I love The Burg. The day I discovered it I watched every single episode and still had time to watch wish there were more. So today when I had time to kill at a café I played Hip or Dangerous (see clip below). The only problem is that I had to add a "frumpy" option...because that's just the kind of town I have to live in.

Today I went to the store. I wanted to exchange the largest bottle of teriyaki sauce I have ever seen. I had very specific instructions regarding the brand to replace it with and I had no idea how to go about doing it. Knowing what little I did, I got into the customer service line behind Mr. Creepy-Stringy-White-Hair-And-Bald-Spot, soon Mr. Scary-Just-Walked-Into-A-Column joined us. Based on what little I knew about customer service I assumed the service rep. would be in a dreadful mood and would try to bite my head off despite my simple request and valid receipt. After Ms. Bag-Full-Of-Thing-To-Return was done and Mr. Creepy-Stringy-White-Hair-And-Bald-Spot was done with his transaction (it involved a piece of white paper and a couple dollar bills) it was my turn to approach the dreaded CSR. I think she could tell I was an exchange n00b and she was nicer than I thought and everything seemed to be going well until the topic of the replacement product came up. No one had thought to tell me that I should bring that way with me too so I ran off looking for teriyaki sauce (which, apparently, is a condiment) only to find that I couldn't find the right brand. Dejectedly I returned to the line and told her I just wanted a refund. She asked me if I had the credit card that had been used– no one had thought to provide me with that either. I told her 'no' and I could tell she was starting to dislike me. Then she asked if I had a penny– no one in their right mind would think to provide me with one. Once again I told her I didn't and she sighed and gave me my $4.99 and made me sign and put my phone number on a little piece of paper. I then went on to shopping bliss (except I forgot to buy bread) but now I have to return a paintbrush....

Back from the Great North....it was amazingly boring. In fact, I believe their national sport up there the boredom triathlon (either that or curling). Anyway...I'm back.

Just an FYI: my already lax posting will become nonexistent as I will be going on vacation until the 17thish. I originally planned to use an intricate web of cron scripts (whatever they are) to post a series of pre-written posts but that would take work, and come to think of it, I don't think it would work. So...bye.

As you can see I just added a TUAW article to the sidebar. Those lucky devils have received 1,000 Skitch beta invites to give out and they are giving them away to their readers. Seeing how TUAW had a large readership I assume these will be going quickly if they are not already gone. Luckily for you I have received the princely sum of five invites and I am willing to distribute them among you, the huddling masses. Simply e-mail me either with the address you would like the invite sent to or with it in the body (subject should be "Skitch Invite") and I'll tell the good folks at Plasq to send an invitation your way. (I would say "first come, first serve" but I don't think that'll be a problem). Just a reminder, Skitch is a graphics annotation program for Mac OS X only that I use for all the graphics on this site (and don't they look spiffy?). Skitch also comes with an online storage service akin to PhotoBucket.

n00bs bugging you day and night?  Introducing n00b-b-gone the revolutionary new powder or spray that keeps the annoying scamps away for five whole hours!  Available in 1 l33ter spray bottles or 2 pwnd boxes.  $19.95 each (why, that's less than NNW or MacJournal), allow five days for shipping.

Just to start off with a clear air I will admit right now that I am a diehard Vienna fan and not big on NNWL.  My personal preferences aside, let the match begin!

Interface

Many people don't like Vienna's interface but I personally find it acceptable.  For those of you who don't know NNW (but not Lite) recently received a interface lift.  Let's take a look at the two apps now.


My biggest issue with NNWL is its interface.  I can't pin down a single part of it that annoys me but I find the whole package to be rather off-putting.  However, this is purely a visual thing, I think the interface is perfectly navigatable and consistent with other OS apps.  I think for someone who is less of an aesthete the NNWL interface will do fine.  (The interface is also much improved in the new version of NNW).  One last little minor thing that I don't like about the NNW(L) environment is the non-standard dock badge (which you can judge for yourself).


As I said earlier, many people take issue with the Vienna interface.  Two issues that tend to repeat are the brushed metal and its inconsistencies with the standard OS X environment (namely, the controls at the bottom and the thick window border).  Strangely, for all of my love of consistency these things don't bug me.  This may be because I like my news-reader to be more of a widgetesque app (a simple program that is is simple and streamlined).  One option that people like about Vienna is the three-column view (shown) that is not available in NNWL.  Yet another nice thing about Vienna is the option to use different styles.

NewNetWire Lite: 7/10 - An intuitive but less-than-gorgeous interface.
Vienna: 8/10 - A controversial interface that I feel is diverse and effective.


Features

Now, even though I'm not big on bloated feature-full RSS readers I know some people are.  I'm sorry to say it but Vienna wins out here too.  Although free, Vienna has many of the features that are in the full version of NNW but absent from the Lite one (these include an integrated browser and a bunch of other stuff).  Of course, you could shell out $30 for a couple more features and an interface you may find more appealing but unless you have a hedge fund to burn I'd suggest Vienna for features.

NewsNetWire Lite: 7/10 - Has the features I need but not enough for everyone.
Vienna: 9/10 - The developer(s) could make good money with features like these.

Overall

Vienna has one with a fairly slim lead.  I feel that this is one that is really up to the user.  It depends what you are looking for in an reader.  Please share you opinions.

Vienna - Free
NewsNetWire (Lite) - Lite is free, $29.95 for the full version.

P.S. Here is a screenshot of how my Vienna looks, in case you're interested.
P.P.S Ignore any misspellings...it's complicated.

Now, as much as I love my current user icon there is a teensy little problem that I have been tiptoeing around since the beginning. Technically, using it is a little something we like to call a copyright infringement. Some people can very very touchy about copyright infringements, so to avoid legal problems I'm going to change my user icon to something unburdened by legal complications.

Option #1


Option #2




These are both pieces out of my own work, please place your vote and/or give me suggestions for other copyright-free icons. Thanks.

P.S. I'm leaning towards the top one.

Update: I got tired of waiting (after about ten seconds) and I went ahead and changed the icon to Option #1 and I like it...so case closed. (Well, actually, advice is still welcomed seeing as how I'm a malcontent).

In the unlikely event that one of you was paying attention both now and then you may notice that a couple things are different.  First off, we have a new motto– “The Only Place Computers and Productivity Come Together” (which although not strictly true is better than nothing).  You will also notice that the buttons are now streamined (two have been elimiminated, one has been added, and HitTail has been moved up to keep company with the plebians) and they are also colour coordinated.  I toyed with changing the colour scheme but I eventually decided against it.  On the subject of that new button, you can now sign up for a Google calender that will tell you about upcoming major posts.  I may also be adding some other stuff throughout the course of the day.

P.S. I'm working on geting search set up (other than the nav bar).


 

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