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2007
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2007
January
- A Box of Matches (Nicholson Baker) - TidBITS - Apple - WhatIsMyIP - Wherever you are, there you are... - TinyURL - Turn big ugly URLs into cute little ones... - rob at whiterabbits.com - rmchuff - iTunes - Transmit
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On pointless urban tree cutting Something that happened a couple of houses down the street from my home in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, today requires me to go off on a little tangent. The topic - urban property owners who overreact to winter wind and snow storms by cutting down all of the trees on their property. First of all, why should I care? They own the property and should be able to do what they want with it, right? Well, yes, but in the 13-plus years that I have lived in this neighborhood I have seen countless trees come down after every little storm, and few if any people seem to replace the trees that they cut down with something that would replace the values that are provided by the mature trees that they cut down. The trees that came down today were alders that just last week drew a couple dozen American Goldfinches that snacked on insects and seeds. Over the years I have seen Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks sit in the trees, as well as Northern Flickers and a Pileated Woodpecker. No more. At a time when our society is just starting to clue in to the present and coming impacts of global warming, and at a time when cities around the country are starting campaigns to "green" their landscapes and to attempt to retain and improve the overall tree canopy within cities, each of these individual decisions by property owners has an impact on more than just the one property owner. Should the owner have the right to cut down his trees? Absolutely. I just wish I could feel confident that some thought went into the decision and that it wasn't as it appeared - a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived threat that the trees would be blown down in a storm that may not happen for another one or two decades, if ever.
Google offers option to open Word docs from Gmail Lifehacker and a number of other sites are noting today that Google now offers the ability to open Word documents sent to a Gmail account from within Gmail. This is a small change that comes across as a no-brainer, but if you take a second to think about it, this could also signal yet more functionality for the iPhone when it arrives later this year. One of the often-asked questions about the iPhone is whether it will be able to open and work with documents. Assuming that the version of the Safari browser on the iPhone can handle it, here is one present from Google that will add real functionality to the iPhone.
Writing about writing tools A lot of writers and would-be writers are writing today about tools. One reason is the release of a new $35 writing tool called Scrivener. 43 Folders reviews Scrivener today. Another take on writing and snippet storing tools can be found on The Apple Blog - Note Taking Application Faceoff. Of course, I am still digging into what I can do with Tinderbox. A good recent exploration of new capabilities to work with Sets in Tinderbox 3.6 is outlined on the Tinderbox Wiki - Using Sets. As for the writing tools that I use to get real work done, in writing my books I have used OmniOutliner to create the chapter and research outlines and a variety of Word-compatible programs to write the actual text for the books. The last book I wrote was done in Nisus Writer Express. These days most of my writing is done using Tinderbox, but when I need to work with .doc files then I use the latest version of NeoOffice, which is a program that seems to be getting better with each new version. I also use TextEdit at times when I need a Word-compatible writing tool without the more complex tools like track changes. How would I change my process right now if I were to take on another book project? Since I am living in Tinderbox, I would try sticking with Tinderbox for most of the writing, research and outlining.
iPhone - maybe I'm not in the demographic It's been nearly a week since Apple anounced the iPhone, and over the last six days there has been a lot written about this gadget that is still at least six months from becoming real. Much of the hand-wringing has been about whether Apple will allow third-party applications to run on the device. Right now it sounds like the answer is no, but the jury remains out. Another interesting question is whether the version of Safari that will run on the iPhone will be sophisticated enough to access many Web 2.0 applications? If so, that may be enough to make the limitations on installing third-party applications a moot point. My questions are a little simpler: In order to get the most out of an iPhone, will I have to downgrade to use Apple's iApps? Over the years I have played with Apple's Mail program, iPhoto and other iApps such as iChat, but in every case I have opted to use other third-party applications that are more robust than Apple's simple yet very useful iApps. Maybe I should revisit the iApps over the next six months to see what I would have to sacrifice to try using them. Here are the tools I use that replace and out-pace the iApps:
There are some iApps that I do use: iTunes and on rare occassions, iMovie. But otherwise, I would need to compromise to move to an iApp...
Interesting analysis of Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates keynotes As a communicator and writer, I sure find the latest post by Todd Bishop from the Seattle P-I interesting - Bill Gates and Steve Jobs: Keynote text analysis. Looking at the numbers, it's clear that Steve Job's is the master of the keynote, which is not surprising. He is a master marketer, and no matter what you think of the gadgets he is pitching at the moment, it's hard to argue with the way he pitches...
Congrats to Mark for 'The Tinderbox Way' Mark Bernstein offers a deeper glimpse into the reasons he created Tinderbox and behind the reasons the robust note taking and personal content management program works the way it does in The Tinderbox Way. If Tinderbox seems too deep, too complex and too hard to grasp after a quick glance at the Web site, consider the book as a user guide that goes far beyond the typical "How-to" level and straight to the "Why?" I know how hard it is to complete a book project from beginning to end. Way to go, Mark!
A snow-adorned Tacoma statue 
Snow adds to a statue across the street from my office in downtown Tacoma. Although the city's municipal building is not even 100 feet above sea level, there was more than six inches of snow downtown. This is pretty unusual, and the snow is going to stay around for a few days, since temperatures are falling into the teens tonight and not rising much above freezing during the day. Brrr...
Rob Griffiths nails the iPhone needs Rob Griffiths hits all the shortcomings of the first version of the iPhone - assuming the final feature set is exactly what Steve Jobs announced Tuesday doesn't change before the phone becomes real in June: Ten iPhone suggestions. In the same vein, David Pogue addresses some of the most-asked questions about the iPhone in The ultimate iPhone frequently asked questions.
A snowy night in Puget Sound country We woke to a slight skiff of snow this morning, but most of it disappeared during the day. Then the real fun began tonight around 7 p.m. It has been snowing steadily since I left work around that time, and so we have about four inches of fresh powder coating everything in sight. I'll be out in the morning to get some photos, but overnight winds could change the landscape by that time. One thing that fell by the wayside with tonight's snow - I decided it would be wiser to skip my planned 3 mile run, admittedly after being discouraged from trying to run by my much wiser wife, Natalie. That's one reason I am sitting here without an injury tonight... UPDATE: I just re-measured and we have seven inches of snow on a table in our back yard, and it is still snowing. It should be an interesting commute in to work in the morning...
New AirPort and AirPort Disk may be biggest news The iPhone and that Apple TV thing have drawn all of the attention at Macworld - even though one won't ship until next month and the other until sometime in June. Meanwhile, the newest AirPort Extreme Base Station boasts a new, faster data transfer rate and, better yet, a USB port that allows users to plug in an external hard drive and share it among users on your network. I love that idea! Cult of Mac has more details... Here are Apple's own details about sharing a hard drive over a network with the new base station. This feature alone appeals to me...
Later thoughts on the iPhone Now I have had some time to look over the Apple iPhone Web site and to grasp more about this new device, and after taking a closer look I am impressed that Apple has indeed gone beyond the simple entertainment devices that have led the company's sales in recent years to create a really innovative device that at least on the surface looks like it will fit in very well with an unwired world. Let's just say that as the details about the iPhone were unveiled it became more and more clear to me that my Treo 650 has a shadow of the potential of the iPhone. There is still room for improvement, though. It is hard to tell from the current info available about the iPhone whether it will allow me to run third party apps on the flavor of Mac OS X that runs on the 4 GB or 8 GB phones. It also isn't clear if there is any way to extend the memory for the iPhone. With my Treo I can add software and add capacity for the phone by plugging in a 2 GB SD card in the expansion slot. What about with an iPhone? And what about the ability to run other photo or e-mail apps, outside of Mail or iPhoto? Yes, I could switch back to all of the standard iApps that Apple offers, but doing so would sacrifice some of the functionality that I count on now from applications like iView Media Pro, PowerMail, Thunderbird, Firefox, etc. In other words, for all of the Apple goodness in the iPhone, it looks like it could require people like me to fall in lock step with Apple's iApp strategy in order to get the most from the communicator. Don't get me wrong, I am very intrigued by the iPhone. I may be getting in line to buy one and to switch my cell carrier affiliation from Verizon to Cingular in the process in order to get an all-Apple communicator that would better tie in with my MacBook Pro. But right now it appears there could be some pretty big trade offs in making the switch from a perfectly functional Treo paired with a MacBook Pro to an even more cool iPhone come June or July of this year. I'm more than happy to be considering the choice.
Early thoughts on the iPhone As Steve Jobs is currently running through the feature set for the iPhone, I have to say that it looks impressive. I look forward to digging deeper into the possibilities for this device later tonight - when the reality distortion field produced during every Steve Jobs keynote address starts to wear off...
Macworld madness - comments tomorrow I plan to offer comments on tomorrow's happenings at the Macworld keynote, but it will likely have to wait until later in the day, since I will be tied up in meetings at work well past 6 p.m. tomorrow night. I really must talk to Steve Jobs about his scheduling the keynote on Tuesdays, when I need to be plugged into city council meetings all day. What do I hope for tomorrow? How about something that is not a toy? I know people love their iPods and other Apple toys, but I keep holding out hope that Apple will actually take a shot at innovation beyond the entertainment sector. We'll soon see...
A good read - Gmail or Thunderbird Lifehacker writes about a topic that is near and dear to my constant search for a perfect e-mail client - what is better: Gmail or Thunderbird? The answer for someone like me, at least so far, is to own my own data. Use a real e-mail client and keep your own data... I am delighted tonight to read a nice review for the newest book by Northwest nature writer and worldwide butterfly expert Robert Michael Pyle in the Friday Web feeds from the Seattle P-I. Pyle's newest book is called "Sky Time in Gray's River," and I will get a copy as soon as I can. To be honest, I don't know Robert Michael Pyle that well. I have met and talked with him a couple of times at book signings, and we have corresponded a bit through e-mail. In fact, Natalie and I dedicated our "Birding Washington" book that came out in 2004 to Bob, but I still haven't managed to get around to sending him a copy of the book. But Bob's curiousity about nature and the way he has applied that curiousity to producing some of the best nature writing in and about the Pacific Northwest really makes him an inspiration for someone who dabbles in writing like me. I have a trio fo favorite Washington authors, and Robert Michael Pyle is among that trio. The others are Murray Morgan, the state's best-known history writer and author of "Skid Road" among many other titles, who grew up little more than a mile away from where I sit writing tonight, and Ivan Doig, who also has a new fiction book out right now that I need to purchase and read. UPDATE: Today's Seattle Times also has a good review of Bob Pyle's new book. I will make a trip to the local book store to get a copy tomorrow!
New features and perks in Tinderbox 3.6 Mark Bernstein notes the release of Tinderbox 3.6 today. Among the new perks, anyone buying a license or an upgrade gets a free copy of Yojimbo to go along with the powerful idea manager and content management tool that I continue to use to manage Mac Net Journal as well as much of my information work I do these days.
Have you done a back up yet in 2007? David Pogue hits on a favorite topic today in the New York Times - backing up your important computer files - in his article: Fewer excuses for not doing a PC backup. Along the way he notes that 2007 may turn out to be the year of the backup, thanks to built in backup solutions coming from Microsoft and Apple. The article was a perfect reminder to do my first backup of 2007. I fired up SuperDuper and it took about 18 minutes to create a completely bootable copy of the data on my 15-inch MacBook Pro. Now I can rest easy another day!
One of my new projects for 2007 - my first marathon I'm sore every night right now, as I start to break my body back into the habit of long distance running. Way back when I was in high school and then college, too long ago to admit, I set the idea in my head that I would run a marathon some day. Here it is 2007 and I am about to turn 40 - I'm not getting any younger. So I've decided that it's time for me to give distance running another try and to get into shape for a marathon this year. The initial target is the first-ever Tacoma Marathon on May 13, but if injuries or other issues keep me from being ready to run 26.2 miles in May, I can switch to Plan B and run the Seattle Marathon in November.
Still looking for the perfect e-mail client I know it is a futile chase and that I should probably leave well enough alone, but I continue to look for a better e-mail client. During 2006 I switched back and forth between PowerMail - the program I am settled on right now - and the newest version of the open source Thunderbird mail client that I could get my hands on. Thunderbird held my attention for about half the year, but I keep going back to PowerMail because it is speedier and more mature. To be fair, these are the only two e-mail clients I have looked at in a while, but other than dabbling with an online client like Gmail, there don't seem to be many real alternatives. I have no interest in Entourage, Eudora is dead, Mailsmith may as well be dead, and the last time I used Apple's Mail program it was too slow for my liking. And so, the search continues...
Birding to kick off 2007 What better way to spend a New Years Day than on the road, battling the traditional rain, wind and cold while tallying the first birding trip of 2007? We spent the day birding our way to Ocean Shores, on the Washington coast, where we were met with early darkness and winds so strong that we spent more time inside the car than outside the car. We didn't find anything rare today, but we did see 53 species to kick off the year. (REVISION - After plugging our sightings into the Wings birding software that I am finally starting to use this year, I found that we actually saw 60 species to kick off the year! ) The best part of the day - settling in for a pint of Guinness and forfar bridies at an Irish pub called Galway Bay in Ocean Shores (link - and forgive the Web site design. The food and beer beat the Web site any day...). That was the real reason for starting the year with a trip to the coast, weather be damned! |
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