PowerMac G4

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The other day, I won an ebay auction on a 450mhz PowerMac G4. I’ve got it hooked up to a 19 inch Acer monitor. I installed Tiger on it and it runs okay.

I’m not a fan of the 20GB hard drive, so I’ll be swapping it out with a Seagate 120GB later this week. I’ll probably use the PowwerMac as a test bed for experiments. I’ve been thinking about making it a server and / or making it a “widget machine.”

For some time now, I’ve been thinking about having a “widget machine.” This computer would have either Yahoo or Dashboard widgets displayed on a monitor. It would have news stories, weather, sports, pictures, and maybe tv listings.

Before more RAM was installed into the Titanium PowerBook that was its function. It would display images as a screen saver. I had the crazy idea of taking pictures of the inside of the fridge so when the screen saver would activate, I could get an idea of what was possible for dinner. It also had (then Konfabulator) widgets displayed with sports, weather and news. Plus, it was an internet terminal when I needed one in a pinch.

At worst, the PowerMac G4 will turn out to be a widget machine. If you’ve got ideas, let me know.

No Vonage Yet.

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VonageI’ve been thinking about Vonage. I even saw an infomercial about it. It looked quite reasonable. A cheap telephone system that lets you take your phone number with you where ever there is a broadband internet connection. It’s a great idea.

Why do I have a traditional phone system then? Well, systems like Vonage presuppose you have reliable electricity. When the power goes out, you’ve got no phone system (aside from your cell phone). I live in Vermont and if it gets too windy, the power goes out. I’ve lost power on both Wednesday and Thursday and they were relatively clear days.

I think I may get Vonage as a second line if I need one. I think it seems like a great idea for kids – an easy way to give them their own phone line – and they could take it to college as well.

Fans.

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I switched from a Windows Media Center PC to an Apple Mac Mini around August of last year. My media files were still being hosted on a Windows box until last month.

I then had seven external drives connected to the mini in my living room. It was astonishingly quiet.

I hadn’t bought a PVR solution for the Mac Mini since I had read rumors that Apple was going to unveil one in February. Nothing like that happened, so I bought a device that let me watch TV on my Mac.

Since I connected that device to my system, the fans on some of the hard drives have been whirring – trying to cool them. I became tired of hearing the fans so I ran some wire from the living room to my office (they share a wall). I put my hard drives in the next room and now I can’t hear the fans. I’ve got to clean up the wires behind my TV again since I changed stuff. One day, I’ll come up with a well-thought out system for my hard drives and media.

Mac-rosoft

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I had read this Steve Ballmer interview where he was less than excited about Windows running on Macs. He said Microsoft should concentrate on Windows for “real PCs.” I think Microsoft is making a big mistake with their lackluster support for the Mac.

I’ve used Windows Media Center Edition. That’s a slick system. Throw that on a Mac. Slick hardware, slick software – that’s good. Additionally, I don’t see why Microsoft doesn’t make Media Center a software suite. Front Row is no Media Center. That’s right. I am suggesting that Microsoft sell Media Center for both Windows and Macs because Microsoft has this idea down. Hell, they should repackage the XBOX 360 interface and make it an OS or front end gaming software.

Microsoft is a software company and they should focus on making good software. The OS game is fun, but they should work on making programs that run on everything. If Macs can run anything, then Microsoft Office, Microsoft Media Center, and XBOX 360 should run on anything.

If Microsoft wants to stay on top, they should sell software to everyone.

Give me Media Center on a Mac. Hell, I’ll even take Windows Media Player 10 – it’s a much better video player than iTunes is (for now).

Microsoft needs to think less micro, but more “Mac-ro.” How about it Macrosoft?

I want one.

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This is one nerdy watch. If I was in high school again, I would get this. Although, I may still get it if I get some cash one day.

Here’s an explanation from boingboing

The latest crazy Japanese watch from TokyoFlash is called The Scope, and it reaches new heights of whimsical impracticality in timekeeping. A large LCD displays a Cartesian grid on which the time, accurate to five minutes, is displayed as the intersection of two lines (x axis for hours, y axis for minutes); to the right is a ring of four LEDs that give you the time accurate to the minute — when two LEDs are lit, add two to the time-count, and so on.