Just when you think you've seen it all, the Interwebs strike again! Check out the rack on Miss May! Oh... and don't mind her yearning to eat your flesh. It's completely sexual.

I love the internet.

On January 11th, the Ducati Monster 1100 and 1100S were on display in the United States despite having been initially unveiled last October in International Motorcycle Show in Germany. So while the new Monster has already been on European roads, this is the first we Americans are seeing of it.

The new 1100 is the big brother of the recently revamped Monster 696, the style of which has been significantly refined and polished in 2008-2009. The Monster has had a legion of followers since it’s debut in 1993. In 2005, the over half of all Ducati motorcycles sold were Monsters. I’m personally a fan of naked bikes and the Monster 696/1100 is perfect in my eyes, and a much needed improvement over the previous Monsters.

The 1100 shares the same frame as the 696, but has a slightly higher seat, improved suspension and brakes in addition to the obviously larger engine. The two-valve 1100cc engine puts out 95 horsepower at 7500 rpm and 80 foot-pounds of torque at 6000 rpm. This is a significant jump from the 696’s 80 hp and 50 ft-lbs. So for those of you who like to have more power than you’ll ever use (or SHOULD use), the 1100 gives the Monster a nice boost.

My local Ducati dealer had two Monsters of the 1100S variety, which feature fully adjustable 43mm titanium nitride coated Ohlins forks and a progressive Ohlins rear shock absorber with adjustable pre-load and return damping. Some bits of carbon fiber to reduce weight by a couple pounds and gold wheels to adorn the single-sided swingarm finish off the package.

More images below

On a related note, I bought the Monster 696 that day, and love it. It’s got more power than I need, which I am thankful for because I was eye'ing the 1100. Now I just need to keep telling myself that I don’t need a 150 hp bike when the Ducati Streetfighter is unveiled in the good ol’ U S of A in June/July.

My new 696:



Ducati Monster 1100S:









And for those of you that would like to know what a 6 foot 5 person looks like on a Monster 1100 (supposedly it's a little taller than the 696 but I couldn't tell the difference):

Well, I finally bought an iPod - the iPod nano 8GB black to be exact. I have been using an iAudio M3 20GB for quite some time, but it finally died on me and no amount of reseting or reformatting has been able to bring it back. I'm not really disappointed though, because I've been wanting to get an iPod for a while and this was the final nudge pushing me back to the Apple store. While the M3, like many other portable audio players on the market, trumps any iPod when it comes to features, I still found the iPod to be a better match for me.


I have used the iTunes store for quite some time now, and it has been my main source of music purchasing. It's so easy to find music, especially music I wouldn't have otherwise heard in a hundred years. I am very picky when it comes to music that I purchase, and my ears are very tired of the same sounds, instruments, voices and song structures being repeated over and over again. Daughtry? Do we really need another Nickelback? The "Top 20?" They all sound the same to me. Thanks to iTunes, I have been able to search for unique and talented artists, making sure I like the sounds before I spend my hard-earned money.

No, iTunes isn't perfect, but it's damn close. Sure the sound isn't CD quality, but it's close enough. I am able to enjoy crisp, clear notes on my Bang & Olufson earphones as well as my Infinity stereo system in my truck (which, by the way, I became more appreciative of after I tried out the earbuds included with the iPod nano). Then there is the pricing: songs on iTunes are cheaper than buying CDs, but I'm still spending a buck a song, which can add up easily due to the ease of purchasing songs. However, as a personal counterpoint, I like to spend my credit card reward points on iTunes gift certificates (thanks American Express), which basically means I get a nice earful of new music every couple months without spending a dime (that I wouldn't have otherwise spent).

I have played with the iPod before, as well as a couple other old and new variants, and I have always liked their ease of use and simplicity, as with most Apple products which I discovered when I purchased my MacBook four months ago. I also don't need most of the features that the iPod lacks (such as an FM tuner; the radio stations here just plain suck so I would never use it). A couple things I wish the iPod had include a more advanced equalizer and easier switching to and from "Disk Mode" (the iPod is able to be accessed through Finder or My Computer to carry data other than music and podcasts, but it requires a sequence of keypresses which I feel is overkill).

I am extremely happy with my purchase, but I knew I would be, which is why I bought the thing. Seeing as I already organized my music and CDs in iTunes, the iPod just made my music consumption that much easier. Instead of purchasing music on iTunes, burning the CDs to play them in my truck, then reimporting them as MP3s to transfer them to the M3, I just plug in my iPod, and my music syncs and goes wherever I am. I attempted to use the M3 through my truck stereo's auxiliary input, but I got tired of fumbling with the controls while driving. The iPod is much easier to use while on the road.

And best of all? Now I'm hip, just like what's-his-face in the Apple commercials... sans white earbuds.

Here I am in one of my many undergraduate classes, a class where students are supposed to learn how to program in Assembly language and the nitty gritty of CPU design. Every student in this class is sitting in front of a computer. One student sits down at his computer and notices that the screen is upside down (has been rotated 180 degrees through the display properties). He is instantly stunned. He gasps and shows the students next to him and behind him. Laughter breaks out as he pleads for assistance. After about ten minutes of staring blankly at the screen, wondering what to do, with other students around him just as lost but laughing as well, I started waking from my semiconscious slumber (I'm not a morning person, nor do I do a good job of paying attention in class) and realized that not a single one of the students in the room knew what to do. I stood up and asked a couple times if anyone knew how to help him, wondering why no one has. I was completely dumbfounded, expressed my surprise with a select few curse words and proceeded to help the confused student solve this baffling problem.

I have known for some time that many students studying for a computer science degree don't know much about computers at all and are merely after the degree because that's where the money is. But come on... many of these students are A students, and not a SINGLE ONE had a clue as to what the problem might be. I would think that at least one of these students, whom I have shared many classes of varying computer related subject with, would have some kind of inkling... something in the far reaches of their mind... that they may understand on some level what the solution to the problem might be. Nope. The smartest of the students suggested that he ask the professor for assistance.

People like this are out there. Hundreds of them; thousands. They are graduating with honors, 4.0 GPAs, being interviewed by major corporations, managing computer systems, handling our precious data, and they don't know the first thing about computers unless it was on an exam.

I recently found myself without my MacBook for a few days (which will be the subject of a future post) and I took it upon myself to check out Ubuntu. I previously mentioned how easy it was to get running, how there were plenty of applications already installed and how easy it is to install new applications. I talked about how simple it is for novice users to get up and running, but I also talked about when it comes to customizing Ubuntu (or any Linux distro for that matter) to your specific needs, things can get a bit more, well, Linux-y. However, if you have ever used DOS or the Unix/Linux command line, or if you can simply follow directions and hope nothing screws up, you can get some cool stuff going with little trouble.

One of the reasons why I got a MacBook is because of OS X's visual appeal...

I'm a visual person. I like to look at pretty things (shiny things too). One of the reasons why I got a MacBook is because of OS X's visual appeal (among other things). Window's XP just doesn't cut it for me. When I first ran Ubuntu, I saw what I've seen so many times before (on other computers or screenshots of various Linux distros): and that is Crap with a capital 'C.'

There are a couple different desktop environments with Linux: Gnome and KDE (along with a few others such as Xfce, Mezzo and Enlightenment) that handle how the user interacts with the computer. Ubuntu uses Gnome, and on its own, it looks like Windows 95 with a little too much makeup. I'm just talking visuals here, not usability or features.

One of my first priorities after getting Ubuntu up and running was to make it sexy. Damn sexy. OS X has spoiled me, and I need my eye candy. Unlike the limited skinning options with Windows (Windows Blinds or hacking the uxtheme.dll), you can actually replace the desktop environment, the window manager, file manager and a number of other applications with Linux. Say I don't like the Gnome desktop environment... I can just install another. If you have one, you can install the other and decide which you want to use when you login. Mezzo, for example, disposes of the idea that the desktop is just another folder as well as nested menus, attempting to simplify the experience. I am sticking with Gnome at the moment but am curious to see what the others have to offer. Then there is the window manager...

Beryl Cube Desktop
Ubuntu uses the Metacity window manager, which handles the windows and their appearance. You can relate the window manager to Windows Blinds. Ubuntu came with somewhere around 15 themes but they just didn't do any better than Windows 98 or XP could do. Thankfully I can just go online and find a theme I like, or I could install a different window manager with more features. I decided on the a Metacity theme to skin the windows and buttons, and then I found Beryl.

I now have a desktop environment that rivals anything Apple or Microsoft could throw at me...

Beryl is a graphics accelerated window manager, providing many of the same features seen in OS X and Vista's window environments. Getting Beryl to run was a little tricky, but once I got it installed and tuned the various effects, I now have a desktop environment that rivals anything Apple or Microsoft could throw at me. In addition to the transparent windows (that blur whatever is behind them, wobble when I move them and stick like Jello to the sides of the screen), multiple desktops and the various ways of switching between windows and workspaces, I can look forward to new features and effects as soon as some guy out there with a compiler and an open-source paint program dreams something up.

With everything I've said about how much I like a good looking operating system, there is one thing that most Linux applications lack, and that is the polish a high-paid team of developers and designers can offer. While OS X and Vista may not be able to provide as many features or as much customization, their interfaces ooze that quality shine only a meticulous wash and wax can offer. While my Linux setup has tons of features and frills, I would still rather work in OS X, simply because it is clean, polished and everything works perfectly. However, when it comes time to play in the sandbox, it's Linux all the way!

Here are some pictures of my current Ubuntu desktop (click for larger versions):

I'm not sure how old this is, but I've been playing around with Ubuntu and Beryl and just now ran across this video which shows some of the similarities between what Windows Vista can do, and what Beryl can do for Linux. I have my own opinions which I will express later, but until then, check out this video.

I bought the Logitech VX Revolution when I purchased my MacBook in the final days of 2006. I needed a notebook mouse and I'm extremely picky when it comes to pointer lag from wireless mice. The first wireless mouse I ever found to be better than a wired was the Logitech MX1000, which I can still tell has insanely small amounts of lag, but it is so close to a wired connection I can't complain. The VX Revolution, on the other hand, is the first wireless mouse I have ever used which feels so responsive that I would never be able to tell the difference between it, and a wired version (if a wired VX Revolution existed). I haven't used the MX Revolution, which is the desktop version of this mouse (with a couple more features), but I must say, the VX is the best [insert random expletive here] mouse I have ever used. Even though it's built for portability, I could easy replace my MX1000 with the VX as my desktop mouse any day.

I have used this mouse for 90 hours [and] until this week, the battery meter has shown a full charge

One of the VX Revolution's main features is the micro-gear scroll wheel (or whatever it's called) which allows you to switch between a tactile click wheel and a free-spinning wheel, which is a neat feature but I never found myself actually using it. On the VX's larger cousin, you click down on the wheel to switch between wheel modes, but on the VX the switch is under the mouse. You actually have to lift up the mouse to swap modes. While I understand the need to move the switch due to size constraints, this feature probably could have been left out of the VX Revolution. It would be quicker to scroll through long documents with the click wheel than to flip the mouse over, throw the switch, flip it back, scroll to what you need, flip over again, flip the switch... again... and continue using the mouse as usual. You could just throw the switch and always use the free spinning wheel, and I tried that, but then you loose the precision of the clicking scroll wheel when you need it. Also, due to the extremely low friction of the free-spinning wheel, any accidental touch sends pages flying by.

One feature of the VX Revolution that I really enjoy is the USB receiver which is smaller than most flash memory drives and is stored inside the mouse when not in use. When ejecting he receiver out of the mouse, the mouse automatically powers on, and when inserting the receiver back in, the mouse automatically shuts off. There is an additional power button to turn the mouse on and off when the receiver is plugged into your computer, but the automatic power-down makes sure the mouse is powered off when you throw it in your laptop bag, thus saving battery life in case the power button is accidentally pressed. This brings me to my final point, which is actually the reason I'm writing this...

The battery life of the VX Revolution is amazing! Logitech claims that the mouse will run off of a single AA battery for 120 days (not straight, this is an estimation from average use). Well, I have been using this mouse for a month and a half for roughly two hours a day if I estimate an average, which would mean I have used this mouse for 90 hours straight (and about half of Logitech's estimated usage). Until this week, the battery meter has shown a full charge (3/3 status LEDs) and just the other day the power meter went down to 2/3 LEDs. I have to charge my MX1000 once every two or three weeks, and my VX Revolution has gone for a month and a half, with what looks like two or three months left assuming the acceleration of the battery's drain remains constant. We'll see how it goes and I will be sure to post when I actually have to replace the battery in this mouse, but so far, I'm quite impressed.

Note: Keep in mind while reading this that many times I will be looking at Ubuntu from Joe Schmo's point of view, and how easy or difficult it is to do things in Linux compared to Windows or OS X where the average user and point and click to do anything, never having to touch a terminal window.

After my problems preventing me from installing Ubuntu on my MacBook, I decided to install the latest stable Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy on one of my many desktop partitions. I have some experience with Linux, but nothing more than managing a couple servers using Red Hat Enterprise 3 through a secure shell. This was my first time actually installing Linux on a computer and setting it up, which was probably one of the easiest tasks I have seen with Ubuntu so far. I would have to say that getting Ubuntu up and running so you can check your mail, run your office applications and surf the web is quicker and easier than with any Windows OS I have used.


After downloading the latest version of Ubuntu and burning it to a CD (and setting up a partition for it to install to), I popped in the CD, rebooted the computer and in fifteen minutes, I was looking at my brand new operating system. Ubuntu actually boots up off of the CD (this is called a LiveCD), so rather than starting off with an install process, you're start off already in Ubuntu. After the OS has booted up, there is an icon on the desktop that when run, starts the install process. All you really have to do is select what drive or partition to install to, tell Ubuntu your name and timezone, let it do it's thing and within minutes I was back at my desktop, this time from the installed OS.

At this point, I took a look around to see what I could do 'out of the box' so to speak. I was already connected to the internet, didn't have to install any drivers (yet... but I'll get to that in a minute), and had a wealth of applications such as Firefox, Evolution Mail, OpenOffice and more. What's more is the "Add/Remove..." utility which is an interface that checks hundreds of online repositories and gives you a simple interface to install tons of open source software. You basically run the application, it scans the repositories for new or updated applications, and displays them in a somewhat categorized list. Simply check a few boxes and click 'Apply' and you've got new software on your computer. While this is an awesome feature, it could use a little improvement in finding certain applications. If you're looking for something specific, browsing through hundreds of software titles can be a little time consuming. I found many times that I would just search on Google for the software I wanted, then find it in Add/Remove...

I was a little dumbstruck at how simple this has been. Linux sure has come a long way. Then I started looking at my display preferences and good-ol command line linux reared it's ugly head. I'm on a 20 inch widescreen LCD, and the maximum resolution in the display properties was 1024x768, just a tad smaller than my monitor's native 1680x1050. I also found that while Ubuntu supports several graphics cards already, I didn't have any 3D acceleration abilities with my NVIDIA 7900 GT. So I decided to search online for what I would have to do to get some graphics acceleration in this mutha and went through two online sources offering two different methods of installing NVIDIA drivers that didn't quite work for me (the directions in the official Ubuntu documentation didn't work for me). Both times after restarting, I was told that my graphics card was not supported by my drivers and I would have to restore my previous configuration through the command line. Finally, I found a guide on the Ubuntu forums which worked out quite well. After the drivers were installed, I ran into a problem of the resolution reverting back to 1024x768 each time I restarted. Apparently the NVIDIA drivers, when trying to write the new configuration to a file, didn't have the permissions to do so, requiring that I manually do so.

I had a similar experience when trying to setup my Logitech MX1000. The mouse worked without any additional drivers, but all I could do was left and right click and use the scroll wheel. I couldn't use the scroll wheel horizontally or use the back and forward buttons when say, using Firefox. I found several different guides explaining how to setup the MX1000. The first couple times, things didn't work out and I ended up fixing the problem at the command line so I could boot into the graphical user interface again. Once again, the third time's a charm and I have my MX1000 working. However, because I had to map this specific mouse to a specific USB port, unplugging it and plugging in my Logitech VX Revolution caused a crash.

I only go through the details of this because I want to point out that while Ubuntu makes it much easier for a novice to get into the Linux game, I wouldn't consider it an alternative to Windows or OS X at this point if the user is going to want to use anything more than the basic hardware capabilities. While there is better driver support than there used to be (I had internet and audio without having to do a thing), it still isn't perfect. This is however, just my initial impression and Ubuntu is still a great alternative if you don't need anything fancy and just want to get your work done. If you're willing to jump in and take some chances, it really isn't that bad at all, but you should have an idea of what you're getting into.

As I mentioned before, I recently moved over to Mac OS X, and I was also planning on checking out Ubuntu to get further acquainted with Linux (I had previously only managed servers through SSH). I mentioned before that I booted Ubuntu Edgy from a LiveCD on my MacBook. Having successfully used Boot Camp to install Windows XP on my MacBook, I decided to attempt running Ubuntu and OS X side by side using Boot Camp to partition the drive. Unfortunately, before I could even install Ubuntu, things went horribly awry.

Although I never had problems with Boot Camp in the past, this time the gods of pre-release software struck me down. Long story short, towards the end of Boot Camp's partitioning of the hard drive, it failed and I can no longer boot into, or reinstall OS X. After searching for answers online and talking with Apple's technical support, I have to send my MacBook to Apple.

On a more positive note, this did give me a chance to deal with Apple's customer service and I must say I am quite impressed. The support technician I dealt with was very kind, and even though he had to put me on hold a couple times to discuss the issue with other technicians, he told me exactly how long I would be on hold and came back quicker than expected. It's nice dealing with customer service that doesn't leave me wondering what the hell they're doing and how long they'll leave me hanging. Oh, and he spoke English too, which is a big plus in my book considering how many companies are outsourcing their customer service (I had a bad experience with Microsoft's support which I'm sure is documented somewhere on this site). Anyway, while it sucks that I will loose my notebook for a week and may loose some data, expecting beta software to run without a hitch is a fool's dream and this experience (thus far) has made me even more confident that my decision to go Mac was the right one.

Scot Finnie, an editor at Computer World, has spent hundreds of hours with Windows Vista and wondered if it was the best operating system for consumers. He decided to give OS X a try and decided on a three month Mac trial. Well, his trial period is up and he has made The Switch (tm). Here is a quote from his third article covering his trial with a Mac:

Bye-bye Windows! My three-month Macintosh trial has ended, but my permanent gig with the Mac is just getting started. Apple's MacBook Pro and Mac OS X are now my computer and operating system of choice.

If you give the Mac three months, as I did, you won't go back either. The hardest part is paying for it -- everything after that gets easier and easier. Perhaps fittingly, it took me the full three-month trial period to pay off my expensive MacBook Pro. But the darn thing is worth every penny.

I recently made the switch as well. I purchased a MacBook before CES because I needed a laptop and the MacBook had all the features I wanted at a price I was willing to pay. I made the decision knowing that if I didn't like OS X, I could just use Windows via Boot Camp. I set Windows up and had all my important applications and information, allowing me to do my important work without worrying about what I would be able to do with OS X.

After CES, I started playing around with OS X and really came to like it. I decided to look around to see if I could find OS X applications equivalent to what I was accustomed to on my PC and found several open source applications that do exactly what I need to do. I have now come to prefer the OS X applications over the Windows equivalents, just as I have come to prefer OS X over Windows. However, I am no Apple fanboy, I do acknowledge that OS X, just like Windows has it's own pros and cons and while I do like many of the features and characteristics of OS X, there are certain things that Windows does better (not counting Direct X support for games, which is a big issue for gamers, but I don't play games).

I wholeheartedly agree with what Scot says about giving the Mac three months, but I don't agree that everyone will prefer OS X over Windows after three months. Many people could spend three years with OS X and it still wouldn't be right for them. If more people had the ability to give OS X a chance (heck, more people should give the various Linux distributions a chance), we may see a more level playing field when it comes to the various operating systems. OS X is a great OS, but very few people use it. Linux Distributions such as Linspire and Ubuntu are also making Linux much easier to use for the average user, but getting people to try something other than Windows is tricky.

I haven't had much Linux experience (aside from using the terminal to manage a couple servers) and will be trying out Ubuntu shortly. I haven't had a chance to try Vista yet as I had other priorities during Vista's beta phase, but I am really looking forward to playing with that as well. I wish more people had the desire (and the resources) to check out the competition, but unfortunately not everyone is in a position to do so. I'm glad I am and I wish I would have taken a look around sooner.