Netnewswire bites the dust

So awhile back I talked about switching to Netnewswire for my RSS reading needs. I liked having a native Mac application and I liked the web interface for the iPhone better. Unfortunately I found out today that the shared feeds of articles from the application weren’t working. Since I depend on it for both work and sharing with friends it just had to go, so I’m back with Google Reader. Sigh.

I need pretty things

I wrote a few days ago about switching from Google Reader to Net New Wire to handle my RSS feeds. One of the reasons I made that switch was because I much prefer the mac-like experience in Net News Wire over the more generic interface of Google Reader.

Let’s face it, the reality is that what this really means is that I like working with pretty things. As such, in the interests of open disclosure and personality regurgitation, here is a list of the things I use not beause they’re necessarily better, but because they’re pretty:

Mac Mail over Gmail
Things over Omnifocus
Blogo over Marsedit
Pages over Word
Numbers over Excel
iChat over Adium
Safari over Firefox

I don’t feel like I give up much functionality, in fact in many cases I think the prettier application is better, but I also have to admit that one of the reasons I think its better is because its prettier -. I also want to point out that the alternative program is not necessarily bad, in many cases I either use it regularly in addition, or have used it extensively in the past, but my preference is the former.

Web 2.0: Web Applications?

I made the move from a completely web based application for RSS feeds, Google Reader, to a desktop application that’s web enabled, Net News Wire. My reasons are thin and esoteric, I like the “feel” of a desktop application and I like to “own” my data. Am I just struggling against an inevitable transition? Perhaps, but for the time being I’m enough of a Mac user to want a Mac-like experience on a daily basis, and that means using Mac applications rather than their generally ugly, if just as efficient, web based counterparts.

P.S. if you don’t know what an RSS feed is read this article.

Mac Software Picks

Since I’ve been working on a Mac for a while now, tried out a bunch of software for the platform and thought I might share some of my favorites with you. This isn’t going to be an in depth review of anything, just some quick hits.

Web 2.0: Podcasts

Ok, I might be stretching the idea of Web 2.0 here, but since no one really knows what the hell it means I feel confident doing so. Let’s start with the explanation for those who don’t know. Podcasts are basically radio shows that have been recorded and then made available for download so you can load them onto your music player.

Web 2.0: The problem with online backup

So I was listening to a podcast recently, more on that later, and I decided to try and get more serious about my back solutions. Awhile back I invested in a wireless base station with a USB port that I could plug a hard drive into so that I could perform wireless backups here at home. I was using a program called Chronosync to perform the backups daily, but unfortunately it was an imperfect solution.

It’s funny because it’s true (kinda)

The Guardian has an funny piece talking about what total gits mac users are. Since moving to a Mac myself I have to admit that I’ve noticed a significant increase in my level of snarkiness towards lowly Windows users. This is probably what they’re talking about.

Web 2.0: Get a real email address OR Why Gmail rocks

Ok, all those who are already using a Gmail account stop reading now. Everyone else who is using an email address provided by their *gasp* internet service provider or isn’t happy with their Hotmail or Yahoo account and wants to learn about the wonders of gmail keep reading.

Web 2.0: When it’s not that cool

So I’m writing this series of posts on Web 2.0 and of course there’s a lot out there to like, however there’s also some that isn’t so good. Probably the biggest issue you run into is trying to get all of these disparate websites to work together nicely.

Web 2.0: Videos

A couple of funny videos I saw today about Web 2.0 and those who inhabit it. First up is a video about those who make a living commenting on the internet. Not a very flattering portrayal but pretty funny. Second is a video about the next internet bubble and, as the song suggests, I’m blogging about it.