The Brooks Review

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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
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  • Review: The Glif

    Within the first hour of owning the original iPhone I snapped my very first blurry iPhone picture. Crap. The iPhone suffers from the same problem every camera ever made has suffered from – low light photography means blurry pictures. If you have thousands of dollars to spend you can get a dSLR that has extremely…

    Within the first hour of owning the original iPhone I snapped my very first blurry iPhone picture. Crap. The iPhone suffers from the same problem every camera ever made has suffered from – low light photography means blurry pictures. If you have thousands of dollars to spend you can get a dSLR that has extremely high ISO settings – the setting that determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light. Of course with all technology that seems impossible there are drawbacks to using high ISO – the main drawback being a lot of digital noise (looks like odd colored specs throughout the image).

    It is safe to say that if you are indoors you are working in a low light situation. So for most iPhone owners the cute pictures you want to take of your cats may come out a little blurry. The iPhone 4 helps with this by adding a flash and HDR settings – helps but doesn’t solve the problem.

    HDR will do you little good because it requires snapping at least two images in rapid succession – which is great when you have fast shutter speeds, but leads to a ghost like figures appearing in your image at low shutter speeds (the shutter speed you use in low light).

    The iPhone 4 flash helps a lot more, but leaves you with harsh unflattering pictures of people. Photographers will tell you that you need soft light on a person to make them look great. You get soft light by making the light “wrap around” the person you are shooting. Generally speaking this can be achieved by making the light source relatively larger than the subject and by diffusing the light with something as basic as a white bed sheet.

    None of these items and techniques are likely to be carried by the average iPhone user.

    This is where the Glif can come into help – it is not the first tripod mount for the iPhone, nor will it be the last. It is the best though.

    glif-1

    Let me save you some reading and tell you: iPhone 4 + Glif + Joby Gorilla Pod = awesomely sharp shots.

    Let me save you even more time and tell you: You can use the Glif as a tripod for the iPhone – all by its self.

    glif-6

    Glif-in Out

    When Glif started raising funds on Kickstarter I immediately gave $50 to the cause – this meant I got a pre-production unit and a production unit. Pretty sweet deal. When the pre-production unit arrived I was damned excited – turns out that unit wasn’t that great. It was good, but not great.

    When I got home the other day though and the production unit had come in the mail I was again excited – though admittedly I tempered my excitement. Upon touching the production Glif I knew it was going to be great.

    The pre-production Glif was made out of rigid plastic – the production model is made out of a flexible rubbery plastic. This makes a huge difference and is the reason that the production model Glif is, not just great, but excellent.

    The thing I love about the Glif is that you needn’t have any special attachments for you iPhone – of any kind – the Glif secures the iPhone with friction. Now the flexibility of the plastic is what really holds the iPhone in. I noted when I first posted about the Glif that it never was able to hold my iPhone in when turned upside down. I can happily report that the production model Glif will not only hold your iPhone in while upside down – it will do so while you try and shake it out. How cool is that?

    glif-9

    Extending the Glif

    Now the Glif over all is not that useful if you don’t have a tripod with you – which for most people is all the time. So it would seem that the Glif would not be that useable for most – thinking like that will get you made fun of though (by me).

    You see the Glif was also made to work as a rudimentary stand – in landscape orientation the stand works exceptionally well. Flip to portrait though and well the phone doesn’t rest in a viewable position. BUT, if you slide the Glif all the way to the bottom of the phone you can stand the iPhone up 90° off of a flat surface – much more stable than it would be without the Glif. This also works for the landscape orientation.

    glif-4

    glif-5

    Meaning: if you have a flat surface near you and an iPhone+Glif, then you are going to get some crisp pictures.

    It’s That Good

    Here is the bottom-line: I have one pre-production Glif and one production Glif – I am still going to buy at least a couple more.

    glif-7

  • First Ever TBR Give Away

    I have decided that so long as I sell one sponsorship a month I am going to give out something for free. It won’t always be new, but it will be new to who ever wins it. I also will not be giving away something that I hate – these will be items that I…

    I have decided that so long as I sell one sponsorship a month I am going to give out something for free. It won’t always be new, but it will be new to who ever wins it. I also will not be giving away something that I hate – these will be items that I like.

    So with that said here is the first TBR give away:

    A Griffin Technology A-Frame stand for iPad.

    AFrame-1.jpg

    Image from Griffin

    This item is not new, but since it is made out of a solid chunk of aluminum it looks brand new. I don’t have the packaging and the item will be shipped via USPS the day after a winner is chosen.

    The A-Frame is a solid stand, perhaps the most solid iPad stand I have tried thus far. I rarely use it because I have 3 other iPad stands, so it sits in a corner. It is not the best looking stand, but it does its job very well. This normally sells for $49.99 from Griffin.

    Here is how you win:

    1. If you happen to tweet any link to one of the articles I write you are entered (no need to include @brooksreview or @benjaminbrooks in the link – I will find it). Only tweet something if you would normally tweet it: don’t tweet just to be entered – there are other ways. You are also entered if you tweet a blog post that links back to TBR.
    2. You can also win by emailing comments@brooksreview.net a short blurb about a product or service that you couldn’t live without and why. No need to write a 20-page paper – a couple quick sentences will do. This can even be things like iPhones or obscure things that have nothing to do with anything I talk about.

    Once I receive 50 entries I will wait 48 hours for more entries before selecting a winner. So be sure to submit something before then to ensure you are counted. (I will let you know when I hit 50 on Twitter) Also it should go without saying the winner will be picked at random.

    Why

    There are two parts to a successful site: great content and great readers. I want to thank my readers.

  • Dropbox hits 1.0

    Jon Ying on the Dropbox blog: You now can choose which folders get downloaded to which computers. I have been using Dropbox for a long time now – I think since you could get it. This is a great release and I have had no problems with the beta builds of it. Selective Sync has…

    Jon Ying on the Dropbox blog:

    You now can choose which folders get downloaded to which computers.

    I have been using Dropbox for a long time now – I think since you could get it. This is a great release and I have had no problems with the beta builds of it. Selective Sync has been a top requested feature for a very long time – it is implemented very well.

    BTW if you are not a Dropbox user and would like to sign up – using this link will give us both an extra 250mb, even if you only sign up for the free account.

  • OmniFocus Now Supports Sending Emails to OmniFocus

    Brian with the OmniGroup: Starting today, if you can turn the information into an email, you can add it to your OmniFocus inbox. Send an email from your PC, then tap a link on your iPhone to add that email to your database. Pretty nice, not the best thing in the world, but a very…

    Brian with the OmniGroup:

    Starting today, if you can turn the information into an email, you can add it to your OmniFocus inbox. Send an email from your PC, then tap a link on your iPhone to add that email to your database.

    Pretty nice, not the best thing in the world, but a very nice addition.

  • An Open Letter to Carol Bartz, CEO Yahoo Inc.

    Thomas Hawk writing to Carol Bartz about the leaked layoffs of 4% of Yahoo’s staff: But you know what? You haven’t taken the time to really explore the social side of Flickr. Hell, you don’t even have an account yourself on Flickr. One of the most highly visible and trafficked Yahoo properties and you don’t…

    Thomas Hawk writing to Carol Bartz about the leaked layoffs of 4% of Yahoo’s staff:

    But you know what? You haven’t taken the time to really explore the social side of Flickr. Hell, you don’t even have an account yourself on Flickr. One of the most highly visible and trafficked Yahoo properties and you don’t even have an account there. Would it be so hard to have your assistant set up an account for you and post some photos of some mountains from a family vacation two years ago?

    and:

    That’s right. At least according to this report you made $47.2 *million*.

    It is absurd to think that a CEO would lay people off while they rake in that much dough – all the while they don’t even have accounts and use the services their company provides. That would be like Ballmer using a Mac with Mac OS X on it – even he isn’t that stupid.

    Hawk:

    I guarantee you it’s not going to be a thin Christmas at the Bartz household this year.

  • 5 Safari Extensions to Beautify Your Internets

    In a DM on Twitter Milind Alvares sent me this link after I asked him about the availability of a particular Safari Extension. Install all of these extensions because they really do make things a lot better looking. I also love the Reddit Minimal extension and the Pure Reader extension. If you are not into…

    In a DM on Twitter Milind Alvares sent me this link after I asked him about the availability of a particular Safari Extension. Install all of these extensions because they really do make things a lot better looking. I also love the Reddit Minimal extension and the Pure Reader extension.

    If you are not into extensions that re-design a website (which is fare) then just install the Beautifer and Optimize Legibility plug-ins that he lists. I use the font-smoothing commands in my CSS files and it really makes text look great in Safari.

    Bonus Tip: Open ‘Font Book’ on your Mac > scroll down to the Arial font faces > right click > choose ‘disable Arial family’. Now any webpage that calls for Arial will most likely be rendered with Helvetica – you are welcome.

  • 2001: A Microsoft Failure

    Disclaimer: I own stock in Microsoft, be sure to read my Colophon to see what else I own stock in. I got a thought in my head the other – that thought was the basis for this post and subsequent conclusions that I draw. The thought: Why do I keep thinking Microsoft won’t be a…

    Disclaimer: I own stock in Microsoft, be sure to read my Colophon to see what else I own stock in.

    I got a thought in my head the other – that thought was the basis for this post and subsequent conclusions that I draw. The thought: Why do I keep thinking Microsoft won’t be a name that my children recognize? One could argue that the reason is because I am an Apple nut – I think it will be because Microsoft is on a severe slide, one that could paralyze the company.

    Microsoft first shipped Internet Explorer in 1995 and 15 years later we are only on version 8 of Internet Explorer – meaning Microsoft releases a version of Internet Explorer every 1.87 years. Apple ships a version every 1.4 years (since Safari’s inception), Google every 0.16 years, and Firefox every year. Not surprisingly Microsoft has the slowest release schedule for major version updates to web browsers – this really should surprise no one.

    What really blew me away about these numbers though is that Microsoft from 1995-1999 shipped a new version yearly. ((On average, two versions in 95 and none in 98.)) In fact it was not until after 2001 that Microsoft really started slowing down their software launch schedule. Between 1985 and 2001 Microsoft shipped 19 versions ((I did my best to only call something a new version if I remembered it being more than just a bug release.)) of Windows for an average of 0.94 years between new version of Windows, from 2001 to 2010 Microsoft averaged 1.5 years between releases. It is important to note that after 2001 there have only been 2 releases of consumer versions of Windows – the other releases have been major updates to existing systems. ((The new version being Vista and 7 – the updates being XP 64-bit OSes.))

    Also, since 2001 Microsoft has only released two versions of Internet Explorer. ((Internet Explorer 9 is available in public beta form, but has not yet been released.)) It is like Microsoft hit a wall around 2001 and was no longer able to ship products as a result.

    The big question rattling around in my head after this seemingly innocent research: what the hell happened to Microsoft in 2001?

    Prior to 2001 it seemed that Microsoft was banging out release after release – then 2001 comes around and by looking at their software releases alone you would think they had perfected everything because they stopped releasing new stuff.

    Immediately I thought of 9/11, the stock markets crashing, and the post-internet bubble society that we lived in during 2001. Then I looked at Apple (among others) and their release schedules seemed unfazed. This tells me that it was not external factors that slowed the launch of new software, so it must have something to do with internal decisions at Microsoft.

    In fact, the only product at Microsoft that seemed unfazed was the Office suite – odd stuff.

    Gates

    Then it struck me, at some point in the early part of this century Bill Gates handed over the CEO title to Steve Ballmer ((Disclaimer: I am no fan of Ballmer.)) – it just so happens that this change of guard occurred in January of 2000. It would stand to reason that for the first year of handing over the reigns Gates would stay pretty active in CEO type roles – the rest of the company (including Gates and Ballmer) would use this time to fully acclimate to the change. I think it would be absurd to think that once the hand over happened Ballmer was truly the CEO in anything more than title.

    Most who have moved from one position to another within a company could tell you that they still answer questions about stuff they did in their old position. Now take that kind of transformation to a Fortune 500 company and it will be a bit harder for the Founder and former CEO to step into another role without having to juggle both roles for a bit.

    It is my guess that Ballmer truly became CEO of Microsoft in 2001 ((In the sense that Gates’ role was very limited and only served as advisory to Ballmer at this point.)) – the exact point when Microsoft stopped shipping products on regular schedules. I have no way of knowing what happened during this transition, but I do think something significantly happened – something that fundamentally changed the way Microsoft thinks about the software it produces.

    It would seem that it was at this point Windows stopped dead in its tracks. ((And with it IE releases.))

    OS Wars

    Apple launched Mac OS X in 2001, the same time when Microsoft launched Windows XP (perhaps the most successful OS to date from a sales standpoint). Since then there has only been two new versions of Windows: Vista and 7. ((You could argue the case for 64-bit versions of XP and Server versions, but none of these are consumer facing products. For the most part those are releases that most consumers wouldn’t give a crap about. Even things like Windows Home Server are such a joke – what normal American wants to administer their own server at their house? I am a huge geek and even I don’t want a server in my home.)) During that same time span Apple has release seven versions of Mac OS X (10.0-10.6). ((Here you could argue that they only have released 5 – two of the releases were more bug fixes than anything else.))

    This is not to start an Apple versus Microsoft debate – I simply want to illustrate the point that even in today’s market you can continue to push new software all the time to users. To put it simply: the OS market is not stale and sales have not stopped – Microsoft just stopped shipping. Slowing from releasing a new OS on an almost yearly basis and moving to a release schedule in the magnitude of 3-4 a decade is a drastic change.

    Microsoft stopped shipping when its biggest competitor ((Apple)) stepped up its game.

    This is Important

    I am anything but a fan of most Microsoft products – Windows Phone 7 might just be the only thing they have done recently that has got my attention. I still think that Microsoft owes its board and stake holders an explanation of just who screwed up in 2001.

    Was Bill Gates really that vital to the companies success – even though at the time they had some of the brightest minds working for them? ((This was long before massive talent drains from Google started.))

    Obviously Gates did not leave the company – he took a role to focus on the software development at the company. I get the general sense that a lot of things in the works right now at companies of Microsoft and Apple’s size take 5 years before they are ready for the consumer – meaning when Microsoft releases something they have been working on it for 5 years already. ((Five years from concept to shipping product for major things like OS overhauls and phone platforms.))

    That means that by the time Microsoft released Windows Vista in late 2006 they had been working on it since – wait for it – 2001. ((Did I just blow your mind?))

    In fact I don’t think Gates was the problem for the slow shipping – I think Gates was the reason. Further, I think Gates had an excellent reason for delaying new releases of Windows. From what I have read about Gates, and interviews I have seen conducted with him, it seems to me that he has a keen understanding of both where the market is going and what his faults are. ((Design))

    I would guess that he made the move from CEO to chief software architect in 2000 because he saw and imminent need to start innovating the software that Microsoft is making. I would further guess that after XP shipped, Gates walked into the Windows teams building and said: “Cancel everything for the next version of Windows – we are starting over.” Such an event would explain why it took 5 years for Microsoft to release the next major version of Windows (Vista). Two years after that release, they come right back with another – reestablishing some momentum within the division and the company. It would seem a plan was in place once again.

    Gates would have been the only person at Microsoft with enough power and big enough balls to make such a radical decision.

    Which is essentially why I fear for the long term health of Microsoft right now. Gates has essential left the company – serving only in an advisory role from here on out. Who is left at Microsoft that has the knowledge, foresight, balls, power, and skill to correct course when the company needs to?

    Ballmer has all but shown that he cannot do this ((People that throw chairs across the room – while announcing the same product as ‘new’ at CES each year – pretty much confirm that they suck as CEOs.)) – in fact I think this may be a sign of why so many high profile executives have left Microsoft in the past years. Those executives probably tried in vain to correct the course Microsoft is on – when they failed they had no choice but to leave (in one way or another). The fact is that one (Ray Ozzie) of the two guys Bill Gates directly appointed to fill his void is leaving the company. That will hurt.

    Microsoft’s Future

    The future for Microsoft looks bleak to me at this point: Windows 7 is successful, but not as hyped as Mac OS X; Windows Phone 7 has gotten little press; the Kin already failed; and Office users are beginning to wonder why they need to upgrade. The only recent success Microsoft has had is the Xbox Kinect and a $99 gaming device can only take you so far.

    This is a very long winded way of saying something that I have said before: Microsoft needs a leader and they need one now – Steve Ballmer is not that leader.

    My guess is that Gates laid out a great path for the software guys to follow and at the very least that path should be successful until 2013 (five years after Gates left). I think Gates has enough of a proven track record that we can trust his decisions.

    The question becomes: what does Microsoft do after they have implemented all the ideas Gates laid out before he left?

  • Apple’s Mac App Store to Open on January 6

    Apple PR Machine: “The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.” Why call them ‘PC apps’?

    Apple PR Machine:

    “The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.”

    Why call them ‘PC apps’?

  • Sean Sperte on Friends

    Sean Sperte on the first problem he has with the new Friends app for iPhone: The app requires a question (“where do I go?/what do I do?”), answer (“I think I want to see what’s new”), and solution (after searching, “I guess I tap Posts”) from the user on its home screen. This is a…

    Sean Sperte on the first problem he has with the new Friends app for iPhone:

    The app requires a question (“where do I go?/what do I do?”), answer (“I think I want to see what’s new”), and solution (after searching, “I guess I tap Posts”) from the user on its home screen.

    This is a really great, constructive, analysis of the Friends app – its attempt to be your one source for updates on social networks. I haven’t tried it, but from what I gather it falls well whort of its goal.

  • iOS and My Calculator Solution

    I have three calculators installed on my iPhone and two on my iPad. Those three are: Soulver, Calcbot, Apple’s Calculator (iPhone only). Add to that Convert and INCHcalc on the iPhone and I really look like I have a problem doing math. ((I do.)) Today I decided that enough was enough and I was going…

    I have three calculators installed on my iPhone and two on my iPad. Those three are: Soulver, Calcbot, Apple’s Calculator (iPhone only). Add to that Convert and INCHcalc on the iPhone and I really look like I have a problem doing math. ((I do.)) Today I decided that enough was enough and I was going to pick just one calculator and stick with it – there is no need to have so many on my iOS devices (converters are fine, same with that inch-foot calculator until I get out of the Real Estate biz – and God do I wish I could delete Apple’s offering).

    The decision boils down to: Soulver or Calcbot. Soulver is more powerful and functional, but I only use that stuff a fraction of the time. Calcbot is as sexy as an iOS calculator can get and it rarely leaves me needing more power. Cost isn’t an issue as I have purchased them both already.

    Most of the time my finger reaches for Calcbot on my iOS devices – I assume I click on it because I adore the interface. What has become clear is that regardless of which app I click on – I much prefer using Soulver. The app is not as pretty as Calcbot, but it is highly functional and becomes a tool that gets out of your way – allowing you to just calculate (I guess).

    One feature I just love about the app is the way it allows you to work with percentages. I deal with percentages all the time, and I would be dishonest if I said that I don’t get confused some times. The iPad app presents you with the following plethora of percentage options:

    soulver_1 copy-tmb.jpg

    That is pretty sweet if you ask me. The iPhone version can perform similar tasks by holding the percentages button. You can also write in the expressions that you see on the iPad app giving you a sort of natural language calculator (’10% off of $100’ works).

    Soulver is far from winning design awards, but it is the most usable calculator I have tried for iOS. ((The Mac version rocks too.)) Calcbot is serviceable, but Soulver is the best offering I have tried when it comes to actually using a calculator for calculations

  • Improving Search and Maybe Auto-Correct

    This is the first I had heard of Idilia that was founded in 2000 and as reported by Erica Naone: The software focuses on the problem of word-sense disambiguation—choosing the meaning of a word based on what makes the most sense in context. Word-sense disambiguation is an old artificial intelligence problem that has proved thorny…

    This is the first I had heard of Idilia that was founded in 2000 and as reported by Erica Naone:

    The software focuses on the problem of word-sense disambiguation—choosing the meaning of a word based on what makes the most sense in context. Word-sense disambiguation is an old artificial intelligence problem that has proved thorny over the decades. For a computer to apply a word correctly in context, it has to have a huge amount of background information—not just what’s in a dictionary but also a map of how words fit together both grammatically and conceptually.

    They are applying it to search engines to give people better results. I think the greatest money will be made with mobile auto-correct algorithms that could solve a lot of text message confusion. This is the type of company Google and Apple should be looking at buying up.

  • If Your Mac is Waking Up In Your Bag

    Some great tips from Macgasm. My MacBook Pro used to wake up all the time in my bag and would feel like a hot stove when I pulled it out. Be sure that your Mac is asleep when you put it away – MacBook Air has not yet had that problem which is good because…

    Some great tips from Macgasm. My MacBook Pro used to wake up all the time in my bag and would feel like a hot stove when I pulled it out. Be sure that your Mac is asleep when you put it away – MacBook Air has not yet had that problem which is good because there is no sleep indicator light.

  • Mini Review: Keyboard Maestro

    Quite a while ago I download Keyboard Maestro, installed it and quickly gave up on it. At that time I really just didn’t have a need for what it could do. Since then I have become quite the keyboard junkie and I really hate having to use the mouse. I find it is slow and…

    Quite a while ago I download Keyboard Maestro, installed it and quickly gave up on it. At that time I really just didn’t have a need for what it could do. Since then I have become quite the keyboard junkie and I really hate having to use the mouse. I find it is slow and inefficient for most text based actions. I always wished that I could do more just by pressing the keyboard, kind of like how in just about every TV show the IT guy can zoom and enhance a picture with just a few key strokes. That is when I remembered Keyboard Maestro; I decided it was time to give it a fair shake down.

    What it does

    Keyboard Maestro is not just an app for assigning keyboard shortcuts to things that is built into Mac OS X for most all menu commands. This is a tool for people that want to do a lot of stuff with just a few presses of the keyboard.

    Things like renaming a group of files, opening a set of applications, creating global commands. The types of things that bring your computer that much closer to the imaginary computers on shows like CSI and others. If you are not a nerd, if you prefer the mouse, or if you just prefer not to tinker then you should stop reading here: this app is of no value to you.

    If you are still reading then get ready to waste a lot of time playing in this app.

    My First Challenge

    When I first opened up Keyboard Maestro I looked around at the pre-filled actions that it can preform and started to think about which ones I wanted to keep ‘enabled’ and which I didn’t care about. I started to toy with ideas, grand ideas, that proved a little too advanced for the app. So I brought myself back to reality and kept the window open.

    From that moment on, every time I did something that I felt should be more automated, I tried to make the action in Keyboard Maestro. The first thing I came across was needing to close all open applications so that I could perform a SuperDuper! backup (I am paranoid about having things running during a back up).

    So I made a ‘super quit’ command:

    keyboard_maestro_3.png

    This took all of 10 seconds to make; now I can perform backups much faster. Nice.

    Going beyond the Call of Duty

    At this point I liked Keyboard Maestro, but it had hardly emboldened itself in my Mac experience.

    Then I wanted to reopen my apps that I just closed so that I could get back to work which was the problem. I don’t keep apps in my dock, so I launch them via LaunchBar. This means is a lot of keyboard strokes to do something that should be automatic.

    (Side note: I don’t use open at login for much of anything because I hate having to wait for apps to load when I know exactly what I want to launch. I much prefer to be in control of what is opening and when those apps are opening. Open at login seems to get in the way more often than not.)

    I wanted to create a command that launched the apps and got them ready for me to use.

    Here is my typical morning computing workflow: wake computer > launch apps I need to get going ((These were all quit the night before for backing up the computer.)) > take my medicine ((Allergies)) > back to the computer to get going > close windows I don’t need >start computing. I wanted to eliminate steps #2 and #5, the launching of apps, and closing of windows. Since I would be away from my computer during these times, the time it takes to do this is not important.

    Here is what I came up with:

    keyboard_maestro_01.png

    I want to talk a little bit about what is going on here so that you can begin to grasp the power of Keyboard Maestro.

    1. I open all the apps that I want.
    2. I pause the next set of actions so that all the apps can load.
    3. I close the windows that apps open, as I don’t like to see these windows until I need them.
    4. Again I pause for a short bit so that I can make sure the other actions are done.
    5. Ulysses is annoying when you open it and it takes a bit longer to load than the other apps. So I pause before I hide the application. I hide Ulysses because I want to keep my project open, but not see it until I want to write.

    Basically I am opening a bunch of apps and then hiding/closing the windows that they automatically create. By the time I get back from my medical excursion the MacBook Air is ready to roll.

    Going Advanced

    Ok so the above is a pretty basic use case for Keyboard Maestro. I still think this is where you should start, so you can get a feel for how the app works. Once you do that you can start drawing in other things; Keyboard Maestro makes it pretty simple to do so.

    To File

    One thing that I do daily is move files from my ‘Inbox’ folder to a ‘To File’ folder. Before Keyboard Maestro this meant dragging the files from one folder to another. In order to be fast I need to keep my ‘To File’ folder in the Finder sidebar, which drove me crazy. I can now ‘file’ any file from any folder with a keystroke:

    keyboard_maestro_2.png

    I couldn’t find a way to ‘move’ a file, nor did cut and paste work. So I created a simple copy and paste command that deletes the original files when it is done. The only reason for a pause in there is to make sure that everything closes properly.

    A Lot More

    There is a lot more stuff you can do with Keyboard Maestro. You can for example have it execute an Automator or Applescript for you. I have actions set now to resize images with a keystroke, rename files, and much more. I haven’t had the program long, but I can tell you that in the time I have had it I have really come to love the flexibility and automation that it adds to my Mac.

    I have not provided many examples here of what Keyboard Maestro can do, but I am confident that when combined with shell scripts, applescripts and Automator workflows you can accomplish just about anything you would want to. In fact I don’t think I have ever used Automator as much as I do now that I combine it with some great Keyboard Maestro magic. ((I have a macro setup up where hitting a key command after I select a group of images prompts for what I want the name to be.))

  • A Great Hazel Rule from Shawn Blanc

    Shawn Blanc shared a great Hazel rule tonight on Twitter – it reveals a zip files contents when you expand it within Mail.app. A nice addition.

    Shawn Blanc shared a great Hazel rule tonight on Twitter – it reveals a zip files contents when you expand it within Mail.app. A nice addition.

  • Chris Rawson’s Response to Joshua Kors

    Chris Rawson responding to Joshua Kors–whom I have already deemed an idiot: Frustrated with his inability to work with Mac OS X, Kors decided to attempt to install a virtual machine of Windows using Parallels. But when Parallels asked him for a Windows installation disc, he cried, “where the hell am I going to get…

    Chris Rawson responding to Joshua Kors–whom I have already deemed an idiot:

    Frustrated with his inability to work with Mac OS X, Kors decided to attempt to install a virtual machine of Windows using Parallels. But when Parallels asked him for a Windows installation disc, he cried, “where the hell am I going to get a copy of the Windows CD?” Probably at any major US software retailer.

    Love this entire response.

  • Why IE 9’s Anti-Tracking Feature is Bogus

    Simson Garfinkel on why IE 9’s anti-tracking feature will not work: More important, the new feature won’t stop the websites you access from tracking you. And since you won’t block the websites you are using, you won’t block the tracking.

    Simson Garfinkel on why IE 9’s anti-tracking feature will not work:

    More important, the new feature won’t stop the websites you access from tracking you. And since you won’t block the websites you are using, you won’t block the tracking.

  • John C. Dvorak: No One Under 30 Wants an iPad

    John C. Dvorak asking if he is wrong about the notion that the iPad is an old persons computer, and no one under 30 wants to own one: Am I wrong about this? Yes, yes you are. You said so yourself earlier in your article: I’m sure every department store Santa Claus has heard an…

    John C. Dvorak asking if he is wrong about the notion that the iPad is an old persons computer, and no one under 30 wants to own one:

    Am I wrong about this?

    Yes, yes you are. You said so yourself earlier in your article:

    I’m sure every department store Santa Claus has heard an earful of requests for an iPad.

    Now unless I am wrong going to sit on Santa’s lap is an overwhelmingly “under the age of 30” thing to do.

  • Review: CNN’s iPad App

    I had a swamped morning. When I saw, on Twitter, that CNN had launched a free iPad app I was pretty excited to give a whirl. To date there have been very few news apps for the iPad that have been worth a damn. I am sad to say that the CNN app is among…

    I had a swamped morning. When I saw, on Twitter, that CNN had launched a free iPad app I was pretty excited to give a whirl. To date there have been very few news apps for the iPad that have been worth a damn.

    I am sad to say that the CNN app is among the worst news apps released for the iPad.

    When you fire up the app the first page you see a grid of images with article titles. A lone ad sits at the side and everything looks and works in a decent fashion. ((Scroll sucks, but that is the case in most apps with this type of view. Look at Reuters for example.)) You can switch between three main view modes to disseminate your news: Grid/Mosaic, List, and ridiculously large images with tiny headlines. I don’t know why anyone would want the latter. The list view may win the award for the most boring view state available on the iPad; it should be said that there are other apps with equally ugly list views, this just so happens to really look bad.

    So you are stuck with the grid view if you want to keep your sanity.

    Upon checking out all these view modes I was willing to forgive the app since reading the news is the most important aspect. I moved directly into the articles view and what I saw was more than disappointing: it is a blatant disregard for the reader. The article is held to the left edge of the screen (both orientations) and in landscape view it only takes up half of the screen. Half. What the hell is that about?

    cnn-ipad_1 copy-tmb.jpg

    The other half of the screen is a lovely advertisement; you are also given the option to view comments and add yours in this space. So what CNN is essentially saying is that the content they write is of equal importance as the content their readers and advertisers write. Hmmm.

    You get between 8-10 words a line with this layout. That is not abysmal, but it is pathetic. For the most part the column size remains the same when you flip to portrait view. The app sucks in either orientation.

    cnn-ipad_2 copy-tmb.jpg

    Bottom Line

    I am glad I am done writing this post so I can delete the CNN app from my iPad.

  • Joshua Kors: Idiot of the Decade?

    There is so much false stuff and stupid things Joshua Kors says I had a hard time choosing: I knew that, unlike a PC, I wouldn’t be able to connect one computer to another and transfer over my documents. Yes, Joshua Kors thinks that Macs cannot network. Idiot. If you want a good laugh read…

    There is so much false stuff and stupid things Joshua Kors says I had a hard time choosing:

    I knew that, unlike a PC, I wouldn’t be able to connect one computer to another and transfer over my documents.

    Yes, Joshua Kors thinks that Macs cannot network. Idiot. If you want a good laugh read the entire thing.

    [via Viticci who hopes and prays that this is a joke.]

  • My Interview on Intrvws

    A while back Ian Hines asked me if I would like to participate in an interview for his new site ‘Intrvws’ I was honored to do so and it was a lot of fun too. Don’t just click through to read my interview, click through and read the ones that interest you, then subscribe to…

    A while back Ian Hines asked me if I would like to participate in an interview for his new site ‘Intrvws’ I was honored to do so and it was a lot of fun too. Don’t just click through to read my interview, click through and read the ones that interest you, then subscribe to the site.

    [note: I set the link through not to my interview but to the main page so you see all the interviews Ian has done. The direct link to my interview is here.]