Dustin MacDonald

Wallet for iPhone is here!

2008-12-03T20:21:00.001-08:00

I'm a little late posting, but Wallet for iPhone and iPod touch has finally arrived on the App Store. I've released Wallet 3.0 as well, a huge update to the desktop version. Be sure to check them out!

Classics

2008-10-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Andrew just released his first iPhone app, Classics. Classics lets you read all your favorite old novels right on your iPhone, and it's the first eBook reader that rightfully puts user experience first. It's really well done, so definitely make sure to check it out.

Wallet In Your Pocket

2008-07-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

A while ago I had mentioned that I was planning a version of Wallet for the iPhone. Since then, I've mostly been swamped in work with Times. But the requests and questions about Wallet on the iPhone have been overwhelming for the past few months. And as it turns out, I have been working on a little side project…

Today I am announcing that Wallet for iPhone is in fact a reality. Later this summer you'll be able to have access to all your serial numbers, web passwords, credit card numbers, and more, all on your iPhone or iPod touch. This is the mobile solution I've been waiting so long to do - a native, fully capable application, on a platform I really love.

Wallet on the iPhone is completely self contained. It is a fully working version of Wallet, so you can use it on it's own if you wish to. All the core features of the Mac version are available. Create, edit, and remove both groups and entries. Strong encryption. Search. AutoFill. There are even some features in the iPhone version that have yet to be added to the desktop version! And of course, it's also the perfect companion if you use Wallet on the Mac.

Many details are still being worked out, so Wallet won't be available right away at the launch of the App Store. But if you're interested, please sign up to be notified at walletapp.com/iphone/. Release is still aimed for this summer.

Times Icon Processes

2008-05-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

Mikio Inose, who did the amazing application icon for Times, has posted detailed steps and revisions from the design to his Flickr account. The icon went through quite a few specific alterations before it was "just right", but it turned out great. If you're interested in icon design, check it out!

What is Times?

2008-04-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Times, the super secret project I've been working on for the past year and a half, will finally be released on Friday. What is Times? Why make Times? I hope to briefly answer all of those questions here.

Times is the evolution of my distaste for the current lineup of RSS readers on the Mac. I have tried nearly every one, and they're all great apps, but the way they treat news is useless to me. First of all, unread counts are really annoying. Unlike email, I do not want to read every single article published. Second, due to the nature of RSS, feeds usually only provide a short preview of the article, forcing you to click through to your browser to read the full story. And long lists of headlines are simply uninteresting. I always found it much better to simply go to the websites I want to visit and check up on the news there.

Of course, that isn't exactly ideal. It is difficult to routinely visit a bunch of websites without skipping a few because of time constraints or forgetfulness. Some desktop newsreader features are handy - like notification of new content and a centralized place to get news. I thought there had to be a better solution, but there wasn't.

But make yet another Mac newsreader? That's crazy - or is it? Times aims to be the best of both worlds: a sleek hybrid of RSS and web technology, making news actually fun and easy to read. Being an OS X app, the experience is far better than a web app could ever be. You'll see soon enough, but Times makes discovering news easier than ever by putting multiple feeds on one page, divided into different areas. Photos and descriptions help to distinguish the interesting stories from the lame ones. And obviously, you can have multiple pages for different subjects.

Innovative features? Times has those, too.

Ever browse a website in Safari, and finding yourself opening new tabs for a bunch of links that look interesting? Here came the idea for the Shelf, a place where you can easily queue up or save articles for later reading. Just drag any article and place it down. You can even make stacks.

RSS has its own inconvenient truth: lack of content. Most (if not all) major news sites simply do not provide full content in their feeds, forcing you to read that story in your browser. Because this may never change, Times does the next best thing and downloads the article from its website. Using what may be considered witchcraft and wizardry, these articles are individually formatted for easier reading, removing all overhead and advertisements.

And after a year of solid development, it is finally time for release. While I had lots of ideas for Times, not all of them could fit into 1.0. For example, if you subscribe to a few blogs that you really want to read every post of, Times 1.0 isn't the best place to read them. If you want to design your own page layouts, you can't yet. These are some of the features that are high on the list for future versions.

That being said, a lot of work has gone into 1.0, and it is pretty solid. Since I've been using it, I read much more interesting news than I could have ever before. In the next few weeks, I'll be going into more detail about the development and design of Times here. Come Friday, make sure to try it out and see if it works for you.

Times

2008-04-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

Coming May 2nd. Details here. More info coming soon.

iPhone SDK Thoughts

2008-03-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Apple introduced the iPhone SDK, a solution for software developers to create native applications that can fully utilize the iPhone's power. Since the iPhone is just OS X under the hood, developers can use the same OS X technologies (Cocoa) to create these applications. In addition, the iPhone 2.0 software update coming in June will package in the App Store, a distribution model for developers to get apps to customers.

The App Store is super important. I've heard some people on the fence about the price cut (which is 70% for developers), and I have to say it is more than fair. You might think 30% is steep for "just the store," but stand back for a minute and understand what the "store" actually is. It's distribution and installation (and unlike iTunes, over the cellular network as well!), payment processing, and hosting. They even have an easy way for users to upgrade your apps. And don't forget that this little store is the exclusive way to distribute apps, and will be on every iPhone and iPod touch. It's huge.

Most of the so-called 'imposed limitations' of the SDK are a total non-issue, even though they're being complained about discussed a lot. Yes, in a perfect world, you'd be able to do whatever you want, leveraging every iPhone technology you can get your mitts on. But the iPhone is not a Mac, and what has been given to developers is far, far better than having to develop using weak web technologies. Complaining about lack of access to system files, or data limitations over the cellular network is nitpicking of the highest degree.

Another interesting note is the "buy or don't buy" model seen with iPod games on the iTunes Store, which looks like it is going to be the model for iPhone apps on the App Store. Try before you buy, especially for utilities, is pretty important. What about free apps supported by other methods of profit - will they be allowed? How do you distribute betas? Promotional copies? Clearly there are lots of questions that need to be answered, though I'm guessing the response to most, at least in the beginning, will be "no, you can't."

For software developers, the iPhone SDK is far more important than you might think. This is what every developer has have been waiting for, period. The iPhone competes with every handheld mobile computing device on the planet, including cell phones, music players, PDAs, even gaming devices. And the ability for developers, both big and small, to tap into that platform using OS X technologies and a unified distribution method is really, really amazing. I can't wait to see what happens.

Ghosts

2008-03-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

A structure that Radiohead pioneered is now being tested to the fullest. Trent Reznor just released a new Nine Inch Nails album a few hours ago titled Ghosts I-IV. It is a 36 track instrumental album released exclusively online, completely label-free and independent. Various payment options are available, ranging from free to $300. I recommend you go check it out.

Television Take Two

2008-02-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

How much television do you watch? If you're anything like me, the amount of time spent watching television has probably drastically decreased over the past few years. Few shows are worth watching today (save a select few such as Lost). Taking time out of your schedule to make sure you catch the latest episode of a show is tiresome, as shown by the popularity of TiVo. Cable is expensive, should you want to take advantage of your new high definition TV. And there's always something interesting on YouTube. Unfortunately, there's no denying that sitting back to watch media on a large TV is preferable to sitting in front of a computer. There has to be a better solution, right?

Apple TV 2.0, the new, free software update for Apple TV owners released last week, is the final push for digital fence sitters. The upgrade provides a total re-haul of the software, allowing you to download podcasts, buy TV shows, and purchase or rent movies right from your TV. This is a major step on the road to entertainment bliss.

Before you go buy that Blu-ray player or subscribe to a movie channel, understand that you can rent movies in HD from Apple TV, for a dollar above regular price, which is $3 or $4 for a new release. Rentals can be watched almost instantly, depending on your internet connection. I can safely say that movie rentals on Apple TV destroys everything that currently exists - VUDU, Xbox Marketplace, Netflix, Blockbuster, etc. None are as cheap, convenient, or carry the selection that Apple has promised (all major film studios are on board).

Factor in independent digital media that is now directly available from the Apple TV. Video podcasts are becoming increasingly popular, and you can now download them directly. The Apple TV software also has YouTube built in, so you can discover interesting videos or watch all of your YouTube subscriptions easily. Breaking through to TV has been hard for indie content providers, but now its finally available. Perhaps with a little more fine tuning, it will become perfect.

For TV junkies, the battle may not be over yet. One concern is with how TV shows are priced: $2 per episode. This pricing is designed specifically for someone who wants to acquire a favorite episode, or catch up on one they've missed. It may be slightly beneficial for those who watch one or two shows regularly, but it does not reward those who purchase many shows and episodes. Unfortunately, I don't see the networks buying into this anytime soon, considering how NBC dramatically dropped out of the current iTunes model. We'll see how stubborn they get before piracy becomes even more common.

But more than anything else, Apple TV 2.0 really says something about the potential of great software. What was once a mildly interesting device has now been turned into a revolution in digital entertainment, simply thanks to great software (and the evolution of digital media). All of the above benefits do not even include Apple's trademarked ease of use and simplicity in design. The rest of the industry needs to take note, fast.

Future of Wallet

2007-10-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since a Wallet update, and it seems like people are emailing me every day concerned about its future. It's true that most of my time for the past year has been focused on Acrylic, but I'm a Wallet user too, and hate to see my favorite apps abandoned just as much as anyone else. Next week I'll be releasing Wallet 2.7 (pictured above) to play nicer with the newly released Leopard. It's not 3.0 by any means, but it will bring a refined user interface, a number of bug fixes, and a few new goodies. Of course, it will still work with older versions of Mac OS X all the way down to 10.3.

It's no secret that our #1 Wallet request has been a version of Wallet for the iPhone. Sadly, Apple hadn't yet provided an ideal solution for creating apps for it. Web apps are an OK solution for some types of products, but not password managers. You don't want to have important data like that stored/served over the web. Of course, some of our competitors rushed out to create versions of their software for the iPhone, and being web-based, are hacks at best. It's definitely not the kind of solution we'd want ourselves, so we passed on doing a web app entirely.

Luckily, not too long ago Steve Jobs revealed that Apple was indeed working on a real SDK for the iPhone. With true capability for iPhone development promised, we can now imagine the kind of mobile Wallet solution we've always wanted. I think the iPhone is capable enough for this to be a full featured app and used on its own, with full read and write access. It might look something like this old mockup:

In short, Wallet is still an app I use all the time myself and would love to keep updating one way or another, even if the same can't be said for other Waterfall apps. I have plenty of ideas for improvement and innovation, and hope to show them with a major update around early 2008.

P.S. If you'd like to test out Wallet 2.7, send me an email - dustin at waterfallsw dot com - and I'll shoot a beta your way. Thanks.

It's Up To You

2007-10-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

When Radiohead was reported to be in disagreement with the iTunes structure, many simply thought that Radiohead 'didn't get it.' The so-called announcement wasn't surprising to Radiohead fans; you've never been able to find any of their albums on iTunes. iTunes, of course, lets you pick and choose which songs you'd like to buy off an album, at $0.99/song. This is a good system; most mainstream music is so terrible that labels only care about singles, and have been stuffing them into "albums" which are really only a medium to sell their singles with filler content for more profit. All albums sold on iTunes must supposedly follow this individual song model (though many do not). It's a great model for sure, especially with the dwindling state of mainstream music. But it is undeniably the death of the album format, which many still feel is important.

Radiohead is one of the few bands left that still cares about the album. Fans know that lots of work is gone into creating albums where each song is a piece of a bigger picture. Have a few listens of OK Computer and you'll know what I mean. Ultimately, it's their decision as an artist anyway to decide what medium they want their work to be sold in, and that's respectable.

Is it a greedy move to sell entire albums, or do they really just want people to listen to their music the way it was meant to be heard? They've definitely proven it's the latter.

Their new album, In Rainbows, is now available for pre-order online. But here's the twist: you choose the amount you want to pay, even nothing if you want. This totally defeats most reasons for piracy - why pirate if you can get it online immediately, DRM free, for a price you think is fair? You could even download it for free to preview, and pay later. It's the honour system at its finest, really. No tricks, no feeling cheated. There are also no labels involved, which arguably aren't even necessary in this day and age.

And Radiohead can be sure that their work is being distributed the way it's meant to be.

Earlier this year, Trent Reznor spoke of a similar idea, suggesting that once his record label contract expired, he'd be interested in simply putting up new music the day it is ready on his website, with a PayPal link. See here.

I've have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it's done in the studio, not this "Let's wait three months" bulls---.

If you support this kind of radical thinking, as I certainly do, head on over to Radiohead's website and pre-order their new album before it is released on October 10th. If proven successful, we could see the beginning of the end for music labels, even the RIAA. And at the very least it will leave a significant impact - showing that perhaps fairness works after all, and that it's the music industry that needs to reposition its stance, not the consumers.

Leopard, iPhone + one more thing...

2007-09-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

This blog post is long overdue so I'm combining some topics of interest. Here are a few cool things I've been thinking about lately.

Leopard

Definitely Apple's biggest OS X release yet, Leopard is set to ship next month. Aside from some whining by parts of the community, it really is shaping up to be an amazing release.

This will most likely be the release where we start to see the emergence of "rich applications" in the Mac OS (hint hint), thanks to amazing new developer technologies such as Core Animation. With rich features already included such as Time Machine and Cover Flow, and inspiration from the iPhone, what will the developer community come up with? The next few years of the Mac OS are going to be really exciting.

I think a lot of the complaining about Leopard's interface is typical Apple shock to change. Many complained about Aqua when it was first introduced, some going as far as making custom OS 9 style themes to purge Aqua from their computers. I've seen all the arguments against things like the menubar, dock, folders, etc. and none of them add up. I'm looking forward what should really only be seen as a clear improvement to Leopard's user interface.

iPhone

Earlier this month I went down to the US and picked up an iPhone, with no hope in sight for a true Canadian iPhone and unlocking methods now plentiful. It is by far the most amazing piece of technology I have ever used, with its crystal clear display, brilliant user interface, and "high technology." Everything works great on my Fido plan, sacrificing visual voicemail and EDGE access (disabled, since data rates in Canada are monopolized).

Apple's mobile touchscreen OS is clearly a very polished system and seems to work well for any mobile device, evident by the release of the iPod touch. I really wouldn't be surprised if this system was opened up a bit to 3rd party devs sometime in the near future. Apple's official stance now is "no", but perhaps in a year this will change much like Apple's other questionable decisions in the past.

Acrylic / Secret Project

It has been nearly a year since I started designing and coding this ambitious project and it is finally starting to wrap up. What it actually is will remain a mystery for a little while longer, but I will say it's an entirely new take on an already popular idea that will really turn heads. We'll be unveiling more details really soon on our website, where you'll be able to get an early sneak peak before it is released. This is also a last warning to sign up to the Acrylic list (click here if you haven't done so yet); those on the list will have access to new information and beta opportunities before anyone else.

Here is a little sample of what to expect. I'll leave the guessing up to you.

Going to WWDC

2007-06-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

Next week I will be attending Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. This will be my first time at WWDC and I am looking forward to a really fun, informative week. If you're going and would like to meet up, and maybe get the scoop on what's been cooking in the Acrylic oven, feel free to give me a shout. See you there!

Web 3.0

2007-06-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

One thing that is kind of scary today is the prominence of web-based applications that run in your browser. I've always thought this was moving backwards. With much more powerful computers, we have amazing potential for really rich applications. Why build for a browser using old, slow technologies like JavaScript and HTML? We also have this great ideology of applications running in the dock, but web based apps are always in your browser. It's a very limiting environment.

Imagine the possibilities if web apps had access to the same technologies and resources that desktop apps do. Right now, the link between the desktop and the browser is pretty weak. Ever tried uploading photos to Flickr, for example, without the Uploadr app? Many companies are acknowledging the need for better desktop interaction, but few are acting.

Most people would agree that user experience in web apps is often a really poor one. "Is it a web page or is it an application?" We're often stuck with web paradigms such as hyperlinks and forms which come in the way of making a usable application. There's also no set of rules for web-based interfaces, although there are some suggested ones, so web apps tend to be all too confusing for the end user. Interfaces on the web are basically a free-for-all, and it shows.

In the future, I can see apps that are web-based but use a desktop client for better user experience. We're just beginning to see apps like this emerge thanks to technologies such as WebKit and Apollo. It is also interesting that Steve Jobs brought this same idea up at the D5 conference. Will this hopefully be the future?

Heresy

2007-06-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today's Mac shareware industry is a really funny one. For example, a few developers, who won't be mentioned, don't appear to be in the software business at all. Their interests, or perhaps tactics, involve fueling fires and starting unnecessary conflict in the Mac community. While the more experienced (civilly) criticize the values and tactics of these developers for justified reasons, they are consistently bitter towards this criticism, and quite frankly, come off as completely tasteless and unprofessional. We have a pretty sad state of affairs when sticking to cliques suddenly becomes important. I'd readily provide examples but I think most of you know what I am talking about.

What happened to simply making good apps?

I remember when indie Mac development appeared to be at its peak. Larger companies such as Panic and The Omni Group were doing great things at the time. Their development record is questionable as of late, but maybe that is the price you pay when you become a larger company. Other apps such as Watson and Delicious Library were blowing people away. Off topic, I also remember when an app looking like it belonged in Mac OS X was desirable.

But now, in an era where there are hundreds if not thousands of Mac OS X apps being developed, what do you do to stand out? Do you lash out at those who oppose you? Do you resort to using gimmicks and other questionable marketing tricks? How do you tell the world that your app is worth their attention?

In the real world, quality and innovation are the foundations of real success. But to even think that is true for Mac apps is just blasphemy, right?

New + Final Home

2007-05-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

As you may already know, the address for this site has always been dustinmacdonald dot net. I was forced to purchase that domain because dustinmacdonald dot com was already taken. Sadly, it wasn't even being put to good use; the domain had remained dormant for as long as I could remember.

However, last week, the owner finally let the domain expire and I was of course waiting to snag it. Now it is finally being put to good use. The new address for my blog is:
dustinmacdonald.com/blog/

You can also just go to dustinmacdonald.com and it will redirect to the blog (for now).

I think it is safe to say this will be the last move ever, as I know the blog has changed places quite a few times. Any links pointing to the old URL will redirect to the new one, but you'll definitely want to update your bookmarks. The RSS feed URL will remain the same since I am using FeedBurner.

Review: Coda

2007-04-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite hobbies is web development. I love the ease of creating rich web pages with great technology like CSS and XHTML. But add in some JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, and developing for the web becomes a large task. It often requires switching back and forth between 3 or 4 different apps just to work on one website. I personally used SubEthaEdit as my editor, Transmit for uploading, WebKit and Firefox for previewing, and Finder to manage my sites.

So imagine my surprise and joy earlier this week when Panic released Coda, a full featured "all-in-one" web development tool. I was initially skeptical, but realized this was Panic; if anyone could do this app right, they could. I decided to give it a serious shot to see how it worked with my workflow.

Surprisingly, Coda is really, really nice. The editor on its own is very well done, with great code completion and "Clips" - little snippets of commonly used text. It also features a full CSS editor, "books" for reference material, and a terminal. The fact that the whole app works like Transmit to upload your changes is just icing on the cake.

But does it really work better than Transmit + SubEthaEdit? The definite answer is "Yes!" You'll never realize how much time is actually wasted switching back and forth between a large number of apps before you use Coda. The point isn't being one window, it's integration - everything is integrated really well.

A few tips I personally found to be helpful:

Switch the editor font to 10.0pt Monaco. If you're anything like me, you're probably used to this font for coding and will agree it makes things much easier to read.

Make a vertical split with code on the left and preview on the right. This works very well if you have a widescreen monitor.

Hold down the Clips button to make a menu appear instead of the distracting HUD window.

CMD-Double Click any text to have it open in the Books section. This is similar behavior to Xcode.

I have a few gripes with it of course. Tabs are strangely forced on you - I don't want tabs opening all the time. And Panic somehow thinks that, by default, I want to view images in Coda! No no, I want to edit them in Photoshop. Overall, however, it's very well done. It's only going to get better from here on.

Cool: All-in-one integrated application. A++ editor based on SubEthaEdit. Site management. Built-in documentation.
Lame: Tabs are forced on you - no great way to control if tabs should be opened or not. Can't re-order tabs. Would like external editing automatically instead of having to ctrl-click (for Photoshop).

Coda is available from Panic, with an introductory price of $79, or $69 if you own Transmit 3.

Year Zero

2007-04-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

I'll say it again: there's way too much cool stuff coming out this year. Year Zero, the new Nine Inch Nails album, came out yesterday. I've been listening to the leaked version for a couple of weeks, and it is very raw and very cool. Year Zero tells a story of the future, in a world where the trends of the current U.S. administration have continued. Like all NIN music, it will definitely take a few listens through to grow on, but it's well worth it.

One more thing. Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor has released the first single from the new album, Survivalism, in GarageBand format. He's done this previously for two other songs, letting fans easily make remixes. Reznor says he wants to eventually make the entire Year Zero album available in this format. Considering most artists would never even consider doing this for one of their songs, it really is awesome.

Twitter and the Secret Ingredient

2007-04-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a great new web app that aims to make the ubiquitous "What's Up?" question obsolete, or at least more easily accessible. In Twitter, status messages are entered as "tweets" in 140 characters or less. (If you haven't heard of Twitter, go check it out - my Twitter name is dmacdonald)

But in an age where web apps are supposed to be replacing desktop apps, Twitter works best on the desktop. Meet Twitterrific, by the Iconfactory. Twitterrific is a desktop application that interfaces with your Twitter account.

Why is Twitterrific good? In a nutshell:

It notifies you of new tweets as they arrive
It has a really simple but effective user interface
It allows you to enter and reply to tweets very easily
It fits into your workflow as an unobtrusive as a HUD-style window

Most of these advantages are simply impossible to compete with in a strictly browser-based interface. So sometimes you have to wonder why the app is not officially endorsed by Twitter. After using it for a prolonged period of time, the official web interface is pretty pathetic; I know I definitely wouldn't even consider using Twitter if a similar desktop app did not exist. Yes, Twitter will also send tweets to your IM handle, but that really is quite a bit of a hack. It's not as elegant, at least.

Web apps alone aren't always the answer. Twitterrific proves that sometimes a complimentary desktop app is the secret ingredient to something really wonderful.

Coming Soon: Acrylic Apps

2007-04-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

acrylicapps.com

I'm very pleased to announce one piece of my new project here today. Acrylic Apps is a new software venture that will be launching later this year, sometime late summer. We've been working hard on a really amazing app that you'll be hearing lots about soon. For now, sign up to our mailing list and you'll receive information about what's coming (including beta signups!) when it becomes available. Thanks!

Losing Count

2007-04-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Once again, I've redesigned my blog. I have no idea what revision this is, but it's definitely the best one yet.

The redesign this time had three goals. I wanted to make the entire page wider and more spacey, while still keeping focus on the actual posts. Much like an OS X application, the light blue background in the sidebar helps your eyes quickly distinguish it from the content. Secondly, I wanted to use less raw bitmap images and more simple colours, allowing all text on the page to be resized without issues. Finally, the actual posts needed to be easier on the eyes to read; it turns out Helvetica isn't exactly the most comfortable font for reading paragraphs of text, so I switched to a much nicer serif font.

It looks best in the best browser (Safari); I'm still tweaking it for other browsers. Comments and suggestions are welcome as always.

Flashlight: The Project That Never Was

2007-03-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have remembered the mysterious project I was working on a little over a year ago. It was a fun side project, but sadly came and went, after a lack of interest and time. I've decided to put some screenshots of it up on my Flickr account. Here is a little preview of the app you'll probably never see:

Flashlight was an app to guard your Mac using an iSight camera. Using motion detection, it snapped screenshots of intruders as they passed by; if they attempted to use the computer, an alarm would go off if the correct passcode was not entered within the right amount of time.

One day, maybe, this idea will find its way back into my side projects list. As far as I'm concerned though, the app in its current form will never be released.

March Media

2007-03-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

There is way too much cool stuff coming out this year...

The new album from Arcade Fire, Neon Bible, is out. If you're a fan of Arcade Fire, I think it's their best album to date. With all of the terrible pop music people listen to today, Neon Bible reminds me that good music still exists. It's a really amazing album.

On Saturday I saw the much anticipated 300. There's nothing to say about this movie except that it is really, really cool. Like Sin City before it, it has great artistic direction and use of colour. The reason they could do this is because the entire film was shot against blue screens - all of the backgrounds and special effects were added in via computers. It is definitely a movie that is experienced, not just seen, so go check it out at your closest movie theatre or IMAX. And prepare to walk out with a huge feeling of satisfaction.

International Films on iTunes

2007-03-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

Apple today released iTunes 7.1, a solid update to the already-awesome iTunes 7. The best new feature, however, is one that doesn't even function yet. In the Parental tab of iTunes' Preferences window, you can now restrict ratings for different countries. This popup button, which didn't exist before, now contains: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States.

What does this mean? It means undoubtedly that you'll soon be able to buy and download movies from the iTunes Store in all of these countries, previously only possible in the United States. I've had a US account on the iTunes Store for a while, and I can say that the experience of buying/downloading movies is unrivaled. Coupled with the TV, it will be even better.

When will we see these updates? It's tough to say, but it could be as soon as tomorrow, which is iTunes Tuesday. I can't wait.

My Favourite Third Party Apps

2007-03-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

I tend to not use a lot of third party apps on my Mac, simply because the Mac OS X default apps are excellent and fulfill 80% of my needs. The best apps are the ones that just fit in. However, there are a few really nice apps out there for Mac OS X that I use a lot. These ones are all "dock worthy."

And yes, I've worked on a few of these; but that's why developers write apps, right?

OmniGraffle
A true digital whiteboard. It puts planning into two dimensions. I use this a lot for school too, when I need to create a flowchart or diagram.

Wallet
Wallet is great for storing all of your personal tidbits. I use it for storing serial numbers, passwords, domain names, email addresses, and much more. And with .Mac import/export, I always have an up-to-date version of my database on any Mac.

Delicious Library
I love keeping track of my media and seeing it all at once. Sadly, this app is becoming dated and almost requires manual input of information and artwork these days.

Transmit
Tried and true FTP client; I've been using it since before Mac OS X. If you're a Transmit user, I recommend this toolbar icon replacement by Adam Betts. It makes using Transmit that much better.

SubEthaEdit
My code editor of choice. SubEthaEdit "just works", has great syntax coloring, and of course, collaborative editing.

Typeset
Very niche, but great for designers. Before Typeset, I used to flip through fonts manually in Photoshop. Typeset makes font selection a ton faster, and even lets me mark any font as a favorite with ease. It should be in every designer's toolkit.

Inquisitor
One of those apps you didn't know you needed until you started using it. Searching without Inquisitor installed simply feels wrong. Made by the very talented Dave Watanabe.

Am I missing anything? What 3rd party apps can you not live without?