Everything Else

I have been using Omniweb browser for over a year now. Recently I upgraded, and for at least 24 hours everything seemed okay, then Omniweb started crashing whenever my default start page: Netvibes would load. I do not know why Omniweb started doing this but since a browser is central to what I do every day I cannot be without a reliable one. I liked Omniweb, while it was not nearly as fast as many other browsers it had all the luxury features one might expect in a Caddilac. In particular the killer app for me since I post so much on the web was the built in support for Mac OS X spell checking as you type: if I misspell a word a it is underlined in red as I type - loved that.

So I needed a new browser.

I have been using Flock browser, only on my laptops, for the last month or so, and while it is not perfect I think I will give it a try on my main desktop machine now. What I do not like about Flock is the way it handles bookmarks so I'm going to give the del.icio.us bookmarking feature a try and see if I like that better.

Flock's spell check is not OS X native but it is good enough.

Flock uses the same rendering engine as Firefox.

Flock has a very nice search box feature. Yahoo is the default, but you can add others and change the default search engine if you like.

Flock has extensions like Firefox (although not as many). I added the Ask Power Tools, which adds Ask search menu to the right click menu after you highlight something.

I have tried various other browsers for Mac OS X and have found them all wanting in some crucial aspect, so I guess Flock is it for now.

So Apple announced the iPhone available in June '07 and I definitely want one because it would eliminate my carrying around both a PDA and a cellphone and be Mac compatible.

But that got me thinking about what I use my PDA for:

1. Addresses and Telephone Numbers - Well the iPhone should handle that and it should sync with Address Book which I use.

2. Appointments/Schedule - again I use iCal and it should handle that.

3. To Do list - part of iCal, I would think they would incorporate this.

4. Note pad - like a sticky note you jot on with a stylus. I use this all the time. I used it today to jot down the dimensions on some furniture in a store so I could measure the space for it once I got home. I also jot down telephone numbers and all sorts of notes. Since the iPhone does not have a stylus I suspect it does not have a note pad application. I suppose I can live without it but it will be missed.

5. Memo pad - this is for typed notes. I keep lists of authors and book titles on it for reference at used book stores, plus other semi permanent notes. Looks like they have something for this.

6. Calculator - I see there is a widget for this. Good.

7. Internet - iPhone will do this better than my Palm TX.

8. Ebook reader - This might be a problem - perhaps a major one. I get a lot of ebooks at Manybooks. They have a format for iPods using the Notes feature. If that works on the iPhone in iPod mode I might be satisfied. I want to be able to carry around ebooks for reading while in waiting rooms, etc. Being able to read free public domain ebooks on the iPhone is very important to me, much much more important than reading books that are for sale by the publishers. For sale books would be nice too but I definitely want to be able to choose my sources for free content. I currently do most of my reading on my PDA and I do not want to carry both around.

In addition there are some features I really want:

Yahoo - I definitely must have Yahoo local search, web search, email and maps. I've tried all the Google stuff and I prefer Yahoo for local search and maps, plus I already use Yahoo email daily and I don't intend to change. I would also like to be able to add other search engines like Ask, but I can be satisfied with Yahoo and Google.

Now the other hurdle is to see how much per month the service plan is for the iPhone. If I can be fairly well satisfied on the above and the price is not too high I might buy one in early Autumn after people have had a chance to really test the iPhone in the wild and review it.

The exciting part for me is having web and email access with me practically everywhere I go. That is what the iPhone can give me if the price is not too high for service.

Webmailer makes your web based email your default program on your Mac computer. So when you click on a mailto: link on a website Webmailer opens your webmail account in your default browser. It's free.

This is great. I use Yahoo mail for 98% of my work and it always irritates me that my computer would always look to a email client like Apple Mail or Eudora (whatever was default) to send emails. This is a great little utility that I will be installing on all my Mac's.

Source: TUAW

List of free open source software for the Mac. Source: Random Ramblings.

I had an email advertisement in my inbox this morning from Rhapsody.com, which is Real.com's subscription music service, saying that they are now available for Apple Mac computer users. If the subscription model (as opposed to the purchase model) for music interests you I suppose it is worth looking at.

Earlier I talked about Delicious Library which is a software program for indexing your libraries of Books, Movies, Music and Games. I thought I would post an update now that I have indexed everything.

First I bought the Bluetooth barcode reader from Delicious Library. It made indexing over 300 movies on both DVD and VHS very fast. In fact I was done in just a couple of hours! The music went slower - much slower - because most of my CD's have been bought through BMG Classical Music Club and do not have UPC bar codes on them. Compounding this: most of my classical CD's are from the early 1990's and are now out of print. So the bottom line was that I was going to have to do a lot of hand searching. Thank goodness I have broadband! Through trial and error I found the best way was to do a classical music search right on the Amazon.com website. Usually I could find the CD I owned that way. Then I would copy the Amazon ASIN # into Delicious Library and then use that to import the Amazon information for that CD. Once I got the workflow down it didn't take that long, but it was nowhere as fast as scanning barcodes.

The rock and jazz CD's went faster. About 2/3rds of those had barcodes. And those that did not were easy to locate through the title search on Delicious Library.

I also like the ability to download an inventory to my iPod - it is an easy solution to making the Library portable so I can take it with me to the store.

I'm very impressed with the functionality and very visual presentation of Delicious Library. Considering that one program catalogs 4 different collections for a list price of $40 it is a bargain for Apple Mac users. And I finally feel I have a handle knowing what titles I own.

I was reading this post by Wil Shipley this morning. And I just made the connection that Wil is involved with both Delicious Library, which I just bought over the weekend, and also with OmniWeb which is a premium browser for Mac OS X. Well I'm impressed enough with Delicious Library to take a new look at OmniWeb as a browser. I tried it once many years ago and I didn't like the rendering engine. But now it is using the same rendering engine as Safari so I think it merits a new test. OmniWeb has a free 30 day trial so I will give it a test for the next month.

Stay tuned.

I'm back to using Safari for awhile. I was using Camino, which I like, but Camino does not tap into the features of OS X the way Safari does.

But there are two things that allow me to use Safari now as my default browser:

1.) I'm no longer using Typepad or Blogger for blogging. Safari just does not do JavaScript the way the rest of the browsers do it so the WYSIWYG posting controls for Typepad and Blogger do not work with Safari.

2.) I have modified Safari with AcidSearch, which allows me to add my own search engines and change the default. Plus I can highlight and right-click and run a search on my new default engine - Clusty. I really hate it when browser makers dictate what search engine I have to use. Without something like AcidSearch I would not bother using Safari.

Who know in a month I might be back to using Camino.

I have been putting this off till after Christmas but I had to break down and buy Delicious Library, a library inventory program which keeps track of books, movies, music and games. I like it that one program tracks all 4 types of items, even though I have very few games. The neat thing is this program will send the inventory to my iPod so I can take my inventory with me (although I would have preferred it sync to my Palm PDA.)

The program is very good about fetching information from Amazon after you type in the book title.

The truth is I can never remember which CD's or movies I happen to have and that is what requires me to break down and buy some software. I often buy them as gifts for others and the titles just blur together.

I am going to treat books a bit differently. Mainly it will be a list of books I have bought from this point onward and it will not totally be accurate because I normally buy the ebook addition of a book whenever possible.

I also ordered the optional, Bluetooth, laser bar code scanner to help me inventory all those CD's and movies faster ... I'm such a lazy slug.

Yesterday my web page loads slowed down dramatically. At first I thought it was Comcast broadband slowing down as everyone bought new music for their iPods they got at Christmas.

But, this morning the problem was still there. So while I went to make my second cup of coffee for the morning, I shut down my computer and unplugged it. I also unplugged both the wireless access router and the cable internet modem. Then plugged it all back in again and restarted the computer.

Bingo.

Now all pages are once again loading very fast. Static cling almost ate my Apple.

Shiira browser for Mac OS X has had a major upgrade with plenty of new features. I like Shiira, in many ways it is better than Safari. I particularly like the ability to add additional search engines of my choosing to the search box. They have also added an RSS reader which is a fine addition. What Shiira is still missing, and what keeps it from becoming my main browser, is autofilling of forms and proper remembering of login and passwords. Once it has that I will seriously consider switching to it. Until they do I will stick with Camino.