mac

Six years ago I turned my back on Windows Me (Microsoft's worst product release ever) and dived head-first into Macintosh world and I bought my first Apple, a 12" PowerBook.  It had an 876Mhz Motorola processor and a 40 GB hard drive.  Great machine.

Since 2002, I've owned a 12 inch PowerBook, a white MacBook, a MacBook Air, and now a screaming fast MacBook Pro — not the new build. 

For years I've enjoyed a stable, easy-to-use OS that worked like a dream.  Unfortunately I had to install Windows XP on my Mac and I almost cried.  If finding Apple was seeing the light; installing Windows was like a dog returning to its vomit.  Catch my drift? 

The only redeeming factor of working on XP was Google Chrome.  Google released their new browser a couple weeks ago and forgot to develop a Mac build.  Chrome is cool.  Because of all the great extensions, Firefox is still my browser of choice.  If you're still on IE, God help you…

Dear Asshole Who Broke Into My Car and Stole My Computer,

Where are you and when will we meet again?

Cheers,

Taylor

P.S. I got a new one and I like it better. 

I have never claimed to have an iron stomach.  This proved true in the first five minutes of Tony Kaye's graphic abortion documentary, Lake of Fire.  The film touts an objective viewpoint and declares to present both sides of the debate evenly.  I disagree.

Granted, the director doesn't downplay abortion for what it really is: first-degree murder; instead Kaye goes so far as to show several horrific scenes of abortion.  Including an abortion procedure performed on a 20-week old fetus, watch that and tell me you are pro-choice…

For the argument of pro-choice, the director interviewed the most fanatic of the Christian right.  You've seen these people on CNN carrying "God hates fags" signs and damning abortionists, doctors, and activists to hell.  These are the same "pastors" that orchestrate bombings and assassinations on clinic workers.  Where were the interviews with compassionate, loving, and reasonable clergy members who are against abortion?

I'll end on this quote from The Boston Globe:  

You’re quickly grateful ‘‘Lake of Fire’’ is in black and white, because the unblinking graphic footage of tiny extracted body parts and archival photos of corpses with protruding coat hangers would be impossible to take in color. This is arrant sensationalism and, again, necessary to Kaye’s argument: He wants the most committed pro-choicers to understand exactly what it is they’re defending; the most fervent pro-lifer to see exactly what a desperate woman is capable of.

I'm curious to hear others thoughts on the issue… 

This is a post for Mac owners. 

Apple's dock has remained a point of frustration for me.  They give you three choices on where to place it: bottom center, left center, and right center.  Lack of choice is annoying.

Last night I discovered TinkerTool.  TinkerTool liberates the dock and gives you the option to place it anywhere on the screen.  (I choose bottom right.)  The program has more functionality than simply modifying the dock; I just haven't explored very far into it…

This guy seems equally frustrated with the dock being anchored to three sides of the screen.  I think he also refers to programs bouncing like a…. Jack Russell terrier???? 

so i've spent the past hour editing/converting a video to upload to 'birch…. after many cusswords and pulling my (back) hair out, i decided to bite the bullet and link to john's website. he takes better videos anyway… so much for being quick to draw on the ol' mac. HTTP://WWW.JOHNMCGARY.COM stay tuned for some great videos

the day the iPhone released apple's stock jumped up from $85.47 a share to $97.00 a share. that means if you had $1000 worth of shares the day before macworld, the next day you had roughly $1135 on paper. to me that doesn't seem that much. i think a lot people are persuaded by the hype in the stock market. i don't think $135 dollars in a day is that great of an investment. if you make $50,000 a year you make more than $135 in a day… "well that's just one day," you may say. i understand that. ok, let's go back further in time.

since 1987 apple stock paid out dividends for shares of stock. not hefty ones (2-3 cents a share), but dividends nonetheless. then in '96 they stopped. why? i guess the question could be answered twofold. the company/board made a decision to START paying dividends in 1987 when jobs was ousted from the company. and the company/board made a decision in 1996 to STOP paying dividends when jobs returned. common factor: steve jobs. i'm sure he lobbied hardcore with the shareholders and board that the dividends could be used more wisely by reinvested the dividends rather than paying them out to stockholders. (i don't know that for sure, but that's what i would guess.)

anyway you can see that beginning in early 1999 the stock started to rise from $10 a share to it's peak in the first quarter of '00 at $34 a share. dot com'ers made there money here. using the example above, if you held $1000 worth of shares in the end of 1998 and rode the stock all the way to its peak in 2000; your $1000 turned into $3400. a ridiculous gain of $2400!!!

so why am i writing this? if you look at the graph you'll notice that in September of 2000 the stock took a nose dive all the way down to less than $8 a share. if you held the stock and didn't sell at the peak, you actually lost money. the days of making quick money on one stock like people did in early 2000's are over. granted, you'll notice in recently years the stock's price has shot through the roof. which scares me. it's all hype and it's all speculation. don't get me wrong, i love apple. i buy a new iPod whenever they release one (i have three: a mini, a nano, and a video iPod) and i love their laptops (i have two: a 12" powerbook and a 13" macbook).

but as much as i love their company, i refuse to buy into apple's stock. mainly because of one reason: Steve Jobs. the stock rides too highly on his shoulders. apple and Steve Jobs are synonymous with one another. he is THE driving force behind their innovation; what would a Macworld product release look like with no Steve Jobs? how do you introduce new products and services without Steve Jobs? in my opinion… you can't. he is too much of an iCon. i'm not the only one that thinks this way. read the last paragraph of the article; it sums up everything i've just ranted about. i think i'm going to stick with index funds. read Winning the Loser's Game, it will give you a common-sensical guide to investing in the stockmarket. *disclaimer* this is my opinion and in no way should this post be used for financial or investment advice. the information is for informational purposes only.

apple just released it's new iPhone. be ready for the world of pop culture to flip on it's head… i guarantee that this phone will become more revolutionary than the iPod. see more pics and the full article here. cheers, to another great apple product.

so i bought a new toy this week. a brand spanking new macbook. my powerbook was beginning to feign it’s speed so i figured after 3 years it was a good time to upgrade.

i loved my powerbook though and i was a little worried about transitioning to a new comp. so far it’s been an absolute headache. i’ve had trouble transferring my music/movies/photos over. as well as all my programs that i’ve come so desperately depend on….

and now my external harddrive has crashed…. i don’t know what i’ll do if i can’t recover it… i’ve got over 30,000 picture (no lie), about 10 full length movies (downloaded legally of course) and a number of other vids that i’ve accumulated over the years… other than all those problems.. so far so good.

if you’re really geeky and must know the specs of the comp it’s:

2Ghz Intel Duo Core Processor
60G HD
512MB RAM
SuperDrive
iSight AV
FrontRow

[15:09] TaylorAtPremiere: i’ve got to get a new comp… mine is shot
[15:09] Chandler Powell: buy a mac, I hear good things about them from all the soccer moms at starbucks

now that my dear friends, is a funny stereotype.  not true, but funny