Author: Daniel Brusilovsky

VP, Technology at Golden State Warriors.

Apple Universe Episode #92

As many of you readers are also Apple Universe subscribers, I would like to give you an update. Apple Universe has recorded episodes up to 93, and should record another 2 today. The reason I am recording a lot of podcasts at once, is because I am recording Apple Universe Episode #100 January 15th, 2007.

Now, Apple Universe Episode #92 has been re-recorded but the audio quality is very bad, and will have to be re-recorded once more. I once again apologize for this, and I hope to get the episode out soon.  Dave Sifry is the guest on this episode, so when Dave and I get a time straight, we will re-record.

Thank you for understanding,

Daniel Brusilovsky 

2008: The year of…..

The year of 2008 is already here. In this blog post, I’d like to discuss what I think will really emerge in 2008, and also talk about the companies that I really feel will emerge in 2008.

As we all now, 2007 was a great year for social networking and for all the new companies that emerged in the Silicon Valley. As we all know, Facebook came as probably the best social network in its class. Not only did Facebook grow, but the whole social communication network evolved. We all have a Twitter, Pownce or Jaiku account. These networks paved the way for everything else….

Moving on, the point that I’d like to emphasize here is that video is going to massively erupt sometime soon. The real question is when?

I have been pondering about this thought for a while, and I feel that 2008 is the year of the visual revolution. For streaming live video, Qik broadcasts from cellular phones in real time, with Ustream.TV and Justin.tv streaming from the desktop (among others). Kyte.tv and other related services let you upload short video clips from your phone. These services are simply amazing. They really push technology to the limits, but to me, its not enough.

Video can be pushed harder. There are phones are that are being produced that have a better camera then my Kodak, a dedicated digital camera. It’s impossible to expect what we will see as 2008 progresses.

I would like to quickly shout out to a couple amazing people. Robert Scoble: You have inspired me to do things that I would never thought of doing. Your video show is amazing, and I love everyone who you have featured on it. Also, I’d like to thank Bhaskar Roy of Qik for making such an amazing client in Qik. Qik is so amazing, I don’t know what I would do it without it.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone for making 2007 such a great year!

Thank you so much,
Daniel Brusilovsky

MacWorld 2008 Predictions

MacWorld 2008

MacWorld 2008 is just around the corner, and thousands of people are hoping for some great things from Apple. In this blog post I will talk about what I would like to happen from Apple coming up at the MacWorld 2008 Conference and Expo.Personally, I’d like to see a slimmer 12-inch MacBook, with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a hard drive holding up to 250GB. It would also be nice if Apple would come to the show with a new line of cheaper, brighter and better Cinema Displays that would include a built-in iSight camera. The Cinema Displays haven’t been updated in over 2 years, and I think it is time Apple refreshed those products.

A fellow blogger, Wesley Yendrys, wrote a great post today about what he would like to see at MacWorld 2008:

I’m hoping for an iPhone release date in Canada, either at MacWorld, or some other time between Q1 and Q2 of 2008. May is when my parents are going to allow me to have an phone, and so, I want to be able to buy an iPhone straight away, rather than waiting for Apple to release one in 2012, when the iPhone has gone through 10 generations. Although, I don’t think we’ll see an iPhone Canada release date, it’s just wishful thinking.As far as software goes, this would be around the time where iLife and iWork ‘08 would be released, but we got that last August. I do think however, we might see some iTunes updates. Maybe even iTunes 8.

There’s the scoop on what I’d like to see at MacWorld 2008. Please remember that Apple Universe will be recording LIVE during MacWorld at the Zeum from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Please RSVP at Upcoming.

Twitter: Open or Closed

When it comes to social networking, we all know and love the networks. I mean, come one now….who doesn’t have a Twitter, a Facebook or even a MySpace account? You may just think that it is a place to get connected with friends, which it is, but do you really think, when you are on Facebook, that you are “socially networking”? Being that I am a kind of person who likes to stay connected and meet knew people in the business, I am trying to be more “open”.Everyone knows that I LOVE Twitter. It is my favorite social networking, and Twittterific is the first application to start up on my Mac. For me, Twitter is a way of knowing what my friends are doing. Although I may not know all of these “friends” by face, I “follow” them. To follow a person means to request to see their “tweets”, or updates on their activities..

For a while now, I have kept my updates protected, only letting people that I know, or whom I heard of, follow me. I don’t do this to hide feelings of anything like that; I do it to stay safe on the internet. There are people like Robert Scoble, Jason Calacanis who let anyone who wants to follow them. Then that comes to me. Why don’t I let everyone follow me? I don’t write any bad tweets, or anything like that. What I do write about is new blog posts, new Apple Universe episodes, when I leave and come back, and those types of things.

That is why I wonder why I still keep my updates protected. As much as I want to open my Twitter, there is still a thought about something happening that I don’t know about. What do you think?Do you think that Twitter should be open? Should I open my tweets to anyone who wants to see them? In the end, it just brings more traffic to Apple Universe, my blog, and any other links that I add.

Please let me now your opinons – reply in a comment below, or email me at appleuniversepodcast@gmail.com.

Apple Universe at MacWorld 2008

2008 will be a very special year for Apple Universe. On January 15th, 2008, I will be recording the 100th episode of the Apple Universe podcast LIVE during MacWorld 2008! I’ll be joined by a panel of guests, including Robert Scoble, Cali Lewis, iJustine, Shooby and several other friends. There will be a microphone in the seats so people can ask questions to the panel. This live event will take place at the Zeum, a short distance away from the MacWorld conference.Event details:

Must-Have Mac Apps for the new Mac Switcher!

A good online friend of mine, Chris24 as he is known, writes great entries for his blog, which is located at www.chris24.ca (or subscribe to Chris’s blog’s RSS feed).

Here’s a quote from a recent article written by Chris, titled “Must-Have Mac Apps for the new Mac Switcher“:

Once you convince your friends to get a Mac, they’ll want to know which applications to use or try out first! Here is a list for all those new Mac users who want a list of the most useful, must-have Mac applications that aren’t included with your Mac. Keep in mind that some of these applications require Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but most require Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Web Development

Transmit for FTP. Transmit provides the best FTP client for the Mac. Transmit is available from Panic, and costs only $29.95.

Cyberduck is a free FTP solution. I’ve had troubles with Cyberduck when connecting to my (mt) grid server, but if you don’t feel the need to pay for Transmit, then Cyberduck is for you.

CSSEdit for CSS editing. CSSEdit provides a sleek interface for editing CSS files. You can even extract any CSS file from any website and preview what the website would look like with your custom CSS! CSSEdit is available from MacRabbit, and costs $29.95.

TextMate for code editing, and specializing in Ruby on Rails development. TextMate provides a lot of features the average code editor doesn’t. TextMate is available from Macromates, and costs $59.

Coda for all-of-the-above. Coda provides a very nice integrated web development environment, with a code editor powered by the SubEtha engine which includes collaborative code editing. Coda is available from Panic, and costs $79.

MAMP for MySQL, PHP, and Apache on your local machine. This is perfect for testing out your next website locally! MAMP is free, and available at mamp.info.

SubEthaEdit for collaborative code editing. SubEthaEdit allows you to share your coding documents with others anywhere around the world! SubEthaEdit is available from the Coding Monkeys, and costs 29 Euros.

MarsEdit for posting to your weblog. MarsEdit is a stand-alone application that allows you to post to your weblog from its great interface. MarsEdit is available from Red Sweater Software and costs $29.95. (full review)

EDIT: Continue reading the post – this is a partial list.

Moving to the Mac!

As you all know, I have been a Mac fan for a while. I still do own two Windows PCs though. I have an HP Pavillion 753n and a Voodoo AMD Gaming Machine that Robert Scoble gave to me.

After talking to my parents, we have decided that there is no point having one PC in the closet, and one PC being used. So, in conclusion, we have decided that I will be moving to the PowerBook G4 full time.

I received my Apple Wireless Keyboard yesterday, and I also have a Logitech LX 7 wireless mouse, and a Gem 17″ Display, which will all be connected to the Mac to make a full set-up. My Alesis MultiMix 8 USB mixer will be connected to the Mac, and the MXL microphone will be used as my main microphone.

If you have any questions, please email me at appleuniversepodcast@gmail.com

P.S. A keyboard update will come soon!

2007 Holiday Presents!

The holiday season is winding down, and all the presents have been opened…..except for Daniel’s! Now that isn’t true, since I got to open my presents today. We will start off with the present that I got my Dad and sister. Since my sister lives in Southern California, I thought to myself, what is the best way to communicate? We talk on IM, we call each other….but I never see her. So I got my dad and sister web cams! I got the GE Easy Cam from Target – Here is a picture:

GE Web Cam

I gave my Mom a Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse  3000.  Here is a picture of the mouse:

Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 3000

Next, here are presents that I recieved. First off, my Dad gave me a Maxtor OneTouch 4 500 GB External Hard Drive! I am very happy about this, and will store a lot of images, podcasts, audio, etc.

Also, I got the new Apple Wireless Keyboard!

I have had my eye on the new keyboards ever since they were released, and I love it!

Apple Wireless Keyboard

Thank you very much for these great gifts, and happy holidays! 

To conclude, here’s a YouTube video that I made, featuring my presents:

Victor Cajiao on Apple Universe

Today, Victor Cajiao was on Apple Universe (click to view or download the episode). Victor is the host and producer of a podcast called Typical Mac User Podcast, which I regularly listen to. We talked about about MacWorld 2008 predictions and Apple’s future!

Also, Apple Universe is having its very first contest! Here are the rules:

Make a video that tells me why you need and/or want iShowU, the best video capturing software for Mac OS. The video must be less than five (5) minutes in length. If you can, upload that video to YouTube, and send me an email with a link to the video. If you can’t upload it to YouTube, email the entire video file to appleuniversepodcast@gmail.com.

The contest will run until Apple Universe episode number 95 is released, giving everyone plenty of time to make their videos. May the most techy man win!