From Macrumors: New at Apple.com

Apple has added to its website with a new subsection dedicated to video tutorials called "find out how." The section includes video tutorials for Mac OS X, Photos, Movies, Web, Music, and Documents.

In all, over 30 short tutorial videos are presented along with many additional text tutorials. The videos present an addition to Apple's guided tours of Mac OS X Leopardand iLife 08. Similarly, Apple posted a guided tour for the iPhone even before its launch, which in turn helped early adopters become experts with the device.

Most of the tutorials seem to be mainly aimed at the beginning Mac user, so questions not immediately answered by Apple's site may be more satisfactorily answered in ourGuides or Forums.

Google Lego Logo: Google Offers Lego 50th Birthday Wishes

Google has a special logo up on the Google home page today. The Google logo is made up of legos, to celebrate Lego's 50 year birthday.

Google's culture has always had a special place for Lego. Google's first servers were "modded" up with Legos. The Google founders have admitted to having a special "fondness" towards Legos, and we all know that computer geeks can't get enough of their legos. Google has Lego art in their offices. Lego fans have built Google logos in Lego, and so have Googlers themselves.

During the Apple earnings call today, the company suggested that WiFi-enabled iPods were "one" of the future directions in which Cupertino sees the media player market heading. While sticking to vague characterizations, a spokesperson intimated that wire

From Engadget

During the Apple earnings call today, the company suggested that
WiFi-enabled iPods were "one" of the future directions in which
Cupertino sees the media player market heading. While sticking to vague
characterizations, a spokesperson intimated that wireless communication
would play a role in upcoming devices (as demonstrated in the iPod touch),
saying, "The iPod market is bigger than just for simple music players,
one of the iPod's future direction is to be one of the first WiFi
mobile platforms." Of course, Apple wasn't ready to put all its eggs in
one basket, nor did it mention emerging wireless technologies such as
WiMAX, but they're probably confident that customers will take it where
they can get it.

from the Daily Mail: Blue Monday: The unhappiest day of the year

If you are feeling a little down then you can take solace in the thought that things are unlikely to get any worse.

Today, say experts, is the unhappiest day in the entire year.

Unpaid Christmas bills, nasty weather, and failed New Year's resolutions combine to make January 22 the gloomiest in the calendar.

But if anyone can cope with 'blue Monday' it is the British, who researchers have found to be mainly optimists.

More than 85 per cent of us expect the future to be happier than it is now, according to researchers.

Dr Cliff Arnall, a Cardiff University psychologist, devised the formula that shows today is the most depressing.

His equation takes into account six factors: weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failing our new year's resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take action.

Taken together they pinpoint today as 'Blue Monday'.

Dr Arnall said that by understanding the main factors for depression we can prevent becoming unhappy next year.

He said: 'Use the day as a springboard for a higher quality life. For example keeping Christmas spending to a strict budget next year will make you less depressed in the last week of January.

'Also, decide on changing behaviour, such as giving up smoking, eating better, exercising more and getting that new job.'

It might also be a good idea to take extra care on the roads.

Research by Privilege Insurance reveals that nearly half of the UK's drivers suffer from seasonal symptoms such as depression and lethargy in January, which impact on their driving ability.

All is not doom and gloom, however, as a survey of 85 per cent of people in Britain expect to be happier in the future than they are now, a psychological study for Standard Life Bank found.

Scots were the most optimistic, followed by people in the South West, while people from London and the West Midlands had the least positive outlook on life, researchers discovered.

Taking up a new hobby is the most favoured tactic by Britons to become happier in 2007, amid a general trend for people wanting to make work less of a focus in 2007.

People responding to the survey said they hoped to make themselves happier by clearing their debts, paying off their mortgage and achieving financial security.

Those who listed things they were looking forward to were plans to reduce their working hours or retire to improve their quality of life.

The research - entitled the Freestyle Happiness Index - also found that the nation's optimism is being boosted by a falling interest in material possessions.

For the 15 per cent of pessimists and those who feel very depressed, the Samaritans urged people not to bottle it up but to get in touch.

Press spokesperson Kate Redway said: 'Sadly, one in five people in the UK experience depression and this time of year can be particularly difficult, with people in debt after Christmas and finding it hard to settle back into a work routine during dark days.'

German Red Wine

This weekend I was in Mannheim again to work on something we need to party my Dad's 80th Birthday this week. The Sunday we did some Red Wine tasting. In the Pfalz most wine is white, as it generally is in Germany, but more and more interesting red wines are coming from Germany. We tasted at 2 wineries; ... and the Niederkircher Weinmacher.

At ... we tasted several and liked especially the "expensive" ones:

- xxx
- xxx
- xxx

At the Niederkircher Weinmacher we also tasted several and although rather different I liked especially the Pinot Noir trocken. Here I also tasted a white one, the Rivaner Q.b.A. trocken.

If you are able to read German:

Geschichte

Niederkirchener Weinmacher -
dieser Name steht für ausgezeichnete und unverwechselbare Tradition.
Unser Erfolgsgeheimnis: das perfekte Zusammenspiel von engagierten
Winzern, Weinanbau auf höchstem Niveau und modernster Kellertechnik.
Seit mehr als einem Jahrhundert fühlen wir uns diesem Anliegen
verpflichtet. Und so treten heute 420 Winzer und Winzerinnen auf über
420 Hektar Rebfläche das Erbe der Gründerväter an.

Zu
Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts befanden sich die deutschen Weinbauern in
einer misslichen Lage, denn sie litten unter Absatzschwierigkeiten und
niedrigen Preisen. Um dauerhaft überleben zu können, schlossen sich die
Winzer in vielen Orten zu Genossenschaften und Verbänden zusammen. Und
so haben 36 wagemutige Winzer aus Niederkirchen am 15. Juli 1901
unseren Winzer-Verein gegründet. Am 26. September des Jahres war es
dann soweit: Der Winzerverein startete die erste gemeinsame Weinlese,
in neun Tagen wurden rund 79.000 Liter Most geerntet. Bereits im Jahr
1902 wurde das erste gemeinsame Kellerhaus samt Wirtschaftsgebäude
erstellt. In den folgenden Jahrzehnten investierte der Verein stets in
guten Zeiten, sodass der Verein kontinuierlich wuchs.

Neuer Zusammenschluss

Nach
den Kriegswirren wurde im Jahr 1950 mit dem Bau eines Flaschenkellers
begonnen, außerdem wurden erste gemeinsame Weinversteigerungen in
Niederkirchen durchgeführt. Um weiterhin erfolgreich zu bleiben, wurden
in den folgenden Jahren Erweiterungen wie der Bau einer neuen
Traubenan­nahmestation realisiert. 1968 kam es zu einer wegweisenden
Entscheidung: der Winzerverein Niederkirchen und die Ortsgenossenschaft
Kathrinenbild mit Sitz in Deidesheim schlossen sich zur
"Niederkirchener Winzer-Verein e.G." zusammen. Anfang der 70er Jahre
waren bereits über 360 Weinbauern in der Genossenschaft organisiert,
dieangelieferte Traubenmenge betrug damals rund fünf Millionen
Kilogramm jährlich. Der erfolgreiche Expansionskurs des Winzervereins,
im Jahr 1980 waren 457 Mitglieder zu verzeichnen, machte weitere
Investitionen unumgänglich.

Im
Jahr 1985 konnte das neue Betriebsgebäude eingeweiht werden -
Produktion, Verwaltung und Vertrieb arbeiten hier seitdem zentral an
einem Ort zusammen. Moderne Mostkühl­einrichtungen, Edelstahltanks,
Traubenannahme und Traubenpresse stehen stellvertretend für die
erfolgten Investitionen in den vergangenen zwei Jahrzehnten. Inzwischen
ist die jährlich angelieferte Traubenmenge auf rund 8 Millionen
Kilogramm angewachsen.

Bewährte Tradition, neuer Name

Niederkirchener
Weinmacher - diesen neuen Namen hat sich der Niederkirchener
Winzerverein im Jahr 2003 gegeben. Der passt zu uns: Schließlich
verfügen wir über großes Können, umfassendes Wissen und innovative
Ideen. Das gemeinsame Ziel: hervorragende Weine rund um Niederkirchen
anzubauen. Mit Leidenschaft pflegen unsere Mitglieder ihre Weinberge
und veredeln mit Liebe ihre Ernte zu Qualitäts­weinen. Die
Niederkirchener gelten deshalb seit über einem Jahrhundert als eine der
besten Adressen für Weine aus der Pfalz - und sind zur größten
Genossenschaft der Region geworden.

Overall a good experience with good to very good red wines, so I bought some to take to Amsterdam.

Very nice, rather pricy and not for everyone ... the Macbook Air

Apple yesterday showed the Macbook Air to the publicc. the world's thinnest notebook. It measures only 0.16-inches at its
thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than
the thinnest point on competing notebooks. MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch
LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a
built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious
trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate
and swipe. MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2
Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and includes as standard features 2GB
of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi
technology and Bluetooth 2.1. MacBook Air delivers up to five hours of
battery life for wireless productivity and includes AirPort Extreme
802.11n Wi-Fi networking, which delivers up to five times the
performance and twice the range of 802.11g.

Great private show

Last Friday I was invited to come along to a Jazz evening in a small theater near my home. The theater is a privately owned (many shareholders, all artists), in an old school building, with 2 rooms.

Erik Huele, an old friend of the person who invited me, is a very good Jazz piano player. He had three sets with his band and several other musicians. They played Satie, own compositions and some from the other musicians (Zou Diarra and Lake Montgomery). It was an extremely nice evening, although they played for a very small crowd. Only some twenty people were there, so it felt like a private show. All people were rather enthusiastic though, so it was a very good experience. Made me feel like going to theaters much more often.

From Webware: Profy attempts a more social, and utilitarian blogging platform

I'm always eager to get my hands on new publishing tools. We've got our own in-house blogging tool at CNET, but on the side I like to stay well versed in various other platforms both big and small. A new one from Profy.com (whose blog is actually a competitor of ours) launched on Wednesday and has been garnering some buzz from some of the other blogs. I thought I'd give it spin and see if the hype is well deserved.

What I can say after spending some time testing out its features is that it's off to a good start, but far from a Wordpress killer for people who are seriously thinking about launching any sort of commercial blog. It's more in line with Blogger and Ning's offerings in setting up a vast network of interconnected social sites that your users can navigate to and fro while retaining the feeling of being on the same service.

Besides having a fairly standard WYSIWYG blogging interface, and integrated RSS feed reader, the real draw to the app is its interconnected social network. You can add other Profy users and blog owners as friends and contacts. The service goes as far as integrating instant messaging and presence management to let you know when someone's online. Once you've added people as friends, you can then keep track of their new blog posts, along with what they're reading if they've opted to share what RSS feeds they're subscribed to. The RSS reader itself isn't too shoddy either. While not as feature rich as the big guys, I actually prefer its layout to Google Reader's (at least on our RSS feed) because it displays who the author is on the title of each post.

Everything seems designed with a simple user in mind. There's no access to your blog's CSS, instead everything is simplified down to a fairly sizable collection of templates that can be custom-tailored (very much like Ning) with the user picking where they want each site element to go. The same goes for the domain, which lives under the Profy.com moniker and can't be linked up to one you already own. All these things make it very simple to get started and make changes on the go, but power users will likely want a little more.

The site is currently in private alpha with no timeline on when it'll be open to the general public. For now, they're offering Webware readers 100 invites to get their own blogs going. To get yours, go to this page and enter "Webware" in the description box.

Screens below. There are two more after the break.

The WYSIWYG blogging interface should be familiar to Blogger and Wordpress users. Bundled in with the rest of it is the RSS reader, contact manager, and admin tools.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Choosing a template is just as easy as it is on competing blog hosts, although there's no option to edit or make tweaks to the CSS file.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Profy's RSS reader is surprisingly nice, although not as full featured as other popular RSS readers. The good news is you can import and export your OPML file to retain your feeds.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Blogged with Flock

From Webware: Fresh off the press: NewsGator, now freeware

If you do not use RSS, this is your free chance.
Hans

Checking Web sites by typing in the URL feels like firing up a rickety 56k baud modem and logging on to CompuServe. It gets the job done, but really should only be used under extreme duress or nostalgia. Syndicated feeds bring the Web site to you, and when NewsGator made all its RSS clients free on Wednesday, they suddenly made a top-notch suite with tools for Windows,
Mac,
mobile,
the Web,
a podcast manager,
and a Microsoft Outlook extension incredibly appealing. And by appealing, I mean you might not be able to imagine feeds the same way afterwards. It's that good.

The Windows interface for NewsGator includes an optional Most Popular list of your feeds on the right.

(Credit: NewsGator)

I've been using Google Reader, and even Mozilla Thunderbird's strong RSS tools couldn't pull me away from the appeal of having my e-mail and feeds coming from the same place. Throw in the some of the recent Google Reader changes, such as faster loading, being able to share items, and marking a previously read item as unread, and I was looking very skeptically at all other feed clients.

NewsGator makes a great pitch. Whatever operating system you want to use, it offers up a top-notch client. Throw in synchronization to its mobile client and Web-based tool and you've got one heckuva sweet suite.

In addition to a standard view, the Mac-based NetNewsWire offers an appealing wide-screen view.

(Credit: NewsGator)

I tested the Windows, Mac, Webware client, and podcast manager today, and the differences were not substantial. Installation on both doesn't require a free NewsGator account, but during the setup process it asks you if you'd like to register for one. The account gives you access to the NewsGator Web client, which has a similarly intuitive interface to the software versions.

Both the Windows and Mac version come with the podcast manager bundled, although you can opt out of installing it. The layout is uncluttered, with major tools living in the customizable toolbars at the top. The keyboard shortcuts are also customizable, and you can have a second set specifically for newspaper reading. There are also search boxes, report generators so you can obsess over what you read, and a plethora of tools that make it easy to fine-tune your reading habits.

The built-in reports tools are worthwhile, with Dinosaurs showing you old unread items, and Attention indicating what you spend the most time reading.

NewsGator Web features most of the key features of its downloadable cousins.

(Credit: NewsGator)

Other features include formatting for newspapers, simple font-size changes, items with images or video will have the media aggregated at the top of the feed, you can prefetch items for offline reading, and there's even a panic button that will go through unread items and decimate their numbers. There's also a built-in browser, complete with tabs, if you don't want to use your default browser to open links. If you don't want to get a particular feed, but don't want to delete it, changing the settings to Do Not Update is just as easy as setting up a brand-new feed.

The Windows version has two toolbar skins and six feed-view skins, while the Mac features two dozen options for spicing up feeds. However, Windows users can preset different ones to each feed, and it's much easier in the Windows version to tweak settings as you read a post. Helpful links right at the top of the post change sorting and reading methods, and marking and sharing tools.

FeedStation is a podcast manager integrated with both the software and Webware versions of the NewsGator clients.

(Credit: NewsGator)

Syncing worked less like an old modem and more like a T3 line: I changed settings in the Windows version, hit the sync button, hit refresh on the Mac version, and the changes were instantly downloaded. I then checked the NewsGator Web-based version, and the changes were already implemented there, too. Surprisingly, you can also manage your podcasts from the Web version.

Without a doubt, this is the most powerful, comprehensive, and responsive RSS manager I've ever used, so it shouldn't surprise you that I strongly recommend whichever of the NewsGator apps best suits your needs.

Blogged with Flock

David Lynch on the iPhone :-)

Back from England and Germany

I have had a very good small break in England and this weekend I was in Hamburg to visit my business partner.

In England we had some tours, to the Chevin (near Otley), to Leeds (saw the movie the Golden Compass), and to Brimham Rocks.

The Chevin

The southern flank of the Wharfe valley which lies above Otley is known as The Chevin a term that has close parallels to the welsh term "Cefn", meaning ridge and may be a survival of the ancient cumbric language.

The Chevin is largely covered in attractive old woodland and heathland. It is a part of the Carboniferous Millstone grit group. A Roman road ran along the top of the Chevin, part of the road that linked Eboracum (York), Calcaria (Tadcaster) and Olicana (Ilkley), perhaps on the same route as the modern road, Yorkgate, or perhaps about 800m to the south.

The highest point of the Chevin, Surprise View, reaches 282 metres (925 ft) at grid reference SE204442. This point offers extensive views of Otley and Wharfedale, and has an adjacent car park. It is the site of a beacon, and a cross is erected at Easter.

The name comes from the Brythonic 'Cefyn', 'Cefn' or 'Cefu' meaning a 'ridge', or 'ridge of high land'. The root name informs other hills, such as The Cheviot in Northumberland, and the Cévennes in France.

Brimham Rocks

In the beginning ...
320 million years ago, a huge river washed down grit and sand from granite mountains in northern Scotland and Norway. A delta formed, covering half of Yorkshire. Increasing layers of grit and sand, along with rock crystals of feldspar and quartz, built up to form the tough sandstone known as Millstone Grit, the exposed sections of which can be seen today at Brimham Rocks.

A feature of the rocks is their cross-bedding. As the water from the river flowed, it created bedforms such as ripples or dunes on the floor of the channel. Sediment was deposited on the downcurrent side of these bedforms at an angle - not horizontally. The layering is inclined and dips in the direction the water was moving.

Shaping
Most of the rocks owe their bizarre shapes to erosion during and after the Devensian glaciation. For example, Idol Rock was most likely formed just after the last glaciation when the land lacked any plant cover. Here, sand-blasting at ground level wore away the softer layers of the rock producing a tiny plinth with a massive top. Freeze-thaw action on the joints and bedding planes have shaped many of the tors such as the Dancing Bear.