I stare at a computer a lot, and when I need to design the look for a new site I’m quickly stumped for ideas because I want to build a site that is different than the other sites out there. The real question is where do you look for inspiration? Do you want the site to reflect the physical world or do you want it to be a new vision? This is always a struggle for me. I personally like sites that mirror in some way the physical world. One of the things that really gets on my nerves is when a site is presented as nothing more than a brochure ready for printing.

This is not always possible of course. Some things don’t have a physical counterpart in the real world. An adoption and foster care agency doesn’t have a physical component to it’s business. There are children of course, but that’s the focus of the agency and it doesn’t meet the market to build a website that is very child centered when children wouldn’t be using it. So there must be a balance of purpose, compatibility, imagery, usability and function.

The best balance between these things is mirroring the physical world with the use of computers to aid that functionality. People enjoy this way of functioning. Flight simulators allow people to learn to fly airplanes without having to worry about the dangers involved. Websites should be similar. People have a feeling for the physical, I think it helps them to related and makes it natural for them to interact with a computer. Certain things on the computer have been learned as a natural response, however, they aren’t always a good way. Even the concepts of Tabs in web site navigation and web browsers are taken directly from the physical world.

In the story below you will be linked up to a story that Apple desperately needs NBC back or they are going to go out of business. Whatever! This is the biggest load I have seen in a while. Let me point something out. Nielsen Ratings. Looks who isn’t on the list. That’s the Top 10 shows in broadcast prime-time. See, even FOX has a show in the top 10, but NBC doesn’t. The last thing that NBC needs to be doing right now is making it HARDER for people to watch and be interested in their shows. Moving everything to some obscure site, (hulu.com) or burying it on their own website is not a good plan. NBC/Universal has gone out of it’s way to alienate a lot of people with iPods, who enjoy watching their content when and HOW they want. So basically what NBC has done, is say, “We suck” and to prove it, we are going to take our ball and play some where else.

Give me a break, I won’t go into the fact that Forrester Research is mostly wrong about Apple consistently, but I will say this, if NBC would worry about making “QUALITY” content and less about people stealing the crap they do make, they would probably be in much better shape.

News: Analyst: Apple needs NBC, movie rentals on iTunes: “Apple needs to win back NBC to ensure success of its video download store.

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(Via MacCentral.)

Apple, Other Laptops Using New Intel ‘Penryn’ Chips Might Debut in January: “Apple, as well as other PC manufacturers, may start offering laptops based on Intel’s new 45-nanometer CPUs as early as January 2008. Expect the supply to be a little tight at first, if reports are correct.

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(Via Wired News.)

Computers are great tools, however, one of the biggest weaknesses of the computer is that they are notoriously good at hiding information. They don’t hide the information intentionally it’s just so easy to loose where you saved something. In my time in the computer industry, I don’t know how many people I have seen with the root directory of their hard drive packed with hundreds of files. (I can’t tell you how bad of an idea that is, by the way) Windows 2000 and Windows XP helped with some of that by creating a “My Documents” folder that most programs save to by default. But that didn’t control where the documents go. Most people don’t know how a hard drive, and file system, are organized, so that makes it incredible hard for them to locate something.

If you use a computer, at some point in time, you could not find a document or file that you know you saved, but you just don’t know where. There are two free tools available to you know to help you find things.

Google Desktop (http://desktop.google.com)
Windows Desktop Search (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/default.mspx)

As you may know, your computer already has a “find” function. This is useful for finding filenames, but can be painfully slow. Also, the “find” function doesn’t search for non-file names. With both of the solutions above you can search for more and have faster and more accurate results.

With both Google Desktop and Windows Desktop Search you can search not only for a file, but for something inside the file. For example, if you want to know that you worked on a document about John Mullins. You can search for John Mullins, and it will show you all the files that have John Mullins either in the contents or in the filename. In addition, both these solutions allow you to index your email, this is most useful because it means, using the previous example, you would also receive results for any emails that contain “John Mullins.” When we say “contains” we mean you will see results if “John Mullins” appears in the To:; From:; Subject:; or Body: of the email message. Additionally, you can configure the solutions to search inside an email attachment. This means that if you received an attachment, say a Word Document that contained “John Mullins” it would be returned in your results as well. This is, as you can imagine, incredibly useful.

Both tools are most useful to have installed. Which you choose is up to you. They both have their pluses and minuses. Google Desktop returns its results in a web browser and can be configured to return results from your desktop when you search for something on Google.com. Windows Desktop Search feels more like its own application. Both can be configured to have a search bar in your task bar for easy access, however, Google Desktop will allow you to access it through a keyboard shortcut (by default the shortcut is tapping the CTRL key twice in a row). The results by both are similarly, and you would be well served by either. In addition, they can be configured to search additional drives and the network as well. This can be very helpful if you are in a business with a file server. It’s very helpful to be able to search everywhere your files might reside.

In the end, the choice is yours. The Mac has its own solution for searching built in, as does Windows Vista. Something else to keep in mind. If you run an older version of Windows like Windows 95/98,/ME you cannot utilize either of these solutions. For Windows 2000 you can utilize both, however, Windows Desktop Search is an older version and will probably not be updated as Microsoft does not support Windows 2000 any longer. If you are using Windows 2000 Google Desktop is probably your best solution.

Download the version you choose and get started saving a ton of time. You will not regret it.

Your TV is killing your Time and wasting your money.

One of the most time consuming pieces of equipment that is in just about everyone’s home is the television (TV). TVs are just massive wastes of time. Here’s why.

TVs require you to be in the same place to watch them. Even with the advent of the VCR and DVR you still have to be in front of your TV to watch the recorded show/video/movie. You should get an iPod or at least log on to iTunes and check out the offerings. iTunes currently offers about 70% of cable TV shows and it’s cheaper. Well, it can be cheaper. Let’s assume that you have the extended cable or DirecTV Package that costs about $65.00 a month with tax. I pick this number because is about what I pay, a little less than my DirecTV package. $65.00 per month, multiplied by 12 months is $780 dollars a year. If I divide 780 dollars by 2.08 which is what a single TV show on iTunes costs on a per episode basis plus tax, I get 375 shows. Most TV shows have 20 to 23 episodes per year, 375 divided by 22 is about 17. That’s 17 entire seasons. The better news is that you get a discount if you buy the entire season. For example, my favorite show is Battlestar Galatica, there were 19 episodes in Season 3, 2.08 multipled by 19 is 39.52. However, its 34.99 to buy the season pass, 37.88 with Tax. So I save the equivlant of 1 episode. That’s not a big savings but some shows are more. For example Numb3rs is only 29.99 per season. This is also much cheaper than buying the seasons on DVD which usually run about 45 to 50 dollars per season.

Now that I have you convinced to save the money, let’s explain to you how you can save time. When you download a show on iTunes, the episodes are usually available the morning after the show airs on network television. If you have purchased the season pass, you can set iTunes to automatically download the episodes when they become available. So the shows arrive in a timely fashion and you are not more than a day or so away from watching.

Here’s the bonus. Unlike a VCR or DVR you can watch the shows where ever you want, whenever you want, as many times as you want. With the addition of an iPod, a dock and a set of cables you can play your Shows on your TV. With the addition of the new AppleTV you can stream your shows from your computer to your TV as well. Let’s be honest, watching TV shows on the iPod is not the most enjoyable experience, unless you have children who like to interrupt your TV shows. With the iPod you can take your TV Shows with you anywhere, waiting to get your oil changed in your car? Have public transportation commute? Just watch a TV Show.

By the way, they take less time to watch. Yup, no kidding, the shows are shorter. The reason they are shorter is because they don’t have commercials, so you don’t have to fast forward, rewind or what have you. Just play and go. The movies on iTunes are even better, because they have no trailers at the beginning of the movie so you push play, and they play. I don’t know how many times I’ve been annoyed by a DVD that I put in for the kids and have to wait 15 minutes to start it because of the advertisements and trailers that play before you can get to the play menu.

One last thing is that you can manage your TV shows just like you can manage your music. You can create smart playlists and playlists that will allow you to manage your shows just about anyway you want. I don’t have an AppleTV yet, I have a Mac Mini however, and I use it to manage and store all my TV and Movies. I can then watch the shows on the Mac Mini, which is hooked up to the TV in the living room, or watch them on any of the computers in the house as well. This makes it very easy to go off into another room and watch Battlestar Galatica while my son watches the latest addition to The Backyardigans.

Oh, and if you like the nightly news, CBS and NBC post their nightly news on iTunes as free video podcasts. They do have a few commercials, but not enough to be annoying.

Just remember, it’s your time, take control of it and do what you want with it.