Author Archive
Announcing Tippy 3.2.0
Posted by Chris in Tippy Plugin on February 5th, 2010
Tippy 3.2.0 has been released to the world. It should show up in your WordPress installation once the plugin repository updates.
Just one change in this version, perhaps the most-asked-for feature: UTF-8 support. Let me know if you have any issues with it.
Find more at the Tippy page.
Announcing Tippy 3.1.2
Posted by Chris in Tippy Plugin on January 22nd, 2010
Just released Tippy 3.1.2 to fix a glitch with IE8. Please let me know of any browser issues you have, but be sure to mention what browser/version you use.
If you already have Tippy installed and run WordPress 2.5 or above you should see the update in your Admin panel once the WordPress Plugin repository updates. Otherwise get it from the Tippy page.
Announcing Tippy 3.1.1
Posted by Chris in Tippy Plugin on January 22nd, 2010
My plugins have been neglected for a while but I’m finally releasing an update for Tippy. Version 3.1.1 (should) fix an issue with tooltip position in Chrome and Safari 4.
If you already have Tippy installed and run WordPress 2.5 or above you should see the update in your Admin panel once the WordPress Plugin repository updates. Otherwise get it from the Tippy page.
Safari 4
Apple today released a public beta of Safari 4 for Windows and OS X users. My initial impressions are quite favorable (although the new javascript engine causes issues with Tippy that I have yet to explore), though I do not like the position of the tab bar. I think it’s a mistake to put tabs at the top of the browser. I guard my screen real estate, but the amount of space taken up with the tab bar is excusable and I prefer having my tabs just above the page window rather than at the very top of the browser.
There is a fix, however. Users wanting the more traditional tab bar position can go to the terminal and enter the following:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO
Announcing Tippy 3.1.0
Posted by Chris in Tippy Plugin on February 14th, 2009
Just released a new version of Tippy. The only change here is a new option to enable/disable fade. Some users might not want the fade effect so it can now be turned off in the options.
If you already have Tippy installed and run WordPress 2.5 or above you should see the update in your Admin panel once the WordPress Plugin repository updates. Otherwise get it from the Tippy page.
iWork.com and a public beta
I was interested in early rumors that seemed to suggest that Apple’s iWork ‘09 would include a strong online component, allowing users to create, edit, and share documents online. It turns out the rumors were partly true. All indications are that the only functionality of the online service will be to share and allow comments on documents. A bit disappointing, but oh well.
It is odd, however, that there does not seem to be a way to check out this service. iWork.com is being advertised as a public beta but you cannot try it without first purchasing the full version of iWork ‘09. I guess this makes sense since the website will simply share documents written in iWork ‘09 but it just strikes me as odd to have a public beta that first requires spending at least $80. Thus far I’ve seen no compelling reason to upgrade to iWork ‘09 so I will have to wait for ‘10 before trying out iWork.com. Hopefully I will be proven wrong as reviews and reports of iWork ‘09 come in. There are a number if glitches in iWork ‘08 that I would like to see corrected, and lots of room for improvement. Apple is new to the office productivity world and iWork marks some great early work, but it still has a bit of work to do.
The new Google Reader
Any Google Reader users out there know about the new updates released today. Now, any time you change things, someone is going to be unhappy. It can’t be helped. Usually I’m not in that category, but this time…
WHAT was Google THINKING?
Like some others, when I saw the new look my first thought was something didn’t load right. My second thought was my gosh what have they done! Google Reader was very nice looking before. Now it looks… not nice. I’m trying to be nice.
I think the guy that picked the name for Apple MobileMe moved on over to Google and helped them with their design. Both very bad ideas. The color scheme for Google Reader really is a pain on the eyes.
I hope the protests will reach Google. They seem to be many. I hope Google listens and returns the look to the way it was. I know someone somewhere thought this was a great idea. Glad they put in some hard work. But I wish it had not been approved in the end. This is just a big step backward.
Google Chrome
Google has unleashed their Chrome browser on the world. I’m playing with it now and thus far I see nothing that would cause me to stick with it. Granted it’s just a beta but we all know what Google means when they call something a Beta.
Studying the Comic book about Chrome reveals a few interesting ideas about tab management. Giving each tab its own process certainly won’t go easy on memory but it will make the whole thing much more stable and will help isolate different browsing tasks from each other. Though that is a nice idea and seems to be a good implementation, the browser on the whole is a little limited. Options are few, leaving very little that can be customized. There may be some advanced interface (sort of like Firefox’s about:config) but I haven’t seen it yet.
One thing I want to say to everyone who has ever complained about IE7’s hidden menus: if you like Chrome I never again want to hear you say anything about IE7. Chrome didn’t just hide menus, menus do not exist. There are two drop-downs next to the location bar that let you access any tools and features in the browser, similar to the five or so IE7 has. There is nothing that enables a File, Edit, etc menubar. Because of this bookmarks are also a little tricky to access. You can turn on a bookmark bar which includes an Other bookmarks link but this is a little clunky. I’m also surprised that they put this below the tabs. They want nothing above the tabs in their interface.
I also haven’t figured out how to access RSS feeds. If they are implemented in this version then they are hidden. I am sure Google will include this in a future release but I am a bit surprised it didn’t make it early on.
The initial tab page looks like it might be interesting and useful. When you open a new tab the default action is for Chrome to show you your 9 most visited sites along with some additional info on the side. This might be useful, particularly since bookmarks aren’t as easy to access, but who spends much time on a page like this? It isn’t a compelling reason to switch.
So I don’t think Google is trying to win anyone over yet. I am tempted to say they are not even off to a good start. The interface strikes me as a little too clunky (color scheme included) and even a tad sluggish at places despite their claims of fast and slick. Things will improve but I don’t know how long until it becomes a serious contender against IE7, Firefox or Safari.
MobileMe and the New York Times
A rare double post here and on my main blog.
The MobileMess has been picked up by a few media outlets out there. Today David Pogue of the New York Times added his contribution: Apple’s MobileMess.
In it he hit on what has been the most frustrating and unbelievable part of this whole thing:
But the real problem is how Apple is responding. For a company that’s so brilliant at marketing, it seems to have absolutely no clue about crisis management.
One of my correspondents put it like this: “I love Apple. My first computer ever was a 128K Macintosh. But the lack of explanation and communication on the MobileMe problem is outrageous. Why not update the status message? Why not give us some indication of what’s going on?”
Companies make mistakes. Tech companies have problems. But when some 20,000+ people are affected – and affected for a week – and when by affected we mean absolutely no email service – the company involved should release *some* sort of information. So far absolutely nothing useful has come out of Apple. The most they have said was insulting at best, a status message (which only showed up several days after the problem began and hasn’t been updated since) along the lines of, “We know things aren’t working. We’re sorry. We’re working on it.”
Come on Apple. Get us the information, and get this fixed.
Google and Apple – Compared
Google: releases a suite of web apps for email, calendar, contacts. Price: Free.
Apple: releases a suite of web apps… Price: $99/yr
Google: Continues to refer to these products as Beta
Apple: Refers to these products as complete and ready for use
Google: All services work well and users experience few if any reliability issues
Apple: Seven days, no email. The other services appear to work fine but users have reported a host of problems.
Google releases a beta and it works flawlessly. Apple releases a finished product only to have to go back and fix a lot of problems.
This is very unusual for Apple. I love my Apple products and have had good experiences with them. This MobileMe stuff, though, has been crazy. As I’ve mentioned before, once they work out the kinks it will be a great product (except for the name – who came up with that?). They probably should have waited a little longer to release it, however.
Update:
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal has a good overview of MobileMe, including a look at all of the problems that have been present with the service. His conclusion? MobileMe is a great idea but too flawed to be recommended.