P. J. Connolly

In the open-source movement, the forking of a project is often a contentious matter, and can lead to the demise or mothballing of the applications that spawn from the original software. In many ways, it’s a “nuclear option” as developers choose their allegiances and take their skills with them. Often, the result is the loss […]

With Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs having taken his third medical leave in the last seven years, there have been numerous questions regarding the company’s ability to function should this or a future illness prove terminal. For every discussion of how Apple owes its shareholders an explanation of its succession plans, there’s been an […]

Although it’s taken Autodesk more than 18 years to bring the gold standard of CAD software back to Apple’s Macintosh platform, there’s something to be said for the company’s strategy of waiting until it can be done properly. AutoCAD 2011 for Mac takes the market-leading tool for which Autodesk is famous, and couples it with […]

Task management for individuals is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Because it’s very much a self-driven process, what works well for one person may not be as effective for a person with different attitudes and motivations. But there are common threads to task management, no matter what business is involved. AppTime’s Power.ME and Power.ME HD do […]

If you believe the folks at Boy Genius Report, Apple is testing models of the iPad and iPhone that substitute multitouch gestures for “Home” button; although such a design might appeal to Apple’s maximal leader and CEO, I suspect it will prove to be a huge mistake if implemented. That’s because one-handed use is essential […]

Thank heavens for the imminent arrival of a CDMA version of the iPhone 4. Now we can get on to important things, like predicting the new features of the iPhone 5. Although it will be nice to have an alternative to AT&T, I’m in no hurry to get in line at my neighborhood Verizon store. […]

Although many people have their Social Security Numbers memorized before heading off to college, and some people can recite their driver’s license numbers from memory, those numbers are not our identities. Even our given names-which are at the heart of our society’s concept of identity-can be changed if we want; courts are generally directed to […]

Mac App Store Opens for Business by P. J. Connolly Mac App Store Debuts The Mac App Store opened on Jan. 6 as expected, giving Apple customers a way to buy applications with a minimum of fuss. Built into Mac OS X 10.6.6 The Mac App Store can be accessed from an icon that the […]

Coincident with the release of Mac OS X 10.6.6, the Mac App Store debuted this morning. By providing an outlet for application developers to sell their wares online (in exchange for a 30 percent cut of the proceeds), Apple is offering people an alternative to traditional distribution mechanisms, one that taps into the need for […]

Earlier this month, I read another handwringing article about the gap between the eagerness that people have to adopt technology and their lack of understanding of that technology. But to be truthful, this really isn’t anything new. Since the days when cavemen first experimented with fire, knowing why something works has been far less important […]