Brian Sweeting

I’d really like to find a bluetooth headset that will pair with my Mac (for use with Skype, etc.), and with my Blackberry. Does such a thing exist?

I’ve made the switch recently from Bloglines to Google’s updated reader for reading RSS feeds. One cool feature they have is a bookmarklet that opens the next unread item in your reading list and lets you read the item the way it was intended to be viewed in the context of the original site. This is nice when you get tired of just unbolding things, and want to experience your RSS feeds in a unique way.

Bonus: When you get to the end of your unread items, you get this screen.

My friends at Eli Kirk have created a terrific web conferencing tool and they’re letting you kick the tires for free.  Huddle is a 100% web-based conferencing tool developed in Flash.  It allows you to share powerpoint presentations, broadcast audio & video, share images, and conduct massive chats all without needing anything more than a browser with Flash installed (is there really a browser that doesn’t have flash installed anymore?)

Anyway, go check it out: http://livehuddle.com/

I’m in San Francisco this week for the Future of Web Apps Summit.  I’m looking forward to networking and hearing from great speakers over the next couple of days.

Todd Dominey’s wood-copious workspace really makes my home workspace, consisting of a folding table and folding chair, seem somewhat deficient.

A guy who smells like he hasn’t showered in a month, boards the bus with a six foot tall white tiger stuffed animal. The seat next to me is the only empty seat left on the bus.

Screen Mimic is probably the best screen recording tool I’ve found for the Mac so far. Outputs to .swf, .flv, or .mov. It’s also a universal binary.

Using RapidWave wireless ISP in Lehi, Utah.

Okay, so like all other Mac-heads, I was intently tuned into what was going down this morning at the Steve-note. I was looking forward to the preview of Leopard OS X 10.5. I was looking forward to Apple making the Intel transition complete. Those two things happened today, plus a few surprises. I don’t think today’s preview of Leopard exposes everything that this OS update has in store for us by the time it hits the street next Spring. At least I hope, because most of what was shown today, was marginally impressive.

Time Machine. I think the idea of automated backup and restore is a great one, but I think the interface is corny. I agree with Jon Hicks’ assessment that Apple’s UI designers were smoking something when they came up with that one.

Spaces. Split on this one. I hate to see Apple encroach on third-party developers, but the purist in me loves to see this kind of stuff rolled into the OS.

Updates to iChat, Mail, iCal, Core Graphics, Spotlight. Zzzzzz.

Things that I hoped to see today, but may still happen before Spring:

• Improved Finder
• Unified window chrome (Death to brushed metal and pinstripe!)
• Unification of Mail, Address Book, and iCal into a single app.
• Resolution Independent UI
• Tabbed iChat (yeah I know I can use Chax for this)
• iSync that supports my Blackberry (via Bluetooth)

IconFactory takes the “Under Construction” animated gif to a whole new level as they prepare for the launch of their new site.