Macmerized

The Seat Post

2008-07-16T18:14:00.001+02:00

My first post using the Shozu client for the iPhone.

Problem: the angle of the seat post cannot be adjusted, getting a new one.

The Seat Post

2008-07-16T18:08:00.001+02:00

My first post using the Shozu client for the iPhone.

Problem: the angle of the seat post cannot be adjusted, getting a new one.

In a Place called Helpup

2008-06-18T13:28:00.001+02:00

In a Place called Helpup
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

What the hel - someone forgot their hellpupppy jacket

2008-05-28T17:43:00.002+02:00

Received a phone call today that my new Langster bike has finally arrived so that I can pick it up tomorrow. Waited 2 1/2 months now, last time the guy said it was scheduled to arrive in late June. Perhaps I'll give it a spin very soon now.

What laptop does Steve Ballmer use for his presentations? Right...

2008-04-28T17:24:00.001+02:00

What laptop does Steve Ballmer use for his presentations? Right...
Originally uploaded by Paint.It.Black.

Knew it, the hypocrite. Even if he is running Windows on it.

New Bike on its way

2008-03-13T11:46:00.002+01:00

Ordered a new bike yesterday, a "collector's" item, if you so will. It's the 2008 Specialized Langster, New York edition. As you can see on the picture, it is massively yellow, taking its cue from a New York taxi cab. Even the chain has been colored yellow (although on the stock photo at Specialized no yellow chain is visible).

Aside from the stark yellow and black lettering, this bike is minimalist: one gear, a so-called single speed, no lights, no fenders, no rack. It's just you, your muscles and the road. If this were a camera it would be the black manual focus, metal bodied type of camera.

The Langster model also comes in other flavors (Seattle, Boston) in Germany and even more in the US (London, Chicago). I would have preferred the London model (white, with read and blue Union Jack elements). But it was only offered in three types in Germany, unfortunately. The guy a Little John's bike store here in Berlin was quite knowledgeable and even called in to check on the availability. According to his source, mine was the last Langster in stock. And that for a bike that has not even been delivered to the showrooms of dealers. Perhaps that's what they meant with "limited".

Never bought a bike without seeing it first. I am relying on the insight of the internet masses who have kindly subjected the Langster to critical observation.

Stride with Strida

2008-02-20T14:45:00.000+01:00

On my way to visit Olaf today, who lives across the city in Friedrichshain. Just on the spur of the moment I stopped at Rad Kunst in Charlottenburg and just liad down my cash and bought the Strida 5 a bike designed by Mark Sanders - and continued my journey, straddling the Strida. And initiated the bike to the S-Bahn.

Will have to post more details later on, gotta run, eh, stride.

Goodbye, Davis

2008-02-07T10:58:00.000+01:00

To those most memorable years -

My first breakfast in SF

2008-01-27T04:11:00.000+01:00

Absolutely spellbinding. Service, and the yumminess of these ginger-
cinammon pancakes surpassed my expectations.

The only drawback was that Dottie's True Blue Café was in a seedy part
of the town, the area on the borderline of the tenderloin.

Wash your Hands

2008-01-27T04:06:00.000+01:00

This sign was posted outside a Safeway supermarket in Fisherman's
Wharf. What is it there for? I for my part defied the warning and
bought my tortilla chips.

In Thin Air

2008-01-23T18:51:00.000+01:00

So here I am, up in the sky, thanks to the density of air and other
important physical effects. Thank you oh ye Gods of turbulence and
high pressure zones for the assuring smoothness of the flight thus
far. Thank you United for providing me with a comfortable seat in the
very last row - 61B - with a congenial, low-key Swede as my sole
neighbour.

If I an a good judge I would say that the plane has been filled to the
last seat on this 747. I will leave the sardine association to your
imagination. They are now showing a film about an aged boxer who has
turned into a wino and who can not shake off this youngster who I'd
fascinated by his Bob Marley looks. I preferred to pass on this film,
because people were standing in the way and you don't want to wake the
sky marshal by yelling put loud. First film was "Stardust", a fantasy
flick with a noteworthy cast, including Robert De Niro as a closet
transvestite.

Corinna and the kids brought me to the airport this morning. It was
surprising how fast you can get to Tegel. Shed a tear saying good-bye
to them all, I guess because it's the first time I will be away for
more than three days.

Flight to Frankfurt was a breeze, only took 50 minutes, had a foot-
long Foccacio (defintely not an Italian invention on this form).

After the first movie they showed a map showing that we were flying
over Iceland. That country also brings back fond memories of my trip
there in 1995 together with Olaf on our return flight from the
States. I don't remember very much of the flight.

Plane

2008-01-23T13:58:00.001+01:00

Yet another test-run of my blog with pic

2008-01-18T09:10:00.000+01:00

This text is being written ABOVE the picture which follows here:

Test-run of my travel blog

2008-01-17T23:48:00.000+01:00

Another test: text with pic

2008-01-15T20:48:00.001+01:00

Should I place the text here? A picture is here and below the picture
is some text:

A test: text message without pic

2008-01-15T20:44:00.000+01:00

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the wraps off a super-slim laptop computer,
dubbed the Macbook Air, that aims to capitalize on the buzz around the
company's iPhone and iPod devices. The Macbook Air, which starts at
$1,799, measures 0.76 inch at its thickest, weighs about three pounds
and turns on the moment it is opened.

Cafe Finselbach

2007-12-01T17:26:00.001+01:00

Cafe Finselbach
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Had about an hour before the train left here in Bad Oeynhausen, time to spare. Went to this café for a Kännchen Kaffee and a wonderful strawerry cake.

Confluence

2007-11-30T14:15:00.000+01:00

Confluence
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

The closest train station from my parents is in Bad Oeynhausen and there is absolutely no public tranportation to speak of. So I pack my Brompton and bike the remaining 18 km along the meandering rivers. Astonishingly I can take the entire route on a very flat bike path that is mostly disjoined from the major traffic roads. Quite a beautiful path too, the picture shows the confluence of the Werre and Weser rivers.

iPhone at Starbucks

2007-11-26T14:26:00.001+01:00

iPhone at Starbucks
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

The iPhone has an excellent conduit to the Internet and I am using it right now as I tick-tick-tick on its virtual keyboard. But unfortunately with T-Mobile you have enter your user name and password every time you enter a hotspot, like the one I am using here at Starbucks. That makes the whole experience less than appealing, especially if you just want to briefly surf the web. They really have to fix this, I'm the US the iPhone seamlessly switches from EDGE to WLAN.

Oh, and I got a free sample of coffee, Arabian Mocha Java.

My First iPhone Error Message

2007-11-14T23:52:00.001+01:00

My First iPhone Error Message
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

...and hopefully the last one I wil ever see. And entirely my fault

iPhone activated

2007-11-12T23:44:00.001+01:00

DSCN6558.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Temptation paired with an utter neglect of reason. Or simply the most beautiful gadget I have ever laid my hands on - the iPhone. I didn't make the debut of the iPhone in Germany, I was away on vacation. Arrived on Saturday but was too busy uncoiling from the trip, besides that we had relatives over for a visit.

I had some time on Sunday to peruse through the incredibly negative German news coverage of the iPhone. Let me recap very briefly: too expensive, no SD-card slot thus too little memory, no 3G thus too slow (what about WiFi?), touch screen very playful but useless for business users, and too expensive...

So by Monday I was again in doubt. But as if to break free from all this cloudy negativity I suddenly was in the T-Punkt store on the Schlossstrasse in Berlin. At the entrance they had this very corny spinning wheel operated by a seemingly bored woman. Awful, are they trying to sell my aunt a new set of knives? Inside they had to 4GB iPhones there to play with. Inquired about the iPhone and all the while quite excited to be finally fondling it for the first time. Screen seemed to be much brighter than the iPod touch and everything was snappier than I could imagine.

The sales rep and the bored girl told me almost nothing that I had not previously known about this coveted device and after a brief moment of contemplation (went down the street for some Zen-time and a nice platter of sushi) I decided I wanted it. Sure they T-Com might very soon lower their fares and I might save a couple of hundred Euros and sure, they will eventually insert 3G capabilities in a year or so, but, but but.

There are no regrets anymore: it is by far the most amazing piece of gadgetry I have ever laid my hands on. More to come.

i-phone or iPhone? Top oder Flop?

2007-11-12T10:57:00.001+01:00

i-phone or iPhone? Top oder Flop?
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Snippet from N24 television on the launch of the iPhone in Germany. It's really disheartening how the press wants the iPhone to fail, pure sensationalism. Good tech journalists do not appear on TV otherwise they would not constantly misspell iPhone as in the caption above.

The coverage has been overly negative, the purported cons of the iPhone were exaggerated to the max, the main disadvantage being the missing 3G capability - no mention of battery life being drained by 3G chips in other phones (eg Nokia N95). Although the tarif at T-Mobile may be high, no other tarif in Germany offers a data flatrate at that price and the T-Mobile has over 8000 hotspots here which can all be used - for me in Berlin that's really quite enough. Apparently journalists do not seem to understand that WLAN is much faster than any spotted 3G connection will ever be, so what's their peeve?

Herr iPhone, bitteschön

2007-11-02T23:06:00.001+01:00

Herr iPhone, bitteschön
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

German Mr. iPhone doing the introductory video. He must have studied the original US Version, hand movements and intonation are almost identical. Where do they get these guys? Are they actors or are they recruited from Telekom? Watch the video here

Update for my Navigator speaks MacOS

2007-11-02T17:51:00.001+01:00

More and more manufacturers of electronic goodies are providing software designed for macs, at least that's my impression. Case in point is the navigator I bought today, the Garmin nüvi 200. I had already consigned myself to running the update procedure through Windows (via Bootcamp on my iMac), but lo and behold: they have a Webupdater for Mac OS. How sweet! Attached the navigator via USB and it even mounted on my desktop. Software found the device and I was able to upload the newest update.

2007-11-01T16:02:00.000+01:00

You all know that I installed Leopard the day after it was launched. And I chose the default installation, which more or less shoe-horns the OS over the existing Tiger installation. Well yesterday, after attempting to open a large file, the dock suddenly disappeared and very shortly after that the entire system froze and I was forced to do a hard reboot. When I did a login to my non-administrator account the dock was not there at all and just occasionally reappeared for about 2 seconds before disappearing again. The dock worked fine in my administrator account so I assumed that it was something in my home folder.

Another weird thing I noticed: on emptying my Trash I had over 28,000 files in there. I hadn't been doing any serious file manipulations, what the heck was happening? Took about a minute to delete all the files in the Trash. Repaired permissions - took very long- and got the message "ACL found but not expected on APPLICATIONS" and "ACL found but not expected on Library". Whatever..

I was coming to the conclusion that it was perhaps not such a good idea to do the default installation of Leopard. In previous updates of Mac OS I always preferred a clean installation, i.e. essentially starting from scratch and manually reinstalling all your apps and preferences - loads of work I wanted to avoid.

Today I solved the problem, at least my dock is now there again and not doing the disappearing act. When the dock appeared very briefly I noticed a JPEG File (not as an icon) that was on the top of the Downloads stack. It was 3.8 MB in size. When I deleted this file, suddenly the dock appeared again and stayed put this time. I have a hunch that the dock had some kind of problem creating the icon of the picture file and thus always disappeared again to rebuild. More of a stacks problem than dock problem I assume.

Let's see if the Leopard will surprise us again - I hope not

New Apple Wireless Keyboard

2007-10-31T14:36:00.001+01:00

DSCN6542.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Stopped by my local Mac dealer who was finally in stock with the new Apple Wireless Keyboard. Demand for this little accessory must be sky-high. Scoured the whole of Berlin for this new addition to my Apple gadgets.

It is light and has a very small footprint on my desk. I think the controls for Dashboard, iTunes and Exposé are really useful. By far the best computer keyboard I have ever seen (why doesn't Logitech do something like this?). The brushed aluminum syncy nicely with the base of my iMac.

A camera worth waiting for: Ricoh GRD II

2007-10-31T14:06:00.000+01:00

Fixed focus cameras have been out of style for quite a while - you are usually spoiled by the zooms the digital SLRs come with. Now Ricoh is coming out with the successor of its much touted Ricoh GRD, the GRD II. The specs of this camera are impressive and I would just like to have a camera now and then that I actually carry with me all the time, without being majoryl burdened.

So the wait has become more worthwhile, looking forward to December. Who knows if I don't do something audacious like selling my Nikon D70 :)

Leopard is a' coming

2007-10-27T16:35:00.001+02:00

DSCN6536.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Just got Leopard today, at the Mac-House store here in Berlin. And while unpacking it has become a tradition to have an espresso.

The retail box is about the size of a CD and much smaller than previous ones. The box is the pull-out kind. It contains the DVD, instructions and the obligatory stickers (what on earth should I do with all of them?).

Now it's time to backup my entire hard-drive and do a general clean-up. SInce I have really large video-files on my desktop I'm clearing those off before I do the install.

Coffee, am I addicted?

2007-10-26T14:18:00.001+02:00

I am 67% Addicted to Coffee

Free California Personals

Panasonic HDC-SD1 Videocam

2007-10-26T13:44:00.000+02:00

Oh, the joys of being a gadget-geek1 Yesterday marked the arrival of my new videocam, the Panasonic HDC-SD1. I have been watching and drooling over this camera for quite some while now. I actually heard about it the first time on a some podcast on Twit, Leo Laporte and his crew were praising this camera alot.

One of the special features is that it only uses SD memory-cards to save videos in the new AVCHD format. No DV-tape, no DVD. This means that there are essentially no moving parts. Another adantage is that you don't have to reel the material onto the computer in real-time (i.e. 60 minute tape takes 60 min. to transder). With the SD-card you just transfer the file to the computer which is very swift. Compared to tapes, you can access the video material sequentially without having to rewind or fast forward. And to top it all off it's much lighter than my previous cam (a Canon MV600i).

The Past: Tied up in Video8

2007-10-24T21:22:00.000+02:00

If part your past was played out before the proliferation of digital media then collecting those analogue bits and pieces can be a chore. Currently I am in the process of digitizing my old Video8 camcorder cassettes. It just so happened that I was fortunate enough to have acquired (meaning my parents bought me) a Sony camcorder, the TRV-55E (Video8, the analogue predecessor of Hi8) in 1990, well before the era of the digital hub had arised. Compared with other cams of the time it was quite compact. I believe it was probably the most compact video camera of the time. Remember this was a time before it was commonplace to have a videorecorder and camcorders were very novel indeed. A couple of months ago I tested my camcorder to see if it was working; it had been laying around for many years and I had just assumed that it would be in working order. Some of the LEDs flickered on, but it wouldn't eject (good thing there was no cassette inside). The outer black surface had deteriorated leaving a very sticky gloss on the outside. Although the camera itself is apparently dead, the memories have been preserved in the cassettes in Video8 format.

This task has been nagging me for quite some time now. In fact I justified my decision to completely switch to the Mac OS environment because I believed that most media should be put into digital form. As of this writing I have now finished digitizing the first batch, about 9 tapes in all. It's a pretty time consuming task. The main question is how to get the distill the video information wrapped up in the magnetic film. The problem starts with trying to find out exactly what is on the cassettes. I did a half-hearted job of documenting what was on the tapes which themselves usually on carry names such as "Home Videos 2", "California Tour III" and "91-". So essentially I am left to guessing. I have about twenty cassettes in all.

First using iMovie, you have to play the tapes through a digital-analogue converter (in my case the Miglia Director's Cut Take II) to the computer and this takes place in real-time. And those DV files are huge, a 60-minute tape takes almost 12 Gigs of hard-disk space. And then, in order to preserve the DV-files I transfer these to DVDs as data files, which also takes a while. And in between you also have to sift through the material adding dates and cuts to the files since the Video8 format does not provide this information.

The new iMovie app has been harangued in the press and personal blogs after its appearance about two months ago in iLife '08. Missing time-line, missing audio-manipulation. But something what it really is great for is as a sort of visual database for all the video material you produce. It's comparable to iPhoto in that respect.

2007-10-24T10:39:00.000+02:00

Reserved iPhone and clueless Telekom

2007-10-22T14:53:00.000+02:00

I was walking down Schlossstrasse on a sunny October day, actually on my way to exchange a seat post for my bike. Stumbled upon a small T-Punkt store and on the spur of the moment, decided to inquire about the iPhone. Although Telekom via their merchandising arm T-Punkt, are the sole distributors of the iPhone in Germany, there were rumors that some shops would not have iPhones to sell. But the sales rep assured me that they would have some in inventory and took my name and telephone number. I also asked if it would be OK to pick up the phone on November 12 (sales start officially on the 9th of November) and he seemed quite confident that that would also not be a problem.

But he was entirely clueless as to the tarif structure that Telekom will have arranged for us (gullible?) geeks. in 17 days they will sell the darn phone, but they still don't now how much it will cost to use it? Give me a break? I fell kinda sorry for the sales reps. He also couldn't tell me if the German retail package will include a dock. But he did say that registration of the phone will take place in the store - not like in the US where you initialized the iPhone via iTunes.

Since I don't talk on the phone that much all I'm really keen about is a true data flat rate, be it in EDGE or the quite numerous Telekom WiFi hotspots. That is the reason I am getting the iPhone in the first place. But if they botch up the tarifs, or if their data plan is volume based I will probably back out and wait for the unlocked iPhone that is supposed to appear in France.

iPhone sighting in Germany

2007-10-19T16:24:00.001+02:00

Whilst strolling through the shopping mall in Berlin today I passed one of Telekom's own T-Punkt shop. The sales people were accepting complaints from aggravated customers (something that they probably do alot). In the back they had a small shining stand in white with the Apple iPhone logo on top - preparation for the iPhone introduction on November 9. A technician was working on a keyboard in front of this terminal and to my surprise the software was running on Windows XP. Before I had enough time to digest the dichotomy between the Apple logo and the Microsoft the log-in screen had disappeared.

Sternfahrt 2007 - Bikes on the Autobahn

2007-06-04T22:47:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday the annual "Sternfahrt" took place and I was in the masses. Labelled as a bicycle demonstration, it is in essence a number of bike routes through Berlin that sort of resemble the pattern of a star ( (for the most ambitious there is even a route that starts in Greifswald, which is about 250 km from Berlin starting at 4 AM). All the bikers converge in great numbers around the Siegesäule (large roundabout close to the Brandburg Gate) in an Finale fit for an Opera. The event is organized by the German Cycling Federation (ADFC).

This year for the first time, I was accompanied by my family with my two kids in the bike trailer. That made it perhaps a bit more challenging, but the kids had a lot of fun. Especially the long stretch across the autobahn was especially exciting for them. This Sternfahrt was more crowded than in previous years, even though it was overcast. My theory: if it was a glaring, sunny day most people would probably prefer to go somewhere where they could cool down (like the beach, or an out beer-garden); on a rainy day, most would rather stay dry at home. The kids were beat when we finally arrived at the Siegesäule. We skimmed through the Eco-fair that was taking place, I had a glimpse of Christian Ströbele (famous politician of the Green Party here in Berlin) with his trademark red scarf. And on our way back we had to endure a very crowded train and the bulky bike trailer only barely managed budge inside.

Apple Personal Modem 5

2007-06-02T21:45:00.001+02:00

ApplePersonalModem-5
Originally uploaded by dreadnought27.

You've just got to admire this. With something as simple and mundane as a modem Apple could set a design statement, even way back in the 80s when John Ive wasn't even around yet.

The Macalope On MacBreak Weekly

2007-06-02T15:34:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite Mac-bloggers, the one and only Macalope will be on next week’s edition of MacBreak Weekly, I belive the 43rd edition. Wonder what he (or she?) sounds like.

Steve speaks out

2007-05-31T10:01:00.001+02:00

Walt Mossberg noted that their are millions and millions of iTunes software running on Windows which makes Apple, quite parodoxically, one of the biggest Windows developers. Steve Jobs commented that it's "like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell". Good one, that.

Wild Chimps

2007-05-29T23:35:00.001+02:00

Visited the zoo (in Charlottenburg) today in the company of my children and my sister-in-law with her children. There was a thunderstorm brewing outside, it was raining cat's and dogs and giraffes and we were kinda trapped in the primate building. Lucklily we had an ice-cream dispenser and a pocket full of coins for survival. Inside it was feeding time, never saw so many monkeys eat apples (I was always thinking: do those grow in Africa or Asia alot, where were all the bananas?).

We were standing in front of the cage of the chimps when all of a sudden they all entered at the same time with a a sort of feeding-frenzy way. Couldn't hear them that well behind the glass, but it was quite a show of vitality and unbounding energy as the hopped, skipped and jumped across the various ladders, ropes and dangling stretchers that posed as their fake habitat.

At first we believed that this was all just play. Then we noticed how their all their activity was directed at a soul chimp who seemed to take the brunt the monkey's aggressions. At one point a mother chimp holding her child jumped onto the back of our poor victim. This reminded me of one of those moves that wrestler's make from the ropes to humiliate an oppenent that is already down. After a while the chimp just cowered in one corner and a warden came, firing some water a the aggressor-chimps to protect our victimized chimp.

Those Darn Old Books

2007-05-23T17:07:00.001+02:00

DSCN6364.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Sorting out my old, unreadable and/or obsolete books is really a pain in the old bookworm's ass. I can't bring myself to just conveniently throw away the books that I haven't even touched for years. But what else shall I do with them? I've tried eBay, but for the few euros I get per book it just isn't worth the effort. I could go to a flea market, if I had the capacity to kill a Sunday. Tried Bookcrossing.com, but not a single book I set into the wild has produced any feedback.

iMac Update Slated For Late June

2007-05-22T20:22:00.000+02:00

According to Think Secret (via Macrumors) an iMac Update is slated for late June. It remains vague as to whether the update will entail an entire redesign of the iMac, which has been in this form since the last day of August 2004. Starting with the G5 processor the iMac became the first computer that Apple ever built running an Intel chip. That was in January 2006. This was the model that I also got after being totally brainwashed by Steve in his Keynote where the Intel iMac was first introduced. So the basic design of the iMac has been unaltered now for almost 2 1/2 years.

What I would really like would be a bigger screen. The 20" has superior quality and for using the computer as a computer it has just the right size, I don't really need the of a 30" for multiple windows and apps (although Al Gore apparently needs three of them). But for watching movies (my sofa is about 3 meters from my desk and is used as a TV-ersatz) I wouldn't mind having a larger screen. The 24" would be great, but on prinicipal I never migrate to the same design, never have and probably never will. Unless the product cycle is ten years or so.

Wonder what JonathenI Ive has got up his sleeve. We'll see, hopefully soon.

Problems with my internet connection

2007-05-11T14:46:00.000+02:00

This morning I was unable to get an internet connection. According to the log on my Fritz!Box router it finally got a connection at 12:14 after the router repeatedly failed to connect. The log spoke of a "PPPoE-error: time limit" ("PPoE-Fehler: Zeitüberschreitung"), whatever that means.

Geox shoes: are they really waterproof ?

2007-05-10T15:47:00.000+02:00

Geox shoes are all over the place here in Germany. They claim that their shoes are breathable by means of a special microporous membrane which, "when placed in a perforated rubber sole, allows transpiration while keeping external humidity out". In other words: your feet don't get wet from the inside and your feet don't sweat.

About three months ago, on a slightly rainy day I noticed that both my feet were getting wet from the bottom and I was most sure that it was not from my sweat. I thought at the time that I perhaps stepped in a puddle and the water got in from the sides. But on another occasion my feet get wet again. This time I took out the inlays and noticed that they were wet and had a moldy look, as if this had been wet quite often before.

I wrote to the Geox Deutschland GmbH in Munich on April 18 regarding the matter, but they have not answered yet. Called at their Munich offices today, and the representative told me that I should just wait, she was sure that they will look into the matter.

Strange bedfellows: Windows Vista on my iMac

2007-05-09T15:12:00.000+02:00

I finally caved in and bought a version of Windows Vista (Home Premium) for my iMac. I do have a slight reservoir of Windows programs that will probably never be ported to the mac, and I was getting sick and tired of my old Windows machine and monitor gathering dust in the corner.

Right now I am downloading the newest version of BootCamp (1.2) which will magically make my Windows computer and monitor redundant.

Recumbent Bike - thoughts

2006-06-20T09:03:00.000+02:00

Once again, like every summer for the past 5 years I am again considering getting a recumbent bike. When it gets hot and humid and my bike seat is the pain in the ass and my wrists start to ache then I imagine myself gliding through the city sitting comfortable on reclined seat. I have weighed the pros and cons for many times now. It's about time that I had a test drive. There is a store here in Berlin called Feine Räder (http://www.feineraeder.de/) that has some recumbents to try out. Might just do that.

Canon's reply

2006-06-02T12:29:00.000+02:00

This is what Canon Support Center had to say regarding the Black Screen of Death of my videocam:

Es wurde bestätigt, dass sich bei einzelnen, in den betroffenen Produkten verwendeten CCD-Bildsensoren in äußerst seltenen Fällen bei hohen Temperaturen und hoher Luftfeuchtigkeit die interne Verdrahtung löst.
Wenn dieser Defekt auftritt, wird das Signal im Aufnahmemodus nicht korrekt von den CCD-Bildsensoren ausgegeben. Dadurch können die im Folgenden aufgeführten Bildabnormalitäten auftreten:
• Bilder werden nicht angezeigt
• Bildfarben werden nicht korrekt angezeigt
• Bilder werden verzerrt angezeigt
Diese Symptome können am LCD-Monitor überprüft werden.

Wir bitten alle Kunden, bei deren Kameras die oben genannten Symptome auftreten, sich an eine Canon-Vertragswerkstatt zu wenden. Informationen zu unseren autorisierten Servicestellen finden Sie im Support-Bereich unserer Website www.canon.de unter folgendem Link: https://self-service.canon-europe.com/de/pages.
Die Reparatur wird dann kostenlos durchgeführt, wenn bestätigt werden kann, dass sich die interne CCD-Bildsensorenverdrahtung gelöst hat.

Not very conclusive, but they at least admit that there have been problems with the CCD-sensors on "certain" products. And they are offering repair free of charge if this applies to my videocam.

Contacting Canon's Help Desk

2006-05-31T14:04:00.000+02:00

I just contacted Canon's Help Desk in Germany - I wonder how long it will take them to answer regarding the malaise of my camcorder.

Vorgangsnummer 2776826: Camcorder nimmt nichts mehr auf. Sowohl Bildschirm als auch Sucher bleiben schwarz, ausser die Informationen zur Aufnahme. Nur der Ton wird aufgenommen.

Nach Durchstöbern des Internet stelle ich fest, dass dies kein singuläres Problem darstellt, sondern ein sehr häufiges Problem der Baureihe MV6xx-7xx darstellt. Die als "Black Screen of Death" genannte Erscheinung tritt meistens nach 2 Jahren auf (bei mir sind es 2 1/2). Der Grund ist ein defekter CCD-Chip. Hier beispielhaft zwei lange Forenbeiträge aus Grossbritannien und USA:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200489&pp=15

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/camcorder/canon-zr70mc-reviews.html#user_reviews

Aus den Erfahrungsberichten ist zu lesen, dass Canon USA bereits dazu übergegangen ist die notwendigen Reparaturen kostenlos durchzuführen.

Ihnen dürfte die Problematik deshalb bekannt sein. Bitte teilen Sie mir mit, wie ich weiter vorgehen soll. Soll die Kamera zwecks Reparatur Ihnen geschickt werden, oder soll ich mich an den Händler wenden?

mit freundlichen Grüssen,

Georg Königsberg

By the way, the Canon MV600i is known in the USA as Canon ZR60 - for reasons that go beyond my basic marketing knowledge.

Technorati Tags: canon, hardware

Canon MV600i - Black Screen of Death

2006-05-30T17:16:00.000+02:00

My video DV-camera is not working, it will no longer record. The screen remains black when recording, so I assume that the CCD is the culprit. The camera is about 2 1/2 years old.

Turns out that I am not the only one that has encountered this problem. In forums and blogs it is known as the "Black Screen of Death" and seems to afflict the Canon MV6xx series of DV-cameras quite often.

To say the least, I am quite disappointed in Canon, this is definitely the last Canon camera I am buying.

Grand Opening

2006-05-26T23:39:00.000+02:00

Grand Opening
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Grand opening of the new central train station in Berlin. Half a million people were there. It was hell though trying to cross the bridge. I was amongst them on the bridge and after the ligt and firework show the masses streamed from both sides. I spent at least half and hour trying to get to the other side.

Apple Event - Fun, new products

2006-02-22T10:02:00.000+01:00

appleinvite2006feb2.jpg
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Wonder what it's going to be. Fun? Sounds like a new iPod to me, but it could be something quite unexpected like a media interface of some sorts.

The Real Video iPod?

2006-02-11T16:15:00.000+01:00

The Real Video iPod?
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

A speculative post. This is a picture stems from the latest patent application from Apple. Looks like a mini PC-tablet of sorts. Interesting. Instead of a physical scroll wheel there will be a virtual scroll wheel on the screen.

Will it be the "real" iPod video (Apple never added the "video" attribute to its current model, it remains just simply "iPod") ? Having a closer look at the sketch it looks as if the entire GUI of iTunes will be integrated into the tablet. The virtual scroll-wheel would free substantial space for watching videos, but I would be worried about smudges, maybe you don't touch the screen at all?

iMac Core Duo: first impressions (in German)

2006-01-20T10:50:00.000+01:00

Now finally a tidbit for my nascent German-speaking readers. I post the following entry which originally appeared in the German Mac-Forum Mac-Sofa under the title: "Mein neuer iMac Core Duo ist da!" (My new iMac Core Duo is here). I'll try to post something in English later.

Endlich, nach langer Abstinenz, bin ich wieder stolzer Besitzer eines iMacs. Mein dritter, um genau zu sein (erster iMac DV 400 (Lime), zweiter iMac G4 17" ). Anfang 2005 hat es mich der Mac mini so angetan, dass ich gleich zugeschlagen habe (auch nach dem damaligen Keynote). Ein tolles Gerät ohne Zweifel , leise und zuverlässig hat er alle Aufgaben gut bewältigt. Aber mein Ideal scheint das All-in-one Gerät zu sein, ich liebe es simplistisch und hasse Kabeln, mit dem iMac kommt man theoretisch mit nur einem Kabel (Strom) aus, - das ist nicht zu unterbieten.

Nach der Vorstellung des neuen iMacs im Oktober 2005 war ich wirklich sehr nah dran eins zu kaufen. Aber durch eine glückliche Fügung bin ich daran gehindert worden und als das übliche Spekulieren im Vorfeld des MacWorlds begann, da habe ich gedacht, jetzt warte ich mal ab. Und es hat sich diesmal gelohnt, obwohl fast niemand damit gerechnet hat, das ausgrechnet der iMac den ersten Mac mit "Intel Inside" sein würde.

Zwei Tage nach dem Keynote habe ich den iMac Core Duo 20" im Apple Store, vorgestern landete dieser sanft nach einer langen Reise aus Shanghai auf meine Türschwelle. Und weil ich so gerne das Auspacken zelebriere hier ein Paar Bilder auf Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19006301@N00/sets/72057594049719753/

Ein Paar erste Eindrücke nach dem Auspacken und Inbetriebnahme:

Der erste iMac G5 hatte erhebliche Probleme mit lauten Lüftern und ein hochfrequenten Netzteil Geräusch. Entgegen meinen Befürchtungen ist der iMac Core Duo erstaunlich leise. Alles was man hört ist wohl die Festplatte. Auch wenn ich den Prozessor ein wenig reize bleibt es bei diesem sehr niedrigen und tieffrequenten Lärmpegel. Er ist mindestens genauso leise wie mein Mac mini, wenn nicht sogar leiser. Das Gehäuse hintern wird nur sehr leicht warm, die Abwärmeproblematik ist gelöst.

Ich hatte anfänglich auch befürchtet, dass der Rechner zu wuchtig und dominierend auf meinen Schreibtisch stehen würde. Aber das stimmt nicht. Von der Seite betrachtet ist er erstaunlicherweise nicht dicker als ein Cinema Display. Und das bei 20".

Ich habe den iMac mit einigen nicht Intel-nativen Programme ausprobiert und bin erstaunt darüber wie glatt alles funktioniert. Das "Übersetzungsprogramm" Rosetta arbeitet still und unmerklich im Hintergrund. Natürlich fehlen mir hier die Vergleiche, schiesslich ist dieser Rechner der schnellste Mac den ich je hatte, aber ich bin erfreut das alles im Hintergrund arbeitet und man absolut nichts davon merkt.

Frontrow mit der Fernbedienung ist eine sehr schöne Sache. Und wenn man, wie bei mir, hinter dem Schreibtisch eine Sofa stehen hat, dann ist das perfekt. Allerdings gibt es auch was zu makeln. Gestern als ich "Fellowship of the Ring" ansehen wollte kam ich mit der Bedienung des Remotes nicht zurecht, ich konnte einfach den Film nicht abspielen lassen. Ich musste zurück und den DVD-Player starten um dann mit der Maus den Film zu starten. Umständlich.

Die Integration des einer iSight Webcam ist echt Klasse, eigentlich wirkte der iSight auf dem iMac immer ein wenig wie ein Fremdkörper.

Der Bildschirm ist absolut Spitze. Perfekte Ausleuchtung, kräftige Farben, und sehr hell (als erste Handlung habe ich den Helligkeitsregler runter gestellt).

Insgesamt merkt man dem Gerät nicht an, dass es eine neue Zeitrechnung für Apple eingeleitet hat. Aber das sollte es vielleicht auch nicht.

Technorati Tags: coreduo, hardware, imac, mac, puppy, review

Very, very, close...

2006-01-17T11:32:00.000+01:00

Very, very, close...
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

While I write this entry somewhere in Berlin my iMac is being driven around by an anonymous driver from TNT (no relation to the explosives). Last week I ordered my iMac 20-inch Du Core from the Apple Store (Germany). The only hard decision I had to make was wether to upgrade the stock 128MB card to 256MB. I opted for the "weaker" graphic card, saved me another 3 days of waiting.

I just love following the progress of a shipment like this. It started in Shanghai on January 14, reached Arnhem (Netherland) on January 16, and today the package is already cruising around Berlin. That's what I call globalization.

2 Days after the Keynote

2006-01-12T18:43:00.000+01:00

It has been a couple of days since Steve has delivered his yearly Keynote at the MWSF 2006. And once again he has set the Mac community on fire, me included. Everyone was expecting an Intel-based mac (contrary to the official statement, that they would be introduced in the summer), but that it had to be the iMac, that really was enticing news.

I had been thinking of getting the iMac G5 since its introduction (summer 2004?). But then came the Mac mini at the MWSF 2005 in January, which I believed would be a sufficient successor to my Powermac Cube, especially considering the price. It has been a great ride with the mini, an if you don't really do any CPU-exacting things with it (such as video and photo editing) then you will be real happy with it, especially since it is virtually silent. One gripe I had with it is not its limited expandability, but the fact that opening the case just to augment your RAM was very taxing and invasive, you had to literally use excessive force and hope that all those plastic retainers would not break.

But since my purchase of the Nikon D70 and given the backlog of video films I still want to edit, I reassessed the necessity of pure CPU-power. And the new iMac with its dual core CPU (Steve said it would be up to 3,2 X faster than the current model, just introduced last October) will suffice my needs quite nicely, to be sure. Also, I need a new monitor, no doubt, my current CRT is just too dark, contrast is the pits. I am a bit worried about the noise level as I have been spoiled in this respect with the mac mini. The Apple-Store is offering the iMac 2,0 Ghz Intel Duo Core with a 3 day wait, most of the other retailers can deliver in February. Will I wait?

Apple prepares to launch low-cost laptop and cheap iPod

2006-01-09T15:12:00.000+01:00

The Business Online says that it's a laptop and cheap iPod that's going to be announced at Macworld.

I wouldn't be so sure - tommorrow will tell.

read more | digg story

Looking for Feng Shui

2006-01-08T16:11:00.000+01:00

DSC_0460.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Listening to "Along the Watch Tower" by Dylan. And suddenly I have this really weird feeling as if I am drowning and I turn around and see all this stuff laying on the floor and the shelves a mess, I am never going to find anything there. Boy, my room is in a frickin' mess, how did it get this far?

So time do have a single New Year resolution: organize the room, throw out or ebay off those unnecessary items (like the outdated PC "do-it-yourself"-book 2001). Now, where's that dang Feng Shui book I got last Xmas?...

The Mother of all iPods

2005-12-25T22:33:00.000+01:00

The Mother of all iPods
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

A collector's dream: an original 1st generation iPod 5GB with ALL the original packaging material including the "Don't steal music" foil. This is a piece of history, the mother of all iPods, before the hype began.

Thank you eBay and a Merry Xmas to you all - have a great 2006 !

Professor Udolph

2005-11-15T22:33:00.000+01:00

sho_Udolph.jpg
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

This evening I listened to a lecture by Professor Udolph of the University of Leipzig, an expert on names and has his own radio show (Radio Eins) here in Berlin. For a scientist in Slavic Studies he has become quite famous, due to a daily call-in radio show in which he has 20 minutes to tell the caller what his name means, its origins, etc. I had ni idea about his popularity, since I hardly ever listen to radio myself nowadays.

It was quite an entertaining lecture and I even went so far as to buy his book at the end (we were in a book store and this was his promotional tour). His main theory is that names are like vessels that carry remnants of lost words and places.

Nostalgic iPod memories

2005-10-29T21:00:00.000+02:00

DCP_2897.jpg
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

I just recalled that I once owned, however briefly, a 3rd generation iPod 20GB. Just busy cleaning up my disk space, discarding useless files when I came upon this cache of photos I made when I was taking the iPod on a test drive for the very first time. It was wonderful.

Apple did not skimp in those days, it included almost everything: Dock, Firewire cables, case, remote control. With my nano Apple didn't even have the decency to include a case and Firewire is just history. I think it cost 399 €, which is a ton of money considering that you can get the iPod 5G with whopping 60GB for the same amount.

I wonder where you are, little one. Hope you are fed some Miles and Coltrane, now and then...

TV snippets - Joschka's girlfriend

2005-10-22T00:55:00.000+02:00

Ex-girlfriend of Joschka Fischer
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Ex-girlfriend of Joschka Fischer, as seen on a re-re-re-run of the German talk-show "3 nach 9" (1985?). Joschka Fischer, Germany's favorite politician, was being interviewed by Lea Rosh. She asked his girl-friend if his new mandate in Hessen as minister had a negative impact on their relationship. That must of been her 15 seconds of fame.

Anybody happen to know her name? Nice earring, by the way.

Going iPod = Going Gaga

2005-10-19T18:22:00.000+02:00

DSCN5893.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

This is becoming an addiction, I need some help. Just about over a month I was so magically persuaded to buy an iPod nano, never really gave it a second thought, it had to be mine ( I didn't even have the conundrum of having to decide between black or white, it was classic white all the time).

Then comes Steve on October 12, a week ago, for the Special Event and unveils not only the best iMac I have ever seen, but as a second act also presents the new 5th generation iPod, which most of the media has mistakingly dubbed iPod video (yes it does play video and that it really cool, but it remains a predominantly a music player).

How tempting!

The Bike that Mike built

2005-10-14T22:36:00.000+02:00

Koga-Miyata Randonneur
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Got a new bike. It's a shiny new Koga-Miyata Randonneur, Model 2005, which I bought at eBay (at a considerable discount) in July. Yes, July: due to the turbulences which beset the life of me and my family I was just incapicitated to pick it up (conincidentally the store, Fahrrad Becker is in Lemgo, where I was born) then, so I decided to have it shipped to Berlin. So whilst all the Apple-nerdy attention was being paid to Apple's Special Event 2005 (more on that later) and all these really wonderful products were being rolled out, me, the Mac-enthusiast was solemnly anticipating the arrival of my bike.

Once I had set the gears in motion the bike was delivered in a jiffy. Picked it up with my son on a sunny morning in Grossbeeren at a the depot of a transport company (my son really enjoyed watching the fork lifts zig-zag through the gigantic hall).

Today I took it out for a spin. Since I had an errand to run in Charlottenburg I took a North-easterly route through the enthrails of West-Berlin (funny how I still have this division in my head) on this absolutely gorgeous day. The Koga felt a bit funny at first, but after a while it was a pleasure to ride. Felt like I was on rails. The handlebar-stem is a bit unwieldy at first, as I have thus far been used to simpler handlebars. But after a while it was nice to have so much room to change your grip.

Ah, yes the title, "The Bike that Mike built". Well Koga-Miyata and Rolls-Royce have two things in common: they both have their products made by hand. So out there somewhere in Holland a guy named Mike put my bike together. Because I got a Mike stamp in the documentation that came with the Koga. Would sure like to meet My Mike bike guy one day. If you are reading this blog tell me how it was like to make my bike...

Brilliant Marketing

2005-09-27T22:48:00.000+02:00

Brilliant Marketing
Originally uploaded by mbuntag.

Berlin Marathon

2005-09-25T18:09:00.000+02:00

The Berlin Marathon took place without me today. I don't think anybody noticed, really. In fact, if they took out 1000 of those sweaty bodies nobody would notice the difference. No, instead of adding my stamina and sweat to this years event I was just a petty bystander. And I was quite envious of the runners, it was such a gaorgeous day, some would say a wee tad to warm for a marathon. Took my bike over to Hohenzollerndamm and coasted along the bike-path alongside of the runners. Felt like I was cheating - I know what it feels like after 31 km.

Next year I will definitely try and go for it again. See you there.

Speaking Faces in TV

2005-09-21T00:50:00.000+02:00

maischberger
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Maischberger (German talk show host) talking with Oskar Lafontaine and articulating the word "bestimmt".

My new Disc Burner

2005-09-20T17:12:00.000+02:00

DSCN5803
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Today I pried open my Mac mini to install a new DVD-Burner (Pioneer DVR-K05) to replace the original CD-burner that came with the mini. No big deal really, since I opened the computer a while ago to replace the memory (I now have 1 Gig). The tricky part was hadnling the tiny screws that held the drive in its frame.

I haven't tested it in its entirety but it seems to act like a Superdrive, which means that I can burn DVDs directly from iDVD. That was not possible with my external DVD-recorder. Encoding CDs is also a bit faster in iTunes.

Just voted

2005-09-18T18:43:00.000+02:00

The federal government is being elected in Germany today and I just voted. My vote is probably not relevent in the big scheme of things and whatever party makes it probably won't make a big difference anyway. But we may have the first woman as head of government. And most likely we won't see Schröder again.

Look mom, they shrunk the iPod !

2005-09-14T17:12:00.000+02:00

It's Really Small
Originally uploaded by mhusson.

Being a fan of everything miniature I couldn't resist the temptation to go out and order the iPod nano. I followed the progress of the Apple Special event last Monday and was quite surprised what good ol' Steve pulled out of his hat.

Truly, the iPod nano is the most remarkable of the iPods for two main reasons in my opinion: it is just a wee tad larger than the Shuffle but has a display which the latter lacks. And it has flash-based memory, which is more resilient to shocks and quicker than the big iPod.

I won't miss the iPod mini. Though quite popular with the masses that anodized aluminum just didn't click with me.

Technorati Tags: ipod, mac, nano

Mick Jagger in Freejack

2005-09-10T16:38:00.000+02:00

jagger
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Last evening in the wee hours of the night when I was just about dozing off, some private station in German television (forgot which one) was showing the film Freejack.

Nothing really sensational, I know, hundreds of films are shown each day on television. But just as I was to call it a night I saw none other than Mick Jagger on the top of some futuristic tank, helmet and all. He looked pretty serious and mean, apprently he was playing the bad guy. Pretty lousy film, at least from what I saw of it. Makes you wonder why one of the most influential (and controversial) people in the pop business play in a really bad movie. Did he just want to see if he had enough talent to make it in the movies? Or did he just know the director/producer and wanted him to do a favor and promote his film?

Anyway, once I get the chance I will see this movie to its bitter end and maybe I'll revise my opinion. Until then I'll just stick to his music.

My Gravis Store Experience

2005-09-09T19:06:00.000+02:00

Today with temperatures baking in the low 30s (Celsius) I took my defective iPod Shuffle to the main Gravis store in Berlin. Took my bike for the 10 km journey from Lichterfelde to Charlottenburg, that meant lots of perspiration so I took along an ersatz T-shirt not too look like a wet jerk in the store (I was self-concious enough to bring along an extra T-Shirt which I changed before entering the store). Took me 37 minutes through medium to heavy traffic. Not bad considering that the same journey would have taken me 45 minutes with public transportation according to BVG.

I have not yet revealed to my readers that I am an avid biker in the human-powered sense. Berlin is especially bike-friendly not only because of the many designated bike paths and broad thouroughfares (as a cyclist you are allowed to use the bus lanes). What makes biking a pleasure in Berlin is simply that it is very flat, and it is the hills that usually kill biking not as a sport but as a mode of transportation versus motorized vehicles.

But I am transgressing here. My iPod Shuffle was not functioning in a sporadic way: sometimes the FF (skip to next title) -button does not register when I press it. So I had to press many times until it sprang to the next title - very unnerving. Something I didn't expect in an Apple product after only 6 months (in fact today was exactly six months, I bought the Shuffle on the 10th of March).

Gravis store on Franklin Street in Berlin is quite a big store. Since my last visit they have expanded a bit and rearranged the setup. Very impressive considering that this is almost the only place in Berlin where you can see and feel Apple products. Funny, you live in the capital city, 3.5 million inhabitants and there is only really one store to see Apple products - give me a break, Apple, we really need an Apple store here! Send in your emergency crew, Gravis has monopoloy written all over its carpet. Help!

A few souls with minor problems before me in the make-shift line of the Service department. Only one guy at the counter, even though three terminals suggested three Gravis people to take your concerns. One big brawly chap with mean look on his face and a G5 Box at his feet was having a discussion with one of the ghost customer service guys, I overheard "...I want my money back, and no, I will not sign this...I have work to do, I can't return here...". Your typical customer, I would say. The line around me grew and grew and finally it was my turn. Took about 15 minutes to check my data, he said that if they found the problem I would probably get a new shuffle, repairing those things cost more than replacement, bla, bla. OK.

Out of the mess

2005-09-03T22:57:00.000+02:00

Fortune has not been that kind with us of late, which is one reason I have entirely neglected my blog. But things seem to have taken a turn for the better since Corinna left the hospital yesterday. It feels so good to be just living as a complete family once again.

iBook is here !

2005-08-15T11:09:00.000+02:00

What a pleasant surprise. The DHL man dropped off my iBook package at 10:55 today. Typical Apple outer packaging, notice the design on the packing tape.

And I just can't wait to unpack it.

Technorati Tags: hardware, ibook

iBook on its way

2005-08-12T13:46:00.000+02:00

Well, it has been itching in my fingers for a long time and so yesterday I ordered an iBook with the 12-inch display at cyberport, once again. I was swaying between the 12 and 14-inch models, caught in a decision trap. At Gravis, the large Apple retailer in Germany, I could compare the two side-by-side: the 14-inch model looks much bulkier, nothing I would like to tote around if I don't really need to. It has the same resolution as the 12-inch model, so you don't really get any more desktop real estate. OK, for those who need a Superdrive and a larger hard disk it could be a value, but for me the compactness of the 12" model was just too appealing.

Technorati Tags: hardware, ibook, puppy

War of the Worlds

2005-07-29T12:18:00.000+02:00

Saw Spielberg's War of the Worlds in the Sony Cinestar at Potsdamer Platz. Took the early show at 5 to be back home to bring the children to bed.

I had always hoped that Spielberg would make another "serious" film on extraterrestrial life visiting planet Earth, the "unserious" film being E.T. (which I never got around to seeing, surprisingly). I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind when I was a kid in Burbank (just looked it up, it was 1977), that was quite a demanding film for a 13-year old.

This time around the aliens were here with a vengeance. Similar to "Ecounters of..." they do not really appear very often in the film, maybe 10 minutes in total. Acutally I thought their appearance was one of the less appealing parts of the movie, I dunno, from their looks they just looked too much the steroptype: dark, slimy, long limbs, and big goblets of eyes. In my opionion the film derived most of its suspense from their furtiveness, being behind in the background while havoc erupts all around. Special effects were really brilliant and the story line made sense, most of the time. The ending and resolution of the film (was anyone surprised that humanity was saved), was a teeny bit too simplisitic. An ambitious director would have maybe chosen a lesser happy end.

By the way, for those not acquainted with German cinemas: the "OV" on the ticket stub stands for Originalversion, original version, i.e. not dubbed. All foreign language films are almost without exception synchronized into German, very few are shown with sub-titles. I personally would always prefer the original, but that's the market, and you can't fight the masses. Living in Berlin it's no problem, since you have Cinestar, a multiplex cinema. But go to a city in Germany with less than a population of 100 thousand and you will be hard pressed to find the film in its original language version.

Technorati Tags: movies

Apple Store Germany Down

2005-07-26T14:44:00.000+02:00

backsoon
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Well, rumors have been flying against the walls for a long time now and there seems to be something brewing behind that Apple Store facade.You don't have to be a fortune-teller to assume that new iBooks are on the menu.

But Apple, why do you introduce new products always on Tuesdays, that makes it all so predictable. Why don't you surprise us on Thursdays, that would be much more exciting :)

UPDATE:My timing was impeccable: shortly after this post (and the thousands of other posts worldwide), Apple pulled out new iBooks and Mac minis from their hat. Just minor updates, really. Nothing to keep those thousands of people from getting to sleep. But I may be in the market for an iBook, great design and fully-featured. I'm especially fond of the 12"-iBook.

Cats and dogs

2005-07-21T12:21:00.000+02:00

It's raining those proverbial cats and dogs here in the Southwest corner of Berlin. And I don't think it's gonna just be a brief encounter. Against the platter of rain against my window panes I'm listening to:

Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing from the album "Standards In Norway" by Keith Jarrett Trio

Ahhh, Jarrett, DeJohnette and Peacock - my favorites!

Technorati Tags: jazz

Google maps blows my mind

2005-07-18T22:47:00.000+02:00

Having a freakin' good time with the beta service of Google Maps. If you haven't tried it out yet then by all means do. I especially like the way you can switch from map view to the satellite view with one click - amazing. And I was totally impressed by the very high detail of the satellite photos - I was even able to find the blue roof and parking lot of IHOP (International House of Pancakes - man, I loved their French toast). For Mac users there is also a very nice widget.

So I have been flying over Burbank, my "lost" city where I spent some time as a child and teenager. Names of streets, parks and other attractions that were dormant in my head for years became so real again, even though I never "flew" across the San Fernando Valley. Here's a list: MacCambridge Park, Brace Canyon Park, Glenoaks Blvd., Golden State Freeway, North Myers St., Mesa Verde Dr., John Muir Junior High School, and on and on and on...

Problems with my scanner

2005-07-13T21:46:00.000+02:00

Until now my scanner (a CanonScan LiDE 50) has been one of those peripherals that have always worked when I wanted it to work. That changed since I installed Tiger. For some reason I keep getting this message when I try to start the scanner: "Cannot communicate with scanner. Cable may be disconnected. Check status. Scanner driver will be closed." Reinstalled the latest plug-ins, switched USB cables, closed all other apps, but no response.

The funny thing is that it worked just a few days ago - under Tiger. And now I just can't get it to go. I will try to get it working with my PC. If it doesn't react there, then I can only surmise that it is on the blink. Good thing that scanners are rock-bottom cheap nowadays.

UPDATE (7-20-2005) A week on and I finally solved the problem, relying on my old Windows lore - it's the driver, stupid! The solution involved deleting the old "drivers" with an application called deldrv which I culled from the US Canon Support site (strangely this app is not available on the European site). So I unplugged the USB connection from the scanner, started deldrv, and reinstalled the Scangear software (ver. 7.134). Restarted the computer and...it works again.

Technorati Tags: scanner, hardware, canon

How to change EXIF Info

2005-07-10T17:21:00.000+02:00

My first batch of photos taken with the D70 are absolutely fantastic. But unfortunately the first 58 I took (DSC0001 to DSC0058) had the wrong date attached. I noticed this in the humid afternoon of July 2 whilst in Hann. Münden, while I was fiddling with the controls of the camera. June 29 was the date I took my first photo; July 29 was the date set in the camera. The reason was that on setting the camera for the first time I screwed up on the date (time was OK). Thus all photos taken had the wrong date imprinted in the EXIF data. For an archiving freak like me, this was not nice.

I was certain that there must be a simple way to change the data. I found a nifty tool called PhotoToolCM from Pixture studio (it is actually a contextual menu plug-in) that can modify the EXIF data (it can do much more than that). The following changes were made in the EXIF Info using the PhotoToolCM:

July 29 -> June 29 (DSC_0001 to DSC_0006)
July 30 -> June 30 (DSC_0007 to DSC_0037)
July 31 -> July 1 (DSC_0038 to DSC_0045)
August 1 -> July 2 (DSC_0046 to DSC_0058)

So now all the photos from DSC_0059 onwards have the correct date. Whew!

London

2005-07-08T00:19:00.000+02:00

While I was uselessly fiddling with the controls of my iPod the world outside was, unbeknownst to me, in turmoil after the ghastly attacks in London - and I was using the subway here, too.

What a gruesome juxtaposition.

iPod Shuffle on the Blink

2005-07-07T17:27:00.000+02:00

I have an annoying problem with my iPod Shuffle which I noticed just a few days ago. The "title skip forward"-button doesn't always register when I press down on it. Sometimes I have to press it quite a few times until it skips to the next title. I've had the Shuffle since March and it really hasn't been in that much use. I assume that it's a mechanical problem.

So I went to the store I bought it at, Gravis on Ku'Damm. The "store" is actually floorspace provided by Hugendubel, one of the big booksellers here in Berlin (and elswhere in Germany). I reported the problem to one of the salesman there (the only one), she checked the iPod and said, yeah there seems to be a problem. The funny thing was that the more she probed, the less times the iPod showed this erratic behavior. In Germany we say this is the "Vorführeffekt" (demonstration effect), i.e. it always does exactly what its supposed to only when you want to prove the opposite. Oh well. She did tell me that I would have to bring it to their main store on Franklin Strasse so that a technician could loo into the problem.

On the way back in the U-Bahn the I had to press the button 5 times to skip to the next title. I guess the "Vorführeffekt" must have worn off...

Movies: Batman Begins (2005)

2005-07-06T12:51:00.000+02:00

[i am beginning to write this entry with my 3 month old daughter nestled on my left shoulder. meaning that i can only use three fingers to type - bear with me...ok gotta go emergency will write later...] This evening I did something quite unexpected, some would even say quite stupid. I had three tickets for the "Berlin Alexanderplatz", a theater piece directed by Frank Castorf. What made this especially enticing was the fact that it was to be performed in the run-down, asbest-free confines of the Palast der Republik, also referred to as Erichs Lampenladen in the venacular of East Berlin. The performances had been sold out for at least 3 weeks. But then, just two days ago Olaf and Magda said they couldn't make it and I was left with two tickets. Decided to sell 2 tickets on eBay, which worked out fine, got the money I paid for. I was still resolved to go with the remaining ticket.

But when I stood before that imposing monolith my resolved crumbled like the GDR regime whose phony parliament convened within those very same walls. I must add that the thought of exposing myself and sitting through 4 1/2 hours of theater in uncomfortable chairs and cold air was not enticing. It was raining and on the spur of the moment I sold my remaining ticket to a little old lady who was probably stoked that she outfoxed the young-folk standing in line waiting in vain for tickets that would never materialize. It was quarter to 7 the evening was still young and I thought, what the heck, since I am in the city I might as well make something of it and decided to go to the movies. They usually start at 8. Went to the Crumpler store in the Münzstr. (looking for a camera bag for my D70, arrogant salesman). Then headed for Potsdamer Platz, had the special in the Asia Pavillion, crossed the street to the Sony Center and bought a ticket for Batman Begins in the Cinestar theater.

This is where some comments about the film should be made, but I am just to damm tired for a lengthy crtique, sorry folks. Let it suffice to say that the plot, though simple, was executed grandly, intense atmosphere, the best comic-adapted movie I have ever seen.

Jackenburger Küche

2005-07-02T19:20:00.000+02:00

DSC_0050
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

While we were visiting my parents-in-law in Hann. Münden we happened to step into this boat festival on the waterside. I didn't taste the food, but having an outdoor kitchen was kinda neat.

Breakfast at Cafe Kranzler

2005-06-26T17:31:00.000+02:00

DSCN5738
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Beautiful sunny morning. Undertook expedition into the heartland of West Berlin and what a better place to go than to the temple of German cafes, Kaffee Kranzler, at the corner of Joachimstaler Strasse and Ku'Damm. For me this cafe will always epitomize the 60's and the grandeur of former West-Berlin. Of course, it has underwent quite a change, and is now just a reminder of its former self. Rebuilt by Helmut Jahn it now part of a gigantic ensemble of glass fassades that have become quite ubquitous these days. Only the rotunda of the cafe remains, overlooking the streets below. If you look across diagonally you glimpse a large pixelated screen advertising many useless things, except of course the iPod :) Breakfast was lousy but it was hard to beat the view and weather

D70: order cancelled - idiots!

2005-06-23T15:52:00.000+02:00

Got this email today from Cyberport, where I ordered my D70 + 18-70mm lens 6 days ago:

Sehr geehrter Herr K. ,

Sie haben den Artikel Nikon D70 Kit mit DX 18-70mm Objektiv bei uns bestellt.

Wir haben jetzt vom Hersteller die Information bekommen, dass dieser Artikel nicht mehr lieferbar ist, deswegen mussten wir leider diese Position stornieren. Ich bitte um Ihr Verständnis.

Mit freundlichen Gruessen

Sven Reichel
Customer Contact Center
-----------------------------------
cyberport.de gmbh

What Sven at cyberport is essentially saying is that they cannot deliver the D70 Kit, because their supplier cannot deliver it. That totally sucks! So why did they advertise the product in the first place, why did they inform me that they would deliver my camera in 3 to 7 days? Were they just guessing and/or is that the standard answer they give to their customers when they don't have a clue if and when they have the product.

Of course I am a bit to blame for my gullibility and greed. The price (799 € minus 25€ rebate) was just to great for a big retailer like cyberport, there had to be some catch. And they tagged the product as "approx. delivery 30th June". I had the gut feeling that they would never deliver the goods. And I was right. Could have bought the same kit at computeruniverse.de for 819€, but I just let petty greed get the better of me. Lesson learned.

Beach Volleybal hits Berlin

2005-06-22T22:35:00.000+02:00

Today I met Olaf at the beach volleyball world championships which is being held at the Schlossplatz, right smack next to the decrepit Palast der Republik. What a location!

Exceptionally great weather. We took some seats in center court and watched defending champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos of Brazil play against a Dutch duo. I left after the second set, but the Dutch surprisingly won the match.

An Evening of Classical Music

2005-06-19T23:04:00.000+02:00

DSCN5721
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Spent an evening with friends in the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie: music of Grieg, Nielsen and Sibelius. During the pause we met to discuss the movements. Guess who's the violinist in the picture?

D70: finally ordered

2005-06-18T22:14:00.000+02:00

ff_1_b.JPG
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Today I finally ordered my D70 Kit (D70 Body and F-S DX 18-70mm/3.5-4.5G IF-ED Lens) at cyberport. After the dubious discounts and including delivery, the camera costs 781,28 €. Quite amazing considering that the lens included in the kit is no fluky and this alone retails around 400 € here in Germany.

Eastern Oasis

2005-06-18T20:11:00.000+02:00

DSCN5707
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

We trekked across Berlin today, West to East, to spend a few hours with some friends in Lichtenberg. This part of the city is not regared as very green, but then you have to know where an oasis is. You wouldn't know it, but this little park is surrounded by appartment houses.

Poplar Fuzz

2005-06-17T21:15:00.000+02:00

I think I started running seriously again, the first time in months. What made it serious? Hmm, maybe the fact that I wore my Polar watch and heart beat belt to monitor my hbpms (heart beats per minute). It felt really good to run, especially keeping my hpbm in the range between 130 and 140 bpm.

What good is this you may ask? Well, the the heart rate monitor keeps me from training too hard, as well as "sandbagging", i.e. taking it too easy. And initially it makes you feel just like that - running too easily. I would say that 80% of the people that I see running are just running too hard and thus training the wrong way. It's certainly not the way to lose fat, which is probably the main reason people start running in the first place.

Oh, the title of this blog entry. Well, as I was running I could hardly not notice the little fuzz balls floating through the air like in a light snow fall. This from the poplar trees that inhabit much of the path along the Teltow canal.

Got my Laserjet 6L working

2005-06-15T23:44:00.000+02:00

DSCN5674
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

I have a dinosaur of a laser printer which I have had since I started getting serious with my PC, i.e. when I started writing my thesis (1993?). The printer is just fine and works like a charm on the PC, but it has one drawback: it only has a parallel printer interface. So it has never been able to speak with my latter-day macs at all.

When I ordered my Mac mini at Cyberport in February, I also ordered a Keyspan USB Parallel Printer Adapter to remedy this incompatibility and perhaps finally get the laserjet running. Unfortunately, it didn't work with Panther, the printer did not respond. Thought I wasted my money on this useless gadget.

But now using Tiger and the Gimp 5.0 beta driver, it works without further ado. Wonderful!

Project Superdrive

2005-06-15T17:14:00.000+02:00

About a week ago I got a package containing Mac OS Tiger and a dual-layer DVD burner, a Pioneer DVR-K05L.

Now that I have completed the preliminary transition to Tiger, I can concentrate on the hardware transition. Found an interesting 4 page PDF document (in German) with lots of pictures detailing the process of replacing the optical drive.

Tiger installed, with slight bruises

2005-06-14T23:01:00.000+02:00

Finally got around to installing Mac OS 10.4 Tiger. I chose a so-called "clean install" option, i.e. erasing the internal hard drive of my Mac mini and installing a fresh version of the OS on it.

Of course I took precautionary measures. First of all I prepared a backup volume on my second external firewire drive, aptly called "backup". Used CarbonCopy to make a clone of my "old" Mac Mini system. To make certain that everything went according to plan, I even ran it through the Apple Hardware Test (Quick). Everything OK. Booted from the clone volume, OK. Had some coffee.

Now that I had a working fallback position I deftly installed Tiger on my mini, went quicker than I thought. Left out all the superfluous languages and printer drivers (just Epson and Canon for me). And, voilÃ¡, there I was with a fresh system.

The trouble began when I decided to use the Migration Assistant, a new helper app to be found in the Utilities folder. For one of the reasons I often balked at upgrading to a new OS was because of moving all my apps and personal settings over to the new OS. Sure, Apple has the "Archive and install" option, but I was forewarned not to use this (see this article and I just like to have a clean slate when I start using a new OS.

Since I was not migrating from another computer I chose as migration methodFrom another volume on this Mac. After selecting the correct working volume mymacmini and some encouraging purring from the harddrive - it just hung. The daisywheel kept turning and turning and I was not able to continue the process of migration. In fact I had to force quit the app. Tried out many different things, to no avail. Then it occurred to me that maybe the it had to do something with screwed-up permissions on the clone volume. So I booted into this volume, repaired permissions, returned to my Tiger volume, ran the Migration Assistant again and then after a brief second of suspense - it worked.

So do your homework before migrating and repair your permissions.

A day in the forest

2005-06-12T19:20:00.000+02:00

DSCN5697
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Contrary to popular opinion, Berlin is surrounded by wonderful pristine forests. So it’s not really exceptional that we try to alot some time in the green, our son loves it.

Spent long portion of the day in the Grunewald forest. Our initial plans were to meet Anette and Valentina at the Ökowerk, a turn of the century water pump station now a ecological information center. Unfortunately their opening time was 12 o’clock and we arrived there at 11. To pass the time we had a little picnic at a small lake in the forest, whilst our kids frolicked in a gigantic sand mound.

Nikon D70: coming closer

2005-06-11T14:39:00.000+02:00

Well it's Saturday and I'm still vying for the D70, after having verified that the only real big difference to the D70s is the 2-inch monitor (the D70 has a slightly smaller 1.8-inch screen). Ken Rockwell delivers a good comparison between the two look-alike models and concludes that "as far as I'm concerned it's the same camera as my beloved D70 just with a bigger LCD and a remote socket but no MS-D70 disposable CR-2 battery holder".

He even finds a positive side to having a smaller LCD:

Bigger LCDs are more impressive and fun to use, but actually smaller LCDs make you work harder to make better, stronger images. That's right: if you can make the image look good on a tiny screen it always looks even better bigger. Since you can zoom on any screen to see sharpness I don't find bigger LCDs better as far as the final image goes. Bigger LCDs just make the camera more fun while you're in the field.

One slight unsettling problem with the D70 is the USB interface. According to the specs it is USB 2.0, but then it is also said that it only has the speed of USB 1.1. This seems to be a paradox, and deserves more research. I'm not sure if this poses a problem, but then again the file size of the images are much larger than my Coolpix 990, so I will have to prepare a larger mug of coffee.

Having settled the LCD-issue I am off to do some price-checking. The internet offers a galore of price-checkers, so finding the right price with reliable service is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.

Think I'm gonna go DSLR

2005-06-10T18:43:00.000+02:00

90098530
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

and it's about time. I have never been quite satisfied with the pictures made with my Coolpix 990. Under difficult lighting conditions the colors seem to be way off - fiddling with the white balance doesn't really help.

My favorite DSLR as I a writing this blog entry is the Nikon D70. Prices have tumbled since introduction of the successor, the D70s.

Got my Tiger today plus extras

2005-06-10T14:54:00.000+02:00

DSCN5689
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Well I finally wound up ordering Tiger, just couldn't resist. Got the package today, which also contained a firewire cable (boring) and a Pionner DVR-K05 slimline dual-layer DVD-R Recorder. The last gadget is exciting, because I intend to use it in my Mac mini. The guys at dsp-memory told me that it would work directly with the iApps - we'll see. Nice job of packaging I must say, thank you DSP-Memory (dsp-memory).

So I have two jobs ahead of me, migrating to Tiger from 10.3.9 and exchanging the internal Combo DVD-player for the DVD-writer. I'll keep you posted.

Beautiful Blue Berlin Sky

2005-06-08T23:53:00.000+02:00

DSCN5685
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Dusk in Berlin, as seen from our top floor window. The blue was fabulous, but the color changed swiftly as I ran to get my camera and work the controls.

Smoking is a dangerous pastime

2005-06-03T09:36:00.000+02:00

Vor ein Tagen stolperte ich im Tagesspiegel auf diesen Satz, erste Seite:

An den Folgen des Rauchens serben noch immer täglich mehr als 300 Menschen in Deutschland, bis 120000 sind es im Jahr.

Raucher sollten 120000 mal diesen Satz aufschreiben...

Lacie Mobile Hard Drive

2005-06-02T19:56:00.000+02:00

arrived. bought at Gravis. Deciding wether I should use FAT32 or HFS+ for formatting.