muse

The 404 757: Where we crash your Valentine's date (podcast)

To celebrate the most miserable day of the year, aka Christmas 2.0, we're being Debbie Downers and checking out stories to ruin your cheesy holiday. If you're not hitched up with a honey bunny today, you may be able to increase your chances of bagging someone special based on the next gadget you buy.

According to this Gadgetology study, your computer, cell phone, and other tech accessories are big factors in determining your attractiveness to the people around you. Of the men surveyed under the age of 35, 50 percent find women with fancy smartphones more attractive, whereas 38% of women think a modern laptop oozes the most sex appeal.

And this is no surprise, but the two worst tech deal breakers for women are the awful Bluetooth wireless headset and cell phone holster, so steer clear of those two if you're looking to hook up. Finally, outside of the tech world, more women younger than 35 say they're attracted to a man walking a cute dog than a geek with a cool smartphone, so we're kind of screwed either way.

On the other hand, if you want to avoid sex altogether this year, the best way to accomplish that goal is to trick your partner by cooking them a dinner made of anaphrodisiac ingredients.

You can kill the mood with a number of ingredients including hops, marjoram, common rue, soy, and coriander, or you can really play it safe with a combination of it all in a deliciously platonic chicken and tofu in a marjoram cream sauce.

A anti-touch relationship is a good way to practice safe sex altogether, but what if a painful health affliction is preventing you from getting yours? A dating Web site based out of Winnipeg is playing Cupid for clients that suffer from herpes.

Actually, you don't have to have herpes to join. According to the creators, hopeful clients are asked during registration if they have it and if they'd be open to someone with it for full transparency. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, about one in six people between the ages of 14 and 49 suffer from the STD and are embarrassed to admit it to lovers, so Camelot Introductions offers this service to dispel the prejudice.

But all that aside, if you're a super procrastinator and still haven't purchased your boo a gift, consider a New York solution and just name a cockroach after your Valentine.

Episode 757 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

mac.column.ted: The Demise of Troubleshooters?

Written by Ted LandauJune 2009

A personal farewell. This is my final mac.column.ted column. It also represents the end of my formal association with MacFixIt. As many of you know, I founded this site back in 1996 and sold it to TechTracker in 2000. Over the ensuing years, I maintained my relationship with MacFixit, initially as editor and later as the author of this monthly column. (If you're really curious, you can read a more detailed history here.) Now, with the transition of ownership to CNET/CBS, MacFixIt is heading in new directions. And so we are … Read more

mac.column.ted: Secrets of the Dual-Band AirPort Extreme

contributed by Ted Landau

Apple's latest version of its AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) supports simultaneous dual-band. As Apple explains, this means that the new Extreme has separate "2.4GHz and 5GHz bands...to ensure top performance for all your devices." As this was a feature I could definitely use, I decided to buy a new AEBS. My intention was to update my existing older and overly-complicated setup. For those of you considering buying a new Extreme, I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that, if you have a relatively simple … Read more

One Puppet to rule the cloud?

What with all the virtualization hype, one would think that virtual servers had the option of parting the Red Sea or walking on it.

While there's a great deal of promise in virtualization, there's also the peril of managing virtual servers, as Luke Kanies, founder of the Puppet project, points out in a blog post.

You have significant problems when you rely on golden images (i.e., virtual images complete with all necessary services): image sprawl, updating your images, and image state vs. running state...Maintaining these (virtual) images is more like managing a foil ball: it's … Read more

mac.column.ted: Macworld Expo remembered

Ted Landau

December 2008

Some time has gone by since the announcement that Apple is pulling out of Macworld Expo, and I still can't shake the bad feelings. Officially, Macworld's Paul Kent is firm that Macworld will continue: "We look forward to many successful years of Macworld to come." And, of course, this year's Macworld Expo 2009 is still on track for January 5th.

So it's a bit premature to be writing an obituary for the Expo. Still, a consensus (myself included) has generally acknowledged that, even if Macworld Expo survives, it won't … Read more

mac.column.ted: Searching for good searching

Ted Landau

November 2008

How is it that the Web sites of many of the world's biggest and most technology-oriented companies have such pitiful search capabilities? Searching these Web sites can be a bit like taking off in a jumbo jetliner and discovering that the aircraft's primary navigation tool is an AAA TripTik.

I first added a search capability to MacFixIt back in the 90's. It didn't cost me a penny. I got it from a site that offered the code for free. As crude as it was, it worked better than some of the search … Read more

Open-source traffic is way up in 2008

Just when I think we've tapped out all possible open-source business opportunities, I hear of another open-source start-up. Or several.

This past week I've heard of a few new ones, or of others that have been around for a while but have yet to take venture money. Reductive Labs (puppet project), Cilk Arts, RiverMuse, and Watircraft are a few that I can mention publicly, but there are several more that are still in stealth. In two cases, a business hasn't been formed but some very interesting ideas are being kicked around.

Open-source venture investing may be down this past quarter, … Read more

Taking your iPhone overseas

Ted Landau

October 2008

Later this week, I'm off for a trip to Japan. I never go anywhere without my iPhone anymore. Japan will be no exception. But I will be taking the phone with some trepidation. Knowing that international charges can be exorbitant, I've spent a good deal of time determining what, if anything, I could do to keep costs to a minimum. To save you from having to do the same legwork, here's what I learned:

Q. What's the executive summary?

A. The cheapest thing you can do, by far, is leave your phone … Read more

Five "under-the-hood" things you should know about App Store apps

Ted Landau

September 2008

The App Store is no doubt one of the best things to have happened to the iPhone (and the iPod touch). Users are happily adding a wide array of apps to their devices, usually with little or no difficulty. Still, occasionally things go wrong. At such times, beyond the standard troubleshooting advice you'll find here at MacFixIt, it pays to know at least a bit about what's going on "under-the hood." Here's a Q&A detailing 5 things you should definitely know:

1. Where are iPhone apps actually stored on … Read more

TravelMuse aims to be the Netflix of traveling

SAN DIEGO--One of the nice things about Web 2.0 is that the interactivity it promises can be applied to almost any kind of application.

That's the basis of TravelMuse's new social trip planning service, which it unveiled at DemoFall Tuesday.

The idea of the so-called Social Trip Planner is that a group of people expecting to travel together can use a rich Web site to plan and organize their vacation and share information about what they're doing amongst each other easily and automatically.

The service starts with what the company calls its "inspiration planner," … Read more