Linkstew

Flash Memory Improves PowerBook

Wow, this sounds insanely cool -- pity it doesn't work for OS X, because that'd be awesome.

After a bit of frustration with UPS requiring a signature for the package (admittedly, the shipper did set the "signature required" flag, so UPS was just "following orders"...), I finally got my shiny new 200 gig firewire hard drive today. Now I'll be able to backup my entire hard drive again, and ready to do a full reinstall once I get Panther in 11 short days. I would have had to go pick up the package from UPS if it hadn't been for my awesome roommate, though:

"Sure I'll sign for it, if I can have a cut of whatever it is."
"Uh, do you want a 20 gig partition to backup your laptop on?"
-- my roommate/me

The particular drive I got was Trans Intl's 200 GB FireWire F400 External Drive. So far it's definitely faster than my old Maxtor drive, but the bottleneck is going to be with my PowerBook's slow hard drive any which way. The drive has made a few interesting sounding clunks on drive spin up / down, though -- I'll definitely keep an ear on it, in case it starts to sound worse. The power light is a blindingly bright blue LED, and on drive access the LED only gets brighter. I had to put several layers of masking tape over it to keep it from blinding my peripheral vision, and it still glows through that masking tape well enough that I can see when the drive is being accessed. Anyway, I'm happy with it so far.

It's been more than two years since I got my Game Boy Advance, and in that time I had a lot of fun with the system. But as time passed, my ability to enjoy playing games on it diminished as I was often forced to sit in uncomfortable positions with a light shining brightly over my shoulder. So my primary reason for wanting a GBA SP was obviously the lit screen, and the other features were neutral in my mind. So, here's the bullet point version of what I think of of the SP:

• The lit screen definitely delivers as advertised, and I'm now free to play my games whenever and wherever I want. It's bright enough that it can even double as a flashlight when I'm walking down the stairs in the middle of the night.
• I was a little skeptical of the durability of the new hinge-based design, but now that I've fallen asleep on the SP a few times, it seems to hold up just as well as its predecessors. And when I shut the case before I fall asleep, the screen is even protected. Overall, a win.
• In contrast, it turns out the new metallic paint jobs aren't nearly as durable as the solid plastic colors of the original GBA. I've already got some scratches on the top of my SP that I have no idea where they came from.
• I'm amused to note that Nintendo made the same design decision that Apple did on the older PowerBooks: If the SP is closed and you're looking at it, the "Nintendo" logo is right side up. But if the SP is open and you're playing it, the "Nintendo" logo will be upside down to an observer.
• On that note, once I find my Apple stickers in my still unpacked boxes, I'm going to see if one will fit on the lid of the SP to cover the scratches, to make it look like a mini-PowerBook. =) Of course, then I'll have to decide if the Apple logo should be oriented PowerBook G3 or PowerBook G4 style.
• Though they don't say so anywhere I could find, "SP" is probably supposed to stand for "Super Portable." However, it's nowhere near as "super portable" as some of the micro-cellphones you can buy these days, and really, I don't think it's that much significantly more portable than the original GBA. I'm pretty sure it's thicker, and it's at most half as wide. Anyway, the point is, if you're worried about the size, it's small enough.
• In the other direction, though, is it too small? I don't think so. I even think that the L and R buttons may be a little easier to press than on the original, thanks to having more room to grip the longer body of the SP. However, I haven't played any L and R button intensive games yet, so I can't say for sure how comfortable it will be in the long term.
• As for the rest of the buttons, though I believe the primary buttons and dpad are a little smaller than the GBA, they're still easy to press. However, if you have big fingers, I could see problems with accidentally pressing A when you mean to press B.
• All of the buttons are recessed into the body of the unit (to keep them away from the screen when it's closed), and while this isn't a problem for the primary buttons, the start and select button can be difficult to press even for my not-too-big fingers. If your fingers are much bigger than mine, I suspect you might finding yourself using the eraser of a pencil (or maybe your fingernail or your pinky...) to press start and select.
• The volume control changed from being a dial to being a slider, and I think I liked the dial better. With the slider, I feel like I'm going to accidentally slip and turn it all the way up or all the way down every time I use it.
• Speaking of which, I'm still irritated that the SP doesn't have a headphone jack, and that EB claimed that Nintendo doesn't even make an adapter when I bought my SP. Also, reference this Penny Arcade strip.
• As for the position of the game slot on the bottom when playing classic games with bigger cartridges that stick out of the unit, it is a little irritating, and does prevent you from resting your hands on a table or your lap in certain cases, but it's not really that bad. And most games you'll be playing will probably be GBA games, anyway.
• I do kind of wish the unit had a way to put itself to sleep when the lid shuts, but I suspect that would require some software support that obviously isn't there in old games. At the very least, it would have been nice if the light and sound would shut off when you close the lid. Oh well.
• And the rechargeable battery pretty much kicks ass. Admittedly, it doesn't seem to last as long as a pair of AAs did in the GBA, but I'm playing with the light on full time, I'm not wasting batteries this way, and I can charge the unit without having to stop playing. Pretty much yay.

To sum up, the GBA SP is an overall win. It does have a few flaws in that the paint scratches easily, there's no headphone jack, the start/select buttons are kind of hard to press (but no worse than the Gamecube's stupid Z button), and classic Game Boy cartridges stick awfully far out of the bottom of the unit. But overall, if you're debating between buying a $70 GBA or a $100 GBA SP, the extra $30 will be well spent on the SP instead of another game in the long run. Consider that you'll save on the cost of batteries and glasses and it pretty quickly adds up.

While moving later this week is going to suck more than the last few times I've done it, there is one thing that I'm actually looking forward to this time: While before I've always waited until the last possible minute to pack my computer(s), this time it won't matter. Thanks to only having a laptop at this point, when I'm finally ready to make the final transition, I'll just shut the lid and toss it in my backpack. I probably won't even turn it off. I really can't imagine going back to a desktop for any reason at this point.

The power in my building was insane last night. At around 9 o'clock, I noticed that the courtyard lights were out completely. My phone was powerless but my microwave was fine. My cable modem had power but my net still wasn't working (which is what got me investigating things in the first place). My TiVo was thankfully operational to record the season finale of Angel. The light in my living room acted like there was a brownout but the lights in the other rooms were unaffected.

So I just went in my room, turned off my light, and was merrily listening to music and playing games and writing on my laptop. But when I got ready to set my alarm and go to bed, I realized that the power had gone out completely at some point. My laptop's battery was at 80%, so I'd been without power for at least 30 minutes and had been completely oblivious to it. Gosh I love having a computer with an independent power supply.

Luckily, Dave agreed to give me a lift to the Apple Store Tuesday evening so I could see about getting my q key fixed. We got there and I told my sad story to the resident Apple Genius, and after rebooting into OS 9 and testing every key on the keyboard, he agreed that the q key didn't work.

He proceeded to take off the key, and he noticed something that I didn't (because I wasn't doing my testing in a well lit room): It looked like there was still soda on the membrane under the key! He rationalized that the parts they use as "replacements" are often refurbished parts, and that my "replacement" keyboard had just been a cleaned soda-keyboard. That would also explain why the whole keyboard felt uncomfortably stiff to me.

So the genius tapped at his computer for a minute, and then disappeared into the back of the store, and returned a few minutes later with a brand new keyboard for me. He swapped the keyboard, did a few minutes of paperwork, and I was on my way with no downtime at all. Hooray!

In even better news, I installed the iPod 1.2.6 firmware upgrade, and it fixed my iPod's batter life! Before, it would die after about 30 minutes, suddenly jumping from 3 bars to displaying the "sad battery" icon. But today, I've been listening to my iPod for the last 5 hours!

I'm as happy as a worm in an apple!

Of course, it's still March, so I shouldn't be surprised when something else goes wrong. This is actually a continuation of something that happened earlier this month, that I never got around to ranting about here. The short version is I gave my PowerBook a soda bath a week or two before Kevin did the same to his PowerBook. But while his came out mostly unscathed, mine wouldn't boot.

So I took it to the Bay Street Apple Store, and they sent it in for repair, and they called me and told me it was going to cost something like $1000 for parts and labor. What could I do, say no? As it happened, it was they very next day that I went snowboarding and cut my eyebrow and got stitches.

While I was at it, I also took my dead airport base station and dead-battery iPod to the apple store, but they were both more than a year old and hence out of warranty, so I got no repair love there, either.

Anyway, I finally picked up my PowerBook today -- I called them last week and asked "What the fuck?" They said they called on the 12th, but they didn't leave a message... I picked it up, and found out they had replaced the whole motherboard/logicboard, the RAM, and the keyboard. I was particularly happy to hear the keyboard had been replaced, because that meant I wouldn't have to deal with any stickiness issues that plagued my Pismo for long after I gave it a soda bath.

So I got it home and turned it on and was very unhappy to discover that the q key didn't work. Also, the mouse button isn't as clicky as it used to be, and when I'm trying to hold it down, for example, it'll sometimes "let go" even though I'm still pressing on it.

In other words, I'll be heading back to the Apple Store tomorrow. The Proof of Repair says "If your product needs service due to defects in materials or workmanship within 90 days of this repair, AppleCare Service will repair your system free of charge," which means the keyboard should be free (except in the time-is-money sense). I'll see if they'll fix the button for free while they're at it, because I can't afford to pay for anything else, and if they won't fix it, well, it still works, and I could probably adapt to using tap-click on the trackpad.

So yes, I still hate March. This one did nothing to change things.

The MacWorld SF Keynote today, and it really was a doozy of announcements. I watched the whole keynote, and enjoyed it pretty well, and I just can't stop thinking about some of the announcements. Since there's no way I'm going to be able to afford any of that stuff at the moment, I really just need to do a brain dump of my thoughts on the thing, so I can get on with my life in the mean time. Plus, posts like this one are always amusing for me to read a year from now.

• Obviously my favorite announcement was the Burton AMP iPod/Snowboard jacket. In an IM conversation, Keith said "I heard the promo for the jacket and I thought 'who the heck would buy that??' then thought 'benjy seems to be the target demographic.'" Heh, so true.
• Of course, $499 is way too much for a snowboard jacket (it's so expensive because it's some sort of exclusive limited release for this season available only through the Apple store online. In the keynote, Jobs claimed it'd be more generally released next season, so it should be cheaper then, too). Damnit, I still need to call Apple and see if they'll replace my iPod battery.


• I don't have a lot to say about iLife or Final Cut Express, really. I think they look good for what they are, but I have no use for almost any of them. The iPhoto updates will be nice, but I'd really like to see more iTunes features, since that's the only app of the lot I use regularly.


• Keynote also looks really nice, and seems like the obvious first step towards Apple trying to become even more independent of Microsoft. I don't have much use for a presentation app (hell, I only made my first PowerPoint presentation last month), but it looks good for what it is, and I look forward to Apple's answers to the rest of MS Office.


• Safari is Apple's new web browser, and so far I really like it. I've been running it since I downloaded it this afternoon, and for a beta, it's really nice. It hasn't crashed (though OmniWeb crashed about 5 minutes after I launched Safari).
• There are a lot of features I'd like to see still (and I might post a list later), but it's already got me considering switching over from OmniWeb. For a beta, that's pretty impressive.
• And I like the name a lot. It's pretty clever. But what's in a name, you ask? Well, Safari is way better than Apple's last web browser, Cyberdog, which (embarrassing admission time) I used for more than a year as my primary web browser / email program / etc back in the day. I mean, Safari is *way* better than Cyberdog ever was. Hm, not that it would take much...


• As far as the new PowerBooks, well, of course they're sexy, but I'm doing my best to not desire them too much.
• There's not a lot in the 12" PowerBook that I really want. The size will be good for some people, but my 15" Ti is good for me.
• The new 17" Monstrosity, on the other hand, has a lot I want in it. I don't actually want the 17" screen -- once again, my 15" Ti is just the right size.
• What I do want is the new Airport Extreme (Maybe I'll get lucky and when I call Apple about my busted basestation, they'll send me a new Airport Extreme Basestation) ;-). I want Firewire 800, and I want built in Bluetooth. I also wouldn't mind a SuperDrive, but that was a choice I already made.
• As for the new backlit keyboard in the 17" PowerBook, well, I already talked about that more than two years ago.
• My last note on the PowerBooks: Even if you're on a modem, you must take the time to download this commercial. It's the funniest thing I've seen since Apple's Hal Y2k commercial.


• I was amused by Jobs saying "the rumor sites were saying this was going to be a really boring keynote. Well, I hope you don't believe everything you read." I almost felt like releasing the minor TiBook revision back in November was to completely cloak the new PowerBook announcements. No one expected new PowerBooks at all after they were just updated. I still don't regret buying the model I did when I did, though, because they didn't update the 15" model at all.
• I was also amused by this Jobs quote. "Some people have a problem with open source. We think it's great." Between comments like that, the Safari announcement, and the Keynote announcement, I really felt like Apple was moving into a more aggressive posture with regard to Microsoft. It'll be interesting to see where that goes in the next year or two.

My final thought on the keynote? Damnit, now I want to work at Apple! Oh, hey, look at that, I just graduated... Fancy that.

I was distracted in class all day today. I just couldn't focus on what the professors were saying.

You know how when there are a few girls floating around that you have crushes on and you've got a feeling that something might happen soon, but you can't be sure? Despite all the anticipation, in the end it comes down to the fact that girls can often be fickle. In the end, all you can do is wait until something clicks.

And you know how at some point, something does click? Maybe it's a look in her eye, maybe it's a new name she's started calling you, or maybe it's just availability... But at that point, you know that something is going to happen, and the only question left is when. There's no more uncertainty, and instead there's just a controlled exchange leading up the inevitable.

Well, this morning I checked my computer and found out that something with one of those girls finally "clicked."

After receiving that kind of news, it was understandably hard for me to pay attention in class today. I spent all day looking at her picture on my laptop. I thought about how she'd keep me warm in bed on cold winter nights (Well, once California figures out that it's November and not August). I whispered my good news to a friend in class, laughing quietly when I described her as a "Gigahertz witha Gigaram." And I wondered if she would ever be able to love me as much as I know I'm going to love her.

So the only real question left is when, and according to Apple, my new PowerBook G4 and I will be hooking up in 5-7 days.

My PowerBook has seen a lot of action over the last couple of years. She's got a small crack in her case and her screen just isn't as bright as it used to be. I shorted out her processor and spent a month without her. One of her batteries died this summer and now she just doesn't have quite as much stamina as she used to. And this is probably psychological, but it seems like it takes a lot longer for her to turn on these days.

But none of that is actually what's been bothering me these days. No, what's bothering me these days is the keyboard. No, the keys aren't sticky, despite a few spills. And the keys still have plenty of spring, despite being removed several times so I could clean underneath them.

No, the problem is that I've typed so many words on this keyboard that some of the keys have been rubbed shiny smooth by all that action. The right half of my space bar is very shiny, while the left side retains its original flat finish. The left shift key is equally shiny, while right shift is just as unused.

But my real problem is that the F and J key's nipples just aren't as perky as they once were.

Where once my fingers gravitated to those little protrusions without any effort, now I have to locate capslock and return with my pinkies to verify that my fingers are in the right place.

When I'm in bed beside her, it takes effort to put my fingers where they're supposed to be. I might poke her in the 'i' if I'm not careful.

When she's on my lap and I reach blindly for an f, it's not uncommon for me to accidently hit a 'g' instead.

Hm, I wonder if they make BodyPerks for PowerBooks?

So I'm sitting in CS 160 right now, and 6 people in front of me (out of about 30) are using laptops right now. In particular, these are laptops that are issued to us for a minimal deposit, for use in CS 160. And important to this story, these laptops comes with wireless cards.

So it's true that these laptops are being used "in CS 160," and I suppose that's good. But what's bad is what the people in front of me are using them for. Here's the rundown:

1. The girl in front of me is the only one who seems to have lecture notes open. Even better, she actually looked at the CS 160 newsgroup at one point. However, she's also on IM, and she's written at least two emails. All things considered, a 9/10.
2. The guy over by the wall to my right is browsing around some forum or another. He is also using IM.
3. A guy at the front right of the class is browsing around Amazon, and is also using IM.
4. A guy over at the left is looking at what looks like car manufacturer sites. Oh, and he's using IM.
5. Another guy over at the left is just using IM.
6. And the girl to my left has the dubious distinction of being the only one not using IM. Dubious because she's busy apparently planning a trip. Right now she's buying plane tickets, and earlier she was looking up restaurants and entertainment sites.

If I had my camera with me, I'd do something like Berkeleysucks.com's annoying people in class series, but I reckon that'd be even more disruptive and annoying than all the laptops put together.

What? Who, me? I'm just blogging. But it's not like I'm using a class laptop or anything -- I'm just using my trusty PowerBook! And the only reason I got my PowerBook out in the first place was so that I could experience the irony of writing this entry.

And for the record, I'm not on IM.

I've had my iPod for almost a year now, and in that time I've gotten more unsolicited comments on it than on anything else I've ever owned. Here are my top three random iPod encounters:

1. After one of my first discussion sections of the semester, a cute girl asked me, "Is your iPod one of the new ones with the solid state track wheels?"

   Not expecting that question at all, I fumbled my response, and ended up saying something like "Er, uh, no, look, an original one, wheel."

   I held it out for her, and she reached out and spun the wheel. "Oh," she said, sounding almost disappointed.

   Between her being cute, her asking about my iPod, and her owning an iBook, I admit I was disappointed when I found out she had a boyfriend. But at least it came up in random conversation the next week before I had a chance to put myself in an embarrassing situation.

2. While standing in line to see Gigantic last spring, I took my iPod out to play a song for my friend.

   While the song was playing, I overheard a guy in line behind me say "Wow, I suddenly want to shake his hand, and say 'Wow, I wish I had money to buy an iPod.'"

   His friend told him "You should." But he didn't. I pretended I didn't hear them, and went right on talking to my friend.

   But when it was announced the venue was 21 and over, the kids behind me, along with many others in the line, were left in a lurch. Hell, I didn't know it was 21 and over either -- I didn't see anything about it on the website or in the email confirmation.

   I felt kind of bad for them when they wandered away from the line dejectedly, but what was I supposed to do? Give him my iPod ID as a consolation prize?

3. During a pick-up game of Set at a BART station while waiting with some friends, some random guy started watching us play and trying to strike up a conversation. When the train showed up, the guy got on and sat down altogether too close to us.

   At some point, I transfered my iPod from my pocket to my backpack or something, and the guy latched onto that and attempted to pick the conversation back up.

   I'm pretty sure he was more interested in my beautiful companions than me or my iPod.

   I tried to wrap the conversation up as quickly as possible, but not before he gave us his web site address for "his music." It was hosted at eristocracy.net or something else containing a too clever pun on the name eris.

   Thankfully, he got off a couple of stops later, so we didn't have to ride with him the whole way.

Anyway, those are just the three that stand out the most in my mind for one reason or another. Besides that, there were three incidents on my first round trip Amtrak ride after I got my iPod, one conversation at a party, innumerable discussions at work, and several others in class and at cafes. It's quite the conversation piece.

I can only hope the TiBook I plan to buy next month works out half as well for me.