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Posts from ‘Mac’

Snippets: a Powerful code storage system

Posted on: May 23rd, 2010 by Bob No Comments

I first came across snippets when it was in very early beta. I had been using Code Collector Pro for a few months and I was far from satisfied. I downloaded it and wanted to move over but didn’t want to redo all my snippets. About a month later when Snippets was around beta .8 (one of the final versions before full release) code collector pro corrupted my entire database and I was sold. I started up snippets and took off. Ever since I can’t even imagine how I lasted without it. One thing that the snippets guys brought up to me is their Import utility which is absolutely amazing. Mainly it gives you the ability to import your snippets from different unfortunately popular snippet collecting applications. If you’ve stored a significant amount of snippets in a different application this is exactly what you need.

What it’s made for

Snippets aims to give you a great way to not only save and store your code but also use it anytime anywhere with ease. Their web site puts it perfectly as

“The main idea is to make the process of reusing as easy as possible to avoid wasting your valuable time to write the same code again.”

Who is the target crowd? In my opinion it’s anyone who uses code, ever. The amount of time this will save you from not only not having to type it again but also from not having to find snippets again somewhere on the internet is invaluable.
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Steve Jobs on Flash

Posted on: April 29th, 2010 by Bob No Comments

Wow….just wow….never in a million years would I have expected to read what I just read…A 1600 word essay from Steve Jobs himself explaining IN DETAIL why Apple is supporting flash less and less. You can read the original article here straight from apple.com.

Argument

Steve highlights six main points to explain his reasoning.

1. “Open”

Steve dives into detail about how flash is a completely closed system. He admits that the iOS is proprietary too but explains that flash is completely controlled by Adobe, the definition of closed.

2. Full Web

Since the iDevices stopped fully supporting flash people continuously say that without flash you’re missing out on 95% of web video. That is blatantly not true. He first talks about YouTube since they hold an estimated 40% of web video and come with a handy little application to make it all work, and then he lists these: “Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.” A very convincing point.

3. Reliability, security and performance.

The trifecta of the computing experience, and something flash has never delivered on any Apple platform. Don’t believe me? Just go here (warning depending on your browser it may crash immediately, thats the point.) Or you can just read this article from TUAW explaining the 16 month old bug…

4. Battery life

I’m glad Steve touched on this because this is something a lot of people don’t understand, and he explains it in detail. Mainly flash video is decoded in software rather than hardware (where H.264 is decoded) which destroys your battery life.

5. Touch

This makes perfect sense. Flash relies heavily on hover events to achieve silly effects, this is obviously not something you could provide on an iDevice, Steve puts it this way “Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers.”

6. The most important reason

Steve debunks the idea that they only reason you can’t develop in flash for the iDevices is political, he explains that it’s because of their spotty performance when transcoded.

Final Thoughts

I think this is a great argument that really may be one of the last nails in the coffin that is flash, something that I am not sad to see go.

Source

Steve confirms they aren’t dropping OSX

Posted on: April 29th, 2010 by Bob No Comments

After Apple confirmed WWDC today people started noticing that the focus was definitely on the iOS.  There was absolutely no mention of OSX in the itinerary. 9to5mac (one of my favorite sites) posted this article about it, raising the question, is this the new path for Apple. I know many people myself included did not like this at all and thankfully it is not.  A Steve Jobs Email Replies reader Nathan (twitter) thankfully just forwarded me this email that he received directly from Steve.


It’s great to hear that the iOS is not going to be their only focus in the future. Thanks Nathan!

Ommwriter Review: THE Zen writing for your mac.

Posted on: April 23rd, 2010 by Bob 1 Comment

So most likely many of you have heard of Ommwriter. It came out and was all the talk for a few days because of it’s very strange approach to writing. No one can deny that it is quite different from almost any application. Granted it has the normal full screen mode used in WriteRoom and Pages but it really separates itself with music. Thats right, directly off the install Ommwriter plays music to you. Everyone immediately said “WOW THATS SUPER CRAZY!!” But its really not….

Think about it. If you like doing a lot of intense work where you try to zone yourself out of distractions to help yourself work what do you go to? Maybe you quit your Twitter client and Facebook, maybe you hide your desktop with Deskshade or Camouflage, and maybe, like me, after you do all that you turn on music. I always try to go for something without vocals just so I don’t get distracted by someone talking. And thats exactly what Ommwriter does.

I do want to mention this application is still in beta, I’m sure many changes will be made before that label is removed.
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iPad after a week…

Posted on: April 13th, 2010 by Jason 1 Comment

Well the iPad bug bit me. I was very excited when I first saw Steve Jobs unveil the iPad back in January. I couldn’t wait to try it out. A few months passed and April 3rd finally arrived. I went to my local Best Buy to check out the iPad and was initially less than impressed. I spent some time with the device and after three hours I left with every bit of the money I planned to spend still in my checking account. (more…)

New MacBook Pros and Apple’s strong lineup

Posted on: April 13th, 2010 by Jason No Comments

Well I just have to say that I am most impressed with Apple’s current lineup of hardware. Their iPods are more sophisticated than ever. The iPhone is ruling the roost in the mobile space these days. The iPad made quite a splash when it launched and is still going strong. Apple’s iMac continues to sell well while simultaneously eating away at the need for it’s more costly bigger brother, the Mac Pro desktop. And finally we have the well-loved and highly respected Macbook Pro family. Apple’s newest laptops, released today, are simply stronger than ever.

While I immediately questioned Apple’s reluctance to add Intel’s latest i5 series processors, it will all come out in the wash I’m sure. In my mind the people that purchase Apple’s entry level Macbook Pro are not going to be too discouraged by the somewhat stale Core 2 Duo. I feel that the longer battery life will be more appealing to said customers. Power users are still going to opt for the “sweet spot” 15″ Macbook Pro or even the “way too big” 17″. That said, these new laptops are a welcome addition to the hardware family.

I am loving that there is now an option to add a 512GB SSD, however the price leaves a lot to be desired. I find it silly that 500GB is the largest HDD that Apple allows in their CTO option. Still though, with the low cost of storage these days, it’s not really a big deal anymore.

All in all these new laptops are a nice compliment to Apple’s current hardware lineup. I can’t say I was really surprised or blown away by the upgrades. Today’s announcements seemed like a very natural progression in the way of things. While I certainly won’t be going out of my way to replace my late ’08 Macbook Pro 15″, I wouldn’t hesitate to plop down the cash for one of the new 15″, or even 13″, Macbook Pros.

Apple should buy Cultured Code

Posted on: April 12th, 2010 by Bob No Comments

My task manager of choice on my Mac, iPhone and future iPad is Things by Cultured Code. I don’t think their applications even need reviews, but I’ll go over them nonetheless.
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Nambu questions continued development

Posted on: April 9th, 2010 by Bob 1 Comment

Nambu a relatively recent but very good mac twitter client is beginning to question whether or not they should continue developing their application. The acquisition of Tweetie has them questioning whether it’s worth the time it seems. The application has a nice looking interface that is feature rich and worth giving a shot. Even after this tweet I think they have enough of a following to be encouraged to continue development.

I hope they continue development so that competition stays in the market. I believe that the mac portion of Twitter clients is still a game that is up for grabs. I know that I am not completely satisfied with my current twitter client and I desire a more feature rich application. I think that Nambu could produce this with a little more work. You can follow them on Twitter here to encourage them to continue work!

The original tweet can be found here: http://twitter.com/nambucom/status/11914545359

Tweetie bought by Twitter.

Posted on: April 9th, 2010 by Bob 2 Comments

Twitter just purchased the amazingly popular iPhone application Tweetie 2. Loren Brichter(the creator of Tweetie) will now be part of the Twitter mobile team. The iPhone application is by far the best experience of Twitter on the iPhone hands down. The desktop version of Tweetie is not a bad application for Twitter on the mac I personally use it daily and have chosen it over the many other mac applications. So as everyone knows this is great news for Tweetie and Loren. Twitter will be converting the application to “Twitter for iPhone” for FREE, currently it is $2.99. Since it’s amazing this is fantastic news for everyone.

So where is the bad news in this? It’s for the other developers. Twitter buying Tweetie is a clear message that it is the best. It is the application that they prefer and they are endorsing it as the ideal experience for using Twitter on the iPhone.  It’s name “Twitter for iPhone,” is perfect for searching in the App Store. When people search for “Twitter” it will definitely be the top application with the best reviews for FREE. I can’t even explain how happy yet surprised I am for the acquisition. It’s great for Loren and the future of the application but it’s very surprising to me that a major company like Twitter would brand themselves with a personal application.

Overall this was a great decision and I can’t wait to be a part of the future of Twitter for iPhone.

Original articles:
From Twitter’s blog: http://blog.twitter.com/2010/04/twitter-for-iphone.html
From Loren’s blog: http://news.atebits.com/post/509476371/an-amazing-ride