Being Enchanted

I'm a fan of technology and good design.  Despite being enchanted closely to Apple products, I do not consider myself as a full fledged Apple fanboy.  It so happened that Apple makes products that also look good.  I love shiny things.  Shiny things attract attention.  The point on where I'm driving at is that I'm easily enchanted with stuff that are attention grabbing.

On the iPad
The iPad was not love at first sight for me, but it never failed to enchant me every time I discover something new through its apps or processes that made my life easier and more enjoyable.  During the launch of the iPad, I even boohooed its name and the fact that it's just a big iPod touch.  However, the more I use it now, the more I sing praises for it.  And so goes with the other stuff in my life, that I'm quick to pass judgement upon.

On kids
Have to admit that I'm not a big fan of kids, not until Aiden came along.  I often find kids to be annoying -- they cry a lot and they have very little patience on everything.  When Aiden was born, my world turned 360 degrees the moment I first saw him.  Not sure if it's the paternal instinct or not, but I was enchanted the moment he came out into this world (I was filming the event when it happened).  He's pure and full of delight that he never failed to enchant me.  Perhaps it's because he is the version 2.0 of myself.  I see myself in him, that I can even say he's several times the enhancement of myself (when I was his age).

On both instances, whether it's with the iPad or with my son, it's the element of surprise that enchants me more than the shiny aspect of it.  Or is the surprise that makes it shiny to begin with?  This is something that I wanted to learn and very much aspire to achieve.   Curiosity has drawn me to read Guy Kawasaki's new book, Enchantment.  I've just finished Chapter 1 and has a long laundry list to read.

Paparazzi! for OS X

Here's something that I didn't even know existed, until I had the need to take a snapshot of our company's webpage.

Paparazzi! is a small utility for Mac OS X that makes screenshots of webpages.  You can find this to be a very handy tool, especially when you need to archive an entire page and not only limited to a portion (that can fit inside your browser's window).

Try the free app by downloading it here.

Snapshot of the blog (March 27, 2011)

Notes (for iOS)

The Notes app is the single most important thing that caught my attention and eventually led me to purchase an iPod touch.  It used to be my go-to scratch pad for jotting things quickly -- it even became the place where I log my personal expense report.  Despite that, not everything was pretty about it.  It's a built-in app that nobody paid any attention -- chances are, you may not have used it on a regular basis.  Not until iOS 4.2, the only way to sync was through USB by iTunes.  Since then, things have changed.  Notes transformed itself from being an ordinary wallflower into one of my indispensable apps (often times even better than several paid ones).

Mediafly Mobile

On an iPod or iPhone (in my case it's my Blackberry Curve), it made sense for me to carry my latest podcast download to listen during commute.  Ever since I bought my iPad, I have yet to load a single podcast episode into it.  I don't see any sense for me to listen podcasts on a bigger device like the iPad.  Music maybe, but not a podcast.

While browsing around the App Store, I stumbled into an app/service called Mediafly.  It streams and manage web media subscription across multiple platforms.  Think of it as the Netflix for podcasts.  Want to change the list of your subscription?  You only need to manage one location and it will sync to multiple web active devices.  The iPad app itself allows you to view live streaming content like TWiT Live.

Google: Beyond Search

The web is Google's main business.  The more people use the web, the more money will find its way to Google's pocket.  That's why Google is everywhere.  Google gives away lots of free stuff just to make it easier for you to use it -- Google Web Apps, Android, Chrome, etc.  What will they do next to keep you inside their ecosystem?


Honeycomb and Everything After
Android 3.0 (a.k.a. Honeycomb) marks the beginning of Google's  reign.  It's not all about Android tablets, even if we're deeply lusting over the Motorola Xoom.  Let's face it, the hiring of Matias Duarte (former Palm webOS designer) was no coincidence -- it was destiny.  The Android that we currently know will be getting a more sensible interface and it's how future Android based devices (smart phones and appliances) are going to look.  This is how important the changes in the Android interface is going to be (and a good move for Google by hiring the guy who designed one of industry's better mobile interface).