I got my new iMac in late last week - the 24″ 3.06 Ghz aluminum one with 4GB RAM - and it *is* sweet. I’ve set up a Mac fresh, I’ve set up a machine using the Migration Assistant, and I’ve used target disk mode, but I’ve not yet had the chance to rebuild from a time machine backup. Did it work?
Suffice it to say it was incredible. Using just my external hard drive, it read my backup, asked me what I wanted to restore (it found 4 things: Users, Network Settings, Applications, and “Files and Folders”). I checked them all. After a few simple questions, it told me that it would take just shy of 4 hours to complete. Surprisingly, it was done a scant 150 minutes later. When I booted up, I was amazed. Not only did everything come over, it was almost as if it was my exact machine. Barely a noticeable difference, save speed and size.
A few things slipped by, for example, I had changed /System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg to a custom image, which it did not preserve. I had changed some system icons, and those new icons did not preseve, but, for example, my external time machine drive had a custom icon, and it did remain. The new install also required many updates I had already applied to my old OS X installation.
Time Machine Restore: Incroyable!
All in all, though, I’ve never seen a smoother or faster migration. The power of UNIX - everything living in predictable directories and segregated into “Library” folders, means that both backing up and restoring have a power that the Windows Registry simply can’t match. In fact, in wading through all of this, it has a severe handicap when it comes to system migration due to the fact that data is mashed into so many inconsistent places.
Apple has pissed me off quite a bit recently. But - oh boy! - did they re-energize me with this one!
Update: worth noting, here is a great article on restoring from a time machine backup.
Someone please explain this to me.
It was actually hosted on whitehouse.gov, so this is not a Photoshop. How did someone convince them this was for real?
Apple needs to stop dicking around with these updates. Stop adding in things that are completely superfluous, and focus on the core functions: phone, SMS, email. Give us individual SMS timestamps and deleting, a unified email inbox, lock screen email notifications, more reliable email fetch, user profiles (for sounds and network settings), etc.
CrzyCanuck72, on forums.macrumors.com, discussing iPhone firmware version 2.2
Today is NOT my day when it comes to Apple products. I bought Mobile Me, the ridciulously overpriced service Apple offers, specificaly for its photo album capabilities, but I cannot activate it. Although I am logged into iTunes using my AppleID, and I am registered with my iPhone, AppleTV, etc, for me.com, it says there is no such user. So I figured that I could very quickly get this fixed by calling 1-800-MY-APPLE.
But Apple offers no phone support for MobileMe. When you dial and tell the comoputer you want to discuss “Mobile Me”, it says “Our support is now available online at me.com/help. Thank you. Goodbye.” Then it promptly hangs up on you. Fail.
My solution? Call and just ram through any menu prompt until I get to an operator and force them to help me. Apple support is generally pretty decent, but aside from the fact that Mobile Me is priced about 5 times too high, they have the audacity to provide no real manner of support other than the massively un-realtime web.
Boo, Apple, boo! You’ve let me down a lot recently. I hope my new iMac makes me happy, or it may be my last Apple product (for awhile, at least).
Note to self: I want to make homemade butter.
I posted an article recently called “Apple’s Jobs Gives iPhone Customers What They Don’t Want” that discussed the upcoming 2.2 firmware and its new features. iPhone firmware appears to give us Google Maps’ “Street view” and several other “features.” It does not, however, make available any of the most requested features: MMS, copy & paste, Flash, voice dialing, bluetooth/wifi syncing, A2DP (stero bluetooth), landscape Mail view, video recording, text-message forwarding, or any of the over 1800 issues listed over at pleasefixtheiphone.com. So what gives? Why is Apple not giving us these things?
I should start by saying that MMS, or lack thereof, is the one things that bugs the crap out of me on the iPhone. I’ve detailed before how useless and silly viewmymessage.com is. I can’t believe it’s not even something that can be accessed via a clicked URL. But I don’t think the iPhone will ever have true MMS. If Steve Jobs wanted MMS on the iPhone, it would be here by now. No, they are phasing it out, which is arguably good in the long run, but at the expense of its usefulness today. I don’t mind paying the extra few pennies each month for MMS. Even just to receive the messages, but not send them. But stop making the decision for me.
I hate to say that the iPhone, a device that literally converted me from a mobile phone carrier to a smart phone carrier, as someone who sold more of these puppies in the last year than most Apple employees, is doing more to turn me off to Apple than anything else. The iPhone and AppleTV both have let me down. A lot. So much so that even though I recently bought a new iMac (the 24″), I considered a nice new PC at a fraction of the cost, as prep for Windows 7, which looks to be really cool.
Apple’s arrogance and inability to listen to its customers didn’t matter nearly as much when they were a tiny niche company. But they play in the big leagues now, and I suspect that now that they have serious market share in the laptop and education market, they will find a mass defection in a few years as people start to get wise to their control tactics.
I find the new iPhone firmware, even before I get my hands on it, a let down. My iPhone can’t do what phones from 3 years before the iPhone existed does without sweating. If Apple doesn’t start delivering, I suspect that the odds are very high that by the end of 2010 I’ll be carry an Android powered phone.
"Nom Nom Nom"
Tell me, little bunny… is there anything a good oatmeal cookie can’t cure?
My friend and I recently discussed election bumper sticker and lawn sign “rules” we’d like to see made into law. Our proposal goes as follows:
- If your candidate wins, you are alloted 60 days or until the next major holiday to leave a bumper sticker on your car. You are allowed 5 days for lawn signs.
- If you candidate loses, you are permitted a mere 48 hours to get the signs out of the ground, and just a scad longer at 72 hours to get the bumper stickers off, unless it’s a weekend sooner, in which case, by Saturday.
I think you look like an idiot with campaign stickers on your car any more than 3 months after an election. I still see people with “W 04″ stickers on their car. Aside from the fact that I can’t believe there are actually people who think that this country is better off than in 2004, I think it looks so tacky to leave them on your auto. I saw a car the other day that had a “Clinton/Gore ‘96″ sticker on it - I swear. I couldn’t believe it.
So, please, do us all a favor: if you’ve got lawn signs in the ground, go ahead and remove them this weekend. If you were a McCain/Palin supporter, please remove your bumper stickers tomorrow, the 8th. If you were an Obama/Biden backer who adorned your car, congratulations, go ahead and celebrate until, say, Thanksgiving. But please, don’t let us catch you with those stickers after New Years, okay?
Last night, I watched as America overwhelmingly put their confidence in Barack Obama, electing him the 44th president of the United States of America. Now, I could carry on for some time about what that means to me, as I’ve done before, I could celebrate the victory, as I’m tempted to do, I could make Sarah Palin jokes, at which I’ve been all too eager to laugh. But I won’t. Because, as I listened to Obama’s victory speech last night, I was called to duty as an American to be above that. I was called to duty to put that aside and focus on uniting. I was reminded of how I was moved in Feburary of this year. And then I had a very literal moment of pause as I was suddenly overcome by what we witnessed yesterday.
President Elect Obama
America chose HOPE over HATE. As rabid Sarah Palin supporters chanted “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!”, Obama calming chided us to be above the name calling. As Obama painted a picture of peace, neighborly goodwill, and hope, the opposing candidates painted a picture of war, terror, hate, and fear. They spoke about Obama instead of what their actual plan was. They spoke about Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright instead of about the issues. They tried to convice us that Obama is anti-American and that he “pals around with terrorists.” But it failed. And their lies and hate became their downfall, as America promptly told them “Yes we can!”
America chose PEACE over WAR. Both literally, as we gaze towards Iraq and Afghanistan, but also as we realize that Obama’s television ads - at least here in Florida - were all about repairing the US and what Obama would do about it, while the McCain/Palin ads were almost exclusively negative ads about Obama. I still know nothing about Sarah Palin other than the pre-packaged crap they wove together for the convention and what we pieced together from her string of embrassing interviews.
America chose COURAGE over FEAR. Because, although right-wing brainwashers will try to convince you that wanting peace is weak, it takes a much bigger man to say it’s time to end the war in the name of security and bounty for our nation. Because the enemy you know is always safer than the enemy you don’t. Because while the Bush administration tried to scare you in conformity and constantly glancing over your shoulder, we know better. We know that fear will destory us.
And best of all, America chose HONOR over all else. It’s no secret that the USA is now hated in many areas across the world. And frankly, I began to believe that our best days were indeed behind us as we embarked on an impossible mission to “spread democracy,” themed by pre-emptive strike and racial profiling. But the US is a powerful entity, and we’re not only aiming to reclaim our spot of the #1 place in the world, but also to inspire. To give people faith.
We’ve elected a leader who has, I think most will agree, has led one of the most faith-inspiring campaigns in history. Whether you like his policies or not, he spoke to all Americans and asked them to have a little faith as we seek to rebuild over divided union. There’s little doubt that his campaign of hope has been incredibly effective and resonated with people who have never voted in their lives.
I believe Obama will change the world in unbelievable ways. I believe that we have a charismatic leader the likes of which we haven’t seen since JFK. I believe the US is ready to put aside the hatred and work together to restore our dignity in world view. And I hope.
I hope.
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I got my new iMac in late last week - the 24″ 3.06 Ghz aluminum one with 4GB RAM - and it *is* sweet. I’ve set up a Mac fresh, I’ve set up a machine using the Migration Assistant, and I’ve used target disk mode, but I’ve not yet had the chance to rebuild from a time machine backup. Did it work?