Jonny the Recovering Technophiliac

Welcome to The Plug, where i like to give a review to anything tech and non-tech that i feel needs a shameless plug due to my liking.

This week along with my browsing of blogs and articles, i passed on this page from my friend Paul.  He lists the applications, products and services he personally uses on a regular basis, not because he was paid to, but because he just felt a mention was warranted.  So for this blog post, i’ll might as well join the bandwagon and write my own basic list too.  If i get enough things to add on, i’ll probably turn this into a page, who knows.  Anyway, on with the show:

Software

• NetNewsWire for my RSS news
• Adium for AIM, GTalk, and Twittering
• Safari 4 & Firefox 3 for web browsing.
• iCal for my calendar
• Things for my to-do lists
• iStat Menus for my system monitor tools
• Textmate for text-editing
• Subethaedit for collaborative text-editing
• 1Password for password management
• Transmit for FTP
• Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Soundbooth CS4
• Writeroom for distraction-free writing
• VLC
• hulu Desktop
• Transmission
• Flip4Mac WMV
• Growl
• SuperDuper
• AppZapper
• Sequel Pro
• Final Cut Express 4
• UnRarX
• The Unarchiver
• Microsoft Office 2008
• VMware Fusion with Windows XP & Windows 7
• Keyboard Cleaner
• ScreenFlow
• Quicksilver
• AudialHub
• VisualHub
• Rosetta Stone 3 with Greek (i got my reasons! lol)
• Pixelmator
• pzizz
• Macfusion

Services

• Google Apps for my domain (jkdesign)
• Roadrunner broadband
• Google Voice
• MobileMe
• 1and1.com VPS
• Skribit account
• T-mobile for iPhone EDGE service

Computer Setup

• 13-inch 2GHz MacBook (Black) with 2 GB of RAM and an 120 GB SATA hard drive.
• pirate skull crossbones under the apple logo on the back (see photo)
• LaCie 250 GB FireWire portable hard drive, designed by F.A. Porsche
• ThinkGeek.com Bi-Color LED Blow On-Off Candle
• Targus 4-port portable USB hub
• Targus USB laptop light
• Plantronics .Audio 400 DSP foldable stereo headset

Hardware/Gadgets

• Plain ‘ol CRT Toshiba SDTV (i don’t watch much tv anyway, just online)
• Plain ‘ol Aiwa 3-CD 2-Deck AM/FM Stereo System (i don’t listen to much radio anyway, just online)
• Canon PowerShot SD700 IS Digital Elph with 2GB SD card
• Linksys WRT54G (version 5) wireless router
• 32 GB iPhone 3GS unlocked with T-Mobile
• 30 GB IPod Classic White

Welcome to the Babbler. This is where i condense and summarize what has happened in a period of time since my last post with brief and random thoughts usually because i haven’t had the time to blog in between. Some babbling may make sense, some may not…but that’s the premise, all the babble thats fit to blog! So off we go:

1. after listening to an episode of CNET’s Buzz Out Loud podcast, i happened to have caught on to a little tidbit that host Brian Cooley happened to say:

…only old people and luddites use AOL

granted, this isnt verbatim, but it made so much sense. sometimes the technology you use can say a lot about you. i love old-tech nostalgia and how it has evolved, but i don’t make it a facet of my life when there are so many other choices out there i can choose from. So here’s my pick on the tech that makes the maker:

- to paraphrase Mr. Cooley, AOL is for luddites who think the “interwebs” revolve around it’s bloatware software…and given the very few people i knew who still use it, they probably think it’s still “hip”.

- 9 times out of 10, t-mobile sidekicks are for trendy luddites who don’t know what a smartphone is. (i say 9 out of 10 because there’s a small majority of people who actually put good use to the device).

- if you use your ISP’s email providor (i.e. roadrunner), you’re probably using it as a trap for all those websites that require email registration just to access content when you know you’re never going to check that email address again. So you’ll not give a flying ducky how much spam gets in there. Your real address is probably elsewhere.

- if you use MSN Messenger or Windows Live or whatever it’s called, you’re probably from another country. Every family and friend i know abroad uses it.

- if you are an ATT customer with an iPhone, then chances are you’re only on ATT because of the iPhone and nothing else because i haven’t heard anyone who has ever told me “wow, ATT’s service is awesome!”.

- if you use myspace, you’re either an aspiring comedian, musician, or a luddite that fills your profile with green butterflies and cheesy animated gifs.

courtesy flickr.com

Ok, consider this scenario my cats and kittens: You want to watch a movie with someone special, but she happens to live approximately two states away…do you:

a) wait for a meetup to watch the movie
b) buy the dvd, watch it at your own time, and discuss whenever
c) geek it out a little by uploading the dvd rip to your server, then watch it at the same time as if you both where at the movies

if you chose ‘a‘, then you are half-right…sure you can watch a movie with her physically, always helps, but do a little something no guy has ever thought of before to keep the connection alive, be creative!

if you chose ‘b‘, then you’re not trying hard enough…lose one turn

if you chose ‘c‘, then you’re right! Give yourself a pat on the back, and get ready to upload for movie date part deux

And now you know why sometimes it pays to be a little geeky…the point is to be creative and fun.  sure it’s not the same as watching a movie together physically, but at least you make the remote experience as close to the real deal until the physical rendezvous.  Either way, this is something she will never forget.

A new week has dawned upon me despite that i still feel yawn-ish. Sure i get to move about more and keep myself busy, but it’s more a case of tossing all my stresses aside. Worth a shot, yes?

So far this week has shaped out pretty well despite conference calls from clients, a new announcement from Apple about a possible new laptop, and reaching out to the AP.  Kev’s on the mend and i’m looking forward to making a lot of things work.

Hopefully I can make up for lost time this weekend…it’s been nearly a month since i had a nice outing *ahem*

In the meantime, I have to get things ready for the gym as well as the job hunt.

You got to do what you got to do with pride and love. There’s little alternative to that.