Chris Gonyea

I have done it. I have returned to my computing roots.

For the first time since the early 1990s, I am an owner and user of an Apple Macintosh. Instead this time, I own a iMac G5 instead of a LC II.

Today Katie and I went to the mall in Salem, NH to do some Christmas shopping. A normal shopping day turned into something interesting when we decided to take a look at the Apple Store there. I wanted to check out the iMac my brother Justin just purchased two days ago, the 20″ model.

Within minutes, I had stopped playing with the iMac and seriously starting thinking of getting one. I was fed up with Windows. I needed a new computing challenge. I wanted something that was reliable and a joy to use. The iMac was that solution and stood before me.

I had to do some talking with Katie and we came up with a suitable solution. The iMac would be a joint Christmas gift to ourselves and it would be our main home computer. Her 6-year-old PC would be stripped/sold for parts and the iMac would replace it.

So I put down the plastic and bought the iMac G5. A very nice package, with 512 MB of RAM, 1.9 GHz G5 processor, 160 GB hard drive, and a very nice 17″ widescreen.

I have been playing with it for a few hours and I am very impressed. At least so far, it is the answer I have been looking for when it comes to computers. Very fast, stable, and the software for once is easy to use.

Right now, I am using the following for software:

• Mac OS X 10.4.3
• Safari
• Mozilla Firefox 1.5 RC3
• Mail 2.0.5
• Adium 0.86
• Skype
• iTunes 6.0.1
• iCal
• iPhoto
• Citrix (to access work server)

So far, those applications have left me very satisfied. Well worth every penny spent on this.

I still have a lot of work to do on the iMac getting it prepared for use. I just copied over the music from my laptop . Which by the way, on a Mac it is easier to use a network with Windows computers then a Windows computer trying to do it! Anyways, I still need to copy my e-mail over and documents.

As for my Toshiba laptop running Windows XP, I am going to use it for work and as a second backup computer. After all, Katie and I can’t be on the iMac at the same time. One of us will be fighting for it at all times

I also have to find a suitable office product. Downloading NeoOffice right now, let’s see how that goes.

I am trying to decide whether to buy some additional memory (a 1GB stick at Crucial.com is $138) for the iMac. It came with 512 and the computer seems very responsive. I guess I will wait a few days to see if I perhaps need an extra little kick that memory would bring.

My brother has purchased an iMac G5 with the I-Sight Camera. Bastard. I want one.

Next up is me I think, as soon as the first Intel laptops are released.

I did a lot of work on this site the past few days. I first off changed my theme again (this is getting to be an addiction). I am now using the wonderful theme Beeblebox. It just seems to fit my vision more of what I want my web site to be like. Simple, effective, and easy to read. Beeblebox fits that vision to me.

I also added a contact form to my site, using the excellent WP-Contact plugin. Serves only one purpose and serves it well.

Google Analytics has been added to this site as well. I have only played around with it for a little bit, but you can’t argue with free and the data I have seen so far is very interesting. Much easier to use then other statistical programs I have seen.

Finally, work has begun on a new project that I hope will be very successful. The domain has been purchased (actually, it was free thanks to me not using the free domain I got when I signed up with DreamHost). More details to come on that as I get closer to launching it.

Steve Gibson of the Security Now! podcast has created an Ultra High Security Password Generator. For those of you who are very paranoid about making sure no one hacks into your wireless connection, this page is for you. No more weak wireless passphrases.

The cool part? The page is a SSL page, so it is securely transmitted over the Internet. It is marked as expired in 1999, so no ISP will cache it, and each key is only displayed once without ever being reused again.

Basically the passphrases generated are uncrackable or as close as it gets to that.

I love it when I come up with a brilliant idea!

Oh what could it be? Perhaps a new web site?