Dave Caolo

Here’s a video of John Mayer offering tech support to his dad via the phone. I’ve endured this exact nightmare several times. It’s absolutely horrible.

I did help desk support for five years. It’s thankless, soul-crushing work. I’m very happy that I don’t do that anymore.

[Via Geek & Mild]

From Copyblogger

“So many bloggers quit writing because their topic ceases to inspire them. They think the only way to keep going is to start a new blog on a new topic and reach for new inspiration … Most beginning bloggers have it backwards. They think the topic is supposed to inspire them, when really, they are supposed to inspire the topic.

You have to write from the inside out.”

Amen, brother. Writing about Apple every day can seem repetitive, if I let it. The post I wrote about Keynote ’09 was so much fun because I first said to myself, “You’re allowed to be funny. You needn’t focus on the same points that every other product review points out. You’re writing for fun, so have fun.”

It works.

Unfortunate DVD pairing

Delete 10 Facebook friends, get a free Whopper

Top 10 countries sorted by robot density

Google’s Chrome browser is the company’s effort to make web browsers faster and, in turn, web apps more powerful. Right now it’s only available for Windows, but Google announced earler this week that Linux and Mac versions should be ready by the first half of this year. Eager users can track the progress of Chrome for the Mac here.

I’m certainly looking forward to installing this on my Macs and my Ubuntu box. Good luck, Google.

The Tweetback WordPress plugin displays mentions of your blog on Twitter along with reader comments. Setup is quite simple. I’m going to try it out this weekend.

For me, the word “Palm” became synonymous with “frustration” several years ago, mostly due to hotsync issues on the Mac. So they’ve been off my rader. Until yesterday.

The new Pre looks very nice. Small and tidy, it’s got a UI similiar to the iPhone’s. The difference between the Pre and other wanna-bes is that the UI doesn’t seem rushed in an effort to imitate the iPhone, but seems at home on the Pre.  Engadget has a nice writeup and video.

No word on pricing or availability yet. However, if the price is right and the UI is as snappy as it appears in Engadget’s video, this could signifiy the resurrection of Palm.

Update: some more videos from Gizmodo

I’m having a hard time deciding between Things and The Hit List. Both offer a very pleasant GTD experience on the Mac.

Things 1.0 is available (as well as the companion iPhone/iPod touch app [link]) for $50US. The Hit List is in beta and the pre-release price is also $50. I love both, honestly.

Shawn Blanc has written high praise for Things. I agree with this assessment, but I’d hate to plunk down my fifty bucks only to kick myself in four weeks. What’s a geek to do?

Update: Here’s a nice interview with Jürgen Schweizer of Cultured Code.

Another stellar article from Smashing Magazine.