I've spent a couple of hours looking at a digital system for learning to play music. I watched all the free videos and thought about whether I would follow along with this system:
https://www.smartmusic.com/default.aspx
I've already downloaded one of their programs called Finale NotePad to writing music down. It is free and does a really good job of what it does. I can't imagine I'll ever need the features the for-money versions provides. I downloaded the SmartMusic system demo, but i haven't double-clicked the DMG file to install it on my computer yet. The documentation and videos continuously state that the system is designed to be used with a live teacher, and I can't afford that. Still, indulging my curiosity by looking at their free stuff has been interesting.
The upgrade Apple provided that allowed my cute little Bluetooth keyboard to operate correctly without a hitch has really pleased me. If it had worked this well right away I wouldn't have purchased the USB wired version, but it didn't work so well when i first bought into the Bluetooth hype, and I did buy the full-sized keyboard. I just switched back to the wired keyboard because of the additional features that make it easier to use for writing. I especially like having that second Delete key that deletes stuff to the right side of the cursor.
I had to buy a new mouse. The old one just reached it's ring-pass-me-not when the scroll wheel just stopped working. I have another USB wired mouse that doesn't move on the surface of my desk but has a big ball to move the cursor around. I got it out and hooked it up long enough to find out if the scroll wheel worked on it. It did just fine, but the other attributes of that type of mouse still irritated me, so I went to Radio Shack and bought a new one and paid way too much. Amazingly, the wired USB version costs more than the wireless ones. I don't like the wireless mice. They don't always work and the wired one always do. What's to figure?
I do not attempt to tell the God's own truth here because I don't know what the truth is or hardly ever. I try to capture the drifting thoughts that randomly appear in my imagination for reasons I may not understand. I don't know if the content I capture with these words is true or false. The Comments settings are turned off to prevent me from having to defend what amounts to little more than fanciful, sometime crude speculation. Great moments in our lives never return.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Operating System With A Default Button?
There is a keyboard shortcut symbol that I couldn't figure out. Yesterday I stumbled across it (acrostic?) and it indicates the "Control" button. So, to get the Dock off my desktop to allow me to see some sites like Wired.com full screen I push down Control+Command+D and to bring it back I just do it again. I'm still learning lots of little stuff about how Macs have changed since I switched back to using Apple products for the apparent security OSX offers. I don't think it will matter much longer.
I think there will be an internet device that will have a button on it that will check to see if only the default OS is on the storage part of the device and anything else will be removed. Then, you can download whatever the consumer desires to a clean machine, and transfer it over to an off-line computer on a flash drive to use in relative safety.
I've been reading about the ASUS machine that only has a 4 gig SSD flash drive for storage. Now, the HP Mini-Note has come out with a similar one that has a few more features. I'm in the market for an internet only machine for browsing and e-mail. I hardly ever get e-mail any more since nobody discusses anything anymore on the discussion groups. People are discovering that people after all, are altogether too human.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/blogs/fleishman_on_hardware/144293/the_bearable_lightness_of_hps_2133_mininote_pc.html
I've considered the concept of "future proofing" with every new digital equipment purchase I've made. I'm not as good as this as I could be if I had loads of disposable cash in order to stay ahead of the hackers. Just this morning I read this article about how security is not about viruses and trojan horses anymore, but about browsers and how they can be compromised by specially designed web sites that doesn't care what your OS is.
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9914753-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
I think there will be an internet device that will have a button on it that will check to see if only the default OS is on the storage part of the device and anything else will be removed. Then, you can download whatever the consumer desires to a clean machine, and transfer it over to an off-line computer on a flash drive to use in relative safety.
I've been reading about the ASUS machine that only has a 4 gig SSD flash drive for storage. Now, the HP Mini-Note has come out with a similar one that has a few more features. I'm in the market for an internet only machine for browsing and e-mail. I hardly ever get e-mail any more since nobody discusses anything anymore on the discussion groups. People are discovering that people after all, are altogether too human.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/blogs/fleishman_on_hardware/144293/the_bearable_lightness_of_hps_2133_mininote_pc.html
I've considered the concept of "future proofing" with every new digital equipment purchase I've made. I'm not as good as this as I could be if I had loads of disposable cash in order to stay ahead of the hackers. Just this morning I read this article about how security is not about viruses and trojan horses anymore, but about browsers and how they can be compromised by specially designed web sites that doesn't care what your OS is.
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9914753-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
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