MILES to GO || before I sleep

So @hotdogsladies (Merlin Mann) had a bit of an anti-MacHeist diatribe on this week's MacBreak Weekly (http://twit.tv/mbw) and the folks at @MacHeist tweeted about it with a pretty angry attitude: MacBreak Weekly discussed the nanoBundle. @hotdogsladies needs to check his facts and get over himself.

I've listened to the MBW show and actually found myself agreeing with parts of Mann's statement, although not all of it. Fellow MacHeisters posted about it in the forums, and apt213 made a very good point about it all: it's Mann's opinion, it was funny, and MacHeist didn't have to tweet with a 'tude. Also, most, if not all of us MacHeisters don't buy the bundles (nano or not) because a portion goes to charity. We buy because it's apps for cheap. It's nice that a portion goes to charity, but it's not my motivation at all.

In this past MacHeist nanoBundle 2, I got 12 apps for $19.95. They are: Squeeze, Airburst Extreme, Tracks, Burning Monkey Solitaire, MacJournal, RipIt, Clips, CoverScout, Flow, Tales of Monkey Island, RapidWeaver, and Tweetie. Many Mac users will recognize these as being pretty well-rated apps made by household-name companies. Others will have no idea what half of them do and might just be tempted by the descriptions enough to try them for cheap. I was straddling both categories when I decided to buy it.

No one holds a gun to the heads of the developers who can and do participate in MH. I personally think those that do are cool, but I don't disparage those that don't (if I even had a way of knowing who they are; who approaches MH Directorate, or do they approach developers? It's not like they announce who refused to participate in MH).

Here's the thing: every time I've bought a bundle, I've discovered a new app that I suddenly cannot live without. And I support the developers with continued purchases of new versions and/or upgrades. Sometimes these are for apps that I've heard a lot about but just can't afford and forget to get trials for. Other times I've never heard of them and it ends up being a life saver. I think this must be true for other users too, though not all of them. It's a risk, as all marketing ploys are, and MacHeist is a marketing ploy for developers. When it's an actual heist, it's also fun for the end users, because we have to EARN our discount on the software.

The lifesaver apps I've discovered via MacHeist that come to mind: Agile Software's 1Password, and Ambrosia Software's SnapzXPro. I'm experimenting with RapidWeaver now, was disappointed in MacJournal, and am so far enjoying Tracks. Wincent Software's Synergy (my iTunes controller) gets used so much that it's practically abused, and that I discovered through MacHeist, too!

Of the ones from the current bundle, I thought about buying MacJournal, but it was through getting and using it from MacHeist that I realized it's not what I was looking for. Clips is a fabulous replacement for the gone ClipIt (I think that was the name), and Tracks works splendidly alongside Synergy. Tweetie is interesting, but I have to keep using it in order to make a well-rounded comparison to my other Twitter clients, Twitterific, TweetDeck, and Echofon in Firefox. Squeeze seems useful and the games look fun (I suck at Solitaire of all kinds, apparently), but I'm still experimenting with the others.

MacHeist ≠ Walmart, though, even if Walmart has good points. People's personal opinions of Walmart or MacHeist or how developing apps should be done are going to color their opinions of MacHeist's strategy and execution, and that just can't be helped. You can't please everyone.

Yesterday's NSLS Leadership Training Day went well, even if I was having unexpected technical difficulties-- I learned from the Orientation what to plug in where and what to click, but when the audio mysteriously didn't work despite that, it took a good 15 minutes of button-pushing (randomly) to figure out THE EQUIPMENT RACK needed to be turned on in order for the stupid 3.5mm jack to be active! Dur-hur-hur. (I can be such a dummy with hardware, seriously.)

I also didn't finish my time planner for the video-- an hour-and-a-half long, LQ *.rm file (seriously!) that I had to squeeze into a 2-hour session (plus time for filling in worksheets and discussing the contents of those sheets with fellow NSLS members). Good thing the LTD is getting revised for next semester/year....

Also, I've been playing with my MacHeist bundle options, and so far:

* I LOVE EventBox. It's not that great for RSS feeds that are image-heavy-- that is, it sucks for LiveJournal, but it's great for Twitter updates, Facebook updates, and RSS feeds like Apple Hot News, Scholarship Points, and other simple text-only updates. Like Chris Pirillo said in yesterday's Reveal Screencast though, I do wish it did more. In the meantime, I'll keep NetNewsWire around for LiveJournal feed updates, even if I only check it once in a blue moon. Shame on me. :P I also wish you could have more than one Twitter account configured in it, but... meh!

ETA: There was a bug in the MH EventBox that caused Tweets and other updates to be dated incorrectly and then not update at all. It's been fixed on the EventBox Twitter, so heisters can download that, and I'm sure it'll eventually be up at the MacHeist site, too. But the catch is that for future updates, including all those great features like multiple account support (and maybe auto-fill? And confirmation of post? And deletion from the client?), you have to BUY the app. Well, I like it so far, so I might. But anyway, onward!

* I played one level in World of Goo and I think it's awesome. Great graphics, fun concept, interesting "puzzles." I'm looking forward to having the time (someday) to get to the other levels....

* I want to compare iSale to GarageSale, the two eBay auction-creating programs for the Mac. They're both PRETTY, but when it comes to which one produces genuinely eye-catching auctions that result in more bids? We'll see. I used GarageSale to make the auction for the ring Ryan, fountain_the's brother, was trying to sell, and no luck, even though I shelled out $16 in fees to make the auction listing highlighted, featured, and everything. Of course, it could be the pricetag on the item itself, but we can only test that theory with further experimentation.

* Espresso (not Acorn; whoops-- Acorn is another photo editor, like Picturesque; why we have two of them in the bundle is beyond me... maybe it's because Acorn can work with other images too, but Picturesque focuses on... pictures/photos?) looks interesting, if only because it looks more intuitive than KompoZer, which is what I have to use for the RPGClassics Star Ocean: Till The End of Time shrine (ah, yet another project dangling). Finding a website creator (not necessarily a WYSIWYG one like Dreamweaver or FrontPage, though) that produces clean code is a pretty tall order, in fact, and it'll be good to know if Acorn can do that. It's especially awesome that it's got FTP built in, which is a MAJOR sell point for me.

* I want to start using LittleSnapper right away to either make tutorials for website navigation easy (see: myNorthridge portal, LiveJournal) or to simply do full-page screenshots of my old website layouts and gather them in a gallery.

Speaking of a gallery, I'm thinking of adding Coppermine Gallery to my eFiction installs (epiphany for my own stuff, and Dragonfayth for the Seto x Anzu stuff). This might prove to be a handy way of including fanart on the Seventh-Star.Net sites without worrying about theft or a lack of a crediting system. Still, some of the PHP scripts (eFiction and MediaWiki, to be precise) have been acting wonky on my server, so I don't know when this'll be feasible.

In school-related news, the Daily Sundial has started to go downhill-- a very steep hill, perhaps like the one Coit Tower sits on in San Francisco. Or Balboa Street between 22nd and 24th Avenues. I've thought so for a while, but seeing two measly eight-page issues two days in a row finally got to me. Also the quite repetitive indication that the copy editors there either have no idea what they're doing or they're high when they're doing it. Normally this kind of thing would make me want to charge in, guns blazing, and revamp the place, but I had a decent run with Sundial while it lasted-- and while it was good. If the Sundial wants to be seen seriously as a major campus newspaper as it once was, the whole staff, from publisher to cub reporters-- need to be in on it.

Now that I've become a Twitter addict (my username is the_sweet on there too; come follow me!), I think it's stupid that the Sundial DOESN'T have one. It'd be so easy to set up, and it was actually Ezra's Twitter for SCENE magazine that got me thinking I should get one (and Fred's nagging that I should update it more often). Why can't different members of the Journalism department learn from one another?

Actually, what had me writing this post in the first place was the fact that A.S. (Associated Students, a.k.a our student government here at Cal State Northridge) has flubbed up elections again. The Sundial says this is the fourth year in a row, and I believe them. There have been problems with elections EVERY SINGLE YEAR I have been here. Another example of an organization not learning. This year the problem was that a person running for a particular slate for my own college, the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication, got left out of the ballot, even though he registered on time and was campaigning and everything. That means that regardless of who I voted for today, my vote for the seats for my college (which is a BIG college, needless to say) is nullified. That sucks in and of itself, but it also sucks that the guy's name was left out of the ballot. Honestly, the only ways students hear about who is running for what is the booklet (an honest improvement from past years' elections, I must say; we never had that kind of resource in the past) and the names on the ballot. The campaigning signs that are plastered all over campus aren't allowed within a certain distance of the polling stations (as it should be), so unless someone bothered to read those signs, take note of the names (or memorize them, which is hard enough with so many seats open and people running), and bring their notes with them to the polling station, people aren't going to vote for someone who's write-in or left off the ballot.

I liked the online elections a LOT better, but they crashed the server and I guess that was a sobering enough of an experience for them to never want to try again. Why can't they hire someone to be a full-time manager for the AS site whose big project of the year would be the elections? And make sure they have a robust server that can handle a ton of bandwidth overload? Or heck, they could pay $19.95 a month to get a premium SurveyMonkey site and just outsource it to them!

Side Note: WireTap Studio just got unlocked for MacHeisters! Whether you already bought your bundle or are just thinking about it, grab it now! Extra apps for helping charities!

Anyway, it's just about time for my biology class, so TTFN!

Sophia's a killah, and she's back with the third Mission briefing in MacHeist 3!

( Stay tuned for danger! )

Congratulations, agents!

 Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's from All That We Needed

Let's get this party started, agents.

( Three new pieces of information. )
Congratulations, agents!

 Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler from Musicbox 80's (disc 1) (Rating: 0)

After an agonizing wait including points, aptitude tests, team sorting and bizarre images involving podiums (assodium), three ears of corn, rabbit ears, and a book, we have the first official Mission!

( Let's go, Agents! )

This is the last of my posts for the initial communiques for MacHeist 2009 mission. It includes my process for figuring out the last two communiques from Sophia, our contact over at the Directorate.

( Let us begin! )

Hope you had fun following this first part of MacHeist with me. It was fun for me too, as my first time participating in MacHeist. Some missions were a lot easier than others, so I'm looking forward to future challenges!

 Dance, Dance [The Mexican] (Hex Hector & Mac Quayle Club Vocal Up Mix) by Thalía from Thalía (Rating: 0)

From the Directorate Communiques, a new forum post entitled "Over the Waterfall."

( Who is 'The Source'? )

 Be Our Guest by Jerry Orbach & Angela Lansbury from Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition (Rating: 0)