Apple releases Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 for Mac

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So Apple has released Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 via the Mac App store for $19.99! Sure are undercutting Microsoft there, and with a year between released they can really add in the near and the short term.

So far my favorite part if that Contacts has returned to a 3 pain view so you can see the groups and contacts at the same time as you could before lion. Still hate the B&W icons in the Finder Sidebar, and the stupidification of the OS (such as hiding the User/Library folder).

Also had some issues, lost the icons in the sidebar and had to dump the sidebar preferences to fix them. The finder also ground to a halt after the upgrade, but I fixed it with Diskwarrior. And I have had some scrolling issues where I would scroll and it would instantly jump back to the top. And Launchbar had to wait for the OS to re-index with Spotlight before it worked (wow, I can barely function without Launchbar at this point). Had to change the settings to allow all apps to launch, so I could install apps from anywhere to get everything working though.

The Canon EOS M Mirrorless Camera

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Canon has officially announced the EOS M Mirrorless Camera, and DP Review has an excellent Hands on Review.

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And with an Adapter it can use any EOS EF or EF-S lens with it’s APS-C sized sensor, and includes full video capabilities, though it doesn’t look to have as many controls as their normal DSLRs. Sill for small and fast and compatibility this is awesome. I TOTALLY WANT ONE!

It’s stats stand like this:

  • New EF-M lens mount (optimized for APS-C sensor size)
  • 18MP APS-C ‘Hybrid CMOS’ sensor
  • Continuous autofocus in movie mode with subject tracking
  • 14-bit DIGIC5 processor
  • ISO 100-12800 standard, 25600 expanded
  • 4.3 fps continuous shooting, 3 fps with autofocus tracking
  • 1080p30 video recording, stereo sound (with 25p or 24p options)
  • External microphone socket and adjustable sound recording level
  • 1040k dot 3:2 touch-sensitive ClearView II LCD (capacitative type, multi-touch support)
  • Standard EOS hot-shoe for external flash (no built-in flash)
  • ‘Creative Filters’ image-processing controls, previewed live on-screen

This is an exciting camera, though it sure took Canon a while to get it out (well it comes out in October) as every other manufacturer has one, but the adapter to Canon Lenses makes this so much more versatile! It is $799 with a 22mm, though you will want to spend a little more for EF Lens Adapter!

Surgery Update, Insurance Hell, though really it is the hospital that is the problem!

Can I just say that not only is insurance totally messed up, but honestly it is the hospital billing that is even worse.

Basically we had to pay for the surgery before the surgery or they would not give me surgery. We paid what we thought was the rest of the of the out of pocket maximum (though it seems we are off by about $80).

And now we are getting bill after bill from the hospital. It seems that UCLA Billing has not bothered to talk to the insurance or figure out how the insurance is relegating the money. They just put our payment wherever they pleased, and didn’t tell the insurance that we had made they payment.

And they are billing us for all the bills where we pay 60% and the insurance pays 40% instead of talking to insurance and seeing that after another $80 payment from us, we have hit our out of pocket maximum and the rest of covered by the insurance. And we are talking thousands of dollars in additional bills they are trying to get us to pay.

No AETNA is being helpful and is even trying to talk to UCLA to try to get it cleared up, but meanwhile we are getting robocalls from UCLA saying they are going to take action unless we pay these bills! WTF! It is there mistake.

They have applied the money incorrectly, and are trying to get more money out of us because of it.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 is unofficially supported in MacPro

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Tej’s Tech Blog has a post on installed an NVIDIA GTX 570 PC card into a MacPro and it seems to work except for EFI (so it goes straight to desktop or login screen, you don’t see the spinning ball at the start. Guess you can’t do safe mode or boot to another drive then from startup, though not positive on that).

You will have to do some Terminal tricks to get the Adobe suite to see it as compatible as the card is not listed for Mac, but it can be done.

This is great news. Wonder if NVIDIA is going towards one driver for all their cards, or if it means that Apple is planning to include NVIDIA if and when it ever updates the MacPro?

No matter what, more NVIDIA support for Macs is a good thing. And it is great that the new MacBook Pro and the MacBook Pro Retina are run by NVIDIA cards, as more CUDA support means more realtime with the Adobe Suite.

Surgery Update, another Pimple in the scar

Yuch, that is pretty nasty. The bottom part of the main incisision, the small circular hole also seems to have developed a pimple, that keeps popping and I clean it, and it fills again. It doesn’t seem infected, seems like a pimple, so I am going to assume it is probably another ingrown hair, right on the wound.

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Rather nasty if I do say so myself.

Looks a little better once I squeeze it out.
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Main incision is overall looking pretty good though. With the top part pretty flat and healed, the bump at the top as gone as I think it will be, and above the top wound the skin is starting to look good.
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And the chest tube wounds are looking pretty good. No longer any scab, just divots and very red skin. No longer have to keep them dry in the shower, which is wonderful.

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Still having to use a pillow when I drive though. We bought a small travel pillow to make it easier. And while it does help, since the scar doesn’t like things rubbing on it, especially a seatbelt (and really not even a shirt). And it has actually gotten a lot more sore. Mainly I think because all the nerves were severed, but they have grown back. Went and got a soft travel pillow and it works pretty well.

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Of course it doesn’t help how incredibly hot is of late in Los Angeles! Driving with a pillow on your chest when it is close to 100 degrees outside certainly could be more pleasant!

Still doing pretty well, and just about ready to get back to work. Need to start making some money!

CNET Reviews NEXT ISSUE, Netflix for Magazines

CNET has a review of this new App for iPad and Andriod called Next Issue. Basically for $180 a year you get access to the nearly 40 titles they have and every issue of each. So it is great for Magazine junkies, and they get back issues. You can also do a lesser subscription for $120 a year that doesn’t include weeklies like Time, Entertainment Weekly, and a couple of others.

Seems like a good idea, except not being able to pass it on except to other ipads that share your account. Still interesting, especially as they add more magazines.

Actually my biggest question is if it can be used by multiple users on the same iTunes account, or is it one user per account. As it would be great if my Mom and Wife who share my iTunes account could use all the magazines. That would make it really useful, and a possible money saver.