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Linked List: January 29, 2007

Monday, 29 January 2007

Someone page Merlin Mann — these guys have engineered a multimedia upgrade for the Hipster PDA.

Screensaver for Mac OS X that takes your open windows and sends them spinning and flying about your screen, like weightless objects in outer space; they snap back into place when you dismiss the saver. Freeware. (Thanks to Ian Roberts.)

Andy Hertzfeld’s Meeting With Bill Gates Regarding Switcher ★

A lot of readers are emailing me about the Macintosh on Bill Gates’s desk in this picture from the ’80s in yesterday’s New York Times profile of Steve Ballmer. It’s not really all that surprising — back then, writing Mac software was a much bigger part of Microsoft’s overall business. This story from Andy Hertzfeld is a perfect example — he had a one-on-one meeting with Gates to negotiate a deal to write Switcher, the first multi-tasking implementation for the Mac.

‘Get a Mac’ Ads for the U.K. ★

Interesting casting choices compared to their counterparts on this side of the pond. Mac is sort of laconic and (appropriately for the U.K.) more droll; PC, though, is more demonstrative.

Most of the spots are remakes of U.S. commercials, but some are original. I really like “Trust Mac” and “Pie Chart” — I think they’re both funnier than the American versions.

Mint 2.0 ★

Here it is, version 2.0 of Shaun Inman’s Mint — the world’s best web stats tracker. $19 to upgrade, $30 for a new license. Improvements in version 2.0 include everything from additional stats to significant layout improvements (e.g., a single-column mode well-suited for Wiis and mobile browsers). The improvements to the Referrers pane alone are worth $19 to me.

Google is the new http:// ★

Frantic Industries:

One of the top search results in Google (number 6 at the time of this writing), is “Google”. Hundreds of millions of users are trying to get to Google through Google. Does this make any sense? No. But it shows that users don’t think about Google as a specific web page, they think of it as the service, an essential part of the internet experience. They’re using this service to get to the page they want: in this case, Google.