scottorchard.com » Computers

Multi-Safari

Scott — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:35:57 +0000

I previously wrote about Tredosoft’s Multiple IE, which is great for testing my web development in legacy versions of Internet Explorer. Today I came across Multi-Safari and just installed Safari 2.0.4, which is the latest non-beta version of Safari on most Mac’s running Tiger. I’ve been running the Safari 3 Beta for quite sometime and I don’t want to have to uninstall it everytime I need to check compatibility in Safari 2 for projects. This will save me a lot of time and allow me to continue running the Safari 3 Beta, check it out if you have a chance, Multi-Safari. (via cameronmoll.com)

Pixelmator

Scott — Thu, 31 May 2007 15:25:52 +0000

Pixelmator looks like a possible Photoshop competitor with a pretty slick UI and is based on Apple’s Core Image technology. It’s supposed to take advantage of GPU-powered image editing, so your video card can handles some of the processing and frees up your CPU for other tasks. It doesn’t look like it will be available until late July 2006, but with a $59 price tag, it could be hard to pass up. We’ll have to see how it compares to Photoshop CS3, though it looks they share many comparable features. (via Daring Fireball)

Microsoft Surface

Scott — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:52:22 +0000

Microsoft Surface looks pretty amazing, not only the technoology, but their site as well has a great interactive feel. I’d be impressed seeing a multi-touch display like this in restaurants or other areas as demonstrated in the videos, but I doubt this would be inexpensive. I’d expect to see something like this in some high-end or expensive places.

This isn’t the first time I’m seen something like this, the demos from Jeff Han blew me away last year and earlier this year everyone saw the iPhone demos as well. I don’t think the question is which company will perfect this first, I think the question is how much will new technologies like this impact our lives? Twenty years from now we could all be taking this for granted.

Running Multiple Internet Explorers’s with Tredosoft & Virtual PC

Scott — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:40:27 +0000

Running multiple Internet Explorer versions on one system used to be a bit unreliable and offer some problems for web developers that need to ensure cross-browser compatibility. Thankfully there are a couple options, one from Tredosoft another from Microsoft.

What Do I Know recently touched on Tredosoft’s Multiple IE, which allows you to install IE 6 through IE 3, while allowing Internet Explorer 7 to remain untouched on your system. This is a great aid, something I’ve been using for a few months thanks to a recommendation from a friend. Tredosoft’s solution is much more stable than the archived browsers from Evolt.org, and they seem to run pretty well at the same time if you need to check 2 or 3 browsers at once. I haven’t tried this with Parallels, but I’ve heard it runs well this way, I do know that this isn’t compatible with Vista yet, which would be nice. I have noticed a slight tendency for IE6 to crash and/or incorrectly render some pages, which brings me to my next recommendation.

The other option is to download Virtual PC 2007, which looks like it’s Vista compatible, and the IE Application Compatibility VPC Image, which is a small Virtual PC image with Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6. In my opinion, this way is a little more involved, but I’ve seen pretty accurate results on IE6 when compared to an acutal PC running IE6.

Take a look at both options, they seem to work well for me. Though I’m not running Windows XP or Vista on my laptop yet, I have a late model Powerbook so no Boot Camp or Parallels, I plan on picking up a Macbook Pro after the next revision and finally be able to run OS X, XP, Vista and possibly a Linux distribution to become more familiar with Linux systems for a pretty solid web development testing environment,

CSSEdit 2.5 and Coda

Scott — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:58:20 +0000

MacRabbit just updated CSSEdit to version 2.5, which brings some new features such as tabbed windows and the X-ray inspector for all of your CSS needs. I’ve been using this quite a lot since the 2.0 release, the new features have been very helpful with development; I can’t recommend this program enough.

Panic just released Coda, which is an integrated web development solution, part Transmit, part SubEthaEdit and Terminal, with CSS support all rolled into a single interface. Personally I started on Dreamweaver, but dumped that for a combination of Textmate, CSSEdit and Transmit for all of my development needs. I think Coda can give Dreamweaver a run for it’s money, Coda is a much more affordable solution for a freelance developer.

The Textmate-CSSEdit-Transmit combo work quite well for me, but Panic’s new program looks very interesting, I may have to download a copy and see how it works. (via MacRabbit Blog | stevenf)

35 Designers x 5 Questions

Scott — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 20:01:09 +0000

Smashing Magazine has once again put together an extensive list of design related knowledge, suggestions and tips from some well known online designers. There is a lot of information to process, and varying answers to the questions, but this is a great resource for anyone looking for some ideas and suggestions from the online design communi.

35 Designers x 5 Questions

Buying a Mac?

Scott — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:40:31 +0000

If you’re disheartened by the prospects of a new OS from Microsoft, but you’re under the impression that that damn Apple company updates their products too often, here’s a couple of sites that keep track of Apple’s product cycles and offer recommendations that may prevent you from screaming in agony when your “brand new” laptop gets updated next Tuesday:

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
http://mactactic.com/

Apple Pro

Scott — Sat, 27 May 2006 16:50:11 +0000

The redesigned Apple Pro section offers a wealth of information from the many industries that Apple products affect. See who is changing the industry and what products their using, or find some tips from other professionals.

I just bought a Powerbook!

Scott — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 21:43:18 +0000

I just bought a new model, Powerbook G4 1.67GHz, 15-inch screen with 1 GB of RAM. I’ve been stuck with an aging PC at home and an iBook I received from my parents not too long ago. I’m hoping the new laptop will replace both machines at home and increase productivity. Right now, my 1 GHz Pentium III system at home can barely run Photoshop and Illustrator at the same time.

Besides that I’ve been pretty busy with various freelance projects and I can’t wait to add some new stuff to my portfolio and get back to cover interesting things.

Now for the worst part, waiting…

IBM Slows Light

Scott — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 04:19:52 +0000

“IBM Slows Light,” not your typical headline and not something I had thought was possible, I mean I know about refraction and how light travels at different speeds through certain substances, but I hadn’t give this subject much thought before. Though this has been done before, IBM is reportedly the first company to do this by using standard materials. This could be a huge breakthrough for future hardware, companies creating components that require far less energy to run than in computers today; further paving the way for optical based CPUs.