I recently received a note from Time Warner that they are updating the features of the personal web site you get when you have Roadrunner. The letter said that I had two options to choose from: a basic HTML/FTP site or one that didn't require any knowledge of HTML. Of course, I choose the HTML version, after all I know how to make a web site.

But this got me to thinking about the site I have hosted on Roadrunner, which I haven't even looked at in years. You can see the site here: home.roadrunner.com/~davesstudio/old/. Wow, that's sure is old school. It actually uses frames for God's sake. Yike!

I immediately wanted to redesign the site, but I certainly wasn't going to hand code a web site with the old content when I have much better tools on this and my other sites. So, I whipped up a new look and have turned the site in to a directory to my other sites.

You can see the redesigned site here: home.roadrunner.com/~davesstudio

iWeb

When I got my iPhone, I signed up for a MoblieMe account to help keep everything on my phone, laptop and tower in sync. I had heard some of the difficulties people had had with it, but it's worked pretty good for me.

One of the features with a MobleMe account is that you can publish web sites from Apple's iWeb program. Again, I have much more powerful tools to make web sites, but I thought it'd would be fun to give iWeb a try.

As with most Apple products, iWeb was really easy to use and I had a web site up in very little time. You give up a lot of control for ease of use, but if I wasn't a web designer and wanted a web site, this would be a great way to go to publish your photos or have a blog of your own.

You can see the site here: www.davetrippstudio.com.

A few pictures from the Halloween party. Boy, how times have changed.

The redesigned web site for Ronald McDonald House of Portland I did has launched.

The new web site is powered by Drupal and uses the Ubercart modules for adding e-commerce to the site. The new site also integrated their in-house volunteer scheduling software, RMH Homebase.

Visit their web site rmhportland.org

I still love my iBook. It was the first laptop I ever owned and it was all good. I took it with me every where I went. I even took it on vacation to Cancun and the Dominican Republic so I could keep in touch with my business clients if an emergency came up. It also let me download the hundreds of images I took, so I didn't have to think about how many I was taking. Yet, I knew the relationship was doomed.

When I go the Mac Pro it had Tiger for its OS, but it wasn't too long before Leopard was released. I knew that I'd had to update the Mac Pro to Leopard eventually and when I did that I'd propably want the laptop to run Leopard as well. This was the death knell for my trusted iBook with it old Motorola chips. I'd have to replace the iBook with a new Intel chip MacBook to really get Leopard to work well.

And then Apple did something it never does for me — it released a new product in October instead of January at MacWorld. I buy my new hardware at the end of the year once I know what my business income looks like. This means I always buy something only to have a new version come out a few months later. Sure, I've grown to expect it, but it sucks to see all those fun, new Apples that I can't have.

So, when Apple released the new MacBooks this month, it felt like a gift from Steve Jobs. Thanks Steve! And to make it even better, we now have an Apple store in Maine, which meant I could just walk into the store and go home with it. No ordering it and then waiting for it to arrive. I had instant gratification.

I went with the MacBook Pro. I just need that Firewire port no mater what Steve says. The new LED screens are bright and sharp. The backlight keyboard is really helpful. The multi-touch glide pad is excellent — I don't think I even use a mouse. And it's fast. Running Adobe's Creative Suite 3 on the iBook was slow. Now, it screams almost as fast as me MacPro.

Farewell to my trusted iBook. It has served me well. It will stay around for a little while longer (always good to have a spare or add it to a rendering farm for 3D work). 

The other thing I got on vacation was an iPhone. I've wanted one since they were first announced, of course, but I knew first generation wouldn't be a smart move and I needed for my AT&T contract to expired, too.

So, when I saw the 3Gs, I knew it was time. There's still the issue that there is no 3G network in Maine — it's supposed to be ready in November for the Portland area — but I'm not sorry I went ahead and bought it because while my iBook is a very convenient piece of technology and my Mac Pro is a very powerful piece of technology, my iPhone is hands down the coolest piece of technology I've ever owned. The interface is sweet and very easy to understand. The screen is amazing. I'm using MobileMe so all my contacts, calendars and bookmarks are staying in sync between all of my devices. MobileMe also keeps my FTP client, Transmit, settings in sync between the laptop and desktop.

There are lots of other applications available and I'll be trying them out too. Maybe in a few games.

One program I'm using is OmniFocus. I've tried a lot of productivity software over the years and have never found one I like. I like Omni and think they make good programs and I have a lot of hope that the simple interface will be the answer. Using the iPhone application for OmniFocus, I can always have my list of things to do with me. It's even got location features, so I can tell OmniFocus where I'm at and it will give me a list of the errands I need to do where I'm currently located. How cool is that?

In general, I really like all of the mapping features of the iPhone. Type in restaurants and it will show me all the restaurants in near my location. Click on an address in my Contacts and I can easily get direction to there from where I'm located. Going for a walk? Tracking your time and distance with your iPhone.

I'm sure I could say more, but I think I need to answer an email on my iPhone.