I had the good fortune to be at several MacWorld Keynote events over the years, including the one in 2007 where Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone, so this video was a real treat for me. In it, the enterprising folks of YouTube’s Every Steve Jobs Video channel have compiled pretty much all of the times Steve Jobs had “one more thing” to share.
And his “one more thing” was usually pretty awesome. He would have been 58 this week. RIP Steve.
As life returns to normal (or at least my version of it) I realize it’s been several days since I last put some useful and interesting things up here.
So, with that in mind, here’s some more for you:
• Have trouble getting people to do what you want? Maybe this technique can help.
• For the screenwriting nerds out there, John August and his team have come up with a new version of the venerable Courier font, called Courier Prime, to use when writing your scripts. I’ve switched to it and it’s quite nice.
• If you have a girlfriend who would love this as a gift, marry her. If you already did, kudos to you and it makes a nice Valentine’s Day gift too.
• Here’s a complete collection of Mac OS X install disks. I think I still have all of mine too. Yep, Mac nerd right here.
• Have and iPad? Want to use said iPad in the kitchen or other place where it might get wet? You want one of these.
• I like talented people doing cool things, so I like this. Granted, I know Brian so I may be a bit biased. But still, it’s pretty cool. BTW, you should also read his book
• Last, but not least, Tom Witkin’s Poster app for iOS is for posting to a WordPress site and is very awesome. It’s become my new favorite and I now use it pretty much every day. Check it out.
As previously mentioned, I’ve been trying to write with the iPad as much as possible instead of using the MacBook Air or any other OS X-powered Mac. After a couple weeks of doing this, I’ve got some thoughts to share.
First, and this should not come as a surprise, I love almost everything about the iPad as a device. It’s extremely portable and has amazing battery life, even when used for several hours of work and pretty much continuous syncing of Dropbox via Verizon’s 4G LTE. I can only imagine the portability and battery life are going to get better and better as we see newer versions of the iPad.
As a device used for content consumption, the iPad also excels. If you want to watch a movie or TV program via Netflix or iTunes, the iPad is your best choice. The screen is excellent and the afformetioned battery life can get you though several programs during a long plane ride to Hawaii, or wherever you’re going. It also features an impressive collection of apps devoted to bringing you content.
On that note, the iPad is excellent for reading books via the Kindle or iBooks app or comics using an app like Comixology. I also enjoy checking out news, Twitter, Facebook and my Instagram feed using an app like Flipboard. These kinds of content consumption, and the quality experience they provide, are all pretty much a given.
I realize today is only Thursday, but it’s never too late to plan for the weekend. That said, it is likely I will be in Long Beach this weekend going to the Long Beach Comic & Horror Con.
I’ve been taking care of a lot of things recently (many of them personal) and need a bit of a break to explore my inner (and outer) geek. So, in that spirit (and because I missed Comic-Con in San Diego due to my back) I’m going to head to Long Beach this weekend.
I expect it to be interesting and fun. Plus, it will be nice to see a few people I haven’t seen in some time as well as check out some new comics and horror stuff.
Plus, there’s a couple panels I want to go to as well. They mostly have to do with making comics and such, stuff most of you probably are not all that interested in. I also plan on taking a few pics, so be on the lookout for those as well.
In other news, I have opted against getting a new 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display and will also not be getting an iPad Mini. Why?
The short answer is I already have way too much stuff already. The longer answer is I just got a new laptop a few months ago (the amazing 13″ i7 MacBook Air) and I already have an iPad I hardly ever use.
So, I don’t need to spend the money on new stuff I don’t really need or something I probably wouldn’t use very often. Plus, I’ve read a fee reviews of the new MacBook Pro and from what i gather it isn’t quite all there yet. So, I’ll wait until it is.
I’m actually quite pleased with these decisions. I think I’m growing.
See you in Long Beach.
If you know me, even a little bit, you know I’m a huge fan of all things Apple. I use an iPhone 5, MacBook Air, iPad and have had other Apple products going all the way back to before the first Macintosh. In short, I’m old school.
Let’s face it, the company makes, and has made, some insanely great products. Another thing the company is known for is its advertising. They’ve created some of the most innovative and informative commercials in history, probably the most famous of which is Ridley’s Scott’s ’1984′ spot. That’s it at the bottom.
They’ve also had some pretty cool print ads over the years as well. To illustrate, these guys (and gals) have taken the time to put together a very nice look at Apple’s print ads from the years 1975 to 2002.
It’s pretty cool and I actually remember some of these ads. It’s fun to look back and see how far Apple, and we, have come.
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So I went ahead and got an iPhone 5. Those who know me will know it isn’t that hard to believe. I’ve had the phone for a few weeks now (I pre-ordered it the same time I ordered one for H) and it arrived on launch day.
So far, it’s a great device. I especially like the 4G LTE, which has come in handy several times while on the road. It’s also a great phone to make calls with. The sound is good and I get reception almost everywhere (of course that also has a lot to do with Verizon too, I’m sure).
The phone is also faster and the screen is better than the 4S I was using previously. I also like the extra row of icons I get from the phone being a bit longer as well as the new features of iOS 6. In short, I’m very happy with the upgrade.
If I have a complaint about the device (and it’s a minor one) it’s that Apple really didn’t do much to improve the camera over the 4S. Sure, it works a bit better in lower light, but that’s about all.
Although, I’m not entirely sure what they could have done with the camera given the new, thinner form factor. I guess we’ll have to wait for those liquid lenses to get a better camera in such a thin device.
The device is also a bit prone to scratching and I already have a bit of one on the top right side near where the antenna gap is. It’s not particularly noticeable but still, it’s kind of disappointing. I guess a case would cover it, but I don’t really like cases. So, there’s that.
I may do a more in-depth report later after I’ve used the iPhone 5 longer. Until then, if you got one for yourself, I hope you’re enjoying it.
When I find intersting stuff, I drop it in here. Although, as I’ve not put up much lately, I guess there’s not that much interesting stuff to be found. Or, I’m just not looking hard enough. Meh.
Anyway, this is quite interesting, especially if you’re a fan of Apple and the Mac. Enjoy.
As I’m the owner and user of many an Apple iDevice, I found this particular video quite interesting. ABC News got to go inside Foxconn, the company in China that makes the iPhone and iPad.
Conditions and such are pretty much what you would expect from a factory in China. In fact, compared to conditions outside the factory, the workers seem to have it pretty good.
Although, the nets around many of the buildings are a bit disturbing.
It’s probably not a secret to anyone reading this that I love gadgets, tech and toys. As I’ve grown older, that love hasn’t lessened. Although, the quantity of gadgets, tech and toys may have decreased slightly, the quality (and the associated cost) has increased, so there’s that.
That’s just the “circle of life” or something. Anyway, that leads me to recent developments. One of these developments has to do with my search for the perfect way to make coffee at home.
Some of you may be shocked and wonder how I could betray my beloved Starbucks, Coffee Bean or various other establishments I frequent. It’s simple, really, I just want to do it at home so I get used to working at home again. I would also like to save some time where I can too.
On a busy morning, if I have to take the time to stop at Starbucks or wherever on the way somewhere else, it can often take quite a bit of time. So, in the interest of efficiency (and to save a buy or two, let’s face it) I’m going to make coffee at home.
During a previous attempt at this I had purchased one of the Tasimo devices that makes coffee from a capsule. The results were less than stellar. In fact, the coffee kinda sucked.
This time around I’ve done much more research and committed to a much better solution. At least I think it is.
I’ve decided that the only way to make it work at home is to get the best coffee maker you can get. That one, if you ask pretty much anyone who knows anything about it, is The Moccamaster
That’s a picture of it right there. Nice, huh.
I expect this little beauty to arrive early next week and I will report back on how awesome it is. Yes, I expect it to be awesome.
In other news, I am also trying something else again that I had tried several years ago: going all-laptop and having no desktop Mac.
At this moment, I have two computers. One is a 27″ iMac and the other is my 13″ MacBook Air. I’m am giving the iMac to a worthy person (selling, actually) and will be using the MacBook Air exclusively from this point forward.
However, this choice does present a few problems. The first of which is my iTunes library is way too big to fit on the Air. So, for the moment, it will have to reside on an external drive. Not ideal.
Second, my iMac also served as the media and print server for the house. With it gone, certain people are going to have to go upstairs and connect to the printer via usb if they want to print. Also, not ideal.
So, that means I will most likely have to get some sort of computer to use as a file, media, print server and iTunes repository. That will most likely mean a Mac Mini.
Before you ask, I’m not considering a Windows or other solution at the moment. We’re too invested in Apple tech at home to try to make that work right now. Maybe if I get some more free time I can put together a nice Windows server instead.
For now, it will probably be a Mac Mini running Apple’s Lion Server that will take on those duties at home. Plus I would like to work with Lion Server a bit more so the new Mini serves that purpose as well.
Of course, if I’m going to be using the MacBook Air as my only machine from this time forward, I kinda think it should be the latest model, don’t you? Just go with me here, okay? The one I have know is a 13″ 2.13 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 256 GB SSD.
I feel a newer 13″ MacBook Air i7
So, lots of changes coming in my tech world. Fortunately, I don’t mind change all that much — especially when it brings newer, shinier toys.
As I’ve said before, I don’t make resolutions. However, for 2012 I decided to at least make some decisions about how I’m going to do things and how I’m going to live my life.
So far, it’s going well. I’ve managed to be more productive and also managed to enjoy some quality time doing as little as possible. I’m well on the way to achieving that balance I was looking for.
Another thing I would like to do more of in 2012 is take photos. With the iPhone 4S it should be very easy. The camera is great and there are several apps that help to make the pics look cooler. One is Instagram, which is what the pic above is.
I highlighted some of those apps and some of my latest photos in an earlier post. Now that 2012 is here, I’m going to be doing more with these apps and trying to take a few photos each day.
I’ve done this experiment before (taking a photo a day for thirty days I mean) and it seemed to go well. I will try to make it last longer this time around. We’ll see how it goes.
How’s your 2012 going so far?
I think in the spirit of trying to make things work, and also challenging myself a bit, I’m going to try to use the iPad 2 as a writing/blogging tool as often as I can. Let this post serve as the first-ish example of that.
I say -ish because I’ve already done at least one or two with the iPad 2, but that was before. Now, I’m going to take it more seriously and consider it more of an experiment, or test , then I did before.
One of the first questions to ask when embarking on a journey such as this is do I use the built-in keyboard on the iPad 2 or do I use an external one? It’s an important question because, to be honest, my fingers do get kinda sore when using just the iPad 2′s touchscreen keyboard.
However, that may be more a function of the fact that by the time I start using the iPad I’ve already been typing for a few hours. Maybe my fingers would hurt no matter what? I suspect they would.
So, with that in mind I think I will try to use the touchscreen keyboard for now and see how it goes. I’ve got an extra Bluetooth keyboard I could use but that sorta defeats the purpose of using the iPad if you have the also lug around a keyboard.
At any rate, I’ll know soon enough if my fingers can’t take it and then I will consider other options. Fortunately, as I discussed in an earlier post, the rest of the writing/blogging experience shouldbe pretty good on the iPad 2.
I guess I’ll find out.
In case you’re the sort of person who likes to know the more technical, nuts and bolts kinds of things, I’m going to list the tools I will be using during this experiment. Here they are:
Apple iPad 2 (of course) – Apple’s device excels at so many things and has a battery that lasts a long time. It has become an indispensable part of my daily work (and fun).
Blogsy – This is the primary blogging app I’m using. It allows for complete control over posts and offers the ability to insert photos and video. Pretty much everything you need and pretty easy to figure out and use.
IResize – This is a great app that allows you to resize images to fit in a blog post or other writing. You can load any picture from your Photos on the iPad and change the size, resolution, etc. and then save the changed version for use in other apps like Blogsy.
IAWriter – This app let’s you get back to basics and just write. It removes distractions and lets you focus on the words. Plus, it syncs with Apple’s iCloud and its own OS X desktop version to allow you to work on whatever you want and have it available on the iPad or your Mac with whatever changes you’ve made already there and synced.
Other tools:
Pages – Appple’s own writing App is pretty good and I used it quite a bit before IA Writer and Blogsy came into the picture. Now I use it less frequently, especially as oit doesn’t support sync across the mobile and desktop versions using iCloud as IA Writer does. At least not yet.
FDX Reader – Sadly, my favorite screenwriting app Final Draft doesn’t have and iPad version yet. I’ve been assured one is on the way, but until then, I still need to use the MacBook Air when I want to write in Final Draft.
However, I can at least read scripts in Final Draft format (instead of PDF) on the iPad by using the terrific FDX Reader app. This app allows you to load scripts written in Final Draft and saved as .fdx files and view them in their native format. Very useful and saves you the time and effort of saving scripts as .pdf files plus if your a writer on the go or collaborating with another writer it also makes it easier to quickly review the current draft.
So, this is my challenge and those are the tools of choice. Of course, figuring out what you want to do and choosing the tools to accomplish a task is often the easy part.
The hard part is doing the actual writing. I’m goin’ in, wish me luck.
