In the last five years-plus, following the introduction of the iPod, Apple has done little wrong. They've launched Mac OS X 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4, and are on the way to introducing Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5). They revamped their hardware, and even integrated Intel chips.

Their software apps have done very well also. Safari is a great browser. I use Mail.app exclusively. iLife is helping to sell tons of new Mac owners on the platform. But iWork, consisting of Pages and Keynote, hasn't done so well.

This is the topic of my latest post on The Apple Blog, my third.

Catch it here: Has iWork Been an iDud for Apple?

Listening to ''Here Comes the Rain Again (Extended Mix)'', by NRC (Play Count: 6)

I don't know if it is a good thing that I was posting less to the blog this week or not, but over the last two to three days, it has been just short of impossible to access louisgray.com - even for me. So, although I've seen the occasionally visitor, site traffic has fallen dramatically, and I've had nothing but errors getting to the site, from home or at the office.

As this isn't the first time this has happened, I wrote to Register.com, who hosts the site, and asked them if they knew of any issues, or ISP or geographic problems (say if it were blocked by Comcast or all of Northern California). Today, I got an e-mail back, where they admitted they had an issue, and they suggested I somehow convince Comcast to make a change. As if I could tangle with a mega-ISP for my puny little blog.

Their response?

To begin with, we apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

We understand that there was a problem with our web site. But it is resolved. So I request you to contact your ISP provider and tell them to delete the cache files from the server.

So how I read it is this: "Yeah, we messed up. We know it. But it's fixed. See if you can get your mega-ISP to refresh. Our bad."

If this keeps happening, we're moving. I know outages happen. I'm not naive. But it'd be nice to have been notified, or if they had offered to "make it right" financially, as other hosts do when they have issues. Hmph.

Listening to ''The Fields of Love', by ATB (Play Count: 11)

This holiday season, it's not just us A's fans hoping for a big surprise. The A's players and coaches also hope Santa (and Lew Wolff) deliver a big surprise. The ANtics checks in on some of the A's to see what they are hoping for this year...

Click to See Larger Comic
Also: Take the Poll: What Would be the Best Holiday Surprise?

2005 Comics | 2006 Comics |  All Comics | Poll

1. Simply turning on the Roomba to vacuum is too much effort.
2. We would rather my wife not cook, just so I don't have to do dishes.
3. "Picking up" around the house means lifting items just so the Roomba can clean under them, and then putting them back where they were.
4. If the bathroom seems dirty, instead of cleaning, I'd use the guest bathroom.
5. I'd donate clothes to goodwill rather than clean and iron them.
6. If I need more light in the room, I turn the TV on, instead of reaching for the lamp.
7. If the phone rings, I wait, knowing if it's important, they will eventually call my cell phone, which is sitting next to me.
8. I would hire the maid, but I don't want the hassle of picking one.
9. Ordering groceries from Safeway.com seems too inconvenient because they won't deliver in the next few hours.
10. If I select what's for dinner in order of how long it takes to cook it in the microwave. Lowest time wins.