Yes, I know it’s probably too early to be talking about this, seeing at Wave is still in its preview. But I’m a little bit disappointed in it. This is probably just because the web app isn’t feature complete. Still, at this point I can’t see myself using it as broadly as it was represented in the announcement video.

For one, it’s just confusing to keep track of who is writing/changing what when you have multiple people working on the same wave. It’s also tough even to reply to other wavelets that are sitting there. Some of the UI still seems really rough and not at all intuitive. Maybe they’re working on this.

But I think that that is my biggest issue with it. It’s so confusing to work in that I just get turned off to it. At least in IM you know who is talking when. In Google Docs you can save and edit – though the changes by other people don’t display in realtime. I guess the collaborative part of it is the point. It’s a realtime wiki, basically. And I suppose that’s okay. But it certainly doesn’t feel ready for all of the other tasks it was suggested for when Google premiered it.

Oh well.

I’ve still got a few Wave nominations. Anyone want one? First come, first served. (You can also tweet @joelgoodman)

Anyone else notice the idiotic Mac v. PC flame wars going on again? I don’t want to add to it–in fact, I didn’t even want to pay notice to it at all. But people are dumb and I’m tired of them being so.

Disclaimer: I’m a Mac user. But I’m sure you knew that.

I must say though, Windows 7 is looking mighty nice. I’m excited to play with the next release candidate. But will it make me switch back to a Windows PC? Probably not. I’ve chosen my plight in life and I’m much more content now, using OS X on my MacBook Pro, than I ever was using a PC.

Windows Desktop with BlackBox circa 2003

In high school and first three years of college I was a total PC guy. I built computers quite often, went down the computer fair in Pomona, CA, overclocked… all of it. Even dual booted Linux a few times, trying to get used to Slackware and Dropline. I did a lot of open source, used various shells (I loved blackbox for a while), blah blah blah. I was a PC nerd.

But I always liked Macs. Junior year of high school was my first significant introduction with the platform. I had a video editing internship at the local megachurch and we used a Media-100 editing rig with a PowerMac. At school, in computer graphics class, we had the first and second series of iMacs to do editing, photoshopping, etc. on. And I loved them. In fact, the more I used those Macs, the more I liked them. Especially after OS X released.

When I worked at a camp we did our video editing on a PowerMac as well, in Final Cut Pro 2 (horrible software!). So I used the tool fit for the jobs. I built my desktop PCs, but after working at our college’s IT Helpdesk on so many Dell laptops I quickly decided that I wouldn’t by a name-brand Windows-based laptop. Too many problems with them. But I’ve had minimal problems with my Macs.

So the point: Stop Hating! It’s a computer. Just because someone has a different preference than you doesn’t make it bad. Macs are not inherently better than PCs or vice versa. Macs are better for me and the way I use a computer in the same way the Windows PCs are better for some programmers. Design-wise, Apples locked that objectively. But if you don’t care about design or UI, it doesn’t matter.

This isn’t 1997. The flame wars are done. No matter how much Microsoft or Apple are trying to make you believe they aren’t, the simple fact is that it doesn’t matter. You buy and use what you buy and use, and you are not obligated to justify it.

I got a NAS!

My D-Link DNS-321 came yesterday and is running well. Although… I haven’t put any data on it. I’ve sort of been messing with fun plugs and features and stuff.

The greatest benefit to this NAS is the Linux kernel underneath. That lets me add whatever features I want (within reason and skillset anyway). So I’m busy setting up Bonjour (for our Macs), Firefly (for iTunes sharing), and a bunch of other things.

I need to brush up on my Linux commands… because I am way out of practice when it comes to working in a terminal. But it’s going okay. I’m gettin’ there.

Photos of the NAS to come, I hope. If you’ve got tips for working with the DNS-321/323 PLEASE let me know in the comments or with the Contact link at the top. I’d appreciate any help I can get.

Hope you’re having a good week!

It came. It’s set up. Files transferred. Amazing battery life. Beautiful design. I’m very happy.

We also upgraded our TV to a 32″ Vizio Java. It’s nice. We are happy.

Diamond Rio PMP300

When my mom shipped presents to Jessica for her birthday she also included some of my old items left at my childhood home. The prize in that envelope was my Diamond Rio PMP300. One of the earliest MP3 players ever on the market and definitely the first in the US to gain ground in sales.

When I first got it it was awesome. Pretty large, but really great. Then one day it just stopped working. I always thought it was something with the battery bay because it just stopped powering up. It was pretty sad. Given, it only held about ten songs on its 32MB. But after it broke I moved on to a TDK Mojo MP3/CD hybrid player which, coincidentally, also broke after accompanying me to Europe and then to college 2002.

In any case, I worked on getting my PMP300 working again today. I opened it up and everything, but apparently I just needed to push a new AA battery into the battery bay. And it worked! There were nine songs still in the memory. Now all I need to do is see if my mom has the cable (which I think was serial… crap) and get a Win98SE virtual machine running… hmmmmmm.

Maybe it’ll replace my iPod Touch! Okay. No. Never. But I am going to take it to work tomorrow.

Saw this on Valleywag today and had to repost the video.

Steve Jobs: “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste”.

I am presently watching Thank You for Smoking, which I first saw in a theater in Huntington, WV with Jessica, Danny and Anna. This movie is funny.

So, we’re less than two weeks away from the music festival. A couple of bands backed out a week ago and we had to replace them. Phil Wickham and Spoken are the subs. I’m pretty excited about Phil Wickham coming out because that means Dan Bailey (who drums for Phil) will be here as well which is cool. I haven’t seen Dan in a couple of years.

This week I’ll be putting together pass lists, finishing the design of the passes, working with the student cabinet to make sure everything is done and probably planning for the next year.

Apparently my camera only takes pictures of Cors. That’s an exaggeration, but he for sure takes up a majority of my photos on flickr. Greenville’s a sleepy town and I think I’m bored with it. So I don’t think to take photos of things that I’ve seen every day for the last six odd years. It’ll be inspiring, I think, to travel with my camera. I’m sure Portugal and Ireland will lend their beauty to my lenses.

Hoping to have the WGRN site finished this week. It should be pretty quick. I’m nearly done. I don’t think I can do the song updating on the front page. It’s just not going to work with the old version of Simian they’re running. But maybe in the future. Simian sucks. Otherwise, the site looks good.

So that’s a quick update on what I’m doing. Cheers.