Article by stridey

People tend to like to complain about Mac OS X’s Finder, because frankly it has a lot of problems. The biggest of those problems is that it’s built on top of two paradigms: The spatial Finder of the classic OS days, and the NeXT File Browser. There’s an excellent description of why they’re so different here, but what it basically boils down to is this: in the OS 9 spatial paradigm, elements (eg windows) represent a true spatialization of the file structure, whereas the NeXT browser is, well, a browser. The end result is that the Finder is built off of two different designs which were stitched together after the fact, and all sorts of weird things spring from it.

One is the UI for Finder’s View Options floater.  It’s a very specific problem, and it may seem like a niggle to you, but to me it’s a constant annoyance, which is only made worse by the fact that it would be so easy to fix.

Now, I like to customize my windows, for both usability and eye-candy reasons. When I open my root directory, for instance, I like to browse in column view, but I like my home folder to have nice large icons. After all, the home directory contains eight folders by default, and I find it best for my file organization to leave it that way. But I digress; the bottom line is that I end up using the View Options floater a lot, to…
(Continue)

What would you use to describe your Mac? Easy to use, secure, and the ever famous “It Just Works ™? Well, you may be surprised, dear readers, to find that I would use that, and more, to describe my experience with Windows. You heard me. Amid all the cries of “I got another virus!” or “It crashed again?!” I can only shrug my metaphorical shoulders. Viruses? Just a scary myth. Spyware? MS Antispyware (widely regarded as one of the best out there) has never reported a single piece of spyware. Crashing? I left that when I left Windows 98.

Here’s another detail that may surprise you. My main browser is, you guessed it, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 2. I keep Firefox for those shady sites that I may come across during my browsing adventures. Other than that, I find that IE fits my needs perfectly. It displays web pages, and blocks pop-ups. I really don’t much care about the stuff that IE doesn’t support, but I will get IE 7 the second I can. A site like Deep Thought makes heavy use of elements that may or may not be supported, but I can still use it.

I also have all of the features I need. Image editor? Paint.NET. Photo Manager? Picasa. Everything I need, I got for free. I have also spent exactly $0 on maintenance, contrary to the belief that Windows costs money to maintain. I guess they were talking about Windoze, a Windows imitation, by one of…
(Continue)

Once in a while someone commentating on the world of Apple has a vision of a future product that seems to fit in with everything else Apple is doing. I just so happen to have had one of those visions. It seems such a simple an obvious idea that I’m surprised I haven’t heard anyone think of it before (well hopefully Apple has). What I have imagined is a Front Row set top box.

Think of a small box, like a Mac mini but thinner and completely white. Other than that all you can see is a DVD drive a power light and a few ports on the back. It plugs into your TV and makes it part of the digital hub that Apple is trying to create. And the best part is that Apple has all of the parts in place to make something like this happen.

Let’s think about the iMac G5. One of the biggest new features is Front Row. This is a simple application that takes all your music, photos and movies and lets you view them using one of the simplest remotes ever conceived. So imagine if you put this on your set top box and you could, with the press of a button, switch from watching TV to have Front Row up and then view all of this content on your TV. Of course the best part of it all is that these won’t be on this box.

I can think of two very obvious…
(Continue)

The time has come to reveal what we have been working on for the past few weeks.  I know you all are anxious, so let’s get right to it!

Deep Thought Software Giveaway

The first order of business is the software giveaway.  I have randomly pulled 7 members out of our memberlist (barring, of course, those who are or ever have been on Deep Thought’s staff).  They are the finalists to win the software bundle.  We will draw the winner on November 30th at 12 p.m.

HOWEVER, you must get involved if you want to win!  Finalists will have to speak their minds before they can be drawn as the final winner.  It doesn’t matter how you do it: join the discussions over in the forums, leave some comments on articles on the site, or submit your own stories for others to comment on.

But how can you write stories for Deep Thought?  Now you can!

Community Soapbox

Deep Thought is proud to present to you the new Community Soapbox.  This is a place where anyone may submit an article, and as long as it falls within a few lenient guidelines, it will be available for the world to read and respond to.  Avoid the hassle of creating your own blog and bypass the reputation of sites like LiveJournal; post in the Community Soapbox today!

Additionally, the news submission page is back up and running, now integrated into the system.  If you’ve got news from the tech world, don’t hesitate to…
(Continue)

Happy Birthday Deep Thought! Deep Thought turns one today, and we thought it would be good to take a look back at some of the products that have made an impact in the year since Deep Thought came online. While not all of these products are necessarily the best in their class, (and one was launched last year before DT) they are all here because they made a serious splash this year and shook things up in the tech world. Some of them may surprise you, others are obvious, but all are remarkable in their own rights.

So without further ado, here’s the list.

Sony PlayStation Portable

For years, handheld consoles have been regarded as the ugly stepchildren of the videogame hobby. While home console players were enjoying rich 3D worlds, cinematic visuals, top-notch CD-quality sound, voice acting and robust online play, handheld players had to make do with SNES-era visuals, bippy music and practically no 3D rendering capabilities.

Then came the PlayStation Portable.

With its debut entry into the handheld gaming market, Sony set out to redefine what handheld gaming meant, and the result is a sleek, sexy handheld device with incredible power under the hood.

The first thing you notice when you see the PSP is its screen. It is an absolutely gorgeous 4.3” widescreen TFT LCD display flanked by the familiar PlayStation buttons and packed tightly into an appealing glossy front panel. Transparent and chrome accents for the shoulder buttons and wrist-strap loop give the PSP a look…
(Continue)