AppleBoy's tech rant

Pixelmator 1.31

2008-11-30T00:24:00.000-08:00

Using version 1.23 was a far superior experience compared to to version 1.0 and even 1.1. A nice set of features were present, although some notable omissions were obvious, so I had to frequently resort to Photoshop for my web design tasks. Pixelmator developers have announced during mid-2008 that 1.30 update will address quite a few shortcomings and then some.

1.30 was finally released in mid-November, followed quickly by 1.31 update that resolved certain bugs and introduced a couple of new features. 1.30 brought us features that deal with selections, eraser, color palettes and text editing. One of my fav new feature is smart palette, i.e. when choosing a tool and trying to apply it on the image, other palettes disappear from the workspace.
Besides new features, probably the most important benefits were actually "under the hood". Version 1.30 is now much faster - opening large TIFF images doesn't bring Pixelmator to it's knees. Working with large image by using Transform tools is now better, although I still had occasional glitches using Transform - Rotate tool.

Text feature now allow easier selection of text on layer, as well as basic anti-aliasing feature. There is however still room for improvements. One of the most requested feature is for text tool to include kerning. Another one is to allow text effects, such as drop shadow and glow.

I already mentioned that version 1.30 had some bugs. To address these, 1.31 update has been released. PXM file import issue has been fixed, Transform tool are behaving even better now and as an added bonus, couple of new features have been introduced (Color Management, Refine Selection tool with real-time preview, iSight support).

Even with these impressive updates, there are still a few obvious tools missing. Save for Web is still not available (currently promised for 1.5 update). There is also no Smudge tool, no Rotate functionality where user can enter the amount of rotation etc.
Although few perspective users might be waiting for the above features to appear in the future updates, I can strongly recommend Pixelmator. For $ 59, you are getting a mature and quality application that is continuously updates and refined.

10 fav Mac OS X applications

2008-11-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I and many other bloggers covering Mac OS X scene love to write an article about "10 most fav apps" or similar. Not wanting to break the tradition, here is my list of current 10 favourite non-Apple applications on my iMac;

1Password
It took me a long time to get this application, as I couldn't see why is everyone raving about it. Now, I can't live without it, as more and more sites that I access these days require some sort of authentication.

Excellent user interface and integration with Safari, regularly updated and improved. Highly recommended for every serious Internet user.

Parallels
Still used a lot on my iMac, as I need to regularly check certain web sites that I develop in Internet Explorer, as well as run a Windows version of QuickBooks.

Latest version of Parallels offers stability, good performance and hassle-free hardware components support. Oh, and it plays a few Windows games quite well too :)

CoverSutra for iTunes
It brings some nice additional features for iTunes. Keyboard shortcut for playing & pausing iTunes content is handy, small artwork display and announcement when songs change is good too. Searching for artwork and songs is also built in.

Vector Designer
Lately, I am spending more time in this easy-to-use vector based drawing application. Interface is intuitive, grouping tools are handy while connection to Flickr textures creates some interesting results.

Vector Designer is regularly updated and unlike initial release, it is now a stable and refined product. Still no gradient fills though :(

VLC
Venerable multi-platform, open source media player, VLC has been continuously updated with support of vast array of audio and video formats. I still use QuickTime for MPEG4 files, for everything else, nothing beats VLC.

Pixelmator
I use this application extensively, even though it's not perfect for my needs. Fast, fairly stable, elegant user interface and best of all, continuously updated with new features and bug fixes, some in Mac OS X community are hailing Pixelmator as a serious competitor to Photoshop.

Toast
Best CD and DVD recording app for Mac OS X. Oh, and it also comes with a great bundle of utilities, my fav being CD Cover maker.

Livestation
This is a newcomer on Mac OS X scene. Allows watching live TV channels from around the world on your screen (fast Internet connection speed is required).

While initial releases were unusable due to some major bugs, Livestation is now usable and has a good selection of channels. User interface still needs reworking though.

Transmission
After numerous updates, the best freeware Torrent client for Mac OS X has grown to be a mature application that works with most, if not all torrent sites. Some good options are present, including speed throtling, watching for new torrents in specific folder etc.

Papaya
I bought this "file server" application as I got fed up continuously transfering work files and photos for my family members via USB keys or e-mails. Papaya allows me to set up mu own file server, protect the access to it and let my family download files it's convenient for them.

I like friendly interface, security options, speed throtling and possibility to let others upload files. Please note that this is also a newcomer on Mac OS X application scene.

iWeb 2.0

2008-09-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

OK, so this is not really a new program. In fact, it has been around since August 2007. No new updates have been released since then, excluding a few minor patches that fix certain bugs.
Initially, I was quite indifferent toward iWeb. When I had to put together a couple of reasonably simple web pages that had to be updated on a regular basis, I decided to give iWeb another look.

After checking the feature list and easy of use, I quickly realised that iWeb has far more potential than I anticipated. While it's not perfect, it was enough for me to put together couple of websites that required just basics, such as text, graphics and a Flash-based image gallery.

One of the best features within iWeb is navigation. iWeb has the iTunes-like interface, so all the pages and sites are clearly visible on the left sidebar. Jumping between the pages is dead easy, and renaming certain pages instantly applies changes to other sites that are linked to it.
iWeb 2.0 comes up with handy "Web Widgets". Although 2 are supplied (Google AdSense and Google Map) the are dead easy for novice web designers to implement these features into their web pages.

Although a considerable improvement over previous versions, iWeb 2.0 still had a awkward way of exporting and publishing web sites to services that are outside the .Mac or MobileMe realm. Once you manage to export site, you will have to use an FTP application to manually update your website.
This is clearly designed to push users toward Apple's web hosting (and chargeable too) services. Let's hope the next iteration of iWeb somewhat simplified this procedure.

UPDATE: VisualHub 1.34

2008-08-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Although I already covered this application in more details recently, I just wanted to point out that the latest updates have came up with some useful improvements.

iPhone users are now catered for, as there is a video preset that converts videos to fill up iPhone's screen. I have tested this preset on a couple of occasions, mainly converting DivX and uncompressed .AVI files, works great and fast too (tested on Core 2 Duo iMac, 2.4 Ghz, Leopard 10.5.4).

Preset for iPod Nano also works great. Converting numerous cartoons for Nano produced videos with crisp image quality. A few bugs have also been addressed, namely a alert window appearance in Leopard that tended to "hide" alert window from screen when using Mac OS X Spaces feature.

Overall, recent updates have certainly cemented VisualHub position on Mac OS X field as one of the best and most popular video conversion utility.

VisualHub 1.31

2008-04-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

Since the appearance of fast processors, especially the ones with multiple cores, a task of video encoding / decoding has slowly entered the mainstream of computer usage. Digital video cameras are now recording to hard disks and increasingly flash memory, while digital photo cameras are now appearing with high-definition recording support (720p at this stage).

These, and other sources of video files are coming in a variety of recorded video formats. A product that could read and write to these video formats was needed to fill the void. Hence VisualHub was born on Apple's shareware market.

VisualHub allows users to drag-and-drop video file(s) that they want to convert to another format. Number of formats on offer are numerous - MPEG formats, iPod and Apple TV formats, DivX, Flash, Microsoft WMV, even conversion to formats that can be read by certain game consoles are available. Although all these formats come with presets, user has the option to modify a number of settings.

Some of the most usefull advanced settings are the ability to limit the file size, enable deinterlace option and select Two Pass conversion process for a better quality. There are also options to choose a video and audio decoder, audio frequency etc.
High definition .MKV files have also been successfully converted for playback on Apple TV with highest setting. Results are quite good, while rendering speed is acceptable.

On author's website, there is a good support forum, where fixes and solutions can be found. Also, visitors can post suggestions for new features, and most of them actually get included in point upgrades.

Overall, for any Mac user that required video conversion, VisualHub is a must have.

UPDATE: Pixelmator 1.14

2008-04-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, Pixelmator has been quickly upgraded with a vast amount of fixes and improvements, especially regarding the colour correction and selection tools.

I am happy to inform you that 1.14 update makes Pixelmator a far more robust application. Gone are the frequent crashes when saving to a variety of image formats. Photoshop users will love the inclusion of new features, such as making the line between two points while holding the SHIFT button. Pixelmator also feels snapier, especially when working with Layers and during Copy - Paste operations.

If Pixelmator improves image exporting feature (i.e. live previews, compression ratios and final image size), I would be able to give it a 5-star rating. As it is, Pixelmator is a seriosly competent application that I am now hapilly using on a daily basis.

Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 - 5 months later

2008-03-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't switch to Leopard straight away - I waited for the 10.5.1 update to be released, as I assumed most of the initial issues will be resolved with it. While I certainly liked Tiger (10.4), I was intrigued with the new features that Leopard was offering.

Did Leopard lived up to its hype ? Yes, it certainly did. Improvements are obvious almost everywhere, and some of the new features that it introduced have provided me with some really good productivity help. For example, I am still wondering how did I manage to live without Spaces on Tiger. And QuickLook, it is such a handy feature that I use on a regular basis. I also recently discovered that QuickLook is integrated with Mail, so I can easily preview attachments.

Until Leopard arrived, I was trialing PathFinder to be my default file management application. I really liked it a lot, some very good solutions have been introduced there. However, Leopard introduced some decent improvements in Finder that made me go back to it. While PathFinder is still a better tool, I found that new Finder addreses pretty much everything that I expect from a file management system.

Another great development was a fairly rapid upgrade that was done to most of my favourite shareware applications. It seems that Apple engineers kept the independent developers in touch with changes, which doesn't happen often in the software industry.

Could Leopard be better ? I wish Apple developers have spent a bit more time on polishing and making Safari more stable. When you have a few tabs open in Safari, with sites that utilise JavaScript and Flash, you are bound to hit major performance issues on your Mac OS X. Safari 3.1, which was updated mid-March 2008 addressed some of those issues. However, for a fairly mature application such as Safari, it was surprising to see so many problems with it.

I am also experiencing intermittend USB transfer speed issues. According to Apple support forums, a lot of other people are having similar problems too. My mobile phone can't connect to Leopard via Bluetooth, even though connectivity worked perfectly on Tiger. My trusty old Canon S45 camera doesn't work well either with Leopard - image transfer gets interrupted randomly and for no obvious reason(s). Another stranger issue is occassional wireless connection dropouts that are still present in Leopard 10.5.2 update.

Most of these issues are minor and I am certain they will be fixed with the consequent updates. My productivity has been improved in certain aspects. Performance wise, I am unable to tell the different between Leopard and Tiger, which I guess is good news. Overall, Leopard is a very good upgrade that is certain to improve even more with updates that Apple will continue to roll out.

Pixelmator

2008-03-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

While I certainly like Photoshop, it has become quite a bloatware for my requirements. Also, Photoshop price is prohibitive for an average home user. As Adobe hasn't released Photoshop Elements for Mac OS X yet, an opportunity was created for another product to fill the gap. Hence the Pixelmator was born.

What sets Pixelmator appart from other wannabe-image editors for OS X is the interface. Developers have created an interesting interface that reflects graphical power of OS X operating system, yet it still feels very familiar with the seasoned Photoshop users. Interface is elegant and responsive, option palletes can be modified and moved around and the overall impression is quite positive.

Pixelmator provides support for a full set of Core Image filter, plus it adds a few on its own. Filter applying speed is certainly fast, and it comes with option to preview and undo applied filters. Latest 1.13 update also includes quite a decent support for tablets - handy, as tablet prices have come down considerably while their capabilities have improved quite a lot.

Toolbars mainly correspond to the ones available in Photoshop. They can be moved around and resized as well. Transparency levels can also be modified.

There are certain things that should definitely be on the "to do for future update" list. Web designers need to review the image optimised for web, as well as the accurate information on how big the resulting file is going to be. Overall stability of Pixelmator needs to be addressed further - for example, Pixelmator still crashes on me often during the JPEG or GIF export operations (tested on version 1.13). Strange things happen with the image you're editing if you start modifying text layers. These issues are common for almost all version 1.0 application that we get to use these days.

For two developers to create such an impressive application in a relatively short time is quite a feat. While Photoshop is still the king of image editing, Pixelmator is certainly shaping up to be a formidable image editing application for Mac OS X platform. At the price of $59, Pixelmator is a great value.

UPDATE: update 1.14 has been released just when I completed this review. It seems that developers have already addressed some of my concerns in regards to functionality and stability. Stay tuned for more news.

UPDATE: Google Applications

2008-01-12T22:39:00.000-08:00

It seems that Google is listening to users of Google applications, as some features are (slowly) rectified, as outlined in my previous post.

GMail (Google Mail) issue in Safari has now been fixed. FYI, getting contacts to appear while you typing a first few letter's of recipient name(s) now works well. There is no longer need to switch to "Older Design" of GMail to get around this issue.

Google applications on Mac OS X

2008-01-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

Most of us have e-mail account with companies that are not Internet Service Providers (ISP's). Until about 2-3 years ago, the most popular choices were either Microsoft's Hotmail, or Yahoo Mail.
At that time, neither of these services were offering compelling features for my requirements. Mailbox size was very limited, as well as file attachment sizes. Spam was a major issue, especially with Hotmail, and advertisement was heavily featured.

Google Mail (Gmail)
It was Google that made a drastic change. Since it introduced Gmail (Google Mail) with simple yet elegant interface, ample storage space (1 Gb at the rollout date, and always increasing), newsgroup-styled e-mail structure (i.e. you can easily see conversation history) and subtle advertisement, I have been using is as my primary mailbox.

It doesn't end there. Google has been very good in continuously improving Gmail feature set - for example, Contacts options have received a facelift, mailbox size is now over 6 Gb (I use around 50 Mb) and Gmail is now integrated with Google Talk chat application.
Safari 3 Mac browser works reasonably well with Gmail. E-mail functionality is present, shortcuts also work OK, Google Talk works too. Google is now experimenting with "New Layout" which provides nicer looks for Gmail Contacts, but searching for contacts in Safari doesn't work when creating a new e-mail. Hope this gets resolved soon.

Google Reader
Satisfied with Gmail and reading often about other Google web applications, I've decided to try out Google Reader (a RSS feed reader), as the concept of reading latest entries from a whole bunch of different sites at one place certainly made sense. First Google Reader version was rubbish, so Google engineers went back to the drawing board and came up with an application that meets all my criteria. It works well too in Safari. Google is also regularly releasing updates, as it tries to integrate Reader with their other web applications.
Only feature missing from Google Reader is the ability to rename custom-made labels that host a specific feeds. This seemingly simple feature is not available, and the only choice users have is to create a new label with proper name, move feeds from old to new label, and then delete the old label.

Google Notebook
With Gmail and Reader in everyday use, I felt much more confident in trying out other Google offerings. Based on a recommendation, I checked out Google Notebook. Idea behind this web application is that is can be used as a sort of permanent web clipboard, a place you can write your notes and to-do items, all organized in different Notes.

Although Google Notebook is out of beta, it does have some problems. Worst offender is that it doesn't work in Safari. On other browsers, when editing entries, cursor can sometimes jump to different places. There is no Undo feature. It would also be nice for Google Notebook to have a feature where entries in Google Calendar can be made from notes. I really hope Google addresses these shortcomings soon.

Google Docs
As Internet access has become so prevalent in today's world on all kind of devices, it made me thinking about how cool would it be to have some essential documents and / or spreadsheets available online, instead of carrying around a USB memory stick and wonder if the computer that you will have will have a compliant version of Microsoft Office in order to open or edit those files.

Since broadband has become quite popular, so did the online applications that mimic the functionality of a typical offline application such as Microsoft Word or Excel. So, I tried Google Docs, which contains an online word processor and spreadsheet. Compared to Word and Excel, Google Docs offers a fairly small set of features. However, I belong to one of those users that utilize less than 5% of Word or Excel features, so this didn't bother me - initially at least.
I found two "killer" features that suit my needs perfectly. First one is the backup - all my documents are available at any time, and I don't have to worry about complicated file sync or backup procedures.

2nd feature is document sharing. Thanks to Google Docs tight integration with GMail, documents can be shared with user(s) that is present in your GMail contact list. You can also decide what access level you want these users to have to your document. Best of all, in centralised document screen, Google Docs clearly shows who has access to documents and to which ones. Also, Revisions option available in Google Docs clearly shows who did the editing and what has been modified.

There are some issues with Google applications that I hope get resolved quickly. As I am a Apple Mac user, my default browser is Safari. Some applications, such as Google Notebook, simply don't work in Safari. It also suffers from minor editing glitches (i.e. when typing) in Internet Explorer 7 on PC's. Google Docs occassionaly gets stucked into "Saving..." mode when editing a document or spreadsheet and you can't do anything until the message dissapears. And what about putting basic tables features in Google Docs word processing part ?

What features should Google consider to be included in the future updates ? There is no integration between Google Docs or Notebook with another Google service, Blogger. Easy way to import pictures from Google Picasa
would be a nice addition too. Compatibility with certain browsers should be improved.

Overall, Google online applications are coming out nicely. It is clear that Google is aiming to create a "suite" for home and small business users that is free, offers reasonable Microsoft Office compatibility, and saves them from complex backup and collaboration solutions that are currentlu available on the market.

Leopard impressions (a.k.a. Mac OS X 10.5)

2007-12-28T23:24:00.000-08:00

I didn't purchase Leopard straight away - I waited for couple of months to see if there are any major issues with it. Since Apple has released update (10.5.1), most of the initial issues that users were complaining about seem to be resolved.

For my productivity, I found Finder improvements to be of great value. Viewing various file types with the press of a space bar is fantastic. Viewing PDF's and movies is great too. Options that let you customise the way you view your files on desktop or within Finder window makes it a much better option for users with larger screens.
Another big feature for me is Spaces. No more clutter on my desktop, every application is organised in separate virtual screens and switching between screens is a snap. This feature belongs to one of those that makes you wonder "how couls I do my work without it..."

I also like Stacks, which I found useful, as well as Downloads folder, as I frequently download work PDF's and documents. Stacks and Finder improvements allowed me to part away with applications such as Overflow and Path Finder.
Mail application has some really good improvements. Tighter integration with iCal is a welcome development, as well as the inclusion of Notes and ToDo entries. RSS feed is also included, as well as solid junk mail filter.

Preview application is one of the "sleeper" hits within Leopard. Viewing PDF's is a better experience, as it gives us options to modify views, view bookmarks and annotations... viewing images is also good, and there are some handy tools thrown in as well. Rotate image, selection, save images in a variety of formats etc. I heavily rely on "Adjust Size" tool, as I no longer need to import pictures into iPhoto to do this. Nice.

My kids absolutely love the much improved Photo Booth application. Some of the new effects are quite good, multiple shots option is great, while feature where you can have a moving backgorund behind your face doesn't always work as advertised.

Overall, Leopard is a worthy update to an already great operating system (Tiger). With a few more updates, Leopard is certainly shaping up to be a good choice for home and small business users.

Parallels (build 5160)

2007-09-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

I have been using Parallels since early 2007, as it was at that time the only viable way to use Windows and Linux operating system alongside Mac OS X.

Since I purchased Parallels, I have noticed steady progression of features. While original Parallels was great, the last couple of versions have introduced a slew of new features that make life easier with certain routine tasks. Some of the highlights are Coherence mode, file sharing, USB 2.0 performance improvements and DirectX 8.1 support for PC games.

However, with all these new features, new bugs and problems have also been introduced. My Windows XP got consistently slower with every new release, while memory leaks and even Kernel panic (equivalent of blue screen of death on Windows XP) have started occuring.

I am pleased to inform you that Parallels 3.0 build 5160 is a considerable improvement in in terms of performance and stability. I haven't noticed any memory leaks. My Windows XP session feels much snappier and more responsive, while file sharing is now working flawlessly.

Some new features have also been added. An interesting and quite useful feature is the ability to view your Mac OS X drive on Windows XP, which allows even more flexibility for routine file and folder operations.

I have also noticed a very good performance with USB 2.0 devices. Testing a couple of external USB drives didn't made me notice speed difference compared to using those drives in native Mac OS X mode.
New Coherence mode makes Windows applications feel even more "Mac-like" and I found it to be stable in performance.

It is good to see that the makers of Parallels have spent some time on resolving certain issues with this latest update.

Skype - small update (ver 2.6.0 151)

2007-09-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

In my previous mini review, I was raving quite a lot about Skype's Mac client. However, after a while, I and many other users have discovered a few bugs.

The most irritating one was the memory leak issue, which would make Mac OS X unstable and eventually crash.

Most of these issues have been resolved. I am using Skype on a daily basis, and it hasn't caused me any problems.

Skype for Mac OS X (vers. 2.6.0.140)

2007-06-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

For Mac OS X users that want to chat and have audio and / or video capability, there are not many choices available. Apple's own iChat requires your contacts to have Apple computers. Microsoft Messenger only support text-based chat. The only other choice is Skype.

Until recently, Skype for Mac has been lagging behind Windows version with features. However, the last few updates have improved the application considerably and I am pleased to report that Skype for Mac OS X has matured nicely.

After extensive testing, I found the quality of voice calls to be really good. Calling phones and mobiles from Australia to Europe proved to be an effortless experience. Prices are quite reasonable too, and Skype is known to frequently offer discounts for certain countries.

Talking computer-to-computer is also good, unless your contact uses slow dial-up Internet connection. Conversation will still be quite good, but expect delays as dial-up can't always keep up. I have tested calling both Mac and Windows-based Skype users.

Things get a bit unstable when trying to use video feature in chat, especially if other contact user has Windows. There is a long delay for video window to kick in, and occasionally conversation ends abruptly. This is obviously something that needs to be addressed.
Other aspects of Skype have also improved. Contact list management has finally received an option to edit existing contact's details. Text messaging has improved too, with conversation history and status (i.e. other contact is typing) being a notable examples.

Another nice touch is the muting of iTunes playback when using audio conversation. Once the conversation is finished, iTunes will "fade in". Very cool.

Still, there are a few more areas where Skype can improve on. How about adding a button for a quick access to purchase SkypeOut credits ? Or perhaps borrow the popular "nudge" feature from Microsoft Messenger.

Overall, a great product, highly recommended. It's good to see that Skype is putting a lot of effort into improving the chat experience for Mac OS X users.

15 most used applications on Mac OS X

2007-04-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Most of Apple blogs these days MUST feature a "my 10 best ever Mac apps" or something similar. Obviously, this is a trend on Mac blogging scene, so I will chip in with a better one - my 15 most used apps on my glorious iMac.

I initially tried to go for 10, but couldn't squeze out some apps that I deemed to good to miss out on.

1. iTunes
Yes, I am a bit surprised as well. However, once I though about how much time I spend listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks, watching vodcasts and movie trailers, and updating artwork for my library (CoverFlow), iTunes comes on top.
I have been using iTunes since version 4.xx and have enjoyed a steady progression of interface and features available to users. And unlike many other users out there, I love CoverFlow.

2. Safari
It's not perfect - I mean, how on Earth could they forgot to include Sort Bookmarks option. But it works, and works well. Tabs are great, speed is good, sites work even the fancy Flash-based ones or secured bank sites. There are some standout features, such as "Open in tabs", reliable if somewhat simple download manager etc. It's safe too.

3. OmniOutliner
Another application that came with iMac. I've read a few articles about GTD principles (Getting Things Done) that is very popular on Mac platform. I tried a number of those applications, but found them too complicated.
OmniOutliner, while not really intended for GTD tasks, does the job admirably of quickly jotting down your To Do with comments and putting them in right place. It's a great application, easy to use and it gets regular updates that have some nice new templates.

4. VisualHub
What a great application. It converts effortlessly between numerous video formats, including Apple TV and Nintendo Wii for only $23. It utilises drag-and-drop principle, dual core processor power and it gets regular updates.

5. PathFinder
This is what Finder was supposed to look like. Drag and drop container, customisable commands and keyboard shortcuts, tabs... A bit pricey though ($35).

6. iMovie 6 HD
Classic video editing application that comes with every Mac. Offers enough features to make a good video work. Comes with some good templates to get your started and it doesn't go overboard with fancy or silly effects. Rendering time is quite good too.

7. Adium
Great little open source messaging app. Connects to a number of IM networks, including ICQ, AOL, MSN, Yahoo etc. Best features are actually obtained with numerous extras - plenty of icons, sound sets, images, and features such as displaying currently played iTunes song with cover art.
Even using default Tokyo Station sound set makes MSN Messenger users asking where do I get sounds from : )

8. Parallels
Enough already has been said about this application. It rulez.

9. iCal
A great little calendaring application. Nothing too fancy really, but for a typical home user, iCal fits the bill nicely.

10. MS Office
I am mainly using Word and Excel, purely for compatibility with .DOC and .XLS files. Nothing much to say about this suit - it works OK, until you hit more complex stuff, such as a document with a few tables, which slows down things considerably.

11. Keynote
This application is awesome. Now in version 3, it has been nicely refined, which made me ditch PowerPoint. It still reads and writes to PowerPoint nicely, but quality of features, as well as design of built-in templates really make this app for business use a standout.

12. Pages
I am getting used to this application. Perhaps not as polished or user-friendly as Keynote, but it still has some good features and impressive templates to get you started. Wont' replace Word for a while, rather it complements it. I am using it as a light-desktop publishing application.

13. Overflow
While Dock is great, it only works well if not many icons are on it. So, instead of clutering desktop with application icons, Overflow is a clever little shareware that groups applications for easier access. Its dead easy to drag and-drop application icons into Overflow and it helps making Dock neater.

14. OmniGraffle
I've just recently started playing with a trial version of this application. I was looking for a Visio-equivalent on Mac, and I think I found it. Quality of built-in libraries is pretty good, interface is very simple, while speed is great.

15. Preview
I could be accused of cheating, as this is not a stand-alone application. But, its true - Preview does a good job of viewing images, PDF's, selecting areas for saving from screen capture utility (iGrab) and exporting to different format.

I switched from PC gaming rig to game console

2007-01-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of years, I have been quite unhappy with the state of PC computers (i.e. ones running on Windows operating system). Instead of improving my creativity, I actually got bogged down fixing software and spending enormous amount of time hunting viruses, spyware, trojans etc.

One of the "time wasters" on PC that I actually didn't mind much was playing PC games. Unlike game consoles, PC games are not as numerous. However, most of the PC games that I played in the last 3-4 years were true masterpieces, either for single-player (i.e. me playing various strategy games) or multi-players over LAN or Internet (Call of Duty, Counter Strike: Source, Enemy Territory).

It was actually my work manager's "fault" that I got introduced to PC games. Like everyone else, I played Solitaire and a few other logical games. In 1995, I bought Activision's phenomenal "Mech Warrior 2", which to this date represents the only game that I completelly finished and thoroughly enjoyed. What a classic that game was.

In late 1990's, I played a couple of great strategies (i.e. Ceasar 3) and in early 2000's, The Sims. At this stage of my life, time has become a precious luxury that couldn't be wasted on games. And most of PC games at that time were so good that you could play them for day(s) without even noticing it.

The above mentioned manager at the company I used to work for hyped big time how much fun he is having playing Enemy Territory. Initially reluctant, I eventually gave in and decided to give this game a go.

As expected, I was hooked. ET is really something special - for 2003 standards, graphics were quite decent, sound was great, but it was the multiplayer part and the map designs that made this game truly unique at that time. Best of all, the game was free !!!
Then, the dark side of PC gaming appeared. To run this game in full glory, I had to do a number of rather expensive upgrades. Video card (~ $300), CPU, RAM, motherboard - all this for one game. But boy, did I have fun : )

Work manager eventually succeded in convincing others at work to give this game a go. Before we knew it, we were organising LAN parties at work place with 15-20 avid gamers. This was my first time to attend LAN parties, and I never thought how fun these events can be.

Time was passing by and alongside Enemy Territory, new games appeared on my PC. Call of Duty, a few strategies, Far Cry and Halo 2 / Counter Strike: Source. With every new game, my video card (ATI Radeon 9600 Pro) and PC were straining to show decent graphics at satisfactory frame rate. With the last 2 games, I actually had to lower quite a few settings to be able to play them.

Next game I tried was Battlefield 2. Although very well done, I was irritated by appaling performance on my PC setup, as well as numerous bugs that game featured. Another round of rather expensive PC upgrade was required, in order to play a single game properly.
I was also getting tired of first-person-shooter (FPS) games, and wanted to try something different. Avoiding rather expensive PC updates was also one of the goals.

So, the logical solution was to purchase a much cheaper game console, and enjoy playing games for at least 3-4 years without worrying if console can handle frame rate, have enough HDD space on it, or if I have to again fiddle with keyboard re-mapping to get the game going.

But, which one to get ? Xbox360 was released in March 2006 and at that time, didn't have many appealing games. Moreover, the price was quite prohibitive. At $650 for console + games + Live Gold account, and the fact that games at that time were nothing special, I quickly dismiss it from further consideration.

Sony Playstation 3 was promising to be a major gaming powerhouse for the next 4-5 years. Tech specs are impressive, but it doesn't mean much if the console is riddiculously expensive (cheapest one will be $1,000) and there is not much originallity into it, bar the high definition (HD) graphics and plenty of CPU grunt.

Which led me to third contender - Nintendo. I never owned Nintendo before, although I did play "Donkey Kong" in TimeZone and other arcade places in 1980's. I also had to consider the fact that I now have 2 small kids which will eventually ask about computer games. Therefore, a family-friendly gaming system would be prefered.

And therefore, a Nintendo Wii has been purchased on it's release day in Australia. For $400, I got a nice n' small console with 1 controller (+ nunchuk), and 5 mini games. I paid a bit extra to get another controller + nunchuk + WiiPlay 9 mini games. It quickly became a hit in our household.

Family enjoyed designing Wii's (online characters). Partner quickly learned how to master tennis and bowling. Daughter loved bowling straight away, while she grew to like Boxing too. We regularly play Boxing against each other, great fun + requires a bit of physical activity.
When I am by myself, I tend to play a game of pool (part of WiiPlay) and test my co-ordination skills in simple battle game "Tanks" (also part of WiiPlay).

Compared to PC games, Wii games can be picked up very quickly. When I don't have much time, I play for about 15-20 minutes and I am happy to move on. I noticed a similar pattern with the rest of my family. So, on a daily basis, we have these short bursts of gaming, and we are all happy about that. Compared to lonely PC gaming experience, Wii is something different.

Remembering my PC gaming roots, I just bought Call of Duty 3 and Need for Speed: Carbon for Wii. Are they any good ? Stay tuned.

So, I bought an Apple iMac...

2007-01-02T03:08:00.000-08:00

Most of my personal computer time has been spent working on multimedia tasks. Ever since I got a PC with Pentium 4 HT-based PC upgrade in 2003, I was confident that these tasks will be much easier and quicker achieve. FYI, my previous PC was Celeron 600.

Although considerably faster, I was shocked to discover that so-called multimedia applications were either too limiting, too buggy or they just don't work as advertised. Authoring a decent DVD with multiple DivX files can be quite a chore. On number of occassions, a DivX variant would not be recognised, or rendering would work fine until it hits 90% (i.e. hours later) when application would come up with error message (i.e. Sonic MyDVD).
Worse, app might burn "properly" without displaying any error message (Nero). When you put it in ordinary DVD player, it comes with nothing.

Yes, I tried numerous applications, but none really worked as advertised. I played with some professional-level applications such as Sony Vegas, but they didn't played along with different file formats. In fact, even Microsoft's Movie Maker 2, that comes built in with Windows XP Service Pack 2 comes up with a number of cryptic bugs and worse of all, doesn't let you author DVD or save in a format that majority of other DVD authoring apps can recognise !!!

What about video conversion ? In a mind of ordinary user, a simple task of converting video file from one format to another should be piece of cake. Not so on PC platform. You either have to dash a lot of $$$ for some pro-grade application (Canopus ProCoder) that still doesn't provide support for that many formats, or you have to go through agony of downloading open-source apps that require considerable amount of tweaking and making sure they work with other applications (i.e. TMPGenc, VirtualDub). Yet, even if you invest considerable time trying to fig this out, results are not guaranteed. As with video editing, I also encountered a number of times when conversion would kick in, only to be interrupted by some cryptic error message hours later. Is this productive from average user's point of view ?

With the rise of popularity of digital cameras, computers have become a critical part in managing and editing photos. Until recently, most of the "photo management" and "basic photo editing" apps were missing something. They either had confusing interface or were just too slow in viewing big photo libraries. There was not much on offer, until Google released phenomenal Picasa.

This app is doing everything it is supposed to, and fast too. After researching for what else I can do with Picasa, I hit the forums where users were commenting how Picasa virtually copied Apple iPhoto applications.

Apple ? I always dissed their computers and operating system as something "foreign and way too expensive", even though I never actually worked on one. However, facing more and more hurdles in my attempt to be creative, I was basically forced to look into any available alternatives.

My first "official" contact with Apple product came in the form of iPod Shuffle (1 Gb). I actually got it as a birthday present. Originally, I thought of using it as a USB memory key with MP3 player tacked on, and probably rarely to be used.

This perception changed with the installation of iTunes. Here is the app that looks and behaves different than your ordinary PC app. I mean, I figured it out straight away how to add and modify playlists, modify ID tags and "normalise" my songs so they all have the same sound volume. Pretty neat.

I don't know if this is destiny, but a few weeks after I got my iPod Shuffle (June 2005), Apple has introduced a new version of iTunes that incorporated Podcasts. To cut the story short, I become hooked to podcasts, and headphones were very often in my ears ;) Later, I added some audio books and, together with my songs and podcasts, my little Shuffle has become a great portable entertainment and educational unit.

As time went by, I got more excited with each new release of iTunes, as it always seem to introduce some new feature. Probably the best one must be the introduction of Australian iTunes music store, with some fairly decent choices of songs and audio books. Also, a number of high quality Australian-based podcasts appeared, including some good video podcasts from ABC national broadcaster.

On the computer scene, following the hyped Mac events introduced me to Apple funs - fiercelly loyal bunch of computer users, which probably helped spread the good news about Apple computer products, increase the application choices for the platform and made it more fun.
When Apple switched to Intel processors, I was hoping that a possibility of running both Mac OS X and Windows XP would be a reality. Surely enough, Apple soon released BootCamp, which would allow me to choose between Windows XP or Mac OS X.

In November 2006, I was ready to purchase my first Mac. I thought I will give MacBook (laptop) a chance. So, I went to Perth and seek one at David Jones.

The friendly Apple rep at David Jones asked me questions that I haven't thought about much - what will I be using computer for, do I want to be OK with it for next couple of years (i.e. no upgrades), what apps will I be using, will I play games, burn DVD's etc etc. How nice.

After getting grilled by the sales guy, he straight away told me that MacBook won't do the job. He instead suggested an iMac.

iMac !!! I haven't thought about this one at all. So, I told the helpfull sales guy that I wll have to go home to "regroup" and investigate this iMac. I mean, I've seen how they look like, but never considered one for myself. Although nice looking, iMac raised suspicious that due to size limitations, it must be pretty limited and slowish.

So, I went on www.apple.com.au, Whirlpool.net.au (great forum) and a couple of Apple websites where they've done a decent review on iMac. More I read about it, more I liked. This "limited" machine turned out to be quite a powerhouse. Brilliant processor (Intel Core 2 Duo), plenty of memory and HDD space, dual layer DVD burner, pleasant wide screen monitor, fairly decent graphics video card (ATI X1600 with 128 Mb RAM), integrated camera, microphone, speakers, Bluetooth, wireless... yep, after a few hours of studies, I was very impressed with it.

Apple equipment is not known to be cheap. However, since company moved toward Intel-based platform, prices have come down a lot, while managing to pack quite a few options in. This time, I went to NextByte store in Nedlands (near Perth) and after a bit of haggling, got a very decent discount on a 20" iMac with 2 Gb of RAM.

Another nice touch by the NextByte store was the invitation to attend classes that they are organising through the year. Some of these classes were intended for budding video editors and photographers, as well as people that use iTunes to sort out their music collection.

So, was switching to Apple platform difficult for an ex-hardcore Windows user ? You will find out in my next post.