Motorola Xoom Tablet with Android 4.1.1 Jellybean: A Weekend Review

This last week I checked out the Motorola Xoom from my office. I did so to get familiar with the Android tablet environment. I took it home over the weekend, and with some time on it and the help of my kids, I think I have a better understanding of how the Xoom works. Here are my impressions, though please note that I do have a clear bias toward the iPad, having owned one since they first came out.

First, the hardware design. The Xoom is smaller than the iPad, in that it's narrower though just as long. It's also significantly thicker, feeling more substantial than the iPad. It's definitely designed to be used in landscape mode, as noted by the positioning of the volume controls. But the thing that is most puzzling to me is the location of the power button. It's on the back, instead of around the side. With it flat on the table, you can't turn it on. Cases need to have an extra wide hole on the back to make it accessible. This is an unnecessary inconvenience, in my opinion.

Powering it on isn't very intuitive either: you have to hold the power button down to get it on. To put it to sleep, you have to tap the power button. Hold it down too long, and it asks you if you want to turn it off. I actually had to look up a way to power it up when I had turned the thing off. Not a very good design, in my opinion.

The battery life is curious. It seems shorter than the iPad's, as it spent a lot of time sleeping, and after a weekend was down to 45%. Based on the estimate from when I had fully charged it, and it's use it got over the weekend, it would have about 5 days worth of life. That same usage and sleep time on the iPad would last me at least 8 days. I'm not sure if this is because of the apps running in the background, or what. Still, for a tablet, it's respectable.

Once I get it on, The Android OS works well. I'm running 4.1.1 Jellybean, and it's very responsive. The only things I don't like are more, well, bare-bones functional. The keyboard is frustrating to use, more so than the iPad. As I start typing, if I go too fast it starts throwing smiley faces in my text. So that makes it very frustrating when trying to write anything from the screen. I also don't like the separation from my Gmail account and my Exchange account for work. I really don't like having to go to two different mail apps just to manage all my mail.

That ends my gripes. Let's talk about those things that were different. It takes some getting used to the Android tablet platform if you have used the iPad. The most notable thing was the virtual home button. It's no longer a way to wake the thing up, that being relegated to the power button. But once you get used to it's location it becomes comfortable. Not good, not bad, just different. And different in and of itself is a good thing.

It's very different to have widgets on the desktop, and then have to go to another screen to get to all your apps. It's about like having a hybrid of your Dock and Dashboard, with a Launchpad for all the apps. Not good, not bad, just different. Once you get used to it, it's not that difficult to work through.

That ends my adjustments. It was actually less than I thought I would need to adjust. Other than that, working through the features were pretty simple, and finding settings were pretty easy. Though I have to say that setting up an Exchange account would not be an easy task for someone not familiar with AD Directories. Is that possible, you may ask? My answer would then be in the form of a question: have you ever worked for a hospital that uses AD? So far my experience has been that most people who have other expertise's than computers tend to equate their email password to Email only, have no idea what Active Directory is, and don't know what the domain means. So while the email process is not intuitive, it just requires a little extra hand-holding for support to get it up and running.

So now the things that I liked. Frankly, the integration with my Google account is amazing. This is, well, much like iCloud for Apple. It's seamless, allowing me to access all my materials in Google without any hassle. Perhaps the only problem is the apparent lack of a Google Docs app (at least I couldn't find one so far in the Google Play marketplace). Other than that, everything is pretty clean and easy to use. Add a Bluetooth keyboard and this would easily be a replacement for a laptop, much like the iPad. I had all the basic apps necessary to do the job.

So my overall impression? If not for the non-software driven gripes that I had, I would have put it on par with the iPad easily as far as experience and functionality. The Android OS definitely has that same feel, though I would have to say iOS is more user-friendly. Of course, Android is geared more to those who are tech-savvy, so that's not a bad thing. But I will tell you my kids run to the iPad more often than the Android device after taking the Xoom through it's paces. I can't wait to see what other tablets may have in store (like the Samsung Galaxy Tab) with a different hardware design. Android is definitely a solid OS that brings a lot to the mobile OS table, and reinforces the idea that we are in a post-PC world.

Could I switch to Android? Possibly, but I don't think I would. Is it because of any deficiency in Android? No, it's purely because I have already invested so much into the iOS platform as far as apps that the switch would be painful. Do I think I'm missing out on much by not switching? Not really. The real strength that I can see in Android in usage is it's tie to the Google Gmail account, from which I am slowly weaning myself. I try to use it less than the past because of functionality changes that Google has made to their site (the loss of iGoogle was the tipping point). That having been said, I can see why someone would feel the same devotion to Android that I do for iOS, particularly if you have invested a lot into the platform.

Working with Frog CMS

My personal website was something I had a lot of pride in, because I wrote every bit of code from the HTML to the CSS entries. The problem is, it was a beast to maintain. For my blog I use Wordpress.org’s download that I’ve had to lock down significantly to keep it clean (after two reinstalls, I’m wavering on using Wordpress). And while I have some experience with Wordpress in the past, I’m not sure I want to use them to serve up my personal website. So I started looking at Content Management Systems (CMS).

In searching for a good content management system, I looked for something well known and highly customizable. I started with Joomla!, which has had a lot of recommendations and is apparently a very powerful CMS used in the web industry. I downloaded and installed it on my test domain to get a feel for it, and didn’t like it. It was way too cumbersome to manage for a little website like mine, and very difficult to work my way around in it. It took me two days to figure out each part of my website, and that’s a huge learning curve.

So, burned on that (and glad I didn’t replace my original website yet), I started shopping around. I came across a website that recommended a lot of different management systems, and mentioned Frog CMS. They said it was a small, simple CMS system that was pretty flexible for most things (easy to set up a blog with it, for example), and it was simple to use.

So, I visited their website http://www.madebyfrog.com/, to see what it could do for me. About five minutes reading through the extensions did it for me: I was ready to do my install. The download was simple, but the setup wasn’t that simple, though after a few tries and getting the right password for my MySQL server (very critical there!), it was up and running on my test domain. Within an hour, I had a great template with which to work, and another hour had the CSS styled exactly as I wanted it (minus a few little tweaks).

Migrating the initial web content from my old website took a little doing, but after another hour I had my website the way I wanted it, with all my images set correctly, Header and Footer built up and exactly the way I wanted it, and all without having to look too hard for each component.

The strength of Frog CMS, from what I can see, is that it doesn’t deviate too far from the standard web page setup. It keeps it simple for web developers who feel comfortable with HTML and CSS, and it’s really easy to create a nice HTML5 friendly website using any of the existing templates. All the templates are easy to reconfigure with a little CSS or HTML knowledge, making it a great platform for any website.

So that was my experience using Frog CMS. I’d recommend it to anyone starting a new website that just wants something simple and easy to configure without a lot of hassle. Granted, it’s not what your big office will be using to build their site, but for anyone just looking for great content management without the bells and whistles, this one definitely takes the cake.

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8: Early Impressions

Yesterday I got a shock:  Apple was planning on releasing OS X 10.8 a year after Lion was released.  The development process for OS X has accelerated, which comes with it's own share of problems when it comes to training and Certification.  That being said, I couldn't wait to download and install the OS to give it a try!

Downloading

Once I got my voucher from the Apple Developer's website, I was taken to the Mac App Store to download and install the OS.  This isn't surprising, as Apple started this process with OS 10.7.  It took about 30 minutes to an hour to download, it being a large file in and of itself.  I then quickly backed up some critical files on my computer (always a good idea before upgrading!), and started the install.

Installation

Nothing changed much from the Lion install here.  It was pretty straightforward in upgrading.  Once installed I did get one update (which surprised me), but the update was for an HP printer driver.  Within 40 minutes I was looking at my new Mountain Lion Mac.

Changes

The first major change that I saw was the Notifications button in the top right hand corner.  This is something that has been sorely needed on the Mac, though Growl has done a decent job with notifications to date.  But I like the iOS feel of notifications, and how they are accessed.

Next, Messages.  I have to say, I'm glad that Apple has opted to add their iMessages into iChat.  It's a move I hope will be seen in iOS soon, because I'm all about centralized communications.  It helps me keep connected when I need to be, and that's a good thing.  There is a potential to be too connected, but I think that's more of an issue with how you use your messages.

Then I needed an update, and instead of opening Software Update, it opened up the Mac App Store!  It seems that all system updates will now be coming through the Mac App Store, as clicking on Software Update from the Apple menu launched the App Store as well.  It was a surprise, but seems logical given the installation process.  Of course, this begs the question: will you need to authenticate to an Admin account AND to the App Store to update your computer?  If so, it looks like mass deployments of updates may need to be rethought.  I might have a better idea once I get a chance to play around with Mountain Lion Server.

Contacts surprised me a little bit, as it took the place of the Address Book.  Though, technically, nothing changed really that I can see other than the name.  It took me a little while to find the Contacts app, as it is not in alphabetical order in Launchpad. But, the new search tool in Launchpad helped narrow that down.  That, by the way, is very much welcome.  I tend to have more than three pages worth of apps on my Mac, and the search tool in Launchpad definitely helps me find the app when I'm thinking about it.  Technically I can use Spotlight to find it as well, but if I'm in Launchpad already, it's nice to be able to search at that point.

I'm excited about Reminders and Notes being their own apps in OS X 10.8.  Previous to this, Notes was in Mail, and Reminders in iCal.  Not that it's bad to have them in there, but separating them out makes it easier for me to focus on that aspect.  It's another feature of iOS that is very welcome on the Mac.

The minor change in Safari that I didn't notice until today is definitely a welcome change!  Now, there is no longer a separate search box.  It seems Safari has finally updated to take the same feature of both Chrome and IE 9 and integrated the search box into the address box.  Not a critical, game-changer when it comes to browsing the web, but it's a nice change.  Here's hoping in the new iOS release the same will come to the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.

The updates to the Mail, Contacts and Calendars preference pane were great, but I started to see some bugs at this point.  It appears that selecting an account doesn't necessarily select that Account:  it may still have a previous or next account selected and you are editing preferences for it instead of the intended account.  Again, this is a Preview release of OS X 10.8, so bugs like this are expected (hence why I didn't install it on my main production computers).

The one thing that I was disappointed with was AirPlay Mirroring, if only because I couldn't get it to work.  When I got home, I looked for the AirPlay Mirroring display option to show up, just to see how it worked.  But it never did.  Now, it could be that I have my Apple TV wired to my router and the computer is wireless, but they were on the same network so it shouldn't have been a problem.  I'll keep playing with it and see if I can get it to work.  To date I'm not sure what use I would have for it at home where I have an Apple TV, but I could see a benefit in the workplace for a quick and easy remote monitor solution without needing dongles for VGA or DVI. Assuming, of course, you have an Apple TV box hooked up to your projector/HDTV.

Anyway, those are the features that I had a chance to play around with.  Notifications, I'm sure, will start to grow up as more apps start to utilize the process.  Game Center is nice, but doesn't interest me a lot right now, though I do like the connection between the Mac and iOS for similar titles.  To me it shows a level of growth and maturity in the Mac App Store to parallel the iOS App Store, and that's a good thing for the Apple ecosystem.  Gatekeeper, at least for now, doesn't seem to have a lot of application for me.  I can definitely see the benefits of it, and for anyone concerned about security in a fairly public arena (Office computers, family computer at home), it's definitely a good idea, though I can see one option missing: only identified developers (no Mac App Store).  I'm not sure that's going to happen, as all the updates come from the App Store, but we shall see.

Has anyone else had a chance to play around with Mountain Lion?  What are your thoughts?

Review: Treehouse Training and Badges

Having finished all the available badges on the Treamtreehouse.com website, I thought I would provide an evaluation of what I thought of the website, the learning method, and the delivery.

Website

The website is very well put together, even though there is a feeling of "start-up" on the site. The feeling comes from the three badges (as of this writing) that are incomplete (JavaScript Foundations, Photoshop Foundations, and Ruby Foundations). Also, there is generally a delay in getting to certain pages (like the Profile and Dashboard). When you take the quizzes to get your badge, occasionally some will blank out for no obvious reason, meaning you need to go through the questions again.

But the organization is very well done. It's easy to navigate through the course materials, from one badge to another, and the Dashboard makes it easy to follow up on what your next badges would be. Over all, I really like the website.

Learning Method

The badges are organized by topic, which build upon each other to show which skills you have accomplished. You know you have accomplished the skills, because most badges have challenges and final challenges that require you to show your knowledge by accomplishing a task. It's well built, and equates to a classroom Topic then Quiz learning method to establish skills. I've mentioned the incredible motivating factor that comes from earning a badge.

Straight video lectures with demos are not for everyone. They are great for those who learn in a visual and/or auditory, but those who are tactile in their learning (needing to get hands-on) will find the speed of the videos a little frustrating. Another frustration I experienced was the number of videos or length of videos that will precede a quiz. It requires the student to retain a lot of information. Without more practice for each video, quizzes can get frustrating. In particular I'm thinking about the Introduction to Programming badge and the iOS 4 badge.  Both badges had videos that lasted 11+ minutes, and had several in succession, making it harder to retain information for the quiz.  And I find that it's the test that helps you learn more than just the lecture.

Overall, I think this is a great way to learn. Video lectures can work well when quizzes are appropriately spaced, and most of these badges do really well.

Delivery

I found the most effective learning experiences with Treehouse were those that had videos lasting no more than 7 minutes, badges (modules) that had no more than 4 or 5 videos, and challenges that preceded a small selection of modules. From there the retention was optimal, while also giving me plenty of content on which to work.

Conclusion

Overall, I would definitely recommend using Treehouse, or any similar badge-based learning method. The motivation you get from earning badges that build into more badges is intense, the ability to show your knowledge in such a clear cut form is refreshing, and the knowledge that you know what you know is even better. Overall, badges are looking like a very viable new way to qualify learning at an incremental level.

iBooks 2 and iBooks Author: A Quick Review

Apple announced today at their by invitation only event in New York a new initiative for the iPad: iBooks 2. It’s to allow interactive textbooks to be sold through the iBooks store to create a more effective way to carry your textbooks with you to school. In addition to this method, they also created an ebook authoring tool: iBooks Author.

iBooks 2 is essentially the same as iBooks 1, but allows for interactive elements like video media, testing, etc. that have not been available in previous ebook readers. Prior to iBooks 2, these types of interactive books had to be separate apps, though the Yellow Submarine book released by the Beatles and Subfilms, Limited offered a glimpse at what could happen. But other than a significant backend update, the interface and general feel of iBooks 2 is pretty much the same.

The real news, at least in my mind, is iBooks Author. Prior to this app, creating any kind of ebook could be a tedious process. It required a lot of skills that many authors would not have, such as HTML or XML experience, layout skills, etc. And while those skills are still very important for most publishing works, iBooks Author takes a lot of that guesswork out.

The Mac App, free from the Mac App Store, looks a lot like any of the iWork apps. As mentioned in Gadgetbox’s review, it’s like a hybrid between Keynote and Pages, though I would probably take it a step further and say that it looks a lot like Apple’s now retired iWeb app, both in organization and interface.

You are presented with several pre-made templates from which you can select, and add your elements as drag and drop tools. You can add new pages, chapters, prefaces, etc. from the Add Pages tool (top left-hand corner). You can change the view and orientation of the book to see what it would look like in portrait or landscape mode on the iPad, and even preview the book on your iPad when you are done (either with the book or the section.

Once done, you will then be able to publish your book. To publish to the iBookstore, you need to first create an iBookstore seller account. Once you have your account created, you can then download iTunes Producer to submit your packaged book as provided by the Publish tool in iBooks Author.

The really cool thing is that this doesn’t have to be limited to just textbook publishers, or even instructors who create their own textbooks. Anyone can use these same tools to create and distribute their own works for self-publication. That means professional-looking ebooks are now easier to create for the iBookstore at least, and all with free tools. This will have a huge impact on the self-publication industry that is starting to grow.

As an educator, I think this is a great tool. I look forward to creating some sample textbooks to see how the process works, and whether or not it will be something I will be using in the future for my training courses. As a potential author, even of fiction, I think it’s brilliant! The idea that I can take my current work and publish it without the stress of trying to get it noticed by the right agent and going through the publisher’s timeline. Of course there is an argument of quality that would come into play as has been with the self publication market as a whole, but the ease of the process as introduced by iBooks Author takes a lot of the fear out of it.

What do you think of Apple’s announcement?

The Dickens Festival

In years long past, my family would make the trek to the Salt Lake Dickens Festival at the Utah State Fairgrounds.  We would pay our admission, and enter into Victorian England.  The vendors were all in period costumes, street players would be out and about, and you may even run into Charles Dickens or Qween Victoria on your amblings through shops.  Then, for reasons later explained but then unexplicable, it went away.  There wasn't a Dickens Festival anymore, having moved to Southern Utah, and a family tradition was gone.  

Until recently!  While it has now closed it's doors for the year, the Dickens Festival, which started the first weekend in December and ran until just this last Saturday, was everything I remembered.  They had live theater productions of Oliver and Scrooge (both shortened to 1 hour, but done very well), and they were fun to watch.  Even my son, with his Autism, was thrilled with the performance of Oliver.  Of course it helps when you know the directoress, and a couple of cast members, but he still enjoyed it with the crowds and all.  It was a good experience for him.  

The vendors were typical fair vendors with slightly higher priced items, but there were a couple that stuck out for me.  The bread vendor had some great artisan breads that were fabulous.  The gourmet popcorn vendor had an amazing assortment of interesting flavors (I really liked the coconut and curry popcorn!).  There was a wooden toy vendor that had a wooden top with a string and a handle for launching that provided so much joy for my son that I had to buy one.  And lastly, there was a vendor for women's dresses that were decidedly Steampunk in nature.  I don't mean glued-on gears or that nonsense, but rather a modern take on the bodice, the length and cut of the fabric, and colors.  I was impressed.  And to top it all off, they had a carriage ride for those willing to brave the foggy air and cold (gee, just like London!), reindeer, and a Father Christmas for the kids. 

While it has closed down for the year, it's never too late to check out some of the great theater clips kept by the staff.  They can be found at http://dickenstheaterco.blogspot.com/ for those who are interested.  Also, if you would like to volunteer next year, that's the place to look!  There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes as well as on stage, and they are thrilled for any who would like to help make every year a success.  

Thanks for everyone who brought this Christmas tradition back for me and my family, and many others across the valley.  The Dickens Festival is a little-known holiday treasure that needs more recognition.

Windows 8 Preview: A Review

While I am an Apple user, and love my Apple products, I love to work with new concepts and new ideas.  That's why I was excited to see that the Windows 8 Developer Preview was available for testing. I downloaded it, and once some classes were done and out of the way I installed it into Virtual Box to give it a try. 

First of, let me say that I'm a big supporter of Tablets.  I have an iPad, love what Android is doing, and was really impressed with the HP TouchPad (and sad to see it go).  Tablets fulfill most of your average user's computing needs, in my opinion, as you can create documents, use the web, and interface with your Social Media (oh, and play games too).  Most users do not need anything more, so talk about horse power, processor speed, RAM, storage, etc. is no longer the stick by which your computing needs are being measured.  Those that do need more, those that use Adobe's Creative Suite, or perhaps do video production, will still need a standard desktop, but most of us will not. 

That being said, Microsoft seems to have thrown it's lot in with the tablet.  The interface screams touch screen, and I found myself more interested in getting the OS working on a tablet than working with it on a desktop environment.  I found it difficult to imagine using a standard keyboard and mouse configuration with this OS.  

So how did the experience go?  Not well.  I couldn't get any of the Metro applications to load with the exception of the Control Panel.  And once in, I couldn't get out again.  If I loaded it to the Desktop, then it worked great and everything was as expected with the one application available: Internet Explorer 10.  It worked as expected, so that was nice.  Now, I'm not blaming the problems with the OS on the OS, but rather on (most likely) the use of Virtual Box as the virtual machine.  I'm sure if I installed the OS on a desktop directly it would respond better.  At least I would hope so.  But, I don't think I would ever want to install the OS on a desktop, because it looks like it would only be at home on a tablet.  So I found myself looking for a cheap tablet that I could drop the OS on, if only because it would feel more natural. 

You would think that you could drag the Start window back and forth, as it has a very touch-based look to it.  And I'm sure you can with a tablet, but with a mouse you need to drag the slide bar at the bottom to get to other apps.  Or you can use your arrow keys to navigate through the apps, and that's a good thing.  But I really wanted to be able to drag the window, because it begs to be dragged.  Perhaps that's a UI feature that will be coming in the final product.  I would hope it would come in the next Beta release. 

The start page was, well, busy.  I'm the type that likes my desktop as uncluttered as possible, and having my start window absorb the entire screen is, well, a little annoying.  That being said, it's just a quick click into a Metro application and you are absorbed in the task of the day.  You don't have other windows that are taking up space, which is really nice for productivity (less distraction).  That I like, as I use it with my Mac OS X Lion install.  But when a window is open, you don't have any way to close it, or close the application you are in (that I could see), unless the application was on the standard desktop.  I assume this will not be an issue, as either Windows 8 will suspend the application or close it when it's not in use (remains to be seen).  It would also be nice to have something like Folders on iOS for your apps, so you don't have to scroll as much back and forth to find the app you need. 

So, in the end, I have mixed feelings about Windows 8.  I really want to test it on a tablet, and would welcome a developer tablet from Microsoft (in case anyone is reading), because I see Windows 8 making it big in the Tablet world.  They have a useable UI that, in spite of some problems I saw, is a fresh look at how a tablet should work.  And for desktop users?  It feels like you are being forced into the Tablet world, whether you like it or not.  There may be, eventually, a solution that will return the user to the Windows 7 user interface, but for right now I don't see a compelling reason for a Windows 7 desktop user to upgrade to Windows 8.  At least, at this stage, I would not recommend my labs be upgraded to Windows 8 if that basic start page isn't made optional during initial setup (so it can be turned off while imaging). 

Have you reviewed Windows 8?  What do you think about it? Do you agree, or disagree?  Why?  

Mac OS X Deployment 10.5 T3: Review

As promised, here is my review for the Mac OS X Deployment 10.5 T3 that I attended this last week.  

First, the location.  Of course I'm biased, but I have always loved Chicago, and as such enjoyed the trip Villa Park and Oakbrook Terrace.  The hotel was nice, and the location of the training facility was fairly easy to get to.  The only problem:  no sidewalks.  It makes it difficult to walk when you don't have sidewalks, and there isn't enough room to walk on the street (without getting hit).  Other than that, the location was nothing to complain about. 

The materials:  There are quite a lot of material for this class, and I was a little concerned that it would be impossible to fit it all into a 2 day training.  Luckily, that was the thought of the course developers as well, and as such the training was extended to 3 days.  That fits in perfectly with my training schedule I have planned for the University, so I didn't complain. 

The Subject Matter:  There was still a lot that I wanted to cover but couldn't in the class, mostly those focusing around the command line.  But then, there is a separate class for that, which I will be attending in two weeks.  ^_^  But those important topics, such as deploying through the command line, and imaging through the command line, were covered in depth.  Also planning, scaling, and third party utilities for managing a deployment option was well covered.  

One really nice thing I liked about the class was a mandate for the student to immediately apply what they have learned to a real world situation.  They do this through a Deployment planning sheet, which the trainer should have printed out for each student.  We didn't have it, but it was made available to us in PDF form, and there is a link that comes with the learning materials to PeachPit's website for the same PDF.  Once the form is filled out, the last chapter talks about real world solutions in many large companies, school districts, and training centers, and gives the student time to go through their document to see what they find useful, and what they don't need, in their deployment of OS X.  

The Requirements:  It is essential the student have a command of both the Mac OS X GUI and have command line experience before starting this course.  Basically, students would need to have completed at least the Server Essentials course, and be able to manage a UNIX command line experience.  Why?  Because at the beginning of the course you are just expected to set up your computers with little assistance from the book.  At this point, it is expected that the student knows already how to set up a brand new install of Mac OS X. 

The command line experience would be more along the lines of familiar with syntax of commands.  Most, if not all, of the commands used are Mac OS X Utilities and not your typical UNIX commands, yet the syntax is the same and therefore the student needs to be familiar with that syntax.  There may be some situations when troubleshooting is necessary, and as such the student will need to know how to get to the man pages.  

Something else that would be important before taking this class is having troubleshooting knowledge, and an understanding of what you are being prepared to learn.  This way if something doesn't quite work they way it's written in the book, you can step outside of the given examples and find alternatives.  That's part of learning, something that many students I have had in the past didn't quite understand.  It requires reading/studying ahead of time, asking questions, and being attentive.  

The Pace:  Unlike both Support and Server Essentials where we pend a lot of time trying to catch the class up after some really long first setup exercises, this class is paced just right for the materials.  We as a training class (of 10 trainers) finished with plenty of time on the last day to cover some topics more in depth, and that was with us doing the majority of the optional exercises.  So with a typical class at this level, the pacing will be such that students will have some time to play with some configuration, or perhaps have a long lunch as a thank you for coming to the class.  

Overall, it is the best designed Apple training course I have attended so far.  The materials are well designed, the pace is just right (low to medium cognitive load), and the course talks well to adult students (through Constructivist methods).  This is a class that may not run often here in Utah, but will most likely be a well attended class when it does.  It is by far my most favorite class to date.  ^_^  

Also, I'd like to say thanks to everyone that attended, because they gave me some very welcomed constructive criticism, and the Master Trainer was a great host.  If only the Cubs could have won all three games I was there, rather than just one of the two.  Oh well, there is always next time.  

Apple TV Take 2: A Review

The Apple TV update has been released within the last week, and I have finally had plenty of time to play with it, so here is my review.

Declaration of Bias
First off, I want to let you know my bias with regard to all things Apple. Yes, I love Apple products, but not because they are from Apple. It's because I like the functionality that they give, the simplicity in their setup, and the power of UNIX at the core. So, now that you know my bias, on with the review!

The Interface
I've heard a lot of complaints about the interface, some from a "design" aspect, some in regard to the blatant iTunes marketing. But to tell you the truth, it's just plain easy to use. It's not fluid, but because of the new features they offer in the upgrade it doesn't seem possible to make it fluid.

The only real difference from the UI in Take 2 from the original is the box that shows up. I actually prefer the two column box because menu options come up while your music plays, and doesn't stop it like before. So in that aspect, it's a better interface.

Is there anything that I don't like about the interface? Just entering text. It's awkward using the Apple remote to enter text, and as such takes too long to do any real searching. Would I want a bigger and more cumbersome remote with a built in keyboard? Absolutely not! It would then be too difficult to use, and too confusing for new users. And I know what you are thinking: if they don't want to learn how to do it, why should you cater to them? Because those people have money to buy the product. Simplicity is what makes the Apple TV a joy to use.

Movies
One thing that I don't think people understand about the potential of iTunes is the potential to cater to the cult classics that you can't get anywhere else. Want to watch "Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine"? It's there. It's all about the rare, and getting that rare to those that would buy it.

With that in mind, let's look at rental. It's a great idea, and I really like it. There are a lot of movies that we purchase and only watch once or twice... That's $30 down the drain, when instead we can rent it from iTunes and watch it to our hearts content (once or twice within a 24 hour period), and only pay $2.99 to $3.99. Do I care about HD? Not really, because I only have an Standard Definition TV. I've heard reviews and seen screen shots that compare the quality of the Apple TV to HD Cable shows, and it's been favorable with the Apple TV. But again, it's dependent on services and the TV you are using.

Browsing shared movies is similar to the original Apple TV, if only vaguely. It's actually easier, because you can browse to them from the Movies menu instead of having to go to Sources to find the source. In fact the navigation let's you get to other sources easier than before.

Renting is simple, though there isn't a lot out there to rent. But what is there is a fairly diverse genre spread that would make most people interested at least. If you download a movie, it will sync automatically with your main source machine. If you don't have a main source machine, it stays on your Apple TV. ^_^ That I really like. Once you are done renting (i.e., 1 month of not watching, or within 24 hours of when you started to watch the movie), it automatically deletes itself from your Apple TV/iTunes.

TV Shows
This was the only annoyance I had with the update. By default, it displays your TV shows by show, time stamp, and then alphabetically. There looked to be a way to organize the display, but no simple way to be seen to organize it. I was doomed to deal with my TV shows out of order, until I tried to just hit the right skip button on the remote. It then organized the TV shows by show, which was what I had before the upgrade.

One welcome addition to this view was the division by season, and then give the numbers of each episode. It makes it easier to see if you have all the episodes, and make sure they are in order. Needless to say, the one major complaint I had against the Take 2 upgrade was resolved.

Music
I don't listen to a lot of music, but my wife does. One thing that is a great improvement is the Air Tunes option, where someone can play their music from their mac on the Apple TV. I like it, because I can leave the TV off to get to the music, and it gives more space on the Apple TV for movies and TV shows (soon to no longer be an issue, if I can talk my wife into the hard drive upgrade for the Apple TV).

Other than that, it's pretty much like movies or TV shows, with sharing very easy to navigate, and a huge emphasis on iTunes.

Podcasts
I love podcasts. I listen to several, mostly from NPR. The search isn't the best (see complaint about entering text), but sharing is great and easy to navigate. One great thing is the video podcasts for movie trailers. Because our wireless broadband network is, well, rather unreliable at times (anytime UTOPIA becomes ready, I'm dumping it), downloading to the Apple TV to watch a preview can take quite a bit of time. So, I would rather download the podcasts for the movies at work, and then bring them home to watch.

Photos
Photos are not often used on our machine, other than as a screensaver, but the Apple TV does allow for connecting to Flickr and the .Mac repository that my wife would have had access to (but never used, thank goodness for trial accounts!). They are easy to set up, the settings are in the same menu (no more hunting), and you can also view shared photos from machines. WIll it be a good move? Well, only if I find a use for browsing through Flickr files on a regular basis. Until then, it's really a non-issue for me.

YouTube
I just recently got my wife interested in YouTube, and created an account for us to use on YouTube. Now I connect at work, find interesting movies, and I can bring them home and have my wife watch them on the main TV. The only drawback is the broadband network we are on, and the problems we seem to have with bandwidth. Ah, well, perhaps one day it will be a good tool to use. In any case, other than search, the Apple TV is a really good tool to watch YouTube on a big screen.

Settings
The settings were pretty much the same, though they had an added option to add your iTunes account to the Apple TV directly. It's time consuming, but keeps it on file and not in RAM. Good thing, because occasionally my son likes to play with the power strip into witch it is plugged. Other than that, it's pretty much the same.

Final Thoughts
The main drawback to the Apple TV is the hard drive size. The good news is that it's fairly easy to upgrade the hard drive (out of warranty, of course), and will cost just a little more to upgrade an Apple TV 40 GB to 250 GB than buying an Apple TV 160 GB.

Also, there are a number of hacks that can be loaded to the Apple TV, one of which is the Safari HD plugin, allowing someone to use Safari on the Apple TV without having to install a full version of OS X. They have a version for the new Take 2 update, so once I can talk my wife into letting me upgrade the hard drive, I'm going to look into it. You can also enable SSH, which makes upgrading the Apple TV that much easier.

So, is the Apple TV worth it? With the hacks, most definitely. Without the hacks, it is very usable, simple in it's navigation, and therefore a definite keeper. Can you build and configure a more expandable device? Sure, if you want to go through all the work, time, effort, etc. Frankly, I like the fact that the Apple TV is just so simple to use. I can rip my DVD's with Handbrake, add them to iTunes, and as such they are viewable on the Apple TV.

And finally, of course, it saves my DVD's from my son's fingers, and the fingers of his cousins.

Short Review: The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

I'm not generally one for video shorts, though I have seen thousands (particularly computer animated shorts). I also have a fairly limited field of likes when it comes to film, with most of the movies I enjoy coming from before the 60's. That being said, I read about this animated short on various websites, and decided to give it a try.

The Animation
The first thing that actually drew my attention was the animation. I'm pretty sure it is computer animation because of the precision, but it looks like shadow puppetry. That in and of it self is really cool! Shadow puppetry hasn't been seen in mainstream US markets (as far as I know) for years. It's neat to see someone take such an artistic turn in their animation. I'm really impressed.

The Setting
The setting is in a very steampunk world. Airships, coat tails, mad scientists that would rather kill others than think logically on how to get a monster back to a city. Yes, it just screams steampunk, and as such captured my attention. The machines used for locomotion are heavily geared, and there appears to be no natural ground. All land is floating in the air (rather cool, I'd say), and makes one wonder what kind of physics governs the world.

The Story
Something I have learned from watching years of animated shorts is that the animation can be excellent, but if the story is lacking the experience suffers. Apparently the creators of this little gem understood that, and wrote a complex story that is grounded in a history as to yet explained, giving the experience a richness that is usually lacking in other animated shorts. The story could have fallen directly from Jules Verne. It's rich, has just enough reference to technology to make geeks drool, and has such an intense ending that you are left wanting more.

A quick synopsis: A young navigator, haunted by a fatal mistake in his past, has been reassigned to his old ship. The crew are on a routine mission to a new trade route when they came across a derelict vessel, with all the crew dead, and yet still in complete working order. They follow their old heading at the behest of their one passenger, a biologist, and discover an uncharted island. The adventures start there, with excitement, horror, and a discovery of just what man can do when determination overrides reason.

If you have not seen this short, which has won many awards and was nominated for an Oscar in 2006, I would highly recommend that you do. If you can't find the DVD to purchase, you can find it on iTunes for $1.99 (plus tax). It's 26:05 minutes long, and every minute is gripping. I highly recommend it.

Google Docs: A Review

In my move to eventually be platform independent, and be able to work from any location at any time with any device, I have been looking for one of the most basic tools to accomplish this: a universal document creator and repository. I've thought about network drives, standardized document tools that can handle the same document type though have different features across the board, and even limiting the hardware I would use, just to be sure I would be able to accomplish this goal.

But then I started to play with Google Docs. I have to admit, at first I didn't want anything to do with it, because I didn't think that it could be functional enough as a web application to make it worth while. I was wrong.

The first rule you need to know about documents, or indeed any office software, is that no matter how many bells and whistles that are on it, most people use just the basic features. This is because, in a sense, the business world in general doesn't needed anything more than a typewriter for their documents and email. As such, pretty much any word processor program can handle about 90% of all office needs, regardless of the amount of bells and whistles that are added. That being said, there are some people that need fancy tools, imbedded graphs, etc. For those people, I would not recommend something like Google Docs, but rather a more robust word processor.

But for the rest of us, Google Docs works great! I started by importing some documents, both Word and Open Office documents to them, and they work great. Formatting remains pretty much the same, and everything else looks great. I then uploaded a spreadsheet, and even though Safari isn't technically supported (Curse you!), it still works great in Safari 3.0 Beta.

So what's the real benefit? Storage space and accessibility. You can store your documents on Google's servers, and then download them and print them in any format you like, even PDF. You also can organize them within folders, to be sure you know where all your documents are. It also means that your documents are not located on your computer, but rather on the web, where you can access them from any location with an internet connection.

Currently, I am using it to write a long-standing project that I have been meaning to finish for years. I'm writing a book, and can write each chapter as a separate document, work on it from any location or any device, and still be able to download and print it from a location with a printer. I still haven't tried testing Google Docs from the iPhone, but if it works, that's just one more utility that I would have wanted on a mobile internet device that is resolved. Now, if they would just release an iPhone version of iChat, I might consider purchasing one.

Apple TV: The Review

This weekend my tax return came in, and because of an extreme want by both my wife and I, we purchased an Apple TV. The purchase is something that I have been looking forward to, and it is the first version. That means that should Apple decide to lock down the Apple TV, I will still be able to hack this one in future (which I fully intend to do ^_^).

Now, before I start the review, I want you to understand the direction I am coming from. I needed a device that was simple to operate (for my wife's sake), easy navigation through the content, and allow me to provide all my DVD content without having to use DVD's. Why? Because my son, being a 2 year old, has become very adept at getting fingerprints on the DVD's, and has already broken two. So, I need a media solution that allows me to lock up the original media from his little fingers, and be convenient to access.

The Purchase
I purchased the Apple TV from the University Bookstore, and it was literally the last one they had in stock. When I pulled it out, I was excited. It didn't have any cables, but it did have the remote and various other documents for review.

Reality Struck...Hard
I eventually got to take it home (after waiting several hours after purchasing it), and realized that I made a huge mistake. In my excitement, I didn't realize that all this time it said component video instead of composite. Until now, as a matter of fact, I didn't know there was anything like component video. As I have had very little need for anything more than a DVD player that I purchased almost 8 years ago, I didn't worry about additional hookup items.

So, here I was with a content player, and no way to hook it up, as my TV only has composite and not component video inputs. So, I started looking around for some cables that make the conversion. You would think it would be simple, but it's not.

The closest I got to was using a component video to S-video converter, that will convert to 7-pin s-video. Then, I found an obscure 7-pin to component, composite RCA and 4-pin s-video converter. But it would take at least 2 weeks to get the cables, and the expense was pretty high. I also didn't know how much of a loss I would get with the setup, so I was a little reluctant.

By this time my wife realized what I had been trying to convince her of: It would be easier and almost as expensive to just by a new TV. So, we headed down to Sears and bought a nice SDTV 27" Sharp with component video inputs for $164.00 (originally marked $269.99). The price was reasonable, and I could get the Apple TV working, finally.

The Setup
Once I got the Apple TV hooked up and plugged in, the display was terrible, and didn't show anything. It was because the Apple TV resolution was set too high for the TV by default. I panicked for a second, but then I read the manual under "troubleshooting". It turns out that if you have a standard definition TV, you need to reset the display to handle the 480i resolution. And you do that by holding down the Menu button and the + button for at least 6 seconds. Then you start to navigate through the resolution menu.

Finally, as I got to 480i, the display was beautiful. I started by trying to sync the material, but it takes a long time (more on syncing later). So I played with streaming material.

Streaming Video
I don't have the new Airport Extreme, so my wireless network is just 802.11g. Even with the slower network, the streaming was brilliant. It didn't take very long to recognize the video, cache the video, or start playing the video. The video was also really clear and crisp, even with TV episodes that I ripped originally for the iPod (320x240).

There are times when the video gets a little grainy, but at the moment I can live with it. It just means re-ripping the library, but that can wait when I have enough storage space (i.e., airport extreme and 500+ GB external hard drive attached). For now, I'm just collecting the video I will most likely see a lot, and using it.

Syncing Content
The whole point of syncing content, it seems, is not to provide additional storage space for your files, but to provide video when the computer is turned off. This being the case, you always have duplicate video stored on the Apple TV and on your computer. That's kind of a pain, as I would prefer to store different video in each location, and stream the video I don't have on the Apple TV.

You can change the synced computer, but that wipes the Apple TV completely, rendering it nice and clean for the next sync. When you turn syncing off, it wipes it completely anyway. Big problem for anyone wanting to add a lot of content without having to store it all on their laptop.

Syncing also goes on in the back ground, whenever the computer is on, and the Apple TV is sitting idle (or you are playing with the menus). Once you start watching video or streaming video, the syncing stops and restarts from the beginning once the Apple TV is idle again. So if you are going to sync your content, you would want to leave your computer on all night and have it run then.

The Good News
So, with all these problems, you may ask why I didn't go for another media player that exists out there for less money. The answer all comes down to the hacks. It's possible to install a full version of Mac OS X on the Apple TV, and then turn it into a DVR. As far as I know, you can't do the same with other media solutions out there (if I am wrong, please let me know). I also have ripped all my content through Handbrake, which places it in a nigh quality media format for Quicktime. So, I need an Apple solution to play it.

But, as the hacks allow for multiple media support, playing directly from the hard drive, and DVR support, I'm looking at a beautiful relationship with this little box that is no bigger than a hot pad, and no taller than two DVD cases stacked. Footprint is everything, and will be even more so as I move to an LCD projector for my content.

Book Review: The Celts : A History

For those of you who know me rather well, you know that the majority of my family tree comes from Scotland. Many is the time that I have recited the immigration story, as I find it very unique. It was not the result of economic need and forced immigration as with many Highland villages. Nope, it was in an effort to escape from the wrath of royalty. Was this religious persecution or political pressure? No! It was because my ancestor lost his temper and threw his workman's tools into the front seat of Queen Victoria's favorite carriage. Why was this a problem, you may ask? Because it had to go through the dashboard to get to the front seat. Needless to say, he decided it was time to leave the country.

So, with that little tidbit out there, and with my BA in Ancient History, you may understand my fascination with the Celts of Britain and Ireland. They represent a large portion of my background, and indeed the background of a large percentage of those living in the United States and Canada. So I have been interested in researching the culture that has had a huge impact on my up-bringing, whether I was aware of it or not.

With that now understood, here is my review of The Celts: A History by Peter Berresford Ellis.

Thousands of years ago, before Rome was breaking itself from the Etruscan empire, there existed a group of people with a similar language, belief system, and cultural interaction (laws, crafts, etc.). These have been referred to as the Celts, representing a distribution from the Po Valley in modern Italy to the majorty of Spain, to the central region in modern Turkey (Galatia), Following the Rhine to the great Northern Islands of Britain and Ireland.

The Celts were an Iron Age people, which meant that they used Iron in much of their daily implementation from weapons to cookware. Because they can be grouped into this larger designation, many modern Archeologists have tried to deny the label of Celt to this culture, preferring to designate them "Iron Age" instead. Peter Ellis does an excellent job in explaining how the logical distinction between other Iron Age groups (i.e., the Greeks, Romans, Numedians, etc.) can be drawn with the use of linguistic and cultural lines.

Ellis then continues on to address the cultural aspects of the Celtic people, referring to both the insular Celts (Britain and Ireland), and the Gaulic, or Continental, Celts. These chapters seem to be in a defensive mood, first addressing those that question the existence of a "Celtic" people, and then defending the image of the Celts against the works of the Roman references to the Celtic tradition. In some portions of the book, such as when the question of human sacrifice is addressed, Ellis seems to attack the Roman criticisms by pointing out the Roman use of human sacrifice. But at no time does he admit to the Celtic use of human sacrifice, as archaeological evidence (i.e., bound and beaten victims found in bogs with golden bonds) has indicated. The closest he came to an admition is the acknowledgement that all Indo-European cultures have at some time performed human sacrifice. I would like to add, that in those instances it generally was a period of great need for the people, and seen as the only way to pacify particularly hostile dieties.

The first problem that is addressed in the book is that of no written cultural records in a native Celtic tongue. Ellis points out that the Celts had an Oral tradition that kept their records. For those that are not familiar with the Oral tradition of maintaining histories and cultural experiences, I would like to point out that both the Illiad and the Odyssey were both compositions that were handed down to Homer through an oral tradition, and many aspects have been proven historically accurate that would have been obscured at the time of Homer, some 300 years after the fall of Troy. So oral tradition has been proven to keep many facts accurate over long periods of time.

That being said, there are several written records by both Romanized and Christianized Celts, as well as ancient Irish records that help shed light on the Celtic culture and mythology. As such, it becomes the job of the scholar to wade through the biases that they are faced with to try to get a clear picture of the ancient Celts as they existed. The same it true for any book written, as all scholars have their own level of bias. Ellis is unique to a number of scholars that I have read in that he acknowledges that bias at the beginning of the book, and allows it to surface in assumptions could be made based on incomplete evidence.

The one portion that interested me the most was that of Celtic architecture. Nothing, in my mind, has more impact on a culture than their architecture. The Celts were incredibly practical when it came to their designs and buliding materials, and created villiages and cities that were easy to maintain as well as completely functional in their given environment. The best example that I can think of are the insular Celts and their use of round wattle and cob housing. The shape maximized the efficiency of heat retention, while the building materials provided for a quick and easy way to construct and maintain a lasting structure. A great example of such architecture can be found at the current Butser's Ancient Farm, where a number of ancient structures have been created in a 1 to 1 scale archaeological experiment.

For those interested in a quick introduction to Celtic belief systems, Ellis provides a comprehensive overview of the belief system as given to us by archaeological finds and existing epics in the old Irish. As one reads the evidence presented, it becomes clear how the Celts can be considered Indo-European, as it parallels various Sandskrit, Latin, and Germanic belief systems.

All in all, the book is an amazing read, and I would recommend it for anyone interested in a quick overview of the Ancient Celts as a cultural identity. The list of suggested reading also provides a number of additional references should you become interested in more indepth examinations into the Celtic peoples of the pre-Roman era.

Apple iPhone Revisited: The Keynote Presentation

Last night, as I was trying to explain to my wife why I needed to find a way to pay for a $599.00 phone that I wouldn't even use as a phone, I pulled up the Keynote Presentation that Steve Jobs had given himself. Why? Because I wanted her to see it in action to understand why I would want it, and also because I had not seen it. The streaming service was so busy before I headed to work that it wouldn't play.

Seeing the presentation was far more impressive than reading any play by play from any website. The information they gave was correct, but it wasn't complete. Very important features were left out, because they didn't have time to write everything out. Nothing against them at all! But nothing beats viewing the presentation yourself. So, here are my revised views:

What I Didn't Like
Yes, even though I really want to have this device, there was something I didn't like. I didn't like the fact that the Calendar was not demonstrated. I wanted to see something that was impressive based on iCal, but instead Steve missed it. It was even on his agenda. I'm sure those that were there personally had a fairly decent idea, but the streaming presentation had such a poor resolution that one couldn't see it properly to see what the differences are from the various smart phones that were listed.

Also, the price is really high, in my opinion. Granted, I'm speaking as a fairly stereotypical Scot in that regard, but $499.00 is not a price I would pay for a phone. That being said, I would (and have) paid that for a Pocket PC, even without phone capabilities. So it was an internal conflict, but as this is basically a PDA that has just about everything I wanted from an Apple phone, I can justify the price.

Finally, there wasn't an option for video chat on this device, though I can see why. The device doesn't have full 3G capability, but just EDGE (which is fast, but not as fast as 3G). The good news is that Steve said specifically that future phones will have full 3G capability, which I hope will also support video conferencing within the device.

What I Liked and Missed
The interface is amazing, and only done justice from watching it. I had wondered how a quick scroll would happen, and the demo on the Apple website wasn't as clear. Multi-touch UI is wonderful, and I'm glad it's out there, as I do see it becoming the new standard within all personal multimedia devices.

The 2 megapixel camera was also a surprise, as it wasn't pointed out in the reviews that I had seen, nor on the website. I probably could have noticed it if I had paid attention to the icons listed, but regardless I had spent most of my time thinking about widgets that could be developed for the device. It's not the video conferencing camera that I wanted, but it's still pretty cool.

It's running OS X.. not embedded, but pure OS X. That's exciting. Of course it's streamlined, meaning that they left out some development tools that are available for the desktop (i.e., Carbon), but it does support Cocoa applications. Good news? High quality applications that run natively. Bad news? Cocoa is for Objective-C and Java only, and therefore limiting the development platforms that can utilize it. But that being said, Steve Jobs didn't seem too phased when he read the quote about serious software companies developing their own hardware. Basically, they don't mind that their software development is limited. It means that they can control the software that runs on the thing, and therefore supporting it is that much easier.

WIDGETS!!! In case you didn't catch it before, it has WIDGETS!!! For those that don't want to develop full programs for the phone, they can produce a widget that will work. Specifications have not been set for the iPhone as of yet, but once it is set the development will be in full motion. What does it mean for me? I'm looking for an eBook reader that can read one of the major formats through Java or JavaScript, and then convert it to a widget for the phone. At that point the last major requirement I have for a PDA has been met. I will be a happy camper.

This will probably be the last time you will hear about the iPhone from me, until I purchase it. Then I will write up a full review. Until then, we all have to be patient... Argh! ^_^

Back Home Again: Apple Train the Trainer Roundup

My last post seems ages ago, as I have since returned home and had a very busy holiday weekend. So let me fill you in on my overall impressions for the Train the Trainer program that I attended last week.

As previously posted, the first two days consisted of learning how to train adults in particular, and then presentation styles. The remainder of the week was basically the same, covering the rest of the chapters within the course material. Training methods were explored, feedback was given, and overall it was a worthwhile experience in preparing to present the course materials. Ultimately, I doubt very much if it would change the way I had planned on teaching the courses, but I did get some great contacts, which I will bring up later.

The Presentations
The presentations that were given came right out of the Support Essentials Workbook, which one gets when one attends the training course. The workbook contains most of the presentation slides, as well as the exercises. Of course, we didn't actually go into the exercises, because we were focusing on the actual presentation methods. Ultimately, we were being judged on whether or not we were good enough to provide the public face of Apple Computers. The most important thing I had learned is that one doesn't say "OS X (ex)", but rather "OS 10". Also, it's possible to mention any third party utilities that work well, even if Apple has an application that does the same thing but not as well. That was refreshing.

The Feedback
The feedback process was nice, in that the candidates for Train the Trainer were all able to share what they thought was good, and what they thought they needed to improve on. It was a really good experience being able to give feedback, and receive it. We were all to become a "sponge", receiving feedback without making any comments. Then the instructor gave their feedback based on what they felt went well and what needed to improve. The good news is that everyone attending (all three of us) did really well. The other two candidates did an excellent job in their training presentations, and I was told I did fine as well.

That being said, I don't think I changed my presentation style very much. We were video-taped for review later, and it helped for me to see myself. I did notice my poor posture, as well as a tendency to say "so" and "um" quite a lot. That is something that I would like to work on. But my presentations went pretty much as I would have expected. It isn't perfect by any means, but it has proven to be effective in the past.

The Training Program
Something that really frustrates me about industries in general is the lack of detailed information about the training program itself. Now, I don't mean materials, as that represents an investment and needs to be guarded. No, I mean the general flow of the training process. How does one prepare for the class? How does one organize their materials, order new materials, utilize training seats sold by the parent company, etc. Much of this is covered in house with most companies, and leaves a training facility out in the cold without inside help.

This same issue I found to be true initially with Apple Training. It was almost like pulling teeth trying to get the course requirements, class registration information, etc. in time to do real scheduling within a university timetable. But to be fair, I expect to have the same concerns with RedHat and SuSE when I begin those programs. The real benefit of attending this training was getting to meet a lot of the folks at the Worldwide Customer Training program. I got to ask about porting their training materials over to a more University schedule format, get to know how the program works internally, and get contact information for those that I may need to contact later for various issues. That was, in my mind, the best opportunity for me attending the CT3. For that reason alone I would be happy to attend all of the T3's that are planned for each of the new courses I will be teaching.

Caffe Mac
Caffe Mac is perhaps the best kept secret for Apple employees. Sure, there are a lot of companies that have excellent food offered, but generally it's very expensive to fill full. Not at Caffe Mac! The food is varied, freshly made, and amazingly inexpensive for the quality. I was in heaven when I had a real fire-baked pizza (not gas flame, or electric, real wood fire!), or a delicate soba with seaweed. It's a great place for lunch.

The Company Store
And, if that isn't enough, there is the company store that has everything short of hardware, and at a decent price (particularly if your instructor is kind enough to share their employee discount!). I did all my wife's holiday shopping there for her, because I knew she loves her Mac. Another great secret for employees.

So, needless to say I enjoyed the experience, and look forward to going back again in January for the T3 for Server Essentials. But until then, look for more postings about issues I see coming down the pipe.

Parallel's Desktop For Mac: The Review

With the arrival of my wife's iMac, I finally had the opportunity to try Parallel's Desktop for Mac. I wrote about this program earlier, and the excitement that I had in anticipation of it's implementation. It promised a lot that I felt was almost too good to be true, particularly when I read the reviews by other Mac users. Here is the experience that I had.

Why I Needed It
I haven't been very subtle about my love of the Mac, and it's ability to run both open source programs and professionally developed programs well. It's a wonderful setup overall. That being said, there are some few applications that my wife uses that requires Windows. While we have tried everything we can think of to try and work around it, one application in specific did not allow us to move from Windows completely to the Mac. So, instead of filling up our office space with occasionally used Windows machines, we would rather have a virtual machine that will take care of all the nasty Windows applications, while still being within the Macintosh. And, it would let me install Linux and Solaris on it as well, without having to reboot the system. That was a major bonus.

The Install
The install ran fluidly, as with any other native Carbon or Cocoa application. It did need to add some extensions, but overall it ran perfectly. And, as is characteristic of all UNIX-based Operating Systems, it didn't require a reboot of the system (yes, one of the main reasons I left Windows). Once set up, it gives the main program, and the Virtual Machine creator.

Starting it up
Starting it up was a bit different. It began with the Virtual Machine creator, because there wasn't one set up by default. I began by selecting Windows XP defaults, as I intended to install Windows Vista as the Windows machine. I continued through the process, and finally got to the point where I could boot to Windows. I changed the boot sequence, and double-checked the resources being allocated. It gave 8GB of hard drive space to the VM, and 256MB of RAM. Considering the iMac has 2 GB or RAM and a 250GB hard drive, I didn't think this would cause a problem. Then, I entered in my Windows Vista RC 1 disk, wrote down the Product Key, and started the Virtual Machine....

I got a Kernel Panic... I've never had a kernel panic before on a Mac, and was shocked! How could this happen? The resources are well below what Mac OS X Tiger requires to run... Why the Kernel Panic?!? I tried it again, with the same result. Well, time to check the manuals.

Yes, I admit I don't read manuals for a software install. They are all so basic that I have very rarely needed to do anything fancy. Well, this time I checked the process, and made sure everything was exactly as the Manuals suggested. I tweaked a couple of settings, crossed my fingers, and tried again...to the same result. Same Kernel Panic, and needed to reboot the Mac.

By now I was getting pretty steamed. I began to understand the frustration that the reviewers had for the program. As I started to contemplate it's fate (and a possible waste of $80.00), I decided to check out their website to see if they have at least acknowledged the issue. As I started checking things out, it seems that they were not only aware of the issue, but released an update that fixed it! This cooled my temper a bit, and I started the 30MB download. After a short couple of minutes, I started the install and update. Once that was done, I started up the virtual machine...and it booted! It started to try to load Windows VIsta. I say try, because Windows Vista didn't like the BIOS on the iMac, and refused to load. Well, that's fine. The program worked, and that's the main point.

While I tried to remember the location of my old copies of Windows, I gave another Operating System a try. I grabbed xubuntu 6.0.1, and threw it in. I kept the Windows XP settings, and ran the Live Update on the computer. Everything booted like a charm. It did run rather slow, but keep in mind it was a Virtual Machine running off of a CD in another Virtural Machine. It was bound to be somewhat sluggish to say the least. But it worked brilliantly, and I was more excited then ever.

The Conclusion
So the final grade? I would give it an overall B. Yes, it didn't work out of the box, but once I got it to work, it began to hum like a dream. While I would have liked it to run swimmingly at the get-go, I'm glad that it didn't. It gave me a chance to troubleshoot the program, and get to know it better. Afterall, it took me 3 Linux installs before I finally got to the point of using it regularly. And that lead me to Mac OS X, which is my Operating System of choice. This program now gives me the option of not only remaining on the Mac, but utilizing the sttrengths of other Operating Systems, and on the same machine. I'm looking forward to my next Mac purchase (a Macbook Pro), so that I can install all my old Windows 3.11 and DOS 6.22 games, and have a real fun party! ^_^