Originally I was just going to post a quick message to Twitter about this, but then I realized that there was no way that I could encapsulate my thoughts in only 140 characters. So I decided to resurrect my long-neglected blog for the occasion (which will probably go right back to being neglected afterwards, but so be it).

Word just came across the news wires an hour or two ago that Steve Jobs, the founder and former CEO of Apple, has passed away at the relatively young age of 56. He’d been struggling with a severe form of pancreatic cancer for the last 8 years or so. The fact that he survived this long, honestly, is quite a miracle. But Steve was a man of miracles. I’m not talking about his company’s many successful products, although I have been a long-time fan of them and probably will continue to be. I’m talking about the fact that he defied the odds for much of his life, that he worked hard to make himself into the icon he would eventually become, and that he was able to bring so much of the world together with his ideas. The iPod, the iPhone, the iPad… all of these iDeas (haha, see what I did there?) are now firmly engraved into the conscious of people around the world. Almost everyone knows what they are, and a large number of them own one or more. Not to mention the Mac, which was my first computer back in 1984 when they came out. My dad sold Apple computers, and so we had one in our house and my parents could not keep me off of it. I was always wanting to use it to draw things or play games or even just type (the idea of WYSIWYG fonts was so cool to me back then).

I truly believe that technology changes the world, and the technology that Steve and his team created is among some of the most life-changing and culture-changing that I have seen in my lifetime. I’m sure that Apple will continue to do great things, even now that he is gone, but the company (and dare I say it? the world) will not be the same. Those twice-yearly keynotes surely won’t be the same (yesterday’s Tim-note was just… weird). It’s just another example, though, of how his timing and sense of things was always spot-on… he resigned as CEO only a month ago. He must have known it was his time. I always hoped that I’d someday have the chance to work with (if not at) Apple, just so that I could hopefully meet the man someday. I’m sorry that I won’t ever have that opportunity.

Rest in peace, Steve. You will truly be missed.

For my first post, I figured I would re-visit a blog post that I wrote a couple years ago.  Everyone who knows me is well-aware that I’m a Mac fan.  Considering how much time I spend at my computer, it’s important to me to have apps that help me stay productive (or sometimes, take a break and have fun).  So here’s my list of the ten best apps for Mac OS X.  Some of them are from my old list, and some are new.  Enjoy!

• 1Password: This is by far one of the most useful programs I’ve ever had. 1Password stores all of your passwords, credit card information, and identity info (name, address, phone number) in a super-encrypted database on your Mac. Then when you need to access it, simply type in your “master password”, and you’re off and running. No more fumbling for the wallet to find a credit card when you’re making an online purchase, or trying to remember the password to a website you signed up for 3 months ago. It even includes a browser hotkey for automatic logins to your favorite sites, and integration with iPhone so that you can take your passwords on the go (and still keep them encrypted and safe).
• Adium: An instant messaging client similar to Trillian for Windows. It allows you to connect to all the major instant messaging networks in one program, and offers an extremely customizable interface. (free!)
• AppZapper: Billed as “the uninstaller Apple forgot”, the purpose of this simple app is to remove applications from your system. Most people just uninstall their Mac apps by dragging them to the Trash, but this can leave behind preference files, library files, and other unwanted junk. AppZapper takes care of these forgotten files too, so that your system stays lean and clean.
• Cyberduck: An FTP/SFTP client with a simple, easy-to-use interface. (free!)
• Fluid: There are some websites out there that feel more like applications than they do websites.  GMail and the whole suite of Google Apps are good examples of this.  You may want it to be in its own window, you may want to monitor its status outside of the browser, etc.  The makers of Fluid came up with a concept of SSBs, or “site-specific browsers”, to address this need.  Fluid allows you to easily create an “app” out of any website, allowing you to add it to the Dock for easy launching.  Even cooler: it’s completely scriptable, so you can do things like having your GMail SSB update the Dock icon with an indication of how many unread messages you have.  Try doing that in Safari or Firefox!  (free!)
• Growl: This little app lives in your System Preferences and stays out of the way until a compatible program sends it a message, which it then displays in whatever method you specify. Display buddy notifications from iChat, see when your downloads have completed in Cyberduck, and more! (free!)
• Hazel: This nifty Preference Pane/menubar app lets you monitor files/folders based on specific criteria, and then automatically take action as soon as those criteria are met.  For example, I have a rule that monitors my Downloads folder for any new downloaded music, adds the files to a specific playlist in my iTunes library, and then trashes the original.
• Notebook: If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for new ways to keep yourself organized.  Notebook is one of the coolest ways to do this that I’ve ever found.  It presents a familiar notebook/binder-like interface (complete with ruled pages and customizable color tabs) where you can take notes, make to-do lists, etc.  And it’s all automatically indexed, so that you can easily find specific words or topics, just like in a reference book.  I use this a lot to keep track of client projects and it works very well.
• PTHPasteboard: Have you ever wished that you could hold more than one image or piece of text on your clipboard?  With PTHPasteboard, you can!  This app will hold a customizable number of clipboard items for you, and let you browse through them to re-paste at any time.  You can even assign a shortcut key to bring up the clipboard list.  I just recently got this app, but now I’m wondering how I ever lived without it.  (free!)
• TextMate: If you write code of any kind (HTML, PHP, Java, etc.), you will appreciate the simplicity and power of TextMate’s interface.  Syntax highlighting, shortcut keys/macros, and the ability to easily search within an entire application project are just a few of the features I love about TextMate.

There’s my list.  Now I’d like to ask all the Mac users out there: what apps are must-haves for you?

So, I finally got around to doing something that I’ve been planning to do for a long time: I’ve put together a “professional” blog.

I’ve been blogging for a total of about 9 years now, but most of that has been more of a personal/social-networking nature.  I decided it was time to put together a place where I can showcase my skills and knowledge, and encourage discussions among the professional communities I am a part of.  I hope that the content that I post here proves to be useful to my readers, and I also hope that you’ll feel free to let me know if there are topics you’d be interested in discussing.  While this may, at the end of the day, be “my blog“, I really do want it to be almost like a forum — a catalyst for discussion, if you will.

With that said, welcome!  I’m glad you found yourself here, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions in the coming weeks and months.

-Shawn