About 5 years ago I bought the best Apple laptop I could afford. The titanium painted 1" thin computer cost me about $3000. It is the one with the spec on the right.



It is almost embarrassing to say I am so pleased with such a slug, but it is the truth. It runs the latest greatest operating system from Apple at a pretty good lick, especially with a new 7200RPM hard drive to help out. And most importantly, it has only let me down once in 5 years, hence the new hard drive!

Since year 4 of owning it, I have constantly threatened to buy a new Mac. Who keeps computers, especially laptops, for more than 4 years? Old technology has no place in the modern world, yadda yadda. They said the same about Concord, but the bottom line is, it does the job. Or does it? Look at the spec of the computer on the left. Insanity.

Without getting too deep into the bottom line advantages of Intel processors and different sorts of RAM, the Mac Pro tower with Intel inside has about 6.5 times more processing power than my Titanium (Motorola crippled) laptop and 4 times as much RAM. It can run multiple external monitors to my one. In theory, it is a complete techno monster that could gobble up my computer in a nano-second without even drawing breath. But...

I still only type at 120 words an hour.

The wireless connection at my house is still crap whatever computer I use.

Updating my blog takes the same time on an old machine as it does on a new one, because it is my own internal processor that is old and rickety.

I can't carry a tower from the office to the lounge and surf with the computer on my lap and my feet up on the coffee table, at least not without doing some serious damage.

I am the weak link in this tech age, a fact that not even the fastest computer on earth can change.

So, although I would love to prance around town saying I have a flashy Mac Pro, I will continue with what I have. That means I get to pose in coffee houses, dude, for the forseeable future. I can continue to tap on the shiny slightly worn keys of my laptop over lattes. I can revel in the design where all my connections are hidden away at the back of the laptop, and if anyone baulks at the the rust spots, I will continue to explain that it adds character.

Aye, rust is proof that they don't build 'em like this any more.

Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?!!!

How old is your "production" computer?

Sometime later in 2007, Apple will be releasing Leopard, their Vista killer. To be more accurate, and excuse the analogy, but if Vista and Leopard were babies, Microsoft's child would be the awkward, shy premature twin, and Leopard would be the vibrant confident loud and bullish one still on the way.

Back in the real world... no doubt, millions on Windows have seen Vista, liked the eye candy, liked the idea of a robust and fairly logical Operating System - at last - and then realised they can't work out which version does what they need.

Microsoft don't care about the hesitancy at home. They have a monopoly with all their ducks lined up in a row. Whichever way the wind blows, they will sell ga-millions and are especially happy, waiting for mega savvy corporate buyers to bite the bullet and pull the trigger for the first time in years.

Meanwhile, major PC manufacturers are also confident they will get a boost in seasonal sales too, but will they actually attract quite as much business as they are expecting? Rhetorical question, to which the answer is - not if Apple can help it.

Intel Macs can run Leopard AND Vista, XP et al, (all at the same time if you feel like it), and if you factor in the halo effect of iPods, iTunes, and iPhones, Safari and no viruses, so, more of the population are debating the switch.

Bottom line, every sale of a Mac is one less sale to Dell or HP etc. Like I care. But it is a double oh dear, because as PC makers look to their Richmond god for a lead of some sort, Microsoft will just shrug and like a happy hooker, rake in the sale from upmarket cash-rich Apple instead.

And to really rub it in to everyone, Microsoft will continue to make more from a Mac sale than Apple do! When you factor in Office and now Windows Vista on the list for shoppers of Macs, Dells, HPs and the rest, Bill Gates legacy software cannot lose for winning. Lucky bastard.

The traditional Apple mouse has no buttons, as such. It is one hairless piece of plastic, designed to cause minimal confusion to people who wouldn't know what to do with a right click if it bit them on the nose. Apple's laptops have one button too. The iPhone has no button. Different approach to the rest, don't you think!.

Multi button mouse v single button mouse

Modern mice can have up to 11 buttons and are as programmable as the computer they are attached to. All very snazzy, but most non-gaming, non-geeky users stick to the one left-click button. Maybe people go crazy with the occasional exploratory right click, but by and large, an array of click options usually proves a waste of time for most, and cobwebs soon appear on most mice buttons.

The Apple mouse lies at the other extreme of button land. There is no doubt that the first ever mouse to go on sale to the general public is so simple, anyone could use it. To left click you - click - but if you want to do a right click to discover hidden options, this one-trick pony requires a bit of co-ordination.

Right click 101: Press CTRL and click the mouse at the same time.

In this respect, Apple's claim for simplicity is a little disingenuous as I can hear my father's head grinding to a halt over such simple instructions, his left hand crossing his right, right brain short-circuiting the left brain..

The mighty mouse in the above image is an example of Apple moving with the times, transcending simplicity and complication. This super mouse is a plastic clicker on steroids. It looks like one button, but it isn't. It is supposedly the most intuitive 2-button mouse ever invented. Reality check. Many users say that it is so slick you have to be very highly tuned into the tool before it becomes intuitive.

Multi-button laptop v single button laptop

Moving on from mice, it is time to tackle buttons on a laptop. One or two buttons? Who knows which is the better approach to clicking! As a Mac user, I have a trackpad, and as per the Apple mindset, it has a single button to click. I didn't know any better when I bought it, and to my open mind, it was very easy to get the hang of it. But 2 buttons on a laptop is the norm in the real world, and I have seen steam come out the ears of PC users trying an Apple laptop for the first time.

I guess Apple and Dell both justify their choice of one- and 2-button laptops, but I think Apple only get away with their "simplicity" mantra because of their committed users. Let's face it, if you just laid out a couple of thousand on a computer and you are prepared to learn a new way of working, it would be pretty lame to refuse to get the hang of a single button, however much it gets on your nerves.

No buttons

In order to add functionality but keep with simplicity, my older laptop has software called Sidetrack installed. If I want to right click I just tap the trackpad. I also have vertical AND horizontal scrolling if I stroke the edges of the trackpad. This addition is most definitely slick news for a laptop with one button only, and hey, no scroll wheel.

Building on the Sidetrack experience, newer Apple laptops have a touch-sensitive scrolling area built into the right side of the trackpad, standard issue. Most cool. Either way, less is way more cool than 11 buttons, a scroll wheel and flashing lights.

Gestures don't need buttons. They have been a hidden secret since the 1970's. Forget time-wasting clicking on menu items, Gestures give laptop users fingertip control of their computer and PC users can efficiently use their mouse in earnest. Instead of swinging your mouse all over the desk to point and click on Edit Copy, you trace a C shape with the mouse (or with your fingertip on the trackpad.) Voila, you can Copy! Trace a V shape and you can paste.



Hunched over your trackpad, you can gently stroke and gesture your way through the day. But so far, this highly intuitive approach has been limited to the uber nerdy.

iPhone has no buttons at all on the face of the phone and in essence brings gestures to the main stream. Pinch and stroke and scroll is very efficient and also, sounds most sensuous. (Maybe that is where they get the idea of Apple being synonymous with sexy.)

It works a treat, but it will take a long time, though, before skeptics stop moaning about the iPhone's lack of tactile keys to type with. Not wishing to judge, but I bet a dollar to a damn dime, the very same people wouldn't stop moaning if there were tactile keys. Oooh, look, those keys keep getting in the way of the photos and videos.

Conconclusion

Apple have their way of thinking, the rest have theirs.

In the iTelephone world, buttons are on their way out and touch-sensitive screens are on the way in. Shortly the minimalist touchy feely style of gadget will be the norm. Just get with the program

In computers, I reckon users will give the finger to gestures and manufacturers will have to go straight to voice activation as the main interface with your computer. Gird yourselves for the new conversation in buttonless offices world-wide.

Copy...copy...copy, you deaf bastard.

Back in November I mentioned a few prolific forum contributors. Time marches on and the stats still prove that there are some really committed and knowledgeable folks out there, like below, on the Apple forum.

The prolific forum contributors rarely fail to help the real desperadoes whose bombproof Mac is dying, or more likely, crippled by hundreds of useless programs. ( The Windows switchers tend to download willy nilly once they realise they cant get a virus!)

The forum generates competition between helpers, and the good ones clock up lots of bonus points for Solved questions - as you can see above, the more they help, the more points they get... this is great for their kudos, and great when us saddoes are on our knees praying for assistance.

I know enough to be dangerous

At the time of writing the last article, the Apple forum was a playground for me, and I was happy to help the poor saps struggling with silly little niggles. 90% of computer issues are solved with tiny adjustments and as I am from the school where you learn by making every small mistake in the book, I had my uses dishing out glorified placebos.

After one episode, though, I accepted I am more artist than technician and would never progress much beyond enthusiast. Basically I had pointed someone in the right direction and to solve the issue he had to launch a utility and go through a few easy-to-follow stages, all prompted by the utility. It seemed obvious to me that if he had never used it before, he would read the warning text. Oops.

I was blown away when he wrote back calling me all sorts and for some reason, he must have called his friends and little old Ed was dragged over the coals for failing to point out in big bold letters that if the person I was helping did this one particular move, it would solve the issue but wipe the hard drive!

Thereafter I leave it to the big boys to cope with the cringing noobies.

To help or not to help

I don't know if it is healthy to spend 4 hours a day as a volunteer on a help forum, especially when it helps out the customers of a company that makes hundreds of millions selling reliable hardware and software, but each to their own. I rate the internet on what it has done for me and overall, it has been a great platform for the helpful out there.

So, to end on a helpful note, if you are like me and have copied files from one hard drive to another and need to change all permissions in a folder, I recommend BatCHmod! Yawn.

Many apps have the saving Ctrl-Z function, allowing you to jump back a step to rectify that loopy idea to Delete when you meant Save; to un-resize an image you should never have resized; to Open a document you never should have Closed. Some apps like Photoshop have what is called an Undo stack, so you can do multiple Undoes. But Undo is not universal and especially when you are working on-line, where is a damn Undo button when you need one?

Copy and paste to oblivion

I just edited a poor article written by my good self many months ago, and I was very pleased with the new draft. After a couple of hours of digging deep for a new angle, I had revitalised a lame post about not being able to tell the difference between some mp3 players and a blood pressure monitor. The banal paragraph was turned into a witty tale involving a couple of geriatric pickpockets who lifted iPods from the arms of joggers after accidentally knocking them over in their wheelchair.

It was a relief to see the last edit made, and all was hunky dory. But just prior to publishing, I changed some link code, nothing to do with the article per se. Without thinking, I copied the code and for some reason, the old article too, and pasted the whole lot over the spanky new document. In a second of lunacy I had overwritten my revised award-winning article and preserved a piece of crap.

But I was cool. I would just undo my stupidity. Fat chance. Ctrl-Z was nowhere to be found on my 21st century blogging software. No sign of the 20kb article in 768MB of memory either? Come on. (Plus a few expletives and, if you know Fargo, a few beatings of a non-compliant appliance!)

Incomplete functionality

Why is it that without resorting to a mouse once, you can do useless things like copy, paste, italicize, embolden, and underline any text, anywhere, anytime in any application on or off-line using keystrokes. Why is it that with the memory of an elephant you can abuse keystrokes and take stupid screenshots, launch useless macros, open specific documents, open one app and close another and so on and so forth without ever breaking your stride while typing - but you can't Ctrl-Z to undo all work at all times? What is that all about?

It is about developers not writing a script, that's what it is all about. End of that debate!

Is this my Undoing?

I am not a pirate, but I wish I could have pirated OS X Leopard when I had the chance and kicked Time Machine, the instant back-up feature, into gear, That would have done the work neglected by the bloody app developer who left me high and dry. Listen to me, I am being corrupted all because of the lack of an Undo script that could have been written by a knowledgeable chappy in 5 measly minutes.

Now I have to decide. Do I let it go and move on, or do I lose another hour of my life redoing the article? An hour may not sound like much, but it is like an aeon when writing under that cloud that engulfs you when you are repeating work that was to all intents and purposes completely fine! Maybe today isn't a good day. I will let it go - for now. Relax....



I didn't know about the foam hammer, so all I need now is a Ctrl-Z function to Undo the crack in my screen!

What is the most work you ever lost to a computer-based flake out?

btw, not one single pixel was actually damaged in the creation of this article.

Update. I managed to somewhat salvage the iPod armband saga

Safari has arrived in Windows land. Wince IE7 and move over Firefox, the fastest slickest browser on earth from Apple is ready to take over the number 2 spot. Slap me upside the head that claim smells like Steve Jobs bovine fecal matter. But he has every motivation to aim high, because the FREE browser will earn his company loads of money!

Nothing in life is free, at least nothing from a big corporation. There is always some angle going on that brings in revenue without the end user immediately realising it. So how does freebie Safari, for instance, generate lucre? Easy. It has Google search built into the browser bar. That free feature generates, according to some research by this fellow, $25m a year for Apple (to use to pay the developers, presumably working for mercenarily big bucks in Cupertino.)

Free Firefox generates $50m annually for Mozilla to offset their code monkey pay roll.

In layman's terms, every time someone searches, Google make a note of it and pay Apple/ Mozilla et al a few cents. Simple economics and a win win and significant income if you can get a lot of folks using your browser.

Netting millions of new Safari users

The trojan horse is iTunes, another free software that has plenty of features to make music management a joy. It is also a free money-making ride into a billion dollar store.

Apple will be able to lump free Safari for Windows onto the 1 million daily downloads of free iTunes, and grow the user base by a couple or three. Sounds like a plan to capture a few percentile points of market share.

Blogs are free and easy to earn money from!

Related to browsers and free, I suppose a blog is another free-to-use money-maker, assuming the blog is set up to generate revenue. Adsense is free to use, but makes money for Google and bloggers. It is a good business model.

And the free funny quotes widget from The Pisstakers: quotes link to various monetized blogs, so the zero cost code being installed around the internet by bloggers should generate real money via subtle pay per click or affiliate leads. Sadly, any widget-generated visitors to my site go to a blog that has nothing to sell!

Old Safari for Mac is sooo old

Meanwhile, in typical fashion, I find myself going against the grain and saying that my old version of Apple Safari for Mac is in fact crap. I have dumped it for the nippy Camino browser, poor relation to Firefox. As Mozilla need the money more than Steve Jobs, I support my favorite free browser by using integrated search, as should you!

And thanks to John Gruber for the inspiration for this post

How cool is it to select a piece of text in a browser and email it, or skype it off - in one move! Or have the computer read some text to you, or summarize it or....

Well, Mac OS X Services is able to do just that - take any piece of text from one application and put it straight to work in any another application. Unfortunately, it is an under developed aspect of Mac OS X, and needs some work.

I read an article in Daring Fireball and recalled an affair in the past with Services. This isn't a particularly amusing post, but I really need to share my contribution to solving an issue that would make Services rule the world!

Services is a fantastic option with a long-winded shortcut

As you see from the screen shot, once you have selected some text to perform some magic with Services, activating Services is a bit Windowsesque. Apple haven't got over the traditional menu item structure.



It isn't exactly a stone age solution, far from it, but launching Services in its current format, it is barely faster than drag 'n drop or copy and paste.

Drag 'n drop flop

Services is an even niftier way to get work done than drag 'n drop, which in itself is a very flexible alternative to copy and paste. Currently on a Mac, neither Services nor Drag 'n Drop are super sharp. For instance, drag is universal, but drop isn't!

You can drag text from Word, or in this case, a notepad, and drop it onto a new email window - as long as both applications are open on the desktop.



You can drag a photo onto the photoshop icon and it opens Photoshop

You can't drag text onto the Mail icon and open a new email. Der. The solution is to drag the text onto the the desktop. It will be saved as a file which you then drag onto the Mail icon. Mail opens and you drop the file straight into a new email. That part of the operation is kind of cool, but overall drag 'n drop is inconsistent. Try the same procedure with Skype - you can't - which is annoying.

Anyway, that kind of drag and drop is soo 2002.

Exposé for drag 'n drop

There is a 2005 alternative to conventional drag 'n drop! Press F9 and you see every window open on your desktop. Far from eye candy, the Exposé ´féa´túré is a clever way to move info from application to application.

As an example, to move any text from one open app to another, all you do is select the text from the notepad (or Word or Firefox), drag it an inch or two, and then hold.

Press F9. Spot the the Mail thumbnail on the screen, for instance, and continue dragging the text you have in limbo, until you have it hovering over the mail window. Hold it steady... When the Mail window opens, you drop the text into the email window.



This is a pretty cool way to transfer text from one app to another, but again, only works if the destination app, Mail in this case, is already open.

Services stomps all over drag 'n drop

Services can not only take the text and open an application with it, but it will launch the function you want to perform too - in one single action. So you can copy text from Firefox, launch Services and in one move, Services will open Mail, create a new email and paste the text straight into it. You can use the same text and Services to open Skype and create a Skype message.

This is totally awesome, but as I showed above, it is a bit more klutzy to activate right now than it need be.

Ed's way to sexify services

In my opinion, this graphic shows the next generation way to make Services a killer easy option! Make Services options an extension of what is already available in OS X dock.

Basically you drag the text from your notepad or Word or whatever and hold it over the Skype icon in the dock. (The top 4 options are current Services options that I borrowed from the Services menu!) Drop the text onto one of the Services options and ... Mwahaha, how totally efficient is that!

Apple, kings of simple, currently have a long way to go to make the Services function as user-friendly as it needs to be, so it can become mainstream and must-have. What do you think to this solution? Is it technically possible? Or more to the point, is it a slicker solution than tear-off menus, or contextual menus like Icecoffee?

Normal service will now be resumed!