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Wednesday, March 27, 2002 |
An outliner as a writing tool?
I am weighing experimenting with using the Radio outliner to do more of my writing and posting to Mac Net Journal. I am still digging around, but now that I realize that I can Control-click on an entry in my outlines and post that item to Mac Net Journal, then using the outliner as a writing tool starts to make more sense.
9:53:32 PM 
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Wow! Someone must be buying my book
Not at all related to the Mac - other than the fact that it was written, photographed and otherwise produced on the PowerBooks of Natalie and I - I am happy to see that sales of our travel book about the Olympic Peninsula, Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula, is selling much better now. When it came out in October the book ranked something like 1.2 millionth in sales on Amazon.com (I know, I don't like Amazon that much either, but their site offers some resemblance of sales figures). Gradually as bookstores found out about the book and readers saw a newspaper story here or there (thanks Longview Daily News and Seattle Times), our sales ranking rose to around 700,000 or so on Amazon. So, imagine my surprise today to see that Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula ranks at 75,399. Nope...not a best seller, but that is a huge move!
But I still suggest that folks buy our book from the good folks at Powells.com. That or special order it from your local independent bookstore, if you are lucky enough to live in a town that still has am independent bookstore...
5:19:24 PM
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How big was Apple's Bluetooth announcement? Opinions vary
Apple's Bluetooth Announcement: No Big Deal. The key line in Apple's March 21st announcement of Bluetooth wireless connectivity for
Mac OS X was not CEO Steve Jobs' prominent "Apple was the first to..." rah-rah statement
about Cupertino's history of adopting innovative technology. [osOpinion]
4:39:46 PM
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Do you use Microsoft's Media Player? Watch out for the pending viruses...
Next Virus Exploit: Media Player?. New security measures on Outlook e-mail may turn the attention of virus writers to attack breeches in another popular Microsoft product, Media Player. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]
4:34:52 PM
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Digging the Instant Outliner
The beta software that is available now for Radio users under OS X (as well as Windows, of course) is intriguing. I like the idea of being able to offer notes in this slim, easy to update and accessible format to people who are either interested in what I am working on or who I am working with on a project. Maybe my Instant Outline will become a streamlined way to filter Mac news and notes to other Radio users intersted in OS X.
What makes the outliner important? Well, the biggest advantage of it over the Radio news aggregator is that it offers instant updates. If I subscribe to someone's outline and they update it, I hear about it with a subtle beep (which is configurable) within a minute or two after they hit Save on their outline. If I rely on the news aggregator, I have to wait until the top of the hour when the aggregator looks for news. No waiting here!
I also see that other outline users like Dave Winer use this new software like an instant messenging client. Lots of potential here...
10:52:17 AM
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Notes on Palm Desktop 4 and Retrospect 5
Macintouch has some interesting notes today for those of us using Palm Desktop 4 or considering purchase of the new Retrospect 5. Check the Palm Desktop 4 reader report for notes about other folks discoveries with the organizer application.
Especially interesting regarding Retrospect 5 is a reader note that although this new version is being billed as capable of backing up all OS X files, this is not really the case. Retrospect 5 cannot back up UFS formatted volumes. It works great with HFS+ volumes though, from the few reports I have seen on mailing lists and around the Net...
10:33:39 AM
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MacNN readers note possible shortage of AirPort cards
Airport Card Shortage? [MacSlash]
If indeed there is an AirPort card shortage, I am glad that Natalie and I got our hands on discounted cards many months ago.
8:26:43 AM
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Chronos offers StickyBrain for free
MacCentral notes that StickyBrain is free (well, for two days).
In my experience with this program, it holds potential as a free-form note storage and organization tool. Many of the keyboard shortcuts that can make the program much more useful don't currently work under OS X. When they do, it will be ready for prime time under the year-old operating system. Until then, it is not all that distinguished from any other word processor...
8:10:44 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Rob McNair-Huff.
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