I have a multi-monitor desktop setup, as many programmers do, 3 in my case (two apple thunders and one dell 4k in portrait). I use spaces extensively as a regular way of working. I usually have several Xcode projects going for various clients and my own stuff, as well as other projects using other editors and a lot of Terminal windows. Each Xcode project probably has anywhere from 3 to 8 windows open, each usually with a few tabs. Naturally I spread them across the displays as is convenient. (I love the portrait 4k monitor to have one luxurious long view of my main coding window.) [Read more…]

Ok, not that anyone is the wiser, but I'm finally going to rebuild my web template engine / protocol for HTML5. A relatively minor change from the XHTML protocol, but it's also a nice reason to include better handling of javascript, css, mobile devices and some better RESTful methods. Since I'm steeped in Python lately, I'll probably make an engine in that for now, followed by Ruby and F-Script and whatever else strikes me.

But more importantly, I have changes I've been putting off for forever to most of my domains. For one thing, I have to reorganize what domains are doing what. I want to overhaul the OS X Page. I'm still not sure exactly what I want to do with it, so suggestions welcome. I also own CocoaDevWorld and iPhoneDev. I have a Code section to this blog that perhaps should be in one of those other places. And the OS X Apps list? The old version is essentially in archive mode, but there is reason to have an alternate non-MAS listing out there. I don't foresee a MAS-only Mac OS on the horizon (or, if it happens, … that would be a disaster), so there'll always be a need to know what other software is out there. [Read more…]

Despite running a(n obscure) Mac app listing site for years, I've actually been hoping Apple would eventually create their own central, built-in way to find and obtain Mac apps. When iOS devices got one, it seemed like it was inevitable. They've had the pieces in place for a while now, just going unused. 90 days from now, the Mac ecosystem changes completely. So many questions, possibilities, worries.

One indication that Apple should do something came years ago when I went around asking Mac owners how they found new software for the Mac. Did they go to VersionTracker, MacUpate, lesser-known sites (I had hopes)? The answer: they never heard of any of these sites. Only a minority of Mac users that I talked to had anything other than what came on their computer, with the possible exception of Office or Photoshop. Other people thought that all you could buy for Macs was the few items found in the Apple store (or before that, reseller shops). [Read more…]

Ok, so after 3 days my laptop is basically set up, but I haven't even done any productive work with it yet and I've already found 32 gigabytes of space on my drive gone! I mean, I have the dev tools and TeX on here, which takes up a lot of room, but 32G is more than I thought. Not a huge deal, just curious about it. So where'd all the space go? Step this way. [Read more…]

Just got a bouncing baby MacBook Air, and now in the process of loading it up for Mac/iPhone work, scientific programming and other miscellanea. I'm jotting it down here for reference, and if anyone has items to add, please suggest your favorite must-have tools for on-the-go compu-zen. [Read more…]

My love-hate relationship with my Radeon x1900 video card continues, but today was a good day for us. I have been noticing that my MacPro has been getting louder and louder, driving me nuts. I assumed the reason was because I had added two more internal drives in the last few months, and no doubt that is part of the problem, but I really noticed a problem every time I asked the video card to do anything more than drawing standard windows. Then it would really kick up a fuss of sound that was just too much to deal with. I remembered hearing that the x1900 sucks in dust like a vacuum, but forgot to both take it seriously or to check it once in a while. Well, today was that day. [Read more…]

Not sure why this thought hit me, but I figured out almost exactly what I want out of computer hardware in order to comfortably read PDF documents (and I have a zillion of them I want to spend time pouring over). The image shown to the right is of my 15" PowerBook, tipped over so that the screen is flush with the desk and the rest of the machine is sticking up in the air (see photos below). As it happens, the PB is sturdy and stable enough in the hinge mechanism to prevent it from falling over while the machine just sits in this odd position.

The other half of this formula is opening a PDF in Preview and then rotating it by 90°, making use of the slideshow feature and then hitting the full-screen control. Voila, a beautifully readable PDF document, even for intricate PDFs with lots of mathy goodness. [Read more…]