Macworld 2008 wish list and predictions

• New displays: I hope that Apple will introduce new displays with build-in iSight cameras. I think that the new display sizes will be 20'', 24'' (as they are already used in iMacs, there is no point of having two different sizes) and 30''. A price drop would be nice.

• Apple Aperture 2.0: I wish Apple introduces a new version of Aperture. Aperture 1.5.6 is sloooow, even when running on decent hardware, although it is a very useful piece of software.

• I would like to see updated Mac minis that have dedicated graphics cards.

• I really like to see Apple introducing a more advanced Mac mini computer -- this could be called Mac Mini Pro or Mac Pro Mini :-). I would like it to support at least 4Gb of RAM, have its own graphics card (the one that comes with the latest 17'' MacBook Pros), and has space for two SATA hard disks and one DVD-RW.
  

Also, it is almost certain that Mac OS X 10.5.2 will be out before MacWorld 2008.

The Waffle Weblog

I was reading Bagelturf blog when I first saw about the Waffle weblog.

Waffle weblog is a technical blog about Apple subjects. Recommended!

Mac-related magazines that I read

• MacTech
• MacWorld
• Macuser.co.uk

The World’s Most Famous Photoshop Fakes

Although not directly related to programming, this post (from photopreneur.com) presents the world's most famous photoshop fakes.

Sometimes the same happens to computer programming and operating system design and implementation!

My Dashboard at home

The MacTech.com Widget that you can see in the screenshot is fully explained in my eBook. It is a Widget that reads RSS feed and displays it - I use it every day. I also use the Perl Disk Information Widget that is also explained in the eBook.

Did you find the above information helpful? You will find a lot more information in my eBook "Programming Dashboard Widgets". The eBook describes how you can create Apple Dashboard Widgets using many programming languages including JavaScript, Perl, Objective-C, and PHP. You can buy it here.

My Dashboard at work

The Two Kinds of Photographers

I just found a gem in Ken Rockwell's photography site. The article is called "The Two Kinds of Photographers" and can be found here.

His point is that "There are two kinds of photographers: those who make pictures, and those who talk about it".

A small part of his article says the following:

"I had an epiphany in 1989. When I searched through over 15 years of my archives dating from 1973 looking for some of the great shots I knew I must have made, I found nothing! The good shots only existed in my imagination! I realized that all I ever did was tell myself that I was a great photographer just because I knew every nuance of technique and camera and lens design. I had nothing to show for it. From that point on I decided to stop worrying about the technology and focus my considerable expertise and creative instincts on creating photos instead of reading about it."

More or less the same applies to programming! Please read the rest of the article.

Blogs that I regularly visit

• Scott Kelby blog
  
• Ken Rockwell site
• Inside Aperture
• Popular Photography flash
• MacWorld magazine

PostcardViewer: a free Flash image viewer

I just found a very nice free Flash image viewer. It is called PostcardViewer.

You can find an example here.

The UNIX Philosophy

It is very impressive that little things have changed in the UNIX philosophy since 1969 when UNIX was first introduced. The UNIX philosophy can be summarized in the following "rules":

• Each program has to do one thing and do it well.
  
• Utilities (programs) must work together.
  
• Programs must handle text streams well because text is universal.
  
• It is better for a program to be clear than clever.
  
• When a program fails, it must fail as soon as possible with error messages. When a program runs well, it is better to say nothing.
  
• Design for the future because it will sooner or later come.
  
• Preserve programmers' time in favor of machine's time.
  

Did you find the above information helpful? You will find a lot more information in my eBook "Programming Dashboard Widgets". The eBook describes how you can create Apple Dashboard Widgets using many programming languages including JavaScript, Perl, Objective-C, and PHP. You can buy it here.