Apple Computer, the Macintosh operating system, the iPhone, the iPad, iOS, hardware, software, tinkering, culture and advocacy.
Tue 10 Jan
2012
Tue 11 Oct
2011
An incredible tribute to Steve Jobs in print.
Fri 26 Aug
2011
Some thoughts on the unique shareability of Apple’s post-PC device.
Wed 10 Aug
2011
The iPad is capable of so much more than what we’re using it for today, and I’m hiring a team to tap into some of that enormous potential.
Tue 02 Aug
2011
I lived through brushed metal and I’ll survive faux leather, but iCal’s UI regression is harder to take.
Mon 25 Jul
2011
An idea for a crowdsourced archive of the way mobile and tablet apps evolve.
Thu 16 Jun
2011
If you thought contemporary art was hard to understand, try using Gagosian Gallery’s new iPad app.
Mon 06 Jun
2011
Apple’s admits MobileMe was less than stellar.
Wed 11 May
2011
Credit where credit is due: Adobe is producing very good apps for this platform.
Mon 02 May
2011
Some random thoughts after upgrading to the new model of Apple’s post-PC device.
Fri 25 Mar
2011
With an ecosystem as big as Apple’s, it should be easier to merge two accounts into one.
Tue 22 Mar
2011
How social magazines like Flipboard and TweetMag can take the next big step.
Thu 17 Mar
2011
Just upgraded a painfully slow MacBook Air to a speedy solid state drive.
Tue 01 Feb
2011
The regrettable trend of instructional screens, where broken interfaces are explained away.
Tue 25 Jan
2011
Larry Page has an opportunity to do something very different with Google. If he wants.
Tue 11 Jan
2011
My past experience with Verizon gives me no reason to switch away from AT&T.
An update on how this quixotic format is doing and further thoughts on why these efforts are hurting more than they’re helping.
Wed 22 Dec
2010
Tue 21 Dec
2010
Deciding whether to manually or automatically move all of my stuff from an old Mac to a new one.
Thu 28 Oct
2010
Some follow-up thoughts to my post yesterday about the strategy publishers are following on the iPad.
Wed 27 Oct
2010
What I think of periodicals on the iPad. Hint: not my favorite thing ever.
Tue 12 Oct
2010
iPhone is almost a perfect toy for my young daughter. Except for that home button.
Wed 01 Sep
2010
The new Apple TV is sleeker, more capable, savvier and more affordable — but it also demonstrates a lack of will.
Wed 18 Aug
2010
I keep finding more and more uses for my iPad, as well as many irritating software shortcomings.
Thu 29 Jul
2010
Flipboard is writing a case study in how not to launch a product.
Mon 26 Jul
2010
Vainly trying to avoid final score spoilers with the MLB At Bat app for iPad.
Tue 13 Jul
2010
Apple’s four new commercials for its video calling feature have left me a sobbing mess.
Wed 09 Jun
2010
Clarifying what I said when I called out Apple on its typographic chops.
Tue 08 Jun
2010
iPhone 4’s Retina Screen promises a leap forward, but it does nothing for Apple’s typographic credentials.
Wed 27 Jan
2010
Some brief thoughts on the Apple iPad and whether it changes anything for publishers.
Wed 12 Aug
2009
Long-suffering MobileMe users: we owe it to one another to fill in the gaps that Apple leaves.
Sat 01 Aug
2009
The latest beta of the RSS aggregator offers an object lesson in how bad beta software can be,
Sat 10 Jan
2009
Paying a fee to rid purchased songs of digital rights management.
Mon 20 Oct
2008
Apple has some explaining to do when it comes to the Apple TV. Plus: take my ex-girlfriend. Please!
Fri 01 Aug
2008
Freezing and crashing on devices ”that need to work.“
Tue 22 Jul
2008
Troubleshooting .Mac’s little improved successor.
Tue 15 Jul
2008
For me, something’s missing from the iPhone 2.0 Software Update.
Thu 03 Jul
2008
May these irritating .Mac errors rest in peace.
Mon 09 Jun
2008
Spending US$599 on an iPhone a year ago turns out to be not a great way to invest my money.
Wed 21 May
2008
Episode three of my search for an all-purpose memory aid.
Wed 14 May
2008
Ideas for iPhone applications that I’ll never turn into reality.
Mon 25 Feb
2008
The surprisingly uniform color of iconography.
Tue 22 Jan
2008
I’ll never be an Apple TV customer. For now.
Not picking on Adobe at all for Creative Suite 3.
Wed 16 Jan
2008
The MacBook Air officially marks the era of SKU fiction.
Wed 24 Oct
2007
Text Expander 2.0 is a great use of .Mac, but that doesn’t mean I can’t complain anyway.
Thu 18 Oct
2007
Science fiction fans, not type aficionados, come first in Mac OS X 10.5.
Thu 20 Sep
2007
The way you use your software should stick with you.
Tue 18 Sep
2007
Just like the title says, plus a note on OmniWeb.
Wed 05 Sep
2007
How good can you get on the iPhone keyboard?
Mon 27 Aug
2007
The NYC subway map chopped up into little tiles for your iPhone.
Fri 10 Aug
2007
Three examples of unglamorous, indispensible software.
Thu 09 Aug
2007
Messaging .Mac customers about recent changes to the service.
Tue 07 Aug
2007
Let’s hope .Mac gets better tomorrow. Plus: how to own more than one iPhone.
Thu 19 Jul
2007
Two things outrageously missing on my iPhone.
Mon 25 Jun
2007
Ways in which I’m definitely not planning on acquiring my own iPhone.
Tue 19 Jun
2007
John Gruber appearing for AIGA in SoHo tomorrow night!
Fri 08 Jun
2007
How fixing .Mac will make the iPhone better.
Thu 12 Apr
2007
Accusing the company of being a company.
Thu 25 Jan
2007
It took me years to find this feature in an application I use every day.
Wed 10 Jan
2007
The Palm O.S. blew it, and why the new iPhone is a typographic milestone.
Tue 09 Jan
2007
Why the Apple Phone and iTunes shouldn’t get too cozy.
Tue 02 Jan
2007
My obligatory blog post about Apple’s upcoming mobile phone, focusing on what it probably won’t do.
Fri 08 Dec
2006
Casting about for a replacement personal banking application.
Mon 16 Oct
2006
Switching away from Rosetta apps means ditching Entourage.
Thu 12 Oct
2006
Getting things done with Kinkless Getting Things Done.
Thu 07 Sep
2006
At long last, OmniWeb 5.5 is out of beta, and it’s just like it was.
Tue 29 Aug
2006
Coming changes and changes that should be coming to instant messaging.
Fri 25 Aug
2006
I’m trying to send back my potentially explosive PowerBook battery, but Apple won’t let me.
Wed 23 Aug
2006
Hoping someone will create a Cocoa version of kGTD with a true database.
Wed 09 Aug
2006
Disaappointment and signs of synchronicity at Apple’s 2006 World Wide Developers Conference.
Mon 19 Jun
2006
Just published in today’s Guardian: my article on software that works like a typewriter.
Thu 15 Jun
2006
The moment for reflectivity is here, or maybe it was fifteen minutes ago.
Thu 01 Jun
2006
A software brainstorm of mine makes some strides towards reality.
Fri 19 May
2006
A quick visit to Apple’s new retail store on Fifth Avenue.
Thu 18 May
2006
What we didn’t get when Apple released its new consumer notebooks.
Thu 11 May
2006
The time for a truly user-friendly mobile phone from Cupertino is now.
Tue 09 May
2006
How to turn your computer into a manual typewriter.
Thu 06 Apr
2006
Boot Camp is the most adventurous OS idea Apple has had in twenty-one years, which is too bad.
Tue 14 Feb
2006
The intrepid cousin to Firefox makes releases its version 1.0 today.
Mon 13 Feb
2006
As a reminder of my age, my PowerBook is back from the dead.
Thu 02 Feb
2006
After a scare a few weeks ago, the internal drive on my PowerBook finally checked out.
Thu 19 Jan
2006
One day my Mac feels fine, and then it starts feeling very, very slow.
Tue 10 Jan
2006
Things are looking up: I didn’t buy a new Mac and my hard drive crashed.
Mon 21 Nov
2005
Nifty image manipulation in Mac OS X Tiger and the bad old days.
Sun 13 Nov
2005
There’s something missing from Apple’s Macintosh hardware offerings.
Wed 12 Oct
2005
Tantalizingly close but still miles away from the perfect media center.
Tue 27 Sep
2005
Even recent improvements to Apple’s Web services leave much to be desired.
Thu 25 Aug
2005
Encountering the spirit of Bob Metcalfe on a train.
Tue 16 Aug
2005
How a little triangle caused me five minutes of befuddlement.
Wed 03 Aug
2005
Looking for a trackball for the 21st Century.
Wed 08 Jun
2005
Some thoughts on Apple’s move from PowerPC to Intel.
Thu 02 Jun
2005
There are more window chrome styles than ever in Tiger, and what each might mean.
Fri 27 May
2005
I’m busy, busy, busy, and so is Adobe Illustrator — creating weird temp files, that is.
Tue 10 May
2005
Mac OS X’s unheralded dictionary feature is great.
Mac OS X’s synchronization technology makes less sense than ever.
Wed 04 May
2005
Tiger takes a tiny little step backward in font management.
Mon 02 May
2005
Minor glitches in the way Safari displays CSS and the way Tiger renders text.
Sun 01 May
2005
Mac OS X Tiger is finally here, but I’ve been taking my own sweet time installing it.
Wed 27 Apr
2005
Ask for some kind of software that you don’t think exists, and ye shall receive.
Tue 26 Apr
2005
I can’t figure out how people are managing projects on the Macintosh.
Thu 21 Apr
2005
Until last week, you could count me among the podcasting skeptics.
Tue 05 Apr
2005
Subway thefts of iPods are up in New York City, sending me into the market for new earbuds.
Tue 22 Mar
2005
Why it’s not completely crazy to expect the Mac OS to remain stable under duress from third-party system enhancements.
Mon 21 Mar
2005
Mac OS X and its susceptibility to the effects of accretion.
Fri 11 Mar
2005
Something about music collections makes some people very, very fussy.
Tue 08 Mar
2005
How much I really, really dislike Apple’s recent lawsuits.
Mon 07 Mar
2005
With all of these Macs, what use could I possibly have for another?
Thu 17 Feb
2005
All the iPod user interface needs is a little dash of the alphabet.
Tue 15 Feb
2005
Last week I decided to count how many iPods I see on my walk to work.
Wed 09 Feb
2005
Disposable income and an incurable addiction to stuff from Cupertino.
Mon 07 Feb
2005
There’s a tension between power features and elegant simplicity all over Keynote 2.
Mon 17 Jan
2005
On the cusp of buying myself an iPod shuffle, it occurs to me that I really don’t like to shuffle.
Tue 11 Jan
2005
I’ll take one of everything announced at Macworld Expo this morning.
Thu 06 Jan
2005
Rumors in advance of next week’s Macworld Expo have me a little worked up.
Tue 04 Jan
2005
The Matias Tactile Pro Keyboard inspires more discussion of keyboard technologies than is probably healthy.
Mon 15 Nov
2004
What’s good about Delicious Library if the software’s no good?
Mon 08 Nov
2004
Looking for a USB hub that works the way USB hubs are supposed to.
Fri 29 Oct
2004
What’s the name of that song that goes, “Doo de dum de doo… you know the one I’m talkin’ about?
The new iPod Photo is just a big tease.
Mon 25 Oct
2004
At the end of a long week, I did something really, really stupid.
Mon 27 Sep
2004
Report on my trial period with NetNewsWire 2.0 beta.
Tue 21 Sep
2004
My Firefox usage is growing every day, thanks to two small tweaks I’ve made to it.
Thu 16 Sep
2004
Wouldn’t be great to have a true Apple sub-notebook? Keep dreaming.
Fri 10 Sep
2004
On my out of the city and hopefully to stop thinking about this election for a bit.
Thu 02 Sep
2004
Some ideas on how to fix up OmniWeb’s interface… for me.
Tue 31 Aug
2004
Apple’s new iMac doesn’t follow through on its tradition of innovation.
Fri 20 Aug
2004
Good things and bad things about using Apple’s Keynote over Microsoft PowerPoint.
Wed 18 Aug
2004
After a week with the finalized OmniWeb 5, its very impressive feature set is still imperfect.
Wed 11 Aug
2004
Though I just started using ecto, I already have a complaint.
Mon 26 Jul
2004
Real plays the barbarian at Apple’s gates, and for once, I’m rooting for Real.
Wed 14 Jul
2004
First day with a new version of Microsoft Office for Macintosh.
Mon 28 Jun
2004
Twenty days into a free 21-day trial license for the latest version of PathFinder.
Mon 07 Jun
2004
How I rode a chunk of text from email to Keynote.
Sun 23 May
2004
Mellel is a great word processor, but it almost doesn’t matter.
The reality of security comes to Mac OS X.
Mon 17 May
2004
PulpFiction is finally here, and this is what I think of it.
Thu 13 May
2004
Mac users: don’t throw away your mouse just yet.
Wed 14 Apr
2004
How I went from Now to Action to Quicksilver.
Wed 17 Mar
2004
The search for the perfect XML news reader.
Wed 11 Feb
2004
Evidence that I attended the Design Guard, where I learned how to make slick UI widgets.
Thu 15 Jan
2004
Aside from the branding, not enough has changed in the Adobe Creative Suite.
No one believes that Entourage and the Mac OS X Address Book can be bridged. Except me.
Thu 08 Jan
2004
Quick thoughts on what was announced at 2004’s Macworld Expo SF and what wasn’t.
Mon 22 Dec
2003
SuperDrive in hand, Mr. Subtraction teaches you how to make legal back-ups of your DVDs.
Sat 06 Dec
2003
Seven inches of snow and a foot of PowerBook.
Tue 25 Nov
2003
The future looks anti-aliased, smoothed out and drop-shadowed.
Wed 29 Oct
2003
Picasa is a rip-off of iPhoto that adds its own innovations.
Mon 27 Oct
2003
How I upgraded to Mac OS X Panther.
Fri 24 Oct
2003
So, so ready to throw caution to the wind and install Panther.
Fri 03 Oct
2003
The startling true secrets behind Web Confidential.
Thu 25 Sep
2003
How to replace the Mac OS X Finder… almost.
Wed 03 Sep
2003
A round-up of some recent, uncharacteristically high quality articles about the Mac.
Wed 27 Aug
2003
Hog Bay Notebook is a smart and simple ‘snippet keeper.’
Tue 19 Aug
2003
Is the Apple premium really worth it?
Tue 22 Jul
2003
Sick, laid up in bed, and using remote access software.
Sat 19 Jul
2003
Upgrading an old Macintosh.yields surprisingly good results.
Tue 15 Jul
2003
In the battle for online music content, EMusic beats out the iTunes Music Store.
Tue 01 Jul
2003
Longtime, well-liked software publisher Casady & Greene have closed shop.
Sun 22 Jun
2003
With a new 80GB hard drive replacement, everything on my PowerBook has to be reinstalled from scratch.
Fri 13 Jun
2003
Microsoft confirmed rumors of the cancellation of IE for the Mac today.
Fri 06 Jun
2003
Apple is getting serious about bringing indie music to the iTunes Music Store.
Thu 01 May
2003
The iTunes Music Store is dangerously easy to use, though it could do with some polishing.
Tue 29 Apr
2003
The debut of Apple’s online music service is singularly elegant and overeagerly hyped.
Sat 26 Apr
2003
MP3 Sushi is one example of the powerful, exceptionally easy-to-use software being written for Mac OS X.
Fri 18 Apr
2003
After breaking my iPod and having it replaced with a brand new unit by Apple, I’ve decided to take care of it properly and buy a real, protective case.
Tue 15 Apr
2003
The newest public release of Safari features the most elegant implementation yet of tabbed browsing.
Wed 09 Apr
2003
Mac OS X has inspired some of the best technical writing the platform has seen in years.
Fri 04 Apr
2003
LaunchBar is a utility so powerful, its eerily evocative of the absurd computers we tend to see only in the movies.
Wed 26 Mar
2003
Apple and Microsofts approaches to style guidelines are both indicative of their design advocacy.
Fri 21 Feb
2003
A minor interface tweak in Mac OS X represents a lost opportunity.
Tue 11 Feb
2003
Konfabulator, a new, Swiss army knife-style software utility, is a great reason to own a Macintosh.
Bob Hearn, co-creator of ClarisWorks, tells the story of that product and the almost-legendary Claris Corporation.
Wed 14 Aug
2002
Jaguar is great, and so is the software that runs on it.
Fri 31 May
2002
Bert Monroy makes art with computers that doesnt look like art made with computers.
Mon 23 Apr
2001
ProgramSwitcher adds a Windows-style processing palette to the Mac OS.
Mon 26 Mar
2001
At long last, Apples next generation operating system has arrived.
Fri 09 Feb
2001
The long-awaited release of Mac OS X is just two months away.
Sun 21 Jan
2001
Ars Technica takes an in-depth look at Macworld San Francisco 2001.
Fri 12 Jan
2001
The new Titanium PowerBook aside, what the heck is Apples long-term gameplan?