What the heck is ZFS !?…

The internet is hot with rumors about Leopard and ZFS. Apparently some mucky-muck at Sun Microsystems disclosed that the ZFS file system will be the primary file system in Leopard. I guess it is not as big of a secret as everyone was initially saying however since I'm hearing the alpha/beta testers of Leopard have been saying for some time its already in the build. Regardless, all this speculation led me to the question of what, exactly, is ZFS? I read the Wiki article here and it helped a little bit for my non-tech brain but then I really got a handle on it when listening (as a complete coincidence) to the Macbreak Tech podcast where it was explained along with a few chuckles. I'd give you a link but Macbreak Tech is very new and I can't seem to find one. Just do a podcast search in the iTunes store and you are set. Now if you want me to explain what I understand of ZFS, that just isn't going to happen. Monkeys shouldn't do brain surgery and I shouldn't attempt to explain ZFS.

MacMediaCast Gets it Right

While I am very proficient at word processing and productivity type applications, I'm a relative newcomer to the media end of Macintosh. As a result, I've recently become a fan of the MacMediaCast video podcast which seems almost custom tailored to my Mac Media interest. I highly recommend it. And if an excellent video podcast isn't enough reason to check out their blog, the folks at MacMediaCast also clearly recognize brilliance in that they picked up my iShowU review from the Surfbits website right here.

Genius Chronicles

When I first bought my Mac, the Apple Store employees talked about the ProCare service.  While I didn't initially bite on it, after taking a few of the free courses I quickly realized there is a wealth of good information there.  In addition the folks at the Irvine Spectrum Apple Store are all quite nice making spending time at the Genius Bar informative and fun.  I went ahead and signed up for ProCare a few months ago (fortunately before Apple split it up into two services)  Now having taken 4 or 5 classes I can report it is a good thing.  I was pretty knowledgeable and my switch to the Mac was relatively painless.  The Mac has really opened up the fun side of computing for me with music, video and pictures.  I'm finding the genius bar appointments extremely helpful in learning all this media fun.  The Genius' enthusiasm towards Apple software is infectious and could end up costing you a few bucks in new software you didn't even know existed.  My report card on ProCare so far, A+.

Review - OmniPlan

I recorded the below review and you can listen to it on Surfbits #110.

I have been intrigued with the idea of using project management software in my law practice for several years now. As a litigation and transactional attorney at any one time I have about 30 different cases and I am responsible for along with delegating work to several staff members and paralegals. Having the ability to organize these projects in a way to allow for strategic thinking and keep me honest as the weeks and months tick by would be invaluable. I explored this in my old PC days with Microsoft Project but it felt to me something like trying to hammer a thumbtack with a sledgehammer. Likewise I tried to use a custom template in Microsoft Excel but that also didn't work for me. Enter OmniPlan [http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan/].

I must admit I am a big fan of the OmniGroup. Having been pulled in by OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle, I became curious to see if OmniPlan, Omni's project management software, could give me that planning edge I've been searching for. Put simply, it does.

OmniPlan is a project management application for the rest of us. It allows you to manage project elements, staff, and resources through the use Gantt charts. Like all of the Omni Group programs, the user interface is very well thought out with intelligent use of inspectors. This allows you to keep your project as simple, or complex, as your needs require. This also allows you to begin working with it in just a few hours.

The workflow for setting up a plan is really simple. You type in to the outline all of steps for a particular project along with the time required for each task and then set them out to the planned dates. During this process you can also set up dependencies where one task does not begin until another task ends. There is a lot of customization with these dependencies allowing you to set prioritization or even relating them to material supplies. You can also create these dependencies with your mouse by just dragging an arrow from one task to another. As you go through this process, OmniPlan builds an elegant Gantt chart graphically showing each task. Once you get your plan in place, you can then track your actual time and costs and compare them as you move through a project.

In addition to managing the critical path and milestones, OmniPlan also tracks the costs and resources attached to a project staff member, material, equipment, and groups. Using the built in calendar you can then apportion the availability of these resources or move areas of responsibility. You can even associate an hourly cost to these resources to keep track of your costs.

The program also checks to make sure you don’t goof anything up. For instance if I schedule someone to make lemonade on Monday but don’t schedule anyone to purchase lemons until Tuesday, OmniPlan will let me know ahead of time.

OmniPlan offers a variety of options to share this data. It imports Microsoft Project files as well as a few other formats. Likewise, it exports to Microsoft Project, iCal, HTML, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, pdf, and a few other image formats. You won’t have any trouble sharing your plan with others. I use my MacBook Pro in a windows office and export my OmniPlans to pdf for the various staff members that need access.

OmniPlan is the first project planning program I’ve tried that I can actually use productively. Its friendly interface and simplicity of use make it perfect for my needs. I spent about 2 hours going through the manual and I have already got that time back in better project management. I am admittedly using this in a small office environment but I do not see why this program cannot scale up for more resource intensive projects. There are other project planning programs for the Mac out there and some of them have been around longer and are, presumably, more feature rich. However, OmniPlan was so easy and quick for me to adopt into my bag of tricks that I don’t intent to stop using it any time in the near future.

This application could be of help to you whether you are constructing a building or a pine wood derby car and just about everything in between. If you are considering adding project planning software to your arsenal, I encourage you to visit the Omni Group website and watch the online video demonstrations or even download the demo for yourself. At $150 for a license it is a significant investment but well worth it in my mind.

Palm Folio and the Radio Shack WP-2.. A New (old) Idea

I was looking at the new Palm Folio  and it reminded me of my old beloved Radio Shack WP-2 that got me through lawschool.  In many ways it was the best laptop I ever used.  I didn't need to plug it in.  It ran about 20 hours on a pair of AA batteries.  I beat the hell out of it and it just chugged right along for 3 years.  I could fill it with a text file of notes and then go back to my apartment and dump it into my Atari ST Computer and I was good to go.  Granted I love my MacBook Pro but it would be really nice to have an updated WP-2.  Perhaps something with a simple screen and a decent keyboard that does raw text files and has an SD card slot in it for <$150.  Something you could pull out on a train or plane or anywhere else with no fear whatsoever.  I actually still have my WP-2.  I've been letting my kids play with it for several years as a toy.  They've beat it up more than I ever did and it still looks fine.  Maybe I'll put some batteries in it this weekend and see what happens.

Rock and Roll Baseball

 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame - MacSparky style

I've got some really great footage of the kids playing baseball. I wanted to put it to the music for "Take me out to the Ballgame" and decided to record it myself. Using Band-in-a-Box, Logic, and my MIDI keyboard and WX11 Wind Controller (MIDI Sax), I came up with the attached as my first attempt at using Logic. For some reason it makes me laugh to think I laid down the Hendrix guitar with a MIDI Sax. I really like the instrument sounds but clearly have lots to learn. Its kind of funny that my first recording as an avid jazz fan is more along the lines of hard rock. My sister in law (a SERIOUS baseball fan) thinks it an abomination. Enjoy anyway.

Mozy No More

Well my month long experiment of the Mozy service is concluded. Over the course of about a week I was able to upload a lot of my document files and my 10gb iPhoto library. The thought of spending a month uploading my 40gb iTunes library makes my brain hurt. I can see the benefit of online storage but I'm not sold. Instead of renewing I spent $80 on a USB hard drive that I keep in a secure location away from my home.

Mozy in summary:

Pros:

1. $5 a month, unlimited storage

2. Offsite

3. Presumably Secure Services

Cons:

1. SSSLLLOOOWWWWW Upload (1 week for 12gb)

2. How secure is my personal data once I send it out into the ether?

Review - iShowU

One of the things I quickly gravitated to after joining the world of macintosh, was screencasts. In case you've never seen one, a screencast is essentially a moving screen capture. These are a sort of on-screen video where some generous soul walks you through the operation of a specific application or nuance of OS X. There are some excellent podcasts that do this along with a few other folks who just post them on their websites.

While making screencasts to help fellow mac users understand their computers is great, there are a lot of other good reasons for a screencast. For instance, if you are having some strange application behavior, why not screencast it and send it to the developer. I've written those long convoluted developer emails and I'm betting if I had just sent a screencast things would have been easier for everyone involved. Or perhaps you have a friend who needs some gentle persuasion why OS X is the way to go. Make a screencast of yourself using iLife and send it to him. Another example would be to make a private tutorial, like to show your Mac Mom how to attach a picture to an email. Really the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

While I have been enjoying these screencasts for sometime now, I never really thought much about making one myself. Frankly, I had no clue how this is even possible. That is, until I started playing with iShowU.

This application, which can be found at shinywhitebox.com takes all of the work out of screencasting. It is a snap to use. The interface satisfies the Jekyll and Hyde in all of us Mac users. That is, while iShowU initially strikes you with its simplicity, before long you realize it is also very customizable. When you open it up the left side has a slew of presets that make screencasting as easy as picking a self explanatory preset and pressing "Record". Alternatively, the right side of the interface has a series of self describing buttons that allows you a variety of options for fine tuning the resolution, quality, audio, and export codec just to name a few. In very little time you'll find yourself either using one of the many presets or perhaps tweaking it just a bit and then you are off to the races. The output options are very versatile and you can make a file as big and pretty as the job requires. Tweaking the frame rate and compression type, it doesn't take long to find out what works for you.

Once you start recording, you are free to roam your mouse over the screen while dictating into your mac with a running narration. It doesn't overly tax your processor and doesn't get in the way. As a test I ran it on top of Garageband, which can be resource heavy, and iShowU hung in there like a champ. One nice feature is the setting to allow the camera to follow your mouse. This way you can make a high resolution file with a smaller screen.

If you need a screencapture tool, iShowU will get the job done with very little work on your behalf. By including multiple presets, the developer gives you the ability to immediately use the program while still giving you a large degree of control. If you don't need a screencapture utility, I still recomend you give this a try. You'll be amazed at the ways you can use this application. Shinywhitebox has a demo available on its website. A license will run you just $20 and I think it is an excellent value.

Using iShowU, I can easily see myself adding a few screencasts to MacSparky.com in the future. While I'm not sure I can do them to the high standards of some of the regular screencasters out there, I certainly can see small clips to demonstrate some interesting feature.

Waiting for OmniFocus …

Its been a few weeks now since the Omni Group announced the beta of its quasi GTD product, OmniFocus. I know I'm on the list and must admit I'm curious to give it a try. Depending on how well it works I'll have to decide if I'll run it as a sandbox application or actually re-enter my roughly 200 iGTD entries. I'll keep you posted.

Wordpress Conversion Complete

I've decided to move the blog to Wordpress. It just seems more blog friendly than what I was doing with iWeb. The conversion was relatively painless. Finished in one "Lost" season finale.