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Upgrading Windows 7 RC to Retail version

Now that the installation of Windows 7 RC installed on my Media server is giving me the countdown to death, it’s time to upgrade with a retail copy of Windows 7 Professional. Microsoft doesn’t support upgrading the free Release Candidate version to the retail version, but there is a easy workaround posted  at Icrontic. The advantage of doing it this way instead of a ‘clean install’, is that you can keep your installed apps and settings. Another how-to is posted by Colleen of TWiT fame on her site, theV01d.com.

After pondering this for a moment,  I decided to just do a clean install. It actually goes quicker than running this hack and I only had a couple programs installed [Boxee and VLC], so re-installing apps was a breeze. I just installed over the old XP partition on my Media box and was up and running. I then deleted the RC partition to free up some space.

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Visit to the TWiT Cottage

On a lark, I decided to drive up to Petaluma and visit Leo LaPorte’s TWiT Cottage where he and crew produce TWiT.tv shows. During my visit I watched the recording of Macbreak Weekly, which features Leo, Alex Lindsay and Andy Ihnatko.

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Beware of iMovie 8.0.5 Update

I love iMovie for making quick little videos from video clips I shoot with my digital cameras. After I attempted to edit some video I shot in Disneyland, I couldn’t get the video clips which are stored in iPhoto’s Library stored on my external hard drive to appear in iMovie without making iMovie crash. I tried all kinds of fixes like deleting preference files in my Library directory etc. Seems there are serious issues with the 8.0.5 update which came out a couple weeks ago. The fix came when I just deleted iMovie and reinstalled version 8.0 from the iLife install disk. Next, I upgraded with the iMovie 8.0.3 update (Apple seems to have removed the 8.0.4 update). My videos then appeared again in iPhoto Videos under the Event Library!

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SubRosa Café – The Place to See and Be Seen!

My new favorite café is SubRosa located near our neighborhood on Oakland’s 40th Ave between Telegraph and Broadway. This little vibrant spot also sports the excellent Manifesto Bicycles and indie-collectible record shop, 123 Records.

While getting my daily cup today, my bleary eyes noticed this interesting looking guy with spiky gray hair poking out of the bike shop with a folding bike. He looked like he was seeing if it was safe to go outside as he looked up and down the street. As I was thinking this guy looked familiar a woman walking down the sidewalk exclaimed, “are you who I think you are!”, it was then I realized it was David Byrne!

He told me he was waiting for a cab, and I explained  that they are pretty pokey here in Oakland. He ended up hanging out where I was sitting the sidewalk benches. He went in a got some coffee and the ladies inside were super happy. Mr. Byrne was gracious and let me take a couple of snapshots with the shop owner’s iPhone.

David Byrne at Sub Rosa Cafe