Ever since I got my first Mac a few years ago, I was always in a hunt looking for an application which would allow me to design quality websites, but without the cost of an application like DreamWeaver.  Through various searches and asking on many forums, one application kept being mentioned…RapidWeaver.  I immediately went and downloaded the trial, and it wasn’t long before I made the full purchase.  I have been using it ever since, and just recently RapidWeaver 4.0 was released from RealMac Software.  

This was a major update, and the first thing you will notice is the redesigned interface which is less cluttered and easier to work with.  The layout makes working with sites a snap, and although the interface has a simple look to it, there is a lot of power under the hood.  On the left side of the application you have a sidebar and buttons which allow you add, remove, and edit pages in your site.  Clicking ‘Add’ brings up a dialog where you can select among a variety of page templates which lets you setup a blog page, media page, etc. with all the bells and whistles, without all the work.  Don’t worry, adding a page where you can enter your own HTML is also there so, if you want to get your hands dirty with some code, they haven’t forgotten you.

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A night or two ago (man, I need more sleep) I got a Twitter DM from my pal Rafiq in South Africa. He had a couple simple questions about my recent iPhone 3G purchase and the apps I just had to get my hands on. Just this morning (evening) he posted the transcript from the twitterview. Here’s the link: http://www.gmaps.co.za/3g-iphone/ibam-buys-iphone-3g-twitter-interview.html

(just in case you were interested in my ramblings)

It’s 1:00 am, I’m working on that crazy web design that’s kicking my creative butt and I get this IM:

Of course, I’m always game for a list of cool OS X Apps so, of course, I had to ask permission to repost on here. Chris is such a cool guy he loving complied. So enjoy…

(maybe if we’re lucky, I can get some of “the iBAM crew” to write reviews on a few of these? or even … better yet *YOU* can write your reviews in the comments here … iBAM RULES! I love you guys!)

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Apple this week released Mobile-Me, a replacement for those of us that use .Mac. There were a lot of promises, and some have worked well, others are (supposedly) on the way.  I have been using .Mac for about a year, I subscribed in order to utilize all of the functionality provided through iLife. The use of the galleries for video, and photos worked very well. The email, while being like just about any other client, .Mac is easily configureable, and fairly intuitive. Mobile-Me’s debut start was less then auspicious, looked more like an after thought. Apple was touting Mobile-Me as “Exchange for the rest of us…”, so they may have rushed it to get it live, prior to the iPhone 2.0 launch.

Some of the functionality is finally there, by that I mean the web pages, for Email, Contacts, and Calendar. They are still a bit slow, but they should pick up is speed in the next few weeks. The integration between the iPhone 2.0 and mobile me works well. 

In my testing, the push mail, contacts, and calendar work extremely well, (once I configured the iPhone correctly.) In addition to the push features, the space for iDisk has doubled to 20 GB, and download bandwidth has been increased from 100 GB per month, to 200 GB per month. 

Now for the question of compatibility. Mobile-Me works with FireFox 2 and 3 as well as Safari 3. Internet Explorer 7 is listed as supported, however some of the web applications do not function correctly in IE 7.

The best part of this is there is no additional charge to upgrade. The same $99.00 US gets you the Mobile-Me enhancements. If you have an iPhone, or are a heavy user of iLife, I recommend at least checking out Mobile-Me for 60 days for free, and I think you will move to becoming a full time Mobile-Me subscriber. 

Update: Just as I was about to post this I received an update from Apple for the local Mobile-Me software. I will add another update if anything is a surprise. 

Our newest iBAM author Cheryl Colan has spent the day (and late night) evaluating some of the new iPhone 2.0 Apps and burned some more of the midnight oil writing up a review of 14 of them. This educational and informative article is a great way to get some inside info from a very educated author. If you are having some questions about the new iPhone or the update about to arrive, here’s some info to hopefully better help you make your decision a little easier. Thank you Cheryl for a great, great article!

(-Brent)
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