Tag: Mac

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iTunes 11 for Mac running at 100% CPU when just playing music

Just in case this saves anyone else a few minutes of boring googling: the solution was to log out of the iTunes store and log back in again.

Details:

iTunes on Mountain Lion was being very unresponsive and beachballing, despite not apparently doing anything except playing music, and Activity Monitor said it was using 100% of one of the CPUs.

The CPU activity would drop right down when I stopped the music and jump up again when I restarted it. After searching around on the Apple support forums, I saw the suggestion to log out of my iTunes Store account; it seemed unlikely to work, since I didn’t have the store open… but it did. And I was able to log in again without the problem returning (yet! *crosses fingers*). Hope this helps someone.

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computer problems

I’m having serious computer problems—like not being able to turn it on—so posting is liable to be sporadic. Just fyi.

EDIT: I’ve seized the opportunity while my computer is running of posting a new picture at Clouded Drab.

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Weird computer problems

I am for the moment busy trying to get my stupid computer to not be a complete pain in the arse.

It does this weird thing where I ask it to sleep and instead it messes up one of the other system functions (Exposé and Dashboard and so on, for the Mac users). When it doesn’t just fuck everything up completely.

I’ve even done a basic reinstall of the system software. Didn’t help.

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New iTunes icons

I decided I don’t like the iTunes icon very much, so I’ve made myself some new ones:

Still by LaVern Baker, Young Boy Blues by Eddie “Buster” Forehand, and We Go Together by The Moonglows, since you asked. Picked for what they look like rather than the choons – I’ve only heard one of them anyway. The Forehand is actually a fraction too big – it looks out of place in the dock. I’m using the Moonglows for the moment.

EDIT:

since I’ve been getting a bit of Google traffic for this post, I thought I’d point out the two more recent posts on the subject (one, two).

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And in the beginning was the video

According to TUAW:

This video was ripped from a videotape (which explains the lack of video quality) of the 1984 Apple Shareholders’ meeting, where the original Macintosh was unveiled.

It’s either a very good spoof, or… well, genuine.

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Ah, the first stirrings of young love…

You know what they say: Once you go Mac, you never go back.

I don’t want to come over *too* Apple-fanboy. I know they’re just a more expensive way of doing all the same things you can do on a PC. What I find quite interesting, though, is how much people seem to miss the point. Whenever Apple discussions start on the net, you get frustrated geeks tearing their hair out at the irrationality of buying a Mac/iPod when you can get a rival product with the same specs for less money, and the accusation is that people are just buying into the stylish marketing, that it’s all design and therefore superficial. But when Apple are at their best, and most Apple-y, it’s not superficial – it’s design all the way down. The marketing is stylish, the online shop is attractive and easy to use, the box it comes in looks cool, the actual machine is even cooler-looking; but really what matters is that the software is uncluttered and easy to use. I have no idea whether the underlying system architecture and the hardware are well-designed, but they seem to work pretty consistently. The cosmetic stuff is a reflection of a design philosophy that makes the user experience a priority instead of an afterthought. Which isn’t to say that Apple have never made any stupid decisions or bad products, but at least they understand that design actually matters and they try to make a good job of it.

We should be able to take good design for granted. It shouldn’t be a luxury.