C4 notes: Pizza and pie shakes

Jason Snell reports on the C4 conference, with provocative speakers, deep-dish Chicago pizza, and pie shakes.

C4 notes: Is AppleScript dead?At a developer conference in Chicago, several Mac developers suggested that AppleScript should be replaced by a JavaScript-based scripting language. Jason Snell's not convinced.
Mac News Briefs: Vectorworks 2010 products unveiledNemetschek North America released the 2010 versions of its Vectorworks line of design software, including Designer, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Machine Design, Fundamentals, and Renderworks.

Change color of BBEdit and TextWrangler 'invisibles' characters Learn how to change the color of the special characters that BBEdit and TextWrangler use to display invisible characters, such as tabs and line breaks.
Getting geeky with Twitterrific and AppleScript Jason Snell explores the rarely explored depths of Twitterrific for Mac, including secret preferences and AppleScript support.

C4 notes: Is AppleScript dead? At a developer conference in Chicago, several Mac developers suggested that AppleScript should be replaced by a JavaScript-based scripting language. Jason Snell's not convinced.
Opinion: Is Apple barking up the wrong tree with Grand Central? Vendors are scrambling to provide developer tools to support multicore CPUs, but customer demand is heading in the other direction, writes Neil McAllister of InfoWorld.
Your desert island app What if you were trapped on a desert island -- one with electricity and Wi-Fi -- and could have only one third-party application for your Mac? Which one would it be?
Opinion: The cost of bad installers John C. Welch finds custom installers annoying. But they care even greater consequences for Mac IT admins than just being a nuisance.
Why developers prefer Macs Developers are taking advantage of virtualization on Intel-based Macs to test on multiple operating systems.