Antipresto: Deviant Magic

BEFORE YOU CONFUSE YOURSELF, know that I’m not talking about document editors and word processors; there’s a time and a place for that topic and it’s worth discussing, however, I don’t want to distract from the importance of the text editor, especially if you’re not using one of the following.

If you’ve been searching for the right program or tools to start coding up a storm (because TextEdit and Notepad are too plain, and WYSIWYG isn’t for you), you’re in luck! Here are my favorite free apps.

Whether you’re just starting out and don’t want to invest too much, spent all’yer cash on a domain and hosting, or if you’re just plain cheap—these freebies are first class! If you have money to spend, there are options from the sub $100 apps all the way to the “best” (Dreamweaver, imo).

WINDOWS - Programmer’s Notepad | MAC - Text Wrangler

Now here’s the thing; you’re not going to get something similar to Dreamweaver in these two programs, and some people will incorrectly call them “glorified” plain text editors. Those people are wrong, in more ways than one… heck, they’re probably wrong about a lot of things. These apps won’t give you instant-gratification; you’ll have to learn code in order to write code, and you won’t get an instant preview in any kind of “split” window (a la Dreamweaver). What you will get is color-coding and find and replace features that will really come in handy as your code gets more complex. You’ll also get numbered lines which is convenient for editing and organization, especially with multiple users/coders.

I could go into more detail, but you can get that at the two linked sites. Many programmers (who have the option of using Dreamweaver) end up using Programmer’s Notepad because it’s simple and fast. Apps with WYSIWYG-ish features and components are undoubtedly slower, and many of the cheaper ones don’t recognize languages other than HTML and javascript. Also, if you’re writing XML, Perl, Python, C, C++, JAVA, ANSI, etc… these two apps will do you some good!

I use a Mac as a main computer, but I would have to say that I like Programmer’s Notepad more. The creators of Text Wrangler: Bare Bones, offers another program called “BBEdit,” with some great features and the company is definitely cool enough to warrant paying for the software. The company isn’t some mega-corporation-evil-bloodsucking-money-whore, they’re what they look like, dedicated and cool programmers with an almost cult-like following (you should see their booth at MacWorld) because they create good software.

An alternative software (doesn’t really fit my tastes but I’m sure it would work for some users) is Mozilla’s SeaMonkey. SeaMonkey is a neat program that is the evolution of Mozilla’s original “Mozilla” app; it’s multi-OS (there’s multiple Linux versions and Solaris in addition to Windows/MacOS), it’s a browser, it’s an email client, it’s a text-editor/composer, an address book, and an IRC client. All in one, and that’s it’s charm.

I guess for those of you out there with system resource issues, it might be worth a look. You can ditch IE and the other browsers, your fat and ugly email client, and several other things as well. It has tabbed browsing, spam control, offensive content blocking… just no kitchen sink. You can probably find one of those in your kitchen.

YES, YES… I know. Why would a graphic designer (with my type of style and desires) create two WordPress blogs with generic styles, write about a whole bunch of random stuff (seemingly uncorrelated), and ignore all of the custom-art-’wow’-opportunities?! Because life doesn’t always allow the time, I’ve been in pain, and have a solid list of neglected things more pressing to get to… including figuring out how to pay bills. And as far as I can tell and although blogging has been a fun outlet for me, it has yet to contribute to the bill-paying effort or even pull in more than a c-note. So far, my writing career looks like a pipedream.

So what is this new site, and why is it here? Well, I know a little something about marketing, and a little something about blogging, believe it or not. One of those things that I know: blogs should be directed, narrow, and on-topic. “On topic” is not a description that Bradtastic.com could accurately hold at the moment; there are articles and entries on everything from my silly sketches, ramblings, Mac and Windows software, all the way to what I watch on television. I want Bradtastic.com to be about me, and all of those things are important to me… and that might be the problem, so many things are important to me.

I actively want to write about everything from fine arts such as watercoloring and oil painting to tagging. I want to cover Tennis Grand Slam events as well as rock concerts. I want to write about daytime TV, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and VH1. I want to talk about national foreign policies and international diplomatic efforts as well as the latest in greatest in the magic world… there’s just no way that I can do all of that in one place like I was originally not-planning-on-but-happened-to-do at my (other) homepage.

Antipresto really isn’t about magic. It’s about technology trends and how it fits into life. Why the name? Because this is all coming from my unsolicited mind-bank of semi-brilliance, and it’s a magician’s take on the latest and greatest that the society of tech and entertainment has come up with, as well as little tidbits of information that might help a person make life a little bit easier.

I see it left-n-right when walking down the street; people ignoring perfectly good, time-saving technology while scurrying along to stand in line to blow hard-earned cash on products that will do nothing more than waste time and turn into a paperweight. Why am I the guy to listen to? Ask the many, many people who at the end of the day, turn to my advice to make decisions come morning. People pay me for advice.

And this blog, and all of the information I am about to share, is honest and free. I want to help the world be happy, I don’t want people to waste money, and more importantly, time. I just hope that two blogs is enough for me… time will tell.

IT SHOULD BE CLEAR BY NOW that Apple innovates and they’re here to stay. There was some doubt a few years ago as to Steve Job’s intentions with the company, whether or not OSX was really going to be able to compete, and whether or not the consumer market would take to Apple’s charm.

The iPod may have saved Apple from doom, destruction and grim death.

From the beginning, Apple shook the world with a breakthrough music player with an awesome set of controls. The wheel is the paragon of simplistic, near perfect design… something that they achieved six years ago that “we” thought would never get better was then again impoved upon with the patented click wheel (simplifying the iPod controls once again). After getting over some early battery issues and offering AppleCare protection, Apple trailblazed a music revolution and arguably saved music itself.

The iPod isn’t responsible for inventing what a “podcast” is at heart, but the name comes from Apple’s player. iTunes is the clear 500lb gorilla of music and podcasts, the dominant player on both Mac OS and Windows for good reason—it works really well.

The iPhone is the revolutionary device to phones, just as the iPod continues to dominate the music player market. I see this technology as being important because it’s actually starting to become a life-modifying factor; people are changing routines and behavior to include the use of these tech-toys, it does and will continue to influence where people shop and eat, it will proliferate throughout other industries and change the way people send and receive information, and it shapes criminal trends as much as consumer trends.

There’s a criminal category for iPod stealing, and Apple has chosen to address this as well with a technology that stops the device from recharging if ownership cannot be proven, thus turning the super-high-tech-LCD-screened-toy into an ineffectual paperweight. This should help to legitimize at least a good part of the resell market, and make people with an quick, dirty impulse think twice before taking someone’s ‘Pod… as long as they know that the tech won’t work.

The iPhone is now cheaper. And yes, all of us who bought the damned thing on or near the release are feeling a bit chumped, and all y’all with the 4GB version must feel even worse about it. The 8GB model is the only version available, and is now priced at a very reasonable $399, now placing it around and underneath other much crappier mobile phones. (For instance, the Motorola RAZR and the Nokia 8801 phones were both around or over $599 at release… smart phones are still around $399-499)

The iPod touch is essentially an iPhone that can’t call. I need to think a little bit more about the new iPods before writing about it, something doesn’t make sense to me because it seems like Apple wants iPhone owners (the type of consumer who would purchase the 16GB touch is the same person who likely owns the iPhone and an 80GB iPod… thus would be torn between buying a “call-less-but-larger-HDD-iPhone” and/or the 160GB iPod) to feel cheated.

That’s sort of how I feel. Apple is releasing technology that integrates and changes the world in ways that have never happened before and people will start to connect on more levels. The iPod will likely start sharing music much as Microsoft’s Zune and the Sony Mylo have tried to do, but not enough people own those luxury-toys. People seem to put iPod’s (and soon, the iPhone) into the “necessity” category, not the vanity (unnecessary) category. Many people interviewed during Dateline’s exposé said that they “couldn’t live without the iPod,” and that “life wouldn’t be as fun.” People use the device to run, get through commuting (especially on subway/BART/bus/etc), during work and workouts… the new tech-generation likely owns more than one iPod, and many people have started to either get or plan to get a shuffle for running/workouts and a larger iPod for video and TV shows.

Apple has very intelligently filled the vacuum and power-gap left in music and content when Napster went south, and with the prosecution and media-slam on file-sharers, many people decided that it “wasn’t worth it” to break the law. Many teens simply don’t take these Federal Laws seriously, in part because of how easy it is to break the laws and the anonymity of the offense. Some kids aren’t aware that it’s illegal, although that was more of a phenomenon from a few years ago—I don’t think that that excuse would still work. However, Apple’s iTunes has demonstrated how to legally allow people to get the music that they want through the computer, how to allow users to get just the songs that they want, and how to prevent people from stealing music from stores and the industry itself. It’s now just as easy to get music and video legally as it is to steal it, and doing things the “legal way” is safe.

Instead of DVDs of TV series’ there are digital files now. People are able to just get the episodes that they want, and they’re able to do it from their desk instead of Best Buy or Target. Broadband connections have allowed for decent quality files to come across at reasonable speeds (for the “instant gratification” factor) and Apple even created the Apple TV device so that TV owners/lovers can now watch their prized content on the big box. Adding YouTube and video podcasts has now created an entire new industry, as well as a brand new, gigantic pastime.

Apple has literally aided the creation of a mind-numbing, time-wasting hobby for people, and has done so in the most stylish and attractive way possible. Being a geek/nerd can now be sorta sexy. High-tech stuff is now attractive, and the hottest celebrities and trend-setters are shown to use Apple products. Apple’s screens and machines rules the silver screen and most of the TV shows, and now in turn people are using Apple products to watch people use Apple products.

I just don’t know why Apple didn’t make the iPod touch 160GB… (I think that they’re trying to force people to want the iPhone for a phone, the shuffle for exercise, the iPod classic for TV shows and podcasts, and the touch for extra movies—and as they “force” people to want to get everything, people end up getting none of ‘em. Apple has opened the door for another company to step in and make a device to fit in this gaping hole. But again, I need to think about it more.)