UPDATE: I’ve made a discovery about iTunes 8.x. It seems that the vast memory suckage that occurs with this version can be limited to a not so vast amount of suckage by NOT using one seemingly minor feature. It makes NO sense to me, but I had enabled the feature that minimizes the program to the system tray. That is what doubles the memory usage – or so it seems. Once I disabled that feature I went from using over 100 MB of RAM to anywhere from 15 MB to 50 MB… I can’t explain it, but it’s true.

I wrote a post about the new iTunes version 8 not long ago, and I’ve had a chance to use it enough that I had something left to say about it. Actually it’s about Apple’s suite of software packaged together and called iTunes.

I dont’ know how else to say it, but I’m growing to hate iTunes because it’s no longer for playing music. It’s a suite of software for a bunch of things I don’t have and won’t pay for – like an iPhone. I won’t pay that much per month for internet on my expensive phone. I have a laptop that works just fine. I don’t have the Apple wireless speakers, or an iTv, and I’m not searching my network for other libraries…

I like iTunes for music. That’s all. The iPod goes with it nicely, but what if I didn’t have an iPod? Is there any way to just get iTunes without all the extra crap? Can I get the software ONLY for the products I own? How about a download for iPods, another for iPhones, another for this, and another for that?

That way I don’t have a 90 MB download, the software doesn’t use up 100+ MB RAM, and the rest of my computer is thankful because there’s some memory left over. I downloaded version 6 and installed it but there were other issues with it so I went back to version 8…

I’m thinking about converting all my iTunes purchases to MP3 from the M4A format and using some small footprint thing like the music player at portableapps.com.

So I’ve made the move to marketing. Back in October I was promoted and given an opportunity to specialize in writing reports with a slant toward the demographic side – that and to also act as full-time webmaster. Earlier this month (December) the marketing department moved from the Port of Catoosa office to South Tulsa (81st and Yale) and I have to say I like it. I was still in the I.T. office until this move for several reasons, but now I’m actually a part of the marketing group. It’s nice to be able to work with the others face to face, rather than by email or phone.

What, you might ask, are reports with a demographic slant? Well, as an example, we’re getting ready to offer a special rate on a particular product (I can’t say which yet – but it’s either a CD, IRA or MoneyMarket account), and so I sat down with the Marketing Coordinator and opened my super duper program called Touche Analyzer.

We started by combing the DB for those people without that particular type of account. Then we looked at the results, and wanted to isolate particular credit union branches to determine which branches were most successful in delivering that product in the past – so I wrote a second report. Finally, we wrote a third report to pick 1,000 names from the DB at the specific branches we wanted, who did NOT have that product. Whew!

Anyway, I’m liking South Tulsa, at least for the selection of eating establishments. There are almost no good Mexican restaurants like at 21st & Garnett, but there’s a far larger selection of other stuff to eat. Plus I have a small “post office” in the same building I’m in, and they can mail UPS, FedEx and USPS! Wow! And there’s a Food Pyramid grocery store across the parking lot. Strange name, but there’s a Starbucks just inside the doors so I’m down with that. Across the street one direction is a Border’s book store, the other direction is a Walgreen’s. Within a few miles is a Ron’s, Mr. Goodcents, Walmart (haha! like I’ll ever set foot in there!), Mazzio’s, Schlotsky’s, Quizno’s, McAlister’s, and I’m not even sure what else yet… Maybe someday I’ll get back to this post and update it with a more complete listing of food places in South Tulsa… Probably not though.

Viv and I went to Dallas this weekend to see the King Tut exhibition. I have to say I was a little disappointed in it.

Strike 1: Around half the exhibit was actually about Akhenaten, Tut’s supposed father.

Strike 2: The rest of the show, what dealt directly with Tut, was far smaller than I expected.

Okay, the bad stuff is out first. What I really liked about the show was that the art was incredible. I’ve always been amazed by Ancient Egyptian art. When I was an Art History major I thought very seriously about specializing in it for a while, but that didn’t happen, and now I’m in Marketing!

First: I like the graphical nature of the art. It’s very simple in execution, but very powerful in it’s basic shape. A 3-D sculpture can easily be converted into a 2-D hieroglyph and vice versa. You can look at a sculpture from the front or the side and it’s just as powerful. I love the versatility.

Second: The portraits of individuals are wonderful in their stylized detail. Let me explain. Like all other images, the portraits are very stylized, yet the artists include traits unique to the person depicted. The lines or wrinkles in the neck, a double chin, ears that stick out a bit… They are truly amazing.

Third: I love the fact that hieroglyphics can be written left-to-right, or right-to-left, or top-to-bottom, or bottom-to-top and it reads the same. That’s one thing I learned about it before moving away from the art field. In many cases you can see a string of hieroglyphics that is actually two strings written in opposite directions that meet in the middle! I love that. That by itself shows just how rockin’ the Ancient Egyptians were!

Last: They thought big. This show didn’t really put that into perspective well enough for my tastes, but it’s true. They made BIG statues! I mean BIG! Anyway, I wish there was more BIG art at the Tut show, but I’ll live. The small stuff was excellent.

I’ll write more about our stay in the Indigo hotel and the amazing food we had – all in downtown Dallas on Main street. Awesome weekend!

So I went to Miami, OK to Shooters Bar for the twice-yearly darts tournament they hold. Allyn got his dad’s way cool party van and took me, Tsali, Stanley, Jeremiah, and Curtis Walton. We had our new shirts and got many comments about them.

Al and I played Doubles 501 and though we did well enough getting big numbers we had some issues closing on our double out so we got beat in the first round. It was okay though because it’s a learning experience when you’re playing people that good. They were indeed that good. Curtis and Tsali played doubles, and Jerry and Stan played as a team. All of us were knocked out in the first round.

In the Singles Cricket I played well enough again, but my strategy is my weakness in this game. I get into situations in which I just make the wrong decision. For example, if I have the option to point my opponent or just close more numbers I tend to choose the wrong one at the wrong time. Not every time, but in those seemingly innocent moments where it shouldn’t matter as much, it comes back to bite me later…

Curtis took the day for Team Running Tab though by winning one game of three against a player ranked in the top 20 or 25 in the country. He won a battle but lost the war. And he drove us home because we were drinking lots of cheap beer. So he’s extra cool.

Here are some pics!

I just downloaded and upgraded my installation of iTunes to the latest, greatest version. I hesitate to upgrade these days because as much as I’ve loved iTunes and Apple in general in days past, these days are full of Microsoftesque bloatware from Apple. I don’t understand why companies feel it is imperative to combine so many things into one when it equals a larger download, slower response, and irritating upgrade notices because instead of one item that needs it 3 or 4 are checking (iTunes, QuickTime, Safari etc.).

The download for iTunes was 64 Mb’s. It took entirely too long to install, and the first startup after installation took almost exactly 1 minute on my 4 year old Dell Inspiron 600m laptop. I’ve only got 768Mb RAM in this sucker and for most things it’s fine, but these upgrades are starting to take a toll on its performance.

The new features include the “Genius Sidebar” which is another way for iTunes to suggest songs you might like from the iTunes store. There’s several other ways to view your library that involve large amounts of memory as well. Pretty, but wasteful if you ask me.

The best thing that seems to have been updated – and it’s a LONG time coming – is the visualizer! That thing was just OLD! It was the stupidest and weakest part of iTunes from the beginning. With other MP3 players like WinAmp generating great visualizers Apple dragged behind for years – strange for a company that prides itself on being visual and inventive. I haven’t really tested it yet because it’s still updating my library with pictures and letting Genius plow through my 80 Gb music collection, after which it will suggest songs I might like when I play something.

Supposedly it won’t suggest something I already have in my collection which is good, but my collection is so diverse I think I’ll have to write a post at some point in the future concerning this stupid new feature. For example, I’d like to know what it might suggest when I start the song “The Preacher and the Man Whore” by the Cobra Skulls! (I’ll post an update when it’s finished with the other 79 Gbs).

The tunes I’m buying these days are primarily in the Rockabilly genre, Psychobilly sub-genre. For years I was into nothing but Reggae, but the last few years it’s Psychobilly. Names from this category include the one and only Reverend Horton Heat – and I’ve bought an album or two of his lately. But other, newer, less known bands I’ve found include the following:

• Supersuckers: These guys can go from an almost folk sound (Must’ve Been High) to a hard-driving, near-punk psychobilly sound (The Smoke Of Hell). Great songwriting and plenty of power when that’s what you’re looking for.
• Hormonauts: Based in Italy, this band is made up of an Englishman on guitar and voice, and two others from around Europe. They are an incredibly talented band that writes original, very unique songs about their own experiences. A good example is “Greasy Black Hands” about having to fix their tour van while they’re driving around Italy playing their music. Another is “I See Two” which describes an alcohol-related accident that leaves the singer seeing two of everything… They’re a truly great band and I’d love to see them live. Check YouTube for some of their live stuff.
• El Borracho: I just found out this band was Australian! I thought they were from West Texas or someplace in the States… Some of the best guitar work I’ve heard in a long time, and again, some great songwriting! “Inbred Trailer Freak,” and “Down The Track” (a song about his girlfriend leaving him for a locomotive driver) are highlights on the self-named album. Give these guys a listen. Unfortunately they are already disbanded after releasing an 8 song album… That makes me truly sad.
• Mad Marge & The Stonecutters: From Southern Cali, they are very close to punk, but they manage to keep the psychobilly focus nicely. In one song from the self-named ablum they even drop for a little bit into a ska sound very effectively. The songs are dark, and the energy is full throttle. They are all nicely tattoo’ed as well – look them up on Flickr.
• The Pine Hill Haints: This is a band from Southern Alabama, and virtually every song on their first album deals with death, after life, ghosts, or some variation on that theme. They have a much more folk-leaning sound with the wash-tub bass, the accordion, the banjo, the spoons on washboard etc. I would rank them as one of the most creative bands I’ve heard in a very long time.

Features new to IE8 will include various user shortcut menus, called ‘Accelerators’, accessible within pages that are aimed to speed up the ways users interact with the information presented. Microsoft also demonstrated a feature called Web Slices, which allow developers to create a snippet of sites that users can subscribe to for updates. This is different from RSS (really simple syndication) feeds in that the snippets are written in Microsoft’s hAtom format, and are meant to work within the IE8 application, not a feed reader. (Emphasis mine)

So with the new version of IE 8 approaching fast they let the world know that they are creating their own RSS type feed that ONLY IE 8 can handle… Wonderful. Microsoft javascript, Microsoft RSS, what next? Microsoft Internets!

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-220823.html

Google just released their new browser. It’s called Chrome, and it’s very cool. Browse through the site and read the various articles and “comics” that give overviews about what’s new. The memory management is much like that used by Linux and seems to be a great idea in browser development. If it crashes, it’s just one tab you lose. So far I haven’t had to test that feature because it seems to be pretty stable. So far so good. 

I’ll post an update later with more opinionated insights!

Crap. I’m scheduled to go to Florida for some software training on September 15, and all I see are hurricanes lining up to kick my butt. I can’t wait!