Mike Williams

iPhone 8 Rumor Page Added

The link is up above but I’ve started collecting rumors about the next iPhone. Why?

Because, it is so damn fun.

I have a friend who calls this type of thing “throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.”

She has a way with words. Perhaps, she should write for this site?

I may not catch all of the iPhone 8 rumors but I’ll try to get most of them.

In the end, the next phone may not even be called iPhone 8. If I were Apple, and wow! I am sure not. I wouldn’t call it iPhone 8 but something completely different like iPhone Sugar Biscuit.

Sure, when I say it you laugh.

If Apple actually called it that, it would be the most awesome name ever!

I know how this works.

P.S. Don’t think the 30 pin connector on the likeness above is lost on me. That makes this rendering particularly funny.

January 22, 2017 by Apple News iPhone Rumors

The Mars Dome

I have to admit that the idea of going to Mars is something I’ve been entertaining my whole life. Scientists have a dome in Hawaii that they use to understand how life will be on the red planet.

Six scientists have entered a dome perched atop a remote volcano in Hawaii where they will spend the next eight months in isolation to simulate life for astronauts traveling to Mars, the University of Hawaii said.

Hopefully, we’ll get to Mars in my lifetime.

January 21, 2017 by Mars

Star Trek Fan Film Lawsuit Finally Settled

To anyone who has not seen the trailer, Axanar had released a Star Trek fan trailer that caught the eyes of Paramount and CBS as being a bit over the top for it’s liking. The trailer has former Star Trek actors which is a fan film violation. That wasn’t the only problem.

J.J. Abrams made a statement that basically stated that Paramount and CBS should drop the lawsuit and  allow Axanar to make it’s movie. Well , it didn’t work and both companies went full speed ahead on a lawsuit.

That lawsuit has finally been settled.

For more details go here.

January 21, 2017 by Fan Fiction Science Fiction Star Trek

TV Stand for Dummies

I am not the type of person that likes to buy things that I have to put together. I go out of my way to buy things that are already assembled. My office chair is a good example. I went to Staples and found a chair I loved. I just didn’t want to put it together so I talked the sales guy into letting me take the finished unit on the floor. He did and I still have the chair to this day.

With that being said, I just bought a simple TV Stand on Amazon and was amazed at how simple it was to put together.

If you are looking for a simple Tv stand that has a couple of shelves and takes about 5 minutes to put together. Check this link out. You will not be disappointed.

January 14, 2017 by General Musings Helping Neat and Cool

1st Post of the New Year

I think the first post of the year should be about gadgets. In the last couple of weeks, I have aquired the following…

1. Apple Watch – Custom made and delivered from China. Sweet. Most sweet. I love it when Apple goes the extra mile for developers and adds something to our hardware order. It has happened a couple of times to me. I ordered an iPod and received an engraved and enhanced version far and above what I originally ordered. The watch was much the same. I ordered a relatively simple model and what I got was immensely better.

2. XBox One S – This one is kind of funny because the only reason I wanted an XBox was for a game called Battlefront. It is a very detailed and intense Star Wars game with add ons for the latest movie…etc. At first, I wasn’t sure what the S stood for and quite frankly, I still don’t. As it turns out after Googling it, the S stands for “supports 4k video.” I only have a 1080P television to play this on. Hmmm….

3. That leads into aquisition#3. A 55″ 4k television which I had to purchase to support the XBox. What is the point of having an XBox that supports 4k if your television doesn’t? Right. The answer couldn’t have been more obvious. A new television was in order.

4. This one was a bit unexpected at least right now. I had planned on purchasing an Apple laptop to backup my main work machine at home. Up until now, the Mac Mini was fulfilling that role but a laptop would give me more freedom if I needed to work from someplace else. You never know. I could find myself in the middle of a beach on St. Thomas and be called upon to process orders. You just never know about these things. A colleauge just so happened to have an extra Apple MacBook Pro and offered to swap out my Mac Mini for the laptop. Gee, let me think. Ok, then!

I wasn’t expecting to get so many gadgets this year but life is short and we don’t know how many more tomorrows we’ll have. I hope everyone has a great gadget year.

…and NO FIRES! I am looking at you Samsung….

January 2, 2017 by Neat and Cool

Final Thoughts About 2016

For me, 2016 was a mostly good year until the beginning of October. That is when my world fell apart. It wasn’t just my world that fell apart. My significant other’s world fell apart as well. It wasn’t something we needed and it completely ruined more than just a year. I wouldn’t say it ruined anyone’s life because we pick ourselves up and continue on as best we can. However, it affected people we both love and us more tragically. I love her with all of my heart and always will.

My life will never be the same and I’ll always be a half a person going forward. If you throw in all of the celebrity deaths this year, face it…2016 sucked ass.

I’m hoping that 2017 will bring a better year than the one we leave behind.

Happy New Year everyone!

 

December 31, 2016 by Sh*t Mike Says

Let The Vacation Begin…

Well, the busy holiday madness is over for me. Time to catch my breath and decide what I’m going to do going forward.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the big holes in posting that have occured for the last several years. As I’ve said on the podcast that I’ve started back up again…we’ve been busy and stuff.

I’m looking forward to the next year and hope that the dream that I have in my heart comes true and that real love and happiness are mine once again. Time will tell.

This blog has always been about me and what I like and will continue to be so.

I’m half the person I used to be and as I’ve said just a couple paragraphs earlier, I am hoping for the best.

I hope we all find the happiness we so richly deserve.

December 24, 2016 by General Musings

MacOS Sierra – Initial Impressions

I look forward to every June when Apple releases the next version of their various operating systems for developers to go through and test. It is a treat for geeks like me. I usually grab a new hard drive and make a backup copy of my current system. I install the new OS and my expectations are that something will break.

This year I'm happy to report that, for the most part, that did not happen. It is extremely unusual for a new OS to NOT break things. A whole lot of things. For me, my work access almost always fails. It usually has something to do with VPN, Java, etc.

That is not to say that bugs don't exist. I've spotted a few. I think Siri is buggy. Logging on to the forums will show you that beta testing causes it's fair share of grief across various configurations, however, my iMac 27″ 2011 is doing just fine. I am using an external cradle to run MacOS Sierra on an external 4TB hard drive. The cradle is connected using Thunderbolt 1.

I have encountered a weird window issue where pressing the minimize button doesn't really minimize. The window acts like it's getting ready to get smaller but it snaps right back in place and then cannot be closed until you quit the application. I'm not sure what is causing this particular issue. I've changed the preference from “scale” to “genie effect” for minimizing windows and so far, I haven't had a problem. It could be just the scale effect itself. Not sure.

So far, I think this beta version is more solid than those I've tested in the past.

Good job, Apple!

June 18, 2016 by macOS Sierra

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Authors: Jason Anspach and Nick Cole