Federal Circuit Finds Online Purchasing System Patent is Invalid for Obviousness

Apple OS X Mountain Lion: I Just Upgraded

On Friday afternoon, I decided to upgrade my MacBook Pro to the new Mountain Lion OS.  I had planned to wait, but after reading about one dozen highly positive reviews I became too curious about the new OS to wait.  

Buying Mountain Lion was easy.  It was $20 at the Mac App Store.  The download, however, took over two hours.  I'm not sure what the hold-up was.  My office network is usually quite fast, thus I assumed Apple's servers were a little overloaded from a rush of Friday afternoon downloads.  Once downloaded, though, everything installed smoothly.

Overall, I like Mountain Lion.  My MacBook seems to be much faster now that it's installed.  I haven't experienced any unusual problems with applications I regularly use.  Among these are:

• Word 2011
• Outlook 2011
• OneNote (through a Windows Virtual Machine)
• Omnifocus
• Evernote (Mac desktop client)
• Picasa
• Chrome
• Filemaker 12
• Pages 

My copy of Mindjet warned me that it may have trouble with Mountain Lion (and thus to save work frequently), although I have yet to encounter any problems.  

I'm very happy with the new Pages interface with iCloud.  It's now quite easy to leave a document in the iCloud folder and have it easily accessed by Pages on my iPad.  I'm also looking forward to syncing Notes through iCloud. As for the rest of iCloud, I haven't made much use of it.  I can see the utility in the keeping the Calendar and Address book on it; however, all of my contacts and calendar items are already synced through an Exchange server.   I don't use Mail, but rather Outlook 2011 as a mail client.  Because I don't use the built in Apple productivity apps, Mountain Lion's new marquee "Notification" center is pretty useless to me.  

Mountain Lion's built in productivity apps look nice, but since I also use a PC and most of my company uses PCs we have found that the Exchange server works best for us.  Also, this means that I'm not bound to any proprietary system for syncing phones, tables, and computers as Exchange works with Apple devices and Windows PCs as well as Android and Windows based mobile devices.  Generally, most of my files are stored in formats which would work on a Windows platform (the main exception being those in Pages and those on programs from the Omni Group).  

The above being said, I still prefer to work in the Mac OS environment and plan to do so as long as it's practical.   I've been quite pleased with Mountain Lion on the MacBook.   While I haven't used most of the touted bells and whistles (i.e., the 200+ new features) I have found already that it is providing a fundamentally faster and better platform for the applications I use frequently.  And, I'm very pleased at the ease with which I can work on Pages documents between my Mac and my iPad.  

More to come as I keep working using the MacBook...

Software: What Fusion Wants

Back in March, I decided to buy a 2011 model 15" MacBook Pro to use for business.  Prism Risk Management provides insurance related and general consulting services, as well as provide management and operational services for the Texas Schools Property & Casualty Cooperative and Oklahoma Schools Property & Casualty Cooperative risk pool programs.  We run the computer systems for the pooled programs, and most of our systems are Microsoft based.

A few months ago, I had VMware Fusion 4 installed on my Mac.  I wanted to be able run the Windows versions of Word, Excel, and Outlook on my Mac.  Most of my research indicated that Office 2010 programs work better with Sharepoint collaboration tools than their Office 2011 for Mac counterparts.  Also, I wanted to be able to use OneNote and Access (neither of which are available for OS X).   Mac OS X offers a lot of advantages, MacBooks are great pieces of hardware, and there were several Mac only programs I wanted to use along with Windows programs, thus a virtual machine system which allowed for the the operation of Windows along with Mac OS X seemed like a best-of-both-worlds solution.  VMware Fusion 4 came highly recommended as the best virtual machine for the concurrent operation of Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

The requirements for Fusion said that 4GB of RAM would be sufficient to run Windows on a virtual environment in OS X.  Unfortunately, when I tried to run Windows in Fusion my MacBook would become  slow and unresponsive to the point of being unusable.  Furthermore, running Windows based applications in Fusion's "Unity" view mode was impossible.

If you aren't familiar with VMware Fusion, Unity is the view mode in which Windows based applications are run in individual windows which look as though they are running natively in the Mac OS X environment.  I.e., you open a program like Access and it looks as though its running in Mac OS X.  It can be launched out of the dock, and it can be minimized to the dock as well.  This is a great feature if you want to multitask with Windows and OS X based applications at the same time on the same screen.  Not being able to use Unity was an impediment to my planned business use for the MacBook.

I consulted with my IT guru, who suggested that 4GB of RAM was not enough for running both Windows 7-64 bit and Mac OS X Lion.  At his suggestion, I ordered two 4GB RAM modules from Other World Computing.  The price for doubling my RAM to 8GB: $50.

Apparently, the lack of RAM was the problem.  With 8GB of RAM, Windows 7 boots up quickly within VMware Fusion 4.  Once Fusion is running, Windows programs open in Unity (from icons on the dock) about as quickly as Mac programs open in OS X.  The system is quite cool, as now I can multitask with the full array of programs I use at Prism Risk Management all on one computer.

Software: OmniFocus for Mac, iPad, and iPhone

I wrote in a post a few weeks ago that my Things for Mac had decided to stop syncing with Things for iPad and Things for iPhone.  I rely on productivity software for my business (Prism Risk Management), as well as for non-profit service and personal use.

For reference, here's my Apple set-up:

• 2011 15" MacBook Pro running Mac OS X Lion 
• iPad 2 running the latest update of iOS5
• iPhone 3GS running the last update of iOS4 before the debut of iOS5
• The copies of Things productivity software (by Cultured Code) are the lastest available for all of the devices listed above.  

Between the devices and software listed above,  I cannot make Things sync.  [note: maybe a more technically inclined person can, but as a tech enthusiast business/lawyer user I cannot]   This is bad for me, as I relied on Things for iPhone to enter in tasks which came up while I was out at happy hours, events, informal meetings, lunches with friends, and while riding my bike.   Instead of emailing a task to myself, I would enter it into things and it would pop up across all devices after syncing.  I use the iPad during meetings and working lunches, thus Things came in handy there for entering lists of action items; however, since I usually have a legal pad with me at meetings, it is easy to work around a faulty iPad app.   It is the iPhone/Mac link which has been most critical.  

I'm done with Things.  I have switched over to OmniFocus for personal and non-profit items in addition to business tasks, and I have started to use it for everything (as opposed to just for longer project oriented lists).  

I like OmniFocus better all the way around.  With syncing, it's main advantage over Things is that it syncs to a cloud server which controls the master file for all of your devices running OmniFocus (just like Evernote).  There is no need, as with Things, to get all devices connected to the same WiFi network and then open the application on all devices.  With OmniFocus, you press a button and your updates are sent to the OmniGroup's central server.  If you then drop your phone in the lake, your updates are still going to show up across devices.  

Besides the cloud aspect of OmniFocus, it is generally a more powerful program than Things.  You can make voice notes to attach to tasks on the iPhone app.  You can also attach files, documents, etc. to individual tasks, set up tasks as sequential or parallel, make hierarchies of tasks, and set up start as well as due dates.  Tasks will pop up on your iPhone screen at an assigned time in order to actively remind you to do them.  Across Mac, iPhone, and iPad you can assign tasks to projects to a project and to a "context" (i.e., category.  One advantage Things has is that you can add multiple tags to a task, and thus cross reference it through multiple categories.  That was nice, but my need for syncing takes priority.  

Things is a cool program across its Mac, iPhone, and iPad permutations.  It is elegantly simple and easy to use.  But for the syncing failures, I would still get some use out of it.  However, as a person who comes up with a lot of ideas and gets a lot of requests (which need to be given to myself as reminders) while in informal and social settings (where I'm only carrying an iPhone), the syncing function is critical.  For me: OmniFocus delivers, Things does not.

Disclaimer:  As I mentioned above, I am a business owner/lawyer and not a particularly technically inclined person.  This post is about my personal experiences and is not reflective of Things for Mac, iPhone, or iPad or Cultured Code products in general.  You should investigate these products for yourself and follow the advice of IT professionals or knowledgeable software reviewers.  If I figure out how to sync Things, I'll let you know.  

Software: Switching from PC to Mac

MacBook Pro 15"

A few months ago, I wrote a post about the details of software licenses for a couple of applications I wanted to use on both a Mac and a PC.  I had just purchased an Apple MacBook Pro (with 15" screen) for use at Prism Risk Management and for use on some other projects.

My original intention was to replace the Dell system with an Apple system, and thus I decided to transfer some of my files and applications over to the MacBook.  One particular issue I had was with Adobe, which will let a user have two licenses for Acrobat Pro; however, both licenses have to be used on the same operating system platform.  Ergo, I could not split my Adobe Acrobat X Pro between my Dell Latitude and my MacBook Pro (I won't get into details about VM Fusion, which is worth another post entirely).

From what I've experienced, you wouldn't need Acrobat Standard on a MacBook.  Mac OS X appears to handle a lot of basic PDF reading and publishing.  This is moot, though, since Adobe only makes Acrobat Pro for Mac OS.   I wanted some of the more advanced Acrobat features on the MacBook though, including Acrobat's OCR functions.   Thus, I decided to see if I could switch my package of two Acrobat X Pro licenses over to the Mac version (then, if necessary, put the cheaper Standard version on a Windows platform).

This is possible, if you are willing to be persistent with Adobe.  I didn't realize this up front, as I was initially told that my request wouldn't be very complicated.  In reality,  it took me several phone calls over two weeks to accomplish the license switch.  Furthermore, even though I had bought three editions of Acrobat online (first a full version, then two upgrades), Adobe decided to ship a CD to me which contained the Mac upgrade version of Acrobat X Pro.  Because I there was no prior version of Acrobat on my MacBook, I had to call Adobe back for an override code.  In my situation, Adobe seemed to approach Acrobat for Mac and Acrobat for PC almost like different products, as opposed to variations of the same product.  I'm assuming this, and that said approach accounts for why switching from PC to Mac version was a lengthier process than I had anticipated.

In hindsight, it probably would have been more efficient just to pay the $450 for a full version of Adobe Acrobat X Pro for Mac OS.  Moreover, Windows 7 Ultimate does not include all of the PDF conversion functions of Mac OS (MS Office, though, will save/publish documents into PDF form).   Thus, if you continue to use Windows and Mac computers (a subject for another post) then you will eventually need to get another version of Acrobat for the Windows computer.

Software: Things for iPad Update

About an hour ago, I downloaded the most recent update of Things for iPad.  Still no syncing.  I went back to the Cultured Code site for more information about this issue, but still haven't found a solution.  I haven't found one on a third party site yet either.

Travel: iFly for iPhone

(photos by Dave Floyd) 

I like the convenience of flying enough to overcome the fact that I don't like riding on airplanes or being in airports.  I fly multiple times per year for business and personal travel.  I've found that good food and plentiful cocktails make these trips much more pleasant experiences. 

I sometimes fly on American (it is the gf's favorite airline); however, most of the time I fly on Southwest. I'm not sure why... maybe it's out of admiration for successful lawyers-turned-entrepreneurs.  The unfortunate side effect of my loyalty to Southwest Airlines is that most of my trips include a lot of pit stops at airports around the country.

Enter the iFly app for iPhone.  At first I hated this app, but only out of jealousy.  I had actually written down an idea for a remarkably similar product only to find out a week later that it actually existed.  I downloaded it to check out the interface.  I then left it ruefully alone on my iPhone, where it remained untouched until I ended up in the Denver airport with my friends Andy and Bobby.

We were engaged in a spirited debate about whether to eat at one of the restaurants in the food court, or to venture through the security checkpoint towards Concourse C.  I wanted a steak or a buffalo burger along with a cocktail, and nowhere in the food court appeared to be able to satisfy said craving.  The airport map named eateries, but offered no explanation.  It was at this point I decided to shelve my angst about iFly and actually use it.

iFly is actually very cool, and very useful.  Not only did I get a map of the Denver airport, I also was able to check out restaurants in our destination concourse and to get information about the food.  Furthermore, I was able to quickly locate a bar near the departure gate.  My problem was solved, and soon I was enjoying a buffalo burger along with a cocktail.  Now I like iFly too much to ignore it from jealously, and I recommend it to friends. 

Your travel priorities may not be the same as mine.  Thus, here's a comprehensive list of features for iFly (basic):

-Restaurants, Cafes, Stores, Lounges, Restrooms
-Terminal Maps with GPS location (as available)
-Airline details (numbers, route maps, baggage fees, etc)
-Layover ideas
-Wifi coverage
-Ground transportation options
-Parking rates and locations
-Terminal services (banks/ATMs, business centers, currency exchange, etc) Plus: tons of traveler help tips, like carry-on/checked baggage allowance rules, airport security ID requirements, traveling with kids or pets, and help on everything from packing to parking to checking bags.

iFly Pro is ($6.99 at the iTunes app store) is available with additional features.  With comprehensive information about over 700 airports, it's a handy mobile app to have available.

Software: Things Isn't Syncing

A few months ago, I decided to try a couple of productivity programs.  I picked Things for Mac and OmniFocus, as they both seemed very appealing for slightly different reasons (they are both based on the Getting Things Done, "GTD", system).   I put a each program on my MacBook Pro, and then downloaded the corresponding apps to my iPhone 3GS and iPad2.   After a few months of use, I found that Things was great for single task entries (business, personal, and volunteer related) while OmniFocus was better suited to business related task lists related to larger projects.   This wasn't surprising, as the descriptions of the products indicated that this would be the case.  OmniFocus is cool, and I'll post about it another time.  Today I'd like to air my issue with Things.

What really got me hooked on Things was the ability to whip out my iPhone and write a note to myself.  E.g., I'd be at a happy hour and someone would ask me for something, so I'd put an entry in Things.  Furthermore, I often have my iPad out during meetings, and if a task I wanted to assign myself came up I'd enter it into Things for iPad.  I would then sync Things between the iPhone and iPad and MacBook (to do this, you have to open things on your Mac and then open the Things app on the device you want to sync).  What I found was that while I would enter tasks into Things on the mobile devices, I would actually sit down with the Mac to execute the list.  I got used to this system.  My productivity spiked.  And then, the damn thing stopped syncing.

I don't know what has happened, but for the past few weeks every time I have opened Things for the iPhone it reports a failed sync and then crashes.  The iPad is just as uncooperative, and after the iOS5 update (which erased all of my apps) Things is empty and it won't sync.   I have looked into the problem, and I can't tell if it's an upgrade issue with iOS5.  I have Lion on my MacBook and iOS5 on the iPad.  I'm going to buy an iPhone 4S instead of putting iOS5 on my current phone.  But, regardless of the lack of iOS5 on the phone, I have installed all of the current upgrades across devices and checked settings.  Things still isn't working.

So, all I can tell you is that Things for Mac rocks in conjunction with Things for iPhone and iPad.   If you are distracted by constantly having to deal with business issues, Things is like a trusted personal assistant. But, Things as a stand alone on each platform doesn't do much for me.  I'm putting tasks I think of while out of the office onto OmniFocus sometimes, but more often than not I'm just writing myself reminders in Evernote.  Once Things sorts out the syncing or I figure out the solution, I'll post about it.  In the mean time, I'd recommend OmniFocus or Evernote for personal productivity over Things.

Software: Bibble Pro 5 on Two Systems

After finding out how to put Final Draft on the office bound and portable systems (and that I wouldn't be able to do this with Adobe products), I emailed Bibble Labs to see if I could add my Bibble Pro 5 photo editor to my MacBook.  The answer: yes. 

If you haven't heard of Bibble Pro: it's a photo editor.  I use it for many of the same tasks as I once used Photoshop Elements.  Bibble Pro is quite robust (I just don't know how to use all of its features), it's Noise Ninja plug in is good for cleaning up digital noise from high ISO photos, and it was developed here in Austin.  Also, Bibble Pro costs $200, so while it's about double the cost Photoshop Elements, it is much cheaper than the full version of Photoshop.

Software: Same Program, Different Computers

MacBook Pro and Dell Latitude

Photo: by WDFloyd's iPhone


I've been working on a new screenplay idea, and I like to work on screenplays using Final Draft.  While checking the Final Draft site to find out about options for transferring my user license over to my new MacBook Pro, I discovered that Final Draft's publisher will allow users to operate Final Draft on two computers at any given time.  So, instead of deleting Final Draft from my Dell Latitude after installing said program on my Mac, I now have it set up on both systems.

Inspired by the prospect of cheaply loading up my Mac with copies of software I've already bought, I made a quick visit to the Adobe site to see about Acrobat X Pro and Photoshop Elements 8.  Turns out if you are the primary user of an Adobe product, under your license you can add a copy to a home or portable computer so long as you don't operate them simultaneously; however, said provision only applies to using the same platformed version of the software from work on your home or portable system.  Or, put another way: you can only extend the license from a work Windows OS to another Windows OS or a Mac OS to another Mac OS.   If you are like me, with a PC of some sort for your office (which although is a laptop, is docked and basically functions like a desktop) and then a portable Mac, you cannot use your already purchased Adobe product on the Mac platform (and, vice versa).  If I want to run my Acrobat X Pro or Photoshop Elements 8 on my MacBook, then I'll have to set up the parallel Windows platform and run it through that.   [note: if you have a Mac and you want to run an Adobe product on the Mac side and on the PC, you will need a separate program with separate license for each platform on your one computer] 

Anyway, these are things to keep in mind if you're a dual PC and Mac user.

Software: Aperture 3, A Good Deal From The Mac App Store

At the Home Office

Now that I'm back in business with my new MacBook Pro, I've been reinstalling and adding software to the system.  One Mac specific app I've been wanting to try is Aperture 3.  

Since I've started biking, I haven't been as active with photography.  Thus, it will probably be after SXSW and my quickie trip to Florida (I have some night photography planned) before I do much photo importing and editing to the MacBook.  At that point I'll be able to comment on using Aperture (which, from what I have read, is a photo management and light editing system similar to Picasa or Adobe's Lightroom).

In the mean time, I decided to toss up this post to mention that while the full version of Aperture is $199 at a retail establishment, it is only $79 as a download from the Mac App Store.   Not a bad deal, thus I went ahead and downloaded it. 

This is by far the most compelling deal I've seen at the Mac App Store.