Author: James Asher

This iMac Business…

James Asher2 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write about my thoughts on the new G5 iMac. My problem is that I have been debating whether or not I like it. I think I’ve come down to Meh, it’s aiight. I don’t really like or dislike it. Personally, if I was going to get a Mac, I’d be getting a 17 inch PowerBook. Megan has one and I’m quite envious. I’ve been a pretty big anti-Mac fan for a while now, but when OSX came out I’ve always wanted to play with it. Now don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t flee my PC world by any means, but I would dabble shall we say. And who’s to say after that? I’ll let you know when I actually get a PowerBook. Mind you this is not in the near future. This business also uses this online reviews management software to help keep track of their customers satisfaction.

Anywho, back to the G5 iMac. Aesthetically speaking, my biggest qualm with it is the front bezel. That thing is about 1/3 of the entire machine. I realize that due to the internalized components it was required but still. Many people have argued for the external power brick idea, I think I would have preferred that. The other aesthetic problem I have is that it’s a little over 2 inches thick. Yeah that’s small and everything, but if you were to hang it on a wall – it’s VESA compatible, so it could be – it’d look just awkward.

Hardware-wise there are a few things that put me off. One of those being the FireWire 800. I realize that there isn’t a whole lot of use for FireWire 800, and it does come with FireWire 400, but still. For the cost – $1,299 – for the low-end, I think it should be in there. Not only that, but Apple is supposed to be known for pushing new technologies and what not. Another missing part is the integrated BlueTooth. You can get it as an add-in for an additional cost, however. My gripe for this is just like the FireWire, for $1,299 – low-end – give me my BlueTooth. If I would have this wall-mounted, I’d want my wireless mouse and keyboard to be run on BlueTooth instead of infrared, much larger range. It has been noted by many people, though, that Apple makes a lot of their money from the small additions to computer orders. I don’t care, gimme. 🙂 Other hardware include are the dinky amount of RAM they ship with it: 256Mb, bitch, please. I’ve got a Gig in my machine here and I almost think that’s not enough. Maybe I have grandiose visions of RAM though, who knows. Lastly, the video card. A NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra, oh wow, I’m cowering in my boots over it’s power. This machine isn’t going to be geared towards a gamer by any means, but still, the video card sucks. Blah to that.

Another lackluster feature is the overall design. It’s just not innovative. The G4 iMac, remember that? The lamp… thing. That was innovative. I was never Holy crap that’s cool! or anything, but you can’t deny that it was innovative. This… brick, is not. Lots of companies have done this design, albeit perhaps not wall-mountable, but still. Hell, we have a bunch of Gateway all-in-one’s at work. It’s a lot cleaner in comparison, more white too, but hey, that’s Apple.

It does rock a G5, that aspect at least makes it kinda neat. All in all, it’s just Meh. Who knows, maybe people will really like it and buy the crap out of them. I doubt it though, they’ll just be Meh.

Free iPods

James Asher5 Comments

Being the web dork that I am I’ve quickly learned to be very weary of online offers from various businesses.

However, after hearing about FreeiPods.com and researching it a bit, I found out that it’s a legitimate offer – so says this Wired article as well as other various web sites and individuals. And so I’m gonna do it, too. Because I think an iPod mini would be cool to have. Note: you can get a regular iPod if you so desire.

The long and the short of it goes like this: You get five people to complete one of the various trial offers for stuff and then you get your choice of a 4Gb iPod mini, a 20Gb iPod, or a $250 gift cirtificate to iTunes. My choice: the iPod mini. It seems pretty simple to me, you just have to make sure you cancel whatever offer you choose. Myself, I’m doing the 30 day AOL trial, as it seemed easiest.

So, help me out, and get started yourself for a free iPod!

Edit: I updated this to use my new referrer link.

Torrential Storms

James Asher5 Comments

As a Manhattan native for 20+ years, I obviously am not afraid of storms. I think it just goes with the territory of living here. If you live here and the sirens go off, you do one of two things. 1) Ignore them. 2) Go outside and look at the storm. One thing you don’t do is take cover. That’s for quitters.

It’s been said that Manhattan has a unique location relative to the local landscape and as such is immune to tornados in the normal sense. This, of course, is completely unfounded, but seems to hold water because the city itself hasn’t been struck by any type of major damage in a very long time, before my time at least. I can count the number of times there have been serious storms in and around Manhattan on my two hands. Only two times that I can recall has there even been a tornado (read tornadic winds, i.e. rotating wind) within city limits. And even when they were within city limits there wasn’t any significant damage. Once there was some roof damage to the old Wal-Mart, but that was it. I guess there was another tornado that went just south of town, just south of the Holiday Inn and it did some damage to a farm, but still.

Last night Ben, Kara, Becky, and myself were at the rec when the tornado sirens in Manhattan went off. As usual my, and Ben, who is likewise a Manhattan native, response was “Meh.” However, that was not the response of the rec workers. They, on the other hand, felt the need to tell everyone to go downstairs into the basement. Regulations, phssh. So we sat and sat and sat some more. I refused to go downstairs with all the other drones. When glass starts breaking and the walls come a’ tumblin’ down, then I might go down, but until then, no, I’m sitting in this cushioned chair, damn it. I stole Kara’s portable radio and listened to K-Rock, attempting to figure out when I could go back to lifting, as our so-called Tornado Warning was to last for about 20-25 minutes. As per usual, it wasn’t near Manhattan at all. It was miles south, near I-70, moving east. Manhattan is north of I-70, bastards. Anywho, I felt like venting about how it was all pointless. Not only that, but they closed the rec after the warning was up. Waste of my damn time.

The Board

James Asher1 Comment

Hi kids, today’s message regards the board. For the most part I think that it’s pretty much finalized. I decided to make it a pretty much registered user only type of board. By that I mean I’m allowing the viewing of forum topics to be done by people not registered, but everything else you need to be registered. The point of this is twofold. One, I hate it when there is anonymous postings, it just irks me. And then the other one is really for ya’ll. Say, for example, Mark Someone says something about crying and masturbating inappropriate, then strangers can’t read it. So I’m lookin’ out for you kids. That’s it for today. Bye bye now.