Technology – Page 10 – Noise Between Stations

MacOS X Email Client?

So I recently upgraded to MacOS X and for the most part I’m loving it. But I haven’t found an email client that sings. So far

I hear the MacOS X Mail program is kinda lame
I’ve used Eudora in the past, and I’m willing to again. The interface is embarrasingly bad at times, but I’ve been using it for so long it’s second nature.
Mailsmith has all the speed and niceties you’d expect from the makers of BBEdit, but it’s optimized for keyboard shortcuts, having almost no buttons in the interface. Too clumsy for me.
I’d be willing to check out Entourage (especially to try out Six Degrees), but apparently Microsoft only sells it with Office and I don’t use Office enough to justify upgrading.
Anyone using Mulberry? It looks very strong technically but a little suspect in the interface department.
Being quite satisfied with Mozilla, I’m seriously considering using its email. I like having the ability to email, surf, and do basic HTML markup all in one place.

Your opinion?

Update: Mr. Allen, and a couple others, say Entourage is solid. Of Powermail he says, ‘…fairly stripped down, good filtering capabilities, and nicer looking than Eudora.‘

Mr. Garrett writes in that Entourage does have some nifty features but that search is ‘appallingly slow‘ and instead he’s considering Mozilla, as is Michael. I save every email ever and tend to search my folders a lot, so this is making me want Entourage less.

Herr Garrett also mentions Zoe, which we agreed was intriguing but perhaps not ready for everyday use.

And, I just found the Apple directory of email clients.

So, I’m trying the Powermail demo to see if it’s worth $49 more than Mozilla.

Also, there’s SweetMail.

Small Pieces

Seems like all the cool kids are reading Small Pieces Loosely Joined. I’m already in the middle of three or four books so I won’t get to this anytime soon, but there’s a couple of chapters available online.

Get Me Some dot com

Over lunch L. and I invented a new web service, soon to become part of the LazyWeb. You insert a metatag into your page that indicates whether you have a partner or not. Our service aggregates this info, along with similar info of people, say, on your subway line, in your social network, your blogspace, your blogroll, etc.

If in the unfortunate case that you separate from your partner, you check http://www.getmesome.com/ and you’ll see related people who are in the same scenario as you.

Aside: We had a good laugh over this, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about how practical it would be. On another level, the laughter is at the expense of the current social networks analysts, who are finding a lot of connections that may be devoid of any practical meaning. GetMeSome.com’s connections aren’t strong enough to be an indicator of compatibility, or even simple attraction. And yet, it does get you thinking about dating services of the future.

Mozilla Help to the Rescue

Clicking a Link

Most web pages contain links you can click to move to other pages.

1. Move the pointer until it changes to a pointing finger. This happens whenever the pointer is over a link. Most links are underlined text, but buttons and pictures can also be links.

2. Click the link once. While the network locates the page that the link points to, status messages appear at the bottom of the window.

Attention Amazon Shoppers…

oh my, Amazon is trying their version of Blue Light Specials (communicating artificial exclusivity to generate demand). But just as with Kmart’s merchandise, it’s all crap. A George Foreman Rotisserie? Ugh.

The Future of the Mobile Phone

Nils Rydbeck, former Ericsson phone designer and inventor of GSM outlines four different scenarios for the future of the mobile phone:

1. The phone contains everything that you have at home in your computer.

2. The phone becomes an entertainment and gaming device for youth, possibly with a display showing the person you’re talking to.

3. The phone carries everything that you have in your pocket.

4. The phone is just a phone.

He’s more inclined towards number 3.

BrainHeart

http://www.brainheartmagazine.com/

Leave it to the Swedes to come up with a smart, sensible tech magazine that makes sense in 2002, an accomplished forty-something to Wired’s sniveling adolescence. It’s published by a venture capital firm in a socialist country.

Unfortunately not all of the articles are online, like Diane Coyle’s wonderfully honest and passionate “The Promise of High Trust Economy”: ‘…the more complex the technology basis of the economy, the more complicated and subtle the society needed to operate it. The high-tech economy…depends crucially on the exchange of ideas. And that means people engaging with other people.‘

Current Mobile Platforms

I’m working on a project where I can influence the platform used, a rare opportunity. So I’ve been researching some of the current mobile platforms I didn’t know much about…

Ultra-personal computers: OQO is working on a full-powered PC – including Wi-Fi – that will fit in your pocket. Also see IBM’s Meta Pad. Nice when you need all that power and portability, but is that power usable with the small screen? I think we’re seeing computers whose raw performance has outpaced the input/output potential. We need goggles and 3D force-feedback haptic devices to replace our screens and mice.

Tablet PC: a Microsoft-backed platform, basically a laptop with a screen that will fold down and become a touch-sensitive tablet. Considering how low laptop prices could go, this could easily replace the mythical web tablet. But as a PC, will the pen-based computing (itself a moniker of failure) be useful with something other than simplified PDA-like apps?

Mira: Even more likely to become your web tablet, imagine taking your flat screen monitor off its dock and bringing it to another room while it wirelessly communicates with the desktop setup.

And of course there’s Pocket PCs and Palms, which don’t seem as attractive for custom apps due to the limited compatibility with other platforms.

All of the above are non-Apple platforms. Let’s hope the folks in Cupertino have something up their sleeve to follow up the G4 Laptop, they usually do.

Hoopla.com

It’s odd that the week I decide to link to the wonderful writing of Hoopla.com is the week the domain is stolen.

I tried writing a polite letter to NetSol notifying them I’d switch any domains I’d registered there to another registrar, but despite their feedback policy I didn’t receive a reply. Bastards.

Powermate Volume Knob

Last year I wished aloud for a hardware volume knob for my Mac. Griffin Tech has released what may be the coolest volume knob ever, essentially a function-assignable rotary USB controller. The Wired article has more. Links courtesy Jerry Kindall.

Combining the Powermate’s software with the Oxygen 8‘s USB controls could result in a whole new interface into multimedia authoring.

Is this mike on?

Testing, testing…great, this seems to work. As threatened, I’ve moved my blog from Blogger to Tinderbox. As a first step I’ve simply replicated all the current functionality, so you shouldn’t notice much difference. Links should open in new windows these days.

Gradually I’ll be using all the goodies of Tinderbox to do fun new stuff here, and will explain the reasoning behind the move. But I need more time.

I haven’t had the chance to test my layout with all of the usual browsers, if you see something odd please let me know.