Does the Machine Define the Power User?

10 years ago, I'm designing away on a PowerMac G4, and I never would consider using anything less. Today, my workstation is compacted into a smaller and cheaper iMac, and it's more than able to get the job done. Not to mention, my iPhone is quickly becoming my primary computer for all my daily tasks. This made me wonder if I'm losing my power user status, or maybe this is just the way the industry is going. Are smaller machines becoming the norm even for the power user? Share you thoughts.

UPDATE: Poll Results 9/10/10 - 9/17/10

Do you consider yourself a power user?
83% Yes
16% No
00% What's a power user?
00% Meh

To Turn Off Or Not To Turn Off?

Tomorrow husband, son, and I are traveling to go see my in-laws and friends for Thanksgiving weekend. There's still tons of packing to do, but my iPhone is synced and ready to go. As I was choosing what music to sync to my iPhone, I was debating on whether or not I should shut my iMac down before we head out tomorrow. We'll be gone for four days, so it seems logical to turn off everything to save power. However, I have two reasons why I would rather leave my machine on: Simplify Media and email.

First Simplify Media is a must have for any iPhone owner. I love my iPhone, but my 8 GB version makes picking and choosing music a pain. I have a very large collection of music in my iTunes Library and I want to take it all with me. Simplify Media does that for me. It allows me to stream my entire music library from home and listen to it on my iPhone. The one catch is my iMac must be on and it has to be set to never go into sleep mode.

Now about email. I have a MobileMe account that I've had and loved since the beginning of .Mac back in 2002. I use Leopard's Mail App to check my email on my iMac, and of course I check my email regularly on my iPhone. Problem is, the iPhone doesn't filter junk mail, so I need the mail app to work it's magic to keep spam out of my inbox. This wouldn't be a problem if MobileMe's server side junk mail filtering was as sophisticated as say GMail, but that's another topic. It is what it is, and I can deal with it by setting my own junk mail rules locally. But again, the catch is I have to leave my iMac on all the time to filter my mail, and I have to set my iPhone to fetch email instead of push, otherwise it pushes me all the junk too.

So now I'm curious how many carbon credits I'm burning by leaving my iMac on for the next four days while I'm out of town, or is it nothing to worry about to have access to my home machine while on the road? To turn off or not to turn off? That is the question.

UPDATE: Poll Results 11/26/08 - 12/3/08

Do you turn your desktop off when you're out of town?
33% Leave it on
33% Shut it down
33% Sleep mode
00% No desktop

Simple Finder Solution

Recently, I wrote a blog post entitled Geeks In Training - How Young is Too Yonng? where I discussed my three year old son using my iMac and how much I disliked Leopard's Simple Finder solution for very young users.

For the past couple of months, I had not enabled Simple Finder. Instead, I set up parental controls to only limit access to certain applications on Cruz's account. However, I caught him numerous times clicking on the Finder in the Dock, changing the open window from icon view to columns view, and navigating back to the hard drives and getting into places I didn't want him messing with. When I found Bluetooth File Exchange on his desktop, I knew I had to find a new way to further limit his account without resorting to Simple Finder.

After a lot of searching the internet, I found a Simple Finder solution. I found a Terminal command that turns on the Finder's simplified interface while still allowing applications to be present in the Dock.

Log into the account and arrange the Dock the way you want. Next, open Applications > Utilities > Terminal and enter the commands below. Then log out and back in.

defaults write com.apple.finder InterfaceLevel simple

defaults write com.apple.dock contents-immutable -bool true

Parental controls can still be used to limit the account even further. This is a solution everyone is happy with. Cruz can use the computer and I can relax knowing that he won't accidentally delete any of my important data.

On a side note, Cruz has really enjoyed his iPod Touch he got for his birthday. There are numerous educational applications in the App Store which make this the perfect gift. However, he has already gone into the settings and set a passcode lock on the device and then couldn't remember the number combination to unlock the it. I had to restore his iPod and start over. I'm sure it won't be the last time I have to restore his iPod Touch, but there should be better parental control settings on a gadget such as this. As of now, I can only limit access to Safari, YouTube, iTunes WiFi Store, and App Store. I feel if I enable parental controls, I should also be able to set a parental password to restrict access to the settings on the iPod Touch. He shouldn't even be able to get in there to set a passcode lock in the first place. For now, I just discuss with him why he shouldn't change any important settings on his iPod and hope he will listen and not do that again. Other than that one incident, he has taken remarkable care of his iPod Touch.

I'm proud of my little geek in training. With a little bit a parental supervision and the use of parental controls, he can have a very enjoyable time using my computer and his iPod Touch. I can also feel confident that he is learning some important skills he can use throughout his life such as computer knowledge and how to take care of expensive items. I hope my experience will help anyone else who has a little geek in the house find harmony between their electronics and those little hands.

UPDATE: Poll Results 11/13/08 - 11/20/08

What do you feel is most important when your kids use the computer?
(More than one answer allowed)
50% Communication
50% Parental supervision
50% Parental controls
50% I don't have kids

Geeks In Training - How Young Is Too Young?

Last weekend we celebrated my son, Cruz's third birthday. Spawned from two geeks, he is naturally drawn to computers and gadgets. Over the past year, he has slowly taken over a few of my most needed pieces of tech gear; namely, my iMac and iPhone. At first it was cute. I was a proud Mama watching over my geek in training as he learned how the slide to unlock feature worked on my iPhone. And when he mastered every button of my MX Revolution mouse, I had a big smile on my face. Then it became a problem. My iPhone battery was constantly drained from him playing hours of Jirbo Bounce, and I barely had time to work on my own projects on my iMac. The solution to the madness was to get Cruz his very own iPod Touch for his birthday.

When I told various friends he was getting his own iPod Touch, I got a lot of different responses. My parents were very cool about it and even paid half of the price of the gift. Other friends started giving me bets on how long the device would last in the hands of a three year old. Sometimes I admit, I even had my doubts on the logistics of his present, but my doubts quickly diminished as Cruz took over my iPhone again, moved my icons around, and then drained my battery. He was definitely getting his iPod Touch.

For the most part, he is gentle with the technology he plays with. We make it very clear that if we catch him mistreating anything, it will go away. I think he understands. For three years old, he is remarkably smart. Yes, I know it sounds like I am bragging, but he mimics what he sees, and my husband and I set a very good example of proper care for computers and gadgets. However, he had been somewhat destructive to a few of his toys and books. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he won't damage his iPod Touch or any other expensive gadget in the house. I would hate to have to write a blog about why it is a mistake to give young children iPods later on down the line.

I also would like to add, I set up a log-in for Cruz on my iMac. I dabbled with parental controls for the first time ever. I have a few things I like and dislike in the way Leopard handles young users. First off, Simple Finder is lame! My son loves all the icons in the dock, but Simple Finder only puts a single applications folder in the dock and not separate application icons. Simple Finder is great in other ways such as not allowing access to the main hard drive or external hard drives on the desktop, but the simplified dock caused my son to have no interest in using his log-in. I had to disable Simple Finder and go into view options to hide the hard drives on the desktop, but if he clicks the finder in the dock and changes it from icon view to columns view, he can then navigate back to access my external hard drives - which he does. (I told you he was smart.)

Another thing I do not like is there is no option to prompt for administrator password to empty the trash. I can limit what applications he has access to, and I can try to control what he can see, but if by chance he does happen to throw an important file in the trash and empty the trash, it could be devastating. I guess that is why we have Time Machine, but it would be nice to have an option to keep him from deleting anything.

So am I crazy for letting my three year old son use my iMac? And is he too young for his own iPod Touch? I guess it depends on the kid, but how young is too young when it comes to our geeks in training?

UPDATE: Poll Results 10/27/08 - 11/3/08

Is 3 years old too young for an iPod Touch?
00% Yes
75% No
25% Meh