Miscellaneous Ramblings

Low End Mac is pleased to publish Miscellaneous Ramblings by Charles W. Moore. Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1986, began writing for Mac websites in mid 1997, and has been writing for Low End Mac since September 1999. He oversees our weekly news reviews, and also writes the 'Book Value column and Charles Moore's Mailbag. His Road Warrior column was a regular feature on MacOpinion, he writes The 'Book Mystique for PB Central, is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com, and also writes for The Apple Blog.

Moore lives and works in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, on the shore of Indian Harbour Lake and in sight of the Atlantic Ocean, where he accesses the Internet using dial-up. His newspaper columns are syndicated across Canada, and he writes regularly for several magazines, as well as doing Mac website journalism. Moore has also contributed to MacToday magazine.

His current stable of Macs includes a Mac Plus, an LC 520, a PowerBook 1400, a PowerBook 5300, and a 233 MHz PowerBook G3 Series II (a.k.a. WallStreet, currently on loan to his daughter), two PowerBook G3 (Pismo) machines, both with G4 upgrades, a 17" 1.33 GHz PowerBook G4, and a 2.0 GHz Unibody MacBook, as well as a Umax SuperMac S900.

• Is There a Cure for a Smelly Mac?, 2012.07.30. For those suffering from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, gases let of by a new computer can be no end of trouble.
• Could an Apple iCar Ignite Automotive Enthusiasm for Car-Indifferent Millennials?, 2012.04.10. Millennials seem far less interested in cars than prior generations. Could an Apple-themed car reverse that trend?
• Looking Back on 13 Years of Writing for Low End Mac, 2012.04.06. Charles Moore has been writing for Low End Mac since 1999 and seen a lot of changes - but not in the Low End Mac philosophy.
• Topricin Homeopathic Remedy for RSI Aches and Pains, 2012.03.13. Topricin cream appears to work - and rather quickly at that.
• Charles Moore Picks Up a New, Low-End Truck, 2012.03.05. With special financing and incentives, sometimes a new truck is a better value than a used one.
• Don't Kill Caps Lock, Learning to Love the iOS Keyboard, and an Adaptive iPad Keyboard, 2012.02.06. The Caps Lock key has a useful function, the iPad's keyboard really is useful, and checking out an adaptive keyboard for the iPad.
• More Power Blackout Adventures, 2011.12.14. Another power outage in rural Nova Scotia provides one more reminder of the importance of dial-up Internet.
• Thoughts on Using Older Macs as Work Machines, 2011.12.07. Old Macs never lose their capabilities, but the Internet makes some older Macs far less useful than others.
• Upgrade to IOS 5 Neither Smooth nor Elegant, 2011.10.17. iOS 5 improves the way you switch between apps, but the upgrade process is slow and tedious.
• Steven Paul Jobs, Requiescat in Pace, 2011.10.06. Steve Jobs was a visionary who genuinely changed the world in a meaningful and paradigm-altering way.
• Is Bing Good Enough to Replace Google Search?, 2011.09.27. Microsoft's Bing search engine does a great job finding relevant links and has some features that Google doesn't.
• Lion Compatibility for Some Favorite Legacy Apps: Mostly Good News, 2011.08.30. A Lion-compatible verion Tex-Edit Plus is in beta, Color It! is being rewritten, Eudora OSE is already compatible, but Mail Beacon is history.
• Lack of USB Modem Support Could Be a Lion Deal Breaker, 2011.08.08. OS X 10.7 Lion drops support for Apple's USB Modem, which some users will find impossible to deal with. What about third-party modems?
• Pentax Optio E90 Well Built, Takes Great Photos, and a Real Bargain, 2011.07.28. The Optio E90 is a great little snapshot camera with some very cool features - and it takes AA batteries, which you can always find.
• Looking Back at the Power Mac G4 Cube Ten Years On, 2011.07.05. After almost a year of disappointing sales, Apple discontinued the Power Mac G4 on July 3, 2001. Moore takes a look at its legacy.
• How Long Should Apple Support New Devices on Legacy Hardware and Operating Systems?, 2011.06.02. If you're still using OS X 10.4, you can't run iTunes 10, which means you can't use an iPhone 4 or some of the latest iPods.
• 'Logical Punctuation' vs. Traditional Rules of Style, 2011.06.02. Looking at the differences in the way Americans and other English speakers use quotation marks around punctuation.
• Fiat 500: Enough Style to Be an iCar?, 2011.05.23. Still no sign of the oft-rumored iCar, but the new Fiat 500 has a lot of things an iCar should.
• Preview's Photo Editing Tools Could Be All You Need, 2011.05.11. When Apple introduced OS X 10.5 Leopard, it made some big improvements in Preview's image editing capabilities.
• Free OmmWriter Dana Creates a Tranquil, Non-Distracting Writing Environment, 2011.04.12. If you just want to focus on writing without the many distractions your Mac provides, OmmWriter Dana could be the tool for you.
• TenFourFox: The Best Browser for PowerPC Macs Running Tiger?, 2011.04.05. TenFourFox is out of beta, stable, and fast. It could be the best overall browser for Mac OS X 10.5 on G3, G4, and G5 Macs.
• Safari 4.1.3 for Tiger Revisited and Redeemed, 2011.03.22. The drive noise issue noted last week eventually went away, and Moore is now working with Safari as the default browser on his Pismo PowerBooks.
• Safari 4.1.3 for Tiger: Fast, but Not Perfect, 2011.03.15. With the update, Tiger becomes perhaps the fastest OS X 10.4 brower, but it is not without some drawbacks.
• Bulli: Volkswagen Microbus Reincarnated with an iPad Twist, 2011.03.08. VW is showing a concept electric minivan with 185 mile range, microbus inspiration, and iPad integration.
• Contour RollerMouse Free2 Even Better than the Original, 2011.02.28. Contour's RollerMouse is a great alternative to mice and trackballs for those suffering from mousing pain.
• Dragon Dictate 2.0.2 'a New High Water Mark in Mac Speech Recognition', 2011.02.09. "On the one hand, it's the closest to perfection in Mac dictation software anyone has yet achieved. On the other hand, there is still plenty of room for improvement...."
• Old and New Macs: Nostalgia vs. Realistic Pragmatism, 2011.02.03. Readers weigh in on their favorite Macs past and present, including one over 20 years old that's still in use.
• Alltime Favorite Macs: Nostalgia Confronts Realistic Pragmatism, 2011.01.24. While there were some wonderful Macs made over the years, in terms of real world productivity, modern Macs have it all over the golden oldies.
• The Future of Tex-Edit Plus on the Mac, 2011.01.17. Tex-Edit Plus provides a unique integration of word processing, text editing, and HTML authoring plus powerful AppleScript control.

More in the Miscellaneous Ramblings archives: 1999-2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Also see the Best of Miscellaneous Ramblings.