Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

Mac OS X, like any unix, has certain system maintenance jobs that run daily, weekly, and monthly. Those jobs are usually set to run in the wee hours of the morning when computer usage is likely to be at its least. This turns out to be a problem for notebook users because, unlike a desktop, notebooks are more likely to be powered off or asleep at the time those system maintenance jobs would usually run. Cron isn’t very smart, so if a job is supposed to run at 3:00 AM, and 3:00 AM passes while the computer is asleep, the job is never run. Cron doesn’t check back to see what it missed, it only knows what it’s supposed to run right now, so on many notebooks these basic system maintenance jobs are almost never run.

Every once in a while, a Mac OS hints and/or tips site posts someone’s latest brainstorm about how to deal with this quirk. I don’t question the validity of these methods since I’ve never tried them, but I know there’s a very simple way to deal with cron jobs that are missed.

Read the rest of this entry »

John Dvorkak continues to be a complete idiot. In his latest column, he goes on a tirade about Apple’s recent win against Think Secret, Apple Insider and PowerPage. Not only is Apple beating up on its fans, he says, but it’s part of a larger conspiracy by the liberal media. He’s entitled to his opinion, but as is so often the case when most any professional journalist writes about the Mac or Apple, he has the facts all wrong. I seriously doubt he even bothered to read the ruling about which he is writing.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been paying attention to Mac news recently, you’ll know that the judge in Apple’s lawsuit against PowerPage, Apple Insider, and Think Secret ruled in Apple’s favor, stating that it makes no difference whether the proprietors of the sites are journalists, the law provides no protection for anyone with information about trade secret misappropriation against subpoena. To avoid duplication, I’ll refer you to this excellent article at Daring Fireball by John Gruber in which he prints what I would like to write anyway. John provides a PDF of the ruling itself for those who are interested.

This is something that has finally reached a boiling point with me. I hear the word “on” misused way too much. When I say misused, I mean that a much better word could and should be used in its place, or that its use is completely superfluous. This blog entry is going to be similar to my The Credibility-Destroying Words List that I update occasionally. I’ll add entries as I hear and read them.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been deluged today by people who think I care about the Mac mini rip-off for some reason. For beginners, it’s not even a real computer yet, just a proof-of-concept plastic case. Secondly, it should surprise no one that the PC world has once again taken it’s design cues from Apple. That’s not news, it’s commonplace.

Read the rest of this entry »