Finders Keepers

The jury is still out on finder. Some days it is really working for me and other days I can't seem to find anything. I keep playing with the different views trying to find one that I like but it just seems like something is missing.

It could be that I am really used to using Windows Explore for navigating my files. Folders are always grouped together at the top or bottom.

One of my big compaints is that I cannot type ahead to get to the folder I want. Well ..I can but I cannot open it. So if I have dozens of folders and know that the one I am looking for is 'School' .. I can just type that into the window and it goes to school but then I have to use the mouse to actually open the folder.

In Windows I can just hit enter and keep drilling down. It is very fast. Also. I don't like how names get cutoff so easily. It is kind of a pain .. especially since I sometimes give things long file names.

A few other things. I really miss the thumbnail previews that for photos and music that Windows provides. Windows also has the task bar that allows me to see all my Explorer windows grouped together to quickly find stuff. Figuring out what Finder windows are open and where is a pain.

I don't know. Finder works .. but just seems to missing the extras that Win 7 has ... and that I am used to.

Maybe I am missing some super finder feature somewhere??

Edit: Okay. Got the thumbnail thing figured out. Sweet. It still doesn't seem as smooth as Win 7. I like the order of column, rows ... sometimes the icon interface is kinda crazy. It also drives me nuts that it doesn't auto resize/order.

Expelliarmus!

I hear the word echo as the mighty mouse flies from my hand and on the floor. I watch it squirm for a second as the little red glow under its belly dies out. I look around for the culprit savior of my woes with the Mighty Mouse and who should I find sitting in the spot once held by the mighty?

Enter ... the Magic Mouse. Armed with an arsenal of spells and a bag of tricks, I was immediately overwhelmed with the simple yet complex nature of this new creature. At first glance it doesn't seem like much .. no buttons to speak of and no scroll wheel... Okay enough of that.

Really though ... the Mighty Mouse was awful and was so glad to be rid of it. Maybe it was awesome like 10 years ago when it came out but today it is barely a step up from offering a mouse with an actual ball in bottom. Right click was terrible and tracking was awful. It was getting replaced one way or another.

The magic mouse is a whole new beast though. It looks like a hovering sports car from the future. Sleek, tiny, aerodynamic,  with simply curves. Sexy. Yes .. I called a mouse sexy. My first thought was this is going to be a pain to use. It is too small, no ergonomics and where was my tactile feedback for scrolling and such.

I began using it and it wasn't so bad. At first scrolling was a little awkward but I quickly got used to it and adjusted the sensitivity to my needs. The tracking is excellent. It is very smooth, responsive, accurate, fast, and works on almost any surface.

However, I quickly found out the mouse was very limited. It could only perform a few functions. Left/Rick Click, 360 scroll, and back/forward..... see anything missing?

How about a middle click ... it doesn't exist? WTF. Then I came across an app called Magic Prefs that opens the magic mouse to a huge range of possibilities. I can do more actions on this mouse than anything I have ever owned. It is incredible. I was still worried about daily use though and feared it would hurt my hands/wrists after long use.

I find this has not been the case. I can hold it a few different ways and since the whole back is touchable it can just reach over and lightly pet the back like a hamster and magic happens.

I will see how the ergonomics hold up after serveral weeks of use.

Overall, I am impressed with the mouse... much more than I expected to be. Don't get me wrong .. it is no Patronus Charm ... well for some it might be ...

Reflections

I tell you. I really love the iMac form factor. Everything is integrated and tidy. The screen is gorgeous. My wireless peripherals should arrive this week which will make everything even more tidy.

The system is pretty darn fast with a core i5 and 8gb of ram. I want to pop in a dvd after work just to use the disc drive ... but seriously ... I can't remember the last time I used a disc drive. Everything is USB drives, email, and cloud storage for me.

The camera on board is also pretty slick although I have never used it for anything useful .. just fun. There is a paranoid side of me though that wonders if Big Brother or someone else is watching me .. Sometimes I want to put a piece of tape over it.   :)  It is okay .. I am not that paranoid..... am I?

But .. yes there is always a but. I do have some issues such as the audio port and the usb port location. I would really like some more easily accessible side ports. I guess that is what the USB ports on the keyboard are for though. I can get past all that ... the machine is easy to turn around.

The big thing is the screen. It is gorgeous but it is so shiny! Seriously, who needs the camera or a mirror when I can just look into the screen of my iMac and see myself. Today I have these white shiny buttons on my shirt .. kind of a pearl look (not country pearl snaps) and the reflection from the screen is awful. I don't see letters ... just these shiny buttons blinding my eyes ... I turned the brightness up and that helped but man this screen gets bright ... Blinded by the Light!! Revved up like a Deuce ... it is Deuce right?

Anyway ... I want a less shiny screen or maybe I should just change shirts?


Edit: Maybe it is a security feature by Apple so that I can see if Jason or the Earth Band is behind me! 

1900 or 1904?

I just went through some fun wall banging trying to figure out why copying and pasting a date across two spreadsheets ended up with different dates? WTF is that?

In other words I would copy '09/22/1979' and end up with '09/01/1975' .. or something like that.

Well ... Excel can calculate the date based upon 1900 or 1904. This is set in advanced excel options for each workbook/file. Here is the MS support doc:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/180162

Let me copy/paste the main problem:

By default, Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh uses the 1904 date system. Because of the design of early Macintosh computers, dates before January 1, 1904 were not supported; this design was intended to prevent problems related to the fact that 1900 was not a leap year. Note that if you switch to the 1900 date system, Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh does support dates as early as January 1, 1900. 

So as I was switching between Excel in Mac and Excel in Windows because Office for the Mac is a piece of sh*t and because I wanted to use more complex features ... I ran into date problems.

Edit:
Okay... I want to be clear on a few things.

1. The setting is saved in the Excel workbook .... So sending files back and forth across Windows/Mac and with other people is okay. It will keep the setting and calculate the date correctly. 
2. The issue only occurs if you are copying/pasting dates across different files (Excel Workbooks) where the setting is different in each file. 

Lastly, The MS support doc has more detail and some tips/tricks on working between files. 

Office for Mac

Is awful. F****** awful.

End post.

Headphones vs. Speakers

Seriously Apple.... What is up with the inability to toggle sound output sources.

Okay. Here is the deal. I am using my iMac at work. Generally, I use headphones but at night and on weekends I like to use the speakers. The iMac internal speakers are pretty awesome. I like them.

Sound Panel

However, there is not a way to toggle between the output sources. There is even a screen that makes it looks like this is possible (prefs - sound) but when you plug in headphones then all other options go away.

So I have to plug the headphones in and out everytime I want to use them. Now this isn't that big of a deal except that Apple made the headphone port in an inconvenient location. I have to reach behind the system or turn it around in order to find the correct port. I don't get it.

I searched the issue thinking that I had to be in error. It turns out that that I was not in error ... sadly. In fact, I found complaints dating back up to 5 years. Really Apple? You can't fix this issue? It turns out that the most preffered fix is to buy this thing called the iMic by Griffin which plugs into the USB port. This provides two more jacks via USB. Then you have to use a special piece of software to control the outputs. All of which cost ridiculous money ... like everything else with Apple products.

I don't know. Some of you may think this is nitpicking but I find it to be an unnecessary annoyance. Put the headphone jack in a convenient location or give me a toggle switch or something. It is not that big of a deal and something that most Windows systems have had for years and years.

I think I will save my cash and just plug the jack in when I need it .. or maybe just hook up the speakers with my old system and split the signal... starting to lose the beauty of the minimalistic design.

Apple ... Pie? Nom Nom ... Thoughts.

Where do I begin? I have finally been putting the machine through some paces and it is holding up very well. In short my current conclusion is that OSX is better than Windows XP but not as good as Win 7.

I have not had any compatibility issues yet. Hooray! A list of  some things I like, don't like or just want to comment on.

• What is up with Command-Tab. It doesn't scroll through items that are minimized? Why? This seems like an obvious fix. I have decided to use spaces and keep most things open on different spaces divided by category. This works pretty well. I thought Expose would do the trick but it only works for your current space. This doesn't help when switching between Windows. 

• Some of the finder views still seem foreign to me but I am getting used to them. I noticed that in Icon view the icons do not dynamically realign. This is annoying. Also the folders are just kind of mixed in with files. I am used to folders coming first or last ... again something to get used to. 

• The time and date is in the upper right corner instead of lower right. It does not open a calendar view when I click it. Boo. Then I found dashboard shortcuts! Yay! I like the way dashboard better than widgets. Pretty slick implementation.

• Mini display port for using a second monitor ... and the cable is 30 bucks ... I just hate getting ripped off. One of my biggest complaints with pretty much everything Apple makes. Thank you MonoPrice!

• I think the Mighty Mouse sucks. Feels cheap. Crappy laser. No extra buttons .. like a back button. I like buttons. Right click seems to have problems... get over it .. I like to right click.

• Everything wants to be a keyboard shortcut. It will take time to memorize all the shortcuts. I am really struggling with using command-? for doing things. My fingers need a muscle memory wipe. 

•  MS Office .... that is a whole other post ....

• Spotlight is awesome. It searches everything so quickly. Very nice. Indexing files appears to be really fast ... almost instant. Searching appears to be faster and more relevant than Win 7 (although not by much .. I will be testing this more).
  We want even talk about Win XP searching ... 

• I found an FTP client. Yay for Filezilla!! Now I am looking for a Notepad++ replacement. So far two MacHeads I talked to said there isn't one.   :(  I am going to miss Notepad++. Maybe I will try out some Wine! 

• The jury is still out on the keyboard. I like how the f-keys are mapped to activities like sound and stuff. This is logical to me. When I need to use a function key then I just hold down fn. This is slick. I think I am going to map all my windows function keys at home to do the same thing.  

• I just installed iTunes 10. I will probably have a post about iTunes. 

 Still more to come folks. Comment below!