R.I.P. Bob Moog: the father of electronic music

Bob Moog passed away in his North Carolina home Sunday. Memorials can be made here. Moog brought us the first “real” synthesizer in 1964, but which didn’t really catch on until the 70s and the 80s. Without Moog, the history and landscape of electronic music would have been radically different. Read more on Bob Moog at Wikipedia. Rest in peace, Bob.

Easy Envelopes is back!

Many moons ago, in the age of MacOS Classic, I used this great little app (desk accessory) called Easy Envelopes from Ambrosia Software. It was the best envelope-printing tool I’ve ever used. Fast, easy, and prints USPS barcodes and stuff. They never updated it for OS X… UNTIL NOW. Easy Envelopes is now a Dashbooard widget available from Ambrosia Software for FREE. Love those guys!

The Apple Mighty Mouse

A. Cool name. B. MUST HAVE IT.

Oh, I need to say more?

Here are the things about the Mighty Mouse:

1. They surprised the hell out of everybody. It’s fun to see Apple occasionally staying one step ahead of the rumor sites. I mean, sure, everyone knew Apple had to be working on some sort of advanced mouse device.
2. In typical Apple fashion, they took the concept (two-button scroll mouse) and completely Apple-ized it: touch sensitive “buttons”, “squeeze buttons”, and “scroll ball” thingy. Plus, completely programmable.
3. Great price: $49
4. I wonder why no Bluetooth. Of course, being an owner of an Apple Bluetooth Mouse, I know that they suck batteries down like Homer on cheap beer. A Bluetooth Mighty Mouse would likely be ten times worse.

Plus, I’m a total slut for Apple.

UPDATE 2005.08.15

Got the Mighty Mouse on Friday. Still tweaking it and my mousing style. I know, I know. If a mouse makes you re-examine and/or change how you mouse, it’s probably not a good thing. But, I have sort of a freaky mousing style (left-handed, but use the right-handed left/right click mapping). If I DIDN’T do that, I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE the Mighty Mouse. But, because of how the click detection works and how the Primary click overrides the Secondary click, I sometimes left click (primary) when I mean to right click (Secondary). So, I’m still working out the kinks. Otherwise, I really like the scroll ball and the general feel of the mouse.