Sitting Duck

December 4, 2015April 25, 2018 in Tech

The world of Apple

For a long time I have been frustrated at Apple tech reporting in its sometimes-US-centric view of the world of Apple. It’s not a universal problem and even where it does happen, it’s not all the time, but it does creep in often and when it does I can’t help but notice it.

Except on a few occasions I don’t feel like “telling anyone off” about it, but I do like to remind everyone that it’s a big old world out there and in the last day or so I’ve been collating some figures that can illustrate what I’m talking about.

December 2, 2015April 25, 2018 in Tech

The other side of the Mac App Store

I’ve recently heard a bit of commentary about the state of the Mac App Store, prompted in the most part by a high profile announcement of “yet another” high profile app that is departing the store. The commentary mostly revolves around how the Mac App Store is falling behind the iOS counterpart, how the restrictions imposed limit functionality and inevitably the lack of upgrade pricing. I’d like to offer another side to this doom and gloom.

November 28, 2015April 25, 2018 in Tech

In your face

A while ago I decided to buy into the OmniFocus task manager from the Omni Group. I even wrote and recorded a review for the NosillaCast shortly after I got started with it. I’m happy to say I’m still using it regularly, but until recently there was something missing. Capturing tasks was simple, but what about getting those things done?

November 1, 2015April 25, 2018 in Tech

Secure passwords, take 2

Way back in 2013 I created an Alfred workflow that utilised Bart Busschots‘s XKPasswd password generator library. Recently, Bart has done a major rework of the library and released the new version as Crypt::HSXKPasswd. He put a lot of work into the usability of the library which made it very simple for me to create a new workflow for it.

September 18, 2015April 25, 2018 in Tech

The 11 year reason for a new Apple TV

The reason I will almost certainly buy the new model of Apple TV later this year is because of a purchase I made in 2004. That’s the 2004 purchase pictured at right – a fourth generation 40 gigabyte iPod.

You might think the link between the two would be the obvious one – I bought into Apple products then and I still buy Apple now because I like them. While that’s true, it’s not the main reason a fourth generation Apple TV is likely in my future.

July 12, 2015April 25, 2018 in Reviews

Apple Music – my analysis

I like it, and I’ll pay for it.

I could actually stop there, because that’s really all that matters to anyone – do you like it, and if so, would you be prepared to pay for it? Simple.

But I thought I’d put down a few thoughts on why I like it.

February 9, 2015April 25, 2018 in Hardware

Review: OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock

I’m still fairly and squarely blaming Gaz from the MyMac.com podcast for this purchase. I had looked at various models of Thunderbolt dock in the last year or so and none quite made me pull the trigger. I didn’t know of the OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock until Gaz mentioned it on the podcast. Well, the price and feature mix was almost perfect for me, so I pulled the trigger.

December 5, 2014April 25, 2018 in General

Open mind, open ears

I’ve often said (if not here, then in real life) that I tend to avoid hype. Mostly that applies to movies but in some measure also to music. The more ‘screamingly popular’ a musical artist is, the less likely I am to check out their work. This is as a result of becoming seriously jaded by “mainstream” music over a lot of years. I still rarely listen to the radio and when I do I am rarely impressed by what I hear.

So imagine my surprise when I began to seriously consider checking out the music of Taylor Swift. The first catalyst was when she appeared in a performance on Australia’s X Factor show final.

December 20, 2013April 25, 2018 in General

Brick by brick

After yet another egregious use of the fictitious word “LEGOs” by a mainstream (American) publication, I sought evidence from the wide world of the Internet.

November 11, 2013April 25, 2018 in How To

Unpacking the suitcase

Further to my post on installing fonts on iOS devices, I came across a slight problem when attempting to include the ever popular Century Gothic font in my font payload. When I located the font it was in a Font Suitcase file which the Apple Configurator didn’t want to know about. I spent some time trying to work out a way around this and eventually hit on a simple method using only an OS X command and a simple piece of free software.