Apple just released the new MacBooks, and in a new color too - black!

What do you get when you put up to 2GHz of pure Intel Core Duo power, an iSight camera, Front Row, iLife ’06, and a 13-inch glossy widescreen display into a sleek case? More than you thought possible for less than you thought possible. Meet MacBook, starting at $1099.

Looks like a sweet little laptop. I may be selling my 17inch here shortly!

This weekend was Free Comic Book Day. I think this was the first time in ten years I’ve set foot in a comic book shop. The last time I was collecting comic books Spawn was the hot comic. I think it’s a good idea for the publishers, I got to sample some comics - and enjoyed the experience. I really enjoyed the Simpsons comic (I even bought a Futurama comic!) and I got a Donald Duck comic for my 18 month old.

While I’m geeking out:

• Check out this rocking Star Wars vs. Ping Pong Shirt
• And what would happen if the Simpsons did a episode of Battlestar Galactica?

Finally, something besides outlook accepts outlook requests, not only that - gCal (aka Google Calendar) one-ups outlook with some great new features. A no-brainer was adding the maps link to the location, but I really like the quick view of “your agenda” where you can see what you have going on before and after the meeting request time.

So far I’m in love with gCal, not sure how the other calendar apps out there in “web 2.0 land” are going to survive.

And it’s not even 9am. Check out this new Threadless shirt, and be sure to listen to the Blog song…

Quark gives up and releases a new logo

This looks hilarious! The must see movie of the summer!

I’m liking the new eightface redesign

I will be speaking at the The 14th Annual Richland College Multimedia: Computer Arts Festival, April 4 & 5

A co-worker of mine just got a new MacBookPro, and I wanted to point him to some resources on where to get Macintel software. For those of you not familiar with Apple’s line up of computers, the new Macs run on new Intel chips that need updated software to take full advantage of the new architecture. You can still run your old non-updated software, but you will take a big hit on speed.

Here are some resources to help keep up with the growing collection of Macintel software:

• http://www.versiontracker.com/macintel/
• http://www.maconlysource.com/
• http://osx.hyperjeff.net/
• http://www.osx86project.org/
• http://www.maconintel.com/

Some handy apps that have already made the jump include:

• Transmit
• Adium X
• OSXvnc
• SubEthaEdit
• OmniGraffle
• OmniOutliner
• NewsFire
• CSSEdit
• Adobe Lightroom Beta
• Chicken of the VNC
• Tag
• tickr
• xTime Project
• HandBrake

Some new apps I’ve never used before, but work great (and they are freeware!):

• Transmission (BitTorrent Client)
• SimplyBurns (Toast Replacement)

Last, good old Firefox:

FireFox 2.0 Intel version

Apps that are missing, and may be missing for a long time:

Every Adobe app
Every Macromedia app
Every Microsoft App
Google Earth
Flickr Uploader
Skype (should be coming soon…)
Toast
Suitcase Fusion

Any Macintel gems I’m missing?

Well, I’ve now attended my third Apple Store opening in the North Texas area. I haven’t been to NorthPark in a long time - they’ve added quite a bit. This Apple Store was the biggest of the three i’ve seen and had three different “bars”: genius, studio and iPod. Other then that, pretty standard fare for an Apple Store.

If you were not able to attend - check out my photos on Flickr - and yes I got a free t-shirt

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Not that it’s a secret or anything, but I’m getting an Apple Store 5mins from my house! (Hopefully my property value is going up as I type this!).

I took this picture while spying shopping at the Southlake Shops this past weekend. Looks like they are going to let Apple keep the “Apple Look” - most of the shops have a old 1900’s town square look. Wonder how they got away with that.

Josh and the Firewheel Design gang will almost be able to see the Apple Store from their office. Now that’s some great office space! - Josh, need any help over there?

I thought I would start a series called makeover, where I will try to spend the least amount of time possible making-over a website or UI element. Why “least amount of time”? Because I want to show with just a little time, a designer/IA can greatly improve the usability and over all attractiveness.

Stats:

• makeover: Firefox Software Update Alert
• amount of time: 20 minutes
• tools: PhotoShop
• changes:visual, IA

Quick Notes:
When you first see the pop-up you’re not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. So I added a green “check” icon to indicate this is a positive thing. Next I put more emphasis on the version that is now released, when it was released and what version you are currently running. I also included the “What’s new?” section to give you an idea of why you should upgrade (instead of “we strongly recommend”). The disabling of extensions is a big deal for some users and should be called out more. By added a “alert” icon and adding a little red, you know this is something you should pay attention to. Finally I change the “Later” button to “Not Now” to match the “would you like to save this password” buttons elsewhere in Firefox.

The icons come from the free set at famfamfam (which i’m in love with…).