iTunes 8 Shuffling Problem

I loved to shuffle my ENTIRE library a lot during the day I'm listening to my iTunes. With iTunes 8, however, I just found out to my dismay that shuffle didn't work the way it used to. Yet, I hope. Floating threads at the Apple Discussion Forum pointed out the very same problem I had with this issue.

From the Grid View, although my shuffle indicator is on, the shuffled playlist stays in the same album. Puzzled, I tried to switch into a list view. Problem? Still there. It bugs me a lot. I hope they fixed it right away.

iTunes 8

The Apple event today has its announcement, revamped iPod Nano line, refreshed iPod Touch, capped iPod Classic (no more 160 GB iPod), and public concern on Steve's health that seen the Apple's stock slumped for a bit. As an end user who doesn't even have a Credit Card and a resident in one of a developing country a day away from the nation that begins it all, as excited as I was to the news (I had my eyes trained to 16 GB iPod Touch even though I'm totally satisfied with my fifth-G iPod Video 30 GB - and it still had around 5 GB of free space, anyway) the only thing that I could get my hands early on from the announcement is the release of iTunes 8 and I'm not ashamed at all that the first thing I did after I opened my MacBook at the office today is downloading the 50+ Megs of the update right away :)

I love the interface already. Previously, I've never really liked Cover Flow display but has learned to get used to it as opposed to the old-fashioned simple lists which I have been abandoned a very long time ago. Even so, I still disliked it. The new interface, as shown in the image above, is a pleasant welcome for the time being, whether it's going to last or no, only time will tell.

Quite probably the most celebrated new feature that comes with iTunes 8 is the Genius sidebar. Although given its nature, in an over-simplified terms, that Genius is a "Recommendation"-system that has been around for quite some time, in my opinion, the Genius sidebar manages to put this recommendation thingy in a personal level. First, it compiles my Library, sent the information to the iTunes Store (which required an Apple ID that requires a valid Credit Card - I don't have any, so I'm using my wife's) and after a while, depending on the size of your library and your Internet connection, you can start using the Genius bar.

The Genius sidebar worked as follows, first, choose a song and click a Genius button to create a playlist which the Genius thought could go well together. The early reports from the blogosphere has found some disagreement with the Genius' selection. In my opinion, you couldn't really expected that the Genius would work in a perfect harmony with your preference in music. After all, when it boils down to preference, you're talking about style, about personal sense, about the divergence in human genes, about the origin of life, about.. well, things that goes well beyond the machine's logical computation. But, of course, I had to try it for myself.

The first thing I try was one of Kelly Clarkson's song which in my library that mostly consists of 'hard' bands from the 90's could be considered as a minority. Surprisingly, the Genius did a pretty good job. The playlist, as you could see from the image below, suggested an acceptable harmony. It includes "The Unforgiven" from Metallica, "Don't Cry" from Guns 'N Roses although of course, the inclusion of "In Bloom" by Nirvana or "Brain Stew" from Green Day is actually questionable but all in all, it provides a good balance between the soft and the hard. So, yeah, no complaints here.


Next song that I'd like to try to "Genius"-ed is of course, my favorite song from Megadeth (Tornado of Souls). Now this song has a distinction as the single most played song in my library. In this respect, the Genius sidebar made some obvious choices. Alas, as the choices were made by algorithm it's actually more proper to call it an obvious choice with a "wow" attached to it. I mean, from my point of view, the playlist manages to include my next favorite song from Megadeth (Skin O' My Teeth), "Stream of Consciousness" from Dream Theater, "Locomotive" from Guns 'N Roses, and "The Call of Ktulu" from Metallica. It just "wow".


Based on this review and a couple of tries with Genius sidebar, my first impression on iTunes 8 is therefore, positive. Now if you'd excuse me, I'd like to try a few more.

My MacBook's Battery

I'm probably just nitpicking here, but there has been some concern on the life of MacBook's battery. Some unlucky customers even complained that his/her battery was defective and doesn't perform as they should be. However, i could consider myself as lucky because as you could see from the image above, even after 17 months and 380+ battery cycles, my MacBook's battery health is still at 100%. It's very nice and a privilege to still have a small things that made you smile.

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Via Gizmodo

I'm a Mac Guy

Click to enlarge image. There are many characteristics to the Mac guy. And since i own a Mac, i liked to think that i was qualified for a preliminary entry for being a Mac guy. Let's see how it adds up to the rest.

Superior
I love to snort at my office mates who still stick with Vista and complaining that they want to downgrade to XP instead. And on many (more than once) occasions, when i visited a friend's cubicle and saw that his laptop has been paid a visit by the legendary Blue Screen of Death, i was laughing out loud. Everyone in the office knows that i'm a Mac boy and had this signature wave-of-dismissal when given a topic about any Operating Systems or any laptops other than Macs and its family. So am i being superior or what? You tell me. As a further proof, AFTER i was admitted to this office and brought my own MacBook as opposed to the office's Toshiba, i was the only person in the office who uses Mac for quite some time. Now, there are at least three other guys in the office who had a MacBook.

Not Dogmatic
I'm not really sure what this really means.

Open
Quoting directly from the article, "This group is also more likely to buy organic foods on a regular basis, drink Starbucks or coffeehouse coffee every day". Well, i went to Starbucks at least once a week. But i don't really know what does it has to do with being "Open".

Perfectionists
Hell yeah. I've got an official personality tests from the office to prove just that.

Music Mavens
I had a 30GB iPod, and since i love to walk by myself, you'd never seen me without it. My music selections mostly came from the 90s, and save for two women (Norah Jones and Ayumi Hamasaki), all of the musicians were bands.

Eco-Minded Greenies
Err... Well, i hate people when they throw up their trashes not in the proper place. And since i've got a strict principal of NOT doing things i hate from other people, i often put a candy-wrapper inside my pocket.

Satisfied with their Purchases
12 mil. rupiahs for a MacBook where i could actually buy a stronger laptop with less price, 2.5 mil. rupiahs for an iPod, 350 thousand rupiahs for an earphone (my third earphone in a year). 200 thousand rupiahs for a air-ventilated keyboard protector, 150 thousands rupiahs for an LCD protector, 100 thousand rupiahs for a SpeedBall, another 350 thousand rupiahs for a silicon case for my iPod. And am i satisfied? Of course.

Not Modest
Did you see anything modest in this post? I rest my case.

The World's Thinnest Notebook

The curtain un-veiled, and lo! and behold! A new celebrity is on town for once again the guys at the Apple Inc. has pushed the world of technology and design up a notch with the release of the new MacBook Air. Weighted for only 1.3 kg, the beast had physical size-reduced Intel Core 2 Duo processor (you might want to call it a mini processor), an optional Solid State hard drive (think of it as a gargantuan Flash USB Drive), a single port USB 2.0, an Audio Out, and a Micro DVI port. A claimed 5 hours running-time battery. Trackpad now support multi-touch gestures just like ones in the iPhone. The only catch was the price, i think. The new MacBook offers two kind of pricing, a USD 1800 and a holy-mother-of-shit USD 3100!. Now, if you'd excuse me, i wish to see more of this beauty. You might want to check the product by yourself. Heads up to Apple, read the report on El Jobso's keynote on Engadget, read more about the features of this MacBook Air via Tuaw.

On Macworld Expo 2008

Made a mistake on yesterday post about this year's Macworld Expo. I had thought that the (in)famous Steve Jobs' Keynote was live last midnight (Jakarta time) which means we could see what was in the Air for Apple, Inc. Instead, the Keynote was going to live tonight. So, no news about that "There's Something in the Air" until tomorrow.

Image courtesy of Engadget.

MacBook Air

Quite probably, for us, Macintosh users, there's a single annual event that most anticipated and celebrated. Macworld Expo. In the next few hours, Steve Jobs - most likely the most celebrated person in anything Apple - would open this Expo with his already 'trademark'-ed turtle-neck and a bottle of water opening, famously known as Steve Jobs' Keynote. There are already various websites that dedicated itself to bring a live, up-to-a-minute report of his Keynote. But of course, as with any other Apple event, the most anticipated news would've been what was inside Steve Jobs' sleeve. Over the year, we've heard about iPhone and Leopard. Now the rumor has it that for this year's Macworld Expo, we're going to see a new ultra-thin MacBook line-ups. The news was still uncertain because Apple Inc. as usual, keep a hush-hush shh-shh about what has going on. But alas, with millions of people attentively ogled for the news relating to the event, some info - best taken with a grain of salt - are bound to leaked. Thus, the image on this post which shown a 'oh-my-god' so-thin MacBook Air. The image also said that Cables not included. According to some sites, the best - though probably unlikely - we could expect is that the new MacBook, besides that it was paper-thin (and enough to made me drool) would featured no cable. That means, Wireless USB! No cable power adapter (inductive charging), and totally completely Wireless Connectivity. If it's true, then i would've begged my girl-friend to buy this new MacBook. And by the way, Apple has already patented its own Inductive Charging which means, that inductive charging, i.e no need to wired the cable to plug into a power socket wasn't that much away from reality.

Disclaimer: This post compiled from various rumor sites about Apple Inc. and thus best taken with a grain of salt.

No Java for Leopard

No Java for Leopard? Now that's a huge consideration for me to upgrade my MacBook's Mac OS X. I've heard nothing but a good thing about the newest cat from Curpentino, and of course, the eye-candied desktops, virtualization, Boot Camp, Spaces were tempting to get a try out. And for a measly price of US$ 150, i'm ready to pay for it. In fact, i've been asked about the availability of the Leopard at various Apple retail stores in Jakarta, and planned to buy one this evening. Until of course, the non-existant Java 6 support.

Actually, i would gladly wait for Apple to release their updated Java 6 version for Mac in a near future. However, given that even the threads about Java in the Apple forum were deleted, i highly doubted that they would included the Java 6 in a near future. Oh, the agony! While it's true, that i don't code Java for a living anymore, i still needed a Java in my machine to keep myself sane and as a reminder to myself of who i was, of what i was, of what live i used to have and love. And of course, to keep practicing, in hopes (and dreams) that someday i would have a chance to wound back into it.

Now, what are my options? Keep my old Tiger? Switching into a new religion, that is Cocoa and Objective-C native to Mac OS X? Or, most likely, switch to Leopard and start utilizing my Toshiba, though of course, given the probability of carrying two computer laptops already give my back an ache. Oh, the agony!

Pimp Thy MacBook

I'm not usually had a penchant with jewelry. But really, coating my MacBook with 24-carat gold AND diamonds at the Apple logo? Oh, my mouth watered with the mere view of it. Imagine you fetch your golden MacBook out of your battered back-pack (one thing that my friends often commented, my back-pack was old, rusty, and aged with worn, but who would have thought that i had a MacBook neatly stuffed in it), savor the 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the commoners around you. Dream on, dream on.

What's Up Blog?

Okay, i've been out of town for the past week to undergone yet another training for new employees of the company in a so-called program called Value Deployment Program. As the name suggested, it was a program for us, new employees, to absorbs the company's positive values, you know, behavior stuffs, and all. It's pretty fun, by the way. And i was granted as the King of the night (short of like the prom King and Queen stuff, i'll post the pictures later), and the ultimate champ of the event, eliminating 21 of the other new employees, to win a hefty sum of US$ 100. Yup, real money, fresh as a mint, for a couple of days of brainstorming and discussions, not a very bad way to spend my weekend out in the open, i say. But alas, being out of town also costs me to miss the latest information on the net. Such as the release of a new iPod Touch. It looks good, with the new touch technology and all, but it only came in two storage models, 8 GB and 16 GB. I had 20 GB of songs on my iPod Video 5G, and i rarely, if ever, watch a video or interact with my iPod more than simple clicks and swirling the wheel click. Shortly, i would not miss the new iPod Touch anytime soon. But, iPod Classic? That's another matter. Rebuffed from 30 GB / 80 GB to 80 GB / 160 GB respectively, this is the iPod that i would like to buy. Not even a multi-touch iPod, or WiFi connectivity i deemed enough to change my perspective on the main function of iPods as music storage, which of course, the more, the merrier. Another Apple related news, the 8 GB iPhone seen a hefty US$ 200 cut of the price tags which means that the 8GB iPhone which originally sold for US$ 599 will be sold for US$ 399, immediately. Not that i want it so much tough, let's see if the iPhone would still as hip as it was intended when it hits the Asia market before i changed my mind.

Next iPod?

You really had to give a hand to those guys at Curpentino marketing team. They had consistently generated a buzz regarding their latest product. Well, of course, if they hadn't followed the buzz with worthy products there wouldn't be any consistency to the buzzes. Now, the next Apple event (quite possibly, a new iPods - a multi-touch iPod?) has been announced to be held on September 5th, Wednesday. The news has been circulated for weeks that Apple would release a new iPod soon. The Apple event on September 5th, would be the safest bet.

New iMacs

I had a day-off yesterday (due to Jakarta's Governor election) and so i just had the news regarding the newest release of Apple's desktop line this morning. And yeah, i definitely want one.

Brushed Aluminium case, glossy 20-inch (and 24-inch) screen, oh-my-god-that's-so-cool ultra-thin keyboard, if i want a desktop, that would be my choice. Further, i would chose the middle tech-spec one that costs about US$ 1500. However, since i'm rarely at home, and yet, i don't have a home that could be called as my own, i would stick to my MacBook right now. But, of course, you're more than welcome if you want to give me one.

Actually, i'm more excited about the update on iWork software line. I've been using iWork '06 and loving it. And has been longing for its spreadsheet application. iWork '08, the next update of iWork '06 has been shipped with Numbers, a spreadsheet application. Now, for US$ 79, that's a true bargain.