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This post is being written via an iPhone. Is it easy? Sure! Assuming that you are fast with the small keyboard (like me) and have a wordpress powered blog.

Wordpress has pushed conventional wisdom by building an iPhone applicition that completely interfaces with their base functionality: writing blog posts. Being able to write a blog really isn’t something revolutionary, but the mobile and flexibile empowerment given from a cell phone breaks the traditional tethered mold.

Maybe it’s just my brain trying to fight off impending sleep (it’s roughly 3 am here) but I feel like this app will motivate me to become a more spontaneous blogger. Possibly even a more informative blogger. Who knows. The point is, Wordpress really uped the ante and I salute them for that.

Praise aside, I’m assuming this isn’t a WYSIWYG. That’s fine with me, but what about those who don’t know HTML? Since this is a brand spanking new app on a completely new platform, we can assume it’s coming sooner or later.

Kudos Wordpress.

Thanks to Eloy for the Wordpress tip.

For those who missed the party today, here’s a quick WWDC rehash.

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As a Mac user, I’m sure you are used to the standard updates that come straight to you via the Update Manager.  Got to love how it ‘just works’ right?  Well, one particular update doesn’t ‘just work’.  This update is firmware called ‘EFI’.  The EFI update provides more stability (understatement) and keeps your Mac very happy.  Since it doenn’t auto-update, installation is a little tricky.  This how-to will set you up nice though.

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Now that OS X and Apple are becoming more mainstream, many developers (especially web guys and gals) are jumping ship to join the Mac camp.  I myself am one of these people.  After the switch, how does one get back to work?  What editors are out there?  Are they any good?  Fear not, because Macintosh has many great editors and this list compares the top 5.
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A day after 4/20 (I don’t smoke), I felt a strong fog coming in.  A San Francisco powered fog (yeah, hardcore!).  This morning was filled with the most mundane tasks possible.  Afterwards, I left for college.  Once I was at the parking lot, I realized I didn’t remember how I got there.  It was all a giant blur.  Now thats a cool feeling.  I hear many people talk about how it happens to them all the time, but I love driving.  Its the one time of the day where I’m in control, get to feel risk (from cops), and listen to music.  I love music.  During class, my fog continued.  Constant zoning in and out of consciousness.  Hopefully It’s a one day deal.

In tech news, SP3 for Windows XP is coming out on the 29th of April.  All you XPers lover and Vista loathers unite for this is good news.  As for me, I’ll be busy typing along on my Mac. [info from ZDNet]

Also, Apple is looking at some online store improvements by building a virtual store.  Now this isn’t a stereotypical online store, but a place where people virtually shop just like in the store.  You get to browse the virtual aisles, see other customers (avatar-ish), and go to the virtual cash register for checkout.  Places like Second Life have this already, but its still an interesting concept.  Have we become that dependent on machines that all personal contact must go through them as well?  Does chatting with “cute” customers become easier online?  You don’t fear public rejection because you’re just online?  I’m seriously curious about this phenomina.  This isn’t popular because its easier either.  Regular online stores are much easier and quicker.  Am I too extroverted to see the appeal?  Not homebody enough? I just don’t get it.  Someone shed some light. [based on TUAW]

2!

In case you didn’t realize, Macs need some security as well. I’ve been using the built-in firewall and Clam antivirus, but ArsTechnica covered a few new things I didn’t know about. If you have OS X, then you should really check out Ars’ article.

Tomorrow marks my first public presentation in almost 6 months now.  I’m not used to this long of a drought between presentations.  Its making me anxious!  I am however switching things up a little.  Since I have a Mac now (yay!), I’ll be using Keynote.  So far I’m really impressed with some of the features.  There was a slight learning curve since some of my keyboard shortcuts from Powerpoint didn’t work, but it was worth the swap.  I plugged another monitor into my laptop to see how to setup dual displays.  This is where the Apple beauty shines through.  You can set which display to show the presentation.  Obviously in my case, I want the projector to display the presentation on the big screen.   With powerpoint, my computer screen would just show the same thing as the projector does.  Using Keynote though, my laptop screen shows: the current time, how long I’ve talked, my current slide, and my next slide.  Wow!  I typically have a good internal time clock, but now I’ll be able to tell exactly how good it is.  Also, this should help me transition from slide to slide better providing contextual cues.  If you have an Apple computer and don’t have Keynote then you’re just missing out.  I highly recommend it.

2!

Its official my friends, I’ve gone off on the deep end and registered for summer school.  Oye!

This morning I had the wonderful distinction to watch a pack (oh yes it was a pack!) of motorcycle cops trolling the freeway of Houston.  There was ~15-20 driving in the left hand lane.  Given my track record with police, I was slightly terrified.

In other  life news, I had some fun yesterday at the grand opening of Discovery Green.  I was able to hang out with Eloy, Kara, and new friend Jerri.  The park itself is pretty cool.  Its located in the middle (OK, east-ish) of downtown Houston and is the most advanced park Houston has.  Its truly wonderful to have a beautiful park with a skyscraper backdrop.  A rare win for Houston civilians.  On the surface, Discovery Green features: a play place for children (including slides and a trampoline), water features, a lake, model boats, kite flying, bicycling, jogging, food, reading, performing arts, and fun.  I just found out today (after my visit) the park also has a 600 space parking garage underneath the lake.  Also, the lake can be frozen in the winter for ice skating.  Nice!  We don’t get very much frozen water in Houston.. ever.  Of course I took a few pictures at Flickr.  Eloy has a couple of the million he took up on Flickr as well.

In the tech front, Psystar has decided to sale Macintosh computers.  These “OpenMac” machines consist of new hardware and the Leopard OS.  I guess thats cool and all but what about reliability?  Apple has kept the hardware lockdown in full force to ensure their systems are always compatible with hardware.  Vista is a flop due to 3rd party hardware, so Apple has somewhat of the right mindset.  I’m sure Psystar has built some stellar drivers (hopefully?) to make everything run smoothly but what about the next guy?  Or the one after that?  If the trend continues then Apple will be forced to support a load of drivers, become bloated, and eventually we’re in the same crapshoot as Microsoft is.  Just saying.. [Via Engadget]

The Macheist is back with a new roundup of badass applications.  For those non-savvy, Macheist is the authority in getting applications for cheap from developers.  Also if you couldn’t tell, its Mac only.  PC no need apply.

So for the Apple fans over there, hop on over for 12 (yes 12!) top applications for $49.

For me, I’d like to have  Cha-Ching, DevonThink, and WriteRoom.

Cha-Ching is a personal banking application that does a few cool things.  First it allows you to quickly log into your online banking services.  Not exaclty awesome, but OK I guess.  I prefer Mint to this anyways.  Next you can keep track of your budget with tags.  Again, Mint does this but I believe Cha-Ching does a better job.  It also provides a method for you to keep track of those blasted bill due dates.  Hopefully this means no more late fees ya lazy bum!  Finally you can organize them in folders with a beautiful mac interface you’ve grown to love.  More about this cool little money manager at Midnight Apps.

DevonThink is a personal life organizer.  It has the ability to tag items, files, folders, web clips, bookmarks, pdfs, text documents, pictures, and whatever else you throw at it.  All of these items are managed in DevonThink’s own little database, so they can be stored anywhere (including the web).  Its just a cool way to manage your life without sorting files, creating new folders, or tirelessly going through your bookmarks for that one special quote you needed for a paper.  Did I mention it worked with Spotlight?  Full search functionality at your fingertips.  I would almost buy the bundle to get it alone.. almost.  More info at DevonThink.

The third most important app to me is WriteRoom.  WriteRoom is all about writing documents.  Nothing more, nothing less.  It even takes up the whole screen so you won’t be tempted to go blog (heh) or look at pictures or chat on Twitter.  If you find yourself not being able to get work done while on your mac, then WriteRoom might be for you.  More info at Hog Bay Software.

Again, there are 9 more cool apps on sale for the low, low price of $49.  Things such as password managers, games (can’t have enough of those right?), scrapbooking, applicaiton launchers, and more.  Be sure to check it up and consider buying.  Just remember, it’s only up for a limited time (as in days, not weeks).   Hit them up at MacHeist.

My buddy technology called, so him and Lifehack came over today for some fun.  Lets go right into what we talked about! According to Engadget, my cell phone provider, AT&T, has dropped some extra cash on those fancy Microsoft Surface table computers.  You can drop any AT&T display phone on the table and get the specifications.  Putting multiple phones on the table allows you to directly compare them.  Pretty awesome technology overall, but it certainly doesn’t make help them not drop my calls.  Take a look at the new surface mod:

Being an avid soccer fan, I truly can appreciate anything David Beckham does.  Although I’m not a huge fan of Beckham since he plays for the Galaxy instead of my ol’ Dynamo, its nice to see he’s getting appreciated for his 100th cap in England by an American company.  Look at this hunk of gold Apple presented him with [via Gizmodo]:

Speaking of Apple, the iTunes store has finally hit #1 according to Ars Technica.  It seems the iTunes store is now the leading seller of music.  This includes all those people who sell CDs.  Yes, congrats to Apple.  Its been a while but the digital wave has apparently caught on.  Now can you make it cheaper?  I’m just saying…

Finally, Lifehack commenters have come up with some genius advice for the younger generation (me?).  I really hope some of these things stick with me.  I sometimes need to take this advice: 

8. Keep playing, laughing and having fun, don’t get too serious!

 
Other times, you just have to go for it.  I thought #20 was funny:

20. Get over it and kiss the girl!  

Finally for some inspiration, this was thrown in:

32. Whatever you do, believe in yourself. You have untapped potential, and you will accomplish everything you have dreamed about. 

For more great advice, check out the article, here. 

I had no class today (Yes!) so I set off to solve a long time issue I had with my life: Calendar syncing. When I am at home, I love the beauty and power of my desktop calendar, iCal. When I’m out at conferences or meetings, I take my Mac with me. No issues there. Since I don’t carry my Mac everywhere I go though, sometimes I become calendar-less. When you’re as busy (or forgetful) as I am, this is an issue. Enter the convenience of my web-based Calendar, Google Calendar. Any calendar will do, I’m sure Yahoo has a nice calendar app as well, but I’m used to gCal. Sometimes though, you just need a personal assistant. Seriously, we are all busy people. If only I could afford someone to help me plan and remember things. Oh yeah, those crazy Values of N people created Sandy (the personal assistant). So now I have my personal calendar at home, my internet calendar for school and work related information, and Sandy as my personal assistant. My life could be so organized, but its not. I spend a good amount of time keeping these all synced together by hand. There has to be a better way! Yesterday, when I briefly mentioned FuseCal, Matt (from FuseCal) left a comment mentioning CalDAV. I must say, that made me curious and led me to the solution today.

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