avablog

We leave this afternoon for our annual Grand Marais vacation. I call it “our,” even though it’s really Leah’s family’s vacation; I just married into it. They keep tolerating my presence (barely) each year, so I keep going.

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I was originally thinking that there would be maybe two readers here who would have any interest in reading about the trials and tribulations of my home theater/Apple TV setup, but then — as I thought more — I figured, what could it hurt? Don’t click through unless you know what a TOSlink cable is. […]

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you’re part of the problem: In a subsequent conference call, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer also braced analysts for unwelcome declines in the company’s gross margin going froward. He said an ongoing back-to-school promotion and an unspecified product transition during the current quarter will see gross margin fall sequentially by 330 basis points to […]

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The challenge: Familiarize your toddler with the Internet/WWW and all its crazy little nooks and crannies. The answer: Baby’s First Internet It’s funny because it’s true (< -- did you see what I did there?) Denny, Aprille, Jen, Mara, Dawn, Ben, Kathryn, Cindy (AND Nathan!)...I'm looking at you (not all at once, but, like, one […]

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You can have the software throw down a “best word” for you if you’re stuck, can’t remember every single word in the Scrabble library, and really don’t feel like playing “DO.” For example, who knew that enations would end up being a 131-point word? Who in the hell even knows what it means? Cheating? Perhaps. […]

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And by that, I mean I hate people like my friend Ben, who sneakily slide their gorgeous iPhones out of their pockets when I’m not looking. Then, before I know it, I’m staring at this gleaming piece of hardware laid out on some bar table somewhere, and my technolust washes over me like a sepsis-induced […]

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Live chat transcript with Site5 support: Nithin T. [12:31:37 PM]: Hello! Welcome to the Site5 Technical Support Live Chat! How may I help you? Mark [12:31:37 PM]: Can’t access my leander-hosted site from XXX.255.214.YY. Have I been firewalled? Nithin T. [12:32:13 PM]: Hello Mark. Please give me a minute to check your IP Mark [12:32:17 […]

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Greg or Kevin (or Ben, or Denny, or Aprille, or any of my more tech-savvy friends) could undoubtedly provide a better explanation of why this blog has been down for the past 24 hours or so. My take on it is that the place that hosts this site, site5, had a server problem that resulted […]

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No, not that. This: 8GB model. And the best part? My cost: $17.94 (i.e., sales tax). It’s nice to know someone who’s buying a Mac with the .edu discount these days.

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Every now and then Leah gets on this “you’re on the computer too much” kick and does something rash like suggest a ban on all home computing. The claim is that my trusty MacBook is taking me away from the family. To which I say, “Pish posh!”

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I had a dream last night that I was typing an e-mail on an iPhone. I don’t recall the recipient or the subject, but my fingers were flying across the touchscreen with almost no thought to the mechanics of the process, like I was born to it. I rarely remember my dreams; why this one? […]

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It’s this kind of crap that keeps me away. I don’t think Steve and I are kindred spirits, or anything, but I have to believe he’s chafing against the business practices of the cellular phone industry. Best case scenario is that all of these whiz bang features (GPS, video chat, Skype calls) are served over […]

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Iowa City Press-Citizen June 9, 2008 Apple Store coming to UI University to be part of campus store program Brian Morelli Iowa City Press-Citizen Some of the coolest electronic gadgets out there will be a little more accessible for people connected with the University of Iowa next week when a new Apple store opens on […]

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Thanks to Greg for pointing me to this sweet photo viewer Web browser add-on. If you like looking at pictures like I like looking at pictures, this is a really nice piece of software to have on hand.

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Deelish.

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Some guys just don’t know when they’ve got it good: SALEM, N.H.—Two former employees of an Apple Computer store in Salem, New Hampshire have been charged with stealing more than 300 trendy iPhones. Police say the two stole 332 phones, valued at more than $130,000, from the store at the Mall at Rockingham Park. Twenty-two-year-old […]

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We scrambled to get out the door this morning, and in the rush, I left my iPod behind. Not good. And I’d just added about 75 new tunes last night that I was looking forward to hearing. I’ll have to remember to grab it when I’m home at noon today.

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Yet another in the long list of reasons why I think all printers must (and most usually do, quickly) die: If you’re buying name-brand ink cartridges, which typically hold a few milliliters of ink, you’re shelling out the equivalent of between $3,000 and $5,000 per gallon. (Suddenly, spending $45 to fill your car’s gas tank […]

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The ATV gurus are swarming over Apple’s recent AppleTV Take 2 update like flies on a rib roast. Leah’s excited about the update because it’ll let us watch online rentals (but only if you’re using HDMI!); I just want to make sure I can update and still have my beloved network drive mounts remain intact. […]

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We’ve been experiencing some issues with our Mediacom phone service at the house for the last month or so. It’s frustrating to not have a functioning land line, but not as frustrating as trying to hear someone on the phone using a Motorola RAZR cell. Who designed those things?! Blech.

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