John comes from a proud line of Macintosh users and in 2007 he converted me into an Apple fan girl — and I haven’t looked back. Recently we needed to upgrade our arsenal (you know since having a Powerbook, Macbook, and iMac just wasn’t enough) and were on the market for a shiny new Macbook Pro for our business.

I had purchased my Macbook from one of the big box stores and I do cherish the official Apple Store experience however since we are a local company, I thought it would be best to support another Vancouver-based business with this decision. As a result when Simply Computing added me on Twitter (@Simplydotca) I took it as a sign and decided to pay them a visit at their Broadway location.

The staff at Simply Computing was friendly, courteous, and well… they’re all Mac geeks like us. They know the product (since it’s their specialty) and even while I was there an associate was talking about how he became Apple Certified for Aperture. They’re the largest independent Apple dealer in BC (with seven locations around the province) and have been in business of providing Apple products and care since 1983. In 2008 they were also awarded Apple’s Commitment to Excellence Award for outstanding service.

I ended up getting a 15″ Macbook Pro for sixty4media that will be John‘s on-the-go machine. It’s everything we knew we were getting into and more since Simply tossed in a copy of Undercover for free (which every customer gets, not just us). This software helps retrieve a stolen Macbook by tracking and locating the computer (kind of like this, but in a more intended way).

To be honest, the Simply Computing retail location on Broadway isn’t “sexy” like the Apple Store by any means, but what they lack in decor they make up for in service, customer & technical support, and product knowledge. Aside from the Vancouver location you can visit them in White Rock and Langley (I hear the Langley store in Willowbrook is pretty fancy) as well as Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops and Thompson Rivers University.

We’re very pleased with our purchase and also with the fact that should we need service on any of our Apple products, it can be taken care of expeditiously at a local location.

Disclosure: I was not paid to write this review and we paid for the Macbook

Over the last few weeks my company, sixty4media, has themed, coded, and tweaked quite a few WordPress sites (and even more over the years before we even had the company). I am often asked what I use to code or theme so here are some of the tools that make my life a whole lot easier.

MAMP
MAMP allows you to run a mini WordPress web server from your computer so that you can theme sites locally, without having them published online or on a development site.

FTP
You need a good FTP application for uploading files and images on the fly. I’m using Cyberduck right now but I’ve had many suggestions for more productive tools (and I can’t for the life of me remember the one that Tod recommended).

Smultron
For Mac OS X and Leopard
A great text editor (used for PHP files) that works nicely with Cyberduck by selecting it as your file editor under preferences. It colour-codes nicely and is very simple to use.

CSS Edit
MacRabbit – CSS Edit (for Macs only)
All in one CSS editing tool. Allows you to eyedrop colours, shows your properties in a sidebar, knows where to place brackets etc. and even auto-completes some elements. In the sidebar it also displays colours on anything that has a background colour ie. if your footer is blue, it will show up blue in the sidebar list.

WordPress Codex
This last one isn’t downloadable, the codex is an online resource for all issues, questions, and reference materials in the WordPress realm.

This has also been published on sixty4media’s blog.

Microsoft produced this to address the “I’m a Mac / I’m a PC” ads about a month ago:

Several celebrities are visible throughout the campaign, including company co-founder Bill Gates, Deepak Chopra, and Eva Longoria; Microsoft employees, including Gates, have an @windows.com e-mail address attached to their appearances to emphasize their human connection.

Two shorter ads have also appeared with a similar exploration of the theme where people in various jobs explain how they wear different kinds of suits or are not alone, again tackling what Microsoft perceives as stereotypes of the average Windows user. [Electronista]

… and then Apple responded:

For PC users who are tired of Mac users telling them how much their productivity could be improved with an Apple system (and how your computer won’t crash all the time, and your operating system won’t suck) don’t worry, Apple still only has barely 10% of the marketshare… but they are gaining momentum so the smugness will only continue.