Two Cents and a Thousand Words

It’s been three and a half years – I think it’s time for an upgrade.

Yes, I’m getting an iMac (again). My new machine was originally supposed to be a delayed partial birthday present that I would receive after WWDC in June. With Apple’s recent delay of OS X Leopard, though, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. I ordered it yesterday, and it should be delivered within a week or two.

This Intel Core 2 Duo iMac will be my third Apple computer, joining the ranks of iOpener and Cosmos. (Yes, I name my computers. No, I haven’t named the new one yet.) As was the case with my other two Macs, there are a ton of wonderful benefits I’ll be able to enjoy:

• My first media center. The iMac features Front Row, an application that allows you to control and play your media from across the room (from the futon, in my case) with a supplied remote.
• Big screen. I can enjoy Tiki Bar TV, MacBreak, and Galacticast on my new 20″ LCD.
• Can you see me now? There’s an integrated iSight camera in this thing. I’ll be able to easily videoconference with my friends from away or just record short little clips whenever I like.
• Fastest wireless. I’m ditching my 802.11b wireless router for the 802.11g included with my iMac. Get a new computer, and everything gets faster – sounds like a good deal to me.
• And just fast. This is my first dual-processor box, and it’s the fastest machine – by far – I’ve ever had.
• Windows. Wait – Windows as a feature? Well, with Boot Camp, I can finally play a few of my favorite games again… and testing in IE will be a breeze.
• Less of a load. No more carrying my PowerBook back and forth to work. The iMac will be my new computing hub.

Part of the Mac philosophy is the simplicity of it all. Take a look at a couple of before and after (at least, artist’s conceptions of after) photos of my main apartment workspace:

Isn’t it time for you to get a Mac, too?

My former domain registrar of choice has been through a bit of a thing lately. By “bit of a thing”, I roughly mean “screw customers and become the company with the worst reputation on the Web.” I started using RegisterFly (no link intentionally, because they don’t deserve the Google Juice) a few years back after a suggestion from Kevin Rose (yes, the digg.com guy) on The Screen Savers. They were great for quite a while, but over the past few months I’ve had numerous problems and unresponsive support requests. Apparently, I’m not alone.

Luckily I managed to get the bulk of my domains away from them before the real fire started. The only one that’s left isn’t a huge deal, but it would be nice to keep it. If the Internet Overseers at ICANN step up to the plate, I have a pretty good chance of getting it – I still have quite a bit of time before it expires.

It underscores the importance of good customer service in order to make your company not appear incompetent. It also heightens awareness on how crucial domain registrars can be to companies and individuals. Picking the wrong one can have long-lasting effects.

For the record, I have 22 domains, but many of them are inactive. I managed to transfer the big three (justinrussell.com, semsym.com, and mainesites.net – the precursor to semsym.com) earlier this year. (Speaking of semsym.com, wouldn’t it be nice to see a resurgence of the Network? Hmm. My birthday’s coming soon. That seems like a milestone of some sort. Hmm. Naw, nothing could be happening. Couldn’t be.)

What the heck is del.icio.us and why should you use it?

Sounds like a great topic for an Edge tekk article to me.

By the way – if you enjoy reading what I write, I may have a new venue or two coming up soon. More details later, if they work out.

Ze starts out his last week of the show with some wonderful thoughts on creativity:

I’m amazed we have one word that can apply to all these different things. A word that evokes wonder when I think about what other people have done, but evokes fear and self-doubt when I think about myself.

That was exactly what I needed.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been trying to enhance the development process at work. Matt‘s been leading the charge on doing more quality assurance and things of that sort. I’ve been a little less vocal about it; I think it’s been because I’m still trying to figure out the best way to go about it. As I’ve been pondering it, though, I’ve noticed that this conversation seems to be occurring more often between developers around the Web.

My friend Ian has written a couple of excellent posts about two topics that are near and dear to anyone in a product-based industry: quantity versus quality and the bulleted features list. I’ve always found it interesting that even in such a diverse field, many of the same factors of product development ring true.

One of the sites on my reading list is the blog of usability and interaction designer Daniel J. Wilson. He recently posted an article about some interaction testing of a new product called Skitch. We’ve had the opportunity to do this sort of auditing on our own projects lately, and it’s an invaluable exercise. Besides the sheer fun of trying to deconstruct and self-criticize the project you just finished coding, this sort of testing really allows you to step back and visualize the experience of your product from the user’s point of view. Although it sounds simple, it’s really not; I’ve recently found that it takes much more than “point out anything that doesn’t make sense” to instruct someone on this sort of testing.

These sorts of enhancements, though, are those that will cause users to enjoy using (and continue using) a product. They’re the ones that patch mental disconnects. They’re the ones that might prevent maintenance work later in the product’s lifetime. In development, the little things are the big things.

Up for a read on the future of mobile phones? You guessed it – it’s another column in The Maine Edge.

Do you remember the days before your cell phone? Do you remember the time before you had your first MP3 or CD player? Mobile technology advances at a quick pace, and it’s tough to keep up with the latest gadgets.

Read iEverything now (and get a free bonus pic of my pants!).

Business cards are a big thing for me. I’ve had many in my lifetime: Russell Recycling Center, Russell’s Shoppe, the JRHO Railroad, Justin’s Detective Agency, and the perennial favorite, Justin’s Library. (Have I mentioned my lifelong entrepreneurial spirit lately?)

Well, it’s time for me to create some (real) business cards. After BarCamp Manchester, I really found that business cards can be a good thing to have on hand. I felt as though handing out my Sephone ones alone wasn’t enough (especially because I wasn’t representing Sephone at BCM). I’ve always wanted to have a personal business card to cover my other interests – most notably my photography and my personal site. I also wanted a card that could lead people to find out all of the basics about me… and that’s what I believe that justinrussell.com now does, you can be creating paystubs with online paystubs software.

BCM attendee Dave Seah detailed the creation of his personal business card on his blog. (I made a point to grab one from him at BarCamp.) I still contend that IANAD (I am not a designer), but I’ve created something that I think fits with the general motif of justinrussell.com:

Comments, as always, are welcome.

For those interested, the follow-up to my Your Media – Your Way article in The Maine Edge last week is now available. The title is (creatively) Your Media – Your Way, Part II. Go read it now or pick up a paper in the Bangor area this week.

I suggested podcasts that I believe everyone should see or hear at least once. In fact many of the ones I recommended are the ones from my Podcast Update entry in November. If you’d like more local (Maine) podcasts, fellow Maine Web dev guy Jason Clarke posted an entry to his blog listing some by-Mainer-for-Mainer podcasts – including one he does with another Maine Web dev, Lance Dutson.

Full disclosure: I love co-opetition. Mitch explains that a bit in a podcast interview (around 9:40).