Safari up to v60
This is what I like about blogging.
Somebody ALWAYS knows.
Apparently, Safari is now up to v60.
The v56 I received last night fixes a long list of mostly minor glitches
affecting certain Web sites - eBay being one of them, where some Safari
users here and in Germany had reported access problems. There were also
a bunch of cookie issues straightened out for various sites and
situations.
I'm not going to post the whole page of fixes. Suffice it to say, this
is still beta software - albeit beta software that already is giving IE a
run for the money.
There should be an Apple general update "soon." Whether that is this
week or next, I don't know. "Soon," is all I'm told.
I'm using Safari v56
No names or sources here but I'm using a version of Safari sent me
last night marked v56.
I'm not sure on what is improved and there are only a few cryptic bits
and pieces of info on this new version floating around some of the Mac
blogs, like this German one
(Use the Google translation).
Here's another mention from MacRumors.
Who can tell us what's up with v56?
Update... see new post above
NBC-TV blog segment
High
Tech Talk Since I've spent so much time in the past few weeks with
my ejournal
and this Mac-Mike blog, I did my weekly High Tech Talk segment for the
215 NBC-TV News Channel affiliates this week on blogging. Click here
to read the script.
Safari MT login problem
Here's a glitch I've encountered in Safari: I use MoveableType
to update this blog. There's a little login page I need to enter
through to manage the blog that requires my user name and password. I
get an "Invalid Login" message every time I type them in. I've cleared
the cache and reloaded Safari but it still returns the invalid message. I
think what happened is that the very first time I logged in, there was
another username and pasword. I think somehow that got entered in
Safari's keychain and it won't take the new one. Any ideas?
Update Issue solved from user tips... No Keychain in
Safari...just deleted the cookie referring to the old login. Thanks all.
Rendezvous another challenge to MS
BW Online | February 5, 2003 | A Rendezvous with Redmond? Here's a well done piece Alex Salkever put together for Business Week which underscores some of my intital impressions with Rendezvous. I've beeen impressed with WIndows XP's wireless capabilities, but Rendezvous has been easier to set up.
Airport Extreme experience
I got Airport
Extreme up and running over the weekend. Actually, that statement
is a bit misleading. It makes it sound like it took a lot of effort.
About all I did was unplug the cable Internet cable from the old Orinco
base station, plug in the Airport Extreme unit, attach a cable to my
Ethernet LAN router (it connects three PC's and my dual 1 GHz PowerPC
G4) and I was up in running in... oh... maybe five minutes.
My new PowerBook has an Airport Extreme card and connects wirelessly.
Everything... the three Windows machines, the two Macs... networked
without a bit of hesitation. All share the broadband Net connection
flawlessly.
Here's my initial impressions of Airport Extreme:
Range: A little better than the Orinco. In the living room 30
feet away, I get between three and four bars on the Airport signal
strength meter - same as the Orinco. Moving to the kitchen - 40 feet
away - it's down to two bars but still solid. The Orinco system was iffy
in the kitchen. I have the Airport Extreme base station model that
allows for an external antenna. When spring comes to these parts, I'll
want to roam outside on the deck. The Dr.
Bott 250-foot range antenna is on my list.
Features: I really like the USB printer port at the back of the
Airport Extreme base station. I attached my HP 5550 and it was instantly
recognized by my 12-inch PowerBook and the deskop system. This is
great. I used to have to e-mail myself documents from the PowerBook to
print out from the desktop. No more.
Rendezvous: Excellent. This is the first time I used this Apple
networking tool and it was so amazingly simple that I'm still shaking my
head. Sharing files between Macs wirelessly from different rooms saves
steps and is just plain cool. I may never leave my big leather
easychair.
Speed: Airport Extreme, of course, uses the new 802.11g Wi-Fi
protocol, capable of speeds up to 54 Mbps, compared to 11 Mbps with the
older 802.11b standard. (It IS backwards compatible with old 802.11b
systems). The increased speed is not noticed in surfing the Net. My
broadband cable isn't anywhere near that speed, delivering at best,
about 1.5 Mbps. Where the speed should be noticeable is in swapping
files between computers on the LAN. Since I've just started using
Rendezvous, I can't tell you whether I'm able to detect an improvement.
All I know is it seems plenty fast to me. Maybe someone else who has
Airport Extreme can post their results.
Another 12-inch PowerBook review
A PowerBook That Would Make Rodin Proud (TechNews.com) Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post likes Apple's new 12-inch PowerBook. He notes the heat factor from that conductive metal case. I use mine for a couple hours each night, in front of a roaring fireplace, and have no complaints about the warmth. But then again, I live in Michigan and it's still very much winter here.
Two months into the switch
Besides being my birthday, today marks the second month
anniversary of my "switch" to the Mac as my main system. I've received a
lot of e-mail from longtime Mac users asking he how it's gone. And many
potential switchers have inquired about the experience.
For those who read only the excerpts of these posts, the bottom line is:
I wished I switched long before.
Anybody using iBlog?
Christian Dyhr of Denmark tipped me off to iBlog, a new service for Mac users by a company called Lifli (say Lively). It's in beta right now but looks like it will be officially launched later this month. It looks pretty slick. Anybody have some iBlog sites we can check out?
Mail Mail, Address, iCal and iSync
It's been about a week now since I moved all my e-mail, calendar
and contacts over to the standard apps that ship with OS X. I had been
using Entourage and was generally pleased with it.
But I am really impressed with the Mac programs.
The junk mail filter on Mail is the best I have seen. It really does a
nice job of handling the 300-plus e-mails I get every day on three IMAP
and three POP accounts.
I've color-coded mail for each account and even used Mail to
automatically shunt certain e-mails to certain folders. But the junk
mail function is Mail's top performer. It's absolutely superb, catching
about 80 percent of all the spam I receive and learning to get more each
day.
I also like the way iCal color codes appointments according to
categories I determine - like family, work, church, personal, doctor
appointments, etc. It and Address Book imported my Entourage entries
without a hitch and iSync keeps my Palm, my .Mac account and the desktop
G4 sychronized and up-to-date.
Still, here's a few wish-list features I'd like to see Apple include:
* More seamless interaction between Mail and Address Book. I'd like to
be able to click on an e-mail address and have it automatically entered
in the Address Book.
* Individual, specific signatures attached automatically for each
separate e-mail account.
* To-do lists
* A common interface that lets you quickly see all four functions on a
main page - e-mail, calendar, Address Book, To-Do.
I know. Entourage already has many of those functions. But Entourage is
from Microsoft. Using Mail, Address Book, iCal, iSync and Safari gives
me a clean and all-Apple interface. That just feels right. You know?
iPod and working out
How many of you use the iPod as your daily exercise motivator? I've found a great source for workout music. My wife is an aerobics instructor and gets CD's from an outfit called DynaMix Music. The music is all aimed at getting the heart rate up there and lists music offerings by beat... 128 beats per minute is my favorite work out speed. Hey... it works. I'm down 40 pounds since November. I love my iPod. Keeps me moving.