leopard on the prowl
yeah, it's here at long last... i am finally clutching a long awaited retail copy of leopard in my hot little hands, and i will be installing on the ol' 12" powerbook as soon as humanly possible. full report to follow.
per published reports, the retail box does look pretty goddamn sexy what with the 3d holographic "x" logo and all.
god, i'm such a geek.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
iwork '08 first impressions
so iwork '08 came out today and being the uber geek that i am, i've already spent a couple hours digging into the free trial version.
numbers looks really, really good. let's face it, your typical ms excel user arguably uses spreadsheets for presentation and listmaking purposes just as often as to do actual calculations. and over the years, ms has added precious little listmaking functionality to excel. at first blush, apple has made this kind of 'day to day' stuff much more accessible in numbers than it currently is in excel. e.g., numbers lets you very quickly add multiple lists to a page and then select from several out-of-the-box templates when making calculations.
yeah, there's a handful of bells and whistles that are missing in numbers - but it is definitely good enough that i may seriously contemplate dumping excel.
pages '08 feels substantially more developed than the prior version. i have to admit, i spend a lot of time in word and may have to 'unlearn' my word habits a bit in order to be objective about pages. but my initial impression is definitely favorable and i look forward to exploring pages more fully later in the week.
keynote: where to begin. i've always found keynote to be generally bling-ier than powerpoint. in general ease of use (charts/tables etc) and visual pizazz (transitions, effects) there is no contest - keynote by a mile. apple's overall look and feel, graphical tools, and the usability of the included templates are miles ahead of powerpoint. the templates are a particular standout in my opinion - the apple flair for great design really comes through here and gives you a running start when it comes to creating your presentations.
for $79, iwork is an absolute no brainer and may in fact shortly obviate the need for any microsoft products on my mac whatsoever. nicely done guys. (what's the current pricing on office mac these days... $125? pound for pound, it's no contest.) i'll have to warm up to pages a bit more, but taken as a whole, this is a great package and i will definitely be buying.
life on a mac just got even sweeter. gracias, senor jobs.
so iwork '08 came out today and being the uber geek that i am, i've already spent a couple hours digging into the free trial version.
numbers looks really, really good. let's face it, your typical ms excel user arguably uses spreadsheets for presentation and listmaking purposes just as often as to do actual calculations. and over the years, ms has added precious little listmaking functionality to excel. at first blush, apple has made this kind of 'day to day' stuff much more accessible in numbers than it currently is in excel. e.g., numbers lets you very quickly add multiple lists to a page and then select from several out-of-the-box templates when making calculations.
yeah, there's a handful of bells and whistles that are missing in numbers - but it is definitely good enough that i may seriously contemplate dumping excel.
pages '08 feels substantially more developed than the prior version. i have to admit, i spend a lot of time in word and may have to 'unlearn' my word habits a bit in order to be objective about pages. but my initial impression is definitely favorable and i look forward to exploring pages more fully later in the week.
keynote: where to begin. i've always found keynote to be generally bling-ier than powerpoint. in general ease of use (charts/tables etc) and visual pizazz (transitions, effects) there is no contest - keynote by a mile. apple's overall look and feel, graphical tools, and the usability of the included templates are miles ahead of powerpoint. the templates are a particular standout in my opinion - the apple flair for great design really comes through here and gives you a running start when it comes to creating your presentations.
for $79, iwork is an absolute no brainer and may in fact shortly obviate the need for any microsoft products on my mac whatsoever. nicely done guys. (what's the current pricing on office mac these days... $125? pound for pound, it's no contest.) i'll have to warm up to pages a bit more, but taken as a whole, this is a great package and i will definitely be buying.
life on a mac just got even sweeter. gracias, senor jobs.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
getting things done with omni outliner
first off, if you're not already hip to "personal productivity guru" david allen and his magnum opus, getting things done - i highly, highly suggest getting with the program and reading his book - or at the very least, skimming the free primer on his time management schema by visiting the very helpful 43 folders website.
if you are, wisely, already using the gtd system - then you're aware of the brilliance of contextualized "next action" lists to help simplify your life. omni group's omni outliner pro app is simply the best tool i have found for creating flexible, organic, easy-to-manage next action lists.
having tried a few permutations of regular text documents (textedit, word, etc) for this purpose - i am enamored of omni outliner because of the elegance of its "drop down" design. just like the nesting folder list views in the mac osx finder, omni outliner lets you drill down your projects, contexts and actions to the microscopic level - and then with just a few mouse clicks, collapse it all down to a couple lines of text to get the "bird's eye view" of the landscape. that feature alone is worth the price of admission (which is nominal - USD $40 for the standard license i think). the ability to collapse a massively detailed outline with a couple of clicks is truly life changing, and encourages "outcome based thinking" a la tony robbins. ("time of your life" and "getting things done" - now THERE'S a killer combo, btw.)
along with the collapsed/expanded views, omni outliner gives you some nifty features for tracking progress of a project - custom comment fields, inline notetaking, attachments/document storage, and of course the ubiquitous "checkbox". great app, and KILLS word (let alone textedit) as a project management/tasklist system.
to sum up: gtd = good. gtd + omni outliner = freakin' awesome. if you are already on the gtd track, you really owe it to yourself to give omni outliner a serious look.
first off, if you're not already hip to "personal productivity guru" david allen and his magnum opus, getting things done - i highly, highly suggest getting with the program and reading his book - or at the very least, skimming the free primer on his time management schema by visiting the very helpful 43 folders website.
if you are, wisely, already using the gtd system - then you're aware of the brilliance of contextualized "next action" lists to help simplify your life. omni group's omni outliner pro app is simply the best tool i have found for creating flexible, organic, easy-to-manage next action lists.
having tried a few permutations of regular text documents (textedit, word, etc) for this purpose - i am enamored of omni outliner because of the elegance of its "drop down" design. just like the nesting folder list views in the mac osx finder, omni outliner lets you drill down your projects, contexts and actions to the microscopic level - and then with just a few mouse clicks, collapse it all down to a couple lines of text to get the "bird's eye view" of the landscape. that feature alone is worth the price of admission (which is nominal - USD $40 for the standard license i think). the ability to collapse a massively detailed outline with a couple of clicks is truly life changing, and encourages "outcome based thinking" a la tony robbins. ("time of your life" and "getting things done" - now THERE'S a killer combo, btw.)
along with the collapsed/expanded views, omni outliner gives you some nifty features for tracking progress of a project - custom comment fields, inline notetaking, attachments/document storage, and of course the ubiquitous "checkbox". great app, and KILLS word (let alone textedit) as a project management/tasklist system.
to sum up: gtd = good. gtd + omni outliner = freakin' awesome. if you are already on the gtd track, you really owe it to yourself to give omni outliner a serious look.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
black steel
for those who are unaware of onyx - do yourself a favor and download it today.
having spent the last few years bouncing around between various osx maintenance applications and regimens - i can truly say that onyx represents by far the easiest way i've found to consolidate my maintenance chores. and at this price point (uhhh... FREE!), it is an unbeatable resource.
in no order - here are a few things that distinguish onyx from the rest of the osx maintenance utility pack:
1. compared to cocktail, applejack, etc., onyx's help files are a real standout - for such a "feature rich" app, the help system really makes it easier for a non-tech guy like myself to figure out what onyx is really doing to my system. the help files alone are a major reason to roll with onyx in my opinion.
2. i personally find the onyx user interface a bit easier to grok than the competition. the tabs make it really easy to figure out what you're doing - and while the "tweak head" settings are still in there for those who need them, the main functions are easy to wrap my brain around. cocktail has a better UI now than it used to - but i still find onyx more manageable.
3. onyx's developer - titanium software - seems to be a bit more forthcoming with their updates compared to the "other guys". i've seen updates and developer notes within a day or two of a mac osx update, which is pretty nice for a "freeware" developer.
together with carbon copy cloner, onyx has become one of my "must have" osx utility apps. next time - more on my backup strategy using ccc and a scripted backup system. ciao til then.
for those who are unaware of onyx - do yourself a favor and download it today.
having spent the last few years bouncing around between various osx maintenance applications and regimens - i can truly say that onyx represents by far the easiest way i've found to consolidate my maintenance chores. and at this price point (uhhh... FREE!), it is an unbeatable resource.
in no order - here are a few things that distinguish onyx from the rest of the osx maintenance utility pack:
1. compared to cocktail, applejack, etc., onyx's help files are a real standout - for such a "feature rich" app, the help system really makes it easier for a non-tech guy like myself to figure out what onyx is really doing to my system. the help files alone are a major reason to roll with onyx in my opinion.
2. i personally find the onyx user interface a bit easier to grok than the competition. the tabs make it really easy to figure out what you're doing - and while the "tweak head" settings are still in there for those who need them, the main functions are easy to wrap my brain around. cocktail has a better UI now than it used to - but i still find onyx more manageable.
3. onyx's developer - titanium software - seems to be a bit more forthcoming with their updates compared to the "other guys". i've seen updates and developer notes within a day or two of a mac osx update, which is pretty nice for a "freeware" developer.
together with carbon copy cloner, onyx has become one of my "must have" osx utility apps. next time - more on my backup strategy using ccc and a scripted backup system. ciao til then.
Monday, June 11, 2007
golden chute
http://yellowmug.com/filechute/
if you haven't checked this one out yet, do it. it's the perfect file swapping add-on for your dot mac account. slicker ui than webdav, way faster upload times than finder drag-n-drop, and it's a breeze to use: simply drag your deliverables into the "chute" icon and email the resultant download link to all your pals. and it's windows friendly too!
the latest version has a nifty "progress bar" icon that gives you an instant status update on your uploads right from the dock or finder.
the only downside is the fact that this functionality really should have been built into dot mac in the first place. oh well - onward to leopard.....
http://yellowmug.com/filechute/
if you haven't checked this one out yet, do it. it's the perfect file swapping add-on for your dot mac account. slicker ui than webdav, way faster upload times than finder drag-n-drop, and it's a breeze to use: simply drag your deliverables into the "chute" icon and email the resultant download link to all your pals. and it's windows friendly too!
the latest version has a nifty "progress bar" icon that gives you an instant status update on your uploads right from the dock or finder.
the only downside is the fact that this functionality really should have been built into dot mac in the first place. oh well - onward to leopard.....
Monday, April 16, 2007
automatic lover
for anyone who's limped along (as i have) with third-party batchscript apps like "a better finder", mac osx tiger's automator facility is a revelation.
automator goes way beyond anything that was previously possible with the "better finder" series - and does it all with seamless osx integration and the appley elegance of the mac user interface that we've grown to know and love.
the first coolest thing about automator is that it's already built into your os. right-clicking (or control-clicking) on any item in the finder lets you select "automator" from the resultant pulldown menu, and from there you have instant access to a host of batch scripted functions that collectively can make life massively easier.
the second coolest thing about automator is the breadth and flexibility of the built-in scripts. "a better finder rename" is already suffering a massive inferiority complex right about now. here are just a few of the prelisted options: batch add for spotlight comments. combine text files. label finder items. sort finder items. combine pdf pages. crop images. rotate images. oh yeah, and... batch renaming. but of a scope and ease-of-use that "better finder" can only dream of.
the third coolest thing about automator is that you can save your scripts - and once saved, your scripts are always accessible system wide. no app launch needed, no "where did i save that file" brainfart moments, just pure unbridled zero-friction exhilarating slickness for your workflow.
automator in so many ways typifies what i love about osx: it's another one of those beautiful, invisible lifesavers lurking just below the surface of the os - which, once explored, invariably evokes the "how did i ever live without this thing?" slap-of-the-forehead moment of joyous wonderment. all hail cupertino!
for anyone who's limped along (as i have) with third-party batchscript apps like "a better finder", mac osx tiger's automator facility is a revelation.
automator goes way beyond anything that was previously possible with the "better finder" series - and does it all with seamless osx integration and the appley elegance of the mac user interface that we've grown to know and love.
the first coolest thing about automator is that it's already built into your os. right-clicking (or control-clicking) on any item in the finder lets you select "automator" from the resultant pulldown menu, and from there you have instant access to a host of batch scripted functions that collectively can make life massively easier.
the second coolest thing about automator is the breadth and flexibility of the built-in scripts. "a better finder rename" is already suffering a massive inferiority complex right about now. here are just a few of the prelisted options: batch add for spotlight comments. combine text files. label finder items. sort finder items. combine pdf pages. crop images. rotate images. oh yeah, and... batch renaming. but of a scope and ease-of-use that "better finder" can only dream of.
the third coolest thing about automator is that you can save your scripts - and once saved, your scripts are always accessible system wide. no app launch needed, no "where did i save that file" brainfart moments, just pure unbridled zero-friction exhilarating slickness for your workflow.
automator in so many ways typifies what i love about osx: it's another one of those beautiful, invisible lifesavers lurking just below the surface of the os - which, once explored, invariably evokes the "how did i ever live without this thing?" slap-of-the-forehead moment of joyous wonderment. all hail cupertino!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
gtd and osx
...two great tastes that go great together.
part of my newfound zeal for all things mac is a direct result of my exposure to gtd and its benefits. (for those who aren't hip - run, don't walk, to 43folders.com and, if you're ready, prepare yourself for a revolution in your personal productivity.)
implementing your own gtd system on a mac is a thing of pure joy thanks to osx's inclusion of elegant and powerful apps that are eminently suited to gtd tasks. ical and address book are great on their own, but add dotmac functionality (multi-machine sync, web access from anywhere) and you are in another league. the beauty of it is that it takes ZERO additional effort for mac users to get set up with gtd - everything you need is already built in to the mac os, thoughtfully included by the beneficence of the almighty jobs. hail cupertino!
exactly how cool is this? more to follow...
...two great tastes that go great together.
part of my newfound zeal for all things mac is a direct result of my exposure to gtd and its benefits. (for those who aren't hip - run, don't walk, to 43folders.com and, if you're ready, prepare yourself for a revolution in your personal productivity.)
implementing your own gtd system on a mac is a thing of pure joy thanks to osx's inclusion of elegant and powerful apps that are eminently suited to gtd tasks. ical and address book are great on their own, but add dotmac functionality (multi-machine sync, web access from anywhere) and you are in another league. the beauty of it is that it takes ZERO additional effort for mac users to get set up with gtd - everything you need is already built in to the mac os, thoughtfully included by the beneficence of the almighty jobs. hail cupertino!
exactly how cool is this? more to follow...
Thursday, March 15, 2007
the wonders of dot mac
as part of the mac-centric reordering of my personal informational ecosystem, i recently transferred my calendar and contacts databases from my palm pilot over to osx's native pim apps, namely ical and address book.
i will get into the coolness of osx's syncing system in a future post - but suffice it to say that for accessibility, usability and sheer slickness, osx eats palm for lunch.
more to follow, imminently.
as part of the mac-centric reordering of my personal informational ecosystem, i recently transferred my calendar and contacts databases from my palm pilot over to osx's native pim apps, namely ical and address book.
i will get into the coolness of osx's syncing system in a future post - but suffice it to say that for accessibility, usability and sheer slickness, osx eats palm for lunch.
more to follow, imminently.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
you say quicksilver - i say pure gold.
how cool is quicksilver? let me count the ways.
1. open any app. open any document. all with a keystroke or two. need more be said?
2. NEVER, EVER USE THE DOCK AGAIN. i repeat: NEVER, EVER USE THE DOCK AGAIN. why waste time mousing thru a dockful of apps, scouring a myriad of icons for the correct one? hit ctrl-space and type the first few letters of the app. hit return. bingo!
3. search inside xml databases without even opening the app. looking for an address book entry? quicksilver has got you covered. need to track down a favorite bookmark in safari? quicksilver to the rescue. no open app needed!
4. amaze your friends by never using your mouse to open anything.
5. do you really need a 5?
how cool is quicksilver? let me count the ways.
1. open any app. open any document. all with a keystroke or two. need more be said?
2. NEVER, EVER USE THE DOCK AGAIN. i repeat: NEVER, EVER USE THE DOCK AGAIN. why waste time mousing thru a dockful of apps, scouring a myriad of icons for the correct one? hit ctrl-space and type the first few letters of the app. hit return. bingo!
3. search inside xml databases without even opening the app. looking for an address book entry? quicksilver has got you covered. need to track down a favorite bookmark in safari? quicksilver to the rescue. no open app needed!
4. amaze your friends by never using your mouse to open anything.
5. do you really need a 5?
Sunday, February 11, 2007
welcome to the blog.
yeah, i know. just what the world needs: another nerd-tastic, navel-gazing, self-important corner of the world wide web dedicated to the coolness of mac os x.
yeah, well..... GET USED TO IT.
with some amazement, i have watched myself evolve from disinterested bystander, to casual mac user, to unequivocal macintosh zealot. having been a computer geek since the 70's (!), and having evolved with the times from my very first trs-80 color computer, to vic-20, to commodore 64, to vax 11/780, to ms-dos, and eventually to win95 and nt and xp... and concurrently, as an audio professional, keeping a toe dipped in the mac side of the bathtub, from my very first mac se/30, thru the iicx and iici and quadra 650 and powerpc 970 and g4 and g5, into the modern day world of macintels and os x tiger... i can truly say that the current state of the mac, based on my experience, represents the pinnacle of the technological food chain, the crème de la crème of computer geekdom.
i don't know what is wrong with me, really. i mean, the computer is just another tool... like your stapler, or phone, or pencil sharpener.
right?
yeah... what ev. as any mac user knows, the the os x experience elevates the computer well beyond the status of mere tool... and into the realm of some kind of blissful nirvanic zendom, where seratonin flows freely and luxuriously in a warm rain of cogitative abundance; where great ideas grow on trees, springing effortlessly out from the void into joyous existence; where unbidden endorphins tickle your synapses as if by magic, and where a naked, cherubic, airbrushed steve jobs floats suspended in space while pressing frozen grapes into your speechless, adoring, gaping maw.
ok, that was kind of gross. in point of fact, though, i do not overstate the emotional impact that working on a mac has had on me, on a daily basis. every time i boot up my mac, i feel like i am getting away with something. the os is so beautiful to look at, and so elegantly laid out, and so effortless to navigate, that i truly feel as though the comforting blue cyber-scape of the mac desktop is an extension of my own neocortex... like my grey matter is intrinsically woven into the os.
it's kinda like a drug. it's kinda like a non-debilitating electronic mind expander, with none of the downsides of of an actual psychotropic. remember those brief, intoxicating moments during an lsd trip when the drug throttled up your neural carburetor to a full-throated roar, eagerly firing all those synapses that had been atrophying away in back of your cranial cavity.... gifting you with nearly godlike powers of intellect and perspicuity? at least, that's how i remember it - those ecstatic, tantalizingly brief minutes during the acid trip when you climbed mount olympus and took hold of the divine, before the piranhas appeared and began nibbling at the dark fringes of your brain, before the sweating and the tooth-grinding burnout kicked in. but i digress.
the point is: using mac os x gives me that same feeling of being on mental steroids. it's an incredible productivity tool, creative springboard and labor saving device. it's sexy, visually stimulating, and gorgeous to look at. chicks dig it. and, of course, logic only runs on mac, so they've kinda got you by the short 'n' curlies there. but, monopolistic jobsian thuggery notwithstanding, i wouldn't have it any other way.
so. the purpose of this blog is to document some of the individual 'omigawd' moments that make life on a macintosh such a transcendent joy. observations, soulful vignettes, day to day anecdotes, maybe some tips and tricks from time to time.... all in all, the collected impressions of one very happy mac user (me).
hope someone out there derives some benefit from this little enterprise... and if not, i'm sure i will enjoy putting it together. cheers!
yeah, i know. just what the world needs: another nerd-tastic, navel-gazing, self-important corner of the world wide web dedicated to the coolness of mac os x.
yeah, well..... GET USED TO IT.
with some amazement, i have watched myself evolve from disinterested bystander, to casual mac user, to unequivocal macintosh zealot. having been a computer geek since the 70's (!), and having evolved with the times from my very first trs-80 color computer, to vic-20, to commodore 64, to vax 11/780, to ms-dos, and eventually to win95 and nt and xp... and concurrently, as an audio professional, keeping a toe dipped in the mac side of the bathtub, from my very first mac se/30, thru the iicx and iici and quadra 650 and powerpc 970 and g4 and g5, into the modern day world of macintels and os x tiger... i can truly say that the current state of the mac, based on my experience, represents the pinnacle of the technological food chain, the crème de la crème of computer geekdom.
i don't know what is wrong with me, really. i mean, the computer is just another tool... like your stapler, or phone, or pencil sharpener.
right?
yeah... what ev. as any mac user knows, the the os x experience elevates the computer well beyond the status of mere tool... and into the realm of some kind of blissful nirvanic zendom, where seratonin flows freely and luxuriously in a warm rain of cogitative abundance; where great ideas grow on trees, springing effortlessly out from the void into joyous existence; where unbidden endorphins tickle your synapses as if by magic, and where a naked, cherubic, airbrushed steve jobs floats suspended in space while pressing frozen grapes into your speechless, adoring, gaping maw.
ok, that was kind of gross. in point of fact, though, i do not overstate the emotional impact that working on a mac has had on me, on a daily basis. every time i boot up my mac, i feel like i am getting away with something. the os is so beautiful to look at, and so elegantly laid out, and so effortless to navigate, that i truly feel as though the comforting blue cyber-scape of the mac desktop is an extension of my own neocortex... like my grey matter is intrinsically woven into the os.
it's kinda like a drug. it's kinda like a non-debilitating electronic mind expander, with none of the downsides of of an actual psychotropic. remember those brief, intoxicating moments during an lsd trip when the drug throttled up your neural carburetor to a full-throated roar, eagerly firing all those synapses that had been atrophying away in back of your cranial cavity.... gifting you with nearly godlike powers of intellect and perspicuity? at least, that's how i remember it - those ecstatic, tantalizingly brief minutes during the acid trip when you climbed mount olympus and took hold of the divine, before the piranhas appeared and began nibbling at the dark fringes of your brain, before the sweating and the tooth-grinding burnout kicked in. but i digress.
the point is: using mac os x gives me that same feeling of being on mental steroids. it's an incredible productivity tool, creative springboard and labor saving device. it's sexy, visually stimulating, and gorgeous to look at. chicks dig it. and, of course, logic only runs on mac, so they've kinda got you by the short 'n' curlies there. but, monopolistic jobsian thuggery notwithstanding, i wouldn't have it any other way.
so. the purpose of this blog is to document some of the individual 'omigawd' moments that make life on a macintosh such a transcendent joy. observations, soulful vignettes, day to day anecdotes, maybe some tips and tricks from time to time.... all in all, the collected impressions of one very happy mac user (me).
hope someone out there derives some benefit from this little enterprise... and if not, i'm sure i will enjoy putting it together. cheers!
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