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I have been using Transmit (now version 2.6.2) since its 1.x release back in the day. I have seen it improve over the past years and I have to say that its the best FTP app for OSX out there. I love the Your Stuff/Their Stuff file management paradigm. Transmit also contains some little known features such as chmod file permissions access all thru info windows and pulldowns.

At MacWorldSF 2005 this year Panic released an innovative and hip apparel line of shirts with Mac related icons and imagery. I am truly at a loss to decide which shirt to get, as I love them ALL. You should check out the shirts, but also, if you have not used Transmit or any of their other award winning software, you should def download and check them out!

Buy: FTP-Shirts PanicGoods Apparel

HackTV is a developer app for Mac OS X that you can download for free. It enables you to watch TV (or any video source) on your Mac. Better yet, it enables you to download that content to your hard drive. Erica Sadun shows you the ins and outs of HackTV.

In the second article in a series about watching TV with Apple's (free) HackTV utility, you'll learn how to convert your Mac to a low-end but working PVR. You'll see how to control HackTV through Apple's GUI scripting extensions for AppleScript (at least as much as Mac OS X will let you) and how to schedule your recordings with iCal.

View: Build Your Own PVR (for free) with HackTV by Erica Sadun
View: Schedule HackTV with iCal by Erica Sadun

While employed by MetaDesign San Francisco in the late 90's I had the pleasure of not only meeting on occasions, but working with Erik Spiekermann. He was after all (at that time) the founder and chief executive design partner of the Berlin office and travelled to the San Francisco offices frequently.

I recently read a newer posting at spiekerblog on the Meta typeface (of which he invented, as well as Officina, Industry Sans, etc.) used so heavily nowadays. Probably the most recent public and prominent display of the Meta typeface was its use in Wallpaper* magazine, as its principal Logotype and header face. You can download a great overview of all the flavors of the Meta typeface there.

Also at spiekerblog, Erik has posted additional articles on Typography and Design (all of them are informational and very interesting to read). I have taken some time to delve through his writings, and I found a great snippet on Typography uses (or over uses) in modern society. Its a show segment originally aired on BBC TV from the late 80's that Erik was a host of.

If your interested in reading more on Typography and its underpinnings, you may want to check out the book that Erik published a few years back, Stop Stealing Sheep.

View: Meta Muster PDF Acrobat Reader required
View: Typomania BBC TV Segment QuickTime required
Buy: Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works $18.90

Meet DELAware, no not the state, but a four person Japanese super sonic design music group. They have been a prolific creative talent since their debut at the Mac Expo in 1998 (but even before they were recording eclectic sounds).　They have produced a wide range of CDs, CDRoms, TV Commercials, Magazines, T-Shirts, Web Sites, Mobile Phone Content and of course performed live concerts. Not only have they been an artistic success in Japan as a music group, but also as a 'design' studio for commercial businesses.

Their style is based on old school ANSI BBS text, in that all of their sounds, graphics and aesthetics are based upon the ASCII art design paradigm. Not only do they use ASCII art as their text, but they use a whole slew of monophonic, analog bleeps and beeps as their sound canvas. Its really something to both see and hear.

Make sure to check out their Discography section as it has SØUND samples from all of their CD releases. Note: Shockwave is required to hear them.

Buy: Delaware CDs Discography for Sale

This past weekend I had the audiophonic pleasure of listening to Francois K. spin for a few hours at the Spider Club in Hollywood. It was an LA presentation of his recurring club Deep Space (regularly in NYC). We rolled in around 10pm, just in time to hear his classic 90's remix of Personal Jesus. Man that brought back memories, I actually own the original CD single with his mix on it!

Francois K is currently known for spinning an eclectic mix of spacey vibes, deep house and hardcore electronic dub. I would have to say that Dub is my favorite after hours type of music. I think I first started getting interested when I heard some music from Brian Eno and Jah Wobble, then The Orb, Mad Professor, Leftfield and now its a whole meta-niche in the electronic music scene.

To give you some background, Francois K is one of THE most influencial house DJs in the world. Not only has he been part of the original house DJ scene (gigs at the The Loft, Paradise Garage and Studio 54), but was A&R for Prelude Records, and principal audio engineer on many many successful modern disco and pop tracks. His 'piece de resistance' was most notably the production and engineering work he did for Depeche Mode on their Violator release.

Currently FK runs a record label in NYC called Wave Music and DJs regularly at his Deep Space venue in NYC on Monday nights. Check out some of his mix CDs on the site, there are sound clips (they are real audio though, blah!)

Buy: Francois K - Essential Mix [IMPORT] $45.49

If you have enjoyed listening to CDs from AIR French Band and/or Radiohead, I am pretty sure you will dig anything on Gooom Disques (based in Paris, France). Most of their acts have a very gritty/fuzzy electronic sound enhanced with a good spread of old school analog Moog and Roland keyboards and fuzz guitars.

Gooom has recenty provided (online and free no less!) some super solid moody mp3 mixes from a few of their featured artists. They include a variety of eclectic tracks, not only from the Gooom stock, but also from some of their arists favorite picks. If you can mix John Carpenters' Christine Theme with Prefuse 73 and Dizzee Rascal, you got game on the decks!

The mp3s are available for download, along with custom CD album art work... so you can print them and make your own white label mix CDs!

Mix 01 - Abstrackt Keal Agram, Hell Mix
Mix 02 - Cyann & Ben, Mix IASTAR
Mix 03 - Montag, Mix

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M83 is my personal favorite. They have recently released a stellar new CD title Before the Dawn Heals Us. Check out the sound clips on the Gooom site.

Buy: M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us $13.99