AlwaysOn

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I get a new print magazine about Internet technology when Internet technology is putting print publications out of business.

I got it in the mail yesterday. The regular mail. The kind with the mail truck that puts stuff in my mailbox up on the corner. I like to think of it as analog mail.

The magazine is called AlwaysOn with the subtitles “the insider’s network” and “The blogozine on innovation.” Huh? The cover led me to believe that they’d collected a bunch of blog entries about technology, printed them up on slick paper, threw a few ads in to pay the bills, and mailed them out to people they thought might be stupid enough to buy in at the hefty price of $39 for four issues a year.

Well, that’s pretty much what the magazine is. The “Member Posts” section has short blog-like pieces that end up with the number of posts and comments that I assume are attibutable to that author on the AO Web site. Then there are a few one- to three-page articles about the Internet, blogs, communication technology, and high-tech business. And a couple of interviews. The big feature is “The AO Power List,” summary of a few dozen of the movers and shakers in the high-tech world.

It’s 48 printed pages, 18 of which are full-page ads. That leaves 30 pages of content for a susbcriber per-issue price of $9.75. (There was no cover price on the issue I received, so I don’t know what it would sell for on newstands if it even appeared there.) Is it worth it when you can just go out on the ‘Net and find the same kind of content online for free?

And I wonder how a quarterly publication can keep up with technology anyway. If it includes everything that happened since the last issue, most of that stuff would be sorely out of date. If it included only the latest and greatest info as it went to press, the information would still be stale — considering its editorial content — since it takes at least a few week for the actual production of the print publication. During that time, the same content could be covered to death on the Internet.

What’s interesting to me is that this publication should appear now. Last month, I got a letter from Technology Today, which I subscribe to, saying that because of the boom in Internet publishing and communication, they’d publishing once every two months rather than once a month. And the magazine would be getting slimmer. This, mind you, is a publication that has been in existence for more than 50 years. MIT, the folks that publish Technology Today, will be adding more current, up-to-date content, on its Web site, which has additional content for subscribers. So they expect subscribers to get most of the content they pay for online rather than in the printed magazine.

I also wonder where they got my name and address. From my Macworld Expo registration? Or from the Technology Today folks?

Anyway, in case you haven’t read between the lines, I’m not impressed and I won’t be subscribing to AlwaysOn. I’d be interested in hearing from other folks who have gotten this publication and liked it enough to sign up. Use the Comments link or form for this post to share your thoughts.

Mindless America?

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I get a funny in e-mail that illustrates what I’ve been saying for some time now.

My friend Tom sent me the following joke via e-mail:

A man enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender. The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him,

“What’s your IQ?”

The man replies “150” and the robot proceeds to make conversation about global warming factors, Quantum physics and spirituality, bio-mimicry, environmental interconnectedness, string theory, nanotechnology, and sexual proclivities.

The customer is very impressed and thinks, “This is really cool.” He decides to test the robot. He walks out of the bar, turns around, and comes back in for another drink. Again, the robot serves him the perfectly prepared drink and asks him,

“What’s your IQ?”

The man responds, “about 100.” Immediately the robot starts talking, but this time, about NASCAR, super models, favorite fast foods, guns, and women’s breasts.

Really impressed, the man leaves the bar and decides to give the robot one more test. He heads out and returns, the robot serves him and asks,

“What’s your IQ?”

The man replies, “Er, 50, I think.”

And the robot says, real slowly, “So…ya gonna vote for Bush again?”

Off to a Slow Start

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After a tense few hours or so, I finally get Mac OS X Tiger reinstalled on my hard disk.

I started my disk reformatting project this morning as soon as I got to the office.

The first step was to archive all the stuff I didn’t need on my hard disk but didn’t want to throw away. Fortunately, all this stuff — primarily software and updaters I’ve downloaded over the past few months — was already in its own folder and would fit on a CD. I made the CD and deleted the originals.

Then came the final backup. I quit all open applications and plugged in the portable FireWire hard disk I bought a few months ago. Then I dragged my Home folder onto the hard disk icon. And waited.

It took close to an hour to count up all the files — 25 GB worth — and copy them onto the disk. While my main computer did that, I made a list of all the applications I’d want to reinstall. Then I plugged in my laptop and wrote a letter.

Next step was to restart the computer from the Tiger Install DVD. But before I started the install process, I used Disk Utility to erase the hard disk, writing over the entire surface with 0s. This is designed for security, but I used the feature to ensure that there were no phantom files on the disk and to force the computer to create brand new directories.

It took about an hour for the computer to finish this task and, when it was finished, it wouldn’t finish. I mean, it said it was creating the partition, but it kept saying that for another 30 minutes or so. There’s no way it should take so long to finish the job. So I quit Disk Utility, ignoring the warning that the disk might not be usable.

That was probably a mistake.

I then went back into Disk Utility and formatted the hard disk without the 0s. It finished up quickly and I was ready to install Tiger.

I set options so I wouldn’t have all those language files and weird fonts installed. I don’t need them and they just take up space on my computer. And clutter up my font menus. I also told the Installer to format the hard disk — why not? — and set the installer to work.

While the installer worked, I finished my letter. But when I tried to print it, I couldn’t. Both printers are “shared” through my production machine and its hard disk had been wiped clean. I could either mess around with the printer cables or wait. I decided to wait.

It would be a long wait. After a while, the Installer told me there was an error in the installation and that I should try again.

I did. Four times. I got an error message each time.

I tried working with Disk Utility again. It started giving me error messages. It couldn’t format the disk because it couldn’t unmount it. Then I shut down and tried to restart from the Disk Warrior CD. No way. TechTools didn’t work, either. It was the Tiger DVD or nothing.

When I had the Tiger CD out of the drive, I checked it over carefully. It looked scratched. I wondered whether it had gotten the scratches in my office or on the worktable at the Apple Store. I wiped it before sticking it back in. Then I started the installer for the fifth time. While it worked, I started surfing the ‘Net from my laptop, looking for a replacement hard drive.

I was ready to start making phone calls when I looked over and saw that the installer had finished without any errors. I restarted the computer and was very happy to see the computer start from the hard disk.

Whew!

By now it was after noon and I had to meet someone at 3 PM. So I started installing software and copying documents from the portable hard disk. At the same time.

Did you know that iLife ’06 takes close to an hour to install on a Dual G5?

I used the .Mac sync feature to get my address book and calendar from my .Mac account. I copied the contents of my Mail folder (in my Library folder) to the same place on the new hard disk and my mail was all restored. I copied my iTunes music library over — all 3,000+ songs. iTunes works great. When I left, the computer was working on the 11,000+ pictures in my Pictures folder. With luck, iPhoto will work great when I get to the office tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I’ll finish installing the software and documents. And then I’ll get back to work.

A Clean Slate

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I prepare to wipe my main computer’s hard disk clean and reinstall everything I need from scratch.

If you’ve been following these blogs, you know that my production computer, a 2-year-old dual processor Macintosh G5, has been feeling poorly these days. The symptoms are a general sluggishness, especially when accessing the hard disk. Last week it went comatose and required the intervention of an Apple Genius to be revived. The Genius suggested that I back up the hard disk. He gave me the impression that he expected the problem to reoccur.

My hard disk is backed up — at least my home folder is — in two places. And my important files, like accounting records, address book, etc., are backed up in yet another place. I’ve been burned by hard disk failures twice in the past. Anyone who doesn’t learn their lesson the first time should give up using computers.

I purchased two Macintosh disk recovery tools just in case the computer dies again: TechTool Pro and Disk Warrior. I can’t remember which one the Genius recommended, so I got them both. In all honesty, I should have had them in the first place. There’s no reason I should have to drive all the way down to the Phoenix area to fix a hard disk problem. And believe me, the $120 investment is worth it if it saves me that long drive and wasted day.

But since the symptoms persist and they’re quite annoying, I’ve decided on a major medical procedure: hard disk reformat. I would have done it last week when I got the computer back, but the Geniuses at Apple forgot to give back the Tiger disc that was in the computer’s disc drive when I dropped it off for revival. I finally got it in the mail yesterday.

So today’s the day.

Now although it seems like a lot of work, it’s well worth it. By reformatting the hard disk, I’ll wipe it clean and realign all those magnetic particles on its surface. The directories, which are damaged (possibly beyond repair) will be gone and can be rebuilt from scratch. And in the unlikely event that there’s a virus on the computer, it’ll be wiped away, too. I’ll lay down all the software from original program discs as I need them.

I’ve done this before. In fact, I used to do this on all my computers whenever there was a new release of the system software. But that was back in the days when the OS took up a few dozen megabytes of hard disk space. Not a few gigabytes. Ditto for the software.

It’ll defintely be an inconvenience. I’ll start by installing only the software I use all the time: Office, Photoshop, iLife. Then, when I need to use a program I don’t use frequently, I’ll have to install it the first time I use it.

I’m not going to install Mac OS 9. I don’t use Classic applications anymore and don’t want to waste hard disk space on it. (For readers of my Mac OS X Visual QuickStart Guides: don’t expect to see the Classic environment covered in the next edition. It’s getting pulled out to make room for the new stuff. That book is just too darn fat.)

As for my documents, they should all be in my Home folder. (Let’s hope, right?) So I can just copy the Home folder backup’s contents to the new Home folder and my documents should be all ready to go.

Of course, if this doesn’t fix the symptoms, I’ll be pretty annoyed. And I’ll also be out of guesses as to what could be causing it.

My next new computer will be one of the Intel processor machines Apple is currently developing. But not an iMac. I need something a bit meatier for my daily work, something that’ll last 2- 3 years. I also plan to to replace my 12″ PowerBook with a new Intel chip Mac laptop, but not until they come out with a 12″ version. I like my laptop to be small.

So now you know what I’ll be doing today. Wish me luck!

Where Can I Get the News?

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I’m tired of subjective, sensationalist, celebrity-heavy news.

Yesterday, on our way back from Red Creek, we saw a very large fire burning down near Phoenix, just northwest of South Mountain. The smoke could be seen from miles away — we had to be at least 30 miles north of there as we flew past. I wondered what the fire was and decided to check a local Phoenix-area news site for information.

I found all kinds of headlines there, but not one about a fire. Did you know a 5-year-old was grazed by a bullet yesterday? Or that Horton, the valley’s most “graphic” murderer (whatever that means), had been sentenced? Or that there are bedbugs in New York?

One click on the same Web site will tell you what to do with all the pretty candles around your house (perhaps put a match to them?), provide information about plastic surgery (I guess that’s real important to some people), and display television listings (so you can go from one screen right to another).

But the thing that really bugged me was the article about Gonzo. I didn’t even know who Gonzo was until I clicked the link. (Call me a sucker.) Gonzo is Luis Gonzales, a Diamondbacks outfielder. Evidently, he was on his way to a workout yesterday when he witnessed a rollover accident — a relatively common occurrence in the Phoenix area. He and several other witnesses rolled the pickup truck back over so the driver could get out. The result: Front Page News!

A few years back, my brother took an exit ramp too fast in his Jeep Wrangler and rolled it onto its side. The people who had been behind him on the ramp stopped to help. Together, they rolled the Jeep back onto its wheels. My brother thanked the people who helped him, cursed the broken mirror on the passenger side, restarted the engine, and drove away. The story didn’t even warrant a sentence in a newspaper.

But that’s because some major celebrity wasn’t involved in the righting of the vehicle. A celebrity with an agent who made sure he called the media to let them in on the celebrity’s “heroism.”

Give me a break. In my mind, heroism is a word applied to heros. Was the pickup truck burning and about to explode? Was it dangling on the edge of a precipice, about to fall in? Was the man trapped inside seriously injured? (If so, righting the vehicle with him still inside it was likely to make his injuries even worse.) Was he really trapped inside at all? If there was no immediate danger to the victim or the rescuers, I can’t see how the word hero could be applied to any of them. They were merely good samaritans, helping out a fellow motorist who couldn’t help himself. Isn’t that good enough?

Perhaps. But it doesn’t make front page news.

Please understand that I’m not Gonzo-bashing here. (I think anyone who helps someone in need is a good person who deserves a thank you, a handshake, and a pat on the back. Isn’t that enough for all of us?) I might be Gonzo’s agent-bashing, though. And I’m certainly bashing whatever newspapers thought this story was important enough to include as a major headline.

This country is entirely too focused on celebrities. We want to know what they’re wearing, who they’re married to, who they’re divorcing, how many babies are in the oven (or in adoption proceedings), what they eat, who they’re saying nasty things about, who they’re saying nice things about…you get the idea.

We even buy based on what celebrities say. Oprah puts her seal of approval on a poorly written “memoir” that was rejected as fiction by 17 publishers before finally being published, and it sells 3.5 million copies in a matter of months. What’s the thought pattern here? Oprah says its good and she’s a celebrity so it must be good.

And if it isn’t celebrity news and opinion, it’s tragedy. People want to know about the 5-year-old’s bullet graze and how much time the murderer got for his crime. People want to read about the last moments of the miners and hear the grief-stricken comments of the family members they left behind. People are tickled pink when one of our senators calls Venezuelans “wackos” — when the rest of the world considers Americans power-hungry imperialists.

Americans want to live their lives through the lives of other people. They’re not interested in building their own interesting lives. That’s why all those supermarket tabloids — not to mention the popular daily tabloids like the New York Post and the Daily News — sell so well. That’s why “reality” television is taking over prime time.

Me, I’m just looking for a good source of news that’s objective, non-sensationalist, and doesn’t treat celebrities any differently than other people. Do you know where I can get something like that? If so, use the Comment link to tell me.