rahrens's Profile

  • Jul 10, 2008
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Latest comments made by: rahrens

  • I think you missed something. I noticed in the video that you can now click edit on lists and click to the left of items to delete more than one item on a list. That seems to be across applications now.
    rahrens had this to say on Jul 05, 2008 Posts: 18
    The iPhone 3G Guided Tour Under a Microscope
  • But Apple doesn't claim to have "invented" anything. They are innovators, which is not the same as inventors. The fact that they patent their version is ok, as it is allowed under patent law. Others are free to innovate themselves - just not make direct copies. Lots of Apple stuff has used technology that other invented, but Apple used it in a new innovative way. The USB port is a very good example. Apple never claimed to have invented it, but nobody put USB ports on their computers (as a standard offering) till Apple started doing it. Then the rest of the industry followed. Never has Apple claimed to have invented it. That is a strawman PC apologists use all the time, and it's as wrong now as the first time it was used.
    rahrens had this to say on Apr 04, 2008 Posts: 18
    Note to RIM and Samsung: You're Doing it Wrong
  • Sorry, don't have any interest in subscribing to music. I HATE cable, and what is that but a subscription to video? I'd rather buy what I want to watch or listen to. I think Apple has the right mix so far. Buy music and rent the other stuff. (I'd like the TV shows to go to rent, too. I'd pay $0.99 to rent a tv show.) Again, no contracts, no long term obligations. That'd get the content providers back into a form of competition that should improve that content!
    rahrens had this to say on Apr 02, 2008 Posts: 18
    The Greatest Threat, and Opportunity for iTunes
  • I don't know, most of the apps I handle use drag and drop as an installation procedure. But then, I don't use a lot of high priced apps. Maybe that's the difference! I think the reason why you could delete the keychain file is that it isn't a system level file. It is a user file, specific to you. Deleting it may give you a world of hurt as in restoring all those forgotten passwords when the system creates a new copy when you log in next, but it won't crash your Mac. That said, I agree that Apple should provide some way to delete old app files. I don't know just how good they could make it, but I agree that it should be batter than Windows, if they just try...
  • Actually, in the CNBC interview aired later the same day as the keynote, Steve made a comment to the effect that it will be a "closely monitored development environment" and "there's no reason we have to write them all", referring to apps on the iPhone. Sounded distinctly as if he was leaving open the possibility of third party app development under Apple/ATT/Cingular scrutiny, but not allowing just any old app to be installed just by the user. After all, we wouldn't want somebody to write an app that will open up some of those features Cingular/ATT doesn't want open, now do we? So much for the old 'no third party apps' FUD. Instead it's "no third party apps we don't approve of". So it's more like a typical closely controlled Apple experience, only a bit more anal due to the carrier's insistence.
    rahrens had this to say on Feb 01, 2007 Posts: 18
    Has the iPhone Killed the Video iPod?
  • One aspect of this you forget is that the Mac is the center of what Steve Jobs calls the Digital Hub. So far, all of Apple's products revolve around the Mac as that center. Everything syncs with it, and it can stream content to those products from iTunes. Making the iPhone touched a very large part of most of Apple's different divisions, since it uses a variety of different functions common to the computers. That synergy is part of what will keep the computer at Apple important, at least until the computer morphs into something different than it is today. Which, I think is what Steve has in mind. In 5 to 10 years, you will not recognize a computer for what it is, compared to computers today.
    rahrens had this to say on Jan 25, 2007 Posts: 18
    iPhone and the Mac's Slow Slog Towards iDeath
  • Oh, come on, nobody's gonna want to limit a mobile phone to mostly non-existent WIFI spots! Go over to Aaron Adam's Lame-ass Blog (http://www.aaronadams.net/2007/01/04/the-case-for-apple-voip/) for a good case for a VOIP phone function. The business case for that beats the idea of a mobile phone hands down!
    rahrens had this to say on Jan 05, 2007 Posts: 18
    The Time is Right For an Apple Phone (if it's any good)
  • I really think you should look at where the idea of the internet as OS came from. As I recall, it came from Bill Gates and the M$ inspired model of subscription computing. This was in remarks he made a number of years ago, not long before M$ came out with their current licensing model. No thanks, I do NOT want to subscribe to my OS online. I really do a lot of work offline, and don't want to be dependant on my ISP being up in order to tweak a few pictures. Flickr may be great, but there are other models that work, too. I've felt that empty feeling you get when you log in, try the Internet or other web-based app, and get that error message that your internet connection is gone. I DON'T want to get that when I just try to boot! And don't get me started on the idea of having to pay a periodic subscription just to keep my Mac booting! I'll gladly pay what Apple asks for in order the buy my OS license up front, thankyouverymuch. Sorry, you can take your PC, your Internet connection, and that desert island and put 'em where the sun don't shine!
    rahrens had this to say on Sep 28, 2006 Posts: 18
    The Operating System Is Dead
  • I run a PowerMac G4 DP 1 gig and a White MacBook 2.0, both running 10.4.7. I upgraded them both to iTunes 7. The only issue I ran into was the loss of a music video. Otherwise, everything worked great, gapless works fine with my classical stuff, it synced well between the laptop and tower, and the Coverflow works fantastic! The interface is a bit bland for my taste, but since the new version isn't "in my face" I can deal with it. I like the new navigation bar's layout, but miss the burn button. I like the ability to customize the various views either using the coverflow or not depending on whether I want to see things by album or not. Overall, let them fix the bugs people are experiencing, and I think this'll turn out to be a nice release.
    rahrens had this to say on Sep 20, 2006 Posts: 18
    Upgrading To iTunes 7:0? You Might Want To Wait
  • I run a dual 1 gHz MDD G4 with 10.4.7, and a new MacBook 2.0 gHz also with 10.4.7. The MacBook is really too new to count, but has given me no problems at all. The G4 has taken me through from the early versions of OS X, where kernal panics were not unheard of, to Tiger, under which I think I've had to force quit the entire system maybe twice, both times after installing third party software. I keep both systems patched, and run Disk Utility both before and after major upgrades and major app installs. Periodically, I leave the systems running overnight to allow maintenance routines to do their thing. I don't ever claim that OS X NEVER crashes, but I honestly can use the term *rarely crashes*. My job involves tech support on Windows machines, and while I see a lot of reasons to dislike that platform, being honest, I must admit that since my employer went to XP Pro, we see a lot less spontaneous crashes. BSOD's usually means that the system has gotten corrupted and needs to be reinstalled. HD issues are usually at the root of this, and often precede the total loss of the HD at some future point. Not always, but often. I think, while Apple's use of the "Macs don't crash" line is of course, a marketing tool, there is some honesty to it, depending on how you define "crash" - a pretty loose term, really! Mostly, a crashing app doesn't affect the whole system, and seriously, I can't remember the last time an Apple app crashed on me. It's usually a third party app, and the cheaper ones, at that.
    rahrens had this to say on Aug 02, 2006 Posts: 18
    Ask Apple Matters: OS X Crashes After-all
  • Sorry, but I want to keep it like it is. I do tech support for PCs for a living, and don't want that mess to transfer to the Mac world. I like it like it is: simple, easy, it just works.
    rahrens had this to say on Jul 26, 2006 Posts: 18
    Do you want OS X with that PC?
  • Maybe its a culteral thing, at least in part. My wife, mid-fifties, can't handle anything that doesn't have a physical dial to turn. My kids, ranging from 19 to 29, take to technology like ducks to water. I am in IT tech support, so no problemo. My wife was born and raised in Germany in the fifties - when food was scarce after the war, and technology was 10 years behind the States. I was born here, and have taken to anything new, technically, that I could get my hands on. (And, yes, I DO read manuals!)
    rahrens had this to say on Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 18
    Are Women Gadget-Impaired?
  • Distractions are common, and range from cranky kids, to cell phones, to eating burgers or tuning your traditional style car radio. iPods are just a newer form of distraction, not much different, really. To have the ability to scroll through my playlists without taking my eyes off the road, while still somewhat distracting, at least gives me a few extra seconds to respond to an emergency. Not really much different from sitting there, watching the road, listening to my spouse list my latest faults! Both situations distract my attention, but at least my eyes are on the road, not reading the playlist. Those few seconds could mean the difference between an accident or just a close call. I think a talking iPod is a good idea! When can I get mine?
    rahrens had this to say on Jul 12, 2006 Posts: 18
    iPods Talk Back
  • I personally have noted comments or conversations that focus on either security or iPods as reasons to switch. A couple of folks I know that bought iPods after buying PCs have noted to me their regret at not having bought Macs, and a number of people have increasingly commented on being fed up with spyware or viri infestations. My best weapon so far has been my MacBook. People that come up to me in a coffeeshop I frequent on weekends (Called Beans in the Belfrey - in an old church in Brunswick, MD) with an open wifi see my MacBook and are struck by its clean lines and bright clear screen. They are further blown away when they see the iSight camera and iChat... Let people see a Mac in person, and they sell themselves! The Apple stores have to be the best thing Apple has done for themselves in recent years.
    rahrens had this to say on Jul 11, 2006 Posts: 18
    Apple Market Share to Explode?
  • You may not have intended to, but the tone of your remark made it sound that way. Not something that I can quote directly, but it sounded that way to me. YMMV. I think, myself, that the idea of our country needing philanthropists is better than the alternative. What's the alternative? Letting the government do it. It comes down to the question of: "Who decides?" Most Americans agree that it is better for each of us to decide for ourselves where our money is better spent. That's why you have the ability to decide whether to send your money to either Planned Parenthood or a Catholic charity devoted to taking care of unwanted children. I really, really don't want the government to tell me where my donation money's going (as opposed to taxes) !!! Do you really want the currrent crop of Senators and Representatives making that decision for you? With their track record on earmarks? I may not like the company that Gates built, nor the marketing strategies that he used to obtain and maintain its monopoly - but the man balances that with what I understand is a remarkable tendancy to give away a lot of money each year. That, in my book, gives him the right to decide where it goes, and to me, that's what makes this country great.
    rahrens had this to say on Jul 06, 2006 Posts: 18
    Should Bill Kill Windows?