The allure of Apple

I don't get it. I'm usually a pretty rational individual. I'm good friends with "logical choices" and "smart thinking". Usually, that is...

So why the hell do I always lose my mind over Apple's products? There's something about them that always gives me a serious itch for new gadgets.

I don't need a MacBook. I already own a two year old iBook (12", G4) which is still doing it's job (mostly acting as an expensive toy for surfing the net from my couch) very well. So why the hell do I want a MacBook?

I don't need a MacPro. I already own several high-end PCs that run Linux, enables me to do everything that I need to do (and a whole lot of unnecessary stuff too) and basically kick serious ass. So why the hell do I want a MacPro?

I don't need a MacMini. See above for the reasons why. So why the hell do I want a MacMini?

I don't need an iPod. I already own a very expensive top-of-the-line mobile phone that plays music and movies just fine. So why the hell do I want an iPod?

And finally...

I don't need an Apple TV. I have absolutely no use for it. Quite honestly I'm not even sure I know exactly what it does. So why the hell do I want an Apple TV?

This is a pure hardware urge too. Don't get me wrong, I love Mac OS X and all, but Linux is still my number one choice for an operating system. As a matter of fact, I'd probably install Linux on some of the above mentioned hardware rather than keep their pre-installed operating software. Or at least set up some sort of dual boot.

Luckily, I've managed to mostly keep my urges under control this far. But they're still there and I keep drifting in to Apple's website again and again, reading about the stuff and drooling over pictures.

I need help. Or just a truckload of cash.

Yes, that's my iBook in the picture. Yes, the light is blue and not the ordinary white. Yes, I know it's awesome. Worship me. And my iBook.

Spicing up your e-mail signature for fun and... well... fun!

Recently I got tired of my e-mail signature always looking the same. It bored me but I'm a bit too lazy to be changing it myself very often. So I figured out a way to spice it up a little and make it update itself automatically.

The tools I used for this tiny little project was the neat little application fortune and cron.

If you're using any sort of real operating system you already have cron installed. Chances are that you have fortune as well, but if you don't it shouldn't be very hard to find from some repository or other download source. If you are, like me, a Fedora Core user you will find it in the extras repository.

What fortune does is that it outputs a random quote taken from an installed database of quotes. There are plenty of funny and interesting quotes available for inclusion in this database, such as quotes taken from movies, books and TV-shows.

So I simply wrote a bash-script that takes a base signature, which in my case contains some contact information and the URL to my GnuPG public key, adds this to the output from fortune and stores it all in a simple text file. The resulting file is what I then tell my e-mail client to use for a signature.

The script looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
SIGN_DIR=/home/hayabusa/documents
rm -f $SIGN_FILE/mailsignature
cat $SIGN_DIR/basesignature > $SIGN_DIR/mailsignature
fortune >> $SIGN_DIR/mailsignature
exit 0

So as you can see, nothing fancy at all.

Then to make the signature change once every fifteen minutes I added this row to my /etc/crontab:

*/15 * * * * hayabusa /home/hayabusa/bin/mailsign_maker.sh >/dev/null

Now let's see for how long this keeps me "not bored" with my e-mail signature ;-)

Oh, and by the way, I realize I am far from the first that's done something like this. I just figured I might not be the last wanting to do it either.

How embarassing for him

Bill Gates apparently got his period towards the end of his interview with Bob Garfield. Poor Bill. I hope he had his tampons close by.

Have a sense of humor for fucks sake. What a baby...

There is such a thing as "too much"

OK, I'm all for modding your box and I love all sorts of silly gadgets with blinkenlights deluxe but this is just plain retarded.

I will however ask my boss for one for my box at work ;-)

I am the hitechnoid and I'm here to rant

Yeah, that's basically it.

I'm a digicrazed hitechnoid man in my early thirties and this blog is where I will vent my thoughts and rant about hardware, software and all other things binary, digital and high-technological.

My appetite for all things high-technological is insatiable and my ability to rant is endless. That is why I've started this blog and that is the only reason. I'm here to fulfill my own exhibitionistic needs, not anybody else's, but if anybody finds my babbling entertaining - all the better.