iChat is Pretty Cool
February 29, 2008
I’ve always been a hardcore Trillian user on Windows, so I was a little skeptical about using anything else to get to my buddies on AIM. iChat, which comes with the OS, is pretty decent though. The chatting appears as little bubbles next to the icon of the person typing in the text. It supports hyperlinks and all the basics, including the ability to set people’s name so I don’t have to wonder who MYFO278BGF is. Read more
The Tao of I. T. Al #5
February 29, 2008
ImageWell
February 28, 2008
Free is good for about anything! A well-made, extremely usable, and still free application is incredible! Check out Xtralean’s website and navigate to IMAGEWELL.
First of all it’s available in fifteen different languages and…but what does it do, you ask? Read more
Installing New Applications
February 28, 2008
I have yet to have mastered how to install applications into my Mac.
The first one I decided to try was Firefox. I went to the mozilla.com web site and it recognized that I was running a Mac. I clicked on the download link and everything proceeded pretty smoothly. I ran the install program that was downloaded and after the usual warnings about installing a different application I thought I had the application installed. Read more
A Hardcore Windows Guy Gets A Mac
February 27, 2008
I have been a Windows developer for many, many years. Before I was a Windows developer I was a DOS developer. I’ve always been a Microsoft fan, heavily invested in doing Windows development. Really, since 1984 - my first job doing professional software development - I have been true blue Microsoft. When I would watch the Mac ads with the nerdy PC guy and the cool Mac dude I always secretly rooted for the PC guy.
Last year something interesting started to happen. Many of the people in my network of friends and family started buying Macs. They were sick of the hassles of Windows, with the viruses and spyware and ever slowing performance. They seemed to be drawn in to the Apple advertising - it spoke to them. And they seemed very happy. Read more
Lessons Learned Along The Way
February 25, 2008
The Tao of I. T. Al #4
February 22, 2008
FredMiranda.com
February 20, 2008
I am a man of some habit, and one of those habits is to surf a couple of websites each morning even before I select the News site. It has something to do with drinking the first cup of coffee and deciding to wake up with pleasant or interesting (to me) information before I have to grit my teeth at the foolishness of Man when I select World and National News.
One of my morning websites is photography-related and gives you the option of Canon, Nikon, or everybody else camera questions and comments. FredMiranda.com is my first dose of photography of the day and sometimes the way I end the day as well. Read more
Super Duper
February 20, 2008
If the biblical prophets had been cyberculture visionaries like William GIbson & Bruce Sterling, they might have named the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse "Complete Data Loss":
"And when he opened the fifth seal, I heard the voice of the fifth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a trojan horse! And its rider’s name was Data Loss, and Hardware Failure followed him…."
Shoeboxed.com
February 19, 2008
Lurking in and around my house, there is a most heinous form of pulp vermin. On my hard drive there is a folder , appropriately named "receipts", that holds PDF copies of the email receipts contained in another folder inside my mail app. In my TV cabinet, I have a drawer the size of a microwave full of 2007 receipts as well. The thought of even thinking about approaching these nests of rapidly- fading thermal-printed mayhem is so intimidating that I have been practicing the fine art of avoidance and denial.
During a particular tough practice session, I googled "best way to organize receipts" hoping to run across a magic wand that would paste up, organize, and mutate this scandalous evidence of my lifestyle into tax information.
Wow. I found one. Read more
