iMac Problems

There appears to be a problem with the current generation 27” iMacs. Apple keeps issuing new firmware updates and, by some reports, has halted manufacturing. I’ve heard from several readers with complaints (and returns) of their 27” iMacs. While Apple hasn’t come out and explained exactly what is going on, tonight they released their second firmware update and clearly something is amiss. I think this calls both the 21” and 27” models into question.

I still believe in the iMac form factor and I’m sure Apple will sort it out soon enough. Most likely, my next iMac will be one of those 27” monsters. For the time being, however, I recommend waiting until the dust settles before buying a new iMac.

The Omni Group Embraces the iPad

One of the very first developers I contacted after the iPad announcement was Ken at the OmniGroup. I’ll spare you the gory details but the email included lots of begging and pleading about how if OmniFocus is not customized for the iPad, my life would end, cats would live with dogs, and the universe would come to a screeching halt. Ken reassured me they were absolutely going to make a version of OmniFocus for the iPad. At the time I wasn’t sure whether he was serious or just trying to shut me up.

Well I guess it was the former because today the Omni Group announced it is moving its entire productivity library (OmniFocus, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, OmniPlan, and OmniGraph Sketcher) to the iPad. Ken explained exactly how the company plans allocate resources and pull this off. Combining Omni’s suite with iWork, I expect to kick some serious ass with my iPad. I can hardly wait.

Competing with the $499 iPad

Ars Technica has an interesting piece about potential iPad competitors and Apple’s $499 price point. Potential competitors were banking on beating Apple’s price with their competing Android devices. Now they are scratching their heads. With Apple controlling the chip, the hardware, and software, I think it will be sometime before anyone can compete anywhere near Apple’s price.

Home Screens – Dave Hamilton

Dave Hamilton(twitter) is one of my very favorite self proclaimed nerds. When not playing his drums (he is awesome), Dave, along with John Braun, host the Mac Geek Gab, which is by far the best Mac troubleshooting podcast. Dave also is one of the principals of the outstanding Mac news site, Mac Observer. So today we get to find what is on Dave’s home screen.

What is interesting on your home screen?

Camera Genius (CodeGoo) – For all those “I just want to take a picture now” opportunities. The thing I love the most about it is its “Anti Shake” feature. In a nutshell, it waits until your phone is stable before snapping the picture, so I just click the shutter button, take aim, and as soon as it’s happy it snaps the shot. Love it!

Twittelator Pro (Stone Design) – Andrew Stone did a fantastic job taking this app and completely reworking it last year, bringing it into the forefront of Twitter apps in both design aesthetics and functionality. Unfortunately, the default “Gray” theme is kind of wonky visually so I think many people are still initially turned off. But setting it to “Dove” (white background) or my favorite, “Raven” (black background), really makes the app pop. It does some great things in terms of managing multiple accounts, conversations, retweets, lists and more. And it also lets you customize your favorites bar any way you wish, making it truly personalizable (is that a word? ;-).

Todo (Appigo) – Listen, there’s nothing perfect about managing To Dos on the iPhone, but Appigo’s Todo syncs (over WiFi) with SyncServices on my Mac, allowing me to get close to what I’d want (which is live OTA sync). And it’s got a decent interface for managing/adding To Dos that I then see in BusyCal on my Mac (when SyncServices decides to play nice, which is most of the time).

What is your favorite app?

I’m not sure I have a favorite, per se. In general I spend most of my iPhone time in either Mail or Twittelator Pro.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

See answers to #2 above. šŸ™‚ I can get addicted to information flow pretty quickly, so having email and Twitter access in my pocket is simultaneously fantastic and terrible.

How many screens full of apps do you have?

I have 11 screens and all but one are at least more than half full. Most of the apps, of course, I don’t use often, at all, but there’s no reason to delete them if I only use them just once in a while. Beats re-downloading something if I realize I need an old app for some reason or another.

What is the app you are still missing?

A real calendar app. The lack of To Do support is astounding to me, but that’s not the half of it. The UI for the Calendar app is just terrible. I mean, why bother to have that craptastic monthly view take over my entire screen only so I can’t see more than one line of events at the bottom. I’m beside myself wondering why Apple hasn’t put a side-by-side week (or “multi-day”) view in, either. This app has probably the worst UI that Apple has designed in recent history. It, like iCal, makes me think that no one at Apple actually uses their own products for calendaring.

How many times a day do you use your iPhone/iPod touch?

Depends on the day. Some days none, some days more than I care to count.

What is your favorite feature on the iPhone?

How well it fits in my pocket and is basically unnoticeable to me while it’s there. That affords me the ability to simply have the phone with me everywhere, and I think that’s easy to take for granted with a device that has so much power.

If you were Steve Jobs, what would you add to the iPhone?

A frickin’ calendar app!

Anything else you’d like to share?

Did I mention the iPhone sucks at managing calendars and To Dos? Oh, I did? Then I guess we’re done. Thanks!

Thanks Dave!