d00dism

Address Book has some neat built-in features. Some are more hidden than others. Most people find that by clicking on addresses, a menu will pop up offering to bring up a map for that address. Very cool. What is not cool is that it uses MapQuest.

Let me revise that. I don’t like MapQuest. It’s a pain to work with. I like Google Maps. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could use it instead? You can with the Google Maps Plugin (donationware).

Not only will it bring up addresses in Google Maps, but it will also assist in finding directions between any two entries or custom addresses you write in.

It even sports its own preferences, allowing for customizations that will assist in making the address shown more accurate (by blocking out apartment numbers and the like). If you enjoy Brian’s terrific work, let him know with a donation.

Back when the Supreme Court handed down their decision on Grokster, I made a few quick conclusions based upon some cursory reading I did. I didn’t really expect to get quoted on Computerworld.

Derik DeLong says Grokster assisted in the act of piracy and that it, “Wasn’t just turning a blind eye.”

I need to find a better way to figure when I get linked. It happened over a month ago.

My coworkers haven’t seen me without my Morf stress ball since I got it at Staples. I constantly have to do something with my hands and it occupied them. squish squish

I was sitting at my desk, listening to a podcast, and looking at my computer screen. All of a sudden, I heard a squirting sound and something touching my shoulder. I froze. What was that? I looked over at my shoulder and all over my shirt was a bunch of yellow goo. A tiny hole opened itself as I squeezed and the contents were now decorating my shirt.

Fabulous. The stress ball couldn’t take the stress. My attempts to rinse the goo off were unsuccessful. Of course that put me in a terribly pissy mood. However, according to their site, the goo will wash out.

If a MORF ball leaks its gravy-like contents onto clothing rest assured that since the coloring comes from food-grade dye, it will wash out completely in one or two trips to the washing machine. Use a spot remover like “Spray n Wash” if the area has dried or hardened. Try to wash it out as soon as possible. Red-colored gravy make take multiple wash cycles.

Update: You’ll be glad to know it washed out (warning: it was the yellow and not the red as Andy pointed out). I also will not be buying another.

Apple released new iBooks and Mac minis. All in all, the updates were really minor. The good news is that all Mac models now sport at least 512 MB of RAM. That’s pretty much the whole of the update for the minis.

The iBooks on the other hand, have been bumped to 1.33 GHz and 1.42 GHz. They’ve also moved up to Radeon 9550s in lieu of Radeon 9200s. Oddly enough, the 14″ also gained 9 MHz for its bus apparently. This is the only Mac I’ve read of ever to have a 142 MHz bus. That might be the only thing to make this round of revisions memorable.

Along the lines of their other recent moves, like buying Flickr, Yahoo! has acquired Konfabulator. Longtime Mac fans should recognize the product and its author, Arlo Rose, for his role in creating Kaleidoscope. Recent Mac fans should recognize the debacle surrounding Apple’s creation of Dashboard.

This brings the immediate benefit of making Konfabulator free. Previously, the framework itself cost $20 to register. When comparing Konfabulator to Dashboard, the price difference (Dashboard being free with Tiger) gave Dashboard the edge. Yahoo! effecting this price change will have a dramatic effect upon its market share. Mac users will feel free to compare it directly to Dashboard without feeling obligation. As for Windows users, the new Yahoo! association should bring lots of attention. Those two effects should stimulate Widget developers into developing for Konfabulator again. That’s a good thing because as I write this, there is still no working package tracker. Very lame.

Another point I glossed over is that Konfabulator is cross-platform. I’ve already installed it at work. Should I discover a set of Widgets that I really like, I may even start using it at home on my Macs. Seeing as the Widgets themselves are written using web languages that interpreted rather than compiled, it’s only natural that it be cross-platform. There’s nothing blocking a Linux version as well.

Also worthy of attention is the response this acquisition has generated. It was to be expected though. Some are naturally cheering the move because it breaths new life into the project along with a steady stream of money. It also gives the end user a new toy to play with. It has also yielded the unoriginal negative response. As you read this, people are getting in a huff, protesting the illicit corporate takeover of their puppy favorite software. Yahoo! is the antichrist. It’s completely irrational of course, but don’t dare say that or you might get a long winded rant on how corporations are destroying everything near and dear.

That’s not to say that some trepidation isn’t warranted. Certainly, Yahoo’s track record concerning the Mac OS hasn’t been sparkling. Long term we may see declining support for the platform that originally played host in favor of Windows. However, jumping to that conclusion now is terribly premature. Lots can happen and Yahoo may see the value in maintaining its cross-platform nature as it brings a host of Mac-based developers who, let’s face it, have a much better eye for presentation and user interface behavior. Indeed, that may have been what sold Yahoo in the first place.

To borrow a tired phrase, I for one welcome our new Widget overlords. Download a copy on them.