Image Credit: "Apple Store SOHO - Garageband Workshop" by Midnight Talker on Flickr

The Apple Retail Stores have daily workshops covering Apple products and topics. These topics range from the very broad, such as getting adjusted to your new Mac life to the very specific, like Final Cut Pro or creating music on your Mac. On the outside these workshops may seem like a ploy to bring people into a store and purchase even more product, but they are extremely helpful. These are generally hour long sessions where you can get hands-on training, help, or learn how to do new things with Mac.
On Day 17 I attended the workshop entitled “DJ Music on A Mac with DubSpot”. DubSpot is an electronic music production school in New York City. Although the workshop was an hour long, it provided a primer on how to create music using Ableton Live on a Mac. While a lot was covered in an hour, it provided a quick and simple walk through for those interested in the subject. It also provided an opportunity to ask questions if you work with Ableton and have them answered by an expert. The workshop was held in a comfortable but open session area within the Mac store and resembles a miniature lecture room.

After attending this workshop, I feel the need to attend more. These workshops are open to the public. Apple isn’t the first retail store to hold workshops on the product they sell, Tekserve, an Apple specialty store in NYC, has been holding seminars on Mac (and other topics) before Apple stores existed. Apple’s embrace of these seminars provides an official outlet of support and resources. Who better to get answers to question about an Apple product then an Apple staff member?

Before switching to Mac, my favorite PC company was Dell. Their systems are built well and their customer support is outstanding (in the PC realm). Dell doesn’t come close in providing the amount of resources Apple does. No PC maker does. It surprises me that HP, Dell, Gateway, or some other PC maker hasn’t paired up with a national retail outlet (such as BestBuy) and provided free seminars on popular PC topics. I don’t remember Gateway providing seminars when they had their own retail stores. These workshops add value to the system I’ve bought, well after its purchase. I’m sure when Snow Leopard is released, or the next versions of iWork and iLife are released, there will be workshops helping those to adjust to the new features.

Image Credit: "To blog" by antony_mayfield on Flickr

I never understood why I would need a desktop blogging application. It never made any sense, even during a period where I depended on them. Blogs have integrated plenty of the needed features to create, edit, and manage posts without the use of an additional piece of software. An application that replaces editing a blog post within the blog does not exist. Many times after working on a post, I find myself editing the draft to my specifications. Ironically I make this comment while searching for a desktop blogging application.

Disappointed in Ecto

I really like Windows Live Writer, the Microsoft desktop blogging application. It’s a dumbed down version of Word, specific for multiple blogging platforms. The software is simple, easy, produces well formatting HTML, features could be added through plugins. Over the past year I’ve sworn by it, but a Mac version does not exist, so I need a replacement. Through my searches, Ecto was rated as the cream of the crop.

Ecto is a lightweight program that provides several interesting features. While it’s tiny and adaptable, I found it harder than Windows Live Writer and had the tendency to produce not so friendly web code. Some of Ecto’s features are wonderful, iTunes, Flickr, and Delicious integration make it compatible with today’s social web, but some of them did not work. Ecto has a lot of promise and while it’s still in beta, I was hoping for a killer app. I was disappointed. Maybe this is a good thing, now I can work on posts directly within WordPress. Feel free to suggest any alternatives in the comments.

The Dashboard and Widgets

Vista introduction of widgets to Windows is poorly done. The widget sidebar is an eyesore and eats valuable screen real-estate. If you have a 22 inch monitor, the sidebar now makes it 17 inches. I never enjoyed widget implementation on Windows, not when Yahoo or Google did it. They ate system resources, destroyed screen space, and were completely useless. Apple must have gotten the memo, because they did right.

The Dashboard is Apple’s widget system. It’s completely unintrusive, it hides underneath the OS, it does not popup, or ruin any screen real estate. It’s like an application, once started, it covers the screen with the active widgets. You can move, change, add floating widgets to the screen, and once one the Dashboard dissappears. This is widgets properly executed. The weather doesn’t change often enough that I need a minute by minute recap. If it’s Sunny with 75 degree weather, but suddenly turns to Sunny with 76 degree weather, I’m not complaining. The Dashboard provides a way for me to keep notified of the weather, time, or sports stories at my own leisure without any sacrafices.

Visiting the Apple Store Post-Avalon

I believe there are three reasons a person should visit the Apple Store. The first is to purchase a new computer, the second is to sign up for a workshop, the third is as a required visit in a persons wedding vows. Yes, after getting married the couple is required to visit an Apple Store.

I’m not married, and already have a Mac, so my reason for visiting the store was to sign up for some Apple Workshops. I’m really interesting in what an Apple Workshop is like, and if they are really helpful. Another question is how do they help with customer service? I’ve met and asked plenty of Mac genius’ questions about Mac before buying one, now that I have a Mac, how good will they be? I’ll know soon enough.