International Mac Podcast

The wagon, or bandwagon, as it is called, is a notoriously slippery and narrow thing. This means that it’s incredibly easy to fall off of it. It’s easier than falling off a log, in fact, because before falling off a log you become concerned about how much it will hurt when you hit the ground, while when falling off the bandwagon it doesn’t really hurt at all, at least not at first.

Overstretched analogy aside, it is a fact of life and of GTD that you’ll stop doing it at some point, whether it be intentionally or not. Even David Allen, the man who started it all, admits to falling off the wagon frequently. Naturally, he being who he is, he’s probably come up with strategies to get back on. However, I’m not here to tell you about him, I’m here to tell you about me. (more…)

Edit: I neglected to mention that SimpleTask Mac is in Beta, and coming out of it as soon as Apple approves SimpleTask iPhone. Also, I previously stated that SimpleTask iPhone would be free, but it will be $1.99.

You may have noticed, although probably not, that I deliberately avoided the words “Getting,” “Things,” and “Done” in the title of this review. There is a reason for this. SimpleTask is not a comprehensive GTD app. GTD has a specific meaning with specific criteria, although it has drifted away somewhat from referring to David Allen’s book. There are at least two categories of task lists, and the one most people think of is the more complex one, which involves dates and priorities and tags and contexts and such. The other one that springs to mind less often is just a list, with checkboxes and titles. SimpleTask falls into this category.

Another category it falls into is the Delicious Generation. There are many interpretations of this concept, but I like mine the best. A delicious app is one which uses nonstandard GUI to great advantage. The most famous example is Delicious Library, which departs from the standard Finder-like way of presenting large groups of items, and uses the idea of a bookshelf. Others that fit in to this category are iVolume, The Hit List, Disco, QuickPost, Tweetie, and many more. SimpleTask succeeds with this model, which makes it a pleasure to use. (more…)

A while ago, on the IMP Live in New York show, my pick was a little Preference Pane called GeekTool which embeds content on your desktop. When thinking of why one should do this, an obvious reason comes to mind: observing. Whether it be CPU usage, iTunes status, or date and time, GeekTool is a great way to get an overview of different aspects of your system. But it’s also good for another thing: UI Customization.

For those of us who read LifeHacker, we’ll come across an occasion article about the Enigma Desktop, a collection of tools to provide a custom user interface that blends in with the user’s wallpaper. Sadly, the programs used to create this user interface are all Windows only applications. What is a Mac geek to do? (more…)

Ok. I have had enough. I am going to break my non-blogging spell, and actually contribute something textual to this podcast. The summer is a perfect time because I actually have some semblance of my life back. Now, this blog post might make you think, which I hope it does, and it might just make you angry. Feel free to comment, or email me directly, at connor@impodcast.tv

So, as you might have guessed from the title (You know, that clause in big bold letters above the body of the post. You can’t miss it!), this post is about the new, built-in battery of the new unibody MacBook Pros. There has been grumbling, there has been complaining, and there has even been full blown temper tantrums. You know what? I am sick of it. That’s right. I’ve had enough. I actually LIKE (gasp) the new built-in batteries, and I am here to bust dispell the myths about them. (more…)

Alright, it’s time for some honesty on my part. I wasn’t satisfied by the number of comments on my last ‘Keaton On’ post, so I’ve decided to put my life on the line and go on a serious first-to-palm (see what I did there?) Pre-bash-athon. Yes, I do remember the last time I bashed Palm for the Pre on Twitter, ending with my own all-too-public humiliation. Now, after spending 5 months in the fetal position, sucking my thumb and crying for my mommy, I’ve done some actual research (a.k.a. I skimmed the Wikipedia article) on the Pre, and have a whole new set of reasons why it will fail. Muahahahaha!

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Before we stop sucking, I need to impart a little news to you. I have recently been named the Blog Manager of IMP. This means, for all you team members, I get to pester you to blog and I get to mess with your post before it goes live. Don’t worry, I won’t be evil with it, I’ll just make it not suck, which I’ll get to in a bit.

For you, loyal reader, it hopefully means more and better posts. I haven’t been doing a stupefyingly stellar job as of yet, but I hope I can get off my hiney and actually get to work now. This post should help with that, because part of the reason I’m writing it is to give myself some guidelines on editing posts. The other half, of course, is so those posts suck even less than they do now when they come under my nose for review. Now, on to the suckitude, and how to prevent it.

These are actually inspired by a journalism class I took last semester. Many of the concepts transfer easily to blogging, so it wasn’t too much work to come up with this simple set of guidelines.

There are three main elements of a post: Mechanics, Structure, and Content. They’re in the order of ease of correction, so you should at least read the beginning. Speaking of beginnings, let’s begin. (more…)

It’s no secret that Apple and Microsoft are going at it in an ad battle that would make the Spartans from the movie ’300′ cower in fear (although they probably wouldn’t cower because of the content of the ads, they would probably freak out about the fact that there are moving pictures in a time when yellow paint was considered the wave of the future and long boring speeches by old philosophers who may or may not have gotten high on bay leaves were considered entertainment). Some love the often humorous, always cunning ad-fest in the same way as they love watching famous Star Wars fight scenes. Others find the ads much more similar to two five-year-olds poking each other with light sabers while screaming loudly for their respective mothers. Of course, you’re not here to learn what others think, you’re here to be told what I think, and then meticulously counter every sentence I write with at least 5 different points on why I’m wrong (I love you guys). Enjoy!

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