Thursday, July 26th, 2007

Computer Age

My MacBook Pro finally arrived yesterday, so I’ve been installing software, moving files and generally feeling my way around. It’s got that new computer smell. Only hiccup I’ve found so far is that it can’t update my iPod, which is formatted for Windows. Which means that I’ve got to figure out where/how I’ll be storing my music (the internal hard drive just isn’t big enough), move the files and reformat the iPod for OSX. PITA. But since I was spending most of last night mucking around with it, I didn’t really have the chance to assemble a coherent post. So instead, you get a bit of a dog’s breakfast of stuff. Hopefully back with something more together tomorrow.

But since I know all you Macolytes are dying to a) pat me on the back and b) pat yourselves on the back, make yourselves useful and recommend me some software. I need an HTML editor, along the lines of Homesite, a decent FTP client and an IM client – something that combines MSN, Yahoo and AIM would be nice as well as retaining email notification functions for the first two. Stick with Mail or install Thunderbird? And anything else that make my life more interesting/entertaining.

Harp welcomes Buffalo Tom back, finds out where they’ve been and where they came from.

Richard Thompson talks to icWales about some of the difficulties he’s facing on account of his being Muslim.

Pinback will be at Lee’s Palace on October 12, tickets $15. They’re touring in support of their forthcoming record Autumn Of The Seraphs, out September 11.

Stream: Pinback – “From Nothing To Nowhere”

Caribou are playing a secret show at the Rivoli on September 30 – details on how to get tickets at their website, via For The Records. It was supposed to be a secret, Mike. GEEZ. Their new album is Andorra is out August 21 but you can stream it all right now and watch the first video.

Video: Caribou – “Melody Day”
Stream: Caribou / Andorra

The Russian Futurists will be playing a CD release show for their new compilation Me, Myself & Rye at the Drake Sky Yard this Saturday afternoon at 3PM. Thanks to Vlada for the tip-off.

MP3: The Russian Futurists – “Paul Simon”
MP3: The Russian Futurists – “A Telegram From The Future”

Hey look, The National on Letterman. And they brought the horns! Oh the horns.

Video: The National – “Fake Empire” (on The Late Show with David Letterman)

Exclaim! salutes Spoon.

Allmusic has a tete-a-tete with Yo La Tengo’s James McNew about the Motor City, manners and pizza.

The Globe & Mail talks to Emily Haines about her relationship with her father. She’s playing Saturday night at Hillside.

New Pornographer Carl Newman discusses chilling out on Challengers, out August 21, with NOW. They’re playing the Rogers Picnic this Sunday and are back on October 21 for a show at the Phoenix.

Drowned In Sound talks to The Twilight Sad’s Andy MacFarlane about the tremendous response Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters has gotten both at home and abroad.

Chart asks Fields about their day jobs. And fennel drums.

The Phoenix attempts to create a definitive list of the top ten influential post-punk, proto-indie rock records of all time. Knives… out. Actually it’s a pretty good list – you’d have a hard time arguing against any of the inclusions.

By : Frank Yang at 8:21 am
Category: Uncategorized
RSS Feed for this postNo Responses.
  1. William Sun says:

    Enjoying your Mac? =]

    I’m not sure about an HTML editor but for an FTP client, I recommend Cyberduck (cyberduck.ch) and for an IM client, Adium is a no-brainer choice (adiumx.com).

  2. Chuck says:

    I had the same iPod problem when I got my MacBook a few weeks ago, but look for a program called Senuti. It can copy all your songs (artwork and all) from your iPod to your computer, then just reformat the iPod on your Mac and put all the songs back.

  3. Jim says:

    Senuti was my suggestion for the iPod problem, too. As for FTP, I swear by Transmit.

  4. nick says:

    TextWrangler is a great HTML editor, and it’s FREE! (http://www.barebones.com)

    If you use IMAP e-mail, then I recommend Thunderbird. Otherwise, use Mail.app.

    Transmit (http://www.panic.com) and Fetch (http://fetchsoftworks.com)

  5. kyle says:

    For HTML editor, I’ve heard food things about <a href="http://macromates.com/">Textmate</a>

  6. Ashe says:

    Taco Html is really good.

  7. Jerad says:

    Well, here’s some unsolicited software advice – get Quicksilver for your new Mac. It’ll take a bit to figure out all the things it can do other than launch applications, but once you’re into it you’ll never go back. Anyhow, enjoy the new computer!

  8. sp says:

    I will definitely agree with Thunderbird for mail and Adium for IM stuff. I’m not a big FTP person, but my wife uses Fetch and seems to like it alright.
    I’ll have to look into Senuti for iPod stuff, we have a different program that I really don’t like too much.
    I’m jealous though – we have an old tower G3 right now at home and I’d love to have a brand new shiny MacBook Pro…

  9. mclii says:

    This is an interesting site for some simple suggestions for open source software for the Mac, and includes some of the above suggestions:

    <a href="http://www.opensourcemac.org/">http://www.opensourcemac.org</a&gt;

  10. Luke Andrews says:

    The closest thing to Homesite is probably <a href="http://panic.com/coda/">Panic’s Coda</a>. I also second the recommendation for Transmit (also made by Panic), but Coda has FTP capabilities built in so you might not need it.

    Adium is the best IM program bar none, and yes, Quicksilver can change your life if you give it a chance.

  11. Adam says:

    Fetch is my favourite FTP client, and TextWrangler is a great HTML editor, I use the more advanced version, which does cost money called BBEdit.

    Fetch and BBEdit work seemlessly, I don’t know if it’s the same with TextWrangler.

  12. marc says:

    congrats on the new Macbook Pro… I just ordered mine too, will have to let us in on what you chose for software b/c I’ll need to get some too

  13. marc says:

    FYI
    you made me do some quick research on the topic and found some cool lists:

    LH’s top 10 free downloads
    http://lifehacker.com/softw

    LH’s top 10 mac utilities
    http://lifehacker.com/softw

    LH’s top 10 OS X tweaks
    http://lifehacker.com/softw

    best unknown software
    http://dbachrach.com/blog/2
    http://dbachrach.com/blog/2
    http://dbachrach.com/blog/2

    hope it helps

  14. Thierry says:

    Count me in as well as a supporter of Adium for IM.

  15. Five says:

    I second Marc’s software links and mention that I couldn’t live without these.

    Senuti for moving your iPod files http://www.fadingred.org/se

    Remote Desktop Connection for moving files between your PC and Mac http://www.microsoft.com/wi

    Textexpander http://www.smileonmymac.com

    QuickSilver http://quicksilver.blacktre

    Gmail Manager (Firefox Extension) http://www.longfocus.com/fi

    FontXplorer http://www.linotype.com/fon

  16. Christopher Early says:

    HTML: TextMate http://macromates.com/
    IM: Adium http://www.adiumx.com/
    FTP: Transmit http://www.panic.com/

    And I personally use Mail, but I know that some people don’t like it.

  17. Michael says:

    For HTML editing, I’d also recommend Panic’s Coda — and for IM, I’ll join the chorus and heartily recommend Adium.

  18. Taylor says:

    For FTP, definitely use Transmit. It’s made my life soooo much easier over the years. For HTML, I use Dreamweaver most of the time but Taco HTML is great for simple stuff.

  19. Five says:

    Oh, re: Senuti. Before reformating your iPod make sure that none of your songs have foreign characters, fractions, etc. Those ones WON’T copy.

  20. wing says:

    I also use Adium for IM. As for FTP, I’ve been using Fugu for many years…it’s free, easy to use, and supports SFTP as well.

  21. allen says:

    it’s all about adium. And for music blog fun http://www.getpeel.com is essential. You will love

  22. Brads says:

    Holy crap, Mac geek comment overload!

  23. thomaus says:

    Why do all the Mac guys sound like PC guy all of a sudden?

  24. Netzhaut says:

    Just been scanning the comments and those haven’t been mentioned yet:

    HTML editor: PageSpinner (shareware, but haven’t found any features that don’t work if you stick to the demo version)
    FTP: Cyberduck (freeware)
    IM: iChat! (find out, how Jabber transports work to make it compatible with MSN and Yahoo, AIM and ICQ are supported anyway).

    Cheers, Netzhaut

  25. crustcake says:

    "Well, here’s some unsolicited software advice…"

    Actually, it WAS solicited:

    "make yourselves useful and recommend me some software"

  26. E.S. says:

    You can find tons of OSX apps here:

    http://coolosxapps.net/

    HTML Editor: Smultron
    FTP: CyberDuck
    Chat: Adium X
    Interesting: Growl Notification