It helps you take regular breaks from your Mac to rest your eyes, without breaking your flow.
Grackle68k is a Twitter client which supports Mac OS 6 to Mac OS 9. Here are some screenshots:
And here’s a mockup of Tweetie running on Mac OS 9:
I remember I heard of someone many years ago who was tryin’ to port Nintendo GC games to the old NES. They called him “crazy”.
Is this the beginning of retroapps?
Very interesting blog post from Louie Mantia, icon and user interface designer working at the Iconfactory.
Here’s an excerpt:
“We’re quick to blame the App Store for not having an easy way to browse thousands of applications, but we never had that on Mac OS X, and our products sold just fine over there. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t “browse” websites for software. If I need some software for my Mac, I search Google for keywords on what I am looking for and find relevant results. So I don’t think there’s much browsing on the App Store as we all seem to think there is.
So what’s the problem? Why are we worried about the App Store if it’s just a download link? Well, simply put, I think we’re all jealous. We’ve seen “success” stories of people who have developed apps that made it into the Top 10. We’ve seen ridiculously stupid applications make it up there and make “tons of money,” but how is that different from any other kind of business?
In my hometown of Webster Groves, there’s a nice local bar and grill type of place that has some really great burgers. They’re like $5-10 or something like that, depending on what kind and what toppings you get. Quality stuff. But right across the street, there’s a McDonald’s. Now, of course, that McDonald’s has people rushing through the drive-thru and walking in and out of their store, bags in-hand. Those burgers can cost from $1-5, for example. They’re not really quality, but they’re a cheap, faster alternative.
My point is, just because that McDonald’s has all these people buying up their cheap burgers doesn’t mean that place across the street can’t sell deliciously better seven and a half dollar burgers. They might not sell as many, but it’s not about that. Again, success is measured when you can turn a profit. As long as those guys are making money and can run their business, they’re successful.”
Overall, I agree with Louie. Many developers seem only able to complain about the flaws of the AppStore instead of working hard to create better applications and better websites. Sure, the AppStore may have many problems, but the change should start from you developers, guys.
There’s been an interesting debate with my followers on Twitter these days: which one is the best uploading / quick sharing app for Mac? Going deeper, the fight was between Cloud, “the wet dream of every Mac user” which is still in private beta, and Tinygrab, the application powered by the latest MacHeist nano bundle.
I’m totally against useless internet fights but you know, it’s an interesting subject worth an in-depth article.
Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, is reportedly an Apple fan who uses an iPhone and Mac laptop. He also denied that there is a rivalry between his company and Apple, noting that attempts to create one makes him “uncomfortable.” But Iwata also allegedly sees the iPhone as enough of a threat that Nintendo must work to stand out from it and devices like it.
“If we can’t make clear why customers pay a lot of money to play games on Nintendo hardware and Nintendo software and differentiate ourselves from games on the mobile phone or iPhone, then our future is dark” .
Now, I’m quite curious to know how Nintendo will move. I’m a fan of Nintendo since 15 years, I have almost every Nintendo console ever released, but this time I’m very skeptical about the future.
How are they gonna explain to their customers that they should play $40 for a game when they can have a game on the iPhone at $5? Well, hardcore gamers know the difference between a full featured console game and an AppStore.
But casual gamers, those who bought the Nintendo DS and Wii like bread 2 years ago, are slowly switching to Apple’s iPhone as their mobile gaming platform. Nintendo is in a very difficult position: should they start a new marketing campaign aimed at casual gamers and explain them why consoles are different from mobile devices, or should they finally release products for hardcore gamers? But again, the problem is that many hardcore gamers switched to Microsoft’s Xbox years ago, and I don’t believe they’d like to change console again.
This is a big mess Nintendo. When we told you shouldn’t only think about casual users, this is what we were talking about.
I’ve heard artists say that you can’t wait for the magic to happen, you have to sit at your desk in your office and make it happen. So I sat there looking at my clamshell iBook’s screen for about two weeks, trying to rid myself of the torpor. I was using Microsoft’s Office X at the time, which was very old school. At the bottom of your document window in Word you had this row of winkie blinkies with cryptic labels like REC, TRK, EXT, and OVR. I thought, “What are those things? Does anybody know?” People where complaining then about the endless rows of tiny icons you had to deal with in Word. Dozens and dozens of them. Back then, there was almost no other option for a Mac word processor. Microsoft had crushed all of its competition.
Interesting interview to the developer of Bean, a nice word processor for Mac OS X.
How many times before did I say I love Tweetie? Both in its Mac and iPhone versions, I think it’s the best Twitter client out there, even better than many “professional” online services. Read my article “10 Reasons Why You Should Buy Tweetie 2..and What To Expect From Tweetie 3” if you missed it.
Today I had the chance to chat with the man behind the revolution, Loren Brichter. He works at atebits and he’s the developer of Tweetie.
Enough said, time for the interview!
There’s no doubt that Mac OS is the favourite platform for creative people and professionals: it’s stable, features rich and there are tons of applications for every need.
But this is not a secret.
Today, I’m very excited to announce a new post series on MacStories, “Recorded On A Mac”. This new series will focus on artists / bands that used Mac OS to record / edit their songs, with thoughts about the whole process and their favourite tools and apps.
The first band which agreed to collaborate with MacStories are Hydrovibe, an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, United States. They’re also offering a free download of their new album “Nothing Left To Lose” to 10 lucky readers.
Interview and giveaway rules after the jump!
If you work 24/7 at your computer, it’s very likely that every solution to save time and be more productive is welcome. It could be a new to-do list manager, a new Google service or a new mail client: we’re always searching for the new kid on the block which will save us precious time.
Today, I’d like to talk about how Glims (a Safari plugin) and keyboardr (a website) recently changed my workflow.
Today I had the chance to interview Na Wong, one of the most famous icon and UI designer around.
Na currently lives in Hong Kong and is working for Sourcebits.
You can find his official website here.
Enjoy! ;)
