“People complain about the cost of software, then act surprised when companies use free products to collect and sell personal data.”
This. Absolutely this. A thousand times over, this.
That's No Space Station
Showing 38 posts tagged software
tech, humor, and nuance by David Chartier—tech distiller, freelance writer, Macworld contributor, wrangler of Finer Things in Tech
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myTumblr, a desktop blogging client designed specifically for Tumblr, is half off at MacZOT today
Usually $15, but only $8 today at MacZOT.
myTumblr lets you blog to Tumblr from your desktop | Macworld
A Mac blogging client designed just for Tumblr. Insta-buy.
Well ok not insta—I tried it out and drafted this post with it. But it’s great to see more native desktop app support for the greatest blogging platform of all time. OF ALL TIME.
Apps and services that I wish were in Socialite
Socialite is a good “put all your social stuff in one box” app. It’s even standing strong in terms of integrating well with each service that it uses, instead of stumbling into the pit of “does many things, none of them well” despair.
But I wish I could put more stuff in my Socialite box:
Go-go gadget Realmac Software.
“How many minutes does an average user (or worse, a novice user) spend reading a label describing a confusing concept, trying to figure out what the hell it does, before asking their Computer Friend for help or skipping it entirely? One might ask how many people are desperately looking for a Minimize All item in OS X’s Window menu, not realizing they need to hold the ⌥ key. And if there were such a menu item, one might ask how many people would waste time reading it when they don’t need it, and how many people would hit it by mistake.”
Mail’s Email Aliases, and Complexity Hidden - Release Candidate One
Chris Clark uses a couple of anecdotes to nail one of the most difficult challenges that constantly pulls at the heart of design. It’s obnoxious when software developers and designers duck this question by adding buttons and sliders and windows and doodads for every single feature they can think of. This cowardice is woven into the very cultural fabric of way too many Windows software shops because they have been scared into believing that they have to please everyone. They don’t.
But when developers and designers hit the bullseye, software “just works” like a skilled orchestra that’s played together for years. It’s harmonious and a joy to experience.
via Daring Fireball
10/GUI is probably one of the most dramatic reimaginations of the desktop user interface I’ve seen in a long time.
Agreed. The first 4 minutes set up some very useful summaries of computer usage theory and practice. But if you’re the ADD type or just short on time, skip to about 4:45 to see 10/GUI in action.
High-res
Come on Microsoft. HOW MANY CHANCES DO YOU NEED TO GET THE FIRST-RUN EXPERIENCE RIGHT?!
I just installed the Zune 4.0 software - released this morning - on a clean Windows 7 Boot Camp install that has never had any Zune software on it. I have all of the latest Windows 7 updates (I manually ran the updater before installing the Zune app). But what do I see the first time I run it? A fucking prompt telling me that the Zune app needs an update and that “additional Microsoft software may be required and installed as part of this Zune software update.”
Why wasn’t this software checked for during the initial install? Why wasn’t it included in the initial install? Why can’t Microsoft find the people responsible for continually crapping out such terrible first-run experiences and flog them publicly in front of the entire Redmond campus to teach them a direly needed lesson?
Update: Even better: after finishing the update process, a dialog tells me that the update was successful. Hooray. But clicking ok quits the update and the Zune software altogether. No restart, no message about needing to start it up again myself.
“This is a compelling combination of our innovative product, technology, and industry leading user interface design with one of the most trusted brands in software.”
Aaron Patzer, Founder and CEO of Mint.com on Intuit (the Quicken luddites) acquiring his company.
Translated: “This is a compelling combination of us kicking ass and a limbering, senile company that no longer produces worthwhile products but has more cash than Scrooge McDuck burning a hole in its wallet. Hell, it was probably our product that helped someone at Intuit come to their senses and finally do something about a two-year-old web startup that was eating its lunch.”
Installing SL on my play machine has been hit and miss so far. Clicking the “read more” link in Mail’s database upgrade screen yields nothing, and using Time Machine’s menubar option to open its System preferences pane opens /System/Library/PreferencePanes/ in the Finder. Actually, that happened with all System Preferences panes that are linked from Apple’s default menubar options until I opened System Preferences manually.
I’m working so I don’t have a ton of time to play, but nearly everything does indeed feel zippier. The install also freed nearly 20GB from my machine, and I always turn off the default printer drivers and language packs, so they weren’t even on my system for Snow Leopard’s installer to remove.
I’m going to wait to install Snow Leopard on my production Mac Pro, though. I can’t risk running into compatibility niggles like Mozy not being ready or ScreenFlow not being able to do this or that until an update or upgrade is released.
Nice evolutionary upgrade so far though. Can’t wait to play with the new Services features.
I’m really excited to announce Awards, a new application for iPhone and iPod touch that my wife Jessi and I created with Mobelux. Ok fine: Mobelux is responsible for all the magical code stuff, but the idea sprung out of some joking around with Jessi earlier this year. A few months ago, I approached Jeff Rock at Mobelux, the company you might remember from such iPhone apps as Tumblrette, which Tumblr bought, rebranded, and released for free. Yea, Mobelux is that awesome.
Jeff liked the idea, so a few months, brainstorming sessions, and test builds later, Awards 1.0 was born. Awards lets you “keep track of good behavior and reward the people in your life,” and you can learn more at the Awards site. Naturally, Jessi and I brought a lot of ideas from the perspective of a couple, but Mobelux crafted the app to be flexible for just about anyone: parents and their children, friends, bosses and their employees, and more.
Being that this is my (and my wife’s) first iPhone app, I’m pretty darn jazzed to see it materialize despite earning that red badge of courage earlier this month. We hope you enjoy Awards, and we have lots of great ideas for future versions.
We would love to hear from you too, so submit any questions or ideas that you want to share. We also have review codes for writers and bloggers, so let us know who you write for when contacting support.
To stay on top of Awards news, follow Awards on Tumblr and @awardsapp on Twitter.
