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Legos Star Wars 2 Error 1330 and 1603
We keep getting this installation error. Apparently http://www.lucasforums.com/archive/index.php/t-170302.html says that this requires a fix at “Patches”:http://support.lucasarts.com/patches/LSW2_Update1_01.htm Powered by ScribeFire.
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Mac Decoder Ring for Windows Users
There are lots of myths about Mac’s that come from previous versions. I’ve used Macs and Windows for years. From the very first floppy only Mac all the way to the Mac Book Pro. I do think that Apple is making it way harder though by not have a Windows transition guide because just about…
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Mac OS X Disk Maintenance
With Windows I know all the maintenance things. I use O&O Defrag for making disks faster, Chkdsk for fixing errors, with the Mac, it is a different world. http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html#Anchor-57343 has a good list of things to be done. # Repair permission is something you can do with /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and you can also do a…
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Mac Printing to Canon i9900
Now that I’ve been hacking away at the Mac, its time to print. Printing is actually pretty easy. There is a built in driver for the HP 4250n that I use, but for the Canon, you get deep into color management and so forth. I can’t seem to get my Mac to find Windows print…
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P26U Small Camera Plate
If you have a fancy tripod, you need a special dove-tail plate that works with Arca-Swiss type quick release clamps (Arca, Boga, Kirk, Markins and Wimberly). They are expensive at $45 but perfect for video cameras that go on fancy ballheads like the markins q10 on my tripod. See the “Nikonians”:https://www.photoproshop.com/usa/product_info.php/cPath/21_27/products_id/381 to order it. Powered…
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HD Camcorder Recommendation for June
Here’s the camcorder I’d recommend if you buy one right now. You need that you can get from “B&H PhotoVideo”:http://bhphotovideo.com: # Canon HV20 camcorder# B+W 010 MRC 43mm UV filter# Sony HD Tape Powered by ScribeFire.
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Mac UnRaxX for RAR files
I normally use 7Zip on the PC to unpack strange formats like RAR. For the Mac, the freeware product is called “UnRarX”:http://unrarx.clom Powered by ScribeFire.
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Mac Dashboard Widgets
The Mac has this alternative interface called the Dashboard which have a collection of small applications called widgets. It ships with things like clocks and calendars, but “Apple”:http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard has a whole bunch more including: Sudoku Fun Widget that lets you play this addicting game Hangman. the famous game “Canto Pod”:http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/music/cantopod.htm and “Harmonic”:http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/music/harmonic.html. This downloads lyrics…
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Mac Utilities
I just love BeyondCompare for file copying and updating on my PCs, so “Match”:http://www.bytewash.com/Bytewash/Match.html seems like equivalent on the Mac Powered by ScribeFire.
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Mac Video
OK, I normally use DVDDecryptor, SmartRipper or AutoGK for the PC to backup up DVDs, for the Mac, it looks like “MacTheRipper”:http://mactheripper.org is the most popular at least according to the most popular list at “MacUpdate”:http://www.macupdate.com/popular.php Another very popular one is “HandBrake”:http://handbrake.m0k.org which seems to be more like AutoGK in that it rips a DVD…
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Mac Audio programs
OK, I just love MP3DirectCut for edtiing MP3s, MP3Tag for editing tags and filenames, ffdshow for codecs galore and DMC for conversions, LAME for MP3 encoding and ExactAudioCopy for CD copying but what are the Mac equivalents. Well, “Pure-mac.com”:http://pure-mac.com/audio.html has a good list and their “MP3”:http://pure-mac.com/mp3.html. I also checked out “MacUpdate.com”:http://macupdate.com there is of course…
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Mac Antivirus
Besides Norton and Mcafee which both offer pay anti-virus, “ClamXav”:http://www.pure-mac.com/virus.html is freeware. It by the way claims that there are no viruses that target OS X which is amazing if true. Powered by ScribeFire.
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The latest shootout of HD Camcorders
The “HV20”:http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/The-Great-HD-Shoot-Out—Canon-HV20-Sony-HDR-HC7-Panasonic-HDC-SD1-JVC-GZ-HD7/Conclusion.htm wins vs the Sony HDR-HC7, Panasonic HDC-SD1 and JVC GZ-HD7. Mainly because of sharpness and low noise performance. Powered by ScribeFire.
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HDR
“Bob”:http://bobsplanet.com came by and showed me his incredible HDR photos. You use a feature called automatic exposure bracketing to take multiple photos of the same still scene (you have to a tripod to do this). The software at “HDRSoft.com”:http://hdrsoft.com called Photomatix then takes the images and combines them into a truly remarkable image that has…
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Xcode Developer Tools
“Macworld”:http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2005/08/installxcode/index.php says “Xcode Developer Tools”:http://developer.apple.com/tools/xcode/ is a great toolset to have for us power users. Even if we don’t write code. Powered by ScribeFire.
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Colorvision Spyder2Pro and Mac OSX
The most important thing is to get the monitor calibrated. I don’t completely understand Mac color management, but “Colorvision”:http://colorvision.com has a Mac application thank goodness. Powered by ScribeFire.
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SDHC Cards
The Nikon d40x uses the high speed SDHC flash card. You can now get 4GB versions of these things. Canon uses the bigger CompactFlash card. “Sandisk”:http://www.dpreview.com/news/0607/06071701sandisk4gbsdhc.asp for instance has one that is 2MBps or Class 2. As an aside an SD card is 2GB or less, an SDHC card is next generation that is 4GB…
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Mac Bit Torrent
“Utorrent”:http://utorrent.com seems like the nicest client for Windows, but what about the Mac? “Mac-P2P.com”:http://www.mac-p2p.com seems like a good overview site for good Mac clients, but “TorrentFreak.com”:http://torrentfreek.com/mac-bt-clients has a good list of BitTorrent clients on the Mac. The net is that Azureus is popular and so is “Transmission”:http://transmission.m0k.org/. As an aside Handbrake is a good DVD…
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WaterField Designs MacBook Pro Bag
I just love the “WaterField”:http://www.sfbags.com/products/sleevecases/sizingpages/15-2.htm bags for our Sony’s, they have a similar sleeve option for MacBook Pro 15″ call their 15-2 line. Powered by ScribeFire.
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Mac OS X Codecs
The Macbook Pro comes with quicktime, I normally use Zoom Player and the open source FFDShow for playing on Windows, so what do I do on the Mac. Well, first “Quicktime”:http://www.apple.com/quicktime/resources/components.html does have a bunch of components like that from “Divx”:http://www.divxmovies.com/codec/ and there is a shim to play “Xvid”: Alternatively, you can use the Xvid…
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Nikon d40x and 18-55 or 18-200 lense
If you have Nikon (unlike me!) then what’s the best choice for a prosumer right now? Probably the d40x based on “DPReview.com”:http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40x/page14.asp. It is a 10 megapixel camera and streets for just $600. Plus the kit lenses are good. The “18-135”:http://www.bythom.com/18135lens.htm is sharp, but has big problems with vignetting and with chromatic aberration plus distortion.…
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Google SketchUp
Calvin told me about this incredible program called “Google SketchUp”:http://sketchup.google.com which lets you do 3D modeling. If you have Google Earth then you can have them in the real world and even share them in something called Google 3D Warehouse. Amazingly cool and fun. Powered by ScribeFire.
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Mac Book Pro 15″ First Impressions
Well, wandered over to the Apple store. They are an amazing retail experience. I’ve never seen such a crowded store. The people there are amazingly friendly. Ended up buying a Mac Book 15″ with 2.2 GHz and 120GB hard drive. This has the new LED screen that is supposed to be very color accurate. Lots…
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Sony HDR-SR7 and HDR-CX7 not quite there yet
Well, I hope folks waited if you want an high definition hard disk camcorder. Sony just announced the HDR-SR7 that seems to deliver according to “Camcorderinfo.com”:http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-HDR-SR7-First-Impressions-Review-29388.htm. It is an AVCHD camcorder so you need to update your video editing software to the latest version to edit it, but it does have a 60GB hard drive.…
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June is a great month for geeks
Hey there are so many cool dates coming for buying gadgets: * June 5. Yesterday the new MacBook Pro’s were available. They have the 15″ in Seattle Apple stores, but not the new 17″ yet. The website was quoting delivering next week for both 15″ and 17″* June 9. Blackberry Curve on AT&T launches. A…
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MacBook Pro refresh and Back to School Promotion
Hurray, now that the hardware is updated, its time to buy. There are lots of incremental improvements, but the biggest news is the LED-backlight in the 15.4″ and the upgrade to 1920×1200 on the 17″. Drool, drool. Also, you can now get a 250GB hard drive and 4GB of memory, so they are getting closer…
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MacBook Pro refresh
Hurray, now that the hardware is updated, its time to buy. There are lots of incremental improvements, but the biggest news is the LED-backlight in the 15.4″ and the upgrade to 1920×1200 on the 17″. Drool, drool. Also, you can now get a 250GB hard drive and 4GB of memory, so they are getting closer…
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Hard Disk Cloning
When Calvin’s Athlon 64 died, I got a backup Intel Pentium M system up. Now we have all his files and the operating system on a SATA drive, but I have an old IDE drive, so I’d like to use that instead. To do it, I have to clone the entire setup. I’ve actually never…
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MagicDisc
“MagicDisc”:http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm?=magiciso like Daemon is a program that mounts a CD or DVD image as if it were a real DVD or CD. Very useful for lots of disk images about. If you can believe it there is such a proliferation of file types that this kind of program is really needed. It handles * BIN…
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Ebel Classic Model Ladies Watches
Someone was asking about buying women’s watches. These are mainly fashion items now that you get for $25 at the Target. So someone asked me what you are doing and whether it makes sense to go buy something on the Internet or from a local retailer. So here are some findings. First of all, there…