NSLog();

The Bond Aston Martin Vanquish, only $255,000.

Really quite inexpensive if you ask me.

Question: What is your middle name? Do you care to change it?

My Answer: Joseph. And no, not really… Goodness knows I use the "J." enough.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Should Apple offer colored Mac minis?

My Answer: Sure, why not. But something tells me they're going to have a hard enough time keeping up with production here with just one case option. As someone who watched the iPod mini rush first-hand, I can say that color complicates things. People "settling" for their second-choice color because the first choice was sold out, that sort of thing. So, I say wait until you can comfortably meet demand, then offer colors.

It does seem to be a bit of a break for the company. The iPod is white, the mini is colored. The iBook and iMac are white, the PowerBook and G5 are metallic. Oh well.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Stamps: how many do you use per month?

My Answer: About five. Crappy QotD, but today was a busy day. Get PulpFiction 1.2, mmmmk? 🙂

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

PulpFiction 1.2 is now available. PulpFiction Lite 1.2 will be available later today or tomorrow.

Over the past ten days, we've been counting down some of PulpFiction's new features. A quick recap of the ones I like most:

• Smart Folders
• Enclosures support
• Wide view
• Local feed support
• NetNewsWire Stylesheet support
• Authenticated feeds
• More control over list preferences
• More, more, more…

Yes, "More, more, more…" is indeed one of my favorite features. 🙂 Things we didn't even bother to mention in the manual include more ways to sort the Feeds View (alphabetical, by unread articles, etc.) and so on. We've added local feeds, and MacGeekery already has an article up about using (and creating) those.

For a somewhat more complete on what new features we've got - and how to use them - check PulpFiction's Help, available online or via the "Help" menu item in PulpFiction.

Tomorrow, we'll be releasing PulpFiction 1.2. On each of the past ten days, I've discussed one of PulpFiction's new features. Today's is the last one prior to its release, and it is my favorite.

Today's feature: smart folders. If you can filter by something, you can likely create a smart folder by it as well. Additional options include the unread state of items, and drag and drop support is fully supported: drag a subscription to the folder area and a smart folder will be created (for those who miss "Filterize"). Drag a subscription onto an existing smart folder and its criteria will be added.

I don't have to tell you what smart folders let you do - you've got ideas (or will come up with some) without my help. My smart folders include one called "Developer Topics" that lists articles that discuss Cocoa, WebObjects, Carbon, and other Mac OS X development topics. Another smart folder is called "Interesting People" which displays articles containing words like "Steve Jobs" and "Tiger Woods."

Quick Recap:
Day 2: enclosures support.
Day 3: wide view.
Day 4: Support for local feeds.
Day 5: Support for "that other aggregator"'s stylesheets.
Day 6: Support for authenticated feeds.
Day 7: "Add to Filter" added to QuickSubscribe sheet.
Day 8: Export selected subscriptions.
Day 9: Preference to disable alternating blue/white background.
Day 10: "Google This," "Fwd: article title," page up/down, "category" is now "^y."

Question: Will the 'rel="nofollow"' idea work?

My Answer: It's a step in the right direction, but I've gotta agree with Chuq: I don't think it's going to be economically damning enough to comment spammers. Furthermore, it hurts authentic commenters who leave their URL on my blog. If they're contributing, why shouldn't they benefit from some Google juice on a particular topic?

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Got Bluetooth?

My Answer: Yeah, but besides transferring a few pictures or MP3s to my phone (which actually hasn't worked in awhile), I don't do a whole lot. I should use my Bluetooth headset more, though…

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

On January 20*, we'll be releasing PulpFiction 1.2. On each of the next ten days, I'll be discussing a new feature we've added to my favorite aggregator.

Today's feature: support for enclosures. Enclosures are included in the preview pane and can be downloaded as a result of filter actions. The files are just downloaded, but we feel that provides the "KISS" approach while leaving the power in your hands. A folder action or a cron job can then synchronize with your iPod, launch your BitTorrent client, or import to iPhoto.

* According to plans, anyway. 🙂

Quick Recap:
Day 3: wide view.
Day 4: Support for local feeds.
Day 5: Support for "that other aggregator"'s stylesheets.
Day 6: Support for authenticated feeds.
Day 7: "Add to Filter" added to QuickSubscribe sheet.
Day 8: Export selected subscriptions.
Day 9: Preference to disable alternating blue/white background.
Day 10: "Google This," "Fwd: article title," page up/down, "category" is now "^y."

DirecTV sent me an email (no doubt everyone else got it to, no, I don't think I'm special) announcing some plans for 2005. They include:

• Four new HDTV satellites (for over 1500 channels)
• New 100-hour DVR with more interactive capabilities
• Mover's connection
• Refer a friend, get a free month of service
• Better website

In other words, I care only about the first two. The second will be interesting - DirecTV is preparing to split on its dependence on the TiVo. In many ways, the TiVo is an awesome machine - easily hacked, nice features, awesome remote, great UI - but it's starting to show its date. It's sometimes SO SLOW I finish a chapter in a book waiting for it to schedule or delete a schedule or a recording.

On January 20*, we'll be releasing PulpFiction 1.2. On each of the next ten days, I'll be discussing a new feature we've added to my favorite aggregator.

Today's feature: wide view. PulpFiction can now toggle between standard view and wide view, with folders in a drawer (left or right), an article list left, and the preview pane to the right. Preferences for columns, the size and position of the window, and the location of the drawer (again, left or right) are saved independently.

* According to plans, anyway. 🙂

Quick Recap:
Day 4: Support for local feeds.
Day 5: Support for "that other aggregator"'s stylesheets.
Day 6: Support for authenticated feeds.
Day 7: "Add to Filter" added to QuickSubscribe sheet.
Day 8: Export selected subscriptions.
Day 9: Preference to disable alternating blue/white background.
Day 10: "Google This," "Fwd: article title," page up/down, "category" is now "^y."

Question: Did Apple position the Mac mini appropriately (i.e. well enough to avoid a "Cube" debacle)?

My Answer: I think so. I agree with codepoet's assessment.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Robert Scoble has broached the topic of Copyrighting RSS in his usual bumbleheaded way. Essentially, a man named Martin Schwimmer does not like having his posts republished via Bloglines.

Martin summarizes his point succinctly:

This website is published under a Creative Commons license that allows for non-commercial use, provided there is attribution. Commercial use and derivative works are prohibited… in my view, Bloglines' reproduction of my site is a commercial derivative work.(Read for more.)

Scoble's usual bumbleheaded response? Here:

The real trick here is: if you don't want your full posts reprinted somewhere else, don't put them into RSS. That's one reason most commercial sites don't include full content in their feeds.

Derrr… no.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 411); »

Question: Are you on a diet?

My Answer: Something like 87% of all Americans are on a diet? I don't know anyone on a diet. Not a specific diet, or anything that varies from normal eating. No carb-counting, no Weight Watchers. Nothing. (No, I'm not on a diet.)

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

On January 20*, we'll be releasing PulpFiction 1.2. On each of the next ten days, I'll be discussing a new feature we've added to my favorite aggregator.

Today's feature is one I've used several times myself: we've added support for local feeds. Local feeds are simply XML files that live on your disk. I've created a few such feeds, and they're created by cron jobs that run every 30 minutes to update them. You can subscribe to them by dragging and dropping the XML files to PulpFiction, and filter them, label them, etc. Creating a bare-bones XML feed is quite simple, and I'll post a few of my cron job scripts in the future.

* According to plans, anyway. 🙂

Quick Recap:
Day 5: Support for "that other aggregator"'s stylesheets.
Day 6: Support for authenticated feeds.
Day 7: "Add to Filter" added to QuickSubscribe sheet.
Day 8: Export selected subscriptions.
Day 9: Preference to disable alternating blue/white background.
Day 10: "Google This," "Fwd: article title," page up/down, "category" is now "^y."