It’s probably being blogged to death, but I found some interesting links today that fascinated me and made me recall the early days of my computer-tinkering youth. I would spend hours modifying my Mac’s operating system, under the hood, learning what made it tick, etc. Let’s just say these arguments about the iPad made me nostalgic. Here’s some good reading for you guys:

• Tinkerer’s Sunset
• Alex Payne: On the iPad
• Hackers and Painters

Soon, I think I should reflect on my favorite times of tinkering with the computer when I was in middle school. Come to think of it, before I had a job and a family, I used to have a lot of fun computing. Now it’s just something to get work done!

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Originally uploaded by scottknauer

I love my kids, and I love technology. We recently had a wonderful family visit to the Java Loft here in Clovis on my wife’s birthday. The iPod touch was brought out to curb an impending tantrum from our youngest, and soon all three of our kids were sucked in to an episode of Dexter’s Laboratory.

Needless to say, there wasn’t much conversation after that.

The Apple tablet does not exist, at least not until it receives a proper unveiling by Lord Jobs. Here is a list of reasons why I want the fabled Apple tablet and how it would fit into my life, assuming it does any of the following:

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  Rendering by Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo.com

  Comic books: I was an avid collector and fan of a number of comics in the mid to late 90’s, but for some reason stopped indulging in comics. Mac software company BitCartel makes a piece of software called ComicBookLover, which looks fantastic, but I’m holding off until I know if Apple does anything in this space. Rumors are heavy with info that Apple has been in talks with magazine publishers to save their dying industry, but I want them to be talking to the likes of Marvel and DC to reinvigorate my love for comics. I must credit Andy Ihnatko for making me near-giddy with speculation that LongBox digital comic distribution may be involved with Apple.

• Games: iPhone developers have proven to be creative in bringing a massive gaming audience to an Apple platform for the first time ever. I can only imagine what developers like ngmoco (makers of Eliminate, Rolondo, and Topple) or Gameloft can do with a larger feature set, let alone more screen real estate. The thought of playing Fieldrunners on a larger device will excite me and probably make my son wig out! I can also imagine a larger multi-touch screen giving unlimited creative uses for multiplayer gaming. Only time will tell, but Apple is a serious contender in the gaming market and it will be interesting to see if they aim to expand their offerings with games on a tablet device.
• Sofa surfing: I often times leave the laptop in my office and rely on my iPod touch while sitting in the couch. A larger device would be great for comfort as well as sharing the experience with others. I initially didn’t like the notion of a tablet, but Michael Arrington’s CrunchPad sold me on the idea of a large screened web browser, and unlike the doomed and limboed CrunchPad, the Apple tablet will do this and so much more.
• Books: This past Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to use an Amazon Kindle for the first time. I hated it. I think an ebook reader is just what I need to become passionate about non-fiction once again, but if it’s not as intuitive as a real book, then count me out. I hope Apple can deliver a device that can handle text and long hours of reading as well as it will handle other forms of multimedia. If so, they’ll have a real winner on their hands.

Aside from the items mentioned above, I hope there are a few surprises in store for us as well. We will have to wait in see. I know I will be on the edge of my seat at the end of January. 2010 is going to be an exciting year for gear heads.

These days, I’m as busy as ever, a mixed blessing in some situations. While I don’t have a lot of free time to play more Mario Kart on the Wii, I do have a lot of fun projects and clients to keep happy. Here’s a brief list of some of the stuff I use to stay productive:

• Cashboard: Cashboard is a slick little web application, complete with integrated Dashboard widget for Mac OS X, that I use for managing tasks and time tracking on projects for clients. They even have a free version that lets you manage up to two projects. Subscriptions are nicely priced in different tiers depending on the amount of projects and contacts you need to manage.
• Anxiety: Anxiety is the best, most minimal To Do list I’ve used on the Mac. I’ve tried other apps like The Hit List, but keep coming back to Anxiety. It’s lightweight and very well integrated with iCal.
• Mozilla Thunderbird: Don’t get me wrong, when I’m on my Mac, I’m a full-blown Apple Mail fan, but at work, we run Windows and Outlook is not my friend. I’ve got Thunderbird configured with a theme that closely matches the Mail experience on OS X, and a minimal folder/filing system that lets me use my inbox as a task list of pending projects. And speaking of email, I’m also a big fan of Merlin Mann’s “Inbox Zero” philosophy. Check out his great presentation here.
• iCal/MobileMe: I may be one of the few who doesn’t have constant troubles with Apple’s MobileMe, a service that syncs my desktop calendar and email with the cloud (online), so that I can pull up my schedule, emails, contacts, and more via web browser. I find the web apps very easy to use and stay connected with my main email account and calendars all day long.
• Google Chrome: Quite possibly the best web browsing experience available on a Windows PC. I love its minimalistic user interface and speed most of all. Sure, Firefox has dozens of great, powerful add-ons, but when you want a browsing experience that is fast, Chrome is where it’s at! Chrome works great with Apple’s online web apps for MobileMe that I mentioned above.

Coming soon: A Note on Unproductivity (or better known as the fun stuff I distract myself with)

Have you ever had the need to put together a teleconference with very little to no time? Forget WebEx, and you really don’t even need GoToMyPC.com. Why pay money if you don’t need to? All you need is a free account from DimDim.com.

Just a few weeks ago, I used DimDim on my Mac to share my screen with a client in Roswell, and another in Carlsbad. They were able to see my presentation, my Mac’s screen (and they were using Windows, so the cross-platform aspect is beautiful), and have a conference voice conversation all in one place. DimDim advertises that no software downloads or installs are needed, which is not exactly true. To share your screen and be a presenter, there is a small plugin (all major platforms) that takes about a minute to set up. The service’s email notification makes scheduling a meeting a snap and will send out an invitation to your attendees.

DimDim has found a permanent place in my toolkit for freelancing. A free product (premium subscriptions also available) saved me 4 hours in the car this month, give it a try!

Backups are essential today–we’ve all lost files at some point and we all know our hard drives will fail at some point. That is why it is important to have a firm strategy and plan in backing up your files. Whether you use external hard drives or an online service like Mozy, you’re better off using one of these options than nothing.

New blog Managing Your Digital Life (MYDL.ME) has some great tips and discussions going on about managing backups on your computer. Many of the tips center around Drobo, a hot little product that makes expanding your backup capacities a snap. Drobo appeals to photographers, video producers, and other creatives who rely on large capacity drives to accomidate a horde of gigabytes of data. If one of the drives gets full, Drobo lets you know and  you simply pop in a new, empty SATA hard drive and Drobo intelligently moves your data and recognizes the new elbow room.

I don’t have a Drobo yet, but I’m currently relying on Apple’s Time Machine in OS X Leopard to backup my data weekly to an external hard drive. What are you using to manage your backups?

As a parent, I now have a new goal in educating our youngest child:

A fat little strawberry!

Here’s a quick download for you today. It has been slow at work so I have been goofing around in Illustrator. I look forward to offering more downloads in the future, and depending on popularity, I will offer them in a variety of resolutions.

Click to download JPEG in 1440 by 900 pixels, do it now!

Last week ushered in the release of WordPress 2.7, aka “Coltrane!” I held off a few days on installing this new release, which is a pretty major overhaul, only out of lack of time to update my current install. The new admin dashboard is such a huge breath of fresh air, as I really didn’t care too much for anything prior to 2.7.

With the release of WordPress 2.7, I am further impressed and inspired by such a cool (and free) piece of software. I look forward to bringing more 2.7 supported enhancements to my site in the next month or so.