One of my favorite bloggers is Fake Steve, who poses as Steve Jobs and offers a hilarious approach to things in the Apple and Tech world. Recently there has been many people who have been trying to uncover who he is, through probably completely legal but unethical means. Some people have gone so far to make a special website just for Fake Steve, with a link only he received, that was used to discover where is from (Boston). While Valleywag has taken some heat, from Fake Steve himself as well, they offer some points that say why Andy Ihnatko isn’t Fake Steve in this post, citing reasons that while Andy is funny, Fake Steve is funnier, Andy Inahtko uses Verizon while Fake Steve does not, and more.

Gizmodo also has some points at that Fake Steve won’t be able to stay Fake for long, if the hunt carries on. They are one of the many groups of people who want Fake Steve to remain fake, including TUAW, Buzz Out Loud, and many individuals on Twitter as well.

I am in the group that wants Fake Steve to remain fake. I admit I was curious, but once Fake Steve wrote the post about the invasions of privacy, I figured that it went too far, and that it would be better for everyone if it stopped. I doubt the people who have done the things to discover who he is will stop, but maybe if enough people show their disapproval they will. It’s a big maybe though.

While I’m sure any of you use the popular app CoverSutra, there is a new one that has been in progress for the past 6 months, and it is Artwork. Artwork is being developed by Dan Deming-Henes, and so far, has been great. Artwork isn’t released to the public yet, so take this review as a preview on what’s to come. Artwork shows your album art on your desktop, with controls, in a window with the choice of large or small. One of the features of CoverSutra that has been requested frequently is inset controls, along with the HUD it has. Artwork does not have a HUD, but I find this better. For a look at the different types of views, see below.

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For those who don’t know, Steve Jobs gave another preview of Leopard (coming in October) during his keynote at WWDC 2007. (You can watch the keynote here) There are many new features in Leopard, some that I like, and some that I don’t. That said, I like most of them, but there are some things I find useless. To see all of the announced (so far) features of Leopard, click here.

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Since WWDC is coming very soon, there has been much speculationon what will happen. As you can read in the comment on Jordan Chark’s blog, I have some differing views. I’ll paste what I said there below:

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

As you may have read in an earlier post, I have been trying to learn Cocoa. Cocoa is what many developers for Mac OS X use to make their software, and can create great results. I have been putting it off though, even though I bought the book. The one thing I have learned so far, is how to correctly spell Cocoa.

But, instead of following the book exactly the way it says, I think it would be a good idea if I had something I wanted to do, and that is why I am writing this post. I have been wondering what types of apps my readers want, for Macs, so I can attempt to make one. You should make it easy, so I have a better chance, but put all your ideas if you want.

So, if you have an idea, or a mac app that you want, leave a comment.

PS: This doesn’t merit its own post, but I finally picked up The Four Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss.

If you have a laptop, chances are that you don’t like to shut it down and restart it every time you want to use it. I’m the same way, but I may do it a little less often than the rest. I generally leave my laptop on for as long as I can, without doing any updates or restarts, unless something doesn’t work and needs a restart badly. I’ve racked up times around 15-20 days, and once or twice even a month. I don’t know whether or not this is good for my Macbook, but it works better for me.

Even though I probably won’t change my ways, does anyone know whether or not this is bad/good for a laptop? And, if you do the same, leave a comment.

Many of you probably own Apple hardware, which means that some of you may have bought it at an Apple Store. You know those bags that Apple gives you? I am here to remind you to reuse and enjoy them.

There are a couple reasons for this conclusion: First of all, they look nice, so you won’t be embarrassed like you might be when carrying around a plastic bag from your local supermarket. Another reason is that they close easily; the smaller ones close on one end, and are easy to carry, and the others have shoulder straps. And the third and possibly most important reason, it shows that you like Apple stuff. Which, is something you should be proud of.

If you have ever reused Apple bags, or have another suggestion for them, leave a comment.

Many of you who read the blog probably use RSS Feeds to subscribe to the content. For those of you who have Macs, I recommend NewsFire for all your RSS feed needs. I’m not going to go into detail why, but it’s easy to use, small, lightweight, and just works well. If you don’t like NewsFire though, there are more options, such as NetNewsWire, Vienna, NewsLife, or even Safari’s built in one. But, as I use NewsFire, I have some things about it that I want to share.

Folders
If you have a lot of feeds like I do (If I like the blog, I bookmark it and add it to NewsFire), and while some people may get rid of feeds that aren’t updated anymore, I don’t. For a couple reasons: With folders, I don’t see the feeds, and for blogs which often go on un-scedualed hiatuses (such as my own), I give the benefit of the doubt to the blogger. But, not only does it keep my from having to keep me from deleting feeds all the time, it cleans up NewsFire and allows lots of feeds to be in there no problem.

Smart Folders
Along with folders, smart folders are another handy ability in NewsFire. Some people use more, such as the ones seen here like “Submit to Digg”, but I just use a flagged one. I often come upon digg stories that I imagine would be long, or posts on blogs that are interesting but I don’t have the time to read at that point. I flag them (command-L), then read them later.

Clusters
Whether you choose to cluster groups or smart feeds, clustering comes in handy. As I like the look of clustered groups better (instead of the bubble, the background is blue), I cluster my groups together and have my smart feeds at the bottom.

Those are some of the tips I find most useful in NewsFire, and I hope you like them. If you have any more suggestions, leave a comment.

Last year, when my school decided that every student needed a laptop of their own, many students bought Macbooks, or they stuck with the familiar and bought Dells. Both laptops were recommended though, but this year, the Macbooks no longer have a spot on the recommended laptops list. This change comes from a lot of work in the computer department of my school, when they need to call in Apple to buy new parts or fix unfamiliar things. They don’t like having to fix and order parts for the Macbooks, and although the problems are mostly the student’s faults, it still has to be done. While I don’t agree with the change, as I bought the laptop from Apple myself and not from the school’s online Apple store and have kept my Macbook in good condition, the change is still going to happen.

Now, I love Apple, so I hope this post comes of some help. One of the reasons that the Macbooks are no longer being recommended (and not even supported) next year is because they say Apple hasn’t been to good with support. While I don’t think believe this to be true, something needs to be changed either way. I have a good feeling the school won’t change their mind, but if Apple does a few things, maybe they can keep support of other schools. Now, the things that need to be done:

Get Things Done Quicker: The school is partly to blame for this, but I’ve noticed it takes way too long to get things fixed. I don’t have any specific examples, but it just takes way too long.

Be A Bit Nicer: When comparing computer companies, such as Dell and Apple, people always say that Dell has great support. While this may be true, as I haven’t gotten to test this myself, I imagine part of it is because Apple either is really nice about it, or refuses to do anything at all. It could depend on whether you have a nice Apple Genius (I had the same one twice, he’s a great guy), if you have had problems before (There is something called the rule of threes with Apple support, which says that if something major happens three times, whether it be different things, Apple just gives you a new one), or if your issue isn’t widespread. When discoloration started appearing on the white Macbooks, Apple ignored it, until enough people complained about it. Same way with the Random Shutdowns that were occuring. If you had an unheard of issue, Apple would simply refuse to help. Also, things also happen to break as soon as your warranty runs out, but that’s true with everything expensive.

Focus On Organizations: While some people may not be happy with this, Apple needs to focus more on organizations such as school or companies. If the support is done as a whole at those places, then it is more important then one person. If they don’t do a good job at a large organization, they could lose a lot of sales.

I doubt Apple, or anyone really important at Apple, will ever read this, but I feel it had to be said. I was annoyed when my school said they would stop recommending Apple laptops, and I’m sure Apple won’t be to happy with it either.

If you have any good or bad stories about Apple support, sound off in the comments.

A while back, I wrote a post about my favorite dashboard widgets. Since then, my needs have changed quite a bit, and I have some new favorites (and some old). So, here they are:

10. Other Tips - Dashboard kickstart, which opens dashboard on login, and dashboard developer mode, which can put widgets on the desktop. Another way to do this is dragging the widget from the bottom, hitting f12, then dropping it. (Taken from my old post, I still use these)

9. People/Business - I featured this one last time, but I still use it a lot. Pretty self-explanatory, helps me find businesses and people close to me whenever I need them. I use this on the family computer, and on the laptop which I bring everywhere too.

8. Weather - Another repeat, I used this one last time. Another self-explanatory one, tells me what I need to know and fast.

7. Flip Clock - Since my sister moved to California for her new job, I need to know what time it is there, and in a nice way. I originally used it for my time zone, but thought it was useless because it was already in the menubar. Another nice widget that does its purpose quickly and beautifully.

6. iSheer - This widget uploads to imageshack.us instantly, and gives you a link to the uploaded image in your clipboard. This means you can just drag it in, wait a couple seconds, and paste it to your friend or somewhere else.

5. Dictionary - When I read and write posts, I often come upon words that I don’t understand, or don’t understand completely but still want to use. I just plug it into the widget and find the definition and history. By going to the thesaurus tab, I can quickly see what alternative words I can use.

4. Transmit Widget - I have a dump folder on my website, and I often upload things to there, but have to open up Transmit first. After looking back on the Transmit site, I came upon this, and loved it. It makes uploading and sharing non-image files really easy.

3. iStat Nano - I used to use iStat Pro, but this new update to iStat nano is really nice. It’s an improvement over the old interface, and looks really nice while giving me the information I want to see. It also has this nice rollover effect, some when you roll over the widget with your mouse, it shows you the screen to give you more detailed information.

2. Junior Mint - I use Mint to track my stats now, and I really love it. I knew of Junior Mint before I got Mint, so I knew to use it. I love seeing how many hits and visits I get a month, day, and in the last hour, every time I refresh Dashboard.

1. Stickies - I never thought I would use this widget, but it’s exactly what I’ve needed for a long time. I have two widgets: To-Do, and To Blog, where I quickly store and delete things I have come across and need to do or blog about. I love being able to edit it easily, and it’s simplicity is its best bonus.

What Dashboard widget is your favorite? Sound off in the comments.