Macgasm

[Download] [02.8 MB] [0:06:00]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Josh asks “Is Apple doing enough for new users?”

After twenty-four hours of our comments being borked worse then a beta version of a web app, we’ve decided to make a bit of a change and move away from Disqus.  It was a hard decision to make, and I was really hoping to keep the status quo.  I mean, I’d prefer to never have to change anything on the site so I can focus of doing the things that our readers appreciate–mainly bringing you articles, podcasts, and tutorials.  Time spent trying to figure out glitches in a system that we have no control over is a little frustrating.  We decided to move to Intense Debate.  Now, I know what you’re thinking… doesn’t that open up the same kind of problems we had with Disqus in the future?  Yup, but the positives outweigh the negatives.  The functionality of these third party comment systems is something that should be mandatory in all comment systems these days.  It’s a lot easier to drop in a plug-in than it is to develop the plug-in from scratch.

If there is one thing this whole experience has taught me, it’s that we need a completely open login system.  OpenID is on the right path, but I don’t think it’s nearly ready for the prime time.

I apologize for any issues that this may have caused over the last couple of days, and I really hope this change brings some more stability to our comments.  If you notice anything funky happening, drop me an email so I can make sure we get the kinks worked out.

jschnell@macgasm.net

From the “This might be old news, but it’s new to me”department–it looks like the Canadian iTunes store might have finally given us lowly Canadians access to real television shows.  You know the kind I’m talking about, the big networks and not the crappy Canadian content.  But, it’s not like it really matters much.  A season pass to the Office is $69.99 and an episode is $3.49.  I’m pretty sure they’re deluding themselves. Canadians aren’t stupid, and in a country where copyrights are still a little blurry, I’m sure most people will download the shows.

For those not wanting to do the math, that’s $64.99 USD for a seasons pass, and $3.64 USD for an individual episode.  Looks like Canadians are once again getting a double “Apple Tax”.  My guess is the additional money is going to paying off the Globals and Rogers around  Canada.  Lame.

[Download] [01.7 MB] [0:03:40]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Grants talks about getting the most out of iTunes without spending a dime.

[Download] [01.7 MB] [0:03:50]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Josh talks about our presence on Twitter. Grant is @bassguy, and Josh is @macgasm.

Of course you are aware of my love of Evernote, but did you know that you can get even more use out of Evernote if you use it with Skitch? Or even Little Snapper! Using Skitch or Littlesnapper, you can annotate right on your clip. Need to remember an important line of code? Take a snapshot with Skitch or Littlesnapper and highlight the code you need, then just drag it over to Evernote. It is that easy and makes use of several great apps. You will find yourself using this quite a bit. Skitch is Free from skitch.com, little snapper is $39.99 from realmacsoftware.com and of course evernote is free. So give it a try.

[download in HD]

We are all well aware of Apple’s legal battle with Psystar and a few other companies that are selling Hackintosh systems. But is it possible that Apple is promoting DIY Hackintosh for some of their customers? I bring this up because since Apple introduced the Intel Chips in 2006, making a Hackintosh has become easier than it was. Hackintosh machines have also become more popular since the Netbook movement recently. Fan Boys and Girls are showing that they want Apple netbooks. But Apple has said several times that they don’t want to be in that market. Which I can understand. If you look at the figures, these computer companies aren’t making much on netbooks. But then why doesn’t Apple want other computer companies making and selling Hackintosh netbooks? Well the answer to that is simple enough. If you owned a software business would you want some random company making money off of your software? I know I wouldn’t. But with the latest software update to OS X, Netbook battery life is increased. They have also made it more stable. So Apple may not want 3rd party companies to make a Hackintosh, but I think they are encouraging their customers to make their own.

By now you must know that there’s an app for just about everthing you want or need on the iPhone or iPod Touch.
You must have seen the adverts on TV. If not, here’s a refresher of one.

Over at nerduo.com they have come up with a site to poke a little bit of fun at Apple’s campaign.

Check out appft.com where you can submit your own phrases in the mock SMS app interface, and watch them roll down the screen. Press the refresh button to see other peoples answers come up (some might be inappropriate, you have been warned) and you can send those updates out to Twitter, Facebook and other services.

You can view the site on your iPhone or iPod Touch, but you can’t yet submit to it. It does say that they are working on that though.
You can now submit your own quips direct from the iPhone site.