Free Software from the MacHeist Giving Tree

If you haven’t yet visited the “Giving Tree” at MacHeist, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to get some free software.  I’ve got a lot of “loot” over the past few years from MacHeist, and the fun has just started this year.  Already announced are two freebies: Synergy, an iTunes “extender” utility, and Enigmo 2, an outer-space themed puzzle game from Pangea.  Plus there are other presents to unwrap on Christmas Day.  Check out the MacHeist Giving Tree at

http://givingtree.macheist.com/

And while you’re at it, sign up to become a MacHeist agent at

http://www.macheist.com/

MacHeist 3 is coming!  Take it from Dr. Phil…you don’t want to miss out!

Finally, Microsoft squashes the CGBitmap bug in Word

I’ve been waiting a long time for Microsoft to release an update to Office 2008 for Mac that addressed one of the most annoying bugs: the CGBitmapContextGetData: Invalid Context loop. I’ve confirmed that the latest update to Office 2008 for Mac, the 12.1.3 update, seems to have done something to address this issue, at least in Microsoft Word. I’m still getting this error with Excel and PowerPoint, but at least we’re making some progress.

Savvy Mac Office users have been pointing out this issue since early this year, when Office 2008 for Mac was officially released. Many people may not have known that this bug even existed, since it isn’t quite obvious. In fact, you probably wouldn’t have noticed it unless you happened to look at your Console, the log-reading application that’s inside of the Utilities folder of every modern Mac. But if you are an Office 2008 user, you might have suspected a slight performance hit whenever you launched an Office app, or perhaps you noticed your MacBook running a bit hotter when you used Word. That’s because, prior to this latest update, the Mac OS was busy writing entry after entry to your System Log, sometimes many entries per second. Go ahead, launch your console and look at some of your old System Logs in Console. If you’ve been using Office 2008 a lot, you probably have thousands of entries like this…

Oct 15 21:56:56 new-host Microsoft Word[4216]: CGBitmapContextGetData: invalid context

But after applying the latest update from Microsoft, this bug appears to be finally squashed in at least one of the Office apps. Hallelujah! The Microsoft Word team has heard the gnashing of teeth of Mac users, and started to put this silly bit of sloppiness to rest. Now if only they can address this problem with Excel and PowerPoint.

iPhone 3G

So I finally had to buy an iPhone 3G.  I had talked about why I didn’t buy a first generation iPhone in an earlier post, and I’m glad I waited.  The iPhone 3G was truly worth the wait. 

I had wanted to get one of these phones back in July.  After standing in line for two hours at a local Apple store, I gave up.  But a little over a week ago, I was lucky enough to find a black 16 GB model in stock at an AT&T store.  No line to wait in, and although it took awhile to activate, it was a relatively painless process.  Plus by purchasing at an AT&T store, I was able to get my employer’s discount on cell phone service.

I’ve got to say that this is the first cell phone I’ve owned where I can actually use email and web applications.  While I’ve tried various “mobile web” enabled cell phones in the past, none of them provided a very usable experience.  Even if I limited myself to websites optimized for mobile devices, trying to surf the web on a phone was like trying to watch a movie through a straw.

Of course, the iPhone 3G isn’t perfect.  I wish it could handle flash.  I wish AT&T’s network was a bit more robust, especially the 3G coverage.  And I wish the new pricing plans included unlimited texting (something that was included in the original iPhone plans).

But I’m willing to put up with these minor annoyances for a phone that can let me read my email, surf the web, store my contacts, snap a quick photo and keep my calendar handy.  And yes, make an occasional phone call, too.  I think I’ve fallen in love.

More on blogging with touch

Another day, another try with blogging on the iPod Touch. One nice feature of the wordpress iPhone blogging tool is the ability to store local drafts of posts. So while it takes longer to type an entry, one can take a break, save the local draft, and return to writing later.

The onscreen keyboard takes some getting used to, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. Still, I’m not as well versed in the “texting” approach to typing. My thumbs seem to big to type accurately while using both of them. Perhaps I’d be better at this if I had pointier thumbs. I seem to do better using one finger.