“Nowadays, compatibility means more than just file formats,” Microsoft’s Kurt Schmucker told Macworld. “It’s also workflow, collaboration, and user interface.”

Office for Mac 2011 is assumed to be released some time this year.

Source: http://www.officeformac.com/blog/Office-for-Mac-Drinking-Cocoa-at-WWDC

Written by William Grønholm

During the late engineering work at Microsoft the Microsoft Office 2010 went by the codename Office 14 until its release. Therefore, it didn’t take much guesswork to crack the meaning behind the name Office 15, when it showed up in a Microsoft employee blog comment in September 2009 along with the name Office 2013. Well, this is all old news, but recently Microsofts Kitchen (http://msftkitchen.com) discovered a similar note in a (now deleted) work profile of a Program Manager at Microsoft Corporation.

Office Graphics

Responsible for SmartArt graphics features for both client and server, SmartArt graphics content including new delivery method, and the Insert Screenshot feature.

Identified and bridged the gaps in customer content needs by driving usage data reviews and customer conference calls

Worked with non-Microsoft experts in a face to face setting to gain customer insights and used these to influence product design

Directly engaged IT Pros to understand pain points and opinions of trending technology and drove their concerns directly into our planning pillars for Office 2013

Source: www.linkedin.com/pub/adam-callens/3/a62/446

To put all the pieces together, it is also interesting to look at the recent job listings on Mocrosoft.com, which indicates that a major new feature will be introduced in Office 15 (which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, SharePoint, and Outlook).

Relevant job listings:
01: https://careers.microsoft.com/JobDetails.aspx?jid=16832
02: https://careers.microsoft.com/JobDetails.aspx?jid=16684
03: https://careers.microsoft.com/JobDetails.aspx?jid=17753
Source: http://msftkitchen.com/2010/06/office-15-details-revealed-possible-new-ui-office-mobile-15-release-date-implication-and-more.html

Written by William Grønholm

According to Microsoft, the sales numbers have given them confidence in their software, but also that the overall shipment of these phones was limited. The new version, WP7, is to be launched at the 8th of November, which will be used on smartphones released by Samsung, LG and HTC (Source 1).

In addition, Orange reported that they have sold out of Windows 7 Phone handsets and have had to give away vouchers to unhappy costumers (Source 2).

Source 1:

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20101103PD200.html

Source 2:

http://www.businessinsider.com/shortages-could-hurt-windows-phone-7-launch-in-us-2010-11

To learn more about the plugin, watch the interview with Mike Swanson (Source 2)

For SVG support it is recommended to download and use the Adobe Illustrator CS5 HTML5 Pack which is available on Adobe.com.

Source 1:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mswanson/archive/2010/10/12/adobe-illustrator-to-html5-canvas-plug-in-released.aspx

Source 2:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Mike-Swanson-Adobe-Illustrator-to-HTML5-Canvas-Under-the-Hood#time=0h0m0s

Written by William Grønholm

Source:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/customize-browser-home-page-with-homepage-maker-for-ie-firefox-chrome-opera

GoToMyPc is a software solution from Citrix which has been around since 1997. I have only used it for the past four years – and it is now an integrated part of my work-home-life. It is not that it has changed my life, as they say in the ad, but it has made my daily life run more smoothly.

In short, GoToMyPc enables you to access a computer from any place. I use it to access my home computer from work or either my home or office computer when I travel. This way I can access all the programs/software and applications I have on either the computers and recover whetever files I may have forgotten.

To remote access the computer you just have to add a small easy-to-install application to the PC or Mac you are on and connect through your web-browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari). It is no struggle and you don’t have to be a geek to get it up running. And even if you should run into a problem they have a nice support to guide you through it.

GoToMyPc gives you a “real time” connecting to your computer. So what you do from a remote distance also happens on the computer – as you do it. You can use short-cuts like copy/paste and drag and drop, just like you already do it on your own computer.

Now many might ask about the security and to be honest, I’m not in any position to judge it. But according to PC World (PCWorld.com), GoToMyPc uses “Advanced Encryption Standard and integrates with two-factor authentication schemes such as SecurID” which should make it as secure as home banking.

So far applications for smartphones and PDAs are already available, while Citrix has promised that they are ready to launch their applications for Ipads and Androids in the first quarter of 2011.

So, who can use this application? Well, pretty much anyone who has the need to access more than one computer during the day – whether it being at work or home – individuals and small and big companies. The cost of GoToMyPc is $19.95/month (or $9.95 with their current discount offer) or you can try it for free in 30 days.

Would you hand a stranger your credit card number, social security number, or medical history? No way! Well, without an iron-clad antivirus program, you might as well post your credit card numbers on an internet forum – it’s that easy to steal.

Immediate Security, More Downloads than Any Other Antivirus Software

According to the most recent identity theft statistics, one in every twenty Americans will have their identities stolen – this year alone! That scary statistic is based off of last years data when identity theft rose 11%, vicitmizing more than ten million people.

Even worse, if you are a young adult, a freelancer, or a small business owner, the numbers skyrocket.

If you spend alot of time online, it is essential that you protect yoruself. AVG’s critically acclaimed and user-approved software sits on top of any existing antivirus programs and software and “plus all the gaps.” If you use other popular programs, you are likely prone to devastating loopholes that allow hackers, scammers, trojans, and malicious programs to infect your PC.

The next time you are itching to spend $50 or $60 on a game, upgrade, or online impulse purchase consider the option to purchase peace of mind and personal security. If you don’t act now, you could spend the next year calling 1-800 numbers while begging customer service reps to restore identity.

Don’t live in a virtual world without locks on the doors, Order AVG today!

According to empirical data, more than two million internet users had purchased or downloaded AVG Internet Security within the first month of it’s launch at the popular website. This astounding number more than doubles purchases and downloads for similar antivirus software providers (Norton, Trend Micro, etc).

Don’t live in a virtual world without locks on the doors, Order AVG today!

Worldwide, AVG Internet Security is trusted by more than 110 million people

Worldwide, AVG’s antivirus software is trusted by more than 110 million people. A staggering number made possible by AVG’s award-winning research and development team and a long-standing commitment to positive customer experience.

The AVG customer satisfaction guarantee is a “real” value-add. All 110 million AVG software users are promised “round-the-clock” support by AVG’s expert service team. In other words, AVG provides free technical assistance 24/7.

“In my opinion, AVG Internet Security is the best virus protection and antivirus suite availble now,” wrote one recent web customer.

When it comes to manipulative and difficult-to-manage internet virus protection and antivirus issues, most internet surfers prefer to tackle issues themselves, quickly and effortlessly. However, with the complexity and strength of security attacks and modern software assaults, AVG users enjoy the comfort of knowing that if they can’t fix it themselves, they can always call an AVG specialist for help.

No other antivirus software for Windows offers the same level of customer service, computer security, and antivirus patrolling as AVG Internet Security for such a low price point.

“The best thing about this affordable antivirus software is that it wont slow down your system. That’s the key factor which makes AVG unique.” exclaimed one recent customer.

Key Benefits of AVG Internet Security

The Bottom Line About AVG… The Best Virus Protection Available

AVG provides more “bang for your buck” than any other antivirus software available on the market. Popular “free” or “trial versions” of antivirus leave your computer, identity, and important documents susceptible to crushing attacks.

Fight off trojans, security attacks, credit card fraud, identity theft, and thousands of virus programs designed to exploit your lack of knowledge or security weak points. As soon as you install and run AVG Internet Security, days, weeks, months, and even years of potential issues will be secured.

Order AVG Internet Security today for only $54.99, get the best antivirus for less! Join more than 110 millions users and choose AVG Internet Security as your one-stop online security solution for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP users.

Click Here, Order Now!

In addition, Google’s online Web Apps are free to use compared to Microsoft’s Online Application, the package chosen by the government, which raises the question of how well a solution they choose.

Source:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20021379-265.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Link Directories

Requesting backlinks from link directories is amoung one the oldest and most primitive ways to get backlinks. These link (directories) are typically defined as either paid or free and are either way an easy way to get backlinks from high PR websites. The following two lists includes the top 5 paid and free directories.

Top 5 Free Link Directories
www.dmoz.com
www.somuch.com
www.gimpsy.com
www.primodirectory.com
www.exactseek.com

Top 5 Paid Link directories
dir.yahoo.com
botw.org
www.business.com
www.joeant.com
www.webworldindex.com[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Guest blogging

The term guest blogging covers the act of blogging (writing blog posts) on external blogs for the purpose of achiving awareness of your brand/website (e.g. in terms of a (high PR) backlinks). Some of the most well known blogs that accept blog posts from guest bloggers are listed below.

Top 5 Guest Blogs
www.dailyblogtips.com
echie-buzz.com
www.tripwiremagazine.com
www.quickonlinetips.com
inspirationfeed.com

[/wpcol_1half_end]

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking websites are designed to help users share links (e.i. stories, pictures/images, and videos) amoung the community. Assuming you have something share-worthy, using social bookmarking may not just provide you backlinks but also traffic. Below you will find the five biggest social bookmarking websites.

Top 5 Social bookmarking Websites
www.digg.com
www.reddit.com
www.delicious.com
www.diigo.com
news.ycombinator.com[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Paid posts/paid links

Buying blog posts (or links) is often a more complicated matter. Since it is against Google’s ‘Terms of Service’, most blog owners don’t advertise this option. Instead, you will have to either establish a direct deal between you and the blog owner. To find blog owners that are willing to negotiate such deals, you can browse through some of the popular networks (e.g. SponsoredReviews.com) or forums with categories for such specific deals (e.g. Digital Point).
[/wpcol_1half_end]

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

Article Publishing

In the past years, article publishing has become one of the most popular methods to get high PR backlinks. All it takes is a well written article (advisable in the same niche as your company/website).

Article Directories
ezinearticles.com
goarticles.com
www.pubarticles.com
www.ezinemark.com/
www.articlecube.com
[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Press Release Publishing

By using press release services you can target anything from local media and larger networks including Google News And Yahoo! News.

[/wpcol_1half_end]

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

RSS Directories

The advantage of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is self-explaining. By submitting your RSS feed to the top RSS directories you make sure that all your new posts/articles get a few quick backlinks right after they have been published on your website.
[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Social Media

Social media is a great way to get both direct and indirect backlinks, as many (profile) pages are synchronized with other websites. Additionally, many social platforms (including FaceBook, Twitter and Google+) offer free exposure to a targeted audience.
[/wpcol_1half_end]

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

Blogging Platform

The advantage of using blogging platforms is that you have full control of the content posted. As long as you follow the ‘Terms of Service’ for each platform, the content you post is the content the visitors will see. It also means that you will be able to create a more relevant page/site to link from.

Top 5 Guest Blogs
www.blogger.com
www.wordpress.com
www.blog.com
www.tumblr.com
www.blog.co.uk[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Automatic Tool

A series of software is available to (semi) automate many of the mentioned methoeds to get high PR backlinks. A few of them are mentioned below.
AutoPligg – Fast social bookmarking to most pligg platforms.
SENuke – Simplifies submission of articles, press releases, and more.
The Best spinner – Easy spinning of articles (mostly used for article publishing)
Though, you should be aware that using the mentioned tools may be in violation of Google’s quality guidelines.
[/wpcol_1half_end]

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

Web 2.0

Like blogging platforms, web 2.0 platforms often provides (parts) of the same control of the page. But opposite to blogging platforms which requires you to create and run an entire blog/website, web 2.0 platforms are often based on single pages. The two most popular websites in this niche are Squidoo and HubPages.
[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Link Baiting

Creating a hype about your brand/website by twisting the way you present your content can generate a great deal of backlinks for your website. The mentioned article below shows a set of examples of effective link bait methods.

Because of the power of inbound links, Link Bait is becoming more of a main stream marketing tactic. Here you will find examples and way you can create link bait to spread virally across the web.
[/wpcol_1half_end]

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

High PR Backlinks and ROI

As with any other marketing or SEO strategies, tracking is the keyword. Without tracking your results and ROI you are very likely to loose money. What may be effective for one company may be ineffective for another. That is why you need to find out what works best for you and your company. Read more at SEOMoz.
[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

[/wpcol_1half_end]

Resources On How To Get High PR Backlinks

[wpcol_1half id="" class="" style=""]

Articles

Link Building… Time-intensive. Frustrating. Sometimes confusing. Yet Unavoidable. Because ultimately, it’s still the trump card for higher rankings.

For search engines that crawl the web, links are the streets between pages. Using link analysis, the engines can discover how pages are related to other pages and in what ways. Since the late 1990′s links have also served as a stand-in for votes – representing the democracy of the web’s opinion about what pages are important and popular.
[/wpcol_1half]

[wpcol_1half_end id="" class="" style=""]

Videos

[/wpcol_1half_end]

The experience begins with the box, where a steel hanger with cool logo keeps the lid in place. Sensual by nature. The essence of life. Refined features. Transformed energy. Dynamic existence. Yeah, they offer hot air-gas background in Nokia Land. Rarely has a phone felt so damn nice in the hand as the Nokia 8800 Sirocco. The first thing you notice about the phone is the weight. 138 grams is heavy for a phone. and with the exception of the upper fifth part the 8800 has a clean design of glass and steel. On the other hand, there is not much to get on the feature page. Scirocco has a tasteful and discreet color theme, but is the same as other Nokia Series 40 mobiles that would normally be found cheap segment.

In return included two batteries pretty board charger, a great bluetooth headset and a pouch in a very genuine leather. And finally you also get exclusive ringtones composed by Brian Eno – besides Roxy Music and work with Talking Heads, U2 and David Bowie also have Windows 95 “startup sound” on their consciences. Then connaisseurs blinking in agreement with each other when Eno kimer in the VIP lounge.

The buttons on the Nokia 8800 are small enough for long SMS messages, but not nearly as difficult to operate as the large flat fields on Samsung SHG D830. And the only problem in daily use is the “joystick”, which consists of a square ring around a central “select” button.

On the music side the Finns have spoiled us with something of a rarity when it comes to Nokia mobiles the stereo Bluetooth A2DP. On the other hand, it could only get to 128 megabytes (shared) memory, so in reality it is just about 20 songs in the collection. Scaleability filed under “wishful thinking”. The only “advanced” mode we managed to coax out of the Scirocco was the synchronization of the phone book over Zyb (zyb.com) – which worked smoothly. The image quality from the built-in 2 megapixel camera is nothing to brag about. The images are blue-cold in bad quality. And grynede .3 gp videos in 176×144 pixel resolution is not something that actually satisfies the user.

But overall, we must nonetheless admit Nokia 8800 Scirocco is one of the better mobile phones. For we live in a world where fancy functionality is superfluous distracting and real performance is measured with heart. Scirocco has this certain character.

Being a Designer/Animator/Coder, etc, I have a lot of applications. Too many in fact. Some that I have are essential. Whenever Adobe updates Photoshop or Illustrator, I’m on it. Immediately. Macromedia’s Flash and Dreamweaver fall into the same category, (funny that now all four of those apps will now be Adobe apps…) And, of course, any new update to Apple’s OS Xis a given for upgrading to.

Some applications that I have I don’t end up using as much as I had hoped for, but I still upgrade. I am not sure why, maybe because I get excited at the new features offered/ The new features remind me of why I bought the application in the first place. I just recently upgraded to version 3.0 of Toon Boom Studio. I first discovered this application at the 2001 MacWorld in New York. As a friend of mine and I were perusing the booths we came across Toon Boom Studio. OS X was just in infancy and this one an amazing app that only ran on OS X. (If you don’t know about Toon Boom, go to their site and find out. It’s basically an animation program that outputs Flash .swf files. It works just like an old school animations table!) Once I saw Toon Boom I decided right there and then to upgrade to OS X and to get Toon Boom Studio. Since then I have actually used Toon Boom on a few projects, all personal, and none completed. I decided to upgrade to v3 because of my same old weakness: the features would really help me make great stuff! Yeah that’s my weakness. The ability to make cool/great stuff.

Aside from that, there are a few applications that I have NOT upgraded to. The reason is mostly a cost one, but it also is a sign of my maturity. I am learning to fight Upgrade-itis, to only succumb when it’s worthwhile. For instance. I bought Maya 2 years ago. Maya was at v4.5 when I bought it, now its at 6.5. The main reason I was able to fight Upgrade-itis for Maya was cost. The upgrades were around $1,000. That’s a bit too much for an upgrade Another app that I passed on upgrading is Electric Image Animation System. That one again falls under the category of cost, although it’s less than half of Maya’s cost. The other reason I was able to resist these upgrades was that the new features really didn’t enhance the application enough to fall into that “ability to make cool/great stuff”. Both of those apps could already make cool/great stuff.

One application that I really wanted to upgrade, but I’m fighting the urge is Alias’ Sketchbook Pro. The upgrade cost is minimal, a bit over $100. The reason for my not upgrading? The ONE feature that I have repeatedly requested from Alias was not included in the feature update. This app is similar to Toon Boom in its cool factor. It’s like Corel Painter, but trimmed of all the extra crud. Its a very elegant application for sketching and doodling. My big attraction to it was the drawing/sketching features. Alias originally created it exclusively for Tablet PC’s, but was able to port it to the Mac. It’s a great application, svelte and perfect for what it does. The one feature its missing is the ability to rotate the canvas at will. I realize that this feature isn’t necessary because it’s meant for the TabletPC, but the app is out for the Mac which doesn’t have a Tablet counterpart. Anyone who draws at all knows that when you’re sketching your rotate the sketchbook like crazy. No one draws without moving the paper.

I’m curious as to what apps you consider Must-Upgrade apps. I haven’t listed all my Must-Upgrade apps, I’m sure I’m missing a few… But I do hope I can get over Upgrade-itis on most of my apps. I hope…

Article from dizzyblog.com

If you’ve followed this blog at all, you’ve probably read about some of my Mac problems. Apple was kind enough to replace my completely f’ed up Dual 2.7Ghz G5 with a shiny new Quad 2.5Ghz G5. But, as the previous post mentions, it has not been without its share of frustration as it crashed and crashed and crashed. It was crashing so often now that I was at the breaking point and had deciding on bringing it in to Apple for a look see as to why its going bad.

This may sound odd, not wanting to bring the computer in for service, but I have my reasons. The last time I brought my machine in for service I was without it for a total of 20 days. That, AND that the G5 is a heavy piece of computing machinery. Having to hook up and unhook up all the cables each time and take the machine to the car, take to Apple and drag it all over the place – well, it got to be mighty annoying. So, instead of doing anything I just adjusted. I was saving every 5 minutes, (a good procedure anyways), and I was always on the lookout for a crash. It was like a caffeine buzz that wouldn’t go away. I never knew when the system would crash, and it always seemed to crash when I least expected it, and when I most needed it NOT to crash. I know, when I least expected it sounds silly too, as I just said I always expected it. But, I found pockets of hope – hey it hasn’t crashed in two days…BAM. God-DAMN-it. As much as I knew it was going to crash, when it did I was infuriated.

One application that I’ve come to need and depend on is Apple’s Aperture. My main use for it is exporting of web page photo galleries. Well, that and image management. But its the web export that just ROCKS. Anyway, after a recent shoot I needed to post the images up for the client to see that same night. I load all my images into Aperture and select a website export. There were about 200 or so shots, and on export the machine crashed hard. I tried this 3 times before I went to the MacBookPro as a backup machine. Loaded all the images on the MBP and within 30 minutes (the images file sizes were huge – so conversion took some time for the over 200 shots) I had my web pages. That was the last straw. I was sick of having adapted to accepting daily crashes as part of life. Tomorrow I was bringing this machine back.

But – before I did I wanted to do some research on the Quad G5 to see if others were experiencing similar problems. Oddly enough, Apple’s support site is relatively useless, but the discussion boards are where it’s at. There are some pretty vocal people on those boards. And as it turns out, I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only one with this issue. Finding out yer not the only one with any problem is quite a breakthrough. It validates you in a way. As in “I’m NOT crazy, or AS crazy, as everyone says! Woohoo!” So, while reading the posts, all the responses form the Apple approved responders said that 90% of the time bad RAM was the issue.

Frankly, I didn’t believe em. When I had received the new Quad, it came with 512MB of RAM. I added 4GB of RAM from another company. So I found this application – Rember – that would run exhaustive rests on the RAM. It would just take all night to run through the tests. I set it up to just keep running the tests over and over.

When I woke the next day I found test failures. that meant that I had *GASP* bad RAM. Well holee cow. So, I ran down to Fry’s, bought 4 x 1 GB chips and replaced all the RAM that was in the machine. I am happy to report that my machine has not crashed ONCE since that day, and that was like 3 weeks ago.

The moral of the story? I need to do my research earlier into the problem phase. That, and quit blaming Apple. they were right this time.
Who knew?

Article from dizzyblog.com

Apple’s Dashboard, when it was first announced, made a huge splash throughout Mac-Land for 2 specific reasons: 1) The technology and Apple’s spin on it is a very cool thing indeed, but more importantly 2) There already was an application that did nearly the EXACT SAME THING! It’s an application called Konfabulator, created by Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke. Konfabulator, a shareware application, has been out for about 2 years now and provides almost the same abilities as Apple’s Dashboard. Konfabulator is a JavaScript run-time engine for little mini-apps called Widgets. The Widgets are single-purpose little applications that, for instance, can control iTunes, there is a Widget that is a neat little clock, etc.. Catch a pattern? The two are almost exactly the same. Almost. I’m not going to go into the debate regarding why Apple decided to create Dashboard instead of just Buy Konfabulator, you can read more about that here if you want more information. I’m going to go into why BOTH are worth having.

First off, I need to say that I enjoy both Konfabulator and Dashboard. When I first saw Konfabulator I drooled. I was in the audience of a (then) San Francisco tv show called The ScreenSavers. After the show, one of the hosts, Leo Laporte came to the audience and asked if there were any mac users here. I was the only one, (it was a very PC heavy show), so he then showed me this nifty little app called Konfabulator. I was floored. How cool was it to be able to have little floating applications that could give you stock quotes, your weather, the phase of the moon, etc… ALL THE TIME? I instantly went home and bought the shareware app. My wife was so thrilled also that we bought 2 licenses. We each had Konfabulator on our machines and we loved it.

Konfabulator’s biggest strength and most ingenuous factor was that anyone could theoretically create a Widget. Konfabulator even provided documentation and templates on how to create Widgets. Each Widget that was created by the Konfabulator community was then shared on the Konfabulator website, and they were all free! That was the biggest hook. What you bought the application for initially was what kept you going back to get more Widgets.

Now to Dashboard. A lot of similarities exist. Apple has provided documentation on how you can make your own Widgets, and they have a website where you can get more Widgets, so the Dashboard layer of Finder will keep getting better. It’s really the best of both worlds. But I had to ask, which one is better?

Apple gets huge points for the look and feel of their Widgets. They look slick. You’d expect no less from Apple. And they are QUICK. I have my computer set to show the Dashboard when I flick my mouse to the upper left-hand corner of my screen. One flick and the Dashboard fades and zooms into place. Gorgeous. And very kewl. The Dashboard Widgets look cooler, and their enhancements are a bit cooler too. To change the preference of a widget all you need to do is click on the little italicized i in the corner of the Widget. When you do this the Widget flips in glorious OpenGL 3D to reveal its backside where you can change its preferences. Another point for Apple.

More points for Apple come from adding Widgets to your screen. When you drag a Widget from the Widget Dock to your screen you get this great little effect like when Neo touched his finger to the the broken mirror in The Matrix. Very liquid.

But Apple LOSES points to Konfabulator on one huge part. Konfabulator can have the Widgets right on top of the Desktop. Dashboard sends you into a layer of the Finder. This takes you out of your computing environment and into the Dashboard layer. To me this is a huge drawback to Dashboard and a huge reason to have Konfabulator around. I’ve gotten spoiled with Konfabulator and its ability to have the Widgets on the Desktop. I have this one Konfabulator Widget called Tail Chaser that is a very helpful Widget. All it does is displays a text file over my Desktop Picture. I have it set to show the contents of my system.log file. This file shows a lot of what’s going on in my system. This log keeps track of applications that are launched, of volumes that are mounted and unmounted, and it keeps track of any errors that are reported. This has become my favorite Widget. This really can’t be replicated in Dashboard.

Konfabulator gains points for the ability of some of it’s Widgets to work with Finder files. There are some Widgets that you can drag and drop files onto to invoke an action. There is an FTP Widget that, when files are dropped onto it, will upload those files to whatever ftp server you have specified. I don’t see Dashboard doing that.

There are many, many more details about each application than I can go into. To sum it up, Apple’s Dashboard is great because it’s fast, the initial Widgets are gorgeous, the Dashboard itself takes great advantage of the power of Mac OS X, but the fact that the Dashboard is on layer of the Finder is a huge disappointment.

Konfabulator is still quite useful. Konfabulator’s ability to have its Widget’s right on the Desktop is a huge plus. It’s ability to be able to work with files in the Finder is another huge plus. My main disappointment about Konfabulator is that the Widgets, most all of them made by the Konfabulator community, don’t have the polish of Apple’s Widgets.

If you have Dashboard and love it, and you’ve never tried Konfabulator, well, give it a try. I think they can both co-exist. Dashboard is not a Konfabulator killer.

Article from dizzyblog.com

With the new Mac OS X, upgrades/repairs are not as easy to do. A lot of your preferences and settings are strewn about the HD. There is the Library folder that contains most everything, but what about all your passwords for websites, and those for access to files and applications on your computer? The Mac has a feature called Keychain that stores all your passwords for everything from Online passwords to passwords for your applications.

As it turns out, backing p the Keychain file and reinstalling it wasn’t quite as easy as my buddy hoped. So, being the good internet citizen that I am, well, I guilted him into writing a tutorial for doing just that: backing up and reinstalling your Keychain Access file.

Here, in Ivan’s own word’s is how to do it:

Hi, Ivan here.
Ok, first off, Mac OS X stores passwords you use in your applications and online accounts. You can access these passwords and account information in an application called Keychain Access. This application allows you to access and manage your keychains, passwords, and certificates. For now I wanna focus on keychains and leave certificates for another time. The main default keychain is the same as your login, including your password. When you login to Mac OS X you also unlock your “login” keychain. Within your login keychain are the internet and application keychain arranged in a list. This is the list that needs to be backed up.

In order to make a back up of the keychains, find the file that holds all the information for the keychains. I should note that individual keychains can be saved and copied. This would be an option if you had a second mac you networked and copied those keychains onto the other mac. Very cool.
So, here goes:
First,find the keychain list: The location of the keychain list is in /Users/”your user name”/Library/Keychains/

Next, within the Keychain folder there should be a file, either called your login name (e.g. Igallegos – my login name), or if this is a new instal of Tiger, “login.keychain”. That’s the file to back up, either by burning a CD, USB drive, copy to iDisk, whatever…

Then, in the event that your HD should fail, or require you to do a clean install of Mac OS X you have a back file of the keychain list. To reinstall, take your backup file and place it back in: /Users/”your user name”/Library/Keychains/

Then, open the application Keychain Access which is located in the Applications/Utilities folder.
Then, under the Edit menu, select Keychain List, and a drop down window will appear showing the available keychain lists. You can also add more lists, if you want. On the lower left hand corner you’ll see a + (add) sign. Select it and choose your backup keychain list that you placed earlier in: /Users/”your user name”/Library/Keychains.

Finally, your backup keychain list will now become available and you’ll be able to access it on the top left hand window that has your new keychain as well as the System and X509Anchors keychain. You can make your backup keychain the default keychain, or copy it over to your new keychain.
That’s it! Good luck and remember to always have back-ups. It’s more important than clean underwear!

Article from dizzyblog.com

After the images were scanned, I next go through and identify my favorites of the bunch. I also pick out ones that I’m not as happy with (the preview doesn’t really give the best look at the image – some end up being out of focus, or focused on the wrong thing – things I don’t really notice until I take a good look at a high res scan), and mark them as such. Before I don anything more, I burn a backup DVD or two. The 140 or so images I ended up scanning in took over 10GB of space on my hard drive – Ugh!

Once the backup is taken care of, I delete the pictures that aren’t up to par. The reason I scan most of the pics then archive and then delete is so that I will always have a digital version of the image. I may not like the image now, but in the future I may have a need for it and looking at digital thumbnails is so much faster and easier than looking at the actual film negatives. I realize this means more work for me now, but in the long run it should be less work for me. At least I hope so!
Now I am left with the pictures that I really like. Time for color correction, cropping and the dreaded dust and hair removal process. Color correction I enjoy, cropping I enjoy, dust and hair removal – its like a root canal. Well, maybe not that harsh, but DULL – dull dull dull. Not only dull, but sometimes it can be very challenging and, if done poorly, it can ruin a great picture.

Since I am a long time Photoshop user, I’ve learned to do a lot with the base tools. Photoshop has a LOT of tools, almost to the point of too many tools. After using the app for so many many years (since v2.5), I’ve found that you only really need to use about 10% of all the possible tools. I tend to stick to using the tools for all my editing work. The one tool that I love the most is the Rubber Stamp tool. I have really been able to achieve some great results with that tool and I feel I’ve really mastered using it. I use the selection tools and the brush tool. That’s about it for the tools, very few others. I never use the Dodge/Burn tool, and rarely use the Sharpen/Blur tool. In fact I’ve never really explored many of the other tools as everything I’ve needed to do falls within the few tools I use.

Well, I broke from my shell and tried the Healing Brush out just to see what the fuss was all about and boy-o-boy am I glad I did. The Healing Brush is worth the price of Photoshop alone. It saves THAT much time and produces amazing results. Doing dust and hair removal from my scanned pics went so much quicker using this tool than using the Rubber Stamp. In fact, using the two tools, the Rubber Stamp tool and the Healing Brush tool, you can quickly become a photo retoucher GURU!

The trick to using both these tools is understanding what each tool does. The Rubber Stamp tool allows you to paint with sections of the picture itself. You Option-Click (PC Alt-Click) on the source of where you want the image sampled, and then paint away, fixing blemishes and touching up the image, etc. With using the Rubber Stamp tool, the main trick is to constantly choose different source locations. This eliminates the look of a cloned retouch.

The trick to using the Healing Brush is more of knowing when NOT to use it. This tool works just like the Rubber Stamp tool, but instead of painting with a clone of the image at the source area, it paints with the LUMINANCE (brightness of the pixels) of the image at the source area, then blends the colors of the area painted. That’s the beauty. It keeps the image noise and doesn’t paint with the color at the source, just the brightness, and the colors at the point its painting. So, if you have a lot of dust in the sky area of a shot, you can basically go nuts with the Healing Brush, as it will pick up the subtle change of color in the sky, whereas the Rubber Stamp tool would not work well in a graduated sky. But, the Healing Brush is to be avoided when working on a detailed area like a brick wall. Because of the way it works, sampling colors from all around the area being painted, it would provide icky results (that is my technical term). On the brick setting, the Rubber Stamp tool is the weapon of choice.

Combining both the tools at the right time makes the act of image retouching so much easier and so much more productive. As much as I hate having to DO it, I’m more and more pleased with the final results. So, in that respect, it’s well worth doing. Still, I hate scanning…

Article from dizzyblog.com

So, what happened? Let me tell the story. It all starts way back when I was looking into replacing my old dual 1Ghz G4, a Machine that NEVER had a problem btw. The newest Mac at the time was a 2.7Ghz dual G5. And that’s the one I ended up getting. The big bad boy. Due to the tremendous heat that the G5’s put out, Apple decided to use a unique cooling system for this Mac. All the G5’s come with a clever 9 fan cooling system, and a cheese-grate like front and back panel for aiding in keeping the processors cool. The top of the line Macs, the one I eventually got, had an added element of a liquid cooling system. A radiator to be precise. When I was investigating the system that was one of the “wow, cool” factors. I had also wondered what would happen if the system leaked, but it was a brief wonder and I was quickly back drooling at the specs of the Machine.

Fast forward to the present day. I use my Mac all the time. I never turn it off, instead running http://folding.stanford.edu/ when I’m not using the Machine. Every morning I wake up and check my mail and get to work. I hit the spacebar, the monitor wakes up and BAM, I’m into my day. Except this one day the spacebar didn’t invoke the monitor to wake up. Shaking the mouse from side to side didn’t help either. I check the front of the Mac and the power button light was off. So I turn it on, and the light goes on, I hear a fizz, and the light goes off. 5 retries later and no progress.

At first I’m thinking power supply. I have a lot of junk hooked to the Mac and who knows, maybe a surge fried something. But every other device is working fine. Weird. So I take it in to a We Fix Macs place and they call back in an hour and say that my cooling system has leaked and corroded the logic board and the processors. Crap. Oh crap.

Luckily the thing is still under warranty. I brought it home, removed the RAM and my 2 HD’s and then brought it to my Apple Store. I couldn’t tell the Apple guy that I had brought it to another place first for fear they would void the warranty, but I let them know my suspicions by saying I saw liquid. they took it and said 10-20 days. WHAT?!?

AS always, I had a huge project just about to start. hardware/software problems ONLY happen when a project is either about to start or right before delivery time. So here I was, without my Mac, and a huge project about to start. I was smart enough to take the Hard Drives out of my Mac – they had ALL my data and there was NO WAY I could function without those drives. But, what was I going to do about the Mac???

The new G5’s use SATA drives, so I couldn’t just put them in a firewire enclosure and attach to the powerbook. instead I did something I am sure will come to haunt me somewhere, sometime. I used the Fry’s lending library. I went to the tech store Fry’s and bought an identical G5, brought it home, toke out the HD that was in it, added my RAM and the 2 HD’s and viola! My Mac was back! Well, sort of – Maya wouldn’t work because its keyed to the ethernet address, but everything else worked.

As soon as Apple was done with my Mac (2 weeks later) I went and picked it up and put my RAM in it and the 2 HD’s and returned the Fry’s G5 to pristine shape, and abused the 30 day return policy. I feel shameful. I do. Abusing the 30 day return policy feels wrong. And I don’t encourage the behavior. But it saved me and my project! For that I love Fry’s!

I came across this news article on Yahoo today that brings up an excellent point. Knowing that Apple is going to go down the road of Intel, and that the transition won’t happen for a year, would you buy a new Mac now? Or would you wait until the new Intel machines come out?

Luckily, (or not so – depending on how the new machines work), I don’t have to make that choice. I’ve already bought the new machine. My concern now is making sure that the machine is supported for at least 4-5 years. But If I didn’t get my new Mac, would I have still bought it, knowing Apple’s new direction? I believe so. But, that’s me. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the world reacts. I’m not the best litmus test for these things. I have a history of investing in companies that end up dead. I won’t go into it, but the list isn’t a short one.

So, according to that news article, 33% of those surveyed said they wouldn’t be buying a new Mac machine until the new Intel-based machines are available. If that’s any indication of the rest of the Mac-buying public, that’s a big number. However, it’s important to remember that that 33% was a survey from the WWDC. The actual total may be less. And it may be more. I know of a couple friends who have decided to wait until the MacTel Macs come out.

So, will a 33% decline in Mac sales be painful to Apple? What’s your take? Have you put off a decision to buy a new Mac? Are you waiting until the new MacTel’s come out?

Article from dizzyblog.com

Now she has an iPod, and I have an iPod and an iPod Shuffle. This situation is even BETTER than her wildest dreams. With her original dream the jukebox would have been this huge piece of furniture over in the corner, and while it would have been a nice thing to have and it definitely would have been a great conversation piece, the iPod wins hands down!

So, how has the iPod changed your life? Or rather, Life. For me, here at DizzyPixel, the iPod is as essential as air and water. Music is constantly on, be it from iTunes or the iPod. When travel is needed, the iPod not only acts as a music player, but also a FireWire HD. That’s another MAJOR way that the iPod has changed my life.

While I only have a 15GB version, (my wife still has the original 5GB version – had to swap out the battery already), 15 GB is enough for now. I usually keep about 10 GB of music and leave 5GB of HD space for any files that I may need while on the road. I can keep full websites on the iPod, development and productions files, etc… It’s really the perfect little device, and each new revision just makes the iPod more and more useful.
So, how has the iPod changed your life?

Article from dizzyblog.com