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Although you can subscribe to this blog using feed readers such as Google Reader, My Yahoo! or Newsgator. Why not subscribe by email or Mac OS X Dashboard Widget?

New Year Toy

A very warm welcome back. This year marks the 30th anniversary of a certain Skywalker space opera and the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard amongst many more memorable moments!

Mac Users can now download my all-new RSS Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X 10.4.3 and higher. This is the first in a proposed series of Widgets created using Apple Computer's Dashcode Beta. All feedback is welcomed.

Crossed Widget Wires

It's almost a decade since I first worked for Reuters*, that wire service of wire services. And Reuters released a useful Mac OS X Widget (download page) today! Neat gift, huh?

The Reuters Widget gives you access to news and information directly on your dashboard.

Forget the hassle of searching for articles - let Reuters bring them to you. The Reuters Widget updates information as soon as stories break.

You can display up to ten of the top headlines from your favorite Reuters news channels - including Top News, Business News, Technology, and Oddly Enough, among others.

However, there was considerable confusion amongst Mac Users (myself included) as to why it wasn't playing nice with Dashboard? Disaster was averted when it came to light that the widget is intended for use with Yahoo! Widget Engine.

Please ask, nicely, Reuters' developers if they would kindly write a self-updating Dashboard edition too? Based on Web Kit technologies, Dashboard Widgets are created using a mix of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Deliciously simple. Thanks.

Bloomberg isn't it time you supported us too? I'd be more than happy to offer my coding services!

*Disclaimer. I left the company in January 2000 and very briefly returned to the fold, Reuters Knowledge, in 2003.

Gift from the Gods

Yesterday Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs celebrated his birthday. Google, which is often taken to task by Mac Users for tardy support, released Google Macintosh Widgets and Group (membership required). There is an abundance of excellent third-party options available, but these new official Dashboard Widgets are worthy of note. The Gmail and Blogger Widgets show promise and AdSense is sure to follow. Putting Gmail Notifier in the trash...

Did you manage to sign-up for Google's newly launched Page Creator service? If so, congratulations, anyone who got caught in the surge will have to wait for an invitation. As of today Gmail users can start using Page Creator (no Safari support as yet). Therefore I had a very quick look (Firefox 1.5) and published a basic page. Watch this space.

Google is certainly prolific. However, isn't it time to consolidate the paradigm?

The Blogger sidebar has undergone yet another face lift! The RSS chicklet confusion has been curtailed in favor of Full and Summary Feed subscriptions only. And coComments, a new trend, has been introduced (albeit restricted to my comments on other blogs until coComments introduces secure moderation).

I'm experimenting with Google AdSense placement. Please be assured that this is not intended to be too intrusive. Incidentally, according to various sites (notably ProBlogger) Google is testing a new AdSense format - video.

The Craft

Catch Scream 2 (1997) last evening on Channel 4? There was a time when Neve Campbell adorned magazine covers around the globe, and the desktop of a former Dow Jones Reuters online journalist (whom writes this very blog)! Here's a picture that captures an idyllic era.



A year after Apple announced that Dashboard would debut with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Yahoo! buys Konfabulator as part of its search services 'land grab'. From today the widget application is available gratis here. Regardless of this step, Yahoo! please update your IM client for Macintosh before Google consigns you to a cached page footnote. Actually, an IM widget would be an excellent idea.

Arlo Rose, part of the duo behind Konfabulator, continues to attest that Apple aped 'his' widget idea. They're from Apple's 1984 Macintosh. Remember desk accessories Arlo? It maybe overkill for Tiger users to include Konfabulator in the Dock. To quote the Dr Pepper slogan - "You've got to try it to love it".

Tomorrow should witness new announcements concerning Apple's iBook and Mini lines. I'd like to see the addition of nVIDIA GPUs to the diminutive desktop line.

AIM & Objective

Since taming the Tiger, I've been beta testing AIM® Mail and AOL® Journals. First a history lesson.

It's summer 1997 and an @AOL address was considered a premium. I leapt onto the brand wagon with WinonaFan@aol.com (apologies to anyone who may have inherited this). Switching gears from a 14.4 bps to an asphalt melting 28.8 bps, I thrived on accessing all the US Channel content and making new buddies along the way.

In 2000 after leaving Dow Jones Reuters (downsizing and outsourcing), I abandoned AOL UK due (in part) to tenuous Mac OS 9.x software support and a prohibitively expensive subscription (no discount for Mac Users). However, the impetus (shove) to leave was during an interview with an AOL Channel Director. In the wake of the AOL Time Warner merger, a HR zombie decided to forward my application from Entertainment to Financial. D'oh! And during a stilted dialogue, with the Director, I learnt of their ambition to usurp Microsoft and that Apple Computer should roll over and die! I suggested that AOL would be wise to form a strategic alliance with Apple. 5 years on and look who's laughing now? Not AOL Time Warner shareholders. BTW I never signed an NDA and am at liberty to disclose this.

On Monday night, and in Tom Hanks mode, I savored my first You've Got Mail moment for five years! If I were to rate AIM Mail and Gmail on GUI splendor alone, then AIM gets my vote! The forum moderator is actively soliciting Mac User feedback. My Dashboard Widget suggestion was described as excellent and forwarded to the developers for immediate consideration. Widgets are de rigeur.

Blogcritics is a thriving community and I've been known to drop in the occasional post now and again.

Here's my second ever iMix!

Point and click cinema

In the late '80s I cut my audio/video editing teeth on linear equipment i.e. three machine edit suites for video and 1/4 tape (chalk and cutting knife in hand) for audio. The mid 90's witnessed the advent, and rapid development, of non-linear, non-destructive workflows. It occurred to me that since that time all my editing has been Mac-based! In 2003 I revisited my production analysis written for December Duet (an original drama made during my final year at Bournemouth University). It is available as a PDF download.

Since the unveiling of Dashboard at the WWDC 2004 a debate has raged concerning Apple's alleged 'rip off' of Konfabulator. The following blog outlines the historical development of widgets, which found its genesis on the Mac platform many years ago.