Usability Highs of Mac OS

When you use Microsoft Windows all your life, this list post from Smashing Magazine will not seem so convincing because good UI design in the Windows/PC users minds means "power to the user". This comes from the geekish nature to have a sense of control when using a computer, but after using a Mac for 7 to 8 months, I understand that I don't need to click next 20 times to install an application. The users' input should be asked for, but not every process a computer runs needs the users input. 

There are 10 "usability highs". My personal favorite is #6:

• 2 cups All-Bran cereal
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk or sour milk
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix (or plain cinnamon)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup mashed banana
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with Pam.

In large mixing bowl, mix All-Bran cereal with sour milk. Let stand 5 minutes to soften.

In separate small bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices.

Sunday night the dog owners or rather those "owned by dogs" of the Apple Store at Southpark Mall got together at Freedom Park here in Charlotte.  We had a great time as we walked to the back of the park where the baseball fields were. There were dogs of all shapes and sizes, puppies and seniors.

The dogs had a great time, and everyone slept very well that night!

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I've been waiting in rapt anticipation for the DataCase app from Veiosoft to come out since I stumbled across the initial new of it on TUAW.  Appropriately, when I checked TUAW this morning I found that it had finally made it through the App Store Review Minefield (TM).

Having just returned from a great yet way too short holiday touring the historic sites of the Normandy D-Day Landings, I decided to take a few moments to upload my photos onto my Mac Pro (using iPhoto).  Of course it was easy.  Plug Canon D400 into the USB port on the front of my Mac Pro, open iPhoto, click import, type in an event name, wait a few moments, done.  Both RAWs and JPEGs viewing nicely on my 30" screen - just like being there. :)

There are many different applications of the drag-and-drop interface in OS X, including dropping files onto applications to open them, dragging files into other folders, dragging photos or documents into IM's to share them and out of IM's to download them, saving photos from the internet (drag and drop to your desktop or other folder) and so on.

One problem with drag and drop comes for me when I use Spotlight to find files.  Sometimes I want to open them, but sometimes I just want do find the actual file and move it.

Nog 2 weken en dan begint er weer een nieuwe lichting Media en Entertainment studenten. Ieder jaar weer een spannend moment maar dit jaar is het allemaal nog spannender.

We verwelkomen naast de nationale studenten nu ook meer dan 50 internationale studenten die ons engelstalige curriculum gaan volgen. Het nieuwe leerbedrijf (inclusief die mooie mac's) wordt opgeleverd ( zie foto) en we gaan samenwerken met Hotel Wyswert en het ISM.

A friend told me recently that he does not like iTunes and iPods because it uses non-standard formats.  A little research later and here's my response ( I borrowed heavily from Wikipedia.com ).

.MP4 and .M4V, AAC are the video formats Apple co-developed with Microsoft and others back starting back in 1997.  AAC ( also used in iTunes, RIM BlackBerry, Sony Ericson Phones, Zen and other MP3 players ) is also a standard format.  So when he says iTunes does not use standard formats he is really saying "iTunes does not use a format I like".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

Ich wollte mir mit der Vampir Serie "Moonlight" einen schönen Abend machen, und da ich mal wieder nicht bis zum nächsten Montag/Dienstag abwarten mochte, schaute ich also auf surfthechannel rein...

Als plötzlich und unerwartet das hier aufploppte:

Serving Size : 6

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

4 cups (about 4 med) tart apples, sliced

2/3 to 3/4 cup brown sugar -- packed

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup butter -- softened

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease square 8x8 pan. Place apple slices in pan. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly. Sprinkle over apples.

Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown. Serve warm and, if desired, with light cream or ice cream.