Bill Next Best Blog

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-11

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

On the climb out of #yyc on @westjet WJA166 to #yow for #wingletwednesday http://j.mp/drF7Gy #
In the cruise on @westjet WJA166 to #yow for #wingletwednesday http://j.mp/cnR31B #

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-10

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

@ToriKlassen Not taking credit or blame for any atmospheric trends. Be cool if I had that as a superpower tho. in reply to ToriKlassen #
May have to stop mocking Victoria tourists who arrive in toques. In ottawa and wardrobe is on the heavy side for the weather. #mybad #
Spent most of the day touring http://www.warmuseum.ca Wow, that is a lot of stuff, feet sore. #
Can't seem to find a good Grocery store in downtown #ottawa – where do the local's shop?? ~Albert & Bank #
It isn't Bastion square but http://j.mp/cKI10X #
@stephantelka thanks. in reply to stephantelka #
@ForeFlight what is the story on Canadian charts and plated. Was availible now not? #
Noooo!!! RT @cfl_esks: news: City to decide on turf in Commonwealth http://bit.ly/9LdLYl #esks #

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-09

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

So the folks in front get the exit row and insist on reclining in my face #rude #
@westjet missed out on TV this morning bummer. Is that at AD on the older systems? #flying #
I think #Twitter and live events like the #Olympics and the #Oscars might be the saviour of Network. #
Hello #yyc now coffee #
@lacouvee spring break in the nations capital. #yow in reply to lacouvee #
A mostly flawless trip thanks to the folks at @westjet including the birthday song for the kid in row 8 #
Let me get this straight, I come to Ottawa and its warm, and then it snow back home in #yyj ??? #

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-08

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

@kevinaschenbren basically to have two or more seperate set ups for apps that don't support things like muliple accounts in reply to kevinaschenbren #

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-06

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Ode to some Mac Software "Software I just like …." | Bill Next Best Blog http://bit.ly/9jjk73 #
From my experience- "People don't know What they don't know": Learning “Just in Case” versus “Just in Time” Lifehacker http://bit.ly/clnKis #
sucking up for Google fibre: Duluth: Forget Topeka, we will offer Google our first-born children – Boing Boing http://bit.ly/c19edO #
@sleslie Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry? #
for engagement and amusement my #ff thanks to @toots11 @mikevardy @pollockdan #
Until the other day I completely missed that feature. RT @jtth: Launchbar's clipboard manager is worth the cost of entry alone. #
Is it just me or are there other people trying to have multiple copies of the same app on their #iPhone #
Nice! RT @Ihnatko How do I record phone interviews off my iPhone? Well, it's highly technical… http://yfrog.com/ehqwptj #

Software I just like ….

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:00:17 +0000

I’ve always collected large piles of software, especially shareware, for my computers. Part of me just likes that ‘underdog’ role of the small developer. But the uniquely cool thing about being a Mac user is there are some mind-blowingly awesome small Mac developers. Microsoft, Adobe, and Apple all have a large chunk of my hard drives and rightfully so given the large footprint they have in the Marketplace. But more and more the software I really lean on are these little bits I’ve collected over the years.

So inspired by the regular free and cheap picks on Lifehacker, here are some of my recommendations.

First place has to go to GraphicConverter, if for no other reason that I’ve owned it and used it longer than any other piece of software. Think I’ve had it since System7 on my first color Mac. I remember it could open Amiga graphic files – probably still can. Technically I probably own 27 copies of this in various versions.

Coming in at a close second is BBEdit. Owned that one for a while to, can’t remember when I first got it but it predates OS X by a while. Plus I love the “Software that doesn’t Suck” tagline.

An honorable mention to Dragthing which I used sometime starting with System 8 and is still on my machine. Unfortunately it has lost the battle to LaunchBar which continues to have new tricks I continue to learn. Recently started using the clipping history for copy and paste – very nice.

Around for a good long time as well is Fetch and Interarchy, two file transfer utilities I keep around for slightly different reasons. Fetch I still use to speed test downloads because I like the transfer rate displays. Interarchy (nee Anarchie) is an all purpose file utility that I use for Web site updates and backups. Its mirroring and Netdisk features are still the best bridge between a GUI and the Unix world of ftp/sftp. Fetch comes from the pedigree of Dartmouth college alongside some other great Mac Software like Intermapper. Interarchy was another University derived software effort started with Peter N. Lewis which begat Stairways Software and was joined by Andrew Tomazos.

Got to go back to the folks at BareBones, owned just about all their software too, Mailsmith, Yojimbo, in addition to BBEdit. And I could still be using them all with their free lifetime support.

A newer connection is the folks at SmileonmyMac who have a lot of great stuff but TextExpander just works like nothing else I have. It must be hard to sell a little utility like that but this is a lifesaver. And I’ve got it on my iPhone. PDFpen is also the best PDF tool on the Mac. The number of times I’ve had to deal with a form or document and I just type on it and paste in a TIFF of my signature – that is what paperless was supposed to be about. Own just about all their stuff too.

Almost last but not least a special bouquet to HourWorld – a classic example of Mac Shareware. It lasted from OS 9 to OS X and still works on the latest machines – all be it in Rosetta compatibility mode. This bit of work has been on my Macs, and around my family of Macs for over a decade, through 3 major process migrations and at least 4 operating system architectures under Classic Mac OS and OS X.

And I add an “In Memorandum” section to some old software houses that aren’t producing anymore. The folks at Cassidy and Greene who did iTunes before Apple did with SoundJam and the classic game Glider. A morsel of their work still survives with SpellCatcher. A nod to Karelia Software who did desktop search before there even really was search. And Arlo Rose the original Widget-teer before Apple, Google and Microsoft.

Face it if these folks can make something useful for less than $29.95 chances are I’m going to buy it. If for no other reason than they will probably take the $29.95 and make something even better with it. Oh and I probably paid about a million dollars for all those $29.95 pieces of sofware, wonder how far back the records at Kagi go?? Maybe I can find it in my Eudora mailbox somewhere.

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-05

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

RT @shayman: Its National Grammer Day! I hope your having a good one. [that's better.] #
Visit the City .. not the Stereotype http://bit.ly/8H7yxy #yyj #
Mac Applications That Support MultiMarkdown http://bit.ly/9hW7X4 #
RT @sleslie: You smell that? What? Metadata, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of metadata in the morning. #

Visit the City .. not the Stereotype

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:00:23 +0000

They say that there is no such thing as bad publicity. That may be true but at a certain point you need to ask yourself if your promoting or parody-ing.

The recent Olympics in Vancouver brought a lot of publicity to Canada, British Columbia, and Vancouver. The Olympic ceremonies tended to feed the common stereotypes that the world had for Canada. The problem is that it was Canada that was presenting that view of itself.

That basically gives permission for others to do the same thing.

In Victoria, we recently hosted NBC’s Today Show. They flew to Victoria on the floatplane from Vancouver, went to the Empress for Tea, and then ate some fish and chips. Now I hope, as many local businesses do, that this will mean more tourists and dollars for the local economy.
Yet it just bugs the hell out of me.

The Myth: They get on the nice little floatplane and make some cute little jokes about whether a little old plane like that is safe or not

The Reality: The Twin Otter flown by Westcoast Air is a Canadian designed legendary airplane. It would have been nice if they had managed to plug the local Victoria business, Viking Air, that recently put them back in production. They secured orders from all over the world – including the US Army’s Parachute team, so they are probably a pretty good little airplane.

The Myth: Tea at the Empress, a classic taste of England here in Victoria.

The Reality: While that ‘a little bit of Britain’ got a few tourists in the 60s, 70s, and 80s we really have moved on. The Empress is still an icon on the inner harbour but the Grand Pacific, Laurel Point, and Delta’s Ocean Point hold up pretty well themselves. And High Tea may be a nice treat we have dozens of coffee houses that really represent the local culture much better.

The Myth: A spot of fish and chips. Again the ‘Bit of Britain’ view takes front and centre.

The Reality: Fish and Chips is on the menu in many spots and I was glad to see Red Fish, Blue Fish in the spotlight. But really, the massive number of choices around town for the foody crowd deserve a little better. The fact that the annual ‘Dine Around‘ event was on at the same time would have been a nice mention as well. We probably have more good Sushi places than good Fish and Chip shops. And don’t even get me started on the gastropubs, and microbrews…..

So how could they have gotten a better view of Victoria, well:

Tourism Victoria (home of the Dine Around Stay in Town)
Attractions Victoria (home of “Be A Tourist in Your own Hometown)
Eat Magazine (with the list of winners for Exceptional Eats)

Just saying ….

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-04

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Got this recommendation from @trishussey at #yyjwordcamp – Blogo at a 50% discount today http://www.mupromo.com/?ref=4506 #
RT @dbarefoot: Just six days to submit your talk for @northernvoice: http://bit.ly/b5XTdt. RT, s'il vous plait. #
RT @Flightglobal Latest: FAA suspends two controllers for allowing a child to talk with pilots http://bit.ly/9kLakA #
It is just way to nice out there to go back to work this PM #
Things I totally didn't know my computer could do #launchbar has a clipboard manager – and I was going to install jumpcut #mac #geek #
Three Free Clipboard Managers for #Mac – Make Tech Easier http://bit.ly/cZTITa #
LaunchBar 5 http://bit.ly/9YKJBD #mac #stuffiuse #

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-03

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

RT @FrugalVictoria: My rss isn't talking to twitterfeed right now but here are 2 free ebooks: http://ow.ly/1d5cB http://ow.ly/1d5d3 #
#youtube down?? "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable" #
Little irony to be sure RT @vicpdcanada: Public Assistance Request – Theft from Bait Car 09-56056 http://tinyurl.com/yg6cxyp #yyj #
Don't do it, just walk away! RT @dlnorman: oh, look! a little white box with "Aperture3" stencilled on the front in shiny silver letters… #
Victoria OpenCoffee Club has a new Facebook group, please consider joining and adding your voice. http://bit.ly/9NqQKb #yyj #
Sometimes I wish more things operated on a Life and Death basis .. at least you'd know if you were doing it right http://bit.ly/aRiqTa #
Getting very hooked on ExpanDrive to mount my remote servers, one more step toward the 'cloud' #
Amen! RT @shayman: Also now that Parliament is back, please enact: "No key changes during the National Anthem. E flat all the way through." #