Thursday, April 28, 2005

illy

When I was in Italy last year, I noticed the illy coffee brand at several different cafes. While in Italy, I developed a taste for drinking espresso.

When I returned home, I decided to shop for an espresso machine. In my research, I found the term ESE, which stands for Easy Serving Espresso. This is a pod system, which simplifies making espresso at home by eliminating the grinding/tamping process. So, I bought an espresso machine that could take pods or regular espresso, and I went to the illy web site to buy the coffee.

The illy web site is very user friendly, with several languages to choose from. You can purchase espresso machines, coffee, cups, and just about any thing you might need. In case you're wondering, I chose a FrancisFrancis! espresso machine. In the course of looking up this web site, I found that illy has purchased FrancisFrancis!. I like the machine quite a lot, due to it's retro toggle switches and gauge, as well as it's ease-of-use.

Oh, by the way, the espresso is excellent!

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Tiger

Tiger is the code name for the latest version of Mac OSX 10.4, due out this Friday!

Apple has supposedly put more than 200 new features into the OS. Reading through the list, I think anyone who is already using Mac OSX will find something that they want. These days, with so many applications included as part of an operating system, you will probably want to update the OS for just browsing the internet or doing e-mail.

The big new feature is the new Spotlight feature. This is desktop searching, which basically means that it looks for text inside of nearly every file format on your hard disk. This should help all of us find customer names inside of documents and so-on, and from everything that I've read, this will be a great new feature!

There is also this thing called Dashboard, which will have these little widget programs to access specific information on the internet, like the weather or stock quotes. For any of you who have played with Konfabulator -- it's a lot like that...

Safari adds RSS support (news feeds). iChat AV adds multi video conferencing. Automator looks like a simple way to do Applescripting. Quicktime 7 is improved with High Definition features. .Mac Sync is improved. Mail is improved. On and on...

I've got it on order, so I'll try to let you know what I think, after playing for a while!

Friday, April 22, 2005

MyPyramid.gov

The USDA came out with a new food pyramid, trying to change the way Americans eat. They built a special web site at MyPyramid.gov.

There is kind of a cool little program there called My Pyramid Plan, where you enter your age, sex, and the amount of physical activity you do every day, and then it tells you how much of which food to eat. It's pretty neat, except I don't believe that I need 3 cups of milk every day, or 8 teaspoons of oil.

Otherwise, the recommendations seem pretty good.

They also have a different web site called MyPyramidTracker.gov to help you track your food intake and exercise.

For anyone interested in learning a different perspective on what to eat, please consider reading books by Dr. Joel Furhman at DrFuhrman.com.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Google's My Search History

The folks at Google keep on making new stuff. This one, in my humble opinion, is sort of a catch-up thing. Something other sites are already doing, so now Google is doing it too. It's called My Search History.

Your search history already exists in your browser, but what if you use more than one? On my Mac, I switch between Safari and Firefox. On my Windows computer I use Firefox and Internet Explorer. And I have a Mac at home...

I almost always use Google though, regardless if I'm using my computers or maybe a computer at a cyber-cafe. And now, I can keep my history in one place, on some Google servers. I have been using A9.com for this same kind of thing, but I'm not happy with the "Google enhanced" search results there. Sometimes, I think the servers get too busy. I still like A9.com, but not for my primary search page.

The search is pretty simple. You need to "login", because the search data is stored on their servers, for your eyes only. You can put your search history on "pause", if you want to do some private searches. And, you can delete your entire search history at any time. In the history itself, you can see searches where you didn't click, or what you did click if you did. My only wish would be to be able to specifically edit the history, delete a few things, from time to time. Or delete the old stuff, and keep the newer stuff.

Anyway, just one more reason to Google!

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Dazzle

Do you have home movies laying around? On VHS Tape? But now everyone has a DVD player, so what do you do? You might consider getting Dazzle.

I bought a Dazzle product 2 or 3 years ago now. It still works great, but I see they've updated things since then. Basically, this is a hardware/software product, that provides a bridge from an older camcorder or VHS player, to your computer. So, you plug your video output cables into this box, and you plug the box into your computer (firewire or USB 2 port). This creates a bridge, so that you can play your video into your computer.

I used a Mac for my editing, using iMovie with Dazzle. It worked great! Using iDVD, I was able to create a DVD menu, and render all of it and output it to a DVD Disk. So, you probably have a computer and a VHS player, all you need is Dazzle and some kind of movie/DVD software to make your own DVDs. These make excellent family gifts!

A Mac comes with all of the software that you need for this. Some Windows computers do too, I think, but I don't have any experience with these programs.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Tivo

Do you have Tivo?

I do not have Tivo yet. I know, I should probably have it by now. I'm close. I recently bought a new HD TV for home, so I'm just about ready for Tivo. But, I've been reading a lot of news about them lately...

First, let me just explain that Tivo is a digital video recorder. It's a box, and it's a service. Instead of recording to a VCR tape, it records to a hard disk. It records what you want it to, and it even guesses at shows that you might want to watch. Everyone who has one thinks it's very cool.

The problem is, a lot of companies have DVRs now. It is no longer unique. The top executives at the company have quit. Direct TV is no longer going to do Tivo. But, Comcast did just sign some kind of deal with them. Regardless, they are a hurting company, ripe for a takeover.

The rumor is, it might be Yahoo or Google. Wow! Both of these search engine giants are moving into the video space, with video searching. Having a box hooked up to a TV seems like a nice fit -- maybe.

But, watch out! Apple has some rumors of their own. That new Mac Mini? Some think it will evolve into some kind of DVR thing, sometime after Tiger ships (later this month). Maybe we'll be able to buy and download movies, like we do with music...

Anyway, I don't know which rumors might be real. But, I've decided to wait and see for a while, before making a purchase...

Monday, April 18, 2005

Macromedia

It's possible that you've never really heard of Macromedia, but you might be using their products every day.

Macromedia makes 2 end-user products, one called Flash and the other Shockwave. These are plug-ins, that work with your internet browser to view multi-media rich content on various web sites. They are both very popular, but I think Flash is really a great product. I can remember back when it was called something else, Splash maybe? Anyway, it was some little software company that originally invented it, and then Macromedia took it to a whole new level.

If you a graphics designer, or a web site designer, you might be using some of Macromedia's other development products. I've never used them for what I do, but they have a lot of high end products.

Today, Adobe just announced their intentions to buy Macromedia. If the stockholders and the government approve of the deal, then Adobe will have Acrobat and Flash, as well as a whole slew of high-end graphic design products.

I think this is an important merger. I usually don't agree with these kinds of things, but in this case, I don't think it's about either company saving money. I think it's about product synergy and technological growth.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Google Video

Google Video was announced a while ago, to search through TV programs. That was only the beginning...

Now, they are asking people to submit and upload videos to their system. In the future, these videos will be searchable, and viewable. And yes, you can actually charge someone to watch your video. It's hard to say how long this will take, for Google to perfect it's video searching capabilities, but it's an amazing idea.

Do you have some videos that you want to share with the world? Take a look!

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

cafepress.com

Do you want to make some T-Shirts? Maybe a calendar or bumper stickers? Then you should take a look at cafepress.com.

This is a pretty nifty web site. You can build your own store, choose what you want in the store, what prices you would like to set, and then upload images. When a customer decides to buy a T-Shirt or whatever, that T-Shirt is created with that image and shipped to that customer. You don't have to buy a large quantity or anything.

I've used this web site to create a 12 month calendar for the hubbardston.org web site that I maintain. The quality was very good, and the calendar was quite successful (old photographs of the town of Hubbardston).

If you ever wanted to try to sell something on the internet, this might be the best place to start. You don't have to spend any money, they do everything for you!

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

KillDisk

Do you have an old PC? Maybe you're thinking about giving it away or donating it to someone. If so, you might want to take a look at KillDisk.

They have a special download version that will automatically create a bootable floppy disk. Just insert the disk, boot the computer and it will start deleting the hard disk. It's important to use a utility like this. You certainly don't want any personal information, especially credit card numbers, to end up in the wrong hands.

There is a free version of KillDisk, so take a look!

Monday, April 11, 2005

Joel On Software

I'm not sure if Joel started this as a newsletter, then evolved it into a blog, or the other way around. I can't even remember for sure when I first heard about him. Joel owns a software company, called Fog Creek, and he started writing about his view on the software business, called Joel On Software.

I really like reading what Joel has to say. Many times, it's a little too late for me. I've already learned his "lesson" the hard way. But, even if I've been through some kind of phase of marketing/development/sales that he is talking about, it's always good to get his take on the issue. If I agree with him, it's good to know that I'm not the only one with that problem. If I disagree with him, then it helps me re-examine whatever that issue is, to make sure that I still feel the same way.

Even if you're not in the software business, you might find some things useful. For example, he once wrote about getting a new office in New York City, with all of the troubles and issues that he faced along the way.

So, if you have a small business, and especially a small software business, I highly recommend this web site. Even if you disagree with him, there is usually something there to learn...

Friday, April 08, 2005

glyFX

For people who do software develop, and need icons for the user interface, they should take a look at glyFX.

I believe that glyFX is sort of an offshoot of a little software company. They created cool icons, then they started giving a few away with certain developer packages, which is how I originally found out about them. They've come a long way since then.

glyFX has several different groups of icons, glyphs, and animations in the Windows XP style. To be honest, I'm a little envious of this business model. Software with no tech support. It must be great!

If you're looking for a little icon, even for web page development, you should take a look at glyFX!

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Vatican.va

With the recent passing of Pope John Paul II, I thought I would put a post up about the official Vatican web site. Did you know that the Vatican is considered a country? This is why the web site address ends in .va.

This is a pretty extensive web site, done in many languages. The Vatican web site was very early to the internet, one of the first of major importance.

If you want to learn more than what you are seeing on CNN, MSNBC, or any other news source, you might want to visit this site.

Monday, April 04, 2005

iWork Pages

Apple has a new word processor called iWork Pages. The iWork is a new suite of products, sort of like iLife. So far, iWork consists of Pages and KeyNote. I think I heard that a spreadsheet program is in development.

I have Word on my Mac already, and it's a great word processor. But, as a software designer, I like to look at new Apple software products. They tend to be free of clutter and simple in design. Pages is no exception.

I've only used it so far for a couple of documents, but it's huge list of templates make it very attractive. Although it could be used for nearly anything, there is a definite push for education and personal document design. For example, some of the template names are Family Newsletter, Club Newsletter, Education Newsletter, and so-on. I think Word has always been considered a business word processor, that happens to be used at home too. I think Apple is looking at the consumer and education markets first, and business second.

Quite honestly, I don't really use documents anymore, with e-mail, blogs, and so-on. I'm a little bit surprised that Apple hasn't done a blogging software package yet. Anyway, Pages is pretty cool, and very simple to use. And it's a bargain at about $79 for both Pages and Keynote (otherwise known as iWork). If you've gotta Mac, and you don't think you really need Office, you might want to try iWork.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Gmail

Gmail is one year old today. Gmail is the Google free e-mail that sort of competes with hotmail and yahoo mail.

I remember when this was announced last year, and nearly everyone thought that it was an April Fools joke, as Google has a tradition of doing something on April 1st (today they announced Google Gulp).

But, Gmail is real, and going strong. Today, they announced a new 2 Gigabyte limit, promising to continue to grow this over time. This basically means that you never have to delete e-mail messages. You can keep them on their server, search through them, etc. This kind of idea represents a large shift that is starting to happen in the computer industry. A large part of my hard disk space on my computer is just for e-mail that I've downloaded. If I started keeping it on Google's servers, I would have more free space locally, but more importantly, I can get to all of this information anywhere that I can get to a browser.

There is a whole list of new features announced also, like rich editing, Picasa integration, saving a draft, older browser support, etc. etc. It's still in beta, but it's getting better every day.

How do you get Gmail? Someone needs to invite you. If you don't know anyone else with a Gmail account, you can always ask me. I think I can invite 50 people...