I have formed an opinion on the Mac Mini (previous
status — undecided).

First off, I think it appeals to many, not just Windows users tempted by the
unusually low price. Students, parents, offices, libraries, schools, Mac heads,
teenagers, retirees, executives, designers, programmers, system admins, and
many others looking for a small, easy to use, affordable, well valued computer
will find the Mac Mini hard to resist. If you have an extra decent monitor or
KVM switch lying around it won’t cost much to grab one of these.

At first sight it is a thing of beauty, brilliant form indeed. Though it may
be on the lower end of the performance scale, there is a lot for the money.
The video card memory may be a touch low, 64 MB would be better, but it will
do quite well for the vast majority that pick it up. Yes, as stated redundantly,
a RAM upgrade would need to be done for optimal performance.

It is not cheap, it is affordable. The Mini provides a balanced
set of hardware and features and allows to be used as a versatile box.
Wherever you might need a desktop computer with a basic feature set, the Mac
Mini should be considered.

I was at the Apple Store ten minutes too late on Saturday, I shed tears in
the store, needing to use the genius bar as a makeshift physiatrist’s
chaise lounge. No, I’m not one to wake up at the crack of dawn to get in
line. I had the desire to bring home a Mini but now I have chosen the convenient
home delivery method — marketing spin. I currently don’t own a Mac, but
used to and will again soon; a 1.42Ghz Mini should be headed my way in a couple
weeks.

I’m quite skilled on both platforms, a great resume feature, and am comfortable
on both. Os X is just so gorgeous and working with multimedia files is a dream
on the iLife programs. iCal, Address Book, and Mail are top notch back-to-the-basics
programs. It provides a comfortable feeling deep inside, something you can’t
get with the sterile and cluttered Windows programs.

So as I wait to welcome the Mac into my home and sit here looking at my twenty
inch Cinema Display — yes I couldn’t
leave the Apple Store empty handed — join in my anticipation. Do you like the
Mac Mini? Have you said “Mini me”? If you have one and have reviewed
it, post a link. I’d love to read it.

I probably should have jumped on the bandwagon sooner. Better late than never,
I guess. No doubt, you have heard of all of the free stuff available. It’s not
a sham. If you sign up for some trial or service and get others to do the
same, the products are yours to keep.

I’m still waiting for more to complete offers for my FreeFlatScreens.com
account. It does take a bit longer to get over five referrals.

FreeMiniMacs.com requires
ten referrals. That might take a while, but it’s worth the patience, as it’s
the higher end of the Minis.

If you want more instant gratification, try FreeiPodShuffle.com.
They offer the one gigabyte iPod Shuffle and require only three referrals. The
optimal offers to sign up for are eFax (free trial), and Blockbuster (low price/good
service).

If you enjoy reading Graphically Speaking consider this your tip, please. Thanks.
As always, I will post your referral link on my site if you sign up under me.

• FreeiPodShuffle.com
• FreeMiniMacs.com

• MacRumors
• MacMerc Slow as of 12:15 EST

I hope to follow most of the updates. The video will be published on Apple’s site sometime this evening, according to rumors. I enjoed watching it live last year. Oh well, good things seem to come to an end.

The End…

Or just the beginning? Some really nice products were shown off and I’m impressed. I will be presenting my take on the products, if I solidify my opinions.

In the meantime, I have enjoyed the following views on the event:

• Binary Bonsai
• Mike Rundle
• Speak Up

The keynote video stream is also up on Apple’s site. This, however, may be bogged down for a couple hours while everyone who wasn’t there watches it.

This is just too hard to pass up. Check out this photo
set found on flickr.

That is just another reason why flickr is so nifty. Yes this is the second
flicker and dog related post, but this time it has more relevancy to graphic
design and my goals for Graphically Speaking. I think the puppy with an iPod
is a great concept for an ad specifically for the iPod photo. And what better timing could there be with MacWorld a few hours away.

Would the agency for Apple ever consider doing a campaign in anyway similar
to the concept I have in mind, I doubt it, but I would like to think they would.
I didn’t do it for the cute factor. I did not just want to do something with
the picture. It really was just an idea I had envisioned the first time I saw
the pictures.

Want to view a larger version? Check out the iPod
Photo ad pdf.

Does the ad aim for the iPod Photo’s target market? That is not a rhetorical
question. Critique it.

I after having my iPod for a couple of months, I have just purchased the first
pair of accessories to accompany it, a case and FM transmitter.

Plain Case

I was planning on purchasing a case sooner. I thought protection would be important,
but I never got around to deciding which one would suit my needs best. I liked
the look of a metal case and the protection of one would surely be sufficient
but it also added unnecessary weight and the only one I found was a bit more
than I was willing to pay.

Of all the cases reviewed by iPod Lounge,
a majority seem to be silicon type cases and they seem to be the best fit for
me. The lightweight rubber-like material conforms tightly to the shape of the
iPod itself, so the case would be as unobtrusive as possible while protecting
a good portion of the device’s surfaces.

I ended up picking up the Skin
Tight 4G iPod Skin by Speck Products.
It may not be the most full featured case out there so if your looking for a
fancy one the Skin Tight may not be the best choice. At $14 on Amazon it is
a really good value, though, especially compared to similar cases. The protection
seems adequate and the tactile feel is “grippy,” if you know what
I mean.

iTripn’

At the same time that I purchased a case I got the iTrip.
I hadn’t done a whole lot of research before making the decision to get
it, besides checking out the review on iPod
Lounge. My intended use for the FM transmitter is for my car, as it’s
about the only way to listen to it through my stereo. I was initially a little
disappointed, but my expectations might have been a bit high too.

It has been well suited to listening to Leo
Laporte’s radio show, The Tech Guy on KFI, because it is a speech
based sound file. Audio books would also be appropriate. Unfortunately, music
quality over the transmitter sounds tinny, not much in the high or low frequency
range.

It also took a good 15 minutes to find a frequency that would be clear to transmit
the signal over. Most would intermittently hiss and/or pop, but I was able to
find one that is quite clear. A little patience in that regard will give you,
hopefully, a cleaner signal with little interference.

Overall, the iTrip is a well-designed product with an easy to use interface.
It does what it was meant to do and looks good right on the iPod. Just don’t
expect the world when it comes to sound quality.

Accessorize Your Style

I have found these two accessories to extend my enjoyment of my iPod. The great
thing about the iPod is that there are myriads of accessories that allow you
to utilize it in accord with what you do, whether that would be snowboarding,
making notations while you drive along, or uploading pictures from a Compact
Flash card. Its flexibility and adaptability is its strength.

I’ve posted a couple of pictures and am currently signed up for freeflatscreens.com
too. It’s not a scam, and works if you feel like putting forth a little effort.

Sign up to receive a free iPod.

Update 1 (7/25/04)

Thanks to all those (21!) that signed up using my link!

I currently have 4 of my referrals with completed offers, and, no doubt, will
have 5 quite soon. Odds are on my side this time. I am, however, awaiting my
reply from freeipods.com because I never got an offer confirmation e-mail after
the 3 days. I did the AOL trial offer, but I’ve not heard of any difficulties
as I had.

So, as I patiently wait, I would like to offer my readers the opportunity to
get a free iPod a bit more easily. Send
me an e-mail with your very own referral link. I will use it to link to
freeipods.com for all the links, a way to say thanks.

I will be updating as I go through the process further.

Update 2 (7/28/04)

Well, with 21 referrals, you’d think I could get 5 to follow through
with completing an offer. Ummmm, nope. So while I wait [taps fingers on desk],
I wanted to say the AOL Trial didn’t work for me. Something got screwed
up along the way and freeipods.com never gave me credit for it, so I decided
to do the Ebay thing. Registered a new user, found a digital camera and bid
for $0.01. I was highest bidder (it had a reserve price and I was below it BTW),
for a couple of hours. Later on today I got the confirmation e-mail and my account
was credited. No credit card required, virtually no risk of spending money,
and quite rapid. I would highly recommend doing the Ebay offer, for
sure.

I ask of you, those 17, that are reading this and have yet to complete their
offer, please do so. Thanks a bunch.

Update 3 (8/27/04)

Yippee! I’m so happy.

They love me — they really love me! Thank you, jgmitchell, for being number five (your first name isn’t Johnny I hope).
If there’s anything I could do, I might try.

I’m currently in the confirmation process; I hope everything pans out, I’m
sure it will. According to Freeipodguide.com,
the confirmation and shipment could take a week or more, but I’m willing to
wait. I started this mess at the beginning of July and I took two months to
get my referrals to do their offers, so patience is extremely important. Oh,
and don’t get too obsessive. I hope I’ll use the darn contraption.

I will post a shipment update, hopefully soon.

Update 4 (9/20/04)

After a long and arduous process of e-mails to the freeipod.com customer
service department, they have allowed me to order my 100% free (if time is of
no value, which it is) iPod. I chose the 20gb Apple over the HP version of the
same and any one of the Minis.

I just can’t wait to get it in my hands, but I’m afraid I’ll be waiting. Supposedly
it’s taking a month from order to delivery, but what’s another month? You can
be sure I will post some nice pictures, when I get it, in a different post, this one is too long already.

Ok. So these guys at freeipods.com
have disapproved two of my referrals, I’ve wondered if they are trying
to pull something on me. This can be a real bummer and a pain in the butt. But
I’m only one valid referral away from an iPod.

Please give it a shot. I recommend the Infone offer, and it’s actually
a good service. Plus you get a $10 Amazon.com gift card just for signing up,
but the link only appears during weekday mornings for some reason, so wait till
Monday and do that offer. Did I mention it costs nothing?

As seen on TV.

I saw Progue on TechTV a couple months before I even decided to get a PowerBook. I even forgot what he was there for, but I’m guessing he was promoting one of his books. Anyway, if every book in his Missing Manual series is as good as the OS X Panther Edition, he will be selling books like crazy.

Gentle enough for a geek, strong enough for a newbe.

The information is simple enough for the beginner, but there are tons of cool tricks, and Unix stuff I don’t understand, for the more advanced or willing to learn. The layout from a design standpoint is graceful. The consistency and minimal ornamental touches really make the information you are looking for easy to find. I have also found that the book is robust as a quick reference. It is definitely good to sit down and read through the parts you’re interested in too. Flexibility seems to be the Missing Manual’s strength.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone new to the Mac or OS X, like myself. At around $20 it’s a bargain.

The Book (1.25 GHz 15 in., for the record)

This
highly researched piece of aluminum is really a sight, but i’m sure most of
you reading this already know about that. "How does it run?", many
have asked. Well it didn’t exceed my expectations as far as processor speed
is concerned, and the lower clock speed in the computer world kinda shows. it
did, however, meet my expectations for a notebook in the upper range of computers.
Let’s face it, PowerBooks are aimed at the professional, so they build for their
target audience, and this is done quite well.

The
extras that come with the PowerBook are really quite nice. i never saw the backlit
keyboard in action till the first night. it wasn’t a vital feature, and wasn’t
why i got the 1.25GHz model over the 1GHz, but it would be now that i do have
it. As a first time notebook owner, i wanted to do it right. The 17 in 1.33GHz
PowerBook was my first choice, before i had done significant research. i also
learned to figure the difference in price between the two. i am really glad
that i got the 15 over the 17, and i wouldn’t trade either. The size is perfect.
it’s so light. All without sacrificing screen real estate, a big deal for any
graphic designer or video editor. i have yet to use the DVD-R capability with
the SuperDrive, but it is something to look forward to when i backup the system.

The Switch

Yes, i am now 80% Mac and 20% Win, and i have no complaints. Copying files
from my PC to the PowerBook was a breeze. in fact, i’m still using the PC as
a sort of server, along with playing games, which i seem to have no time to
do anymore.

This is basically the first time i have been "immersed" in OS X (the
PowerBook came preinstalled with 10.3). i love the experience. Having had a
good foundation using Mac OS, pre X, the switch was smooth, even fun. i am scouring
the web for tips and tricks for mac os x. i know i should get a book, but i’m
waiting till the Panther versions start coming out. in the meantime, let me
know your favorite Mac sites.

The Best Mac Feature

The
best feature of my new Mac has to be Exposé. it’s, by far, the best addition
to any OS out there, especially for any designers. i have a multitude of windows
open all the time and i have to multitask like there’s no tomorrow. Exposé
has routinely saved the day, so if you have a Mac and are still running Jaguar,
quick! go get Panther, i highly recommend it.

in The Beginning

i have more to explore and Exposé, so i hope to have moistened your
techbuds and made you salivate over my new PowerBook. Having it for almost 3
weeks, i have yet to scratch the surface. That’s literal too. i hope it never
happens. Anyway, ’till next time, Speak Graphically.