apple Archives

Home » apple » Page 8

My Zinio adventures

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized March 7, 2013March 6, 2013android, apple, Classic Toy Trains, Debit card, Discover Card, Fraud, psi, Steve Jobs

My Classic Toy Trains subscription lapsed. I decided I wanted to subscribe to the digital edition and see if I liked the paper reduction enough to live with the DRM restrictions. I can always switch back to paper next year, right?

So I went to Zinio.com and tried to subscribe, and had nothing but problems getting them to take my money.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Mimic Systems Spartan: Apple II emulator for the C-64

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 3, 2013June 24, 20241980s, apple, apple ii, atari, atari 2600, colecovision, collectibles, commodore, sears, spartan

The Mimic Systems Spartan was an elusive bit of C-64 hardware that made it Apple II+ compatible. It’s one of the more interesting Apple II clones of the 1980s. People thought of it as an Apple II+ emulator for the Commodore 64, though it wasn’t emulation in a modern sense.

Mimic Systems took out full-page ads in all of the Commodore magazines, starting in late 1984, promoting the product heavily.

The problem with it was that you couldn’t buy one, at least not in 1984 or 85. The Spartan finally appeared in 1986, and at that point, not many people wanted one anymore. So Spartans are exceedingly rare today.

But it actually seemed like a decent idea. In 1984, that is.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

The benefits of doing IT at home, too

Dave Farquhar Hardware February 9, 2013November 30, 2018apache, apple, firewall, hp, MCSE, os x, unix, windows 7, Windows Server

Earlier this week, The Register touted the benefits of having a home lab.

That lab doesn’t necessarily have to be elaborate. But there is definitely something to be said for having some equipment that you can learn and experiment on, and that can break without the world ending. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

The lines between white hat/gray hat/black hat hacking and moral laws

Dave Farquhar security January 26, 2013January 25, 2013apple, CEH, cissp, demonstration, os x, pixar, White Hat

Longtime reader/commenter Joseph asked two questions yesterday: What’s the boundary between gray and black-hat hacking, and is it moral to pick and choose between moral and immoral laws?

The first question is easier than the second. So I’ll tackle that one first. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

If you needed another reason not to buy Windows 8….

Dave Farquhar Windows January 21, 2013April 30, 2024apple, macintosh, nintendo, office 2010, vista, windows 7, windows 8, Windows 9

I’m still waiting for someone I know to tell me they like Windows 8. I’ve seen some strangers online say they like it, but not a lot of them, and many of them appear to be astroturfers because they just like it too much. I’m sure Apple loves it, because, like my boss told me, a lot of older apps (like anything older than Office 2010) won’t run on Windows 8. So, if you have to re-buy all your software anyway, what advantage is there to buying a Windows 8 machine over a Macintosh?

In fact, that’s exactly what his parents did. They gave up on Windows entirely and bought a Mac Mini.

The other approach, of course, is to buy a Chromebook. A lot of people seem to be doing that too, seeing as it’s the best-selling laptop on Amazon–so much so that they don’t have any stock, and third-party sellers are scalping them for $80 above retail like they used to do with Nintendo Wii consoles. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

SSDs might be getting less interesting, but that’s not necessarily bad

Dave Farquhar Hardware January 12, 2013November 3, 2025amd, apple, Ars Technica, CES, consolidation, corsair, intel, kingston, samsung, toshiba, Western Digital

Ars Technica has a story about SSD news coming out of CES.

Basically, they’re predicting that the big news this year will be consolidation and lower prices. That may be bad news for someone who writes about SSDs for a living (I don’t), but good news for consumers. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Coming soon to Monoprice: WQHD monitors

Dave Farquhar Hardware January 9, 2013November 30, 2018apple, CES, ips

Monoprice dropped a bomb at CES this week: a 27″ IPS LED monitor with WQHD 2560×1440 resolution for $390.

From what I understand, there are several Korean manufacturers who make monitors from surplus or rejected panels intended for Apple displays, then sell them for under $400.

This looks like Monoprice signed on to distribute them in the United States, which seems less risky than buying them from a small importer or exporter off Amazon or Ebay. These monitors are popular with enthusiasts, but I imagine with Monoprice distributing them, the following will only increase. Monoprice is a bit of a secret too, but I heard of Monoprice long before I heard of Korean-made WQHD monitors.

Monoprice estimates they’ll be shipping them by March.

If you want a lot of screen real estate in the form of pixels, WQHD is useful. If you just want a sharp display, though, calculate pixels per inch first.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

How to be a hero next Christmas (or your next family get-together)

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking December 25, 2012November 23, 2018android, apple, cat5e, christmas, d-link, SSID, WEP, wi-fi

My mother in law didn’t have wifi set up, but she picked up a smart TV this year, so she asked me if I could help her with it. So I picked up a D-Link DIR-615 on sale, brought it with me and set up wi-fi securely (hints: set the SSID to whatever time it happens to be, disable WPS, disable WEP and WPA, and use WPA2 with a long password with some numbers and symbols in it) and once it seemed to be working right, I put her TV and laptop on it. Then, as other relatives trickled in, they asked me for the wireless key. Soon the air was full of Androids and Apples chattering away on wireless.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

If you’re wondering where those anti-Google ads came from

Dave Farquhar Software December 17, 2012May 20, 20251990s, android, apple, IBM, ipad, macintosh, Microsoft Office, netbooks, windows 7, windows 8

If you’re wondering why political-style anti-Google ads are suddenly running everywhere, it’s no coincidence. Microsoft has hired one of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s advertising masterminds to try his hand at campaigning against Google.

While it seems to be having some effect on public opinion, its effect on market share and Microsoft’s bottom line will take more time to gauge. But I think in the long term, talking to customers and figuring out why they are walking out of Microsoft stores empty-handed will prove more effective. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

The trouble with Dell

Dave Farquhar Hardware December 6, 2012January 8, 2025acer, apple, capacitor, capacitors, dell, Dell Inspiron, hp, IBM, intel, Packard Bell, pennies on the dollar

Note: I wrote this in mid-2010 and, for whatever reason, never posted it. I found it this week. Although the information in it is no longer fresh and new, it’s still useful, so for that reason, I’m posting it now.

Dell is standing on some shaky ground right now. Bill Snyder has a good summary of the problem.

In recent years, Dell computers have, shall I say, made me nervous. Some of it’s been concrete. Some of it’s just been touchy-feely. Now one of those touchy-feely problems is more concrete. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net