Exchange of Ideas
by Derrick Story
Mac Newsletter for 12/06/2002
Dear Mac Reader,
Earlier this week I wrote a Weblog titled, "The Technology Beneath
the Brand" , where I ended
with this thought:
"... as technologists, we shouldn't let ourselves become
hypnotized by effective brand advertising. There's always
more beneath the surface--both good and bad. And we're the
ones who need to keep that discussion alive, alongside the
branded messages."
The Weblog has led to other discussions, and it finally occurred
to me that maybe I should post some sort of weekly summary on Mac
DevCenter that allows developers to say, "Hey, I'm working on this.
Any comments?"
The idea is that I want to have an ongoing, visible, developer
conversation that's accessible to the public and that augments
the marketing-based blasts we endure on a daily basis.
I could do this a couple of different ways. One way would be to
set up an email box into which developers send their thoughts,
then publish a weekly rapsheet of these notes as an article (that
would be archived and searchable, including Google) with TalkBacks
at the end so others can comment.
Another approach would be an outright forum that I monitor. For
some reason I'm not as wild about the forum as I am about the
rapsheet. But I'd also like to hear any ideas that you might have
for this, including whether or not you think it's a good idea in
the first place.
Let me know what you think.
Until next time,
Derrick
--
Derrick Story
O'Reilly Network Managing Editor
derrick@oreilly.com
Featured Articles
The Technology Beneath the Brand
Leander Kahney has just published another interesting article on
Wired about Apple's powerful brand. This stuff really gets stuck
in your head, and as technologists, we need mentally reboot on a
regular basis.
Learning the Terminal in Jaguar, Part 1
O'Reilly OS X command line guru Chris Stone is back with another
series about getting comfy with Jaguar's Terminal app. In Part 1
he helps you settle in by showing you what's where.
iApp Power Play
Don't be lulled by those seemingly simple GUI interfaces: the
iApps are high performance publishing tools. Here's how to use
them together to create a full-fledged media development
environment.
Mac Devcenter Top Five Articles Last Week
iApp Power Play
Don't be lulled by those seemingly simple GUI interfaces: the
iApps are high performance publishing tools. Here's how to use
them together to create a full-fledged media development
environment.
Gifts for Geeks on the Cheap
Looking for gift ideas that will delight your digitally minded
friends? Terrie Miller has assembled a list of cool gadgets for
under $50 that's bound to keep you on the "most favored"
gift-giver list, or can serve as subtle hints to others
shopping for you.
Controlling iTunes with Perl
Perl can interact with Aqua applications through AppleScript.
Using Mac::iTunes as a back end, you can create multiple iTunes
interfaces that can be used on the same computer or on other
computers on the same network. brian d foy shows how anyone on
the network, including AirPort networks, can control iTunes using
this module.
Top Ten Mac OS X Tips for Unix Geeks
From starting up to shutting down, there are big differences
between Mac OS X and Unix machines. Brian Jepson, coauthor of
Mac OS X for Unix Geeks offers ten tips he gathered while working
on the book. If you're a Unix geek moving to Mac OS X, these tips
will help smooth the way.
Connecting Mac OS X to Windows PCs
A hands-on look at how you can share files between your Mac and
your Windows machines, then explore how Windows applications can
be run on your Mac
Return to list of Mac Newsletters.
Return to the Mac DevCenter.