an appointment to update whatever is necessary.
One Friday he replaced our networking node (or whatever it’s called) at the neighborhood central DSL terminal, but our service was down afterward. I called Qwest’s toll-free tech support number. After a standard routine of unplugging, re-plugging, and troubleshooting, the agent rebooted the DSL modem remotely, and I was back online.
Two days ago I realized I needed to call James and thank him, finally, for making our network connection stable. I was in the swimming pool, and when I got out, Barbara said “John, can you get our Internet working again? We just lost it.”
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