Macenstein

Man, it’s hard to find free help these days! I wanted to check out the amount and kinds of computers on display at various Apple Stores across the country, and figured the best way would be to ask Apple Store shoppers to send me screengrabs of the “Shared” window on whatever computer they were using. A quick Google search turned up hundreds of Apple Retail Store (ars) iChat addresses, so I added a bunch to my buddy list, and patiently waited for them to come online. Unfortunately, the results of this exercise were both humbling (no one knows who Dr. Macenstein is) and frustrating (of the few people who responded to me, they were more or less all #%@heads claiming to be too busy or scared I was asking them to do something illegal).

Here’s a sample conversation: (While I admit I wasn’t the most tactful I have ever been, I had already had 12 other conversations slip away. This guy could have sent 20 grabs in the time this took him to grill me…)

macensteindotcom hello?
ars095.30@mac.com hi
ars095.30@mac.com who is this
macensteindotcom hey, how are you? Are you reasonably Mac savvy?
macensteindotcom can you do me a quick favor?
ars095.30@mac.com what?
macensteindotcom can you send me a screen grab of the computer’s network you are using? just open a finder window, hit SHARED, and grab the list of networked computers?
ars095.30@mac.com ?
macensteindotcom which apple store are you in?
ars095.30@mac.com NY
macensteindotcom perfect.
ars095.30@mac.com who are u>
macensteindotcom oh, sorry.
macensteindotcom I am Dr. Macenstein, from macenstein.com
macensteindotcom how are you doing?
ars095.30@mac.com good
ars095.30@mac.com who are you tho what do you do
macensteindotcom i’m a graphic artist/blogger
ars095.30@mac.com from where?
macensteindotcom NJ
ars095.30@mac.com oh
ars095.30@mac.com how did u get this conctact to this apple store?
macensteindotcom oh, their all online
macensteindotcom they’re
ars095.30@mac.com ?
ars095.30@mac.com what you mean
ars095.30@mac.com they are all online?
(too many questions… I’m losing him…)
macensteindotcom could you send me that pic real quick?
macensteindotcom there’s a iist of all the various ichat names for each computer at all the stores
macensteindotcom even japan
macensteindotcom if you wanna chat
macensteindotcom kind of cool
macensteindotcom who’s this?
ars095.30@mac.com i dont trust
macensteindotcom don’t trust… me?
ars095.30@mac.com i dont know
ars095.30@mac.com who u are
ars095.30@mac.com lol
ars095.30@mac.com do u have ihat?
ars095.30@mac.com ichat
macensteindotcom hahaha
macensteindotcom yeah
ars095.30@mac.com INVITE
macensteindotcom invite what?
ars095.30@mac.com byeee
ars095.30@mac.com i m leaving
macensteindotcom wait… damnit!

So I now appeal to you, my ego-boosting fans who appreciate what a great honor it is to IM The Doc, to help me out.

Above: These 2 are the big guys I want.

What I would like is for you to send me a screengrab of your local Apple Store’s network. It should look something like this shot from the Cambridge store (incidentally, I don’t need the Cambridge MA Store, or the Short Hills NJ store, sorry). In return, I will send out a $10 iTunes card for each of the first 5 stores sent in (I can only send 1 per store, so get your shot in early to avoid a tie!) and a whopping $20 card to the persons who bring me the shot of the mighty 5th Ave Cube and the Boston Boylston Store‘s networks. (Those stores may have close to 100 computers on the network, so you may have to scroll the window down and send multiple shots to show all the computers).

What I am ultimately looking for it the total number of floor model computers in the store, and then the number of Mac Pros. Example: 57 computers, 9 Mac Pros. If your network shot does not seem to show the full number of computers on the floor (and many stores do not) then please send along your manual count as well. Thanks!

The easiest thing would be to IM me the grabs (along with what store you are writing from) to the IM address at the top left of this page (macensteindotcom) if I am online. Or e-mail is fine too.

Please Note: I found in MY local Apple Store, the “Shared” section was not turned on the iMac I was using, so I had to first go to FINDER> PREFS> and click the checkbox for . If you are unsure how to take a screengrab, the easiest way is to hold down “command+control+shift+4”, then hit the space bar. Any window you then roll the mouse over is now captureable. Click the Finder window, and it will be copied to your clipboard. Then simply paste it in the iChat text field, and you’re set.

Thank you all and happy grabbing!

WINNERS SO FAR:
[BOYLSTON STORE: We have a winner!]
[5th AVE CUBE: We have a winner!]
[Random Apple Store 1: Nashville, TN Green Hills Apple Store]
[Random Apple Store 2: Park Meadows Mall, Lone Tree, CO]
[Random Apple Store 3: woodlands apple store, the woodlands, tx ]
[Random Apple Store 4: Crabtree Valley Mall Apple store in Raleigh, NC ]
[Random Apple Store 5: South Hills Village location in Pittsburgh PA ]