Raves!
See my iPhone review here.
Sometimes the world is cruel and other times everything goes your way. Sometimes something good happens despite all odds against it. Or sometimes good stuff just happens quietly.
My Next Mac
The next Mac I get might just be another MacBook Pro, and it might still be a 13". I've found that the form factor is better for me because I carry it around so often, and external monitors are increasingly common. I used to suggest people get 15" at minimum unless they weren't doing things that required a lot of windows and palettes or the 17" if they did Video Editing or Photoshop often. Now, unless you have to use it in the field (meaning outdoors or mobile exclusively), go one size smaller. You'll save money and can parlay that into an large external monitor.
Good Things- Finding an online coupon that drops the price of something right before you buy it.
- Not having to worry about car repairs for the foreseeable future thanks to a new car.
- You S.O. waking you up with a hug and a smile.
- Meeting people you've seen around, and finding out that they're pretty cool.
- Seeing old friends and acquaintances, and being greeted warmly by both groups.
- Seeing the HTML/PHP page you just wrote displaying correctly the first time.
- Seeing a band you've really liked for ages live for the first time, and finding out they rock.
- Finding a $5 bill in the pocket of your jeans when you're broke and hungry.
- Finding an extremely cool freeware application. (This month it is Tunespan)
- Discovering how powerful your computer is, even though it's already 3 years (or more) old.
- Streetlight Records Employees. They know their music and they seem genuinely nice in stark contrast to other record stores standoff-ish, often clueless staff. The latest version of OS X up and running without only minor hiccups.
- ...And of course, Clan Lord
Unsolicited Product Endorsements
I really like this product: Slim Devices' Squeezebox Boom for anyone that loves internet radio or a wealth of other internet streaming services OR a ton of MP3s on a server (like I do) they want to stream without having the computer (that's not the server that is) on. I listen to a lot of music, and if you love it as much as I do and your life is digital get this product. It simply rocks!
Also, it works great with Pandora!
I moved over this site to Dreamhost after it being on my home computer for somewhere in the area of 5 years. Dreamhost is pretty good so far. Only minor hiccups thus far.
The next streaming device I get will probably be a RoKu or an AppleTV. I'm torn between Airplay Video Mirroring and being able to stream most online content. Considering that both can be had for under $100, I'll probably end up getting both
Cool Software For OS X
1Password by Agile Bits Software
1Password is simply the best addition you can make to your computer. If you have many accounts at different web sites or a lot of software or private notes to keep track of, 1Password is both liberating and encourages better security practices. It is not often you get something that make a process better, easy and faster is one shot: 1Password is that shot. It is well worth the money in the time and hassle it has saved me, especially when I forget my password. The Browser plugin works across many popular browsers, and does more than just passwords.
It has a place to store those software registration keys one always gets and loses: 1Password is taming those secure notes and other unruly things as well. It has a strong password generator, and can tell you how strong your password is as well. It will store IM login info, Database server logins — you name it. Also, if you need to take your passwords with you there is a nifty iPhone/iPod app as well as an Android app. It will also store identity and credit card info as well.
The best thing is it doesn’t take any effort to configure it*. It simply pops up in your browser once you install the program and the plugin and offers to store your passwords once you set a master password for its keychain. Then to enter the password you just click on the “1P” button and choose your login.
Oh, and it also does Windows.
*unless you want to use it with Dropbox, in which case it’s really easy to move one file.
Coda by Panic Software
Coda is an all in one text and CSS editor, FTP and SSH client for OS X aimed specifically at hand coded web sites. If you write your web site's code in a text editor as opposed to using tools such as Dreamweaver or .iWeb, you need to try Coda and get the feel for it. At the time of this writing the price of this software is $99, but it's worth much more if you want to streamline your workflow. Coda is made by the same company that makes Transmit, and has all the power that Transmit has. Also, if you own BBEdit you can set that as the external editor. However, the editor built into Coda is so powerful and flexible that you'll be opening BBEdit less and less as you get used to editing in Coda. Coda is just about perfect, that's why I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Default Folder X by St. Clair Software
Default folder in one incarnation or another has been around over 10 years, and it's one of the first thing I install on my Macs. If you remember a program in the dark age of Mac-dom called "Boomerang" (not the data recovery tool for OS X) then you know what Default folder does. But it's like Boomerang on steroids. Default Folder X quietly keeps track of the last folder you were in on an application by application basis. Let's you go from your pictures folder in Photoshop, then go to your documents folder in Pages and go to you movies folder in Quicktime. Without Default Folder X, If you were to go back to Photoshop, then you'd have to navigate from your movies to your pictures folder. With Default Folder X, you simply go back to Photoshop or Pages and when you choose "Open..." from the file menu it will present you with the pictures or documents folder (or the last folder you were in last time you used the "Open..." command). This is a huge time saver. But wait there's more! If you already have the folder open in the finder that you want to navigate to, you can simply click on the folder when the "Open..." dialog box comes up. On top of that DFX keeps a history of the last few places you went to so, if you are navigating between 2 or more folders in one application, you can quickly switch paths without having to repetitively navigate back and forth between them. It also has a favorites menu as well as other nifty OS X integration features. This is truly a five star utility, and well worth the price. Check it out at St. Clair Software.
Adiumby the Open Source Community
Adium is an Open Source multi-IM client that handles pretty much every chat platform around. I've used it extensively for years and not only is it free but it is stable and extremely customizable. Being free you have nothing to lose by trying it.
iClip Lyrics (now discontinued thanks to Copyright Issues)
iClip Llyrics is a simple prgoram that comes in quite handy if you're like me and like to havd the lyrics to you favorite songs available. It searches the lyric wiki at http://lyrics.wikia.com/ which includes entries for thousands upon thousands of songs. It main selling point is the abiltiy to search and clip lyrics within its built in browser if it doesn't find the lyrics at the wiki. But with features like batch processing, and automatic updating, iClip Lyrics is not without its problems. In a previous version iClip clipped the lyrics fine but it failed to recognize carriage returns. So, I dinged it half a star to take it to a very respectable 4.5 stars out of 5.
Skitch(purchased by Evernote Corporation)
Skitch is a screen capture utility like no other. Skitch allows you with a few clicks to take picture, upload it and share it with people over the internet. Not only that, but the account to host your pictures is free. Also, you can edit the picture in the window that pops up after you do a screen capture and drag an icon preview of your capture into any open folder. It completely streamlines the process of doing a screen capture, opening the file, editing it, uploading it and sharing the address from minutes to seconds. That's why Skitch gets 5 out of 5 Stars.
Opinionit was recently reported that Apple's market share has increased back up to 4.5%. It's up 37% over last year. Sales increased significantly after the intel switch. They're picking up steam, and critical mass is approaching. I can imagine so some will be able to triple boot a MacPro into OS X, Linux AND Windows 7.
Update: It's at about 10% now...
There's more but I sense people have already nodded off....