I got to meet my fellow MacJurors face-to-face at Macworld San Francisco 2010 for a live version of the MacJury podcast. Host Chuck Joiner and our panel recorded the session live on the floor of the Moscone Center — in the Music Theater stage, to be more specific — in front of a live audience. The panel consisted of Tanya Engst, from TidBITS and TakeControl Books, Ted Landau from Macworld and The Mac Observer, Jeff Gamet from The Mac Observer and the Design Weekly Podcast and yours truly. The audience was super, the conversation lively and it was a typically fun session. Thanks to all who attended and for Chuck for putting it together. The session — in all its video glory — is now available on the MacVoices.tv website.
Category: Technology
Greetings from Macworld Expo 2010!
I just returned from a week at San Francisco’s Macworld Conference and Expo 2010. Hopefully, you’ve been frequenting The Mac Observer, where I’ve had a few posts on the subject lately, including one that appeared today entitled “They Said it Couldn’t Be Done: IDG Pulls Off an Apple-less Expo Hit.”
I also spoke at the Conference, delivering a session called on keyboard shortcuts called “Look Ma, No Mouse!” If you attended the conference, you already know where to find the slides. IDG, the show’s organizer, will be sending out more information on that soon as well.
On the show floor, I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in MacJury Live – a session of Chuck Joiner’s excellent podcast done in front of a live audience. It was great fun talking about the show with Chuck and fellow jurors Jeff Gamet, Tanya Engst and Ted Landau — some of the smartest people in the Mac community. As soon as the show is posted (in video, no less!) I’ll put a link to it here.
Between the Mac Observer article and the MacJury podcast, I’ve said pretty much all I have to say on the topic, other than to reiterate that it was a great show, ironically made perhaps even better by Apple’s absence.
One Thing’s for Sure: Apple Won’t Unveil a “Tablet Computer” on Wednesday
Jumping on the speculation bandwagon thisclose to the finish line, I wrote an article for The Mac Observer on what I think we’ll see at Apple’s special event on January 27th. What’s missing in my predictions is the “killer feature” I think the device needs to make it compelling enough to fill the very narrow void between the iPhone and a laptop. In fact, my guess is that this won’t be quite like either of these devices and that Apple is poised to unveil a totally different kind of device. A computer, for sure (but then again, so is the iPhone), but not something that will be thought of as a computer — and certainly nothing like the “tablet computers” we’ve seen on the Windows side for years.
Give it a read. There’s only a few hours to wait to see how prescient — or off-base — I really am.
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“One Thing’s for Sure: Apple Won’t Unveil a ‘Tablet Computer’ on Wednesday” on the Mac Observer
How TMO staffers use their iPhones
I just wrote a post for The Mac Observer as part of a series on how the site’s staffers use their iPhones. (My contribution is Part III of II; you have to read it to understand.) Here’s a snippet:
One of the best things I’ve found about the iPhone is that it’s not really a separate device at all – it acts as an extension of not just my Mac at home, but of the accumulated knowledge of the human race. OK, that’s a bit hyperbolic, but that’s the way it feels. Before the iPhone came out, I wrote about the need for a “convergence device” – one that could be used away from my home Mac, but allowed me to access its power and functionality. The iPhone has very much become that convergence device for me. And that convergence has, well, converged even more over time, thanks in large part to the over-the-air synching capabilities rolled out via MobileMe and the speed of 3G networking.
The full article is on The Mac Observer — Don’t forget to read parts 1 and 2 for some insights from more “regular” staffers like Dave Hamilton, Bryan Chaffin, Bob LeVitus, Jeff Gamet and others.
Social Media from a corporate perspective on MacVoices
At New Media Expo in Las Vegas last month, I joined Chuck Joiner for a discussion of Social Media and its implications for corporations. We discussed whether or not corporations “get” Tweeting, blogging and other aspects of Social Media and whether it’s too late for those who don’t. As always, it was a lively and (I hope) interesting conversation. My apologies in advance for the fact that it’s a video interview.
You can watch the interview below or on Chuck’s MacVoices website.
When high adventure and low tech collide
Since I got my first iPhone two years ago, I’ve lightened my tech load considerably when I travel. For most short trips, I now leave my trusty MacBook Pro home — or at least in its bag. I can check email, surf the web, watch movies and even post articles to RandomMaccess from my iPhone.
Lightening is one thing, but going for almost a week without tech of any kind is quite another. Yet that’s the situation I faced on a recent scouting trip with my older son last month.
We traveled to Summerland Key, one of the western most of the Florida Keys. Warned by our island guides that there was no electricity or cell coverage anyway, we were informed that cellphones, iPods, etc were prohibited on the island. My digital SLR camera was the only thing with a battery I would be able to take. Other than that, the most advanced piece of technology I carried was my Leatherman multi-tool.
So how did I fare? Much better than I expected, actually. We were busy enough that I was never really all that tempted to post to Twitter or check email. It turns out that fishing, snorkeling, kayaking and preparing food are pretty good distractions from web surfing and iApps. And once I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to check in with my Lotus Notes account at the office, I was fine. The only time I was really conscious about not having my iPhone was when I wanted to use my Star Walk application to identify some of the constellations that were so brilliant in the night sky, and to use my iPhone as a camera — especially a video camera.
Albert Einstein once said “never memorize what you can look up in books.” With my iPhone and its near-ubiquitous connection to the web and all its vast resources, along with nine screens of applications, I can look up almost anything and so by extension, have to memorize almost nothing. That meant I had to rely on my memory and not my knot-tying app or my first aid app or even — Lord help me — Google. In the end, my two half hitches and taught line hitch held the hammock (my bed for the week) securely to our favorite gumbo limbo tree; we estimated the time from the sun’s position in the sky well enough to know when to start dinner; and we identified several constellations (and the Milky Way!) as we snorkeled in the dark night. All in all, I’m glad I traded the convenience of being able to look up a few things for the absence of distractions and temptations having the iPhone would have meant.
You can read more about my island adventure on my personal blog, and you can check out some of the pictures from the trip on the Troop 200 photo gallery.
I should’ve predicted world peace
On a recent MacJury, during a discussion on the new ability for iPhone applications to send “push” notifications, I joked about a Twitter client with that capability and what a nightmare it would be. We all had a good laugh at the ridiculousness of the suggestion and moved on to more serious topics.
I was surprised then to hear about Twitbit, a new Twitter client for the iPhone that features — you guessed it — push notifications. I’m struggling to comprehend the benefit of this. Unless you’re following very few people (and if you are I’d argue you’re not a good candidate for a for-pay Twitter client for the iPhone) it seems like the near-constant notifications of new Tweets would quickly drive you crazy — not to mention kill your battery.
Twitbit’s developers say the app will be configurable in future versions, so you can turn notification off for regular Tweets, but on for Direct Messages. Since you can already set that to happen via email, I still don’t see a big benefit. It will be interesting to see how Twitbit does (or evolves).
Had I known my predictions carried such power, I surely would have gone with something other than a Twitter client with push notifications.
Twitbit is available in the iTunes store for $4.99. More information is available on the app’s website.
‘Pick Your Topic’ on Your Mac Life
I’ve appeared on Shawn King’s excellent “Your Mac Life” podcast several times over the last few weeks, but have neglected to mention it here. So before I forget again: I’m on tonight’s show, in a pre-recorded segment called “Pick Your Topic.” It’s a clever idea: Shawn presents three current Mac or Apple-related stories in the news, and the guest picks one of them to talk about. It’s also a little unnerving; the guest is not told what the choices will be, so he or she can’t prepare in advance. “Winging it” like this is way outside my comfort zone, but it makes it all the more exciting and I usually wind up really enjoying these segments.
Another Your Mac Life development I meant to talk about but didn’t: YML is now available from iTunes as a free podcast. Previously, you could either listen to (or watch) the show live or stream the previous week’s show from the yourmaclifeshow.com website. If you wanted to listen to it on the go, you had to subscribe to the show via Audible.com. I’ve been pushing for the show to go the free podcast route for a while now, so I’m tremendously glad to see it happen. I think it will open the show up to a much bigger audience–one it richly deserves. Shawn has been broadcasting Your Mac Life (and its predecessor, The Mac Show) for years now–way before the word “podcasting” was even coined. He is, in my view, the Johnny Carson of tech broadcasting and a genuine pro in the medium.
So–what was my topic for tonight’s show? You’ll have to tune in to find out: the show runs from 8:30-11:00 p.m. and is available from the show’s website.
iPhone tips and recommendations on MacJury
I took part in another session of The MacJury, Chuck Joiner’s excellent panel-based podcast. This time out, we talked about our favorite tips, features and accessories for the iPhone — particularly for the new iPhone 3GS and 3.0 software. These are always lots of fun to do, and entertaining to listen to (I hope.) On this session were Steve Sande from The Unauthorized Apple Weblog, Pat Fauquet of MacMouseCalls, author Tom Negrino and my Mac Observer compatriot Jeff Gamet. If you’re a reader of this site, I hope you’re also a subscriber to this podcast — it’s always a good discussion, whether I’m a participant or not.
The ‘Every Other Year iPhone Club’
My wonderful family gave me a new iPhone 3GS for Father’s Day this year. It’s an amazing device that has enough improvements in speed and new features that it feels like as big a game-changer to me as the original iPhone. I wrote a short piece for The Mac Observer that explains why I thought this was a very compelling upgrade—at least for someone who had skipped the last one. [UPDATE: The article is now available on The MacObserver. If you feel so inclined, please leave a nice comment.]