Mac Power Users 7 - LaunchBar

We've released a new Mac Power Users Episode, all about LaunchBar. There is a discount code through the end of August for 15% off, DT-37F9-D8EB. Get it while it's hot.

Comic-Con 2009 Photos

I've never read many comics but this year I trekked down to San Diego with some friends and saw the Comic-Con event for the first time. It was a good time. Everyone was very nice and all were proud to show off their costumes. I've let my Flickr stream die so here are some pics of interest.

"So Say We All!"

Lou Ferigno would not look at me no matter how much I asked.

I was 8 when Star Wars first came out. You don't let that stuff go easy.

Beware! Corellians shoot first.

Original Tron Costume.

There is nothing shy about the people who dress up at Comic-Con. They are really in their element.

Not sure who they are but they really liked posing.

Even Trekkies must eat.

Is it just me or does Batman look like he is enjoying this?

I found Waldo!

This is just wrong.

Pixelmator Review

A lot of Mac photographers remember that Adobe took a long time to get Elements on the Intel platform. In that void several independent competitors appeared. I started using Pixelmator shortly after it came out and it has quietly replaced Elements for me.

Pixelmator is a $59 pixel pushing beast. It uses your graphics card and makes quick work of most common graphics tasks. Pixelmator delivers many (but not all) of the core features of Photoshop in a better, and more Mac friendly, interface. The general layout is very similar to Photoshop. It even recognizes most Photoshop keyboard combinations. It uses a dark grey interface similar to Apple's Pro applications that is easy on the eyes.

Pixelmator ships with tools, masks, layers, and several useful image filters. I primarily use Pixelmator with photographs and there is the usual assortment of levels, color curves, balancing and other photography tools. I really liked the way it renders gradients in real time. I, frankly, don't need a lot of tools as Aperture has become so robust. When I do need to roundtrip to an external editor, Pixelmator is usually enough.

Having used Pixelmator for some time, I'm also impressed with the slow march of new features the developers are releasing with each new update. They are not throwing in the kitchen sink but instead spending time on UI design and polish with each new feature.

Once your image is done, you can easily export the usual formats including PSD, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and PDF just to name a few.

While Pixelmator most certainly is not Photoshop, it is feature rich and a respectable competitor with Photoshop Elements. In my testing, I found Pixelmator easy to use but with fewer bells and whistles than Elements. At a fraction of the cost of Photoshop, you really can't go wrong with either application. Regardless, the Mac polish and excellent interface make Pixelmator the winner for me. For $59, it takes care of all of my imaging needs. You can download a free trial from pixelmator.com.

You can listen to this review on Surfbits MacReviewCast #218.

MacBook Scuba: What To Do When Your MacBook Gets Wet

A few days ago I received a panicked call from my sister about her MacBook. She left her white MacBook on a table overnight, lid closed with no AC power, next to a vase of flowers. While sleeping, the cat knocked over the vase right on top of the MacBook which then slowly drained water on it over the course of the night.

Before she called me she had opened it, plugged it in, and tried to boot it up to no avail. Arrg. That, by the way, is the very last thing you should do with anything that is electronic and wet.

Anyway, this is my big sister and I am indebted to her for life.* So I did a bit of online research and called out to my Twitter friends and put together the following MacBook Scuba plan:

What to do When Your MacBook Gets Wet:

1. Get the Mac Out of the Water.

Obvious.

2. Don’t Turn it On.

When your Mac is freshly bathed, the very last thing you want to do is add electricity.

3. Get the Water off, Carefully.

Use gravity, or absorbent towels. Do not, in the process of brushing water off your Mac, push it into areas where it can get inside the machine, like the keyboard, joints, vents, or other ports.

4. Remove Whatever Parts You Can.

Remove the battery. If you are so technically inclined, pull out the hard drive and any other peripherals you may have.

5. Tilt Up.

Turn your Mac Book on its edge slightly open and stand it up, like a teepee, on some thick towels. Let gravity help you out. Leave it this way a very long time. Hours.

6. Evaporate.

Put the Mac in a sealable container with something that will suck all the moisture out of the air. Cat litter and uncooked rice are two popular choices. Make sure you do it in a way that doesn’t introduce Cat litter inside the machine. Do this at least overnight.

7. Wait.

No matter how tempting, wait two days.

8. The Moment of Truth.

Plug it in and see what happens.

So, following the above steps, my sister’s MacBook has survived the big spill of 2009 and seems to be working fine except for the battery, that is a complete loss.

As a an aside, I would like to thank all of my Twitter friends for suggestions as to exactly what should be done with the cat. As a dog person, they all made me smile.

Also, don’t forget, there is insurance for these kinds of problems. You may also want to check with your homeowner’s or renter’s policy to see if they cover it. Sadly, mine doesn’t.

* Why indebted for life you may ask? In addition to many other acts of kindness, in 1980 I was 12 years old and my big sister bought me a pair of Nike tennis shoes. Before that, K-Mart was my cobbler of choice. I thought I was so cool in those shoes. I actually think I increased my jumping height by about 12 feet when wearing them. In fact, I wore the hell out of those shoes. I wore them until there was no sole left on the bottom, Fred Flintstone style. Then I still wore them a bit longer.

Sena Case Winner

The winner is Karen G. Thank you everyone for participating. Also, a big thank you to Sena Cases for being so generous. If you haven't already, check out their variety of quality leather cases.

Mac Roundtable #66

The Mac Roundtable #66 posted. I participated in this episode in which we discussed the Palm Pre, netbooks, and upgrading to an SSD drive. It is so fun talking with the Mac Roundtable gang that I often forget we are recording.

AT&T Propped up by iPhone

Gee, 'ya think?

Palm Pre - iTunes Sync Now Broken

The latest iTunes update, released today, had an interesting release note.

"iTunes 8.2.1 … addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices."

That got me thinking about the Palm Pre and the way it pretends to be an Apple device to sync with iTunes. Turns out, that no longer works.

Steve's been back 2 weeks and the Pre sync is now dead. Go figure.

Thoughts on the Future of Microsoft Office

There is a lot of news about recent developments on the Microsoft Office front. Microsoft has a beta of Office 2010 in circulation and Fortune Magazine is reporting there will be an online version available for free.

I know a lot of people think Microsoft would be crazy to offer any version of Office free. I think Microsoft would be crazy not to have a free version. While at first glance, Microsoft appears to have a stranglehold on the office productivity suite game, that position may not last forever. There are several reasons why this should change.

1. Cloud Computing and Online Applications.

While Microsoft has been happily filling enterprise orders, Google (and a slew of others) have released free online applications that have all of the functionality most mere mortals require from Microsoft Office. Did I mention it is free and online? That means users can easily access their data from anywhere.

2. Office Has Competition (Sort of).

On the Mac there are a variety of alternatives to Microsoft Office. I think the development of so many alternatives on the Mac is a primal, almost baked into our DNA . Mac users and developers remember the days when Microsoft held the future of the Mac platform in its hand with the decision to keep (or drop) Office support. Microsoft knew it. Apple knew it. Microsoft even flaunted it. Nobody wants to go back there.

This is, of course, an unrealistic fear in this day. Apple has its own iWork suite (superior in my opinion) and the Apple developer community has grown it's own fantastic alternatives. I'm not familiar with the landscape on the PC side but OpenOffice comes to mind as another multi-platform competitor.

3. The New Workforce.

Kids these days. There is an entirely new generation going through school that is not as sold on Microsoft Office as mine was. Just like my generation displaced WordPerfect with Word, the next generation could very easily displace Word with something like Google Docs.

While I use components of Microsoft Office pretty regularly, it is only when I must. I'll take Pages over Word any day and when it comes to presentation work, you'll have to pry Keynote out of my cold, dead hand. Of course, I'm a nerd and think way too much about these things.

For people that have a more balanced set of priorities, they'll use whatever comes on their machines. That is why it is ultimately Microsoft's game to lose. There are some very smart people at Microsoft (and some very dedicated Mac geeks in the Mac Business Unit). I'm sure they see the writing on the wall and they will adapt. However, the days of competition crushing dominance are over for Microsoft Office.

Main Menu 2.0 Released

Dare to be Creative today released MainMenu 2.0, an update to its system maintenance utility for Mac OS X. I used to be a regular user of this application in the Tiger days but am interested to see 2.0. MainMenu allows users to clean up their Mac, improve system performance and free up hard disk space from their system menu. The new version offers an enhanced user experience, including an animated system menu icon, and Growl notifications to inform when tasks complete. The new version also now includes a license fee, $20. I may be reporting back on this one.