There are lots of completely tasteless rally pictures floating around the Internet from this past weekend’s teabagging rally promoted by the ever-tasteful Glenn Beck. I’m not really sure what the actual purpose of his rally was, other than to breed fear, hatred, and racism, but it appears to be an underwhelming failure to the point where FreedomWorks, the political group who organized the event, felt the need to lie about the attendance. Regardless of whatever they may think they have accomplished, here are some of the better pictures of the general intelligence level of the attendees:

The most offensive, disrespectful, and ignorant thing that I have ever seen happen during any Presidential address to a joint session of congress happened during President Obama’s address tonight. Regardless of what political party you are, what party is in power, what party the President is, or what the President is saying, there is absolutely no excuse for the actions that Congressman Joe Wilson (R, SC) took during the Presidents address earlier this evening. Debunking some of the more ridiculous slander that the Republican party and conservative talk show hosts have been spewing, President Obama was assuring to the joint session of congress as well as the American people that in absolutely no way will any public health care option cover illegal immigrants. Interrupting the President mid-sentence, Congressman Joe Wilson yelled out “You Lie!”. This was promptly followed by the congressman being booed by what sounded like a sizable portion of the room. No matter how you may feel about the President or how much you disagree with any given policy of his, there is absolutely not excuse for Wilson’s disgraceful and unprecedented behavior. Although Congressman Joe Wilson has not done anything illegal, his actions are highly immoral and he himself was in fact the one lying. Any constituent of his who feels ashamed by their elected representative’s actions should be calling for his resignation.

UPDATE: Wilson, presumably realizing that he just threw away any future political hopes, promptly apologized for his actions. Note, however, that he didn’t apologize for being wrong about his accusation. Here’s his statement:

This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.

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If you run one or more websites and have an iPhone, not unlike myself, then you are probably looking for some apps to help you out a bit. The following list of iPhone Apps is useful for pretty much any webmaster, whether you’re a professional or a hobbyist.

1. Domain Scout – Cost: FREE
   If you’re going to be a webmaster, you’re going to need a domain name. This application is as straightforward as it sounds. Type in what you’d like to have as your domain name, choose a TLD (.com, .org, .net, etc. You can set which ones it will display), and it’ll tell you if the domain is available. If it isn’t available, you can choose to revise the search, view the whois entry, or visit the URL. If it is available, go quick register it before someone else does! It keeps a nice tidy history as well as a favorites list for those who do a lot of domain hunting.
2. CSS Cheat Sheet & HTML Cheat Sheet – Cost: $0.99
   Who has the time and patience to memorize every single CSS attribute and HTML tag? Not me, that’s for sure. When I’m at home working on my iMac, I have a handful of reference guides bookmarked. These two offer that same helpful reference, but now it fits easily in the palm of my hand.
3. HTML Colors – Cost: $0.99
   There are probably dozens more apps like this available, but HTML Colors is cheap, easy to use, and offers a nice large view of the color you’re selecting. It even allows you to see how one color of text will appear on another color background, which is vital for webmasters.
4. Ego – Cost: $1.99
   This has got everything you need all in one simple app to feed your online ego wherever you may be. Quickly and easily view your numbers, with support for statistics tracking from Feedburner, Google Analytics, Mint, and Squarespace, as well as viewing your number of twitter followers. It’s a simple and intuitive design, so any level of webmaster will love it.
5. SEO Master & iPageRank – Cost: $0.99 & FREE
   These are grouped together because functionally, they both do the exact same thing: They tell you the Google PageRank of your website. SEO Master costs a dollar and has a decent interface, will save the sites you check pagerank of, and will reload the results when you open the app. iPageRank has an interface that is about as basic as they come, but it’ll show you what you want to know and is free.
6. Analytics App – Cost: $5.99
   If you’re using Google Analytics to monitor the traffic coming to your site, this is hands-down the absolute best app available to monitor your Analytics statistics. From what I can tell, any statistic available via Google’s web interface for Analytics is available in this app. It’s a bit pricy by my app standards, but is a must-have for stat junkies.
7. WordPress – Cost: FREE
   This one obviously doesn’t apply to those who don’t use it as a platform for their websites, but if you, like me, are a devout fan of WordPress, then this is for you. It allows you to access your blogs from anywhere, change existing posts, work on drafts saved either locally on the phone or remotely in the database, and publish posts from your phone. Not enough for you? It can also approve comments, reject them, or mark comments as spam and can even upload and manage pictures.
8. FTP On The Go – Cost: $6.99
   Charting in at the most expensive app on this list, FTP On The Go does not disappoint. This FTP application is impressive by desktop computer standards, so it blows me away how much they could pack in to it. Download, edit, and re-upload files via FTP or FTPS and check them on the built-in web browser all without leaving the application. To make all of those features even easier, it even offers Find/Replace functionality and a Go To Line # command for those longer documents. Those are the core features, but it can do even more and is essential if you need to access your FTP server when away from your computer.
9. Crop For Free – Cost: FREE
   As a webmaster, cropping is probably the absolute most common image manipulation I have to do. This app allows you to do exactly what it says: crop for free. Simple enough and more useful than you’d think.
10. Source Viewer – Cost: $0.99
    A rather in-depth source viewer for only 99¢, this program shows you the source of any website you type in. The “Source” tab shows tags, keywords, and CSS are highlighted in different colors for ease of navigation. The “Links” tab allows you to view all links embedded in the HTML or CSS. You can even tap the source while viewing it to toggle word wrap on and off.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the list. If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment and share them.

Like this post? Read more at The Apple Vine.

This classic costume modeled after Apple’s iconic advertising for the iPod is rather straightforward and easy to do. The goal is to make yourself completely pitch black from head to toe, then hold a white iPod and wear the included white headphones.

• iPod
  Obviously, to make this costume work you’re going to need an iPod. If you’re planning on doing this costume you probably already have one, but if you don’t you can click the above link to get one. Not only is it the most essential part of the costume, but it is the best mp3 player around. Obviously a “classic” white iPod works best, but anything that will stand out against the black, such as the brightly colored iPod Nanos, will do just fine.
• Black Longsleve Shirt
  You can find this at any department store. Just make sure it’s very dark black.
• Black Pants
  Just like the shirt, you can get black pants just about anywhere just make sure they’re very dark black and match up well with the shirt.
• Black Gloves
  Another run of the mill costume accessory, pick a pair that match up well with everything else and are long enough to cover any gap between your shirt sleeve and the glove.
• Footwear
  Most people probably won’t be looking down at your feet and judging the rest of the costume based on that, but you should still wear a nice dark black pair of sneakers and some black socks.
• Black Face Paint
  Cover any and all visible skin on your head and neck.
• Hair
  Honestly, you’ve got a couple options here. If you already have naturally jet-black hair or have previously decided to dye it that color, you’re already set and just need to worry about the face paint. If not, the two best choices you have are to pick up some black hair spray or just go with a black hat of some sorts to cover your hair.

Do everything right and you’ll end up looking exactly like the silhouettes from Apple’s famous iPod commercials.

Like this post? Read more at The Apple Vine.

I got my copy of Apple’s newest Incarnation of Mac OS X yesterday, impressively shipped to me by Apple for free via FedEx Priority Overnight. I haven’t put it through a thorough workout quite yet, but first impressions are very important for any new OS, and Snow Leopard has so far impressed me.

The install was as simple as ever, essentially just clicking install and accepting the ToS. It took about 40 minutes to complete on my iMac, reboots itself when it’s done, and that’s all there is to it. The absolute first thing I noticed once it rebooted was a speed boost. Booting up, opening programs, the Finder, Spotlight search, and just about every other major aspect of the operating system is noticeably faster. I didn’t pay close attention to exactly how much disk space I had used before the install, but it freed up at least 5 gigs of space from Apple cutting some of the fat out of the OS. Just about all of the changes between Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6) are under the hood, but very next thing I noticed was what is more or less the only visual tweak: Stacks. The the grid that the stacks on your dock appear in got a visual overhaul and, at least in my opinion, look a lot nicer. I am so far very impressed with what I’ve seen, even though most of the major changes are in the background and won’t necessarily be noticed by the casual user.

As with any major update to any major operating system ever, third party programs written for prior versions of the OS are bound to have issues. Snow Leopard is in no way immune to this. Apple has a handy short list of known issues for some major applications, but as I don’t use any of specific versions listed on that site, I didn’t run in to any of those known issues. Instead, I noticed immediately that my awesomely useful iStat Menus were gone, but iSlayer already has a compatable v2.0 in the works that they say will be available soon. I also immediately noticed that the non-standard buttons on my Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 have stopped working. I’ve managed to get one of the buttons working again, but I’ll have to wait until Microsoft decides to release an update, which will supposedly be “on or before 10/2/2009“. Other than those two issues, I’ve yet to notice any other incompatibilities.

Unless you have a vital use for the programs that Apple lists as not working, I highly recommend upgrading to Snow Leopard. There are no major user interface changes, so the learning curve for users upgrading from Leopard is exactly zero and the speed boost is well worth the $29 to upgrade.

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard – $29
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-User) – $49
Mac Box Set (with Snow Leopard) – $169

In the clip you’re about to watch, Glenn Beck finally admits something that we all already knew about him: He’s a dirtbag and a liar. Sadly, for some reason he felt the need to refer to himself as a dirtbag in the past tense, but it’s still funny. Here’s the clip.

I’ve gotta admit, I’m pretty excited about Apple’s forthcoming new incarnation of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard (10.6). It certainly isn’t going to be wowing anyone with visual changes and enhancements as prior releases have, but what Snow Leopard packs under the hood is enough to excite me. Pretty much everything about the operating system, even including the non-essential bundled applications, has been recoded to minimize the footprint, utilize 64-bit processing, and all around just move faster. They’ve slimmed it down so much that it will reportedly free up an additional 7GB of space on your hard drive. Needless to say, I’m excited to try it out and will post a review here once I’ve had the chance to put it through its paces. Best of all? Apple just announced the release date and it’s earlier than expected: August 28th!

Want it as soon as it’s available?
Pre-order your copy today from Amazon.com:
Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard – $29
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-User) – $49
Mac Box Set (with Snow Leopard) – $169

What can I saw about AXE products? Their products as a whole generally smell like shit and their commercials are obnoxious and in no way make me want to buy them. Even though their advertising has, at least for me, been a complete failure, the AXE Shower Tool seems like a decent idea and I have been debating whether or not it was worth coughing up a few dollars to buy. I’ve been sick of using the standard cheap poufs (is that really a word?) that you can get just about everywhere and are equally as crappy wherever you get them. They fall apart almost immediately and aren’t worth the dollar you spend on them. I finally decided a few days ago to buy an AXE shower tool and I’ve used it a few times now and I’m impressed. It does a great job of lathering up the body wash, it doesn’t fall apart after one use like the generic poufs, the rough side on the back does a great job of scrubbing your feet, and most surprisingly it doesn’t have an adverse reaction to non-AXE body wash.

Glenn Beck has been in the news a lot lately. At first it was just his outrageous hate-mongering comments that were getting him there and, sadly, those same comments were getting him equally outrageous ratings. As of late, though, he seems to be pissing off the wrong people. Advertiser after advertiser have been dropping him faster than a lead balloon. His listeners are probably just brushing this off to a few liberal companies ditching a controversial TV and radio host, but the list begs to differ. In case you’re keeping count, here’s who’s bailed so far:

• Allergan
• Ally Bank (Part of GMAC)
• Best Buy
• Broadview Security
• ConAgra
• CVS Pharmacies
• GEICO
• Lawyers.com
• Men’s Wearhouse
• Procter & Gamble
• Progressive Insurance
• RadioShack
• Re-Bath
• Roche
• SC Johnson
• Sanofi-Aventis
• Sargento
• State Farm Insurance
• Wal-Mart

Seems to me like that’s a pretty long list with a wide variety of industries, all of whom dropped him within the last week or so. Now, he may have followers who hang on his every words and love his hateful rhetoric, but I’m pretty sure his employers care more about making money than they do paying a nut job to spew hate. Last time I checked, ratings don’t mean a thing if you can’t fill in the time when he actually shuts his mouth with commercials. If his biggest advertisers are pulling out at the rate they have been, when does he just get fired because he harms the network more than he helps it? For the sake of the country, I hope he gets the axe sooner rather than later.

The iPhone is a very awesome palm-sized computer and phone and is the catalyst of a new generation of smart phones, but there are certain things it lacks that would greatly improve it. Some of these features are even already available to those willing to jailbreak their phone and install unauthorized 3rd party software, so Apple should take the hint and build them in to the OS.

1. Lock Screen Display
   There’s some useful information already displayed on the screen when you first wake your phone from its slumber, including battery life, date, time, wireless signal and, “slide to unlock”, and of course, whatever picture you chose for your background. Some of this comes in handy, but there is just so much wasted space. The improvements needed are pretty straight forward and, at least in my opinion, obvious. Display upcoming calendar events, quantity of unread emails (if push/fetch is enabled), and the weather. Some or all of this would obviously eat in to the battery life a bit, so allow users to enable/disable which they want to see and how often it is updated.
2. Home Screen Improvements
   Generally, I like the home screen and the way it works, but it still feels like a cluttered OS X Desktop after doing “View -> Clean Up”. First and foremost, flipping it over to landscape mode would be nice. Just about everything else can change orientation, so why not the iPhone OS’s equivalency of a desktop? On top of that, how about cleaning things up by organizing apps in to folders. The Palm Pilot had this a decade ago. It was a good idea then and it’s a good idea now. Last, but certainly not least among home screen improvements would be the ability to add more rows to the dock. It’s nice to have 4 icons on every screen, but doubling or tripling that would be terrific.
3. Enable/Disable Default Applications
   My guess would be that very few iPhone users actually use every single default app. Most, like myself, probably just put the unused ones all the way to the back screen where they sit and collect dust. All I’m asking for is a simple setting that allows you to toggle these applications on and off so the unused ones don’t take up space. I’m not a programmer so I don’t know this for sure, but that seems like it would be easy enough to implement.
4. To-Do App
   I realize that there are approximately a thousand different options for a to-do list on the app store, some free and some not so free, but there’s really no reason Apple should have their own. This has been a staple application of PDAs and smart phones since their inception and for Apple to not realize that and write there own (perhaps with a syncable Mac OS X counterpart) is a bit embarrassing. Just like pretty much every other default application, something simple and easy to use yet fully featured would be terrific.
5. Improved Home Button
   The home button is under-appreciated. I’m not saying it needs any physical changes, as I like the button itself just fine. It just needs the option to double click it and open any application you have installed. Currently you just have the options of Home, Search, Phone Favorites, Camera, or iPod. Those are all useful, but it would be nice to be able to double click it to open up that default or 3rd party app that you use more than any other.

Got other ideas for future improvements? Feel free to leave a comment and share them with me.