ATPM 14.09

The September issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your reading pleasure. Mark informs us that more ISP chicanery is afoot across the Pond, and how Mac users in the UK might be affected. Ed's updated the master list of GTD apps with a new item: iPhone Presence. Does the app have an iPhone version, or a web version the iPhone can access? Pretty handy if you're looking for an application to get things done with that will run on your Mac and your iPhone. In this month's Photoshop For the Curious, Lee shows us how to use the Merge tool to stitch together those vacation photos to get those great panoramic shots. Sylvester scratches the surface of Preview's usability to help us get more out of that handy little app. This month's desktop pictures are again courtesy of Julie Ritterskamp, who took these great photos in various national parks throughout the western United States this past July. The identity of Lord Fate, present and past, is revealed, as Cortland's saga comes to a close. Todd and Angie begin to move their lives forward again, though Angie is having trouble letting Cortland go. But does she have to...? First Officer Chris Lawson, our nation-trotting staff pilot, pounds around on Das Keyboard Professional, while the Big Boss, Michael Tsai, reviews three hard drive enclosures which allow one to treat hard drives as floppy disks. (For you young'uns, we used to have to store our computer data on this pieces of five-inch discs, which were encased in a floppy plastic material, hence the name, floppy disk, or floppies.) Lee looks at a pair of headsets from Maximo, while Ed does some recipe filing with MacGourmet Deluxe. Finally, Linus puts Séquence through its paces to see if it can dethrone screen-capture king Snapz Pro. As always, this issue of ATPM is available in a variety of formats for your reading enjoyment.

Today's phischbits

Finishing Well: Strange responses to "pain"
Great piece from my friend Mike. "We will do whatever is needed to keep from feeling pain in the moment. It doesn't really matter to us whether the solution has actually changed anything, but in the moment we 'feel' better. Our whole culture has done that in our response to God. [...] But we do....we will do whatever it takes to 'be happy' and avoid pain in the moment. We divorce our mates to 'be happy.' We hurt others so we can 'be happy.' We make a big change to get a little result in the moment so we feel like we have solved our problem without really changing anything at all. We have yet to resolve the problem, but we feel better."
Tags: , The Tshirt and Tee Search Engine - PleaseDressMe
Pretty nifty. I discovered a new Star Wars t-shirt while playing around with it.
Tags: , The curse word 'Battlestar Galactica' created - CNN.com
Humorous look at the fake curse word "frak". Yes, it's intended as a replacement for exactly the word you're thinking of. I had no idea Glen Larson had coined it during the original Galactica series I watched religiously as a boy. I did, however, remember "feldergarb".
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

D90 | D-MOVIE
"Special site for Nikon's next-generation D-SLR, the D90. This features detailed product information and a variety of sample images, as well as movies captured with the D90's new innovative movie function, D-Movie." The first digital SLR to shoot movies. And they're pretty impressive movies, considering it's a dSLR and not a dedicated video camera.
Tags: , , , , bradandgeo: 'cognitive surplus' and the church...
"And when people come out of this stupor, what you find is people not wanting a passive, received religion, but a spirituality that they are a part of, or as the article says, an 'architecture of participation'. And this is ironic because this is exactly the same shift that needed to happen 2000 years ago - the shift from one priest to the 'priesthood of all believers'; the shift from a few select leaders to a plurality of 'gifts' making up the body as a whole." This certainly engaged my gray matter...
Tags: , , , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

China's totalitarian games - The Boston Globe
Jeff Jacoby sums up why I did my best to boycott watching this year's Olympic Games. (I confess I failed due to having nowhere else to go while the missus watched the various sporting contests. (Sheesh, as if "rhythmic gymnastics", aka, dancing with a hula hoop, is really a sport.) )
Tags: , , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

The Eternal Value of Privacy
"Supporters of wholesale government surveillance are fond of saying that only the guilty should be worried about spying. Let's put that spurious argument out to pasture once and for all. Commentary by Bruce Schneier." Definite food for thought. This stood out to me: "A future in which privacy would face constant assault was so alien to the framers of the Constitution that it never occurred to them to call out privacy as an explicit right. Privacy was inherent to the nobility of their being and their cause. Of course being watched in your own home was unreasonable. Watching at all was an act so unseemly as to be inconceivable among gentlemen in their day. You watched convicted criminals, not free citizens. You ruled your own home. It's intrinsic to the concept of liberty."
Tags: , , Glassdoor.com - Company Ratings, Reviews, and Salaries
Employees can post reviews of the companies they work for, as well as salary histories. The thought is that you can research places you may want to go work to get a realistic expectation of what it's like. I haven't delved in to Glassdoor.com, but I can see the potential for it to become one massive bitch session for unhappy employees.
Tags: , , , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

Doc Searls Weblog · Is Yahoo a better search engine than Google?
Doc Searls runs some search tests on his old blog, and learns that Yahoo's consistently coming up with better results than Google.
Tags: , , Breaking Bad Spending Habits
Good common sense advice that too many of us these days don't use. One way I've changed my book buying habit is to buy books when they hit the sale rack at Barnes & Noble, or if new, at Costco where they're deeply discounted. I'm also utilizing BookMooch a lot more.
Tags: , The myth of the white minority - The Boston Globe
Jeff Jacoby's latest. As our impending adoption of a "Hispanic" baby looms closer (truthfully, any moment now), my wife and I found this fascinating.
Tags: , , i.engadget.com - Engadget for your iPhone or iPod touch - Engadget
"So far in 2008, the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch account for some 95.8% of all mobile views on the site. We're not even kidding." So they decided to optimize the popular gadget/technology web site for the iPhone/iPod touch.
Tags: , , , , Commuter Flights Grounded Thanks To Bumbling TSA Inspector - Aero-News Network: The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily/Real-Time News and Information Service
"This was an extraordinarily dangerous incident, folks. The TSA has neither the mandate nor the knowledge to inspect any aircraft for any reason." Craig Hockenberry sums it up pretty well on Twitter: "So when the TSA actually causes a plane to crash, will we still put up with their s**t?"
Tags: , , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

Death Star over San Francisco // Current
"Imperial Fleet Week SF." Pretty nifty video splicing, especially of the scenes with the Death Star just hanging in the sky.
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

Tweet Scan
Real-time search of the Twitter public timeline.
Tags: , TapeDeck. ▸▸ The tape recorder...fast-forwarded to Mac OS X.
"TapeDeck is a powerful and fun new audio recorder for Mac OS X Leopard. It’s just like your old analog tape recorder, only better. A lot better."
Tags: , , , Don’t Check Your Valuables — Matt Mullenweg
I always carry my camera and computer gear on to the plane. Always.
Tags: , Dissolving Paper Shampoo | Uncrate
"Forget packing the tiny travel bottle on your next trip and instead opt for some Dissolving Paper Shampoo ($13). The mint-scented paper shampoo comes in packs of 30 inside a convenient plastic travel case..."
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

"You can call me Al"

Like a lot of kids who came of age in the '80s, I was not, and to this day am really not, a fan of Paul Simon. But every kid who came of age in the '80s knew who Paul Simon was, thanks to this video:

I can still watch it just any ol' time...

Today's phischbits

BustedTees - Schematics of the Death Star Poster
Made me laugh out loud. I'm open to someone gifting this to me...
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

iChat's contact list goes on an iChat Pro diet
A just-in-case link, should I decide to switch from Adium back to iChat. (Easy, built-in chat transcript viewing is what keeps me on Adium. I use it at once a week...)
Tags: , , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

ATPM 14.08

The August issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your reading pleasure. Angus gets us started this month with a look at Microsoft's latest attempts to market its way out of its Vista doldrums, while he's very impressed with Microsoft Office: Office 2007 for Windows, that is, and notably the suite's OneNote slice of software. If you're wondering what this has to do with the Mac, read the whole column. Mike goes a bit Billy Shakes on us as he recounts his tale of iPhone 3G acquisition, while storage is on Mark's mind. As we go through the Great Room Reshuffle of 2008™ here in our home, storage is on my mind as well, but Mark's thinking in terms of data storage. For Photoshop geeks, Mark also notes how to get the Pxl SmartScale plug-in working on an Intel Mac. Gedeon Maheux, of the Iconfactory, twittered a couple of months back how he wanted a native to-do list app for his iPhone. He suspected that once the iPhone SDK was available, we'd see a "dev to-do list Thunderdome" of productivity apps. Judging from Ed's roundup of Getting Things Done (GTD) applications for the iPhone, it looks like Ged's prediction come true. Lee takes a break from the normal tutorials in this month's Photoshop for the Curious to talk about when and when not to actually use some of the tips and processes he's been teaching us on our photos. This month's desktop pictures are courtesy of Julie Ritterskamp, and features that sleepy little West Coast burb of San Francisco. Also, s the villianous legion regroups and remembers, the shocking truth about Cortland is finally revealed! Linus has some fun running his photos through Comic Life Magiq, while Eric throws Knapsack over his shoulder for some trip planning. Finally, Lee thoroughly runs SmartMask 2.0, a plug-in for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, through its paces. As always, ATPM if available in a variety of formats to suit your preferred reading habits. The release of last month's issue marked a personal milestone I failed to notice at the time of publication. I've now completed my 10th year of working on About This Particular Macintosh, and I've worn a variety of hats during that time. I have to thank Michael Tsai, our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, for giving me the chance ten years ago to be a part of something I believe to be very special. In addition to being the boss, Michael has become a valued friend. ATPM is a second family of sorts. While staff members come and go, it is amazing how entrenched in one another's lives we become. We have seen one another through a wedding, the birth of children, a reality television game show, Macworld Expo meet-ups, even one of our own getting out in public to sing the National Anthem at a ball game. Rob's family, and quite a few of my own, is still amazed that Michael and I showed up for his marriage to Sandy; it was first time any of us had ever met in person. ATPM has delivered my best friend in the online world. Rarely does a day go by that Lee and I are not in touch, mostly by instant message. Working on the publication has been an honor and a treat, and I extend my thanks to all of the staff members, past and present, for the privilege of working alongside you.

Today's phischbits

MyFox Atlanta | 'Cheesus?': Woman Finds Jesus In Bag of Cheetos
Two things I found telling from the article: "The pastor of Kirkwood United Methodist Church does not see anything theologically special about the Cheeto, but thinks some good could come from it. Pastor David Bennett says, 'If people can find Jesus, somehow, in each of us like she's found in this object, that would be a wonderful thing.' "Kelly doesn't plan to sell the Cheeto and will keep it in a safe deposit box." The pastor calls it. And if I were Kelly, I'd have eaten it. Photographed it, sure. Shared the photo with my friends, posted it to Flickr, whatever. But I'd have eaten "Cheesus". It's just a Cheeto. And Cheetos are yummy...
Tags: , , Neuromarketing » Please Your Guests by Fooling Them
The gist: more expensive wine isn't necessarily better. Unlike, say, a real drink like scotch...
Tags: The 10 Best Kitchen Implements For Fighting Off a Ninja
I think I'd go with the cutting board and the frying pan. Those just seem the best way to go all melee on that sneaky little ninja's hide.
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

The End Times

Tony Woodlief never fails to amuse me in some fashion:

[T]his is what we have come to: a grown man, grooming his eyebrows in traffic, using his rear-view mirror. In Wichita.

Today's phischbits

Number of Men In the United States Who Will Die In 2008 As A Result Of...
Interesting graphic.
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Today's phischbits

Leopard savaging a crocodile caught on camera - Telegraph
Wow.
Tags: , , , , Tor.com / After the Coup by John Scalzi
Short story set in the Old Man's War universe. My favorite part: "Jazz hands."
Tags: , , , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Habanera



Animal is my favorite Muppet. Just for the record.

Today's phischbits

Audiko
"audiko is a simple service which helps you to make a ringtone of your favorite song!" Plus there's quite the selection of ringtones there already, in MP3 format, as well as m4r for your iPhone. Totally free. (Until the RIAA overlords come crashing down upon it, that is...)
Tags: , , View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Ode to Joy



With thanks to my frient Tom, who lifted my spirits with this earlier today.