Port Map and TCMPortMapper TheCodingMonkeys: “Some times you want to access your computers at home from anywhere in the world. Be it the web server on your home server, the file sharing on your desktop machine or a remote login to your parent’s computer to support them doing their work. This is where the application ‘Port Map’ might come handy.” (New software from the SubEthaEdit folks.) Side note: check out the screenshot and note how iPhone-style On/Off widgets appear in the app. I’ve also seen this in VPN Tracker. I wonder if we’ll see it in more apps, and if it will become a standard part of the Mac user interface. Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:58:53 GMT

Love letter to Time Machine The Shape of Days: “What this all boils down to is this: I haven’t had to pay any attention to making sure my computer gets backed up.” Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:02:06 GMT

On becoming a programmer Mike Lee: “I often say that anyone can learn to program, but you have to be born a programmer.” There are, roughly, two types of programmers. One type was in the computer club at high school and got a computer science degree (or two or three). The other type, well, didn’t—they were English majors, college dropouts, busboys, artists, odd-job-doers. (Cue Captain Renault: “That makes Rick a citizen of the world.”) My advice to young people is to get a computer science degree, if for no other reason than you can avoid those odd jobs and get right to the programming. And it also gives you an early chance to find out if you were, in fact, born a programmer. But one of the things I love about developing software is that nobody asks for your education background before trying your software. If they like it, cool, and if not, not. Sat, 18 Aug 2007 23:08:48 GMT

Tumbleweeds and Used Car Lots Rich Siegel: “At the same time, large numbers of new customers are coming to the Mac, either as initial computer purchasers or as switchers from Windows or Linux. The visible result of these changes is a software market which is noticeably more vibrant than it was ten, or even five years ago.” Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:20:45 GMT

Rands on Twitter Rands In Repose: Yard Sale: “I’ve identified two specific and unique uses for Twitter, and this why an application like Twitterific has now become a part of a very short list of must-have applications that I fire up whenever I sit down at a computer.” Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:14:47 GMT

MacFUSE Release Opens Up File Systems on Mac OS X eWeek: “MacFUSE, Singh said, makes it easy for even casual programmers to write their own file systems, which they can build into Mac OS X user programs. With MacFUSE, users will be able to treat remote computer drives and even Web-based services as mountable drives on a local computer, he said.” Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:31:20 GMT

Mac OS X Developers Watch Month of Apple Bugs eWeek: “Developers of applications for Apple’s Mac OS X have been watching the Month of Apple Bugs project closely, and are generally in favor of the project’s goal of uncovering OS flaws. “But they, and security companies, have questions about the MOAB group’s method, which involves making their findings public immediately, instead of first alerting Apple Computer.” Sun, 07 Jan 2007 21:03:50 GMT

PreFab UI Browser 2.0 released PreFab Software: “PreFab UI Browser is the ultimate assistant for Apple’s AppleScript GUI Scripting and Accessibility technologies. It helps you to explore, manipulate and monitor the User Interface elements of most Mac OS X applications running on your computer.” Fri, 22 Dec 2006 01:04:37 GMT

NetworkLocation 1.0 centrix.ca: “With a single mouse click, you can set some of the most frequently changed settings you already manually set when you move your computer.” Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:11:10 GMT

When 'Smart' Cut/Copy/Paste Attack Daring Fireball: “If you’re young enough that your first computer was a Mac or a Windows PC, you probably can’t fathom just how big a deal Cut/Copy/Paste were when they were introduced as standard features of all applications.” Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:25:52 GMT

Tiger's Core Data Draws Developers eWeek: “As Apple Computer Inc. rolls out Mac OS X 10.4 by touting over 200 updated features, one new element of the operating system—Core Data—is generating a lot interest among developers. In fact, most Mac users will never notice Core Data’s existence.” Sat, 30 Apr 2005 19:55:11 GMT

Intro to Using PyObjC Overcoming Newbie Hurdles when using Xcode and Interface Builder: “Python is a great fit for the Macintosh.  It’s an elegant language for an elegant computer. We are all indebted to the guys who made the PyObjC bridge, for it springs the doors wide open to what you can do with Python on a Mac.” Tue, 29 Mar 2005 17:41:30 GMT

Tangelo 1.0 released Brad Rhine: “Tangelo streamlines organization of weblog text and images, and publishes the weblog to both an Internet web server and to the user’s own computer for better control and backup. In addition, Tangelo features integration with NetNewsWire 2.0 for posting RSS news items.” Sat, 05 Feb 2005 03:00:40 GMT

For Whatever Reasons Daring Fireball: For Whatever Reasons: “USA Today technology columnist Kevin Maney complained last week about having been hit hard by a Windows virus on his home computer: ‘My computer was only 18 months old. I wasn’t totally naïve...’” Mon, 27 Sep 2004 23:57:45 GMT

O’Reilly Interview with Robb Beal This is the second of O’Reilly’s Innovator Insight interviews. Robb: “The idea grew over the course of five years! I constantly found myself asking why the personal computer user experience wasn’t more conceptual and less machine-like.” Wed, 04 Jun 2003 06:17:59 GMT