Elsewhere

43f Screencast: Merlin's First Desktop Tour

Merlin — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:20:25 -0500

Merlin’s First Desktop Tour on Vimeo (Full HD Version)

After a recent “Most Days” episode, several people asked to see what all’s in my menu bar, so I made this little video using ScreenFlow. It’s a “proof of concept.” A “pilot program,” if you like. Again: an experiment. (Hint: this looks way better in full HD)

Watch this space next week for more info on these apps, plus discount codes and more.

Liked this? Want to see more of these? Got ideas? Stuff you’d like to see or have ever wondered about? Leave a nice comment on the Vimeo page. But, be gentle. It’s my ﬁrst attempt at a screencast, and I’m no Don McAllister.

Seeing Your App Here?

NB: If you’re a developer of one of the mentioned apps and want to give my readers a sweet discount via a coupon code, hit me up at macstuff at 43 folders dawt com with the subject “I Love 43f Readers.”

”43f Screencast: Merlin's First Desktop Tour” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 23, 2009. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Re-Potting with Resources: What Would You Make?

Merlin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:30:43 -0500

Leo Interviews Merlin Mann of 43 Folders

The beginning of a blood-curdling recession hardly seems like the time to ruminate about fantasy resources, I’ll grant you that. But, I want you to think about something. Really think about it.

If, tomorrow morning, you had 60% of the time and resources you needed to start making anything you wanted, what would it be? And, what would you do ﬁrst?

Thanks, Leo

To be honest, Zen Habits isn’t my favorite site in the universe (oy, always with the “Zen”). But, it turns out its founder, Leo Babauta is a very nice fellow, who also has a new site for his new book. So, he’s been interviewing a few people for the site, including yrs truly. Apart from my brief, low-sugar meltdown at the beginning of our talk, I really like how his interview with me turned out. (As I’ve said before, interviews are one place where I ﬁnd out what I really think.)

For one, I’m always happy to share how my daughter is constantly (delightfully) blowing up my whole notion of priority. That’s huge.

But, I also like that this interview is the ﬁrst place that people who don’t know me personally will hear me ask that question above – about what you’d want to make (I turn the tables and ask it to Leo toward the end of his interview, around 19:20).

Never See it Coming

It’s a wildly disarming question, especially when you don’t know it’s coming. Because it makes you realize how much you may view life as a slog toward a tomorrow that’s pretty much identical to today and yesterday and the week before. And, certainly, there’s nothing wrong with security, dependability, and providing continuity to yourself and your family. It’s what adults need.

But, as most of us discover – especially at the beginning of that blood-curdling recession – security is an illusion. It’s a heuristic we draw from observing the coincidence of things not going badly for a while at a stretch. And, that’s great. While it lasts. But, it’s deﬁnitely an illusion.

Thing is, if I think about all the events in my life that led to a really big, (eventually positive) change, they all started as something awful. A death, a layoff, a divorce. Anything that forced me to “re-pot myself” at a time that seemed sad, inconvenient, and horribly timed. At the time, each seemed like “the end” – something I couldn’t possibly recover from.

But, that’s life. It’s a huge dick about both your plans and your desire to avoid inconvenience.

Humor Me

So. What if, just for the sake of argument, we embraced the thinking of the fat man, and accepted that we have no real idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. Because, let’s be honest, we don’t. You or I might get seriously re-potted tomorrow morning, and wouldn’t it be splendid if we had something besides our incredulity and angst to comfort us?

So, I ask that question. What would you make? What would you start?

Change is a wave you can ride or drown under, but you can’t just sit on the beach, eating Dippin’ Dots and listening to Skynyrd. That’s not how it works. So, even if you’re mostly secure right now, and even if you’re mostly doing what you like, just think about what a big change would mean and how you’d ride it.

But, Why the Free Stuff?

The reason I throw in that “60% of what you need,” is that it’s just enough to make the question interesting and ambitious. Give someone no resources, and they have no imagination. Give them all the resources and they break ground on a Hooters in their garage. But, give someone most of the resources they need, and you have a delightful real-world challenge to the creative imagination.

And, ﬁnally, if you’re feeling really ambitious, imagine you have most of what you need today. Because, here’s the O. Henry ending: you probably already have at least part of what you need to get started. On a novel. On a one-person business. On your ﬁrst gallery show. Maybe it’s only 40% or 25% or .001%. But, it’s something. And something is all any project needs to get started. Don’t believe me? Try it.

Imagine you have almost what you need. Then, just start something.

”Re-Potting with Resources: What Would You Make?” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 12, 2009. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Introducing “43 Folders Clips”

Merlin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:17:29 -0500

43 Folders Clips (RSS)

If you’re curious about the stuff that gets my attention and inspires me (and, consequently, inspires the longer essays you see here on 43 Folders), you may enjoy my informal new sub-blog, 43 Folders Clips.

Clips is a public idea board for capturing interesting stuff I’ve come across and would like to share with you, but which falls short of requiring a whole post on the home page of the www.

My inaugural day of clipping included:

Ze Frank video on executing ideas (as a way to get MORE ideas)
Roger Ebert on Charlie Kaufman’s creative DNA
Eric Idle video on John Cleese’s maddening approach to writing
Frank O’Hara reading one of his wonderful “lunch poems”
New research on how “nature interaction” helps memory and ADHD symptoms
Dooce’s Photoshop technique for “That Lovely Glow Effect”

As time allows, I’ll ﬁnd a way to properly integrate Clips into the mothership in a way that’s sensible and unobtrusive, but for now, the easiest way to follow along is to subscribe to the Clips RSS feed. Tumblr.com users can also just click the “Follow” button on the upper-right of any Clips page.

”Introducing “43 Folders Clips”” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 02, 2009. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

MacBreak Weekly 85: Wombats, Pystar, NBC's Buggy Whips, Mitchell & Webb, and hacking Time Machine

Merlin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:07:32 -0400

MacBreak Weekly 85: You Look Mac Today

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, and Andy Ihnatko

Wombats, Pystar clones, Back to My Mac, Aussie iPhones on Vodafone, and more.

Here’s a direct MP3 download of MBW 85.

This week my Audible pick is That Mitchell and Webb Sound, and my application pick is TimeMachineEditor. The former is a wonderful radio series by two British comics that I’m currently obsessed with, while the latter is a very handy app for manually setting how often Time Machine backs up your Mac.

Also, Leo was kind enough to acknowledge You Look Nice Today (iTunes), the new podcast that I do with my more gifted brother Twitterers, @scottsimpson and @lonelysandwich. We also live collectively on Twitter as “ylnt.”

I’m off MBW next week, but we should all be returning from our various conferences and travels with the full crew for taping on the week after.

”MacBreak Weekly 85: Wombats, Pystar, NBC's Buggy Whips, Mitchell & Webb, and hacking Time Machine” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on April 17, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Merlin on MacBreak Weekly 75

Merlin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:47:32 -0500

MacBreak Weekly 75: MacHeist Replies

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Andy Ihnatko, Scott Bourne, and Alex Lindsay

Guests: Philip Ryu of MacHeist, Andrew Welch of Ambrosia.

> >

Apple reports record earnings… then stock tanks, Philip Ryu of MacHeist and Andrew Welch of Ambrosia give counterpoints to MacHeist discussion, and more.

Here’s a direct MP3 download of our marathon 107 minute, nearly-ruined-by-Skype-farts MBW 75.

And, hey, whaddaya know? MBW is having its Diamond Anniversary. I should pick up a necklace or an industrial drill for Leo.

This week, Leo invited Philip and Andrew on to talk about MacHeist. I hope they feel like they got a fair hearing and were able to say their piece. For myself, I’m still not sure how I feel about MacHeist, but I’m persuaded that the process is improved over the ﬁrst time it was offered. On a personal level, it was cool to be given a chance to talk to Andrew, whose Ambrosia Software has been with me like a secret friend for almost as long as I’ve used a Mac.

This time around my pick of the week is Airfoil by Rogue Amoeba (although I also profess my affection for lots of other stuff Paul makes). Good interview from last year with Paul over on Ars Technica.

”Merlin on MacBreak Weekly 75” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 30, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

MacBreak 74: Hot Lips and Hawkeye

Merlin — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:31:17 -0500

MacBreak Weekly 74: Hot Lips and Hawkeye

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Andy Ihnatko, and Rich Siegel

A look back at Macworld, Ofﬁce spreads out, MacHeist, .Mac future bright and cloudy, certain gestures and more.

Here’s a direct MP3 download of MBW 74.

I think this might be one of my favorite episodes of MacBreak Weekly. Say what you will about the podcast medium, it’s amazing to be able to pull an articulate person like Rich Siegel into your conversation midway – (~00:38:15) – just via IM and a phone number. Very cool.

So. That said. I really want the promoters and developer-fans of MacHeist to have their opportunity to respond to what Rich (and we) had to say. Clearly we all think a lot of the Mac indie community, so it’d be valuable to continue the conversation in a way that’s fair and civil for everybody.

Directions on how to get your voice heard appear around (~00:57:11) of this episode.

update 2008-01-25 08:21:01

”MacBreak 74: Hot Lips and Hawkeye” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 23, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Macworld Expo '08: Merlin visits with Panic, Agile Web Solutions, and James from New Jersey

Merlin — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:52:25 -0500

Macworld Expo wouldn’t be the same for me if I didn’t have the chance to hit the ﬂoor and talk to the kids for MacBreak.

This year, I returned to Tiny Town to talk to my new internet boyfriends, Cabel and Steven, at Panic, Dave Teare from my beloved 1Password, as well as the charming James from New Jersey who says he doesn’t want to punch Steve Jobs, no matter what.

MacBreak 121: Macworld 2008/Panic Software

Merlin Mann chats with Cabel and Steven from Panic Software.

MacBreak 123: Macworld 2008/Jersey guy

Merlin Mann chats with James from Jersey about ﬂying, beverages, and theoretically punching Steve Jobs.

(I couldn’t ﬁnd embeddable video of my interview with Dave from 1Password, but you can download ‘er directly)

”Macworld Expo '08: Merlin visits with Panic, Agile Web Solutions, and James from New Jersey” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 20, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

InformationWeek story on Merlin's Macworld '08 presentation

Merlin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:27:31 -0500

How To Take Back Your Time And Attention – Merlin Mann – InformationWeek

Wow. Mitch Wagner did an ass-kickingly thorough job of summarizing my talk at Macworld about wrangling your time and attention. Really nice work, Mitch – thanks, man.

“When the value of your times is set too low, or not at all, it leads to waste and abuse,” Mann said.

This is a particular problem for knowledge workers. (How do you identify knowledge workers? “Look for someone with girlie smooth hands who can go to lunch whenever they want,” Mann explained.) Knowledge workers have huge amounts of freedom in how they work, they aren’t micromanaged, they just have goals to achieve. That freedom is dangerous. “You can ﬁnd yourself at two in the morning staring at Wikipedia covered in pizza crusts,” Mann said.

Up top is a snap of the slides from my talk, which I’ll try to get up on Slideshare when I get a chance to tidy them up.

[Pimp: here’s information on my speaking gigs and how to bring me in to speak with your organization]

update 2008-01-21 12:39:42: Okay, she’s up. As ever, I’m not sure these’ll make much sense without me standing there, yammering, but here’s a clickable version of my slides:

| & Time Burglars' on SlideShare">View

”InformationWeek story on Merlin's Macworld '08 presentation” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 18, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Back to MacBreak Weekly with Episode 70

Merlin — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:40:51 -0500

MacBreak Weekly 70: Happy Life Day!

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, Chris Breen, Merlin Mann, and Scott Bourne

It’s the Macbreak Weekly Year Ender!

Here’s a direct MP3 download of MBW 70.

And here’s linkage to a few of the things I mentioned (adapted from this episode’s show notes):

MenuCalendarClock from Objectpark Software is a a handy and functional way to get at your iCal task list from the menu bar. ($19.95)
Remote Buddy at IOspirit.com looks like a very cool way to run your Mac from your iPhone. I was chickenshit to ﬁnish the install after seeing something about “Kernel insertion”. Anybody tried it? (19.99 EUROS)
FlexTime from Red Sweater Software is a swell multi-timer that’s an awesome tool for procrastinators (from 7/2006: “2 OS X timers to watch: Flextime & Meridian”). ($18.95)

And, of course, here’s the full, 2-hour version of the truly unbelievable Star Wars Holiday Special.

Happy Life Day, indeed.

”Back to MacBreak Weekly with Episode 70” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on December 26, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Merlin at IDEO: "Know How" Talk with Scott Underwood

Merlin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:06:47 -0400

Scott Underwood from IDEO was kind enough to invite me down to their Palo Alto HQ for a tour of the renowned design group (they designed Apple’s ﬁrst mouse!) and to participate with him in one of the company’s internal “Know How” talks. It was very informal (and – because this was during my recent “100-year sinus infection” – I was completely high on cold medicine).

We talked about Getting Things Done, life hacks, knowledge work, nostalgia for scarcity, and the problem of getting addicted to productivity advice, among many other topics. This one’s a tour de force.

Video runs about an hour, and yes: I am wearing a handsome Big Lebowski tshirt. Abide.

Click To Play

Mea culpa – this was an intimate little gathering held for the beneﬁt of those in the room and wasn’t intended as a for-video talk show shoot. So audience members’ questions were not recorded on-mic. Apologies for you not being able to hear them, but I think you’ll mostly catch the gist.

Many thanks to Scott Underwood for inviting me in and for hosting the talk, and thanks also to Eric Stangarone, who shot the video and who was kind enough to permit me to share this with you guys, as well. Awesome company. Great people.

Update 2007-10-09 08:14:45 PST

Oooo…almost forgot – alternative media formats (thanks, Blip!)

”Merlin at IDEO: "Know How" Talk with Scott Underwood” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 09, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2009 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"