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Security Expert: “Mac OS X Is Safer, But Less Secure”

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Tech site H-Online has an interesting story today, quoting security expert Charlie Miller about his forthcoming talk at the CanSecWest conference next week.
He says OS X is full of security holes. There are lots more than in Windows, he claims.
And yet: OS X is a safer system to use. Why? Because, in the words [...]

Apple Devotes Entire Home Page To Jerome York Obituary

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If ever you needed a sign that Apple was a different kind of technology company, this is it.
What other computer manufacturer would remove its top-selling, hype-inducing, industry-altering new product from the prime spot on its website home page, and replace it with an obituary to an investor?
This is one of those “Here’s to the [...]

Coming Soon: Steve Jobs, the Sitcom

Fake Steve creator Dan Lyons just signed a deal to bring Steve Jobs to another small screen near you.
The half-hour series called “iCon” is billed by the presser as “a savage satire centering on a fictional Silicon Valley CEO whose ego is a study in power and greed.”
Making sure the barbs prick will be the [...]

What’s Next For the iPad? A Tabletop iPad, According to Xerox PARC Circa 1991

Way back in 1991, just as Apple was transitioning from 68k to PowerPC chips, the braniacs at Xerox PARC were predicting it’s entire iPod, iPhone and iPad strategy. And next up for the iPad is a blackboard-sized device.
Nearly 20 years ago, just as personal desktop computers were taking off, researchers at Xerox started thinking about [...]

Review: Ommwriter Text Editor

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Ommwriter is different. It’s a text editor, perhaps better described as a “writing environment” because text editor makes it sound like something you could write code in. And I can’t see many people using it for that.

Ommwriter plays ambient music and soundscapes while you work. The splash screen encourages you to stick headphones on while you’re using it; the idea is to put you in that special writing space you need to be in to get your work done.

One very odd thing is that it’s made by an advertising and marketing agency – such companies are not normally well known for their work as OS X developers.

Anyway. I’ve made a little screencast that shows you how it all works:

When I first saw it I was sceptical, but having tried it out I’m a little less so. I shall certainly be trying out Ommwriter when I get round to one or two forthcoming creative writing projects; it will be interesting to see how the experience compares to using WriteRoom.

What do you make of it? Let us know in the comments.

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About the author

gilest

Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He is a columnist for PA, and has written for the BBC, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, MacUser, Macworld, and The Morning News. He has a blog you can ignore and a Twitter account you needn't follow.

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8 comments

    My vote definitely goes to WriteRoom.. Music to people like me is nothing but disturbance while doing stuff. I mean, how can someone think with stuff playing loud in your ears, I can’t.. Maybe that’s just me. :)

    If you can change the backdrop to something from Die Hard/Aliens then crank up some death-metal, I’d sign up in a flash!

    I tend to find ambient sounds like they way more distracting that simply having the radio on or playing some of you own music.

    I can certainly see the appeal, with customisation would probably work wonders for some people. I think I’d spend all day tweaking the settings and never getting and bloody work done!! LOL!

    The music that I heard from watching the video is rather annoying. No thanks!

    MacVim in fullscreen mode is all i need.

    Love this idea — I’ve been using binaural beats (beta, super annoying at first — http://www.jetcityorange.com/meditation/binaural-beats.html) as background music, but once you get used to it, it does help concentrate.

    WriteRoom (no lost-in-the-cold-midwinter graphics) and if you want ambient sounds check out SonicMood (http://www.sonicmood.com/), inexpensive, highly flexible–all I need as curtain between me and external noises.

    Ommwriter made me increasingly irritated as I tried to find some control combination that was helpful rather than intrusive. What a relief to quit it and trash it!

    I have been using it for about a month now and loved it the first time I opened it up. I find it most pleasing to the ear, the eyes and creates a relaxing mood while writing articles.

    I found it to be absolutely horrible. What writer needs further distractions? Sounds coming from the keyboard? Visual backgrounds? No way to save other than as a text file? No formattting? No spell check. Sorry, but a blank page and peace and quiet are what a real writer needs.

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