The great people over at The Vista Forums have a contest going on where you can win an Xbox 360 Elite, and several other prizes. This is to celebrate them reaching the 30,000 member mark, and entering the contest is easy. All you have to do is write a review of a Microsoft hardware product, or anything listed as Vista capable. More details and rules can be found at the link below.
Friday was the last day of school for the children here, and all 3 of mine did excellent this past year. Two of them are now moving on to Middle School, and my smallest moves on to the next grade in Elementary. Since the school year came to a great end, we decided to take the kids to Sea World Orlando on Saturday, just to have some fun.
It has been very hot here recently, and the temperature on the ground was well over 100 degrees. We started off early and the kids got touch and feed the dolphins, something they all were wanting to do. After lunch we headed for the kids park inside Sea World where there are various rides and activities for kids.
First ride up was the carousel. My wife and kids, along with others from our family, got on the ride as I headed off to find some shade as I couldn’t take the heat much longer. The ride was beginning to stop and after chatting with my brother-n-law for a bit, I got up to meet the kids. I then noticed a park employee running with a small child and their mother out of the ride area, after a second I realized it was my wife and smallest daughter.
I shot off and ran to them at which time they arrived at one of the medical stations inside the park. My daughter was crying, my wifes hands had blood all over them and I was about to freak out. We were met by one of the parks paramedics which quickly took her into a room and proceeded to clean her wound. She apparently slipped while stepping off the carousel platform, hitting the platform itself, and causing a laceration under her chin.
After cleaning and bandaging up her cut, they gave her a Shamu plush toy, and after talking with the security and paramedics, they drove us out to our car. We then headed towards the nearest hospital which was about 5 minutes away, and checked in at the ER. She was in a room within 15 minutes, and after getting a few stitches, we were out in just about an hour. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon. Overall, she is OK and I appreciate the messages I received asking about her.
I really have to say the staff at Sea World were the best, along with the folks at Dr. Phillips Hospital. Although the first day of summer vacation ended with a trip to the ER, the people who took care of us made a tough situation at least a little better.
In the last month or so, many Twitter users (including myself) were bombarded with friend requests from Twitter accounts that were obviously spammers. I was glad to see the reports that Twitter will start blacklisting these accounts, although I wish there was a more convenient way to report spammers/abusers. This past weekend I was tipped off to several Twitter accounts that are being used to distribute links to illegal copies of software and games (warez). So far, I have only found a few Twitter accounts that seem to be doing this, so I hope this is something that can be nipped in the bud quickly.
I have sent DMCA notices to Twitter regarding the posting of software related to the company I work for, and I also informed Twitter about these activities in hope the accounts will be removed completely, not just the offending posts. Now normally I don’t give dealers in warez any type of public attention, but I feel that since Twitter is becoming more and more popular, and is heading for the so-called “mainstream” status, that this is something that needs to be addressed. I am personally a big fan of Twitter, and I am not putting any type of blame on them, I just hope they are prepared to deal with situations like this.
So now we just wait and see how Twitter deals with these people, and I will be sure to keep everyone updated on the situation.
I’m still amazed to this day of how a small segment of people react when presented with the notion that they might actually have to pay for a piece of software. Some people actually act offended when they see that a developer, whether it’s a big-time company, or just some guy programming in his bedroom, puts a small price on something they spend their time working on. They will rant and rave of how great the product is, but when they see a price tag, even it’s just a few dollars, they scoff at the idea of having to pay and then proceed to say how “worthless” it is.
As was mentioned in this thread, I think the entitlement mentality of people online has crossed the point of just being plain ridiculous. Some people use the excuse that they just can’t afford it. Well maybe for something like Adobe Creative Suite, but I’m talking about applications that sell for $10-$30. I just don’t believe it simply because I see these same people bragging about how they bought this game for the Xbox, or this game for the PC. So what exactly is the problem with paying for software again?
Now let me point out, I’m not talking about any application specifically here. I write about a lot of software for both Mac and PC, and the mentality is the same no matter what type of application it is. Just recently I was looking for an application to help record our weekly SkinCasts, and I posted to a few places looking for recommendations. As soon as someone offered an application that might work, here comes the usual suspects going on and on about how I can route the audio through X, and then use sound recorder to record X, and then blah…blah….blah. Well that’s fine, but I don’t want to go through all that and just end up with a horrible sounding recording anyway.
So we eventually find an application that works, but it costs a whopping $25 for a license. Let me think about it for a minute. Is the convenience and features of this application worth the cost, or just I just rely on a cheap method that will no doubt sacrifice quality? I say the small investment is worth it. So I ask again, what is the problem with paying for something?
I am a big fan of WordPress. It is what this blog uses, and many of my friends and associates use it as well for their blogging needs. I stick with WordPress because it’s powerful, but easy to setup and use. Having the ability to expand it by use plugins makes it even more appealing. I wanted to list my top 5 favorite WordPress plugins for anyone out there using, or thinking about using WordPress for their blog.
cforms II. If you have a blog you would most likely want people to contact you, but putting your e-mail address out there might not be your first choice. Cforms II makes adding a contact form as simple as inputting your information into a few fields. There are too many features to list, but I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Twitter Tools. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to sit here and explain what Twitter is to everyone. Twitter tools brings an integration between WordPress and Twitter. I have it setup to post to Twitter whenever I make a new blog post, but there are several configuration options to check out.
WP-DBManager. Doing database maintenance is something nobody really looks forward to, and many people wouldn’t even know where to start. However, making backups of your WordPress database is very important, and WP-DBManager takes all the work out of it. Although there are a huge amount of options, doing routine maintenance like backups is just a few clicks away, and it will even e-mail you backup if you choose.
WPhone. This plugin adds a custom interface designed especially for access from the iPhone/iPod Touch, and a “lightweight” version for other mobile phones. Obviously you are limited compared to the full admin interface, but if you are mobile then this is an essential plugin.
Subscribe to comments. This plugin lets your readers subscribe to blog comments, so they can be notified via e-mail of new replies. It’s a simple plugin but very useful for blogs who get a lot of comments.
If you have been following my blog or twitter posts, you might have noticed my search for the best blogging application for the Mac. Out of the many recommendations I received, two applications were always mentioned…..MarsEdit 2 and ecto 3 (beta). So over the last couple of weeks I have downloaded and tried both applications, and today I will give my review of both and hopefully come to some decision on which one I will use on a regular basis.
User Interface
The main user interface of both apps are very similar in appearance, and both are fairly simple and not cluttered in any way. Each has a sidebar which allows you to add/edit/delete your blog accounts. Both applications also support a wide range of blogging platforms including WordPress and TypePad. MarsEdit lets you add the site url/name, and then MarsEdit will try to automatically detect your weblog settings. If for some reason you need to do it manually, that option is also available. Ecto also lets you enter your blog information in much of the same way, but ecto also has an “assistant” which can guide you through the process, which can be very helpful for new users.
The main view shows your posts associated with the chosen blog (if you have multiple blogs), and by clicking a title you can see the post in the preview pane. Double-clicking the posts will retrieve them and open them inside the editor window. Each also has a variety of options which you can edit, delete, modify, create new posts, and save drafts. If you don’t like, or just want to change the default toolbar layout, you can easily customize the toolbar to your liking.
As far as the main interface is concerned, both MarsEdit and ecto have similar design and function, and were very easy to start using.
Editor
The Editor is where we start to see some real differences between the two apps. Once again, both have a similar layout, but ecto has quite a few more options. The most notable being that ecto has a more rich text editor (and an HTML editor) as opposed to the Editor in MarsEdit, which is based in HTML text markup. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but new users and people who are not familiar or comfortable with html markups, might find ecto easier to use as it’s more WYSIWYG.
As I said, the text markup in MarsEdit is not really a problem, and in while writing several posts with it I found no problem formatting my posts. MarsEdit has a drop-down menu in the upper right hand corner which gives quick access to common markups such as bold, links, block quote, etc. They also make it easy to add your own markup macros which comes in very handy.
The basic editing functions in both are very easy to use, but for new users, ecto might be a slightly better choice, but anyone who is comfortable or willing to take on some text markup, MarsEdit will satisfy.
More “Advanced” Editing
Blogging today is much more than just simple text formatting, right? Media, whether it happens to be images, video, etc., is now common in blogging. You can add items like images by simple drag and drop, or through the Media Manager in MarsEdit, and the “Import Media” button in ecto. Another advantage ecto has is the ability to preview audio and video before inserting into a post.
Nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but my main interest was with how each integrated using images from Flickr. In the MarsEdit Media Manager, Flickr has it’s own section where it will show your Flickr account images and even let you search through them. The images are displayed as rows of thumbnails for easy viewing, and give you the options of selecting the size and alignment of the image to insert.
Ecto has the Flickr Helper option which is similar in function to MarsEdit, but has way more options. It will let you filter your images by sets, and even let you “fetch” images from your contacts, groups, and tags. Another cool feature ecto has is the “Amazon Helper”. This opens a dialog where you can search the various sections on Amazon, and select a product to insert with your choice of displaying images and text. I didn’t have much of a use for it, but very neat nonetheless.
As far as more “advanced” editing goes, this was also a tough call to make. Between the two, ecto has quite a few more options than MarsEdit, but some of them might not be needed for everyone, and MarsEdit has all the editing options most bloggers would need.
Conclusion
I think it’s safe to say that trying to decide which of these applications was “the best” is quite difficult. They are both top notch in what they do, and I would not hesitate recommending either of them to anyone looking for a blogging solution for the Mac. After using both I think it all comes down to the matter of personal preference, and for my use, I would probably pick MarsEdit over ecto simply because it’s a bit more simple in design.
However, I haven’t made my final decision on which one I am going to use. I still have a few days left in the trial versions, but I’m not sure if I can even make a decision by then. The bottom line is both these applications are great, but newer users might be more taken with ecto, and users who like HTML markups should go with MarsEdit. I really recommend downloading the trial versions for each, and see which one works better for you. I don’t think you will be disappointed with either of them.
People often ask how we create articles and guides on some of the various sites like WinCustomize.com, JoeUser.com, etc., so they can also help out by writing something they specialize in. Several of us here use a variety of tools, some more complex than others, but most people who would like to write some articles don’t need some of the more high-end tools.
One of the more complex and expensive applications is Expression Web from Microsoft. While it’s pretty good at what it does, the casual user will not likely use many of it’s features. Live Writer, which we have spoken about before, is one of the tools I highly recommend for writing blog posts and things of that sort.
I was recently referred to another piece of software called KompoZer. It’s built off the former NVU web authoring application that is no longer developed. KompoZer is a simple WYSIWYG html editor with an easy to use interface. You can create and layout some really nice articles or posts using images, links, tables, etc.
Two other good points is that it’s free, and it’s cross platform so if you run a PC or Mac you are all set.
Over the last week or two I have been evaluating some blogging applications for OS X Leopard. The two which I received several recommendations for were MarsEdit 2 by Red Sweater Software, and ecto 3 (beta). Both of them seem great at what they do, and if I had to purchase one today, I would have a very hard time deciding which one.
So before I really start evaluating both of these, I wanted to ask the community again for recommendations. There are so many applications out there I don’t want to overlook anything else that people are using. So if you know of any other blogging applications for the Mac, please drop me a note, or leave your comments in this thread.
Sarah Perez over at ReadWriteWeb wrote a great article today and social media, and the time spent using it by people. She took an “unscientific” poll on Twitter and came up with some really interesting responses. Check out the full article on ReadWriteWeb.
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