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barnskiblog

Barney's blog. Just a load of old shite really.

Friday, August 26, 2005

I have used the GIMP in place of Photoshop on my old Powerbook (and on Linux) for some time now. I'm not really a power user of image manipulation tools, so the GIMP is more than powerful enough for my requirements. The problem with the GIMP on OS X is that it needs to run under X, so it doesn't play with Aqua / Quartz Extreme and you need to be a bit of a techie to get it all together. Fine for me, but not for most, I reckon.
Enter Seashore, which is a project based on the GIMP, but written in Cocoa, so it behaves like a normal OS X application - no X windows required. I'll be installing it shortly........

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Following on with the messaging / communications theme, it's about time I blogged Gizmo, which I hope will soon be kicking some Skype ass.
I first played with Gizmo a while back, but didn't blog it as it was Mac-only then, and hence a bit pointless, as most people have online friends that don't have a Mac. Now, however, Gizmo supports Mac, Windows and Linux, and so is firmly positioned to give Skype a run for it's money.
Why is Gizmo better? - there are 2 main reasons from where I'm sitting:
1 - It uses proper, Open Standards SIP protocols, as opposed to Skype's proprietary network.
2 - It looks and feels nicer than Skype (on the Mac at least).
Audio quality is as good as Skype, and Gizmo also has some really nice little features that Skype doesn't. Oh, and Skype is by the same people that did Kazaa, which loses it points in my book.
Give Gizmo a go, and tell your friends - you might like it.

Update:
It's almost like the forces of openness have been reading my blog: apparently Gizmo and Google Talk will be inter-operable, meaning that you will be able to talk to your Gizmo buddies from Google Talk and vice-versa.


The rumours of a Google IM client were true, it seems: Google Talk is here.
It's based on Jabber, which is the wholesome Open Source set of IM protocols & technologies, so iChat, Adium or Gaim can be used instead of the Google client to talk to your buddies.
Google rock :)

Monday, August 22, 2005

Google Desktop version 2.0 (beta) is available for download.
If you use a Mac, and have Tiger then you have Spotlight, so you don't need this. If you use Linux, check out Beagle, which will give you similar capabilities.
If you're unfortunate enough to have to use Windows (maybe at work, like me), then Google Desktop is a handy desktop search utility.


Last night we watched The Man Who Wasn't There (only four years after it came out). I'd been wanting to see it for a long time, and wasn't disappointed. It's a Coen Brothers film, so it's quirky and gentle (think Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where art Thou? etc.), compelling, thought provoking and incredibly well shot in black and white. Recommended.

Saturday, August 20, 2005
Dog Judo. Madness.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Symphony OS is a new contender on the Linux block. It's based on Debian, and is still in Alpha development, so a full release is a long way off.
What's really interesting about it is that they've developed a new GUI. It's based on the Open Source FVWM window manager, but all Symphony OS GUI apps are wholly written in HTML and perl, and they've taken a new approach to interface design and usability. The Desktop System (UI) is called Mezzo.
Symphony OS is aimed at a niche of users with basic requirements, and Mezzo will not compete with Gnome or KDE, but the UI ideas look interesting, and the feel of the Symphony OS website is lovely as well.
I haven't installed Symphony OS yet, but it's only a matter of time......


Spy Another Day. Well, being a bit of a gadgeteer and a Linux fan, I couldn't not blog it could I? ;)
This is a quirky site to launch the Realm MPS (mobile personal server). If you're a geek and you have broadband, check out the movies - they're fairly entertaining in parts.
The Realm MPS looks like a real innovation to me; people have had Linux on a USB memory stick for a while, or you could boot a Linux liveCD and use a USB pendrive for your home directory. Either of these mean you have your mail, bookmarks and so on with you and can use them securely and privately on most modern PC's, but it's been firmly in the realm of the uber-geeks so far - none of it is easy.
What the Realm MPS seems to offer is an enterprise solution only for now; you connect to a central server over the internet when you use it. However, it's user-friendly and it seems to me that there might be a market of non-enterprise users interested in a simple and secure portable computer of this type, in the same way that there are lots of non-enterprise Blackberry users.
If that comes about, this would be a pretty cool device to have for a toy.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

I have recently been playing with Adium, which is a multi-protocol IM client for OS X (a bit like gaim, which I like to use on Linux).
Now, don't get me wrong - I love iChat AV, and will definitely be sticking with that on my desktop, where I have a reasonably decent display and an iSight connected, so I can use all the whizzy audio and video features.
However, I spend some of my time surfing on my old PowerBook, where I don't use video (or even audio) that often, and the iChat buddy list takes up a lot of the limited screen real-estate. Adium is just great for this scenario, as the buddy list is customisable, so I have a tiny list of transluscent buddies in the corner of my screen. I'll maybe dump a screen shot up here at some point.
I haven't investigated audio capabilities yet, but for the right usage, it's looking pretty handy so far.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Konfabulator has now been released by Yahoo! as a free product. These guys were first with widgets, ahead of dashboard; it might be worth having another look.

Also today, I had a look at the Genesi site. These are the guys for PPC hardware after Apple goes Intel, apparently. It's just not as lovely though.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

I'm a big fan of The Mighty Boosh, so I was dismayed to find out that they have a new series going on and I've missed the first two episodes. You can catch it on BBC3 on Tuesday nights, and fortunately the first episodes are available online.
Genius.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

MacBlog: The Macintosh Weblog. I found these guys the other week whilst looking for something else, and I figured I'd blog them. I mean, hey, it's a Mac Blog after all :)


As I've said before, I'm no gamer. However, back in the day when a Pentium was a rockin' CPU and Windows '95 was the latest O/S, I had a PC with Day of the Tentacle installed, but I never finished it. Now (if I can find the install CD/floppies), I can get round to completing it on my handheld, thanks to ScummVM, which runs on loads of platforms, including PalmOS.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Just got back from my holiday (hence no posts last week), and I have decided that I need a new mouse.
Update: Ars Technica have an in-depth review here.