I've always been a big fan of iStat menus, the freeware system monitoring utility. It's a great way to quickly see what's going on with my Mac, whether it's CPU, disk or memory utilization, temperature, etc.Bjango, the iPhone side of iSlayer (producers of iStat menus), has recently released iStat Server, a free Mac application that runs in the background. It sends your Mac's system monitoring information to your iPhone for actual monitoring. On the iPhone side you buy the $1.99 iStat - System … [Read more...]
Getting the most out of Spaces on a dual monitor Mac Pro
November 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Ever since I switched from Windows to Mac over 9 months ago I've been obsessed with making myself as productive as possible in OS X. Without question one of my favorite features is Spaces, the multi-desktop feature for Leopard. Here is how I've set up my environment to make the most out of it. Hardware First My primary workstation is a Mac Pro with 12GB of RAM and several TB of disk space. In addition I have two monitors attached (Samsung SyncMaster 204B), which gives me an effective … [Read more...]
My wife and her switch to Mac
October 15, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I had anticipated that I would be writing a lot about my wife's experiences using her "new" MacBook. After all, it's been two weeks since I got her the machine, yet she has barely touched it by my standards. The reality is that computers are just not that important to her. She's an experienced teacher with 8 years at the same school under her belt and for the last two weeks has had to do little more than e-mail and web based activities from home. She averages just under an hour a day on the … [Read more...]
Playing with iPhone pictures – Juxtaposer
October 14, 2008 By 1 Comment
One of the cooler aspects of writing this blog has been the people that have come around to not only give advice but tell me about some of the cool stuff they are working on. Hendrik Kueck has been commenting on this blog for a long time now. Hendrik is a software developer and when he told me about an iPhone application he was working on I became very interested in checking it out.His product, Juxtaposer, is a fun little application for mashing two pictures together quickly and easily. Hendrik … [Read more...]
Turn Your iPhone Into A Sketch Pad
October 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I am rarely bored. I am an artist AND I have ADHD. Believe me, I live in a swirling vortex of ideas, and notes to remind me of other ideas and half finished projects I work on when I am not doing something else. And I don't like hype. I have visceral reaction to it and get uncontrollably annoyed when the sheep are led to slaughter by a well-managed media campaign. A good PR person can convince most people that HiIlary Swank is drop-dead gorgeous, or Pulp Fiction is the product of pure … [Read more...]
Comic Book Creators: Go Big By Going Small!
September 10, 2008 By Leave a Comment
iVerse, creators of the Comic Reader software, is looking for submissions from comic book hopefuls as well as established pros to post their comics to the iPhone/iPod Touch. All of the work published through iVerse is 100% creator owned. According to their submission guidelines, thee will NEVER ask the artists to give us a piece of your creations. "Creators and Studios will be able to set the final prices on their titles, but we're expecting most standard length titles … [Read more...]
Living with the iPhone
September 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I've now had my 3G iPhone for just over a month. It has become my constant companion, even though my use of it as a phone is relatively light. I'm one of those people that has to have a phone handy, a habit I picked up from a decade of being deeply involved in the operation of an online service that had to be running 24x7. The Good I've found that nearly every day I'm using more and more features on the phone. I use the Notes feature like crazy now, jotting down shopping lists and thoughts. … [Read more...]
iPhone Apps: Around Me 1.0
September 4, 2008 By Leave a Comment
If you have ever found yourself looking for a cafe, ATM or bookstore nearby, you might consider this app a godsend. AroundMe 1.0, a new iPhone app by TweakerSoft, makes it easy to figure what's nearby. By leveraging the iPhone's unique abilities, AroundMe quickly acquires the users location and allows them to choose the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theatre, restaurant, supermarket, theatre and taxi. Choose a category, then browse the listings, which includes the … [Read more...]
Using 1Password on a Mac and an iPhone
August 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment
As I get older I find myself forgetting things that I really should remember and remembering details that I wish would simply clear from my brain's cache to make room for more useful data. I can still recall the phone number from my childhood home, yet remembering the unique PIN number my cable provider wants me to give them before I talk to a human working there is well beyond my grasp, even a day after I make one up. Life is complicated enough without someone else badgering me for yet another … [Read more...]
After a week with the iPhone, what’s great, what’s not
August 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I've had my iPhone for a little over a week now and figure it's a good time to settle in and talk about what I like and dislike about it. I have not really changed my calling habits too much as a result of having the iPhone; the way I use the phone in general is about the same as I've done in the past. Where it has changed my daily activities is in the additional stuff I can use it for outside of being a simple phone. No longer do I get stressed out about having to waste time standing in line … [Read more...]
My wife and her iPhone
August 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I've mentioned before that my lovely wife of 22 years is both brilliant and technically challenged. Whenever there is the slightest problem with technology—whether it's switching the inputs on our TV or dealing with the smallest of issues on her Windows XP machine—I hear the "David...!" yell. This has led me to consider getting my wife a Mac to replace the HP laptop she has used for a couple of years now. I would love to get her on the same platform that I'm on and get her … [Read more...]
iPhone 3G Second Look
August 19, 2008 By Leave a Comment
There are a couple of things I've noticed about the iPhone 3G that I didn't mention in my original post that I would like to cover. First off, the iPhone comes with what look at first glance like standard earbuds. I simply ignored them since they looked like the little white earbuds that I received with every other iPod I own. These earbuds are different though. They include a little microphone 5 inches below the right earbud, harking back to the wired headsets that were popular before … [Read more...]
