Geektool Unleashed
With three screens on my office configuration, I have a lot of workspace to use. Over the holidays, I did some geeking out and configured one of my screens with Geektool. Geektool allows you to display on your desktop various kinds of information. In the picture above, the to-do list on the left, the post-it note, stock quotes, bible quote, webcam picture and the date & weather information are all embedded in the desktop using Geektool. Download Geektool here.
It is a preference pane module that allows you to display the contents of a file (e.g. the Post-It note which is simply a note that exists in Notational Velocity), an image from a webserver (e.g. the webcam image or the weather image) and the most powerful outputs from shell commands (e.g. my Omnifocus to-do list cut off on the left or the extracted Bible quote from Daily-verse.com). Also, don't forget to customize your desktop image to work with the Geektool elements like the old paper and yellow post-it on my school blackboard.
You can find many Geektool scripts (and images of some very tricked out Desktops on the internet). Just Google Geektool! For the Omnifocus Geeklets to embed your overdue and due soon items on the desktop, please click here.
As for the Bible quote, that is a Python Script written by my good friend Nilesh that extracts a daily bible verse from the website daily-verse.com. You need to install Beautiful Soup, which is a Python HTML/XML parser, and it can be found here, http://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/ .
The script is:
from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup
import urllib2
page = urllib2.urlopen("http://daily-verse.com/")
soup = BeautifulSoup(page)
thequotation = soup.h2.prettify()[12:][:-15]
thesource = soup.h3.prettify()[5:][:-7]
print thequotation + "\n" + "\n" + thesource
I used a Corsiva Hebrew Bold Font 18 points and full justification. Also, you need to remember to force carriage returns in Geektool.
Have fun customizing your desktop! Enjoy!
Divvy, Keyboard Maestro and Multiple Monitors
My current MacBookPro setup has three monitors on my desk. In addition to the standard laptop screen to the right, I have a Gateway FPD2485 LCD display serving as my Main Screen and an additional LCD screen from my old retired Dell desktop on the left. The Dell LCD display is connected to my Mac through a Diamond Multimedia DisplayLink BVU195 USB Display Adapter ($89.99). The setup gives me some serious screen space to do my work; however, it also makes management of my windows problematic.
I solved the problem by using two different software products - Keyboard Maestro ($36) and Divvy ($14). I reviewed Divvy, which is a window management tool in a previous blog entry. Keyboard Maestro does many things by allowing you to create custom macros for automation. Using Keyboard Maestro, I made three macros - one for each screen - that allows me to move the window of the front application to the various screens using hot keys. The main problem with Divvy is that one normally needs to mouse to the appropriate screen to move the window and then hit the Divvy shortcut.
To solve the problem, I create a KeyBoard Maestro macro as seen above that moves the mouse to a certain location relative to the Main Screen's Top Left Corner (see top). Then, I simulate the typing of F5 that brings up Divvy's shortcut options (see above). I select the appropriate shortcut for the size of window I want and voilà the front application window moves to the appropriate monitor with the appropriate size. Two keystrokes and it's done...very efficient.
You just need a Little Vitamin R
I am big believer in David Allen's "Getting Things Done" approach to To-Do Lists. The concepts of getting everything you need to do out of your brain an onto a list and then organizing that list into projects and contexts works great for me. On my Mac and my iPhone, I use Omnifocus to manage my To-Do list. The trap that may people fall into is that they spend more time organizing and less time doing. Moreover, most GTD applications don't help with the execution part of the "Getting Things Done".
Well, Vitamin R from Publicspace.net focuses on changing just that. It is a tool that helps you break down large tasks into a series of short time slices. It helps you focus on the task at hand, usually 15 to 30 minutes in length (e.g. Pomodoro Technique). That is important because our brains are not meant to multitask; in fact, excessive multitasking leads to less efficiency.
To avoid distractions, Vitamin R can hide or quit unnecessary apps during a given time slice. After a time slice is completed, you can evaluate the effectiveness of the time slice on how distracted or how "in the flow" you were. A quick "Now & Later Board" can allow you to quickly dump ideas that occur while accomplishing a time slice without breaking your concentration.
Finally, Vitamin R can integrate with Omnifocus. By dragging an Omnifocus task into Vitamin R, you can automatically close the task complete in Omnifocus once it is done in Vitamin R. Very cool for closure. In short, Omnifocus+Vitamin R are an excellent combination of GTD and Pomodoro techniques.
Vitamin R is $19.95 for a single user license. They have a free trial so you can try to out yourself.
20% off Ergonis Software
Ergonis Software, the maker of PopChar X, KeyCue, Typinator and SharewarePublisher, is offering a 20% discount off any purchase by using the coupon code BackToWork when you check out. This offer will expire on September 30, 2010.
I regularly use KeyCue by Ergonis to quickly remember keyboard shortcuts. According to Ergonis, "KeyCue helps you to use your Mac OS X applications more effectively by displaying a concise table of all currently available menu shortcuts." For users new to Mac OS X, this application is a must-have at 19.99€. You will be amazed by the improvement in your productivity.
However, you should buy from Ergonis because of the company. About a month and half ago, they upgraded KeyCue from V5.0 to V5.1 and presented me with a $10 fee for upgrade. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. It turns out they migrated from a "time-based" upgrade policy to a "release-based" upgrade policy. After several back and forth with customer service, who do I get an email from? The CEO of the company, who proceeds to explain the issue in detail with me and then reminds me of a second KeyCue license that I got as part of a MacUpdate bundle that I forgot about. This license is entitled to free upgrades until the end of the year and will probably take me to the next major release. I was quite pleased with the attention I was given and, quite frankly, ex-post I probably was acting a bit petulant.
Anyhow, you should take advantage of the current BackToWork coupon code to get KeyCue if you don't have it. It is a great product from a responsive company.
Neglecting My Mayoral Duties
With the November elections coming up, I realized that I have been neglecting my mayoral duties at the four establishments where I have mayorship in foursquare. Now do I really care about these mayorships? No, but I thought it would be fun to highlight them:
1) El Calderon Restaurant -- http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-calderon-restaurant-mountain-view
El Calderon Restaurant is a small, family-owned place in Mountain View off of El Camino Real. If you want authentic El Salvadorian food, then this is the place to go. And when you think about El Salvadorian food, you think Pupusas. I really enjoyed the Pupusa here...very cheesy and not too oily. In fact, from the salsa chips to the hard taco shells, this place knows how to keep everything light. Service is great and the family is very friendly. Worth visiting.
2) Main Street Cafe -- http://www.yelp.com/biz/main-street-cafe-and-books-los-altos
Main Street Cafe and Books in Downtown Los Altos is half bookstore, half restaurant. I must confess that I have never bought a book here, but am a sucker for either their All-American or BLT sandwich. The bread on the sandwich is very tasty and filling. Add an ice-tea and you have a good lunch at a place where you can have a sane conversation.
3) New Wing Wah -- http://www.yelp.com/biz/new-wing-wah-restaurant-los-altos
New Wing Wah on State Street in Los Altos is your typical Chinese-American fare. It is not the place I would go for authentic Chinese food...that is reserved for places like Hunan Homes, Su Hong and Hong Kong Restaurant, all on El Camino Real. However, the service at New Wing Wah is good and the food was good - unlike so many others in its classification. They have a nice family menu.
4) Peers Park -- http://www.yelp.com/biz/peers-park-palo-alto
Peers Park is a great park for kids and sports. On the sports end, it has tennis and basketball courts as well as a lot of room to kick the soccer ball around. For the kids, there are two play structures - one for toddlers and one for big kids. Also, they have two swing sets as well as a lot of sandboxes. They have a lot of benches for tired mommies and daddies. It is near the Caltrain line so my daughter goes crazy for the train and it has nice clean restrooms.
So there you have it. My current mayorships; though who knows whether or not I will retain my office in the long-term!
NDA means "No Deal Actually"
According to Wikipedia, "A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement, confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to by third parties."
To any investor, it means "No Deal Actually". An investor sees so many pitches that no good investor will entertain signing an NDA. They do not want to get involved in any unnecessary legal issues, particularly if they fund a similar company. Moreover, if you do push an NDA, then the investor will assume you don't understand how venture financing works.
However, you should ensure that the information that you provide to the VCs doesn't include any trade secret information at least in the early stages of the dance. Also, documenting what you disclosed to the VCs is a sound practice. Marking your information as confidential is another good practice.
Having consternations about no NDA? Well, your invention is either the greatest IP since sliced bread and you shouldn't have any problems getting funded or it is too easy to copy so you need to revisit your business plan if your purported competitive advantage is IP-related.
Divvy, A Window Manager for the Mac
One area where Mac OSX is weaker than Microsoft Windows 7 is the movement and resizing of Windows. I really dislike the Green button on my Mac windows and the way you resize them.
Well, no longer. Divvy ($14) makes it easy to resize windows on the fly and to move them among multiple monitors. It uses a simple keystroke command to bring up a heads-up display that segments the monitor into 36 squares (6x6). You then select the squares that constitute the desired window size and placement and then Divvy will move and resize the active window. There are user-defined shortcuts in Divvy that make it easy to add full screen, 50% left, 50% right, etc. It is now in two days a critical part of my daily workflow.
I recommend that you take a look at this movie that does an excellent job describing the product. http://mizage.com/divvy/videos/divvy-screencast.mov
I highly recommend Divvy.
MacJournal For iPhone
About two weeks ago, I replaced Journler with MacJournal, which I received in the latest MacHeist NanoBundle. I have added the new MacJournal iPhone application and it has improved my journaling tremendously. I can now write my journal entries at any time, any place. When I am on the same wifi network as my Mac, I can then synchronize it.
As much as I like the MacJournal for the iPhone, there are a number of improvements that need to be made. First, remote syncing via MobileMe and/or Webdav would be great. I can do it with Omnifocus today and would love to see it with MacJournal. Also, better tagging capabilities is a must as well as support for rich datatypes like voice, photos and video.
One particularly annoying bug is, when a sync is initiated, you need to determine how the sync will run - i.e. who overwrites whom or sync differences - at the Mac. This requires you to be at your Mac when you sync. Since I can remote-trigger macros using Keyboard Maestro and its iPhone application, I can wake up my Mac, start MacJournal and then initiate a sync from my MacJournal on the iPhone. However, it doesn't run because it depends on an input on the Mac. Please fix soon!
Nevertheless, for a first release of an iPhone app, it has a lot of utility. I just want to see more features, particularly given its $4.99 price.
New Look to My Blog
Today I am introducing a new look to my blog. I have been using the old grey one for several years now and it was time to move to a better theme. The one I chose was Phelix from NimbleHost.
The theme has pretty extensive support for all major browsers, including Internet Explorer 6/7/8. Also, there is numerous extracontent areas to explore. Finally, it has support for the iPhone with automatic resizing of images.
Enjoy the new look!
Replacing Journler with MacJournal
For years, I have used Journler as the journaling software on my Mac. So many thoughts - happy, sad, innovative, mundane, mature, shallow, etc. - have found residence in my virtual journal. Consequently, I was said when I learned that the software would no longer be developed, but like an old comfortable pair of sneakers I keep with the software.
This week I received as part of the MacHeist NanoBundle2 a copy of MacJournal and made the transition. MacHeist runs for only another 6 days. I migrated my Journler entries over to MacJournal by copying my Journler "Journler Entries" folder to the sidebar of MacJournal. The only problem was the links to the videos would call up Journler so I needed to right-click on the links in the corresponding Journler entry and show the original video in Finder and then copy it to MacJournal. Fortunately, I didn't have many videos to migrate.
My first impressions of MacJournal? It will be an adequate replacement. Also, I hope the upcoming iPhone app will make it even better. So goodbye my friend Journler and hello MacJournal.
Use Ning for social networking for your local club
In addition to my Web site wearephotographers.com that we developed using Drupal, I am now the Web site master of my local camera club in Los Altos, www.losaltosphoto.com. When making that Web site, I used Rapidweaver for the main site and Ning to create the social networking component.
It was extremely easy to get a functioning site within a week. I highly recommend that strategy for anyone needing to get a simple Web site up and running for their local club or organization.
f.lux for your Mac
When you sit in front of a computer for as long as I do, your eyes get strained. Moreover, the later into the night you work, the more it disrupts your sleep. Well, I found this freeware software, f.lux that adapts the color of the computer’s display to the time of day, warm at night and sunlight-like during the day.
There is a switch that disables it for an hour when I need to do color accurate stuff, like processing my photographs. I can tell you that my eyes don’t hurt like they did before.
There is a version for Windows and Linux, too. Download it here.
HoudahGeo: For your geotagging needs
Are you looking for an easy way to geotag your photographs? Look no further than HoudahGeo.
You have the ability to geotag in three different ways: (1) using your GPS tracks, (2) using the basic map and (3) using Google Earth. Also, you have a number of different export options, including the EXIF data, Google Earth, KML files and Flickr. Also, the software is integrated with iPhoto so you can geotag photos that are already imported into iPhoto.
This software is definitely worth $30 and is a regular part of my photography workflow.
Drupal, Drupal, and more Drupal
I haven’t been blogging here much lately, because I am designing our new Web site for our startup, WeArePhotographers.com. Since it is a big web community site, we are using a CMS system and have chosen Drupal. I am amazed by the flexibility and complexity of the tool, but firmly believe it will be the answer for future Web development. Tools, like Dreamweaver, will be having a hard time.
As for personal blogs like this one, I think Rapidweaver will still be sufficient. This was a nice break from the complexity of Drupal, but back to the big design!
Tiffen Dfx - Filter Options Galore
I recently purchased Tiffen Dfx V2 Standalone Edition for my Macbook Pro. It comes with over 1,000 filters and special effects for post-processing your photos. While many effects can be recreated in Adobe Photoshop, the ease-of-use to try different effects makes this program a winner at only $99.95 for the standalone edition. It is the equivalent of buying 2-3 actual filters to put on your camera.
There is too many different filters to describe here, but the filters are categorized by filter function: Film Lab, Gels, HFX Diffusion, HFX Grads/Tints, Image, Lens, Light, Photographic and Special Effects.
So what can this software do? Let’s look at these before and after pictures. I took a quick grab shot of a raven at the top of the tree. It is not an exciting photo, but some interesting composition with the location of the bird and the branches of the tree.
Before 
After
I used several filters to create the after image. First, I used the “day for night” filter to make the image look like it was taken at dusk. Then, I added a layer and used a Gel filter to darken the blues in the photograph. Another layer with a grain filter gave it the feel of a film shot and finally, a vignette filter caused the blur and darkening at the edges.
The software allows you to compare different filters easily and to select and mask where necessary. Also, you can change the opacity of each layer. It is a very flexible program that unfortunately does have a Windows legacy and can be seen in some of the menu structure. Nevertheless, definitely worth testing on its 15 day trial; though I warn you that you might likely end up buying at the end.
MacHeist Bundle Update (2)
Update on the Update! (4/6/09): MacHeist 3 Bundle is fully unlocked. They are over $500,000 in donations to charity so The Hit List and Espresso have been unlocked. There is only one day left for the Bundle Sale so act quickly to get 14 applications for $39.
Here is another update on the MacHeist Bundle 3.
BoinxTV has reached the unlocked stage as the sales promotion has generated over $400K in charity donations. The new mega-unlock point for the final two applications (The Hit List and Espresso) is $500K and there are two days left on this application promotion. As of Sunday 4/5 AM, there is about $95K to go.
If you are on the fence on this promotion, now is the time to act. We can all get the final two applications. I can tell you from experience that I have used these applications much more than I expected. LittleSnapper has replaced Skitch...Picturesque is my quick phone beautifier...and World of Goo has wasted too much of my time already! Finally, I have used WireTap Studio, Kinemac, and BoinxTV to help with my new Web startup, WeArePhotographers.com.
MacHeist Bundle Update
Update on the Update! (4/4/09): MacHeist has just added for all customers another application to their bundle, Times. It is an unique RSS reader that organizes the feeds into a visual newspaper format. Normally, it sells for $30. I will give it a look; though it will be hard to get me to shift from NetNewsWire due to the iPhone client and synchronization with NewsGator.
You will need to hurry though. There is only three days left in the MacHeist 3 Bundle!
Just a quick update on the MacHeist 3 Bundle. They have added two additional applications to the bundle: Delicious Library 2 and Multiwinia. If you have purchased the bundle and tweet about it on Twitter, you receive the gifts. Don’t be surprised if you are hit with a bunch of tweets saying:
I bought the @MacHeist 3 Bundle. 12 Top Mac apps worth $900+ for just $39 AND I just got Delicious Library 2 FREE! http://mhtweet.com/g4Flrc
So what are these new applications?
Delicious Library 2 is a great way to catalogue all your media. It won tons of awards several years ago and can use the iSight as a bar code reader. My entire book library is organized using Delicious Library 2. I highly recommend it.
Multiwinia is a shooting war game where you command stick figures to fight your friends online. I haven’t tried it out yet, but it looks fun. Certainly, it will be an attraction to buyers who have complained that there isn’t enough fun applications in this year’s bundle.
Picturesque is very cool!
I really like Picturesque which I recently picked up as part of the MacHeist Bundle. It isn’t a full-fledged photo editor, but allows for quick enhancement of a photograph. It does four things really easy and well: (1) creating cool 3D perspectives, (2) producing awesome reflections without any need for layers, (3) introducing some curves to the photo without using masks, and (4) adding shadows, glows and frames around your picture.
For a presentation that I was preparing, I needed an image to illustrate something happening every 12 seconds. I took out my Nikon D40 and took a picture of the stopwatch on my iPhone on a blank piece of paper using daylight from the window. With Picturesque, I added some of the enhancements I mentioned above and made an awesome image with significant impact. This tool won’t replace Photoshop, but it is great for blogging, newsletters, presentations, etc.
MacHeist 3 Bundle
Update (3/31/09): MacHeist has juiced up their bundle by adding Cro-Mag Rally for all customers. While a little “retro” (i.e. dated), Cro-Mag Rally is made by Pangea and has seen a revival with its iPhone version. Another reason to purchase the bundle if you are into prehistoric rally games!
I recently purchased the MacHeist 3 Bundle that is currently for sale. There is an excellent mix of applications in the bundle and it is definitely worth a look. At only $39 it is practically a steal if one or two of the applications are of interest. Here are the applications in the bundle and my take on them:
iSale ($39.95)
iSale is a application for eBay that allows you to make a professional-looking auction. I am not much of an eBay person and have not testing the application.
Picturesque ($34.95)
Picturesque is a cool-little application that allows you to easily manipulate photographs by changing its perspective, adding a reflection, creating a frame, etc. It is not a full-fledged photo editor, but adds some neat tricks. I would not pay $34.95 for it, but, as a bonus application, it is a winner.
SousChef (30.00)
I haven’t loaded SousChef, because I am already deeply into MacGourmet Deluxe. I didn’t think that I would be into a recipe management software, but it has been a real benny in the kitchen.
World of Goo ($20.00)
World of Goo is cool. A must play. Enough said.
PhoneView ($19.95)
My iPhone has become my lifeblood. This application allows you to get at the data stored on it in an easy fashion. That is a winner in my book.
LittleSnapper ($39.00)
LittleSnapper lets you store and annotate screenshots or web page captures. Previously, I was using Skitch for this functionality, but no longer. LittleSnapper is much better and made by Realmac Software, the company that makes Rapidweaver - the software I use for this blog.
Acorn ($49.95)
Acorn is a simple-to-use photo editor. I haven’t tested it out, but I won’t be using it. Instead, I will stay with Pixelmator - the software I got from last year’s MacHeist bundle.
Kinemac ($299.00)
At $299, Kinemac was definitely included in order to bump up the value of the bundle. However, it looks like an easy 3D animation package. I will be using it to create animations for videocasting with BoinxTV and uStream TV.
WireTap Studio ($69.00)
If you want to record any audio which is being played by your Mac, then Wire Tap Studio is the software. I can see how it would be very useful for podcasts, capturing Skype conversations and for making custom ringtones. This app was unlocked when the charity contribution hit $100,000.
BoinxTV ($199.00)
I really want BoinxTV. It is a great software to create and edit videocasts in a live-to-disk or live-to-internet method. Right now, this application is not yet unlocked and requires $400,000 in charity sales. I am hoping that we reach this level before the sale ends.
The Hit List ($69.95)
The Hit List is a software package for to-do lists and “Getting Things Done.” I already use Omnifocus for this and won’t be changing, particularly since The Hit List doesn’t have a iPhone client. This application is also not yet unlocked and its unlock level has not been announced.
Espresso ($80.00)
Espresso looks like an excellent new web development tool that will compete with Coda. I am sure that this one will be a big draw for people if we get close to the unlock level. It will be unlocked at the same time as The Hit List.
I recommend this bundle. I think there is a lot of good applications in it at a very favorable price. Here is my referral link to the bundle. For full disclosure, if two people buy through my link, then I get two additional applications: Ambrosia’s Pop-up and Koingo Utility Package. By the way, any bundle customer who refers two additional purchasers can get this software as a bonus.
iPhoto 09 - Initial Impressions
I have been using iPhoto 09 for about a day. I am happy with the three major improvements that Apple made: Faces, Places and Improved Editing. However, as usual, Apple dropped the ball on a couple of things.
First, with Faces, it is too difficult to got through my thousands of photos and find and check the photos for the face recognition. I cannot find a way to sort the photos in a smart album by unidentified faces. If that was available, then one could easily add the appropriate name. Also, I cannot find a way to add a name to a face that is misidentified when confirming names. It could be a learning curve issue, but it would have been good to get those features.
As for places, it works great if you have the GPS coordinates in the photo’s EXIF data BEFORE you import it into iPhoto. However, if you did not have the GPS coordinates in the EXIF data, it is a bearish manual process to add them with iPhoto. Also, if you use a tool like Geotagger or HoudahGEO to modify the EXIF data within the iPhone Library, there is no way to tell iPhoto to update its database. Finally, any input into the iPhone database of GPS information is not inserted into the underlying files EXIF data within the library.
All this technical mumbo-jumbo aside...please make sure you have the GPS coordinates in the photo’s EXIF data before you import it into Photo. So, in short, the new Faces and Places feature is great going forward, but Apple dropped the ball on utilities to make it easy to migrate your existing photos within the iPhone library.
The Future Death of Television
Today, I have seen the death of broadcast TV. For more than 2 hours, I watched the Tour of California on Versus, suffering through their endless amounts of commercials. It turned out that the stage finish was delayed by about 20 minutes and, instead of staying until the end, they cut away to a hockey game.
Completely frustrated, I went online and it turned out that the Amgen Tour was broadcast from this Web site, see below. Note only did they have video and audio UNTIL THE FINAL SPRINT, but also they had play-by-play...GPS tracking..chat room...standings...etc. This is the future of media entertainment...Versus and its ilk are walking dead!
Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook
Amazingly, I haven’t had a blog entry here in more than two months. Boy have I neglected this blog! I apologize.
With Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook, I am wondering if blogging will die over time. More people can get an instant update from me on those streams. We are definitely seeing a transition in my online activities.
Also, with my new social networking startup, I have been spending much more time building a network and business plans than blogging on the net. There is a definitely bandwidth limitation on a person’s ability to invest in a blog-worthy article.
I will start to blog more...my Omnifocus GTD keeps nagging me to do so!
Beware of Zeptopad V1.5 Upgrade
Yesterday, I upgraded a drawing application, Zeptopad, that I have on my 3G iphone to its latest version V1.5 using the standard mechanism within iTunes. The upgrade went as planned, excepted I was faced with an unpleasant surprise. After the upgrade, Zeptopad had wiped out all on my previous drawings!
I really like the drawing program, but data loss from an upgrade was not in my plans! Fortunately, I didn’t have anything critical on the drawings and they can be recreated, but it does shake my confidence in the program. Too bad since it is a nice program.
If you have Zeptopad on your iPhone, you should export the drawings to your photo roll before you upgrade. Unfortunately, you cannot import them back in a full-size afterwards. I do not know if there is a technical hack on a jailbreaked iPhone to get at the drawings to protect them.
Anyhow, you should protect your drawings before you update to Zeptopad V1.5. Otherwise, they will be lost in the upgrade.
Slow Syncs with Omnifocus and Your iPhone
Fortunately, Omni Group is planning a new version of Omnifocus for iPhone that will solve the problem, but hasn’t appeared yet in the App Store. If you can’t wait like me, there is an AppleScript workaround provided by Omni Group at this link.
It solved the problem and I am happy again. If you are a serious GTD user, you should check out Omnifocus.
UPDATE 8/13/08 --- Omnifocus V1.0.3 is now on the App Store and supposedly fixes the Sync problems.
Some Fun with Words
Occassionally, you come across a fun site. Wordle is just that.
As the Web site describes:
"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."
I ran the tool on my blog and here is the "word cloud" it created:
Lots of fun. Enjoy!
Moo Cards: A "purple cow"
If you are in the market for an innovative way to differentiate yourself, you should check out Moo cards. As Seth Godin says in his book Purple Cow, “Cows, after you’ve seen them for a while, are boring...A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interesting.” Conventional business cards are boring, while Moo Cards are not.
Moo is a London-based printing company that allows you to create your own unique and personal products using stock images or your own photos from Flickr or your computer. Their minicards are 28x70mm in size -- approximately 1/3 the size of a regular business card -- and can have any picture on the reverse size with 6 lines of text on the primary side. While they are higher priced than ordinary business cards, they really differentiate you.
Since I have been handing out Moo mini-cards, I have not failed in engaging the other person about the cards and my background. They are definitely worth getting.
Fluid & Google: The Death of Office?
If you are an Apple user and frequently use sites like Facebook, FriendFeed, Google Docs, etc., then Fluid is a technology that you need to investigate. Fluid allows you to very easily to run your favorite web applications as separate Cocoa applications on your desktop.
I created a separate application for FriendFeed, Facebok and Google Docs. Why? To manage my workflow easier and to prevent the situation where an error in one tab kills my other tabs. The combination of Google Apps and Fluid is very powerful and has the definite potential to make Microsoft Office irrelevant someday. I am not yet ready to abandon Office; however, the sharing and search capabilities of Google Apps are very appealing.
I recommend that you download Fluid and try to make some Site Specific Browsers. I think you will find it very helpful in the move to web applications if you are use to the desktop application workflow.
Starbucks/AT&T -- Why so complicated?
Incredible hassles this morning trying to register my Starbucks card for free wifi support. Firstly, they obviously did not size the system to handle the demand. Even though I was entering my proper Starbucks login and password, the system insisted on coming back with an error.
Then, finally when I got through, it wouldn’t accept my card that currently has a $15 balance because...get this...I haven’t used it in 30 days!?! What about all the soy lattes that I have bought with cash in the last 30 days? They don’t count.
This is what happens when a corporation treats their customers like criminals. Obviously, some empty suit at corporate headquarters is worried that someone may “free ride” on the wifi network by buying a latte and sitting there for many hours.
Starbucks just doesn’t get it! Simply provide free Internet access like Panera, independent coffee shops, etc. and they will come...and they will drink coffee. Get rid of these absurd hoops to jump through and 2-hour limitations. Particularly since your competition already has!
Starbucks should trust its customers and they will reward it with their business. Especially those who already have their loyalty cards!
UPDATE: I made a special trip to Starbucks to buy a latte on my card. It was accepted finally!
Evernote and ShoZu
Lately, I have been using the beta of Evernote as a way to organize my notes on the MacBook Pro as well as to have an online copy. While still a little immature, the synchronization, search and OCR on photos are very impressive. Also, the integration with various platforms (Mac, Windows and Windows Mobile) is cool.
One thing I was not happy with was the resolution of the snapshots done by the Evernote Windows Mobile client. As an alternative, I could take a higher resolution photo and then email it to my Evernote email account; however, it would take a lot of steps. Enter ShoZu.
By making Evernote email my one-step account in ShoZu, I can quickly take a photo and send it to Evernote online. Evernote will store it, OCR it and, when I synchronize with my Mac application, provide a copy on my laptop. It is quite cool.
I recommend that everyone should try Evernote and ShoZu. They are an excellent combination.
What if this afternoon your Twitter feed was offline?
Ironically, after praising Twitter yesterday for helping my solve my RSS feed problem, the service was out for a couple of hours in the late afternoon on 5/14. It is interesting how addicted I am to the Twitter feed for get up-to-date information from my trusted network.
What if this morning your digital newpaper didn't arrive?
Imagine waking up and finding out that you have zero newsfeeds pending to read. What happened...did everyone decide to boycott the Internet? Could there actually be no updates to the 34 feeds that I normally follow? The silence is eery...almost like something out of a horror movie or a Twlight Zone episode.
Unfortunately, the moment of insanity passes and Occom's Razor takes over. The simplest solution is the best...there must be something wrong with the mechanism that is updating my NetNewsWire feeds. So I start at the beginning and assume sleep is to blame and stop and restart the application. No effect. After hitting the Refresh All button five or six times hoping that it would automatically start up again, I decide that I need to fix it.
Dismayed and annoyed, I vented my frustration by sending a status update to all my social networking sites using MoodBlast. Suddenly it dawns on me...maybe it isn't only me. Rather than searching the forums to find a solution, I decide to see if anyone else is complaining on Twitter. No one in my feeds are having the same problem?!?! However, I do get my news fix on how Team Slipstream is doing in the Giro.
However, when I go to Summize, I hit the Jackpot! Not only is there a description of the problem, but someone has already provided a solution...NewsGator is the problem and remove the synchronization from your preferences within NetNewsWire. Suddenly, the RSS feeds load and I have 104 new feeds to read. Maybe, I shouldn't be so happy.
This was a very illuminating experience on our dependence on and the power of new Web V2.0 communication methods...i.e. RSS Feeds and Twittering. In record time, I was back up and running...the free and quick dissemination of information will dominate the future of the Internet.
Presentation Zen: Buy it!
Every once and a while there is a book I read that just clicks. It simply knocks the ball out of the park. Presentation Zen is one of them!
A very easy and quick read, Presentation Zen offers page after page of excellent advice about how to build winning presentations. Before reading it, I thought I was an excellent speaker. Afterwards, I realized that I was implementing only about 30-40% of the ideas in the book. I cannot wait to prepare my next Powerpoint presentation. How often does someone say that!?!
Garr Reynolds is currently an associate professor at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan and spent many years working there. Consequently, the book has a Japanese flavor to it, which obviously also appeals to me. Some of the lessons are simply profound in their simplicity. For example, the key to a good presentation is two questions: "What is your point? Why does it matter?". I do not know how many presentations that I have attended in my life where the presenter was clueless on these points and just presented what he or she felt comfortable to present regardless of the relevance to the audience.
Another profound point is that the powerpoint slides are there to complement the speaker, not replace him or her. Therefore, every single point should not be on the slides. That is what should come out of your mouth. When the audience is trying to unravel the meaning in a complex slide, they are not listening to the speaker. Keep the slides simple to support the speaker...not replace the speaker.
I also liked the sidebar sections that provide interesting tidbits of knowledge. One cool one is about the Pecha-kucha method. Basically, Pecha-kucha was developed by a couple of expats in Tokyo and consists of presentations, where the presenters are limited to 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds as the presenter tells the story in sync to the transitioning slides. Within only 6 minutes and 40 seconds, you need to tell your story. How's that for getting your pitch down?
What about all these restrictions? Reynolds postulates that the restrictions are actually liberators of your creativity. I agree wholeheartedly, but it is definitely work to get things to be simple. As Mark Twain said, "It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." However, the investment that you make on the preparation makes the investment your audience makes worthwhile.
As for investments, go buy Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. It is definitely worth it. Also check out his blog.
Businessweek Doesn't Want Us to Link to Them
This runs completely counter to the new Web 2.0 Internet. They should be encouraging us to link to their pages to drive clickthrus to their Web site. It increases the possibility of all different social networking engines to highlight their stories in mashup sites. It just goes to show how out-of-touch mainstream media is when it comes to the Internet.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9858916-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Obama Under Attack
Lately, Senator Obama has been becoming much more aggressive both in person and on the Internet to fight off allegations. I doubt it is a good strategy to be so aggressive and further an negative image. To paraphrase the Queen in Hamlet, "Methinks, Senator Obama doth protest too much!"
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/01/obama_mail
