Blogging and thoughts on software...

I’ve been considering buying software for writing this blog. I’m in two minds now... specifically Mars Edit versus MacJournal.

MarsEdit has a beautiful and simple clean interface and it’s cheaper... does the job, in fact does it well and pleasurably.

MacJournal is serious. It’s really well made and has lots of heavy functionality built in. Including a Full Screen mode which I’m using now. It’s a fine thing, a mature and well developed piece of software. And it costs more...

MacJournal is a piece of software that’s hung around me for quite some time. Back when the now quiet (but then raucous...) As the Apple Turns was in my everyday browsing, I came across it. The site author, Jack, loved it. I downloaded it but given that I wasn’t blogging, found only a small use for it. But I’ve tried it quite regularly over the years, liking the capabilities but not really having a use. So now that I’m blogging I should have a use... right?

Or is there a reason we never dated... Perhaps the simple approach of MarsEdit will ultimately be the better choice. I’ve been enjoying less heavily laden software lately, preferring a melange of programs each of which focus on doing one thing well.

I encountered this most recently when I was asked to give an introduction to the Mac experience by a local body who had acquired a number of Macs. I enquired a little deeper and it transpired that they had set up a network, including a server which had common files on it, and were just running Office. I visited one of them and all of her questions were about Entourage.

Once the initial wave of depression that washed over me, I sat back and thought a little. This was a familiar setup for all of them, they had essentially re-created their old Wintel network, just this time they were using a bunch of Macs. She seemed pleased that everything seemed ‘easy to work out’ and she was probably glad of the virus issue being put aside, they had been plagued by them.

She said they had decided to use Entourage because “ Apple’s Mail wasn’t very good.” As she did this she pointed at the dizzying array of buttons in Entourage and her mouse ran over long and nested menus.... It looked deep, it looked like you could do lots of things you’d rarely choose to do and would struggle to find the things you wanted to do.

And really that’s all she was looking for from me: How Do I Find The Things In Entourage I Want To Do.

She thought that was reasonable, I guess she was used to the struggle.

I have to say, I was a reluctant Apple Mail user, even though I love it now, I love the ubiquitous nature of it and the other core apps, Address Book and iCal. That trio of products won me gradually over and away from initially Palm Desktop and then Entourage.

One of their principal benefits is their level of integration in the system and the ease with which other developers can call upon them. Not only that, there’s a lot of plugins I use every day which have expanded it’s functionality and kept it current.

I can’t imagine using Entourage and hiding there safe inside the Microsoft box.

I think the idea of having a pot pourri of smaller simpler programs which work together might require a more innocent mindset, a sense of openness, a willingness to take that risk. That it’ll be okay, a sense that it will all work as opposed to a fear that it’ll probably all go wrong...

Update: I eventually did chose MacJournal. Two main reasons other than it works really well.... There’s a very cool Full-Screen mode which means I can do what I need to do, focus on writing better. And the small matter of a decent Education discount which as a lecturer I can avail of...

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K.I.T. released...

K.I.T. (Keep It Together) 1.3.1 was released yesterday.

K.I.T. is one of those information-gathering tools which have sprung up on the Mac. We're particularly lucky given all the options here. There's KIT, Yojimbo, DevonThink and lately EagleFiler. All of which come from good developers and are fine products. I use KIT and DevonThink Pro Office. Both do quite different jobs for me.

KIT is my favourite set of smart buckets. Plowing through emails and the web usually means I come across pages I want to keep, documents I need to read, and bits of information that come my way from snippets of texts to images, mp3s to listen to and videos to watch.

KIT eats them all up with one keystroke in the Services menu, Shift-Cmd-K. I love it...

It comes with a set of built in smart folders which sort on the type of data it is, a document, pdf, media or a web archive or link etc. and you can quickly and easily roll your own using tags and ratings.

So I tag, which autocomplete, as each item arrives in it's Library and I have smart folders set up for each project I have currently. I have one smart folder which captures all untagged items, so I can easily spot items that haven't been assigned to a project.

So no more saving on the desktop, no dumb unsorted pile of stuff sitting in a folder usually called...Stuff On Desktop..., instead a set of sorted folders with all of the stuff already sorted intelligently for me. It replicates whatever folder structure you've set up in it's Library so you can drill down into that using the Finder and see the same structure. Excellent.

It's a well-executed program, which just works. A lot of people know Yojimbo, a similar product, which KIT predates. KIT is much cheaper. And the developer, Steve Harris, keeps the updates coming.

Highly recommended. K.I.T. at Reinvented



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Apple's iPhone

First I think it's pretty fabulous. They did a typical Apple job on it. Take on a project the rest of the world has sort of done well, and make it incredible. It's just like the iPod over again.

I wonder what price an unlocked one is... What's the usual discount providers give, a couple of hundred?

I wonder about the EDGE and the lack of support for 3G. Not cool. EDGE is good but is solely US, right? I hope and presume that an EU model would have 3G.

Don't think much of 8Gb, especially if it becomes the only widescreen large video they do. A TV show is about half a gig on iTunes, you'd get about three or four episodes on and then you'd be debating whether you wanted more or your music or photos or contacts...

I'd worry about the battery life. That high res screen will chew up batteries. It's one thing for your iPod to run out of power, it's another if it's your phone. And something so interactive...you'd never put it down.

Jesus, it's made for hyperactive, geeky types with a bit of money.

And I wonder just how many of us will jump on them the first opportunity we get...

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Macworld 07

And the speculation is in full tilt...

They must feel good about whatever it is... a new computer? Hard to see it, they have a matrix that is now complete and completely Intel. And looking at them it's hard to see where it would be done. An 8-core MacPro is doable but not necessarily something the world is ready for software wise. An iMac or equivalent would be Apple's traditional site of change but no one is hollering for that. The tablet market is small.... Steve will never do a PDA...

This for a phone? I dunno... Frankly there's a bunch of great phones out there now. But the level of chatter is so high, it must be on the cards.

Apple since Jobs return has been pushing its own version of what kind of digital media universe we all live in. With the iTV preannouncement last year, Jobs indicated that the circle was now complete. A vision that media would be created digitally, distributed digitally, purchased digitally and consumed digitally. Oh and they're all Quicktime files you own. The iTV will likely get a full unveiling.

The iTV will have a cut down version of the OS... What if the phone had the same cut down version of the OS...

I wonder if the phone could stream files the same way the iTV will? So once within the range of it's iTunes Library it could browse and listen or view videos and photos?

What if a new video iPod could do the same thing?

You could use a phone, your iPod or the iTV to view the media you own on that there computer you own. And the computer could be a PC don't forget so the whole market is available to you.

I think given the teaser on the Apple site... and the overall direction Apple have taken the big theme will be about how it all joins up.


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The Angelus

The Angelus
A short film parodying the Angelus as portrayed on RTE, Ireland's national broadcaster. Backed by The Irish Film Board's Short Shorts Scheme. A Janey Pictures production.
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)
Tags:drama, parody, short, film, irish


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Come To

A short film by Marian Quinn

A story about Kathy Farrell, an Irishwoman living in New York. A series of stills trace out this woman’s life. A series of scenes trace out her stay in hospital. A stationary camera takes her point of view throughout. In a coma, she lies mute, fading in and out of consciousness as her inept and fussing family or drunken and concerned friends come in and visit, culminating with the visit of her abusive boyfriend.

Format: 16mm colour Sound: Optical Mono Duration: 15 minutes. Festivals include: New Irish Shorts - New York / Film Fleadh - Galway / Raindance - London / Kino Irish Festival - Manchester. A Janey Pictures Production
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)
Tags:short, film, drama, woman, drama


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The World's First Web Server

The World's First Web Server, originally uploaded by sbisson.

I didn't know this but I bet Steve Jobs did. Tim Berners Lee's original Next workstation.


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