Photo Stream is a great feature of iOS 5 that pushes photos to all of your computers and devices. It is somewhat magical to snap/import a photo on your iPhone or iPad and have it show up everywhere else.

A couple people on Twitter have been complaining that you can’t delete photos from Photo Stream. This isn’t a problem if you think of Photo Stream as an invisible sync cable. The purpose is to give you access to your recent photos on all devices so you can import them. It is like a river (maybe that’s where the stream comes from) of photos passing by where you can reach in and take one out. One argument is that without the ability to delete, your Photo Stream fills up with iOS screenshots. I actually like that I can easily grab the screenshot out of iPhoto. Your Photo Stream isn’t shared with anyone or permanent so it doesn’t matter if a screenshot passes by.

The one downside is that you can have your Photo Stream pushed to the Apple TV as a screensaver. I think the problem here is that Photo Stream shouldn’t be used for this purpose. It should only be a collection of recent photos stored for the purpose of importing to any device. Apple should instead implement album sharing.

With album sharing you can share collections of photos with family and friends. The photos will gain more meaning as they are put into titled albums. Now you can share different albums with different people, the photos of SXSW will go out to your friends and your child’s first birthday will be sent to your parents. The Photo Stream will only be a utility.

This can solve the problem with Photo Stream and the Apple TV. You can check an option on an album to have it pushed to your Apple TV as a screensaver. This gives everyone the control they want and adds the great feature of sharing your photos.

I was devastated after reading about Steve’s death on Wednesday. It felt like I had lost a close friend or relative even though I’d never met him.

To understand why, I dug up a post I wrote back in 2008 called Why I Use a Mac. That post is poorly written (look at all those commas and fragmented sentences), but I think it does a good job of summarizing my feelings. That post ends with this line:

My beginnings with the Mac weren’t the same typical arguments you hear again and again. Mine was much deeper and connected with a part of my life that defines me.

A Mac wasn’t the first computer I owned or even used, but it was the computer that made me fall in love with technology. Every year since 2003 I’d spend hours reading about Apple and tinkering with technology. I read the liveblogs of events and watched the keynotes when they were posted. While other people were enjoying sports or celebrity gossip I was learning about technology and watching Steve perform.

Steve Jobs has changed the world in a way that few have before. He was a visionary who made the world better and will continue to be an inspiration for many more generations to come.

Thanks to all of my family and friends that called to ask if I was OK. It is hard to lose a person that created the things that helped define you as a person.

Thank you Steve and rest in peace.

Ben Brooks discussing monitors at The Brooks Review:

At some point in 2008–9 I started just using one display — this only after I measured my use of the second display finding that I rarely used it.

Since that time I have held the opinion that one, large, monitor is the best action to take in the name of productivity.

Now I am even questioning just how large of a monitor you need.

I had a similar realization with my home computing workflow. At home I enjoy the simplicity of a single large monitor. Over time I found that the second monitor is often neglected. Too much time is wasted managing windows and setting up the workspace. It is easier to let them land where they may and use cmd-tab or mission control to manage windows. People can’t multitask so I don’t need to see two applications at once. This is great for things like writing and photo editing.

At the office it is a different story; I need to have a second display. It is helpful when preparing tax returns and putting together financial statements. I can have the source documents on one screen and the current years return on the second. I don’t need to switch back and forth just to get information. During my final reviews, I have prior year tax returns open along with the current year to help explain any changes. A second monitor is useful when it holds reference material.

Like most things in computing, the monitor setup depends a lot on the workflow. I love the simplicity of writing on my 13" MacBook Air, but find it cumbersome to prepare tax returns.