Raible Designs

Exporting an outline from Keynote

Last night, I started thinking it would be pretty cool if I could take a Keynote presentation and export an outline from it. After a bit of Googling, I discovered that OmniOutliner can open Keynote files. I was tickled pink when I read this, only to be disappointed a minute later when I found it didn't work. It imported the file OK, but most of the bullet points are blank, and the ones with text only contain notes.

I'm using Keynote 3.0.1 and OmniOutliner 3.5. Has anyone had success using this feature in OmniOutliner? Of course, if you know of a way to export a Keynote (or PowerPoint) outline, I'm all ears.

2 Minutes Later: Looks like there's a beta that supports Keynote 3.0. Sorry for the noise.

Update: Same result with the beta. Damn.

Parallels Workstation for OS X fails the 10 minute test

I gave the Parallels Workstation a run for its money on my MacBook Pro this evening. It failed the 10-minute test because it took 45 minutes just to install Windows. Beyond that, the networking doesn't work and you can't full-screen the application window. It's not included in the free beta download. I think I'll just continue using a 2nd Windows box instead of making my MacBook Pro a 2-n-1 machine.

Update: The Beta 2 and Beta 3 solve these issues. However, I'm unable to install WebLogic 9.1 on either of these. I get a nice "could not extract the archive since it is corrupted. Error code = 2" error from the installer. Luckily, I found this howto for OS X. The same Windows installer works fine on a real Windows XP box.

Run Windows XP on your Mac Book Pro

I have to admit, it's pretty cool to see Apple's BootCamp. This software allows you to install/boot Windows XP on a MacBook Pro. I'm intrigued by the thought of doing this. I'd love to use WAPT, Beyond Compare, TopStyle and HomeSite on my laptop.

However, I realize that the process of installing BootCamp would probably take up the whole day - and after 2 days, I'd never use boot into Windows again. It's just easier to use my Windows box when I need Windows stuff. The thing I am interested in is running Windows XP on my Mac using VMWare. Then I don't have to reboot the whole machine just to do some CSS tweaking with TopStyle.

MacBook Pro Battery Life

I leave my MacBook Pro at the office these days, and keep it plugged in most of the time. However, some folks have asked about battery life, so I figured I'd test it out today. I unplugged it when I got in and waited for it to sleep. 2 hours and 23 minutes. This is on par with my old PowerBook, but it's quite different from what MacRumors says (3hr 17min). I have a keyboard, mouse and 20" cinema display hooked up to it, but the display has its own power, so I doubt that effects the results.

MacBook Pro and Wireless

The only major issue I've had so far with my MacBook Pro is wireless connectivity. It works fine at my office, works great at Starbucks, but not at home. My router is a Netgear WGT624.

The Netgear works flawlessly with my Windows XP Desktop (HP Pavilion 1250n) and PowerBook G4. It works with no password, 40-bit WEP and 128-bit WEP. But not with the MacBook Pro. Is there something special I have to set on my router for it to work with the MacBook Pro?

I posted this question on the Apple Discussion forums yesterday (which appear to be powered by Jive Forums). The response? Crickets. Oh well, I think I'll just leave my MacBook at the office and ignore this issue for now.

Update: Looks like Apple is aware of many issues with the MacBook Pro. Hat tip to Jeff for the article.

The MacBook Pro's start arriving

David Heinemeier Hansson in MacBook Pro: So fast, oh, so fast:

The MacBook just feels freaking fast.
...
The MacBook Pro simply rocks.

Rob Williams in Eclipse on MacBook Pro:

First off, this machine is very fast. It is like having a G5 laptop. Apple says 4x over the G4. I was kind of skeptical about that. Not anymore.

Mine is due to arrive Friday morning at 10:30. Unlike everyone that compares their new MacBook to their old PowerBook - I'll be comparing mine to my dual core AMD 64 with 3GB of RAM. The MacBook is likely to lose, but it should put things in a more realistic perspective. Especially since I continue to use Windows and OS X an equal amount.

Thursday, 8:30 AM: From Fedex Tracking: 7:50 AM | On FedEx vehicle for delivery | LITTLETON, CO. Sweet! Looks like I'm going to have to ride into work a bit late.

Thursday, 9:30 AM: It's here! I'm heading into work with both machines to build it - so I probably won't have any benchmarks until this afternoon. I forget the initial steps to get the best battery life - anyone got those handy. As Julie said a few minutes ago, "No Wheelies!"

Quote of the Day

Alex Russell: "It's a cock tease in the form of a laptop."

New MacBook Pro has shipped!

A week ago, Apple announced that it was shipping MacBook Pros with faster processors. At the time, this seemed like an excuse for Apple to change the shipping date from February 15th to the 28th. Since I was already disappointed by the extra 2-week wait, I upgraded to the 2.16 GHz chip. This bumped my ship date back even further - to March 17th.

However, I just received an e-mail from Apple saying that my laptop has shipped! WTF? Either there's a glitch in their system or I'm gonna be one happy camper at the end of this week.

MacBook Pros shipping with faster processors

This morning I was pumped to read that the MacBook Pro is shipping with faster processors. Of course, since there's a 2.16 GHz version available, I called today to upgrade. It's $300 more and it would delay my order by 3-4 weeks. I had to pass - I've been waiting long enough for a faster laptop. I'd gladly pay twice as much for an upgrade if it was shipped on the same date.

Hmmmmmm

This will make you have second thoughts about purchasing a MacBook, eh?

..."They can't get enough Core Duo (chips)," said my source. He also said that if he were me, he probably wouldn't order one of the new MacBook Pros. I asked if there would be MacBook replacements for the 17-inch and 12-inch PowerBooks, but he said, "Oh, it's much cooler than that. Much cooler." - Leander Kahney