Tag archive for ‘Rant’ at bioneural.net

Tag archive for 'Rant'

Apple silence and secrecy

Published by Bruce on August 5, 2009 in Quicklinks. 0 responses

This Dilbert strip may shed some light on why Apple engineers won't publicly acknowledge a defect that causes the 7200rpm Seagate drive upgrades in June 2009 MacBook Pros to make clicking and beeping noises associated with pauses in system responsiveness. Apple's cloak of corporate silence is becoming notorious, with the recent disclosure of an exploding iPod-related gagging order. Google returns many hits relating to Apple's culture of secrecy. It seems like a sure-fire way to alienate the traditionally loyal customer base.

The MacBeep Pause

Published by Bruce on July 15, 2009 in Rant. 10 responses

Potential buyers of Apple's new (June 2009) MacBook Pro should be cautious about specifying a configure-to-order faster and larger hard drive 'upgrade'. The drive supplied by Apple, a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (model number ST9500420ASG) appears to be operating improperly, with some users experiencing random pauses in disk activity associated with disturbing clicks and beeps. Apple are telling some of us that their top-of-the-line laptop is supposed to lock up frequently, and that the beep is normal too (so I guess my previous Macs were all defective as they lacked such 'features').
Continue reading 'The MacBeep Pause'

A Nikon lens with double vision

Published by Bruce on June 25, 2009 in Photography. 4 responses

I was most disappointed with the images I obtained during our recent trip to Florida. Many telephoto shots appeared out-of-focus despite the well-regarded image stablilization (vibration reduction) built into the Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX attached to my new Nikon D90 body on it's debut outing. As was my habit, to protect my investment the lens was fitted with a screw-on skylight filter. I couldn't believe how poor my shots were when viewed on a 24" display: Was the camera (still in warranty) malfunctioning? Had my photographic skills regressed? Could something be wrong with the (now out-of-waranty) lens? Why was the centre of some images sharp, with progressive blurring or even 'double vision' towards the peripheries? These were questions for Nikon to answer.
Continue reading 'A Nikon lens with double vision'

The dark art of AirPort networking

Published by Bruce on April 5, 2009 in Mac. 7 responses

Until recently I was using the dodgy BeBox supplied by my Internet access provider as both a DSL modem and wireless router. The ST585v6 could create a wireless distribution system (WDS) to extend my home LAN to the attic iMac, but only over insecure WEP. So we bought a new dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz, 802.11b/g/n) Apple Time Capsule, thinking it would simplify connecting to an AirPort Express and at the same time provide wireless Time Machine backups with shared network-attached storage (NAS). In the event fully integrating this new device consumed hours, with victory arriving only after the discovery of occult keystroke trickery—not at all the Apple experience I have come to expect.
Continue reading 'The dark art of AirPort networking'

Home-made DVDs won't mount or copy on Mac

Published by Bruce on July 9, 2008 in Mac. 1 response

Home-made DVDs of our travels and family events were backed up as disk images (.dmg) onto an external hard drive as they were made. When these were inadvertently deleted I attempted to re-create the backup using Disk Utility to create new disk images. I was very concerned to find that about a third of my collection would either fail to mount on the OS X desktop or, if so, caused Disk Utility to report an input/ output error resulting in failure to copy. So what gives Apple? Why can my Mac not mount, copy, or play back Mac-made DVDs—when my consumer player handles them fine?
Continue reading 'Home-made DVDs won't mount or copy on Mac'

Silent and grey iTunes movie rentals

Published by Bruce on June 23, 2008 in Mac. 8 responses

Well behind the American iTunes Store, earlier this month (June 2008) Apple gave iTunes Store customers in the UK the chance to rent (or purchase) movie downloads. Initially I wasn't sure I'd want to watch movies at my computer, even though I have a good screen and sound system. But I had to try it. With a 17Mbps downstream broadband connection getting the movie onto the computer posed no problem (a typical 1GB movie takes a few minutes). Trouble is all I see is a grey box with no audio. Now that I can't do it, of course I'm more inclined to want to.
Continue reading 'Silent and grey iTunes movie rentals'