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Recovery Steps for Mac OS X Lion

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Mac OS X 10.7 aka Lion has introduced a few new ways to recover from a troubled computer. You can boot your computer and hold down the Command-R keys to perform recovery and maintenance options like running Disk Utility or restoring from Time Machine.

For newer Mac hardware like the Mini and Air, there’s a built-in Internet Recovery for serious problems. If your drive crashes, Internet Recovery kicks in and over a broadband connection will download a minimal but running version of Lion. From here, you can perform recovery and maintenance options.

If you’re more comfortable with the OS on removable media, here’s an article about creating a bootable flash or external drive and creating a Lion install disk.

Blue Star, Bertazzoni, NXR?

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You ever heard of cooking ranges from Blue Star, Bertazzoni, or NXR? Me neither. But if you’re in the market for ranges with fanatic fan bases, consider these three brands.

I only started doing some research, but these three brands seem to have the most advocates. It all started with basic ranges like those found at Sears – Kenmore, Whirlpool, LG, Kitchen Aid, GE Profile. Then the search jumped to the high end like Viking, Wolf, GE Monogram, and Theramdor. Then I started reading about other niche brands in online forums. There are frequent discussions comparing various ranges but the most commonly mentioned are from Blue Star, Bertazzoni, and NXR.

Of course, all of these are difficult to get in Hawaii although NXR said they ship right away. But Blue Star has the biggest oven which is one of our criteria… But since time is also an issue, these three may be out of the picture.

Nike and Apple Sharing Playbooks?

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Have you noticed similarities between Nike and Apple products and concepts over the years? Sure there’s the obvious Nike+ collaboration that started back in 2006, but here are a few more commonalities

The lightness of Air

Way back in the day, Nike Air technology was revolutionary. Now the MacBook Air continues the tradition.

I wonder if Apple got its idea for dedicated Apple Stores from Niketowns?

The MacBook Pro and its unibody design? How about the Nike Zoom Hyperfuse with its unibody construction.

And speaking of Hyperfuse, don’t forget the Intel processors inside of Macs support hyper-threading. Oh, and there’s that MacFuse software project.

Nike uses Shox columns for support while Apple like anti-shock hard drives for its laptop line. Nike embraces wires ala Flywire, but Apple wants to forgo wires and go wireless.

The latest rumor is that the construction of the iPad 2 will contain carbon fiber. Do you recall what Nike shoe introduced carbon fiber? None other than the iconic Air Jordan XI.

Bringing carbon fiber to the mainstream

A giveaway that Apple and Nike are definitely sharing playbooks would be Apple following suit with lunar themed products.

And you know Apple’s Steve Jobs says “Boom” only because Nike owns “Zoom.”

Managing Names of Pictures?

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I’m looking for a better way to manage the file names of pictures and images imported into iPhoto. Seems like once imported, it’s too late, and you don’t want to change file names since you’ll mess around with the metadata that iPhoto relies on.

You’d have to change the names of the images before importing to iPhoto (or after exporting from iPhoto, but this defeats my intent). I found this blog post explaining how to import pictures using a workflow with Image Capture and A Better Finder Rename.

Sounds promising for new pictures, but my already-imported pictures are best left the way they are.

What’s Your Backup Plan asks Big Boi

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This morning my Awaken-powered alarm clock started blaring Back Up Plan from Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left Foot… The Son of Chico Dusty. This timely start of the day had me wondering about my backup plan for my data.

Here’s what my backup plan currently includes (of course, things change).

Mac OS X Time Machine. This built-in Mac OS feature has saved my bacon on occasion and even though my current Time Machine drive lost its mind temporarily, it’s rebuilding and backing up gigs of stuff.

Backblaze. Speaking of gigs of stuff, how long does it take to back up gigs of stuff online? I’m not sure, but I still got Backblaze blazing away. There’s about 200 gigs to go…  Have you signed up?

VaultPress. This is my most recent addition to my backup plan. How do you keep your words (and everything else) on WordPress safe and protected? You store them in a vault, a VaultPress. Since I got a Golden Ticket, I figured I’d try this service in its startup stages.

So if Big Boi asks, my backup plan is Time Machine, Backblaze, and VaultPress!

30 Years of Apple Computers

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Such memories looking at these Apple computers over the years.

What have I owned? Let’s see if I remember…

  1. Apple IIe
  2. Mac SE
  3. Mac IIsi (though I coveted the IIci)
  4. Power Mac 8500 (then upgraded with a G3 daughterboard processor)
  5. Power Mac G4
  6. Power Mac G5
  7. iMac Core 2 Extreme

and throw in a Newton MessagePad. 🙂

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