DigitalAppleJuice » Parallel Desktops

An open letter from a cyclist to 99% of drivers

David Alison — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:55:00 +0000

The news always seems to be carrying some story about a cyclist and a driver getting into a fight or of a cyclist being struck by a car while they are riding. When these stories are discussed in the comments section of a news site tempers flare and heated arguments about sharing the road break out. The pattern is so consistent that you can predict it pretty accurately...

Restore from backup – bringing a Mac back with Time Capsule

Alicia Vogel — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:30:00 +0000

Back at home my wife's MacBook sat at her desk, left on overnight like she often did so that when she woke up in the morning a quick shake of the mouse would brighten the screen and allow her to check e-mail. From what I can tell in the hourly backup logs, at roughly the same time my aircraft lifted off the runway the 120GB hard disk in her MacBook crashed.

The Accidental iPad and How I Use It

David Alison — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:55:00 +0000

When Steve Jobs announced the iPad a few months ago I didn't think "Wow, I gotta have me one of those...". Though I was intrigued by the form factor and slightly motivated by Steve Jobs' demonstration of the device, it didn't scream out at me as something I needed. I was actually more amused with all the criticism surrounding the choice of iPad as the name for the device.

Macs and Failing Hard Disks – an early detection tool

David Alison — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:45:00 +0000

The other day I was sitting at my desk when I started to hear a faint clicking sound. I pushed the noise out of my mind for a while and continued to work on the task at hand. Before long the clicking started to get louder and louder; it was clearly a consistent mechanical noise and was coming from under my desk, right where my Mac Pro is parked.

Switching to Mac – Two Years Later

David Alison — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +0000

It’s now the two year mark for my switch from Windows to Mac. Over the last two years I’ve gone from a Windows developer exploring the Mac as a compliment to my Windows and Linux machines to a full time Mac user that spends the vast majority of my time in OS X.

Using Mac Preview for a quick slideshow – fail

David Alison — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:31:00 +0000

I generally like to put up blog posts that talk about cool things I've discovered on my Mac, or problems I've overcome and how I did that. This time it's about a pet peeve...

Apple solves my MacBook Pro battery problem

David Alison — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:30:00 +0000

After finding that my MacBook Pro's battery required service and would no longer hold a charge I made an appointment with the Genius Bar at my local Apple store in Reston, VA. After a short wait Vilma (the Genius) called me up...

A MacBook Pro and a Dying Battery

David Alison — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:15:00 +0000

I've gotten a lot of e-mail lately asking why I haven't been updating my blog. Frankly it's because of two reasons: my business has kept me busier than a one-armed wall-paper hanger and ...

Upgrading to Snow Leopard

David Alison — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:30:00 +0000

The UPS truck pulled up yesterday and delivered my family upgrade pack to Snow Leopard . Though I'm a software developer I really stick to the web side of things and have not participated in any of the developer versions of Snow Leopard. As a result, I've only done...

I hate my Mac!

David Alison — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:00:00 +0000

I was chatting with some friends yesterday, some folks I hadn't seen in a while. As they were getting ready to leave Donna looked over at my MacBook, propped open and sitting...