February 2nd, 2009, 23 Comments »
This week I got a new iMac. It’s the first machine I’ve had that’s running OS X 10.5 (that would be Leopard for all you cat-lovers), the current version of Apple’s operating system. I thought I’d ask on Twitter about the Apple desktop apps that the cool kids are using. Here’s what I heard back. I expect that Apple power users will be familiar with all of these.
UPDATE: If this post interests, you might want to check out part two as well.
1Password - A password manager and form completer.
Adium - The popular all-in-one instant messaging client.
Bento - “Personal file organization and database”. I’m a little unclear on why I’d want this. Anyone?
Boot Camp - The app that enables you to run Windows on my iMac. Assuming I can acquire a copy of Windows, I plan to install it for running Windows-only games.
Caffeine - “Caffeine is a tiny program that puts an icon in the right side of your menu bar. Click it to prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. Click it again to go back.” I gather this is for when you’re watching longer web-based videos, where the screen goes dim without inputs after a while?
ClicktoFlash - A Safari plug-in that turns all Flash elements in a web page to gray boxes until you click them. I’m a Firefox user myself, so FlashBlock looks like the equivalent.
FileVault - Software for encrypting one’s files. Boris assures me that I “can ignore FileVault — it’s for encrypting your home directory. Only uber nerds use it.” I am not an uber-nerd, so I’ll take his advice.
FileZilla - An open-source FTP client. I’ve always used CyberDuck, for no particular reason. They both have incredibly goofy names.
Fluid - Make site-specific browsers for your favourite web apps. I’ve been using Google Gears to get certain web app icons in my desktop’s dock, but this will work better.
HandBrake - “An open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multithreaded, DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.”
KeePassX - Another password manager. Yes, I’m troubled by that creative spelling of “key”.
Layers - If I understand it correctly, it enables you to build multi-window screen captures? Seems kind of like a nail in search of a hammer, but who am I to judge?
Mailplane - This is kind of a custom email browser for Gmail that makes the web-based email app act more like desktop software. I’ve used this on my laptop for a while, but lately (probably due to Gmail, not Mailplane itself) I’ve found it rather sluggish. So these days I’m giving Apple Mail a try.
PersonalBrain - A mind-mapping tool, from what I can gather.
Quicksilver - Hard to describe, so here’s Wikipedia: “allows users to use the keyboard to rapidly perform tasks such as launching applications, manipulating files and data, running scripts, or sending e-mail.” I’ve had this installed on my laptop for some time, but I barely ever think to use it.
Skitch - The very handy, exceptionally usable screen capture and quick illustration app.
Snackr - An Adobe AIR app that, I gather, turns part of your desktop into a kind of CNN news ticker, powered by the RSS feeds of your choice.
Storyist - A word processor designed for novelists and screenwriters.
TextMate - A fancier TextEdit. I used NotePad++ on my Windows desktop–I must check to see if there’s a OS X version.
Things - Task management software. Boris, if I recall correctly, described the Areas of Responsibility feature as a ‘game-changer’.
Ted - Combines RSS and BitTorrent to automagically download the TV shows you specify. I’m familiar with another app that does the same thing, TVShows.
Time Machine - Apple’s fancy backup system.
Tinderbox - “A personal content assistant that helps you visualize, analyze, and share your notes.”
VideoLan - The workhouse, almost-never-fails video player I’ve come to know and love. Nowhere is Apple more irrational than in its ridiculously narrow native support of video formats.
Yojimbo - Yet another information manager.
Thanks to Avi, Ian, Chris, Miranda, Graeme, Andrew, David, Kerry, Derek, Chris, Ryan, John, Danny, Martin and Masey. Apologies if I referred to you as a geek if you are, in fact, a Normal Human.
That’s a good start. What favourite app would you add to this list?
23 Comments »
January 8th, 2009, 23 Comments »
In 2006, I bought a new Windows desktop. It enjoyed a year off when we lived abroad and I exclusively used my laptop, but I’ve been using it heavily over the past ten months. It’s beginning to feel seriously creeky.
In 2009, I’d like to buy an Apple desktop. I’ll still need Windows occasionally, but I’ll just use Apple’s Boot Camp to run it in parallel when necessary.
I almost certainly don’t need a Mac Pro, which would cost more than I’d like to spend anyway. So that leaves me with the iMac.
But here’s the thing: I’d like to get a second monitor. And it’s going to trouble my sense of symmetry tremendously if those monitors aren’t exactly the same. Obviously they won’t be the same, because one will be an iMac and one will be a plain old monitor.
We’ve talked about dual-monitors before–I’ve still never worked with that set up. Have you used two monitors side-by-side when they’re not exactly the same model? Did it make your OCD go zing?
This is such a Foamy Latte problem. I’ll explain what I mean by that in an upcoming post.
23 Comments »
August 12th, 2008, 2 Comments »
The one time I went into this Apple store on Yates Street, they gave me incorrect information about Bluetooth-enabling our old iMac. I was unimpressed, so I haven’t been back.
The clip art doesn’t even make any sense. The slogan says ‘Tune your Mac’ and they’re using an image of a (jauntily-leaning) doctor? Surely a mechanic (or, say, a piano tuner?) might have been a wiser option.
2 Comments »
March 31st, 2008, 1 Comment »
Earlier in the month I asked you, dear readers, how you were syncing Apple’s iCal and your Google Calendar. You offered several solutions, but the one I ended up trying was BusySync. It lasted about three weeks before doing this to my calendar:
As you may have guessed, there’s only one luncheon. Julie and I are speaking at it, so the event should appear twice, not five times.
I don’t think I did anything peculiar to the app–I just installed it and expected it to work. And, sadly, it didn’t. At least the uninstall process was relatively straightforward and didn’t permanently screw up my Google Calendar.
I’d consider Spanning Sync, but this issue isn’t really worth 65 of my hard-earned dollars. Back to a web calendar-only universe, I guess.
UPDATE: The folks at BusySync are on the ball, and already emailed with a detailed explanation of the issue. It’s not worth my time to troubleshoot it at the moment, but I appreciate their prompt and thorough response.
1 Comment »
December 19th, 2007, 10 Comments »
Living abroad, we’ve been a little irresponsible about backups. We have a portable hard drive, but it’s pretty full, and it’s in the same room as our computers. After reading Anil Dash’s glowing report on the online backup service Mozy, we decided to give it a try.
What a disaster.
I’ll spare you all of the boring details, but their Apple client is in beta, and clearly deserves a downgrade to alpha. Despite a responsive and reasonably helpful support department, I could never get it working on my MacBook. Julie faired a little better, but the client spontaneously stopped working on her MacBook after a few days.
The support dried up a week ago, and today I got a message asking that I call their support line. I’ve already spent way more time than I should need to on troubleshooting the software, so I’m done. I’ve requested a refund.
We paid US $207.90 for unlimited backup of two computers for two years. That seemed like a good deal, so I’m in the market for something at a similar price point and pain-free on the Mac OS. Do you have any suggestions?
.Mac is out, because we have about 200 GB to store, not 10. Plus it would cost almost twice as much. Lastly, we’re not on OS 10.5.
UPDATE: I see I’m not alone in my frustrations with Mozy or the lack of Apple options .
10 Comments »
September 17th, 2007, 7 Comments »
Undercover is one of the cooler laptop security products I’ve seen in a while. If your Apple laptop is stolen, you can activate it and it’ll send you network information about where your machine is being used. Additionally, you can watch what the thieves do via regular screenshots. Best of all, you can turn on the iSight camera and get photos of the thief in action:
Undercover introduces another world first: if your Mac has a built-in or external iSight, Undercover will transmit pictures of the thief and his surroundings every 6 minutes, making it even easier to identify the current user. It’s like having a private detective working for you.
Hmm…I wonder why they don’t do live video?
They’ll also remotely lock down the computer so that it’s unusable and displays a message saying so, and promising a reward for its return.
I wondered about the pricing model. A single user license costs $49. Why not just give the software away for free, but charge people $99 when they need to activate it? Of course, then you’re relying on a consistent flow of thefts for your revenue, which probably isn’t very wise. Better to trade on people’s fear, uncertainty and doubt.
7 Comments »
