Apple ~ Coding Headstarts and Macworld 2008

Apple news and rumor sites are humming along on all cylinders; what to make of it all? Looking back over the months since the launch of the iPhone what stands out is that not only did they bring new technology to the market but also weathered more than a few storms on the legal frontier. Hopefully they are learning how to choose their battles, while not losing their heads in the clouds of big corporation group think. On the other hand the media who watch Apple rarely report the goings on at 1 Infinite loop in pure journalistic fashion. There is always the need to evaluate that news in light of the bigger picture. In the end it is wise to draw your own conclusions since it’s all pretty subjective anyway.

Apple has sent out a flurry of emails urging their developers to jump on the bandwagon and get the newest round of coding headstarts which points to the steady flow of new concepts and paradigms coming from Mac OSX Leopard. Multi-touch displays, sub notebooks and possibly more portable devices are all being tossed about but time will tell how much of it will see the light of day. My own take is that Apple is mostly evolutionary in nature at this point in time but compared to what other companies are doing it appears to be revolutionary. If Apple is successful in pulling off a new multi-touch device and incorporates that into the OS then it will have become revolutionary indeed. As I have said before, many users are still in the dark about all the technology available in their machines stock configuration. Users need to increase their “geek factor” in order to take advantage of and realize that there is much more available to them. One way to achieve this is to take advantage of the many podcasts and sites that educate the user in how the OS works as well as other great software. If you have questions regarding how to get more out of your mac, by all means leave a comment and I will post my own tips. I think this works better than trying to post a big list that may or may not meet your needs.

Macworld is just around the corner and I am holding off with the predictions for the time being. Look for a rundown in a future post.

Free Online File Storage

Found on Web #4  Away from the computer, out of town or at Grandma’s? You can still get those work files or pictures of the grand kids thanks to a new service called Media Fire. Share files with coworkers and upload files as large as 100 megabytes; no special software simply sign-up and star using it. PC Magazine rates it as one of the Top 100 undiscovered Web Sites and Lifehacker calls it “really well made”. Take a look and see if it’s right for you. Mac and PC.

Batteries Not Included… [ Found On Web ]

#3 —One fact of life these days is that so many of the toys for young and old rely on batteries. This will become even more apparent when those gadgets get unwrapped during the upcoming holiday season. I am no battery expert but a company called Eneloop has some great features and might be worth consideration. Read the review and see if it works for you! In my “Found On Web” series please note that I do not have any relationship with these companies nor do I receive any compensation. Hope you find the information useful and if you do please leave a comment.

Found On Web

#2 —Get organized with OmniFocus from The Omni Group. Based on the popular Getting Things Done book by David Allen, OmniFocus is designed to help you manage your life better. Currently in a Pre Release state OmniFocus can be tried for free and if you sign up early you can get a early bird discount of 50 percent off.

Found On Web #1

First in a series, —links of interest. Yummy Soup is a great little Application for tracking your recipes, whether your own or directly importing them from other websites. Only 20 dollars US and they provide a demo for your evaluation purposes. It’s called Yummy Soup from Hungry Seacow Software. Requires 10.4 Tiger, Mac OS.

…Have an Idea

One maxim of design is to “have an idea”; some underlying concept that holds everything together. It’s the reason behind what you did and how it looks. Great design has an idea; the trendy and eccentric will pass with the next wave of style that comes along. If you wish to look further into these design commentaries you can find them at one of my other blogs “Creative Destinations“.