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Mac Office 2008 Is Too Slow

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After upgrading to the latest Mac Office 2008, I think I’m about to revert back to the older 2004 version. The latest Office suite is sooo slow on my MacBook Pro (2 GHz Core Duo and 2 GB RAM). Word, Excel, and PowerPoint take forever to start up.

And even once started, performance of these apps is sluggish. I’ve also come across memory issues running 2008. In Excel, I’ve actually had low memory errors several times. No problems with Excel 2004. This is the first time I’ve had memory issues on my MBP.

The only app I might keep around is the newest Entourage. It’s still slow, but seems better able to handle my gigs of email that I’ve collected over the years. Entourage 2004 kept stalling and occasionally crapping out, but so far so good with Entourage 2008.

I also have Office 2008 installed (legitimately) on my home iMac and that feels slow as well, but that’s a new machine!

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My Crazy Starbucks Secret Idea

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So what is Starbucks’ bigger-than-Venti secret coming up this Tuesday? Rumors on the web say a high end, upscale coffee made by hand that tastes great or free refills for a regular coffee drink. Boring!

Let’s go out on a crazy limb and collaborate with my favorite fruit company, Apple. There’s the hubbub of Apple’s iPhone and its Wi-Fi Music Store available in the Starbucks airwaves. There are also the rumors of a new business model for iPhones connected to an all-you-can-listen subscription. Instead of paying permanently for individual songs, you essentially get access to the entire iTunes music catalog. Sounds like a good idea once you look at the financial numbers.

How about combining both and offering unlimited access to the iTunes music catalog only while at Starbucks? So while you’re drinking your joe, you can download music to your iPhone’s 16-GB content. Would that make iPhone and music (and caffeine addicted) fanatics come back to Starbucks again and again? Probably, and you can’t be a complete music hog since you’ll run out of iPhone flash memory space soon enough.

So Starbucks gets a ton of repeat customers, Apple gets a bunch more iPhone sales, AT&T gets more wireless customers, and the music industry gets a stable influx of cash from the premium fee to access unlimited tunes.

Now this is a Venti big (and a crazy idea)!

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Apple Store is Down… with new MacBook Pros

I didn’t realize that every Tuesday this new year Apple has released something new. The telltale sign that something’s up is the temporary closing of the online Apple Store. Today is no different. Going to store.apple.com gives you this.


What’s coming out today? New MacBook Pro laptops is the leading guess… and yes, there it is, new MacBook Pros featuring a multitouch trackpad.

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Dang, Time Machine Is Costly!

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Even with over 300 new features touted in Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, I bought it for one reason and one reason only, Time Machine. The automated backup feature of Leopard makes backing up your data unbelievably easy. Connect an external drive, turn on Time Machine, and that’s it.

But this peace of mind comes with a steep price that I continue to pay. For Time Machine to work, you need an external drive of at least the same size as your internal. So if you have a 250 GB internal drive, you need an external drive 250 GB or more. Got a 500 GB internal then you need 500+ GB free on an external drive.

While external drive costs have come down, the big drives are still costly. And so while I rely on Time Machine for worry free backups, I’ve also spent a bundle on external drives. My home iMac has a Western Digital My Book. My work MacBook Pro uses an older but big enough Maxtor drive, but what about when I’m out of the office? I need to ensure my valuable work is retained so of course, I need a portable external drive when I’m away from the office.

So for those three drives for Time Machine backups, the Leopard upgrade must have totaled an additional $400. Dang, Time Machine is costly!

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Apple Should Design Interfaces

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I don’t know what it’s officially called, but Apple should get into the business of designing interfaces for devices, especially for those in the medical field. Have you ever used a Kangaroo Pet feeding pump? The device seems simple enough but trying to program it is harder than it should be.

Check out its buttons and “interface.” I’d say junk this button layout and go with an iPod screen and click wheel format. Let’s imagine.

  • On/Off – click the iPod’s center button for on and hold down the play/pause button to turn off.
  • Start/Hold – sounds like the iPod’s play/pause button right?
  • Up and down arrow – c’mon, this is the perfect place for a scrolling click wheel. Have you ever pumped the interval setting to the hundreds? Takes a long time with the up arrow. Why not zoom to that setting by rotating your thumb?
  • Volume, dose, interval – I think a menu system on a bigger screen can easily take this place.
  • Battery indication – yes, all iPods show its charge status.

Instead of the basic LED display, a small screen would be so much more useful. For starters, the screen’s backlight color can indicate status or warnings. While in normal operation, the backlight can be green. While configuring, the screen can be white. A red lit screen, of course, indicates an error. Scrolling text on the display can easily show the volume delivered and the target dosage.

Yeah, I’m no medical expert, but the Kangaroo Pet can really use an interface overhaul.

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Something in the Air…

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So the Macworld Expo is going down tomorrow and the banners stating “There’s something in the air” decorate the Expo venue. Rumors abound about a revamped AppleTV featuring movie rentals. There’s belief the ultra thin MacBook Air will debut, but I’m thinking otherwise.

I’m thinking air as in Air Jordan and Air Max. I’m thinking Apple’s going to announce some new collaboration with the purveyors of Air, Nike. Something like this (but more modernized and stylish).

Forget movie rentals and contactless induction charging of a new portable. How about an iPhone built into Nike shoes? You never know when you need to make a call when out running or just cruising in a fresh pair of kicks.

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Apple Ready to Transform Once Again?

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MacWorld Expos are always fun but the best ones are when Apple goes nuts and does something unpredictable. Something like entering the cell phone industry with the iPhone.

Is the upcoming Macworld Expo starting on January 15 going to mark another transformation for Apple? Will Apple focus more on content for its entertainment market? There’s rumors that Apple will begin offering movie rentals via the iTunes Store. And now the businessman, Jay-Z, is said to be partnering with Apple as part of some kind of music label.

Interesting times ahead.

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