Recently in Technology Category

The impossible (or so the media and online world would have us believe) has happened.

My iMac died. Completely. Pressed the power key last Thursday ... the apple logo appears in center, the spin wheel is spinning ... and then an ominous dark grey screen descends. Then an even darker (and more ominous) little box appears in the center saying I am required to reboot.

I reboot approximately 37 times. Nada.

Then I reset the PRAM. Run Hardware Tests, Disk Utility.

Nada.

I can fix a PC with my eyes closed for the most part ... but a mac. That's another story. Especially an iMac that you can't just pop open. I call my *mac guy* ... he says it's time to call my neighborhood apple store. Sigh.

I get an appointment at the genius bar ... and carry my sad iMac up to the counter. You know you're in trouble when the genius bar guy makes the sad sighing sound ... tries 3 different keyboard/mice ... 3 different firewire cables.

I hear them say "Complete hard drive AND logic board failure..."

Thank goodness it's still under warranty ... and applecare is worth every penny.

Got it back last night ... spent this morning reinstalling and configuring.

Soo ... don't believe everything you hear. Macs do crash.

And I still love apple ... ;)

My first computer was a Commodore 64 ... I remember my brother and I keying in pages and pages of code just to play a super simple game. One keystroke wrong ... game doesn't work and you start over. You want to play something else? Key the code in again. Play the game you were playing last week? Key the code in again.

Sigh .... Kids today just don't know about having to *work* for anything ... it's all right at their fingertips with a click of a button or the wave of a Wii.

More fun 80's stuff after the break ....

My brother sent me this very cool link to PhotoSynth - a project Microsoft is working on. It's really amazing ... although I'm sure if they ever release it to the public we'll be paying for a license to use it. Why can't Microsoft have some google in them....

Check it out!

For only $249 - you can have access to your tivo (or regular television) from anywhere in the world. That's right. You can watch that LOST episode on your tivo at home on your laptop in your hotel room in China. Tivo isn't required ... but tivo people are the first ones who are going to latch on to this baby. Slingbox ... clever name. Steve saw this a few months back on a business trip ... and then last weekend we saw it live in CompUSA. Oh - and there are no fees. Very nifty.

Nifty. You can personalize your Google homepage now. I've got mine setup to show my latest gmails, my search history, a few personal rss feeds, a newsfeed, and some other random fun stuff. I especially like the gmail and search history being right there. Very handy.

Anybody know of a script (VBScript preferably) out there that allows you to import an excel/text/csv file into Active Directory - and for each line item - have it create a user account in a specified OU, and create an exchange mailbox at the same time?

I've been surfing the microsoft tech-net scripts - and found something to create the user accounts (though I haven't tried it yet) - but haven't seen anything yet that includes the automation of exchange mailbox creation.

I don't know that there is an "import" script out there - but if I had the syntax to run the script - I can really easily edit my file for the script and wala (that's what I was going to do with the user account creation only script ... but thought I would see if anybody out there knew of a more full-featured script.) I'm trying to find a way to get out of creating 200 user/exchange accounts by hand. :arg:

There was a sale (rebate) on Wacom tablets at COMPUSA this weekend -- and since I've wanted one ever since I found out about them -- we dropped by yesterday afternoon and picked one up. :cool: I got the white version - the mouse is pearlescent white and just looks beautiful on my desk. I hooked it up and immediately fired up Illustrator to test it out. I was amused for atleast 15 minutes just writing my name. Then I opened up a graphics project I've been working on recently -- one where I wanted the text to hug the outline of an object I'd drawn. I'd been trying to get the text just right for a while. With my nifty little Wacom pen - I just drew the exact path I wanted the text to follow - and wala! - the graphic looks exactly like what I wanted.

I got the small version -- which suits my needs just fine. To get your very own -- for only $69 -- go to CompUSA. I love technology like this. The wacom idea is something so simple -- but it gives so much flexibility. :bigthumb:

Hmmm ... have you heard the news? Adobe and Macromedia are merging (or will as soon as its voted on - which they must be pretty certain it will get approved as they're announcing it). What will this mean? I use Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop and Illustrator. Will these products change significantly now that their creators are joining forces? Is this a good thing?

I'm going to have to read up on this and see what the future holds for some of my very favorite software. Surely this is a good thing? I mean - hopefully Macromedia will dump Fireworks - its' pitiful excuse of a graphics program - and make photoshop its' native graphic editor. And maybe this means cheaper software? Cheaper in the sense of you only have to buy one suite - the Macrodobe (thats what I'm going to start calling it) suite. Instead of Adobe CS and Studio.

I think its got to be a good thing. When designing a site in Dreamweaver - or working in flash - it's got to be a good thing that files are cross-compatible in photoshop and illustrator. I can so see why they would want to merge. They both have some great products. Flash and Illustrator are like distant cousins ... with their vectorness and wonderfulness. You can't say enough about Photoshop and Dreamweaver. I could wax poetic about those all day long. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ...

What a trip. If you have AIM - add "smarterchild" as a buddy. Then send an instant message saying "hey" or whatever.

It's an IM-bot. You can get movie showtimes, definitions, have really bizarre conversations ... It's just a novelty thing - but too cute. I've been asking mine bizarro questions this morning. Have fun ;)

(you can find more info about it here)