Apple released the new iPod Shuffle today, which takes Stebve Jobs’ fear of buttons to a whole new level. There is 1 button on the device itself, and the controls are on the headphones. How is that a good idea? Apple headphones usually break after about 2 weeks of daily use, so what would I do after they break? I certainly can’t go to a convenience store and get some $3 headphones, now can I? Noooo… I have to go to Apple and shell out $30 for their special headphones. I have to congratulate Apple though, for being the first manufacturer to implement headphone lock-in. Here’s what it looks like:

Even though Apple is billing this as a complete redesign, it’s really the 1st-generation Shuffle design, just a bit smaller and more rounded. Same goes for the 4th-generation iPod Nano, which is clearly a more refined 2nd-generation Nano. Has Apple lost its ability to make new designs? I can already picture the next-generation iMac, with a swivel arm and a base, like the iMac G3.

On a similar note, has Apple lost it? Their page on the Shuffle’s Voiceover feature has an illustration with very-amateurish-looking purple gradients that just don’t work with the overall design.

Other Stuff

I’ve made a few small changes around the blog, the main one being the ability to resize text without breaking the layout. Try it! 

…was awesome. As Blood Runs Black and Impending Doom were pretty good as well. I actually got to meet the bassist from As Blood Runs Black, and he was a pretty cool guy.

SAT

One of the most agonizing acronyms ever invented, I have to take it next Saturday. The good news is that once I take it, I’ll have loads more free time. I expect to do decently on it. I’m definitely going to rant about it the day I take it, just as a heads-up.

Anxiety

A pretty cool Mac app I discovered while browsing the interwebs. It’s a minimalistic to-do list app, and I’ve been liking it a lot. It’s light and unobtrusive, and should help increase my productivity. Download the app at its nicely designed website.

Apathy

I’ve named my upcoming WordPress theme “Apathy,” and it will be a lightweight, minimalist theme. I’m hoping to make it with zero images and zero javascript, to cut down loading times. It will most likely be available in several colors, with a theme options page and such. It’ll be free (as in free beer). I still haven’t set a release date yet, but you can follow my Twitter for updates on the progress.

Other Stuff

I’m working on several articles, so you can expect those within these next few days. I’m hoping to resume semi-daily posting. I’m also working on a design project for a friend, and it should turn out pretty awesome once it’s finished. 

…Microsoft ripped off Apple’s website? I was wondering the same thing today, and being bored out of my mind, I decided to put together a mockup of that in Photoshop. It took me about 2 and a half hours, but it turned out quite nice. Behold:

Click on it to see all 1440 × 684 pixels of goodness.

New Theme?

It seems that just about every web designer out there has released WordPress themes, so I thought it would be interesting to have a try at making one. It will most likely be a minimalistic theme, which I feel are lacking amongst all the fancy themes out there. I already have a name for it, and a pretty good idea for the design. I won’t reveal too much today, so stay tuned for a full post about the upcoming theme. And before all you cheapskates ask, yes it will be free. 

I spent most of today reading other people’s blogs, and I got an idea of what to write. Many people write about what they prefer and why, so I figure I should do the same here.

Browser Preference

Even though I’m a proud Mac user, I prefer Firefox as opposed to Mac OS X’s own Safari. I don’t mind Safari though, it’s a very good browser, especially for a browser that comes with the OS. Why do I prefer Firefox? Well here’s why:

• It has Firebug. I find this to be a crucial feature, as it gives me the ability to dissect websites very easily.
• It has “View Background” in the right-click context menu. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I’ve stayed with Firefox over the years. Being able to see what background images a websites uses has become an obsession of sorts for me.
• I like its download manager more than Safari’s.
• I prefer its extensibility and skinning features. I can easily make Firefox look like Safari or even like IE. Safari can’t do that.

Operating System Preference

Now this part may start a huge flame war in the comments area, but I simply must write about why I prefer Mac OS X. More bulleted lists, yay!

• It works. Everything just works, so I can spend more time creating and less time troubleshooting.
• The UI is consistent. Everything has the same colors, and same control scheme. The toolbars are all arranged identically. File always come first, Edit always comes second, and so on. Preferences can be accessed in any program by clicking the program’s name in the toolbar and selecting Preferences.
• The apps are amazing. Now I know Windows has a much wider array of applications, but Mac has some pretty awesome applications too, such as Transmit, Coda, and TextMate. I’ll probably write an article about my favorite Mac apps later.
• It crashes less. No matter what I try to do on it, it always stays completely stable. It still works just as fast as the day I bought it, even though the hard drive is almost completely full. All this with just 2gb of RAM.
• It boots quickly, and isn’t bloated with unnecessary garbage.
• The search tool is actually useful in finding stuff. Unlike the Windows tool, which takes forever to find anything.

I barely ever use Windows these days, except for some IE testing. Now I’m sure people are going to try to disprove some of the aforementioned points, but I stand by my opinion.

Website Updates and Personal Life

I’ve made a few quite little changes to the blog. The admin comment styling is less in-your-face than before, and I’ve made the gravatars better-looking, with CSS-based “picture frames.” I added a back to top link to the footer, which will smoothly scroll (with the magic of JS) the page to the top. I added a sitemap to the blog, which should make the search engines happy. I also started adding sub-headers and lists to the posts, to break up the big walls of text commonly seen on this blog. I’m also debating on whether or not to remove the <abbr> tag, as most of my readers are fairly tech-savvy. The blog finally has a favicon, yay.

I’ve also made a new personal logo for myself. It’s stupidly simple, but it looks nice and is a long-overdue update to my badly-drawn avatar picture.

I received my report card today at school as well. I’m pretty happy with my grades. I got mostly A’s with a few B’s and one D. The D was in math, which I am naturally terrible in. The new semester started today, and I’m pretty happy with my new schedule. All the difficult classes are in the morning, and the afternoon consists of easy classes, such as English, Art, and OPTA (free period). I’m still missing a gym class thanks to the vast intelligence of my school’s guidance counselors. For gym I’ll probably choose badminton, as I’ve started liking the game and have become a pretty good player. I’m also going to make it a goal to draw at least one good sketch per day. I’ll be posting them on the blog daily. If I fail to do so, feel free to pester me.

It’s still snowing outside, but a snow day is highly unlikely in NYC. 

Steve Jobs, the beloved Apple CEO, is taking a temporary leave, to recover from his undisclosed health condition. Naturally, Apple stocks fell as soon as this was announced. Let’s hope Steve recovers quickly!

I’ve also gotten my DSLR back, after loaning it for about a year. Feels good to have it back, as my crappy little point-and-shoot camera was driving me nuts with its terrible quality. You might even see a few pictures here and there

Now for the rant(s). If it seems like a lot, it’s because I have multiple things to discuss. Whenever I have an idea or topic to write about, I quickly whip out my iPod Touch and jot down a few words.

The first victim is name-brand clothing. Now I’m not talking about ordinary, affordable brand names like Nike, DKNY, and such. I’m talking about the brand names that charge several hundred (or thousand) for their bargain-bin quality garbage. Gucci is an example. How can you justify paying $1000 for a damn handbag?! How can you sleep at night, knowing you paid $500 for those jeans? It’s all a waste of money, as super-expensive clothes wear out just as quickly as cheapo clothes. It’s just one of those irrevocable stupidities in society today.

The next thing is something from Apple. While I’m usually not one to criticize Apple, their default headphones are quite terrible. First off, they’re terribly uncomfortable, and they don’t last very long at all. I recently started using the Apple headphones that came with my iPod Touch. They lasted me about 3 weeks before falling apart. I thought I solved the problem by super-gluing the parts together, but then the right earbud stopped working completely. Even cheap $5 headphones from your local convenience store would probably last longer.

I’ve also noticed more and more security cameras in public lately. A lot of the NYC public buses are practically covered in security cameras, and they’re in plain sight. It’s getting closer and closer to “1984.”

Another annoyance is the standard font requirement in schools and colleges. There are always those teachers who whine about 1 standard font, usually Times New Roman. I once used Georgia, a much nicer serif font, and I actually lost points for not using Times New Roman. Although I should be grateful that none of my teachers are cruel enough to require Comic Sans.

Also, if any of you web designers want a really good laugh, go to the following two links: Class A and Class B. Those are the websites that the kids in the web design class made. I did the “school” website in Class A, just so you know. 

Just a few minutes ago, Apple announced the release of the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The MacBook Air has been updated as well. The much-hyped $899 product isn’t a MacBook or a notebook, but the new Apple 24″ Cinema Display. It has usb ports, speakers, and iSight camera, and it’s LED lit. The MacBook has been updated with new components, as was the MacBook Air and Pro. The MacBook Air got the option of a 120gb traditional hard drive or a 128gb solid-state hard drive. The MacBook and MacBook Pro have the same cases, and got black borders (glass) added onto them, much like the current iMac. The new MacBook Pros also have two graphics cards, one integrated NVidia GeForce 9400M, and an external GeForce. It was confirmed that Apple is using the new “brick” method, which might turn out to be cheaper in the long run.