Jan
26th
2010
by sbainbridge Posted in Apple, Events, Mac | No Comments »
As with everybody else in the Apple community and even in the broader tech community, I am looking forward to what is revealed at this event.
My Predictions list
- ilife10 – A new version of this creativity suite with improvements to iDVD and maybe a renaming of the app.
- iWork10 – New features across the board including cloud computing emphasis ie. storage & online editing through web apps of Pages, Numbers & Keynote.
- iPhone 4.0 – Added ability to run a limited number of apps in the background. Better integration of 3rd party and Apples on apps.
- Apple Tablet – Aluminum enclosed 10.1″ touch screen running a dedicated optimised version OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard
- Apple Tablet – 3G/CDMA/802.11N connectivity built inside and subsidised through a contract with mobile network operators.
I will be watching all live feeds from TWIT Live – GDGT Blog
Also feel free come and chat with us tech fans at Macbites Live
See you on the other side!
May
16th
2009
by sbainbridge Posted in Apple, Mac | 1 Comment »
SimpleTask is a new introduction to the GTD(Getting things done) / Productivity app range. When the app is first opened the user is greeted by a well produced tutorial video. This video can also be accessed under the help section menu.
On first look this app looks very clean and simple with a single window. Within this window is a Spotlight type search box at the top which can find tasks with a certain word or phrase. This would be very helpful I can imagine as your task list grows.
Below the search box is the container showing a list of tasks. Then at the bottom there are two buttons to toggle between pending and completed view which are quite self explanatory. To add a task you can either press enter or click the ‘+’ icon in the bottom left hand corner of the window. The user is then greeted with a clean little drop down form to enter the tasks details. These details are title, description, label colour and an important check box.
The added tasks show up in the order that have been entered in the pending view. After the tasks have been entered they can be dragged up and down the list to reorder them. Each task is displayed as a clean coloured rectangle with the label colour that was selected on adding the task. Inside each task is a title in large bold text and underneath is the description in smaller non bold text. Also to the left side of the task are a check box to mark as complete and a cool red flag which shows if the task has been marked as important.
If the check box for a task is ticked as complete it disappears from the pending list. To view this task and other completed tasks just select the complete view button at the bottom of the window. The complete list view looks just like the pending list view other than obviously it has the completed tasks only. If the tick is taken out of a completed task it will disappear from the complete list and show up in the pending list again. To permanently delete a task from the complete list press ⌘⌦backspace.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Clean UI that is very easy on the eye (Looks like something that Apple would have developed and included in OSX Leopard.
- Quick to learn and easy to use.
- Fantastic level of support on issues that occur using the app by the developers.
Cons
- Unable to search by label colour.
- No way to import or export tasks from the app.
- No Growl support.
Conclusion
If you have tried other GTD / task management apps and you end up getting nothing done, then SimpleTask is for you.
Basically this app just does what it say’s on the tin!
May
5th
2009
by sbainbridge Posted in Apple, Mac | 1 Comment »
About 2 years ago I decided to start trying to learn web design. The tools that I was using were an Ergo laptop which was about 3 years old running Windows XP. The software that I used were Dreamweaver 8, Fireworks 8, Notepad. .
The problems that I faced was Dreamweaver a very powerful program but a bit clunky and had a hard learning curve to work how to use. The WYSIWYG view was good but never showed a true look to what it would through the browser. Using the text editor was quite helpful with a auto complete feature but again was to cluttered with menus etc. The worst feature was the FTP client that seemed very difficult to understand and use, it also asked for a lot details without any examples of what it needed. I ended using FTP clients like Filezilla which worked so much better.
As tool for making vector images and touching up photo’s Fireworks was an extremely helpful and a powerful piece of software. Because it was so powerful this meant that it was very resource hungry and used a lot of memory and processing power. This slowed my laptop down to a crawl even though I had increased the ram to the laptop’s max of 762mb. This meant that you would make a change and then wait while the PC caught up or crashed.
Notebook was quick and easy to use but with very limited features.
Due to the problems with the software that I was using, I tried to find free or cheap alternatives to all the programs on the Internet. This was where I hit a wall of problems as the free alternatives where scarce.
On the Mac there is an exuastive source of great cheap or free programs. These include Wrangler which is a free feature rich text editor. Vector Designer is powerful and easy to use vector picture design app, it costs about £40.
The best web design app on the Mac is Coda from Panic Software. It does cost $99 but it is an all in one web development environment. This is a multitude of apps including a text editor, FTP client, web browser and file browser.
I could have kept on listing loads more apps but it would have gone on too long.
Let us know your thoughts on this subject.
May
4th
2009
by sbainbridge Posted in Podcast | No Comments »
Apr
25th
2009
by wburrell Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Ever wondered what is written on the peace of paper that makes the Apple’s TextEdit icon in Leopard? I know I have tried zooming in on the icon (Ctrl + Scroll) and have never been able to see it! But now, here it is!!
(View picture above…)
Just thought you would like to know =]
Will
Mar
24th
2009
by sbainbridge Posted in Podcast | 1 Comment »
Brief History of MacUserUK
MacUserUK was started about March 2008 by Simon Bainbridge & William Burrell. Simon had been inspired to start a podcast from listening to great podcasts such as Macbreak Weekly, The Maccast and The Mac Observers Mac Geek Gab. These were all fantastic podcasts on news, views and reviews of Apple products but from the view of an American user. The way of life and the Apple products offered to users in USA is substantially different to users in the UK.
It was at work the Simon first experianced the Mac which was introduced to him by his boss Paul Judkins. Paul was able to show the great things about the Mac platform as he had been a Mac geek for a few years before hand. Paul also introduced William Burrell to the Mac and encouraged Will to purchase a Macbook after Will’s Dad had accidently stood on his Windows Laptop.
Simon then approached Will with the idea of creating a podcast on Apple news, views and reviews from a UK perspective. At the the time there were very few podcasts being produced in the UK about Apple. Simon and Will then started producing podcasts and publishing them on Itunes and bought a domain name which was used on a website hosted by Will’s .Mac account. This started off ok but was too reliant on Will having publish all the podcasts and the posts on the site.
The podcast then just stopped in August 2008 due to both Simon and Will being too busy to be able set a time do the podcast together. Also it was too much work for Will to have publish everything on his own.
MacUserUK is Back!
After a rest from podcasting and time to review a better way of publishing the podcasts and posting the news. We have decided to use a Wordpress site on dedicated hosting so that we have both got full access to all parts. Our aim is to produce regular podcasts even if it means sometimes both us are not in them together. Podcasts will be available on this site as well as published on iTunes and regular news etc posted on this site. Also dedicated Flickr and Twiiter feeds have been integrated into this site which we will both have full access to.
We look foreward to doing our bit in the Apple community from now on. Please feel free to leave any constructive comments on how we can improve the entertainment and service that we will give you.
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