I finally got the 24″ Dell display that I ordered last month and it was well worth the wait. This thing is hot. My PowerBook is able to power both its 15″ display and the new one, leaving me with an amazing 39″ of pixely goodness.

Why I chose to go Dell over Apple:

• Cheaper, but both Dell and Apple use similar screens since they both just repackage OEM equipment.
• Dell offers a three year warranty versus just one year from Apple.
• The Dell screen has so many inputs its silly, I’ll be able to hook a Windows box up to it for testing purposes (there is a button on the front to switch inputs).

I haven’t figured out how to get the memory ports on the side to work (Compact Flash, SD, etc). That may be a Windows-only feature. Other than that, it’s perfect.

MacWorld Expo is dying, this year’s Boston show only has 62 listed exhibiting companies. This includes such firms as Macworld Magazine (ha!) and “David Pogue’s Genius Minibar” which I’m sure they are paying a nice sum for. In fact, going down the list I only a handful of the companies. If it is anything like SF was, about half are iPod accessory makers.

R.I.P.

I’m trying out some new software to help increase my productivity. Here’s each and the reason why:

• QuickSilver - I used this for a bit before Tiger and have quickly tired of Spotlight as an application launcher. It’s slow and well can only launch things. QuickSilver can do more and seems to be faster at that task (it’s not for searching inside of files…. Yet.)
• DesktopManager - I always had too many windows open: email, web browsing (multiple windows with multiple tabs), iChat, text editing and sometimes more. Now I have a new desktop for each genre and simply use mouse gestures to get to the right one. Seems to work so far.
• TextMate - I haven’t been happy with BBedit for some time so I’ve been looking around for a new text editor. Development on TextMate seems to be going strong and the feature set is already pretty nice. I’m trying to go BBedit free for the trial of TextMate.

I called today to send my PowerBook into Apple for service. Since I got it back in 2003 I’ve had the white spots issue, but partly because it has gradually gotten worse (but been bad for a while) and partly because I’m cheap I hadn’t called before today. While it’s free, I wanted to get a new screen later in the life of the machine because screens are typically one of the weak spots for portables. I’ve had the computer almost two years, so when I get the new screen next week the clock will start over for its bulb to die. That’s a two year jump.

In other news, I bought a 24" display for use when I’m at my desk. It hasn’t come yet but should be here about the same time as the updated PowerBook. Will make a great combo for office/mobile work.

I totally missed out on the free iPods wave since I was convinced it was a scam. It wasn’t. Now the same company is at it with free Mac Mini’s. I’m game this time (I love the Mini, but I can’t justify actually buying one… ha.) I signed up for the BlockBuster service, which is actually quite a steal. I can catch up on all the movies I have been wanting to see.

So if you’re interested, sign up now. The bottom floor is the easiest (before all your friends have already signed up and you are stuck sans Mac mini).

So the live coverage went well. As always I had a blast doing it. I’m proud to report that it was our biggest traffic day ever.

I’m going to be at the MacWorld expo this year. If you are going to be there, let’s meet up. Drop me an email or comment.

My 15″ 1.25Ghz Aluminum PowerBook is shedding silver to a minor degree. Where my hands rest on the area before the keyboard is looking spotty. Anyone else having this problem? I have used it everyday for almost a year, I suppose these sort of things happen. I’m wondering if AppleCare will be able to fix this (I need to send it in for the white spots problem anyway)…

Here’s a photo, I’m sorry about the depth of field blurring:

If this gets interesting, I’ll turn it into a MacMerc.com post. To check your uptime, open the Terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and type uptime. Hit return and then copy and paste what you get into the comments.

15:26 up 38 days, 22:47, 2 users, load averages: 1.02 1.32 1.34

I have a 1.25 GHz Powerbook with 768 MB of RAM.

Update: The question is now up at MacMerc.

I was at the local Apple Store today and they let me know that iPod Mini’s were in stock, both Blue and Silver. Since I have been wanting one myself, and I know they are sold out most everywhere, I bought both. If you know anyone that wants one (Update: the Blue one, I took the Silver) , let me know.