DHD Blog » Thoughts, Links & News

‘Free’ Updates

Douglas — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:39:33 +0000

Does this look like Apple’s designed its App Store in a way to allow for not-free updates one day?

Why not just ask?

Douglas — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:19:31 +0000

I like how The Loop just asks what type of ads I might be interested in, instead of coming up with a crazy Facebook stalking system.

Unhelpfullness

Douglas — Fri, 13 May 2011 01:00:11 +0000

Thank you Facebook for providing me with that clarification. (Does anyone else see this?)

Here’s a little bit from my Google profile trying to show where ‘Australia’ is. (No, that marker is not anywhere near where I’ve ever lived)

Australian Mac App Store Pricing

Douglas — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 02:08:48 +0000

Well, everything from Apple has always been more expensive in Australia compared to the US. Now, apps from the Mac App Store will also be more expensive than in the US, even with our almost 1:1 exchange rate.

Let’s have a look at Coda. Buying direct from Panic is US$99 (around AU$99). On the app store, it’s AU$119.

Another example is Omni Graffle Pro. At the Omni Store, it’s US$199, or even better, as a student I can get it for US$119. On the app store it’s AU$249 – more than twice the price that I can get direct.

I think I’ll be avoiding the Mac App Store as much as possible, especially for more expensive professional apps.

Open

Douglas — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:55:55 +0000

Just like Steve Jobs had a little laugh about ‘Flash’, Apple also has a go at trying to redefine ‘Open’:

Why doesn’t it say ‘Closed’, as the store isn’t actually open yet…

I should have done this a long time ago…

Douglas — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 03:00:13 +0000

Now that I’ve disabled Comic Sans, I’ll never have to suffer through it again!
(at least not on my computer)

On your Mac, open Font Book in the Applications folder, find Comic Sans, and click the checkbox disable button down the bottom. If that isn’t satisfying enough, you may also enjoy deleting it completely. (although I think I have to say I wouldn’t recommend that.)

Spam

Douglas — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:00:30 +0000

Thank you Akismet for that pie chart. Why does my blog get so much spam?

Why You Should Restart Your Mac (and gain bonus hard drive space!)

Douglas — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:00:10 +0000

Macs are great. They don’t crash too much, and you don’t have to restart them too often. However, it’s still good to shut down & restart them regularly.

After doing a bunch of work in Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign, I opened up my iStat Menus Memory panel, and found that my Mac was using 2.3GB of swap files! (I’ve seen it use even more than that sometimes). My 4GB of ram isn’t enough, so it had to save some things on my hard drive as well.

This can slow down your computer, and uses up hard drive space!

Even after quitting all the programs I had open, the swap files just stuck around.

When I restart my computer (after writing this blog post), my Mac will clean out all it’s swap files, and I’ll gain a bonus 2.3GB of hard drive space! (which means a lot, when you’re the sort of person that just keep finding ways to use it all up)

When is Good?

Douglas — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:00:07 +0000

When Is Good just saved heaps of our time organising a dinner with some friends.

The quick survey, where people select what dates their available on, narrowed the whole month into 1 day we’re all available!

(In only a couple of hours — no hundreds of emails back and forth, ‘reply-all’ing everyone!)

An Error

Douglas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:46 +0000

Nothing more, nothing less… just an ‘Error’

Another reason I don’t use Windows. Actually, to be fair, Mac isn’t immune to random errors either (but usually a little less random)

Bonus points — How many times can you spot the Microsoft logo?