This is Hendron’s Digest, a weblog devoted to the intersection of education & technology.
Ah… looks like the Googlers have brought IM to the iPhone through a webapp!
Look here for new information on Google Talk for iPhone. Or, simply point your iPhone to their URL.
It seems other goodies are in store for all iPhone owners (old and new) on July 11 when the 2.0 software is released, and new Apps will be available for sale.
I had some genuine fun working with my colleagues this week at producing some new instructional materials for use at the middle school next school year.
What I did, mainly, was to produce some instructional screen casts (example, below). But after listening to these two, outlining the interface “nonsense” of OmniFocus, I think maybe I should lighten up a bit and take on more dramatic flair.
Photo Galleries with iLife ‘08 from John Hendron on Vimeo.
Adding Image Overlays in iMovie 7 from John Hendron on Vimeo.
David Warlick recently posted about his new presentation style, which I’ve seen in action. He even talked about it at the presentation.
“Instead of presenting today with a PowerPoint, I will be following this trail of folders and show you actual artifacts and files…” — more or less a paraphrase of what he said, anyhow. What we saw was not unlike what he shows us at his website, a snake-like trail of files and folders.
Here’s what I do and don’t like about this approach.
I like that people are breaking the mold and trying different ways to present information using their laptops. This is good. But I think this approach ultimately pales in comparison to a well-crafted set of slides. Simplicity on the screen, dynamism on the stage (you). That’s an equation that gets a good message across well and looks classy, to boot.
I am simply amazed (in a negative way) sometimes when I see presenters at conferences and workshops use their browsers.
This happens more on the PC, but sometimes there is so much chrome and cruft that the usable space for the web browser (when used) is so restrictive. Multiple toolbars, big chunky buttons, and who knows what else crowds one’s screen.
Escape to Plainview for Macintosh, a Webkit-based browser that spans your entire screen. It’s especially made for presentations.
You can set up all your bookmarks ahead of time, and use the entire real estate of your screen to show off the wonders of the Web.
I look forward to trying this one out later this year at my own presentations!
I remember reading some time ago about a (almost obsessive) human need to catalog the world around us. Some catalogers go to library school, and many enjoy the science and art of putting things in their place. The rest of us live out in the library of nature, ever so curious from time to time, to put order to things we find… disorganized. I’m not talking about a home improvement show, I’m talking about applying some sort of system to a collection of things.
In steps the Macintosh-only application Delicious Library which promises to organize your supposed home library. Who saw this coming?
To be fair, this program has been out for a number of years; I have some friends that use it and live happier now knowing their DVD collection and books are all catalogued on the home computer.
But I’ve been holding out for version 2, which just went “live” last night. I look forward to downloading DL2 tonight and giving it a whirl.
But what I find curious is that this class of software–for more or less cataloging software–is marketed for the home user. It wasn’t that long ago that I remember my mother’s library became “automated,” whereby you would scan patron cards and check out and look up and do everything with a giant computer. Then I went to college, and their library was… automated. Well, now folks, you too at home can have an automated system to track your books, CDs, DVDs, and now more just like the library.
I’d love to say this software is demonstrating something bigger here–and maybe it is, but maybe not so much–that we today as a culture have our own sizable collections of stuff (i.e., books, DVDs, CDs, video games, etc.) that we could honestly qualify as having our own personal library of things.
I know for me, there’s no better library in the world for baroque music than the giant hard drive inside my computer. While I have a very modest collection of books and own fewer DVDs than fingers, there are times that I’d like to “see” what I own, and have a fair enough system that’s easy to use (not to mention visually appealing) so that I can loan out some of the items I own that still take on a physical appearance.
Delicious Library, it might be worth checking out.
Here’s a pair of links I thought I’d share.
Amar looks at keyboard design (something I have shared some passion for) and talks-up the Apple Extended Keyboard II.
I still have my AE-II from high school, and used it throughout college. Several years ago, I began using it again with an ADB -> USB adapter. I have since put it on the shelf for safe keeping while I use Apple’s newer, mini Bluetooth (aluminum slab) keyboard. The new keyboard isn’t bad, but it is no AE-II. I am waiting for more desk space to bring the AE-II back into service.
Care to see a collection of Apple ads through the ages? This is fun. Some years ago an old high school friend gave me a collection of all of Apple’s commercials. Those were fun, too.
(both links via daringfireball.net.)
A blog post at Betalogue details the painful process of re-mapping keyboard shortcuts in the 2008 Macintosh version of Word.
Technology keeps getting… easier.
Vidnik is a new Mac application that lets you record from your built-in iSight camera, and posts the video straight to YouTube. They give the idea of keeping a video diary.
Keeping a video diary intrigues me, but I also don’t always like to watch videos. Sometimes the written word wins: i.e., I can listen to music while I read blogs. Second, I don’t always sound succinct or lucid if I just “hit record.” Maybe you don’t either. And does that matter, sitting side-by-side more polished writings and presentations?
Khoi Vinh likes using Keynote–even for print-based projects.
I do love the program myself; when Apple releases a new version, I can’t wait. What it and some other Mac programs–specifically here, Omni Graffle do–is make arranging objects and text on screen easy. Things “snap” into place like magic.
Unlike Vinh, I’ve never used Keynote specifically for a print design (but I have used Comic Life). But I am thinking of one project in particular that might be perfect. A tip of the hat for the idea!
Some time ago I did a little paper on folksonomy, and in writing it, I became a true believer in tagging as a means to organize my digital life.
I was first introduced to tagging through del.icio.us and Flickr.
Tagamac is a website dedicated to doing tagging on the Mac platform. I’ve linked there to their page of software. Together really looks nice; I’ve tried Things and love it; I’m thinking of buying Yep and Leap soon, too; both support tagging.
But I’ve also told people that you can tag using the Finder (Spotlight comments) and this tip might help you too. It suggests using a unique character for adding tags.
Dan Benjamin recently posted about performing hard drive backups at Hivelogic, his weblog.
He uses a variety of methods. I thought I’d share my own methods, and while they are working now, I think I will expand a bit within the year.
For the sake of understanding how I do what I do, it’d be best to describe what equipment I have.
I’d echo Benjamin and say that having a bootable clone of your drive is a good idea. SuperDuper!, a program I’ve bought, does a smart-backup feature which updates the clone image as often as you like. Before you start, however, it helps to have a second HD that is the same size.
So, if you are backing up a 750GB drive, you need a second drive of equal or larger size. Maybe not at first, if you only have 300 GB of files; but in theory, you’ll need something at least as big. You have to begin thinking, then, of acquiring drives “in pairs.”
I currently use the two internal drives in my computer to hold the Mac OS system, home folders, etc., on one drive; the iTunes folder on the second. I now use the 1TB Time Capsule (hybrid backup and Aiport Wifi router) to backup both drives. For now, it is adequate, but it is a short-term solution. Calculated in less than a year, this will be inadequate. The TimeCapsule uses Apple’s Time Machine software to backup everything.
I used to keep a cloned copy of the music drive on an external HD. But then it grew too big to fit on one drive. That is likely what I’ll do in the future: buy another HD for mirroring/cloning the media drive; use TimeCapsule to do the computer’s main backup.
Keeping cloned copies would be a luxury. Like Benjamin, I keep Mail loaded through IMAP with Google Mail. It is of course also backed up on the computer through it’s own backup on TimeCapsule.
Other options for more storage include devices that hold multiple drives (NAS, Drobo, RAID systems), and of course, a new computer chassis (the 8-core MacPro holds 4 internal drives). I’m excited at some point to load up a new computer with a smaller boot drive (320GB) that runs at 10K or even 15K RPM. This would speed up the computing experience, for sure.
As more laptops make it into the home, I become aware that loading software on all your home machines is like maintaining a lab. I’ve also toyed with acquiring a 10-seat license for Mac OS X Server to use a technology Apple calls “Netboot.” This boots the computer off the server–all your applications are off a disk image stored on the server.
Your local client machine can hold files (i.e., documents), or your could even share them on a mount point on the server (everything is centrally stored). If files lived on the client machines, you could back each of them up to the centralized TimeCapsule. Future Apple products may include TimeMachine write to an OS X Server (mere speculation, but it would make sense in work environments).
Above all, I can say from experience, it’s important to keep backups of your work. I’ve known folks who keep everything on a flash drive “as the backup.” They may own all of 600MB of files that fit on a 1GB thumb drive, but that isn’t very wise.
Recommended backup programs I’ve used over the past few years:
I secretly covet the opportunity someday to teach a class to folks on file organization and workflow management. We’ve tried at my district, but not too many people want it. Or if they need it, they somehow don’t sign up. They like working unorganized.
My colleague has a method by which he makes folders for each month. He puts all the stuff for the month in there; if a project extends beyond the month, it makes the move to a new folder for the upcoming month. I never quite understood his system.
This hint, from November 07 shows off some of the power of the so-called “Smart Folders” in Mac OS X. With this tip, my colleague could store his files in more appropriate folders, yet still have the month’s last content at the ready.
Combined with tags, you’d have a pretty robust system.
“Why is the internet so slow?” I thought… was Comcast the problem?
Just last week I “upgraded” from a white UFO-style Airport Extreme base station (B/G) to the new 1TB Time Capsule integrated hard drive/base station from Apple.
Tonight, I used Speedtest to test my broadband speeds.
Using the Time Capsule (7.3.1) Airport software, I achieved:
As a reference, as T1 line is 1.5kBps, or 1540 kbps.
Downgrading the TC to 7.3, with the older software, resulted in similar numbers. Somewhere in the low 2K for TC.
Seemed sluggish. What was it without the TC?
Plugged directly into my cable modem, I achieved the following download speed, using the same server via Speedtest.
Now that’s broadband. Went to Apple’s HD movie trailer site, and the HD movies just screamed into my Mac.
I replaced the TC with my older base station. What were those results?
Now, several hours separated the tests; but it’s clear that the older Apple Airport Extreme base station is conveying the bulk of the cable modem’s speed via Ethernet to my desktop machine. TC is not; it’s cutting things down by a factor of 10.
update: After a lot of playing with TimeCapsule after erasing the backup drive (preparing to return it), I found some interesting statistics. I began using a Quicktime HD movie trailer as a benchmark for download speed.
With the TimeCapsule switched on to AirDisk support (yes), WPA2 encryption, no WDS, download speeds ranged from 800 KBs upwards to 2.2 MBs. This was consistent being connected to the cable modem directly.
When the 1TB drive is mounted on the desktop, speeds decrease; they ranged from 512-760 KBs. Un-mount the disk, speeds go up.
Further testing will follow…
update: April 19…
I decided to keep the TimeCapsule. The speed results were horrible. But I found when I turned off the WDS functionality with my first-generation AirPortExpress (b/g), the speed problem was not there. I am guessing that with my experience, the WDS is unnecessary in my home now (because this airport seems more robust in its coverage). So–I am losing one piece of this new Airport’s functionality, but no real functionality is lost in my home. I can now backup (over Ethernet), and I can still stream music to my listening room.
As to why WDS slowed things down (wireless or not), is still a mystery.
An interesting video with technology writer Walt Mossberg, talking about broadband in the U.S., AppleTV, and iPhone.
Since NewsGator made their premier news aggregators free, others are now following suit.
The beautiful NewsFire for Mac OS X is now being offered to Mac users for $0. This was one of the first aggregators I began using, and always enjoyed its compact form factor. Now I really have some tough decisions to make today… picking a GTD application and a favorite news aggregator.
Merlin wrote up a “Best of GTD” on his 43 Folders website, highlighting many of his posts, reviews, and discussions about the “getting things done” phenomenon and organizational tips.
I created a GTD staff development project focusing on Macintosh apps back a few years ago, and presented them at the “ETLC” - Educational Technology Leadership Conference sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education.
There are two GTD apps that I am trying to decide upon… which should I adopt? The time is ripe.
New from Shinywhitebox software (makers of the excellent iShowU screencasting software) comes Chatter, an iChat-helper application that does live screen demonstrations.
I am going to check this one out! My experience thus far with doing Leopard-based iChat screenscasts (better stated, Keynote sharing, etc.) have been medium-to-disappointing (too crunchy looking). The newer feature of ARD screen controlling, however, has been great.
Presentation Zen did a review of Jobs’ Keynote this past week at Macworld.
I agree with all the points made, the thing I liked best is something I try to do in my own presentations: tell people where I’m going; give them a roadmap.
Too many presentations… you’re not sure where you are going. I liked the idea of “four things.” I can sit here now and name off the four things: MacBook Air, Leopard and Time Capsule, iTunes and movie rentals, and the iPhone update.
Some tips for laptop screens at The Unofficial Mac Weblog.
Today, NewsGator, creator of several RSS aggregators for Windows, NetNewsWire for Macintosh, and an online aggregation service, has released all of their desktop applications for free.
This came too late for my book, where I recommended these products, but noted their cost. I’d recommend everyone to consider these (now) free tools alongside other choices that they may be using.
I’d begun using Vienna for Macintosh, but now I think I’ll check out what’s up with NNW3–I stopped using it at version 2.
Introduction to NetNews Wire for Macintosh from John Hendron on Vimeo.
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