I’m finding social sites less and less of a use these days. Over the past months, I have deleted (for real, this time) my accounts in Friendster, Multiply, Facebook, Twitter (and others I can’t remember now).

I’ve decided to just maintain Flickr, Plurk, Delicious, and this blog. There are two sites too which “track” down my web activity. These “lifestreams” are at:

joel.suplido.com and lifestream.fm/joel

I also am back with a MacBook (white, 2.4GHz, 2GB, Firewire!) so you’ll get to hear from me more often now.

A couple of days ago, I woke up feeling no interest whatsoever with all of the social sites out there. So I took out a “machete” and cut off all of the sites. Not just cut off, but deleted my accounts. For good.

Gone were Twitter, Facebook, Multiply, and Friendster in several ruthless clicks. Plurk claims to have a delete account option but since they tweak everyday, the devs seem to have misplaced the option. So I did the next best thing by erasing my profile picture and info (which promptly deleted me from the stats page in a few minutes).

I’m back to the good ol’ days.

And it feels good!

I’ve posted the following in our local Mac users forum:

I’ve realized that my Current Job + Fatherhood is not equal to a Mac-based hobby.

So I’ve switched to the Eee PC.

I’m sure you’ve seen this subnotebook from ASUS. I have a black one with 4GB SSD, 2GB RAM, and Xandros Linux.

My reason for switching is the weight, size, and price of an Eee PC compared to a MacBook.

Weight: 2.5 lbs. (MacBook: 5 lbs.)
Size: 8.9 × 6.5 × 0.9~1.4 in. (MacBook: 12.3 x 8.9 x 1.1 in.)
Price: Php 20,999 (MacBook: P65,000 not including add-ons)

I’ve fully paid for an Eee PC unit after selling my 5-month old white MacBook. The extra money is for my son’s diaper and formula fund! (Software is also free so that does not eat up additional money.).

In 2003, I switched from a PC to a Mac… from Windows to OSX. Last Thursday night, I sold my MacBook and bought an ASUS Eee PC. (The real reason was fatherhood. I was paying off the MacBook, but I didn’t foresee the cost of diapers and formula. It adds up. A lot.).

I’ll still be posting Mac related news but expect to read about the Eee PC from here on. Don’t worry, I plan to always relate my future posts to the Mac.

Taking a look at MacMinute will show that apps are being updated to work for Leopard. For the early adopters, please check you favorite apps if they work flawlessly. Otherwise it’s time to visit the apps’ respective sites (if the app hasn’t reminded you to update itself yet).

That should be good news for us in the Philippines. You see, there was a Leopard Launch Friday night, but those who came over to celebrate found out that there were no actual Leopard discs on sale — preorders lang! So it’s good news that by the time Leopard arrives (next week?), most apps should be ready.

Tags: leopard, osx, philippines

I’ll be moving to another country soon and that means Switchblog will not be updated for quite some time (actually, it hasn’t been updated because of my schedule).

The biggest challenge I have is backing up all files from a MacBook Pro (from work) to a LaCie Drive for the Mac mini (at home).

Space was a problem so I had to choose what to backup. Here’s what I did.

1. Applications - I used AppDelete to drag my favorite applications to the trash. Once in the trash, I just had to copy the app and its associated files to a backup folder. It’s tedious but I got to really think about what apps I really need. (These would later be dragged manually to the Applications and Application Support folders).

2. Data - For Mail, I just had to use Backup 3. I created Plans for Mail, iWeb, and Personal Data & Settings. I wanted to do this separately so I’ll know the contents of each Plan. Personal Data & Settings was also backed up to iDisk just in case. Backup 3 should be able to restore this with just a few clicks.

3. Others - I dragged my Documents, Music, Pictures, and Sites folders to the external drive. Other files that were found elsewhere were also dragged into the Documents folder in the external drive for later classification. Drag-and-drop restore for these later.

Backing up my files is not perfect. I just chose this process because I already know where to find most of my important stuff.

Once I settle in and after I’ve restored everything, I’m thinking of using some online solutions to eliminate some apps I regularly use. Gmail could take care email, documents, and schedules for example. We’ll see what happens.

Wish me luck!

That’s just it. Customization. If I were still into customization, I’d choose Opera and Firefox. The thing is, I’ve already narrowed down and have become confident with my browser needs. It’s all about simplicity and Safari 3 has what I need. (I posted a screenshot at Flickr which shows my bookmark bar config — what’s not shown is the 30 RSS feeds that I have. Yes, only 30 that I plan to further lessen.).

The big factor was 1src. Safari 2 couldn’t handle its article editing backend. Only Camino, Firefox, Flock, and IE were able to let us edit.

When Safari 3 was released, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it now lets me post and manage the articles at 1src. Then I began to import my bookmarks and access the sites I regularly visit. Everything worked, loaded up fast, and did not cause any crashes.

We have different “real world” needs. That’s why when you read any browser, pda, computer, and even screen protector “pissing contest,” we get pages of content :) I know Opera and Firefox are great browsers and I like reading that you enjoy using them, Geir and Rob.

I’m just posting that IN MY EXPERIENCE, Safari 3 is awesome. I wish others would also get to experience what I have now.

Any why they released Safari for Windows? I’d like to think it’s because of the iPhone. ;) (and they’re getting free bug reports in the process. The more people hate Safari by exposing its faults, the better it becomes. Cool.).

…reposted from the comments section…

Technorati Tags: beta, firefox, opera, safari

That’s the sound of a motor dying. It’s the sound I’m imagining right now because Twitter is almost unresponsive.

So is Twitter really ready for primetime? Or is it back to “regular” IM and email?

technorati tags:twitter, IM, email

Blogged with Flock

I’ve just sent an email to David Watanabe to cancel my registration of Xtorrent and NewsFire. They are great products but sadly become one of the worst if customer support is not up to par.

Do you use David Watanabe’s products? How’s your experience? Let me know in the comments area.

technorati tags:davidwatanabe, newsfire, xtorrent, watanabe, customersupport