CT League of Women Voters advocates for Net Neutrality

Yay for CT LWV!

(And thanks to Bruce Schneier for the link.)

Mac OS X 10.4.7 feature: right-click with the trackpad

That last checkbox is a great new feature in OS X 10.4.7. Not sure what models get this feature; it certainly works (and pleases me) on my MacBook Pro. Having immediate access to right-click without needing to use a modifier key (eg, ctrl) is really, really nice.

Technological Freedom enables Political Freedom

Obvious, right?

Well, it's the key thing you have to keep in mind when you're thinking "Does this Net Neutrality or software patent nonsense really matter? Should I call my elected representatives about this?"

Yes, it does really matter. Yes, you really should pick up the phone.

And when you call, tell them it's not about access to free movies and free music. It's about access to free ideas. And free speech. It is literally about open access to a public forum where anyone who lives in technological freedom can speak freely, and the marketplace of ideas can flourish. You know, that whole democracy and liberty thing that is the real core of what is great about America. And it's that intellectual openness that has been the source of some of the best of the entire human experience.

So - go ahead. Call your elected representatives, and let them know that on Independence Day, we are counting on them to preserve our independence now. Starting with ensuing the freedom of the technology that's the plumbing that's created the greatest arena for freedom of ideas in the history of mankind.

You can do it, you just have to call.

Platform Wars: OpenLaszlo Project Blog

If this prediction comes true, that'll be good news for Ben!

Here's a prediction : the two most important GUI standards in the next two years will be the Flash virtual machine and DHTML + Javascript + SVG.
OpenLaszlo is probably set to become the first major tool to develop for them both.

Ultra Fantasy Rhapsody

"Recently, the higher-ups at Real have rewarded me with Ultra-Fantasy Rhapsody. Not only do I get to listen to classic Led Zeppelin and Eagles material, but I also get a sneak peek at the future and am able to listen to albums that have yet to be released or even created. While I'm not permitted to play any snippets for you, I can offer a few reviews so at least you know what to expect."

(Via Pop-Ed | The Rhapsody Editorial Music Blog.)

What’s best for Office 2007: Virtual XP or real Vista?

You know what? Office 2007 is more usable on my MacBook Pro under Windows XP via Parallels Desktop than it is on my Vista Beta 2 test machine with Aero Glass on.

	MacBook (VM environment for XP)	Vista machine
CPU	Intel Core Duo 1.83ghz	Athlon XP 2600+
RAM	1.5 gb (512mb)	1.5gb
Video	ATI X1600?	Nvidia FX5500 64mb

What’s it mean? Well, maybe instead of buying a new PC for your next computer, you should get an Intel-based Mac and just run Windows XP on it. Just a thought.

x

Posting from Word 2007

This is a test blog post from Word 2007 beta 2, which I initially heard about from Joe Friend’s blog. I have Office 2007 beta 2 installed on my MacBook Pro running Windows XP in Parallels Desktop.

He's strong, really strong, man

Zeb:

I'm strong, really strong, man. You better not ask me to punch you as hard as I can. Please don't do that!

You got it Zeb.

Unless you're a bad guy!
And you better not ask me to charge you with my head first. Please don't! I'm very fast, man! You're gonna fall out of your chair and you might even wet your pants.

One long! Lace me! What have you got!

Ryan tells a great Clara story, and ends up visiting KEXP and showing up on their blog.

Dan's favorite Mac OS X apps & utilities

So I recently mentioned two great Mac OS X DVD ripping and encoding apps. I realize there are several other applications and utilities which I immediately install on any Mac I use. Some I've talked about before. Here's the whole list with sporadic commentary. I'll turn these into URLs when I'm not feeling so lazy but you can jfgi using their names and "Mac OS X" in the meantime.

Or use versiontracker. The comments are useful if you ignore the trolls and patheticly uninformed comments.

HandBrake and ffmpegX - see that previous post.

Dasher Daemon - menubar geek system monitor; network bandwidth usage monitor, cpu, disk activity, memory usage, etc.

NetNewsWire Pro. Awesome Mac RSS newsreader. It:

• has just about every feature I could want in a newsreader
• it's architecture is excellent in terms of allowing you to choose what other apps you want to have it call for performing related functions
• it integrates with NewsGator, so I can stay synchronized across:

1. my Macs
2. Windows machines at home and at work
3. my RAZR cell phone
4. whatever Microsoft SmartPhone I end up getting for work so I can start trying it out with our Exchange 2003 upgrade.
5. and whatever other machines I happen to use that aren't one of the above, as long as it has a web browser
   

Speaking of the web and cell phone - I use Opera Mini on my RAZR. Go get Opera Mini right now if you have a cell phone with web access. I guarantee Mini is better than the browser that came on your cell phone.

Bittorrent. Great for getting those iso's.

Firefox of course. Have I blogged about the Firefox extensions I use? These aren't necessarily the very best in the world, but they're the ones I use. Firefox extensions:

1. Sessionsaver
2. Del.icio.us
3. TabColor
4. Logmein.com

iLove iLife but iJust don't iUse iMovie or iDVD or iWeb or iGarageBand that much. iWish iHad more iTime to iDo iThat. Of course iDo iUse iPhoto and iTunes aTon.

Activity Monitor. It's in your Utilities folder and I run it as a startup (login) item.

Google Earth rocks. Everyone who has a computer and is interested in looking at the planet they live on should have it. Very happy there's finally a Mac version. Thanks!