The other side

Moving...

2005-07-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

I have moved this blog to http://scottyp.blogsome.com/ Check it out there for all the new entries (hah! It's only a few, since I've been so busy!) you have been missing for the last few months!

Contact Metadata: The big WIN = Spotlight accessibility!

2005-05-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

In my first post about metadata in Address Book, I think I forgot to mention that the real benefit in adding tags to your contacts individually is that they can then be indexed using spotlight on those tags. You don't need to tag your contacts to be able to put them in groups together. You can just use regular Groups and manually drag the contacts you want into them, instead of using smart groups, but if you put tags in the Note section, you might as well use Smart Groups, and then you also get the power of Spotlight knowing about that information as well!

Address Book import contacts??

2005-05-18T14:57:00.000-04:00

So today I just wanted to add some contacts to my Address Book. I had a list in an excel document with all their contact info that was sent to me, so I figured that I could simply export the Excel spreadsheet to CSV (comma separated values) or a tab delimited text file, and then Address Book's import text file feature could handle it from there.

So I exported to a CSV and TXT file with no problem from Excel. Then I pulled up the import in Address Book and it really nicely let me match up the fields in Address Book with those in the text file using the headers in the first row and ignore the first record. I could even click forward and backwards through the contacts I was about to import. It seemed nice and dandy until I went to click "OK" and NOTHING HAPPENED! It just sat there like it had no idea I had just clicked "OK"!

Why is there an import feature if it doesn't work??? How hard can it be to import a text file? I could write a program to do this! In 9th grade!

Apparently I'm not the only one to have some problems with Address Book's import "feature". Paul Thurrott experienced similar difficulties and mentioned them in his very thorough and good review of Tiger

Apple, I love Tiger and the Update to the iApps, but please, please give me a reason to stick around and use them instead of running off to software that actually does what it claims to do, and does what I need it to do!

It would be pretty sad if I had to figure out and write an apple script or Automator workflow to simply import some contacts (something that Address should definitely be able to do!)

Anyone else had bad luck importing into Address Book? Let me know about it.

Fixing Address Book's lack of good metadata editing (adding tags easily)

2005-05-17T21:57:00.000-04:00

With such power in Spotlight to search metadata, why wouldn't Apple not allow easy entry of metadata into contacts? You can easily add a tag like [Family] to the Note section one by one to all your family members contact cards, but why not be able to select them all and do it at once. Since I know that Address Book is scriptable and I wanted to play around with Automator I decided that this was a suitable problem worth attacking.

So I go into Automator and find out that none of the Automator actions for Address Book let you EDIT contact info, only search, filter, and show contacts. SO I had to venture into another world of scripting, one slightly more complicated: AppleScript.

After a little help from someone on the MacScripters forums I got a working piece of code. Here it is; it works just like it should! Feel free to copy this and use it yourself!

--*************************
-- Multiple Contact Tagger
-- How to use this script: Select multiple contacts in Address Book, then run this script (via the script menu or Quicksilver are the best ways), and it will let you enter the tag (ex: [Family] ) you want and then apply it to the selected contacts by appending it into the Note section of each contact. You may then want to create Smart Groups that search for that tag in its criteria, and then Smart Folders in Mail that use the Smart Groups in its criteria

-- Author: Scott Paulis
-- Last Modified: May 17, 2005

tell application "Address Book"
set thePeople to selection
display dialog "What tag would you like to apply to the selected contacts?" buttons {"Cancel", "Apply"} default button "Apply" default answer "[tag]"
set dialogInfo to result

set selectedButton to button returned of dialogInfo
set tagString to text returned of dialogInfo

if selectedButton is "Apply" then
repeat with aPerson in thePeople
set currentNote to the note of aPerson
if currentNote is missing value then set currentNote to ""
set newNote to currentNote & tagString
set note of aPerson to newNote
end repeat
end if
end tell
--**************************

As Tony would say, Tiger is grrrrrrrrreat!

2005-05-17T18:12:00.000-04:00

I got my copy of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger this week and I very pleased, overall. But there are a few gripes I have, they mostly have to do with Address Book and Mail.

I decided since I was upgrading to Tiger, I might as well start using the upgraded versions of Apple's Mail and Address Book applications, especially since they are free and I don't have to pay to upgrade them (unlike Microsoft's Entourage)

I was able to easily enough, using Mail's built-in import functionalities, import my mail from Entourage. I also drag-and-drop imported all my contacts to Address Book fairly painlessly, although I did lose the categories attached to them somehow (and hadn't backed them up first ... idiot!)

My main complaint about Mail/Address Book is it's lack of categories support. I'll touch on this in my next post.

Podcasting gets some press and an explanation of RSS

2005-03-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

WHAT IS PODCASTING?

Here is an article on Podcasting, done by USA Today last month titled

"Radio to the MP3 degree: Podcasting"

And another one on Newsweek titled

"Tivo for your iPod"

And one more from a blogger, Cameron, titled

"100 Bloggers - Get Your Head Around Podcasting"

HOW TO GET PODCASTS?

To have automatic download of podcasts you need a podcatching client, which does essentially the same thing as an RSS feed reader except that it is mainly for audio content (and can sync with your music player - for that's iTunes and can put all of my podcasts in certain playlists that I specify so they are easy to get to - as well sync them to my iPod each day)

Here is a link to a popular cross-platform podcatching client, called iPodder.

And my favorite podcatching client for Mac OS X is PodCastTuner.

Another related technology but more related to blogging, is RSS. Here is a little bit about RSS:

WHAT IS RSS? (Really Simple Syndication)

RSS is a kind of file that usually contains a series of headlines and articles. Because there is a standard format for how the information is delivered, it enables you, through the use of special software, to aggregate all of your information into one place.

For example, instead of surfing around to 20 different web pages for news and other regular content, I can just launch my RSS feed reader (see below) and check up on what's going on without navigating a ton of web pages) Such programs present the content in an easy to find and read format and all in one place.

Here is an explanation of RSS on wikipedia.org

HOW TO GET RSS FEED CONTENT?

You can already do this via some web-based services like www.bloglines.com but like email, I like having the content kept locally where I can see it again if I want at my leisure, even without being connected to the internet. Although many sites do not provide full-text articles in their RSS feed, instead they only give you summaries or excerpts, but that is enough for me to be able to tell whether I am interested enough to read the whole thing (off their website directly, which they always have a link to of course)

A popular Windows RSS Feed Reader is SharpReader.

And my favorite RSS Reader for Mac OS X is Net News Wire Lite

Are podcasts better than blogs?

2005-03-16T16:48:00.000-05:00

Yes. And no. I'm going to break down my thoughts on this for you.

If you don't know what podcasting is, check out this good summary of podcasting from wikipedia.org that explains it well. And if you think don't know what a blog is, you probably do, considering you are at my blog right now! If you didn't realize this and want to know more about what a blog is, don't worry, wikipedia.org can explain blogs too!

OK, now that we all know what blogs and podcasts (or audioblogs) are, let's talk about which one is better.

First I'll talk about blogging, since it came first (practically speaking at least - they have both been around awhile, but as far as the general public is concerned blogging became a well-known, popular concept first).

Why blogs are better:

1. You can skip, scan, and search.

They are easier to selectively consume than podcasts because they are in written form, and you can skim or skip as you wish. With a podcast, you are pretty much stuck to listening to the whole podcast in order to glean the quality commentary or whatever it is you are listening for.
The weight of this factor of course varies with the subject matter and content of the podcast.

For example you don't need to skip through a comedy podcast, because you are not listening to find any specific information or opinion as much as you just want to be entertained. If it isn't funny, turn it off. And when you listen to comedy you aren't really "looking" for anything, just waiting to laugh about whatever it is they have to say that is funny.

But if you are really trying to get the opinion of a podcaster on a certain political or current events issue, it's much harder to search a podcast for that information than it is to head over to technorati.com and search the text or tags of 8 million blogs for a specific subject.

2. They take less time.

I can read 8 or 10 blogs on a certain issue in a half an hour, whereas in that same 30 minutes, I can only listen to one pod-cast, but might get a better understanding of what that person really thinks about an issue. If your priority is collecting information on a particular subject than blogs are much better. If you are short on time than blogs are better. It makes sense - if I were to read a novel out loud it would probably take me 2 or 3 times as long to finish it. The same goes for blogs vs. podcasts.

3. It's easier to write well than speak well.

When I'm reading a blog, I don't have to worry about whether or not the author is a good public speaker, only whether they are a good writer. Factor in that I am much more tolerant of bad writers than I am of boring speakers, blogs are much more appealing. I have unfortunately come upon way to many "tech" podcasts that are done by well-intentioned podcasters, and no doubt some of their content is interesting and relevant to me, but I just can't stand to listen to them for more than a few minutes. They are BORING! Think monotone.

4. They generally have better content. *

They are more likely to be quality because blogging has gotten popular enough that it's not hard to find consistent quality content from many blogs. Right now there are only a 4-5 podcasts that I like enough to check out daily, whereas I have a list of at least 100 blogs that I would read on a daily basis if I had that kind of time.

I placed an asterisk next to this one, because it is only due to the fact that podcasting is so new that there are many quality podcasts out there yet. What I look forward to in the near future is when podcasting goes mainstream like blogging did last year, and many already popular radio shows and other sources of good content begin to podcast their stuff.

Why podcasts are better:

1. They are more personal

When you listen to someone speak, you can really connect with them better, in a way that is not possible through print media. Not only do you begin to appreciate just their words but you begin to feel like you know them. This will do great things for the kind of community that blogging has already begun to create through the use of reader feedback through comments and posting on their own blogs in response to one author's thoughts. Podcasting will be even more of a conversation as podcasters begun to quote each other, or even play clips of each others' podcasts in order to give rebuttal or repsonse.

2. They are more versatile and mobile.

Podcasting shares this strength with broadcast radio. Just as I can with radio, I can listen to a podcast using my iPod where it would be utterly impossible to read blogs, except it beats radio because i get to choose the content!

Here are a few example situations that I can think of (most of them involve doing physical activities that demand too much attention to read something simultaneously):

- While driving in the car (like the morning commute.. mine is 30 minutes which seems to be about the average time of a podcast)
- While cooking dinner (OK fine... so I don't cook, but maybe while I wait in the drive-through at McDonald's)
- While you mow the l lawn, or shovel the driveway
- While you exercise
- Almost any other time you might normally listen to music (esp. on a portable music player like an iPod)

Conclusions:

Blogging is already well established, and has made everyone a journalist of sorts who can bring their own opinions to the issues circulating the blogosphere. Podcasting has a bright future, but it needs to learn some lessons from radio before it really takes off beyond just geeky nerds like me.

Keep your eyes open for more posts on this topic in the future!

Audioblogging!

2005-03-15T18:22:00.000-05:00

I recently discovered a new technology called podcasting. Here is a summary of what podcasting is:

Basically, people record audio-shows (called podcasts) that they then put on the Internet to be heard by anyone, for free. Then I can use some software on my computer (called podcatching software) to automatically download these audio-broadcasts in MP3 format and have them automatically transferred to my iPod overnight so I can listen to them whenever I want the next day. It's pretty much radio on demand.

This is only important because until today, I had not thought that maybe I could actually be a creator of audio content, until I found an article talking about www.audioblogger.com. Through this site, I have a number to call on my cell phone and I can just talk into it like I am leaving a voicemail, and it will save it into MP3 format and post it as an entry to my blog for all to listen.

So this is my first audio blog entry! Have a listen. I recorded it as I walked from my desk to my car after work this evening. If the audio seems kind of shaky, it's because I'm walking as I talk. Enjoy! Maybe I'll post some more audio entries sometime soon. I also plan to post some of my thoughts on podcasting versus blogging and what I see in the future for podcasting.

My new iPod

2005-03-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

Happiness abounded this week as my new iPod arrived on Tuesday. The guys in the mailroom at work were probably pretty annoyed with me calling every hour to find out if my package had come in. I didn't really call them every hour, OK maybe every other hour.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with the new iPod. Here are the details. It's got a 30 GB hard drive for music, photos, and whatever else I please. It has a color screen for showing photos and album art and a very slick looking menu system for navigating the iPod. It came with a power charging brick, a USB to dock connector cable, one set of my very own Apple signature white iPod earbuds (now I can make my own fun iPod commercials of my silhouette self dancin' around in my white earbuds!)

I'm very happy with the size of this iPod. I can't imagine having the mini, it would almost be too small! It's just a little bit thicker than the 4th Gen. iPods, a little bit larger (but thinner) than my cell phone, and takes up less space in my pocket than my wallet.

To enable me to use my new toy in the car, I got a mounting stand to hold my iPod where I can reach it comfortably, a cassette adapter, and a car charger so I never run out of battery. I am fairly pleased with the sound quality of the cassette adapter. Besides, my car speakers aren't all that great anyway, so it's not like I could get incredible sounds anyway, so it's not worth paying for anything more expensive like a line-in solution.

Well, that's all I got for now. Here are some pictures of the beautiful iPod. Watch for my next post about pod-casting and my thoughts on this new phenomenon.

Why I like Macs: Looks, Use, Software

2005-03-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

1. They are prettier than PCs - which just makes me want to use it even more I mean come on now - working on a Dell computer (or other PC) just makes me feel like the only work I could possibly do on such an ugly machine would have to be the most boring thing ever. But when I open up my beautiful Titanium G4 Powerbook I am excited about whatever I might do!

2. Apple cares enough about interface/interaction design to try to make on that is halfway decent. I took a Human Computer Interaction class in college and when I use Windows, I just want to cry because the OS itself makes performing my tasks so much harder. Certainly, I have adjusted and gotten used to doing things inefficiently, but why should I waste my time using a horribly inelegant OS when I can use my Mac?? Prime example here is Exposé in Panther Mac OS X 10.3. It's a wonder of interface design. For more good thoughts on interaction and interface design check out Ask Tog.

3. Because in addition to the incredible applications from Apple, there are tons of open-source developers creating excellent freeware/shareware products all the time. My favorite free app that has changed the way I use my computer is Quicksilver from Blacktree, Inc. which facilitates application launching and other tasks like mapping Apple Scripts to hotkeys (called triggers) like for controlling iTunes) It is just one great example of the great work being done by independent software developers for Mac OS X.

A few others that I use on a daily basis are Adium (a multi-protocol chat client), NetNewsWire Lite (an RSS feed reader), Meteorologist (weather forecast in the menubar), Pod Cast Tuner (a podcast feed downloader), iScrobbler and Amua (for use with audioscrobbler.com and last.fm music profiling and listening services), ecto (which I use to post to my blogs) Growl (system-wide customizable notifications) and MuMenu (software update lists in my menubar - which I use to keep on top of all this new great software listed by www.macupdate.com!).

I'm sure there are some similar programs for Windows, but I am just so impressed with these that it makes using a Mac that much better! Every piece of software above is free with the exception of ecto ($17.95 but totally worth it if you are an avid blogger!) So try some of these out and tell me if you can find such amazing software for your PC! I think not!

The Dark Ages

2005-02-22T21:26:00.000-05:00

Matt sparked this post when I read on his away message the following:

I have to be real. Sometimes when I am using my iBook, I wonder how the rest of the world can possibly stand wandering around in the computing dark ages with Windows.

Also, it was spurred by a coworker of mine who was surprised when he found out that I own an Apple Powerbook but am also a developer/computer-nerd/programmer! He thought that certainly someone so knowledgeable and involved in the computing world would not have an Apple!

I told him that on the contrary, I know too much to buy a Windows PC. I know a good computer and OS when I see one, and my experience with computers only makes it clearer!

I think maybe in the next week or so I will post a few reasons why I prefer Mac OS X to Windows XP, so that others can be brought out of the "dark ages", and understand why I would do something so "crazy" as own and use and love my Apple computer.

A little nerdy humor

2005-01-18T01:23:00.000-05:00

I came across these two humorous links in my daily news RSS feed surfing.

Five Things that Microsoft Won't Do in 2005 - But Should

A Mac-to-PC switcher movie ... sort of

I hope you get it. And enjoy a few good laughs!

Maybe I'll post some real thoughts, original ones, next time!

Software Spotlight: the GIMP 2.2

2005-01-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

I wanted to give credit to an excellent piece of software: the GIMP. It is an open source image manipulation/editing alternative to Photoshop. It does most of what Photoshop does, and, especially for the casual user, it is more than sufficient.

I have been using Photoshop Elements 2.0 since my parents bought it for me last Christmas, and I have liked it mostly for the layers capabilities, the clone tool, and the advanced control over color. (all features that the GIMP includes)

I like Photoshop Elements, but I have also tried out the GIMP and was very pleased. It is a little more powerful with more features and options.

If you don't want to pay $650 for Photoshop CS or even the $80 for Photoshop Elements 3.0, but want a little more control over your photos you should check out the GIMP!

It is an open source project that is making incredible progress. You can download the binary compiled for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. I think you will like it.

Technology hates me

2005-01-06T01:44:00.000-05:00

Remember when technology hated me?

First, my watch battery died... still haven't replaced it.

Second, I couldn't get a cell phone that worked. I took my Verizon cell phone with a broken speakerphone to be fixed and they replaced it with a phone that would drop every single call it made. I had to go back like three more times to finally get them to give me a brand new phone that actually worked. I was not happy with Verizon, but I'm glad to have a working phone finally.

Third, my Powerbook's hard drive died. I took a trip down to the Apple Store a few days before it actually died (while it was still on the fritz and making strange knocking and clicking noises) to consult the local Mac Genius. He told me that my hard drive was definately about to die. So thankfully I have a backup hard drive that I backup everything too, it wasn't a big deal. I ordered a new hard drive and when it gets here, I will swap it with the dead one. For now, I am booting from my external HD with all the backed-up data.

I was glad that it was just the hard drive (and that I have a backup!) since hard drives are relatively cheap and easy to replace (even though it wasn't free since my warranty expired after 1 year) (note: the new HD has a 3-year warranty... yay)

I am waiting on my new HD to arrive any day now so I can be up and running again! Maybe technology hates me, but it got dominated by my mad skills this time!

(I was scared to touch my digital camera, for fear that it too would stop working, but it is fine thankfully!)

Tired of cleaning up disgusting Windows machines

2005-01-06T01:16:00.000-05:00

I recently visited Maryland for a few weeks, and encountered several computers that should not even be plugged into an Internet connection they are so unsafe. The viruses, malware, and spyware that attack Windows computers without appropriate virus and spyware protection are ridiculous.

So I took some measures to help them out... this is what I did or would at least do for the next person I encounter with issues like the people I saw recently:

1. Uninstall Internet Explorer and install Mozilla's Firefox (as the default) (if they can find a site that will only work in IE, then I can help them reinstall IE... yuck)

2. Recommend switching email programs away from Microsoft's similarly insecure Outlook and Outlook Express (most normal people don't need the shared calendaring of Outlook, and Mozilla's Thunderbird is a great substitute if you aren't in a work environment that absolutely demands all of Outlook's full Exchange capabilities)

3. Tell them they need to get virus protection software and keep their definitions updated (even if it costs money... it's worth it)

4. Make sure their personal software firewall (included with Windows XP) is turned on.

5. Recommend that their next computer be a Macintosh (because as we know, they are more secure... and besides the new Mac mini only costs $500!)

So anyway, I would recommend anyone who currently has issues with their XP machine follow my instructions as well!

Edit 3/15/05: I would also add that downloading and running some good free spyware elimination software like Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware would be a great idea for people who have been using Internet Explorer and Outlook for years and have probably accumulated alot of malicious junk on their computer.

iPod crazy

2004-12-21T01:53:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long break in posts on this blog, but I have enough trouble keeping up with one blog, it can be hard having two! Anyway, I'm back and this time with a light-hearted technology update, about the Apple iPod.

It has gotten quite a bit of attention of late, being the most wanted gift for Christmas this year.

It was recently featured on The Late Show with David Letterman, and he showed a sneak peek at the newest iPod, which holds 1 billion songs! (CLick here then click on "Everything's Funnier When It's Gigantic")

Well, I don't have a whole lot more to say abotu it than that I also want an iPod for Christmas. If you are working on making my dream come true, any kind of iPod will do. ;)

One step to improve your online security?

2004-10-26T23:55:00.000-04:00

I ran across this little article the other day and found it pretty hilarious. Microsoft obviously knows the real solution to the problem of poor Internet Security! It's to just go down to the neighborhood Apple Store and pick up a new Apple laptop!!

I hope you enjoy the humor as much as I do.

The best part is that I went back to the Microsoft site tonight and lo, and behold, the graphic was gone from the front page! I guess they decided they didn't want to look anymore foolish than they already are (with all the Longhorn shenanigans). I guess you have figured out, if you didn't know already, that I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, or of their insecure operating system.

Are programmers an endangered species?

2004-10-19T19:29:00.000-04:00

http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2004/09/09/blacksmith.html
http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2004/09/28/Blacksmith2.html
http://today.java.net/pub/a/today/2004/10/12/Blacksmith3.html

I recently read a series of articles about the Postmodern Programmer. The writer compared the history of the professions of the blacksmith and bookkeeper in order to make some points about the future of the programmer.

I thought it was interesting, but don't necessarily buy it.

One reader gave a great response. His thought was "problem domain, not programmer"

I agree. I think that as technology and software develop, it will not be that there are fewer programmers, but that the problem domain will be different, and the "programmers" might be doing a different kind of programming. Just like I don't punch holes in a stack of cards, I program in Java for web applications, in the future, i might not be writing Java code, but doing some other kind of programming.

Even though some might not like it, us programmers aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

I don't drink coffee but I love me some Java

2004-10-05T18:58:00.000-04:00

Well, my job for the last few weeks at work has been to learn Java, so that I can be a crucial part of the development of the web applications for Campus Crusade's Staff Site. Since I have been reading so much about it lately, I wanted to take a little space here to give you some of my impressions of my newest language. (Last year I learned Arabic in North Africa, this year it's a programming language!)

Why I like Java:

1. It's pretty similar to C++ (my other, and most proficient language). This could probably be argued by people who know more about both C++ and Java than I do, but I don't really care what everyone else thinks. So far as I am concerned, it's similar enough that I don't really feel like I'm writing code in a different language when I write in Java.

2. It's a pretty high level language. It seems like (C++)+ to me.... sorta like C++ for dummies. (Don't get upset that I compare Java to C++ if you think they are nothing alike, it's just that it's my only frame of reference! ) The reason I say that it seems like a high-level language is because it has alot of things that C++ (for example) doesn't have built-in: like exception handling, garbage collection (memory cleanup), a powerful string class and other data structures like stacks, and the whole Interface idea is pretty cool (like having separate abstract "classes" that can be implemented by multiple classes without the Interface having to be a subclass of any other class is pretty powerful!)

3. It's VERY object oriented. Almost every variable except primitive types (integer, float, char, boolean...) is an object (the class is a subclass of the Java Object class at the very least, maybe some other more useful class). This makes things less confusing, and more straight forward when thinking in an object oriented design kind of way. If the whole language is very OO, it makes writing OO code easier!

4. It's very portable, and platform independent. I think it's pretty cool that I could develop java code on any machine and it would end up pretty much the same!

5. There are a lot of free tools for developing in Java: especially Eclipse, an excellent IDE, which I have been using at work regularly.

6. It can be used in great ways with JSP and servlets for web programming. Once I learned Java, I was able to read a short tutorial on JSP and servlets and be writing dynamic web applications in minutes! It was great!

Well that's about it. I don't like coffee, but you'll see Java on my desktop every day!

RSS madness

2004-09-29T20:30:00.000-04:00

I recently got into RSS, both reading RSS feeds and sending my own. If you don't know what RSS is, you should find out!

According to this site

RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

RSS-aware programs called news aggregators are popular in the weblogging community. Many weblogs make content available in RSS. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them.

So, now you are up to date. "So what's the big deal?" you might be asking. I have been using a new RSS aggregator to check the news and updates of my favorite sites instead of browsing their web pages. It makes it much quicker, easier, and more centralized. It's great. Why navigate through 10 different web pages when you can look at one window that show you the list of feeds, and then the headlines and blurbs about each article?

The program that I have been trying out and really like is News Fire. It's a really simple program that makes the things I want to do really easy. I regularly browse for interesting headlines on my favorite sites and open full articles to read when I feel like it. Sorry for all you Windows users out there, this one's only for Mac OS X, but here's a suggestion for one that the Windows users seem to like: Sharp Reader

Also, I now have an RSS feed for both of my blogs (look for the link on the right side). So if you want, you can download it and find out more easily when my site, as well as your other favorite sites, are updated!

NewsFire - Aggregating in style!

Upgrading memory... computers, humans

2004-09-29T20:02:00.000-04:00

I was talking to Leila the other day and we got into a discussion about computer memory because I recently ordered some for my laptop. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone explaining all this nerdy stuff about computer performance, memory, CPUs, and hard disks. She probably didn't want to hear it all, but she got an earful of techno geek babble.

Anyway, the reason I felt like blogging about this is not because I was surprised that she didn't already completely understand how computers work, because most people don't. (She could probably talk to me about legal issues for 20 minutes and I wouldn't understand any more than what I know from my "Matlock", Law & Order" watching experience and from what I have read in 2 or 3 Grisham novels.)

The reason is because I re-discovered something about myself(that I think I already knew, but I thought maybe you might like to know) I really love talking about computers, especially explaining how they work to people who don't know. For whatever reason, that's just something that gets me excited and passionate. So if you have a question, feel free to ask me, because it would bring much joy to tell you anything about computers that you want to know!

My nerdiness exposed!

2004-09-28T01:34:00.000-04:00

(Originally posted on my other blog: reflections on September 21st.)

Well, this is going to be my first blog entry exposing my true nature, my hidden self, my real identity: the nerd.

My new roomates (John Boggs and Damien Brooks) recently got pretty excited about the new release of the Star Wars (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) DVD set. Never before released on DVD, this was an exciting day for big geeks like Boggsy and Damien! They celebrated all day by playing the new Star Wars video game that was released today along with the DVDs, and I celebrated with them by watching some of A New Hope (Part 4 of the 6 movie series) during dinner. It was great.

You might not think I am such a nerd at this point. But if you are still willing to read on, I will explain why I am such a nerd. I love my Macintosh computer! And every day, I get teased, ribbed, made fun of, whatever you want to call it, by all the PC weenies at work who don't realize what they are missing out on, when I bring my beautiful Powerbook G4 into work and sit it at my desk next to that ugly Dell.

But tonight I found something to brag about, so I figured I would at least put it in my blog so that maybe if my coworkers are browsing around and come across my blog, they will be a bit more educated about Macs and how great they are.

Apparently, the company that refurbished the old Star Wars movies used 600!!! PowerMac G5 computers to do all the editing and mastering and cleaning up of the old film copies of the original film versions!

So if you enjoy the new Star Wars DVDs at home, spare me the next morning of jokes about how my Mac is worthless, and we'll just be friends and just get along.

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/feature/20040916/index.html

And to top it off, I saw another article about how they used Macs to bring several new films to life as well!

http://www.macworld.com/news/2004/09/20/dvd/index.php