The past few years have brought tons of change to the world of computers. The iPhone showed us how great touch screen computing could be, and the iPad showed that sometimes, new interfaces can make apps much nicer. Today, Apple has released the latest version of their flagship product, Mac OS X Lion. It's the first major OS that shows how much mobile computing has affected the computer industry, and brings many of the things Apple has learned from touch screens and iOS to the Mac.
So what's in Lion? Beyond the already popular features in OS X, Lion has added a number of new enhancements that bring the best of iOS style to the desktop. I personally have only ever had limited exposure to OS X, but am looking forward to using Lion much more extensively. Here's my quick thoughts on it so far.
First, the Mac App Store and its Launchpad sidekick are a brilliant move for Apple. I've bemoaned for some time the increasing lack of new, innovative apps on Windows. There's just so little new stuff to be found. Apple is making it so much easier for new developers to target Mac users with apps, that there's simply an explosion of interesting and high quality apps on OS X today. Plus, Apple has brought it's own iWork apps to the App Store, which effectively gives you a high quality Office suite with most of Office's features for $60. Better still, you can run all App Store apps you purchase on all of your computers. Suddenly, just with the cost of Office and a couple more apps, PCs start sounding more expensive.
Second, the pervasive use of multitouch gestures is a great way to let normal users get more power out of their computers. Most people find keyboard shortcuts very confusing, but multitouch gestures are, for the most part, very natural. One thing I'm less sure about is the new reversed iOS-style scrolling, but you can always change that if you want. One thing about it: if you get Lion, make sure to get a Magic Trackpad as well to take advantage of the new touch gestures.
Third, the bundled apps are again setting the bar way above Windows. Mail, for example, supports Exchange by default. In Windows, you have to purchase Outlook just to receive mail from an Exchange account. There's another way Macs are seeming cheaper. Then, the new full screen apps look beautiful, and it'll be interesting to see how developers use these going forward to make new immersive app interfaces.
So, that's a quick breeze through my thoughts on the new features. I can't wait to get my hands on it, and will definitely write more about it then.
Getting Lion
Apple has been working for years to get us to quit using CDs and DVDs. The iTunes store lets you get your music and movies without disks, and then the App Store brought program installs without disks. OS X Lion now brings your new operating system without a disk, too.
This is actually not the newest thing. I personally installed Windows 7 and Ubuntu on my PC with a USB flash drive, and hardly ever use the DVD drive on it. I've installed Office, Photoshop Elements, and almost everything else from downloads instead of disks. It's been slightly more difficult for some things, but it just feels better to install software without using a DVD. Plus, it takes one step out of the process.
So Apple is now making this mainstream with Lion. If you have a Mac running Snow Leopard, you can purchase a Lion upgrade in the App Store for $29, and upgrade today. Then, all new Macs now come with Lion preinstalled, and the newest Minis and Airs also include a new feature Internet Recovery feature that can let you download and install Lion if you replace your hard drive or have some other critical problem. That is a very, very neat feature in my opinion. Finally, later this year, you'll be able to purchase Lion on a USB drive if you want a physical copy. One thing missing: optical disks.
Reviews
The tech community has outdone itself this time with OS X Lion reviews, so if you'd like to dig deeper and see more of what's new in Lion, here's the best articles so far for your reading pleasure:
And, if you'd like to really dig deep into OS X Lion, you can't miss John Siracusa's 19 page in-depth review of Lion at Ars Technica. It's an impressive article that digs into the most geeky parts of OS X, and shows why they matter. It also included perhaps the best ending, that summerizes what Lion is all about:
“Over the past decade, better technology has simply reduced the number of things that we need to care about. Lion is better technology. It marks the point where Mac OS X releases stop being defined by what’s been added. From now on, Mac OS X should be judged by what’s been removed.”
Best of all, if you're an Ars Technica subscriber, you can download it as a PDF or ePub eBook. Alternately, you can purchase it a copy of the full review from the Kindle Store for $4.99.
I can't wait to try it out, and let you know my own thoughts on it. For now, though, there's more than enough written about it to know Lion inside and out before you upgrade or buy a new Mac. Apple is really on a roll, and they're not stopping yet. Best of all, they're actively working to make computers simpler for anyone to use, and that's a policy I can easily get behind. Bravo.
If there's one type of software that is hard to get perfect, it's support software. There are dozens of popular customer support web apps, but it's often hard to find one that fits exactly your needs. Some keep everything private, others keep all of your support public. Some work great with email, others work great for creating beautifully formatted documentation for your own app. But with hosted services, you've got to take what's included, and often you're not going to be perfectly satisfied with the feature set.
That's why I'm excited that WooThemes has created a brand new support system out of WordPress: SupportPress. WordPress may have started out as a blogging system, but it can be used for far more than just that today. WooThemes is pushing the boundaries again by creating an advanced theme that uses custom post types and taxonomies to turn WordPress into a full features support center. You can manage support tickets, create beautifully formatted documentation, and update users on your site's status, all from one simple WordPress install.
By default, support tickets in SupportPress are private, but you can turn them into public knowledge base articles anytime you want. Your customers will get customized emails when you update their support tickets, and the theme is designed to work great on any size browser, even a smartphone. And you can manage profiles, respond to tickets, send internal messages to other team members, and more, without ever opening the WordPress dashboard. It does so much, it's easy to forget that you're still using WordPress.
So, now with a free WordPress setup on your server and a $100 copy of SupportPress, you can have a fully customized support system for your whole team. No restrictions on the number of users or customers, no extra fees or even ongoing costs for updates. Want to customize the design, or change how something works? The whole theme is built on HTML5 and CSS3, so you can tweak it to your heart's content.
I've been using it today on a test install at support.techinch.com, and have been really impressed with it. I'll be writing up a full review of it on Web.AppStorm.net soon, but for now, feel free to check it out there and read more about it on WooThemes' site. If you've been wanting a more customizable way to support your customers, or have wanted a cheaper alternative to the increasingly expensive support web apps, this might be just what you've been looking for. I'm personally very excited about the potential of app themes like this, and the new ways we can take self-hosted web apps farther than ever before!
The more I write, the less I want in my writing apps. It seems crazy at first. Why in the world would you want less features?
Because sometimes, less is more. Less distraction means getting more done. Less features means more focus on the features that are most important. Less UI means more content.
That's why I've fallen in love with focused writing apps, from OmmWriter to iA Writer to Simplenote, over the past few years. They take away the buttons, the settings, the features, and leave you with a space for your thoughts. They, they focus on the features that make a difference in your writing: a calming environment in OmmWriter, brilliant Markdown formatting in iA Writer, and powerful search and publishing in Simplenote.
Between these, I've got ways to write in an elegant manner on Windows, OS X, the iPad, and the web. But what about WordPress? WordPress has become increasingly cluttered over the years, and you can easily spend more time tweaking your blog than writing your posts. That's why I often compose posts in another writing app, then bring them over to WordPress to add formatting and post them.
Not any more. For the past several weeks, I've been beta testing a new WordPress plugin that brings simplicity back to blogging: Artsy Editor.
Artsy Editor strips away the extra stuff in WordPress, giving you a focused writing environment right in your blog. Hit F11 to take your browser full-screen, and it's almost as nice as iA Writer ... except in WordPress in your browser. There's a little bit of UI in Artsy Editor: a post button on the top right which also lets you see the HTML of a post, a settings button in the bottom left, an Upload button in the bottom right, and a close button in the top left. Start typing, though, and all of that disappears, leaving you with your content.
Minimalist UI that fades away
Need formatting? Artsy Editor has you covered, too. You can use all of the standard keyboard shortcuts to add formatting to your text, or just select the text you want to format. A small pop-over editor will appear, similar to the mini-editor in Office 2007 and 2010, with all of the basic text formatting options. You can add any of the headings, and your most recent one will show on the button. Or, add links and check the box to open in another window if you want.
Quick and simple HTML formatting
Then, there’s one thing that always bugs me with WordPress: adding images. It just takes too long to add images with the Upload button. Artsy Editor solves this by letting you upload pictures to your post just by dragging and dropping them into your browser. Simple and easy. You can then move or resize the image right in the post, or scale the image by holding Shift down while resizing. It works just like you’d expect.
Drag and drop photo upload is awesome
The black text on white color scheme isn’t for everyone, but you don’t have to settle for just that. You can pick from 5 color schemes in Artsy Editor, including darker and pastel color schemes. You can also choose from several popular fonts such as Helvetica and Georgia. Plus, if your favorite choice isn’t available, you can always change the code if you want!
Simple writing, your way
Artsy Editor was just released today, and it has already improved a ton over the past couple weeks. There are still a few small quirks: the upload button is cut off on the edge in Windows, and there’s not an option to add captions to images. Still, Stephen Ou, Artsy Editor’s amazing developer, has been quick to fix bugs and answer questions, and has worked hard to make Artsy Editor a great solution for writing in WordPress.
If you’re usually writing short articles or articles that take a lot of HTML formatting, Artsy Editor might not be for you. But if you enjoy writing long-form pieces in WordPress, Artsy Editor might be the tool you need to make writing in WordPress enjoyable again.
I’m currently using it to write the bulk of my articles, only jumping to the HTML mode to add my final tweaking. I’d been doing my main writing in other apps and copying it into WordPress before, but now, I’m writing more in the browser. That’s one less step to blogging, and it’s made my daily workflow that much simpler. Plus, I’ve wanted drag-and-drop image uploads for some time now!
Over the past few months, I've switched to using Simplenote as my primary app for taking notes. With its beautiful web app and companion app such as ResophNotes on Windows, Notational Velocity or nvALT on OS X, or the official Simplenote apps on iOS, it's always easy to jot down plain text notes and find anything I've saved. For almost all purposes, I find plain text much better for writing notes, but when I need more, Simplenote's Markdown support works great.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="606" caption="Markdown Formatting in Simplenote"][/caption]
I recently wrote up an article about some of the more advanced features in Simplenote, including To-do lists in the iOS app, Markdown formatting, restoring previous versions of notes, advanced search, tweaking the web app, sharing notes, and more. These are the features that take Simplenote from just a way to store plain text into a great collaboration and simple publishing tool, and are some of the reasons I use it all the time.
Today on Web.AppStorm.net, I wrote up an overview of the newest features of LucidChart, the best Visio substitute I've ever found. It's been an awesome app for quite some time, but the most recent updates make it one of the more advanced web apps I've ever tried. It now supports offline mode, so you can edit your charts when the internet is down. It can also import Visio files, so you can get rid of it for good.
Best of all, it now has amazing integration with Safari on iPad, allowing you to sketch out drawings and turn them into precice diagrams quickly. Most web apps feel out of place on the iPad, but not LucidChart. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my article was the first to mention the new iPad features. Click the link to read my full review, or check out the video below to see LucidChart in action on the iPad.
Whether you're a longtime Mac user or are planning on switching to the Mac soon, you can always use great apps that help you get your work done quicker and make your day more enjoyable. The Envato team has put together an incredible bundle of some of the very best Mac apps for freelancers and more. The list of included apps reads like a who's-who of excellent Mac apps:
Billings - a beautiful app to keep track of your time and create invoices
TextExpander - an app that will help you save time by automatically entering common things you type
Best of all, you can get all of this for just $49! It's easily one of the best software bundle deals I've ever seen, and with so much useful stuff, you're sure to get your value out of it. And, if you just tweet about the giveaway using this link, you can get a free copy of Smashing Magazine's Successful Freelancing for Web Designers!
The deal only runs for 10 days, so make sure to get it before the end of June! If you've even considered getting two of the apps in the bundle, it's a great deal. The only problem is that all of the apps are for Macs, so if you're a PC user you're out of luck. I'm currently brainstorming about doing an awesome bundle for Windows users, so if you have a Windows app that helps you be more productive that you'd like to see featured in a bundle, please let me know!
When you get used to an application just working, it can be a true surprise when it doesn't work as you expect. Minutes ago, I opened the Plugins page in WordPress on my site. When it loaded, I was stunned to see a popover asking me to upgrade to a new plugin. This was not a standard WordPress notification letting me know an update was available. It was a full popover that was essentially an advertisement for a new service, that took over your whole settings page until you closed the dialog. Talk about a surprise: it was as startling as ad popup windows when browsing the web in the '90's.
In WordPress, plugins typically only add a settings page, and potentially a widget on your main dashboard. Otherwise, they don't change your main WordPress experience unless they've been designed to do just that. In this case, the plugin, Yet Another Related Post Plugin, took over the entire WordPress experience in the native WordPress settings page. My initial reaction was to think that my site had been hacked. As soon as I realized where the popup came from, I immediately deactivated the plugin.
As a technology user, and as a writer who tries to decipher technology and explain it to others, I find myself increasingly appreciating clean, consistent user experiences. Users should be able to expect certain things from a platform. They should be able to expect that applications or add-ons to a platform will only affect the things they have been designed for.
There are two major things in technology that have changed the way many of us approach computing in the past few years: Dropbox and iOS. Dropbox enables us to keep all of our files synced seamlessly, so you never have to worry if that important file will be there when you need it. And iOS has freed many of us from the constraints of desktop computing, making it easier to be productive (and entertained...) on the go than ever before.
There’s only one problem: iOS and Dropbox don’t work perfectly together. iOS doesn’t include a full file system, so you can’t just sync Dropbox like you would on a Mac or PC. Then, the iWork apps, Omni apps such as OmniFocus and OmniOutliner, and more don’t include native Dropbox integration. That’s why DropDAV is such an exciting service. It lets you integrate your Dropbox account with any WebDAV enabled app. The service was recently updated to make it more reliable and faster, though at the same time, they’ve dropped their free plans. Now, you’ll need to sign up for a $5 per month subscription to use Dropbox via WebDAV on your iOS device. That’s not a bad bargin, considering that it can make your iOS device a much more productive tool on the go.
Special Techinch.com DropDAV discount
If you’re ready to try out DropDAV with your Dropbox account, we’ve got a special treat for you. In addition to the standard 14 day free trial, you can enter the coupon code techinch1 to get an extra month of DropDAV service for free. That’s essentially a $5 savings, and gives you a whole extra 30 days to see if it’s the service you need to get the most out of iWork, Omni apps, and more on your iPad.
We’d love to hear how DropDAV or your other favorite webDAV service makes it easier for you to make your iPad a productive business tool. Plus, with the new iWork apps on iPhone, you can even use this to get more productivity out of your iPhone or iPod Touch!
Don’t forget: use the code techinch1 for an extra free month of DropDAV!
Would you like to find some web apps that would make your life simpler and more productive? I've put together an incredibly long roundup of the web apps I think are the very best on Web.AppStorm. The article clocked in at 8,333 words, oddly enough, so there's plenty there for everyone. If it doesn't include your favorite app, be sure to leave a comment and share the web apps that make your tech life simpler!
Following is a guest post from Jared Brown, a friend I've made via Twitter and Talentolopy. Jared Brown is the founder of Talentopoly.com, a community for programmers, designers, and IT professionals staying current by sharing the best of what they discover online.
I’m a programmer by education, a designer by desire, and an IT profesional by necessity. One of my favorite apps for the past couple of months has been Instapaper. It’s such a simple but big impact concept. Before Instapaper I would save links to articles by emailing them to myself. Then later that day when I was winding down for the night and looking for something to read I’d read through them. Instapaper has simplified the process and I now read more articles than I used to.
I’m fascinated with apps that change the way people consume information. Flipboard, Pulse, and Instapaper are all great applications for consuming articles. But none of them are any good unless you have great articles to put in them. That’s where the inspiration for Talentopoly came from.
At its heart Talentopoly is a link aggregator. It’s a way for talented people in IT fields to see what their peers are reading.
I get together with my developer and design friends once a month. We have these amazing conversations in which a lot of technologies and ideas are discussed that I’m not familiar with. These discussions are vital as they make me a better programmer. They keep me sharp by helping me stay up to date on the latest best practices and techniques. I was left wishing there was a place where I could go to see what my peers were reading daily. I wanted to see what techniques they were learning.
Talentopoly fills that void. It’s incredible how many cool apps and articles members have submitted to the site. There are 15 links posted to the site on average. Talentopoly publishes these links via RSS and a Twitter feed.
Now I have a constantly updated, highly relevant source of articles to feed into these great apps like Instapaper and Flipboard. By combining the Talentopoly feed with a few other feeds I get a robust view of what’s going on in my industry.
It’s been a fun ride developing Talentopoly. I practice a rapid, iterative development cycle, which means new features are released weekly. The site is built on Ruby on Rails and was designed by Brian Hoff, a Dribbble All-star. There are so many features I want to tackle with the site that it’s difficult to pick just one to work on next.
Talentopoly.com
One of the things I believe every site should do is listen to its community to help direct the feature roadmap. On Talentopoly users can vote on which feature they’d like to see developed next. I use this as my priority list. I encourage users to get in touch with me via Twitter and the official blog to let me know what they think of the site and how I could improve it.
The site is currently invite only. Though you don’t have to know a member to get an invite like some other communities. You can simply request an invite from http://talentopoly.com/ and within a few days you should receive an invite. You can also browse the site without an account as most of it is public.
If you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear them. You can find me @jaredbrown and follow @talentopoly for updates on the site.
