Macs

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 ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Geek Throwdown: How to sync two or more Macs?

Merlin — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:20:52 -0400

Enter the Octagon

Here’s an experimental new feature: The Throwdown. Take a problem that lots of people face and tell us your personal favorite way to deal with it — in as much detail and with as much persuasion as you can muster.

Today, a lot of us are living on two or more Macs -- which is great, except for the challenge of keeping the contents and settings of multiple machines effortlessly in sync.

Now before you pop in, holler "dot mac," and jump back on your Segway®, consider that many folks (including your author) are looking for a lot more than simple document syncing and perfunctory preference sharing. How about if your needs are more nuanced:

Can it intelligently sync "~/Library" stuff like "Preferences" and "Application Support" for your apps (so that Quicksilver, for example, is with you and tweaked to perfection wherever you go)? Is it smart enough to know which items not to sync?
Can it do smarter comparisons than "which one is newer?" -- consider that someone on 4 or 5 Macs may run into complex versioning problems that currently make .Mac very confused. For text, can it do diff3-style merging?
Will it update often enough (and automatically enough) that I can trust when I sit down at a new machine, I'll know everything's up to date without checking (or manual re-updating)?
Can backups be easily automated? And is it easy to restore across all machines?
Does it work for people on airplanes? If your solution requires a live internet connection for active usage (e.g. traditional WebDAV), what happens when that access is no longer available?

You get the idea. You have a system; now tell us about it. Bow to your sensei, then spare no detail.

How do you sync your Macs?

rsync? ChronoSync? Synchronize? Unison? Something you made yourself?

What are using to sync your Macs, and how are you using it?

”Geek Throwdown: How to sync two or more Macs?” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 12, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

How do you describe Quicksilver?

Merlin — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:43:36 -0400

Acting without doing SOUNDS good, but... (Ask MetaFilter)

I really liked this AskMe question about Quicksilver, since it's one that comes up a lot for folks who don't get as enthused about the app as I (and many of you) do:

Everywhere I go on the internet, Mac users rave about Quicksilver. I've downloaded it a couple times, and I sort of get that it COULD be really useful, but I am not sure how...

So what am I missing with Quicksilver? I see so many other people who get a lot of use out of it, and I am sure I can fit it in somewhere, too, but I just can't seem to figure it out....

Here's a portion of how I responded in comments:

Quicksilver provides access to almost any kind of stuff in your Mac's and your world -- contact information, bookmarks, files, Applications, system settings, and pretty much anything else -- and it lets you leap to any of these things by typing a few letters of the name (NB: Spotlight is more about contents and QS is more about names; they're complementary, not competing). So, that's the neato, Day 0 stuff.

But the big sexy comes with how QS understands the potential verbal relationships between any of those objects, then gives you a single keyboard interface for making amazing things happen...

I'll admit that it always makes me realize what a fanboy I am whenever I try to explain Quicksilver, but, truthfully, it is kind of challenging.

How do you describe Quicksilver to folks who don’t get all the fuss? How do you relate the sexiness?

”How do you describe Quicksilver?” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on September 30, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

MBW 58; Pick of the week is Acorn

Merlin — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:25:58 -0400

MacBreak Weekly 58: Repeal the Nerd Tax

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsay, and Chris Breen

Chris reviews the new iPods, screen issues with the Touch, and the trouble with ringtones...

Here's a direct MP3 download of MBW 58.

Oh, brother, I was totally high on cold medicine when we did this episode. But, not so high that I couldn't recommend Flying Meat's amazing new Acorn, a stripped-down, and very inexpensive graphics app. It's one my favorite Mac programs of the year.

Like I said on the show, there's so many little things you want to do with screen shots or photos -- just weird little tweaks like Dooce's "Lovely Glow Effect" -- and high-end graphics apps like Photoshop can seem really heavy for the job. Acorn is in the sweet spot for most of what I want to do, and so far it's stood up to every task I've needed. And, the price is sure right at an intro rate of $39.95 (0.057 of an "Alex").

And, for the next show, I'll try to be less medicated. I promise. Unless it's something people like. In which case I'll consider getting wasted. Up to you.

”MBW 58; Pick of the week is Acorn” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on September 24, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Clever "Real Life Quicksilver" video

Merlin — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:27:36 -0400

Very fun video by Matt McInerney -- what it would be like if Quicksilver came to life outside your Mac. I sure like it better than living in a YouTube thread.

Quicksilver in Real Life from Matt McInerney on Vimeo.

[via: tumbl.us]

”Clever "Real Life Quicksilver" video” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on September 23, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

MBW: New iMacs; iLife & iWork '08; .Mac; Anti-picks; and Merlin's dirty little secret

Merlin — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:38:03 -0400

MacBreak Weekly 52: Ten Cents A Dance

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

We take a look at Apple's new iMacs, and iLife and iWork 08...

Here's a direct MP3 download of MBW 52.

Of course, when I chose iCal as my anti-pick, I said it with love. Much love.

iCal and me are like family. Except in this case, I'm the Dad and iCal is the at-risk kid whose grades keep dropping and who always forgets to take the trash to the curb. Damned kid.

Tough love? You bet. But, still: love.

Also, in unrelated news, I quietly outed myself as a new iPhone owner. So there you go. My dirty little secret, revealed.

”MBW: New iMacs; iLife & iWork '08; .Mac; Anti-picks; and Merlin's dirty little secret” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on August 10, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Saft for Safari on MacBreak Minute

Merlin — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:38:20 -0400

h a o l i [Saft]

In the latest episode of MacBreak Minute (subscribe), I talked about a Safari plug-in I like a lot called Saft.

Although my short demo only covers bookmarking a set of tabs, Saft does way more. To quote the lovely and talented Jon Hicks:

Saft is quite simply the vital extension for Safari. Its started life as a way of getting full screen/kiosk mode, but has grown to include many other features as well. Hao Li, the developer, is regularly adding new features, and updates are always available soon after a main Safari update.

Saft for Tiger is $12.00 and can be ordered online.

”Saft for Safari on MacBreak Minute” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on August 02, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

rooSwitch for easy, restorable application profiles

Merlin — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 06:16:07 -0400

rooSwitch - Shuffle Your Settings Around

When you're testing a new version of an application (or just being a little paranoid), it can be a pain to deal with protecting your "real" data from being corrupted or overwritten. While something like SuperDuper is priceless for backing up a drive to a disk image, you want something that's not only lighter in weight, but that is smart enough to deal just with the settings associated with a single program. That's where roobaSoft's rooSwitch comes in.

rooSwitch's smarts come in being able to recognize which Preferences, Application Support folders, and related files belong to an app's settings (but, not -- it should be noted -- its documents), so that you can then backup, switch, and restore a group of settings whenever you need to. This can be quite a lifesaver.

So, for example, if I feel like a build of the OmniFocus sneaky peek is being balky (Heaven forfend!), I just drop the OF icon onto rooSwitch's drop-pad, and it saves the current prefs as "default," allowing me to create a new, empty set of preference for testing the app. I can also duplicate a previously switched profile, and, of course, restore any set at any time.

Another one of those fantastic apps that you may never need -- until the day you really need it.

rooSwitch is shareware from roobaSoft, and it will set you back $14.95 (approximately 1/47 of an "Alex"). Props to roobaSoft for easy PayPal payment and an instant serial number.

”rooSwitch for easy, restorable application profiles” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 31, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Macworld: Mac Gems Picks

Merlin — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:15:41 -0400

Macworld Feature: Connect with the world

Macworld Magazine asked me to pick out a few of my Mac Gems, and I was happy to respond with four favorites.

Default Folder, for example, is a PreferencePane that I've used and loved since Christ was a corporal:

Default Folder X (****½)

You can tell Default Folder X is a classic because you start missing it the second you sit down at a Mac that doesn’t have it installed. It reduces the tedium of a handful of annoying dialog-box tasks, and it’s worth its price solely for the ability to set a per-program default location.

”Macworld: Mac Gems Picks” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 24, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Quicksilver proxies for fast, easy printing

Merlin — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:29:53 -0400

Faster Printing with Quicksilver

Mark Fisher shares terrific tips on how to use Quicksilver Proxies for faster printing:

Use this method when you want to print files that are on the Desktop or are all in the same folder.

Select the files that you wish to print by Command clicking them.
Invoke Quicksilver (by default, ?–SPACE)
Type the name of your printer until QS displays its name e.g. “Lexmark”
Hit the TAB key to select the next pane.
Type “open” and select “Open File”. >
- I recommend making “Open File” the default action for when you type “open”. You can do this by Ctrl clicking “Open File” and selecting ‘Set as Default for “OPEN”.’
>
Hit TAB to select the next pane.
Type “current” until QS displays ‘Current Selection’.
Hit ENTER.
Your files should start printing.

Also check out how to use the "comma trick" to print multiple files. Great stuff.

After the jump is the video for the episode of The Merlin Show where I talked about using proxies to access application menus.

Click To Play

Finally, don't miss Robert's tutorial on setting up proxies if this topic is new to you.

”Quicksilver proxies for fast, easy printing” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on July 23, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"