March 2010
32 posts
2 tags
Pollux - iTunes music organization →
Pollux lets you cleanup your iTunes library by fixing name, artist, album, album art, genre, year, and lyrics. They even have a Windows version now.
It worked considerably better than TidySongs (which I bought last year) and much cheaper.
Highly recommended.
2 tags
Navjot Pawera on his next setup →
My buddy Navjot Pawera on the plans for his next setup:
iMac: Post processing photographs, writing (updating blogs, personal stuff), web development, occasional video editting/graphics work
13” Macbook: Media Center
iPad: Couch browsing (mail, facebook, twitter, RSS feeds), serious reading,
iPhone: Stays the same loyal companion
I agree with his ingenious plan, sans the MacBook as...
2 tags
Fireworks alternatives on trial →
Jon Hicks super in-depth review of Acorn, Drawit and Opacity, as Fireworks alternatives.
I use Acorn, but I miss Coral Draw 7 everyday.
1 tag
Farewell to Opera
Long story short, I’m leaving Opera Software ASA. I’ll be an employee for a while longer but with 10.51 out the door, you won’t see me around the office that much.
Now is the time to click play at the top of this post1.
I truly enjoyed my time in Opera. The people are beyond cool, I was always surrounded by geeks with an extraordinary drive to make the best product...
1 tag
Amazon Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers →
Seems like saying tablet computers gives the obvious Amazon Kindle for iPad page some plausible deniability in case Apple complains.
At least on print, the Kindle App holds its ground against what is known of the iBooks app.
/via Engadget
1 tag
Is there a way to change the default calendar on... →
Yes. It’s under “Settings”. Click on “Mail, Contact, Calendars” and scroll down near the bottom of the page to the “Calendar” pane. It’s the bottom entry: “Default Calendar”.
Don’t know how I missed this after weeks of trying.
/via MacNN Forums
1 tag
People familiar with the matter say iPad stuff →
It has being widely reported before how Apple leaks to the press.
However, this piece by the WSJ: Apple Races to Strike Content Deals Ahead of iPad Release, by Yukari Iwatani Kane and Sam Schechner is beyond ridiculous.
A summary:
Apple Inc. is still working to secure content for the iPad with just weeks to go before the tablet computer’s release, said people familiar with the matter...
1 tag
Dot Canon →
Yesterday Canon announced that it will try to acquire the “.canon” domain. The reasoning being:
Canon hopes to globally integrate open communication policies that are intuitive and easier to remember compared with existing domain names such as “canon.com.”
As I prepared to rant my heart out, I recalled that 25 years ago this week, the first .com domain name was...
1 tag
Kindle app for Mac released →
Amazon just released the Kindle for Mac application. Mostly useful as a companion to your Kindle. One downside:
Kindle newspapers, magazines, and blogs are not currently available for Kindle for Mac.
Bummer, this could be the only interesting use-case for this app.
1 tag
David Baldacci 'enriched' e-book on the way →
Hillel Italie, from The Associated Press:
His next thriller, “Deliver Us from Evil,” comes out April 20 as a hardcover, an e-book, and in an “enriched” electronic version which will include passages deleted from the final text, research photos, an audio interview and video footage of Baldacci at work.
Not sure about deleted passages, but the rest sounds...
1 tag
BlackBook for BlackBerry →
BlackBook is the app Tiger Woods should have used:
Keep your contacts hidden with blackBook’s completely hidden contact list, accessible only by entering a customizable key combination on your BlackBerry® smartphone’s keypad.
1 tag
SNAP (Socialist Network Access Provider)
Destroying my previous wishful thinking post, Cantv’s President has stated:
The upcoming installation of a single access point for all internet traffic has nothing to do with controlling or censoring network information.
It’s true that Venezuela is one of the few countries in Latin America1 that doesn’t have its own NAP (Network Access Point). This means that when visiting...
1 tag
Chavez takes another shot at #FreeWebVe →
On speech on Saturday, Chavez called for Internet regulation, from AP:
The Internet can’t be something free where anything can be done and said. No, every country has to impose its rules and regulations.
Chavez called on the Public Works & Housing Minister and, the Attorney General office, to investigate NoticieroDigital’s publication of unconfirmed news.
The comments...
1 tag
The digital comics are coming! →
As much as I love reading comics on my iPhone with ComicZeal, there is no question that the experience is going to be absolutely brilliant on the iPad.
Companies like Panelfly have already showed their iPad app concepts, but it look that Apple’s iBooks Store is also going to be player, from Forbes.com:
Apple has designated about 20 “top-level” categories for books,...
1 tag
CopyPasteCharacter.com iPhone App →
Every time I great creative with some character like →, or , and even ⌘, I go to CopyPasteCharacter.com.
Now they have a 99¢ (see what I did there?) iPhone Application the keeps the same clean layout and functionality.
2 tags
The iPad is a disturbance in the Apple Store
Most geeks I know have a ritual I call the “fake shopping cart” or FSC. This is basically the online version of window shopping.
The principles are similar, go to your website(s) of preference, and try multiple configurations until you build a dreamy new setup. Just the like intricate and confusing world of female fitting rooms, FSC is not only about one item, it’s about...
1 tag
Rework from 37signals is out →
I think this book is going to be important. Planning on reading it soon.
1 tag
Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal →
Jonathan Schwartz, on the value of patents:
In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”
Funny, I always thought that...
“Get the easy stuff right”
– Scott Galloway
1 tag
Steam coming to Mac →
Wired’s Chris Kohler, Valve Brings Hit Games, Steam Service to Mac:
“Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step,” said Josh Weier, said Portal 2 project lead in the press release. “We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone...
1 tag
Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment →
Edward Tufte, on being appointed to the panel that tracks and explains $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds:
I’m doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I’ll learn something.
I attended an E.T. seminar a two years ago. I’m very sure everyone else is going...
1 tag
Macmillan Publishers CEO talks eBooks →
Macmillan CEO, John Sargent, addresses the changes on their eBooks business model.
On the agency model:
Starting at the end of March, we will move from the “retail model” of selling e-books (publishers sell to retailers, who then sell to readers at a price that the retailer determines) to the “agency model” (publishers set the price, and retailers take a commission on the sale to...
1 tag
Making the Case for iPad E-Book Prices →
Motoko Rich, also in the NYTimes.com:
At a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable. But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent. If e-book sales start to replace some hardcover sales, the publishers say, they will still have many of the fixed costs associated with print editions, like warehouse space, but they will be...
1 tag
Condé Nast Preparing iPad Versions of Top... →
Stephanie Clifford, from NYTimes.com:
The first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, the company plans to announce in an internal memorandum on Monday.
Finally.
1 tag
Lightscreen - screenshots in Windows →
I’ve just spend the last 8 hours taking screenshots on Windows 7. While Snipping Tool is included by default, it’s not flexible enough for me.
Lightscreen is free and has a few useful features - like delayed screenshots and instant saving.
1 tag
Alfred quicklaunch app →
From the website:
Alfred is a quicklaunch application for Mac OS X, which aims to save you time in searching your local computer and the web. Whether it’s maps, Amazon, eBay, Wikipedia, you can feed your web addiction quicker than ever before.
Fast and small, but I didn’t see the advantage over Launchbar or Google Quick Search Box. Still in beta though, so hopefully it will be...