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Is this thing on?
Hi there, my name is Brett Kelly and I'm one of the new bloggers here at TUAW. My first Mac was a second-hand G3 PowerMac that I received as a birthday gift about 5 years ago, which has since been upgraded to a white MacBook that I use for absolutely everything (and my kids use as a coaster). I have a first-generation iPhone because I've convinced myself that EDGE is just fine -- or something. Apple stuff aside, I'm a husband and dad, a web developer, tattoo collector and coffee enthusiast (meaning I roast it myself in my garage). I'm also something of a recovering productivity nerd, so don't be surprised if you see my name at the top of posts ogling over the latest list management application. Yes, it's a sickness. I've been doing various blogging bits for a few years now (mostly in the realm of personal organization and "lifehacks", as it were), but nothing quite as high profile as this, that's for sure. I'm very excited to be a part of this stellar team and I look forward to presenting you with many thought-provoking, interesting posts, as well as more than a little poorly-executed humor. Like most of the cool kids, I'm on the Twitter and would love it if you'd say hello. Thanks for having me!
Yet another introduction
Greetings, TUAW faithful! I'm Todd, and after writing for Download Squad for a year, I'm fortunate enough to be able to write for TUAW. A MacBook Pro is my primary machine and I'm rarely without my iPhone 3G (who isn't?).By day I'm a systems admin for a school district in central Pennsylvania where I manage a network of about 1400 PC's, 600 Macs, and 35 servers (a handful of which run Mac OS X). I handle all of the Mac client management, system imaging, and podcast-related functions. In addition to my day job, a few nights a month I teach at a local career institute covering topics like Apache administration, Active Directory management, and Cisco configuration. I get to work with small classes in hands-on environments which allow the students to get a taste of the real "IT" world.Drawing from these experiences, I hope to offer insightful articles ranging from the use of Apple products in the classroom to creating Mac system images for mass deployment. I look forward to interacting, sharing, and learning from you and the other great TUAW writers!
By way of introduction...
Hi all. Dan Fellini here to introduce myself as one of TUAW's newest team members. Glad and honored to be here. I live in sunny Portland, Oregon, and work as the executive producer for an online video network. I love my job, love my city and love technology, social media, the outdoors and, of course, my Macs and my iPhone. In previous lives I've been a reporter, editor, sysadmin, programmer and, way back, I was an EMT. Lights and sirens baby! The first time I touched an Apple computer was back in elementary school, when I programmed Logo to act like Joshua from Wargames. Oh yes. My 6th grade teacher freaked. We were supposed to be making cute designs with the turtle, and there I was bringing our classroom to the brink of global thermonuclear war. How about a nice game of chess? Not so much. Now, as an adult, I spend 8, 12, sometimes 16 hours a day in front of a MacBook, a MacBook Pro, or my iPhone. I'm not saying I couldn't live without Apple, but my quality of life would definitely not be as good. And that's the point. That's why I'm here, writing about a company I don't get a paycheck from. Writing about a company that (let's be honest) charges a bit too much for their products. Writing about a company that doesn't know I exist. I'm here because Apple products contribute to my overall quality of life, in a positive way, and when a company or product does that, it's a special relationship. There are so few companies like that these days. I'm not a fanboy. Let's get that cleared up straight away. I'm not of the 'Apple can do no wrong' mentality. What I am, though, is a big fan of products that are well designed, well built and that inspire me to do good work. I'm thrilled to be part of this team. I've been reading TUAW for a long time, and have always considered it the blog of record for the word on Apple. To be a part of it now is something I'm quite proud of. Now, on to more pressing issues...
Howdy, I'm a Mac.
Hello fellow Apple fans & TUAW readers! Yes, I'm from Texas, and I'm sure it's much more a pleasure for me to be writing this than for you to be reading it. While I was exposed to Macs in elementary school I really did not "get it" until I bought my first iPod (third-generation, 40GB). Shortly thereafter I stumbled upon TUAW after reading articles on Hack a Day about installing Linux on my unknowing iPod. Fast forward a few years and my entire immediate family are all owners of some form of MacBook, iPhone and/or iPod. I currently spend my days working for a software company specializing in enterprise management applications. It is neither glamorous nor entertaining and it keeps me chained to a Windows environment. It does however allow me to work with people while troubleshooting issues as well as developing technical documents about our software. In my free time I can often be found reading TUAW and many other fantastic websites as well as occasionally posting articles to my own site aron cares. I am passionate about Apple, technology and the many web communities about them. I also enjoy photography and have a slight addiction to all things home theater and HD. I am very much looking forward to being a part of the TUAW team and being able to contribute in my own way as well as reading what you all have to say.
Drowning in a sea of spam? Spamsweep can help
First things first: as a new blogger around here, let me introduce myself. Hi, I'm Mel Martin. I spent most of my life as a journalist, then moved over to the technology side. I spent 4 years at the BBC working on creating a content management system. I'm an avid amateur astronomer and have published many images taken from my home observatory. I've also written a book about film producer Samuel Bronston, who created epic films like El Cid, Fall of the Roman Empire, King of Kings and 55 Days at Peking. I participated in the recent DVD releases of two of the Bronston films, and shared in doing the commentary on the Fall of the Roman Empire DVD released in April. I've had Macs since 1984, the Apple II before that. Glad to be here, and hope I can share some interesting posts with you. And here we go....There are lots of applications out there to deal with spam, but many run within or alongside the mail client itself, and that can be problematic when you are away from home and using limited bandwidth -- you still have to download all the mail in order for your local filters to process it. My ISP offers POP mail, and does some filtering on the server side, but 30-40 spams still get through every day. Spamsweep from Bains Software offers a nice solution that has largely gone unnoticed, although there was a brief mention of it here in 2005. Now, for people with iPhones or other smartphones, it is even more useful. Spamsweep is a small app that displays an icon in your menu bar. In my situation, it runs on my Mac Pro desktop at home, checking my mail account(s) once a minute. It downloads the spam, and leaves the good mail alone, ready to pass it on to any device while I am on the road, connected via a laptop or cell phone. The spam gets trapped and goes to spam heaven (or hell).You can train it, of course, and go back through the list of spam to correct any errors, but there are darned few of them. A nice side benefit is that it keeps the spam off my iPhone. It works with several mail clients including Apple Mail, Eudora, Entourage, Mailsmith, Powermail and Thunderbird. Those connections to your mail app are important only if you want Spamsweep to launch your mail client after it checks for spam. I don't use it in that mode, so Spamsweep quietly spends the day obediently checking my POP mail account and cleaning out the garbage. It is great when I travel, and when I get home I can check to see if there are any good messages (false positives) that got trapped. That almost never happens; if Spamsweep is unsure, it passes the mail through. Support from the company has been very good, and there are usually a few updates per year adding some features and tightening up the code. It's a great solution for keeping spam vanquished when you travel, and really keeps your iPhone (or lesser device) clean. Of course, a spam message could sneak in if your phone checks your mail server right before Spamsweep has done its check, but in the real world I only see that happen a couple of times a week, and of course during that week Spamsweep has snagged hundreds of messages I never want to see.
May I introduce myself?
Hi y'all! I'm Megan Lavey and I'm one of the new bloggers here at TUAW. I've been writing off and online in one form or another from the time I could hold a crayon. I've been using a Mac ever since my classmates and I engaged in the first-grade version of smackdown brawls in 1986 over the right to play The Oregon Trail on the two Apple IIs with color monitors while the rest of us were stuck with the gray monitors on the Macintoshes. My first personal Mac purchase was an iMac G3 in graphite. The latest (and first Mac I ever bought new) was a MacBook, late 2007 Santa Rosa model. I am still on the first generation iPhone and I'm trying to justify the eventual purchase of an Apple TV.I'm a 28-year-old journalist, involved in both the reporting and design side of the newspaper industry, who has currently gone freelance. Some of you may have read my review and critiquing work for AnimeonDVD (now part of Mania) and Visual Editors. I am a voracious reader, spend my time convincing family and friends that the cult of the Mac is the best thing that will ever happen to them, enjoy candlelight dinn... oops, wrong introduction. I am excited about being part of the TUAW team and look forward to contributing to the site and hearing from you as well!
We're feeling the love: Blogger application deadline is tonight
We asked, and you answered. Over 150 of you have already sent in your applications to join the TUAW team, and we're happily plowing through the entries now. It's been a real delight to see the enthusiasm and geek cred of everyone who has turned in sample posts... while a few of you might have benefited from additional proofreading of your submissions before hitting 'send' (ahem), the overall level of quality and insight is quite amazing. Amazing, and also very daunting -- since we can't take all of you, the process of winnowing this bushelful of excellence down to a few candidates is going to involve a lot of hard choices, grim faces and possibly some yelling. We're heading into our undisclosed location this weekend equipped with all the latest decision support technologies and we hope to have answers for all of you soon. The deadline for applications is midnight ET tonight, Friday 11/7. See the original recruitment post for details. We do have far, far more qualified applicants than we have slots for contributors, so please don't be discouraged if we can't tap you on the shoulder this round.
Howdy!
Howdy, TUAW-ites. My name is Steve Sande and I'm the new kid on the block here at TUAW. Saying that I'm the new kid is a bit misleading, since I'm over the half-century mark in the age column. I've been writing online since 1986, when I started up a Mac/Apple IIGS Bulletin Board System called MAGIC. That BBS continued for 8 years until 1994, when I began publishing a blog-like website called PDAntic.com on the web, writing about the Apple Newton MessagePad. That site went through various incarnations, ending with the latest - MovableBeast.com. I also blog and podcast occasionally on TalkingWordpress.com, and I can be heard on the MacJury podcasts as a regular jury member.My first Mac purchase was in December of 1984; a Mac 512K with an ImageWriter II printer. My latest? A MacBook Air! My next dream machine is going to be a 3.06 GHz 24" iMac with 4GB of RAM and a 1 TB HD. I'm not sure how many Macs I've owned since 1984...So, what do I do when I'm not blogging? I'm currently an ACN (Apple Consultant Network) member, which means I'm a certified Apple consultant. I write documentation for several commercial Mac applications, I've written a couple of ebooks for Take Control Books, and I teach Business Analysis classes all over the country.I'm thrilled to be part of the TUAW team, and I look forward to your comments and story tips.
A brief introduction
Greetings, TUAW fans. My name is Brett Terpstra and I'm excited to introduce myself as a new member of the TUAW blogging team. It's conceivable that my name may sound familiar to some of you, but entirely possible that I'm just a fresh, new face.I'm a 29 year old Art Director, referred to by friends as a "supergeek", and I'm looking forward to bringing some new ideas to a great blog.
Hello There
Hello TUAW readers, my name is Cory Bohon. I'm the newest TUAW blogger and very excited to be blogging for one of the best Apple blogs anywhere. I started blogging in 2004 at the "young" age of 15 (I am now 18). 2004 was a big year for me, since that is when I got my first Mac as well. I started learning AppleScript soon after - it was fascinating to me, and still is.I look forward to blogging here. I hope this will be a fun journey for us all. Disclosure: I am involved with a freeware product that was reviewed on TUAW in the past. Readers should also be aware that there are impartiality clauses we agree to adhere to as part of our contracts on ANY Weblogs Inc property.
Well hello there!
Greetings, TUAW readers. England calling! It's great to be here, writing alongside a great team of Apple-loving bloggers. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that I'm joining from Download Squad just like fellow newcomer Lisa Hoover, and boy am I excited. Us Europeans, whilst lacking the iPhone, iTunes Video Store and the (relative) inexpense of Apple products, love our Apple kit just as much as the rest of the world, so you can imagine my reaction at being offered the chance of writing for the motley crew fine folks here at TUAW.I look forward to seeing where the next year takes us - and playing a part in bringing you all the greatest things to do with your Apple gear!Disclosure: I am a free-lance contractor with a company whose product has been covered on TUAW in the past. Readers should also be aware that there are impartiality clauses we agree to adhere to as part of our contracts on ANY Weblogs Inc property.
Why, hello there.
I had my own personal unboxing of the new 24" iMac (yes, it's every wonderful thing you've heard, and more) and sat down to migrate all the info from my old Mac. Just as I was thinking life couldn't get any better, I got an invitation to join the TUAW team. I fainted, but of course made sure to fall sideways so I didn't mar the Mac's beautiful, glossy screen. Now that I have regained consciousness and finished installing all the important apps (the triumvirate -- Firefox, Adium, and Skitch), I'm all set to start blogging. If you get around the Weblogs, Inc. network at all, you may know me from Download Squad and DIY Life. I'm sure I'll have just as much fun here as I do there and, hey, maybe now I can justify getting that iPhone. All in the name of research, right?
