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That was a little longer than usual as I kept the longer version and sent my normal edited version to the Post. As we noted last week, Disk Warrior disks cannot be used to start the new Macs, so making a rescue thumb drive might be a better idea than I had thought. And with the newer Macs, the operating system installation should be done with the grey disks that come with the computer. If you can, a 16G drive would be better as that gives more room for updates and other software. Don't lose those original disks: lock them away safely. On Monday of this week, I saw that CNET had video information on how to format drives on OS X. Tom Merritt who does this does a really interesting presentation. I noted after the video had finished that there was a subscribe button. That goes into my iTunes and iPods for sure.
However, we hear later that the Dear Leader may be suffering from pancreatic cancer and not the less serious kind that afflicted Steve Jobs. No wonder things are in a state of flux over there.
A revised update was issued the next day: weren't they lucky. Of course, all this sarcasm is going to blow back in my face if ever someone does develop a virus for Macs, but as we have said before, OS X has now seen several years of use and still not one. In some ways it is the Holy Grail so will have a lot of cachet among virus writers if someone does come up with such a threat. Despite this, we wait and let Windows users have all that fun.
That time, the girl suggested I subscribe to an unlimited data plan at 999 baht a month -- considerably more than the True 590 baht for the iPhone plan. I was a bit surprised to have an SMS on Saturday evening telling me that I was once again way over the credit limit; and I was trying to figure out how: I only make a few calls and if all data is paid for, why am I running up large bills? The way I felt on Saturday, DTAC was about to lose a customer. Sunday it was a bit different as I wanted to use the phone. I dialled their contact number -- that worked OK -- and spoke to a girl who tried to help but realised she was getting in deep. She offered to have a supervisor call me. A short while later another girl phoned with a super accent and excellent command of English. She listened to me and then told me that my data plan was the 40 hour option. That made sense. I mean, if it was unlimited data, why was I having credit problems. I was able to confirm the date I asked for this as well. She had a think and said she would check and call me back. A short while later, there was an SMS message telling me that I now had an unlimited data plan; and then a bot later the young lady called again. Credit limit upped once more and, when I asked, she said that an adjustment had been made to the bill. I don't know what as yet, but we are getting there.
Although the survey reported on CNET by Ina Fried had a relatively small sample of 2,000, those who conduct these surveys are experienced at extrapolating trends from numbers like these. It is this sort of report that should be galvanising Apple to steal the business; and to steal the business community. The problem is that so many users are locked into their Outlook and Office worlds that Cupertino must demonstrate really forcefully that there is an alternative for these lost souls.
While we are on Internet Exploder, Cade Metz in The Register was one of those reporting that the United States, State Department have been pleading with the boss, Hilary Clinton, to let them use Firefox as an alternative. Alternative? They want a safer program, so Ms Metz speculates that some offices there might still be using IE6 which would put them on a par with Bangkok Bank here. Come to think of it, when I did my online visa application for the start of the process and before going to the Wireless Road Embassy about 3 years ago, IE6 was the specified browser. I ignored it and used Safari, like I used Apple's Preview when Adobe Acrobat Reader was demanded.
Redmond is working on Office 2010 and part of that will have an online capability that users can access. Tim Anderson at the Register has a good look at this and includes some analysis of what this might mean. The lengthy article also has some screen shots. Also looking at Office 2010 is an underwhelmed Dave Coursey over at PC World who are less and less enamoured of Microsoft these days. The headline was enough for me: Is Office 2010 Really The Best Microsoft Can Do?
The problem with all of these cloud computing systems is the weakest link in a complex chain. A cliché I know, but you only have to experience Google, or Yahoo as a basic search engine when the C.A.T. gateway is playing up and you realise to put all your eggs in one basket -- to rely totally on software that is on someone else's server, several thousand miles away with the copper lines and satellite links in between, is a dangerous game. The Cloud may be fine in the US where there are, mostly, good links, but try convincing someone in Phuket that they should move everything online.
Even Jim Cramer, who has been criticised before with the way he was making negative recommendations concerning Apple stock suggests that the figures, "will blow your socks off." The stock price was over $140 a couple of weeks ago, then following the positive nature of Steve Jobs return to work, fell to the mid $130 range, but the price is now at over $142 and rising.
That was when he phoned me. The Library could not be found either in its original location or on the disk. Panic. Understandably. I asked for some information and made a few suggestions, then went away to think and to pose a question on the Apple user forums. The question had a couple of answers really quickly, but none was helpful in this situation. I wondered if somehow the file had been made invisible during the transfer, but that was unlikely. It wasn't in the Trash, nor did the disk show any change in its space availability. Things do not just disappear. On the phone again (DTAC had got it working by then), I set him looking and in a couple of minutes, the folder was found on the top level of the internal hard disk. he had dropped it onto the wrong icon. I got him to make a copy before moving it back to the proper location, and then he put the copy on the external hard disk. I also directed him to the Versiontracker site where I made suggestions on some backup software. It is possible to put the iPhoto library (and the iTunes library) onto external media but it needs care and a process with several steps. [The process for earlier versions of iPhoto may be different.] For iPhoto, it also needs the disk to be formatted in GUID, like that flash drive.
A bit stronger than a rumour is the suggestion that T-mobile and Orange may be about to breach the exclusive deal that Apple has with O2 in the UK and become carriers for the iPhone. If they are considering that there, what about the US and AT&T? In China meanwhile, it is reported that a deal may soon be concluded on the iPhone. I did read in CNET that there are other rumours that the iPhone will be devoid of WiFi which will cripple it but make sure the Truth cannot escape.
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An odd week this week as instead of the usually non-existent queries, I have had three from Bangkok Post sources, a couple by direct email and one from a friend who works here. The Post article this week is the first of a couple I am doing trying to get back to basics: the reason I started the eXtensions column in the first place.
A lovely little switch last week concerning those problems with denial of service attacks that some think may have been North Korea. 
I was just infuriated with DTAC on Saturday. I put my DTAC SIM card into the iPhone a few weeks ago without checking on the data allowance and managed to run up a hefty bill. When I found out, I went to DTAC and the girl immediately put me on something like 40 hours a month. After a while I found I had another large bill and for the second time lost the use of my phone for a day or so until I went again.
In what must be an embarrassment for Microsoft, I read on Monday that many businesses are reporting to be about to skip Windows 7. For what was not immediately clear, unless they are sticking with XP or (heaven forfend) Vista. In either of those cases that is a no growth situation for Redmond and must make shareholders somewhat concerned.
In what I thought last week was embarrassing for Microsoft -- the IE8 Vomit Ad -- there are reports that 57 percent of all the views enjoyed by the various ads in the IE8 "Browse Better" campaign came solely from this ad." 
And there is more with an online operating system called Ghost that is launching this week; and one of the nice things about it is that it is a collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians. It is based in Ramallah with some of the work done in Modiin. 
Great Scott, the sky is falling. John Dvorak's son bought a Mac Book Pro and Dvorak tells us that If he was going to buy a machine this minute, it would probably be what he'd get, too. I will leave the link to the 
A note about that query from my friend here in Bangkok. He had bought a external hard disk a while back and decided it was about time to use it. What better, he thought, than use the space for his iPhoto photographs of his new baby. So he went into the Pictures folder in his Home directory, found the iPhoto Library and dragged it to the external hard disk.