Ever have one of those moments where something gives a swift kick to your memory box and you suddenly rediscover an old joy? Such it was this evening as I've spent the past hour playing BlastApp, the OS X version of the NeXT classic helicopter game. You'll need the Developer Tools installed to have access to the game.

Yes, I'm a wee bit behind in my web reading, having been on vacation last week, and I'm still getting caught up. So Panic has retired Audion. Co-founder Cabel Sasser has a simply outstanding story of Audion that every Mac user should read. There is no boo-hooey, "why us?" whining, but rather a brutal examination of core business principles and personal desires, combined with a can-do, what's-next? attitude. I have long admired Cabel and Steven Frank, the "Panic guys" as I've personally referred to them. I see a kindred soul in Steven, and his office products-fetish, what's-the-latest-and-greatest-PDA blog postings. I was an Audion 2 registered user, before converting full time to iTunes when I got my first iPod. I have been a registered user of Transmit since the days it was called Transit, and will continue to be so until something better comes down the pipe. Outside the command line, Transmit is, for me, the best FTP client out there right now on the Mac. Personally, it is their rational reasoning, bereft of any whining on the part of big, mean, ol' Apple--unlike other Mac developers who shall remain nameless-- regarding their decision to retire Audion, rather than the decision itself, that further endears this company to my software-consuming wallet. Keep doing what you love doing, guys, because there are users out here who appreciate it.

The November issue of About This Particular Macintosh is out. Lee's cover is inspired. Mondo thanks to Gruber for playing along. Ellyn explores the basics of the stock exchange, while Wes explores the discussions between "brushed metalheads and Aquaphiles", and other happenings, in the Macintosh blogosphere. Reader Jon Allen Boone relays his computer-using saga, and how he came to switch to Mac OS X. Andrew Kator has a How-To on sharing web content. Yours truly reviews Waterfield Design's Medium Cargo bag, Wes examines the FrogPad USB, and Watts Martin weighs in on Nisus Writer Express 2.0. Andrew also looks at Stuffit Deluxe 9, and David Zatz compares the IOGEAR and Dr. Bott KVMs. Cortland and iTrolls continue their strips, and we have some great desktop pictures from Ireland, courtesy of reader Mark Dickson. My favorite new segment, Frisky Freeware, explores Meterologist this month. As always, ATPM is available in a variety pack for your reading pleasure.

Dr. Mac has excellent advice for preparation and post-op procedures for working with Mac OS X's Software Update in his latest column for Mac Design magazine. We admit we do not always back up prior to running software updates, but then again, we tend to let a few days go by after an update appears, seeing how the world outside our bowl fares with it. Regardless, it is good advice to at least back up your Home folder, or wherever you store your vital data on your drive, before running major updates, like the supposedly-forthcoming 10.3.6. It's a pain to have to rebuild your boot disk in the event of a major problem after an update, but it's quite another pain to lose irreplaceable data.

A couple of PowerBook-related goodies were announced yesterday that has the phisch bowl churning. MCE announced a new 100 GB internal drive for every PowerBook out there back to the Kanga G3. However, at US $279, it won't be finding its way in to the phischbook any time soon. MacMinute also noted the announcement of Targus's Notebook ChillHub, a US $50 laptop stand that incorporates two cooling fans as well as four USB 2.0 ports. Further details aren't yet available, but it appears that it's necessary to lug around an extra AC adapter to power the ChillHub's fans and USB ports. Ugh.

My favorite merchant of Mac-related apparel has re-opened for business. Mike Yraelbra, the Big Kahuna, has brought back the MacSurfShop, with a new business model that should allow him to keep costs low while still serving up great pro-Apple designs. I'm off to order my Pod People shirt...

Michael, who is much more knowledgeable of such things than I, has an overview of MacroMates' newly-released TextMate, which purports to be a BBEdit killer. I downloaded and took a look at TextMate, too, and I was fairly unimpressed. If I weren't using BBEdit, I would likely go with SubEthaEdit. I've been using BBEdit since, oh, 1996 or so, and version 8 is the best version yet of the ultra-powerful text editor. Like mi amigo, I won't be cranking up TextMate any time soon for my own needs, but more power to MacroMates for going after the switcher market.

Yesterday, Ric Ford celebrated the 10th anniversary of MacInTouch. MacInTouch is, to my best recollection, the original Macintosh news blog, from before the terms "weblog" and "blog" were coined. To quote Ric, "here's to another ten years!"

There seems to be a movement afoot to pretty-up the Mac version of Firefox. Jon Hicks came up with some native-looking widgets, and Kevin Gerich has been busy with new button icons, as well as other widgets. Not being a Firefox user--though I do plan to install the latest preview release--I am left wondering: why not just use Camino and all of its native Mac GUI goodness? It's my browser backup of choice behind Safari.

The September issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available. Ellyn sneaks in a word on integration, while Matt pontificates over the new iMac. David Ozab discusses a recent copyright case, and Paul has the latest from the world wide web. It's the Chris Lawson review issue, as the licensed pilot (be afraid, be very afraid) examines a hardware hacking book, the iRac, and the MicFlex. Oh, and Eric looks at DEVONnote while Michael puts my next keyboard through its paces. Some great renderings by Mark Feemster are available as desktop pictures. Enjoy the fruits of our volunteer labor on behalf of the Macintosh-using public!

For the Apple Macintosh lover who has everything, there is now the Apple Table. It's actually kind of ergonomic, in the way that the cutouts allow the user to slide up much closer to the table. (Via the PowerPage.)

Belated birthday wishes to Matt Deatherage and the entire MDJ on their eighth anniversary of publication. The August 12th issue of MDJ marked the special occasion.

It is analysis like this, on the "Apple should have licensed the Mac in the '80s" unconventional wisdom, which merited my support of Mr. Gruber.

The August issue of About This Particular Macintosh is out. Ellyn reminds us to take some time out, while Ted dives in to mindmappers in his latest outlining column. Wes has the complete coverage of the Dashboard vs Konfabulator from the Mac blog world. Sylvester walks readers through making a silent movie, which, alas, was the last great task of his beloved FrankenMac before it gave up the ghost. This month's desktop pictures section is a bazaar of reader-submitted photos from around the world. Greg looks at Excel Hacks, and Kirk reviews the Rolls-Royce of mini-speakers, while Ellyn offers her thoughts on Wil Wheaton's Just a Geek. Finally, fellow Dallas metroplex resident Adam Zaner reviews the Belkin Media Reader, an iPod accessory I have long had my eye on. As always, the issue is available in regular, premium, and super.

As a 12-inch PowerBook owner, the blurb on MacMinute about QuickerTek's new Whip Antenna for the smallest PowerBook piqued my interest. However, after looking over the product page, I'm left wondering if this wouldn't just be something that would easily break off. It appears to be a permanent or semi-permanent installation; how does that affect my three-year AppleCare warranty? The kicker: 90 bucks. Sheesh. Fifty I could understand, but it seems a little overpriced as is.