StreamJockey

Time Machine. No, not your Time Machine, Apple.

So I live and work in Connecticut, in the Eastern time zone. Well I am now working for Wiredless Networks, a Mississippi company (Central Standard Time -1hr from EST). I am building up VMs and developing on a Mac Book Pro we purchased for them, so I kept it in the Central time zone.

Well if I am working on one of my other computers (set to EST) and I feel it's getting late and I didn't accomplish what I wanted to, I switch to the CST Mac Book and see via the clock I have gained an hour!

I am just waiting for the other half of my brain to catch on to this scheme.

Double-click to Add (the world) to iTunes Library

One miscue I make almost weekly is when I want to add some media to iTunes. Under OS X iTunes Add To Library you are presented with a window where you can select the directory and/or files to add. Well I guess it is my Windows double-click nature but when you double-click prior to being at the correct directory level, iTunes tries to add all files from that directory and subdirectories to iTunes. For example I would double-click on Downloads below when I really wanted to single-click to enter that directory:

I can usually catch it and cancel the operation before many (if any) are imported. But I hope I can relearn that operation :-) Thankfully it will only try and import files it knows how to play.

Now with iTunes 9 if I want to import media files that are already on another home network computer (with iTunes up and running) I can select that shared computer, browse and select the file(s), and click Import. That is a nice feature. However this will not help with initially getting the files into iTunes.

Why I don't run Adobe (Acrobat) Reader on my Macs (And why it is a bad experience on Windows)

I just downloaded Adobe (Acrobat) Reader 9 for Windows from Adobe's website. After the installation completed, I launched Adobe Reader, then I clicked check for updates and low-and-behold there is an update. Guys how about having me install that one right from the start?

And no, I do not want to install your download manager just to download Adobe Reader.

And no, I do not want to install Google Toolbar, McAfee Security Scan, or anything else! How about unchecking them by default so I don't dislike the initial experience with your products so much?

And while you're at it can you fix it so when I install a new version, i.e. 8 to 9, I don't get the Terms & Conditions page hidden behind other windows when I next go to read a PDF file?

I never install any Adobe Reader products on my Macs. Ever. Mac OS X Snow Leopard (and at least Leopard before that) has built-in support for the PDF format. As a result you can view or create PDFs from almost any application in the system.

Bing.com's Video Search Rocks!

I really like bing.com's video search results page. I entered "ruby on rails" and then was quickly presented with a results page which displayed thumbnails of the results. Then you just hover the mouse over a thumbnail and it within a second or two it starts playing that video! Very cool and useful. 

I often will watch training videos and I don't always have the author or presenter bookmarked. But with this I can quickly see a familiar face or graphic or recognize a voice or theme music and know I found a familiar site.