The Graphic Mac

You may recall I wrote about Alien Skin Software’s February charity promotion where they were to donate 10% of their profits to Haiti relief. I’m happy to announce that Alien Skin Software donated over $10,000, which includes sale proceeds and a donation made early in February. The donations went to funds specifically for Haiti through the American Red Cross and the Community Coalition for Haiti.

I already loved their software, but stepping up to the plate like this is just fantastic. Many thanks to Alien Skin; I wish more developers would give back to the community like this.

Unfortunately it doesn’t interest me, and it shouldn’t interest you either.

Rumor has it Apple is prepping a lower cost iPhone

No, the cost of the iPhone is not the issue. It’s the cost of the plan that prevents me, and probably many of you, from owning an iPhone. With a minimum monthly fee of $70, probably hovering around $80 after taxes and other B.S. fees from AT&T, the iPhone is placed just out of reach of millions of potential buyers.
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Whether you’re a graphic designer or photographer, your portfolio is your best sales tool; so it only makes sense to make your portfolio the very best it can be. In 20+ years of being in the design business, I’ve seen some really great portfolios that left a long-lasting impression, and enough bad ones to pave a freeway with.

There are no set rules to arrive at a successful portfolio, but here are some sure-fire ways to set it on the right path. These tips apply mostly to a Web-based portfolio, but most also apply to a print version as well.
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According to an article at Macworld.com, Google is about to make Gmail more social. According to the article, Google plans to make available the ability to update your social status, much like popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, right from within the Gmail interface.

I’m not sure how well that will go-over with Gmail users. Personally, I feel like the Gmail service already lacks enough features that they should focus solely on email features, rather than adding non-email ones. At the same time, I feel like email is a private thing, and I don’t necessarily want any sign of “socialization” in there at all. Besides, the Gmail interface is already a cluttered mess as it is, I’m not sure how they could work-in social networking without making it completely unusable.

I’ve been longing for a way to update my Facebook and Twitter status in a single location that I’m already using; something that fits into my existing workflow.

There are plenty of services out there that would allow me to update my social networks, but they would require me to visit yet another Web site to do it, and that means yet another set of usernames and passwords to remember. No thanks.

With Twitter having the lock on micro-blogging, and Facebook having 400 million users and an expanding feature list, including the world’s largest photo-sharing service and reports of a full-blown email Web-client coming, you have to wonder just how long Google can afford to sit on the sidelines and watch.

You saw the iPad event video, or at the very least have read one of the numerous feature reviews currently littering the Mac Web. The Apple iPad has finally been released to the masses, ending months of speculation, rumor and wishful thinking.

While tech journalists focus on what the iPad is and isn’t, the lack of a camera, Apple’s choice in 3G providers, and a host of other topics; I’m having one of those light-bulb moments. The iPad is the ultimate school supply!

When you consider some states are handing out $1,000 Macbooks to students and teachers, it’s not hard to imagine Apple’s true reason for the iPad’s existence is to get more product into more hands at a young age.

Think about it. The purpose of the laptop program is to make the Internet available to kids, and to give them something to produce their homework assignments on (even though we know they use it for much more). But in this economy, schools are certainly rethinking these “laptops for every kid” programs.
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I must admit, Mac users are a bit strange… or at least, some of them are. Here’s the one hour documentary film, MacHeads, that covers the life and times of Mac users.

I recently got to use one for a day of design work, web surfing, and general computing, and got my answer. The Magic Mouse is compact, and glides smoothly on your desk. The cursor was very responsive, and not the least bit “jumpy” on any surface I tried it on, including my lap. But that’s pretty much where the love affair ended for me.

With the exception of Apple’s iMac hockey-puck mouse years ago, I can’t recall ever using a more uncomfortable mouse in my 20-plus years of computing.

The very thing that makes it so stunning to look at also makes it so uncomfortable to use. After about an hour of working in Photoshop and InDesign, my hand was cramped from squeezing it. It’s just too low-profile for long-term use. I felt like I had to work too hard to keep control of it. While the touch clicking and scrolling was easy enough, using the limited gestures available was virtually impossible for me. I simply couldn’t hold the mouse and swipe at the same time without contorting my hand to the point of causing more cramps in my fingers. The amount of time wasted trying to get the gestures to work could be accomplished the old-fashioned way. Of course, nobody says you MUST use the Magic Mouse for your daily computing needs. Due to its compact size and Bluetooth connection, the Magic Mouse makes a great compliment to your MacBook Pro when you’re on the road. It’s also fine for users who may not require a lot of mousing around, such as writers or anyone who makes extensive use of the keyboard vs. the mouse. At $69 though, the Magic Mouse is awfully expensive for a “backup” mouse.

Has Apple already released it’s latest Mac for pros? The upper-end iMac can now be configured with an Intel Core i5 or i7 quad-core processor, a 2TB hard drive, and up to 16GB of RAM; and the mammoth 27″ LED screen is nothing short of stunning. With all this power in Apple’s supposed consumer-level desktop, one has to wonder if there’s any need for a MacPro by anyone shy of George Lucas working on the next horrible sequel to StarWars. As a designer, I’ve spent the last 20 years accepting the fact that I had to buy the most expensive model of Mac available in order to get the power I needed to edit large multi-layered Photoshop files and videos. Buying a G3, G4, G5, and even the early MacPros was the only way to get a Mac which would support enough RAM to accomplish my job without adding two days to the work week. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.