Ok, I admit it - I can be very obsessive-compulsive about things. This especially applies to my electronic devices. I am paranoid about scratches on my laptop or iPod, and when it comes to my Macbook, I try my best to keep it running as fast as the day I got it. However, as an inevitable effect of normal use, there is one thing that is never the same despite my efforts: hard drive space. I take quite a few pictures which can quickly fill up a few GBs of space, and the extra applications I’ve installed certainly don’t make my HD any emptier. Needless to say, when I heard about the app Xslimmer, I was intrigued. Removing PowerPC portions of apps along with unnecessary language files? Why not? How could I resist the lure of a program that could save HD space while at the same time speeding up applications? I did a bit more research and decided to go ahead and take it for a spin. After all, the license only costs $12.95, so finding out it didn’t work wouldn’t be a complete tragedy. Once it was installed and set up, I quickly set it to work slimming down my apps. The Genie quickly found applications that could be cut down in size which I then approved for slimming. When all was said and done, Xslimmer shaved 1.15GB off of 2.75GB in applications. What’s more, it does speed up applications as promised. I’m not saying it will make your G4 iBook run like a new Mac Pro, but it is noticeable. After slimming I did a quick run-through with all of my programs to make sure the reduction process hadn’t corrupted any of them. I did find one problem - Symantec Scheduler would could no longer schedule tasks. However, this was easily undone thanks to the backups created by Xslimmer. One click had automatically restored Symantec Scheduler and blocked it from being slimmed in the future. I was also disappointed to find that many major CS3 applications cannot be slimmed. However, if I remember correctly, it is because Adobe will not update applications with changed code as a measure against piracy. Thankfully, Xslimmer has a Blacklist that blocks programs known to have problems with slimming, so finding the right CS3 programs to reduce was not an issue. Overall I’d say it is a polished and useful program. If you are like me and dislike wasted space on your hard drive, this application may just be your new favorite. Give it a whirl!

Every designer has one - a hit list. The list of typefaces so gut-wrenching to that designer that he or she would do anything short of selling their soul to the devil to purge its very existence from the face of the earth. I have my own, and I’ll probably end up ranting about quite a few of them on more than one occasion. However, one that seems to be popping up more and more is Copperplate (aka Copperplate Gothic). I was reminded of it recently when I saw a bottle of San Pellegrino water while dining in an Italian restaurant. I realize that the Pellegrino logo does not actually use Copperplate, but the typeface is similar enough that it makes me think of it whenever I see their logo. Strangely enough, it actually doesn’t bother me when it’s on their bottles and I can’t seem to explain why. One obvious answer is that it’s different enough from Copperplate that it actually becomes, well, attractive. Another possibility is that I’ve gotten used to seeing that style typeface in a given setting, so it bothers me when I see it used [profusely] elsewhere. Yet another possibility is that Copperplate is the ugly twin that does everything wrong. Side by side, you notice that Copperplate is rather squat, and certain characters [such as the G and R] lack the same finesse seen in the San Pellegrino logo. At this moment, I can’t explain it and I may never be able to. To relate it back to food, perhaps it parallels my inexplicable feelings concerning mushrooms: I love fresh mushrooms, but canned mushrooms are a completely separate entity to me, despite the similarities.