saulrosenbaum.com / mac

So I’ve been twitting for a short time, Like so many people I downloaded ‘Twittererific’ and have been happily twitting away - it’s a solid sexy little app, and honestly I would expect nothing less from the guys at iconfactory, they rock, and rock hard. Given my recent love affair with the shell, I realized last night that I could easily leverage Launchbar to be my twitting tool of choice; twitters API is simple and concise.

curl --basic --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" --data-ascii ¬
"status=YOUR DESIRED TWIT" " ¬
http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json"

So to tie that to Launchbar we simply add the argument passed (your typed status) from launchbar into the script, save it in ‘\bin’ CHMOD it executable, and bind it to a search template

curl --basic --user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" --data-ascii ¬
"status=$1" "http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json"

That’s all it really takes to post, how simple is that?, of course to get your friends status it’ll take a bit more, I’m thinking ‘geektool’ is the right tool for that job, but that’s a different post (hopefully tomorrow).

Tagged: api, shell, twitter

I’m forever fiddling with online ‘organizers’ one of the nicest IMHO is Backpack by those 37 signals guys, it’s clean and straightforward - and while I doubt I’ll ever actually use it for my day-to-day masterlist, it’s an excellent place to jot down some quick notes - till I can transcribe them into the ‘uber’ paper list that rules my waking hours (yes..paper, I confess, I kill trees, regularly)

So my recent insomnia had me poking at the BackPack API - to see if I could easily marry BackPack to Launchbar which is my preferred launcher du-jour (whole other post needed as to my choosing it over QS) Natively launchbar supports applescript (which I hate writing), and it also supports Shell scripts (which I love writing) so that choice was simple.

BackPack’s API uses XML over HTTP - which I found annoying (which means I couldn’t get it to work) but Backpack also has a email interface - which is cake. I create a shell script named ‘createTODO’ and parked it in my bin directory. I CHMOD’d it executable.

#!/bin/bash

E="address@yourpage.backpackit.com"
S="Subject: todo: $1"
echo $S | sendmail -f youremail@domain.com $A

that’s the nuts and bolts of it really. it’s clean, simple, bulletproof - you don’t even need to worry about your API key, tested with some static content, boooyah! step one done.

Now to connect that to LB it’s so easy it’s sick..
Open your LB Configuration and create a new search template, give it a simple to type name (like TD)
and make the detail is (Note the linebreak ¬)

x-launchbar:execute? ¬
path=/bin/createTODO&arguments="*"

Using it is as easy as;
Trigger LB, type ‘TD’ hit space. type your task/note and hit enter DONE!

I created a similar script and template for Backpack notes, I’m pretty sure you can figure that one out. Maybe the next version will use applescript and have Growl feedback… hmm.

I was looking for a way to drop bookmarks to email threads in Mail.app‡ when I stumbled upon Hallon a VERY cool open-source project by Peter Borg (of Smultron fame), it’s exactly what I was looking for and SO MUCH MORE.

Peter does a much better job describing it than me.

Hallon can create bookmarks in many applications (like iTunes or Mail.app) that usually can’t create bookmarks and they are always accessible from a menu whatever you are doing. You can e.g. bookmark your favorite songs, an email that you have to reply to later that day, some documents that you are working on or the contact information of a friend whom you need to call before the end of the week. And you play the song, open the email, the document or the contact information just by choosing the bookmark in the Hallon menu.

IMHO most software is for the most part derivative, Hallon rings unique, filling a void that most people don’t even realize the have. The ability to jump back into an email thread, an address, a playlist, and set reminders and notes as well is great for anyone who deals with an unreasonable amount of information on a daily basis.

‡ I knew this was possible because my brief exposure to iGTD did this perfectly, iGTD was an excellent program in it’s own right, just not a great fit for me.

Hallon

I’m a pretty heavy gSuite user(gmail,calendar,docs) for the most part I’m fine using them in a browser, my browser of choice happens to be Safari, When I got a chance to try the then beta Mailplane out, I jumped at it, it’s not bad, it made managing my five gmails accounts pretty painless, and the drag and drop file attachments was interesting, but ultimately it’s just a browser with a few sexy tricks, and I don’t think those tricks justify the soon-to-be 24 dollar price tag. So I needed an alternative..of course Safari is perfectly fine, and 40% of the time that’s what I use even when Mailplane was open, but searching I went anyway.

Hana is interesting in a laughable way - if you turn off safari’s address bar, hide the bookmark bar - you have hana, it offers not a single differentiator over Safari - other than no navigation, but wait….it’s $19.91, I nearly laughed myself sick… I can only assume they paid a bunch for the sassy icon.

So I won’t be using Hana, but I found a gem in my travels, Webmail.app, a little bit of webkit, served up by Michael McCracken, it only does gmail, it’s devoid of sexy tricks, and it’s rock freekin solid, I’d love for it to deal with my five gmail accounts, but I may solve that problem differently.

Webmail.app really shines when you set it as the ‘compose’ app via G-Mail notifier, that marries the menubar display with Webmail’s single-minded approach.

I suppose eventually i will have tried every application the world has to offer, here’s two more I can strike off my list.

So I’ve had my iPhone for about 48 hours - I’m a bit torn about it, it’s a great ipod, it’s a tremendous mobile browser, it’s a darn nice 2 MegaPixel camera - but honestly it’s just an okay phone - 70% of my issues revolve around the form factor - it’s thin, slippery and awkward, it’s got zero tactility (is that a word?) the top feels pretty much like the bottom, so it’s more than a little awkward to fiddle with in the car unless you actually stop to look at it… I don’t want to write a long form review, it’s been done to death - I’ll just mention a few things that jump out at me.

• Mobile Safari - excellent, especially if a site is designed to accommodate it (FYI - this column width - kicks ass on the iPhone).
• Ipod - clean & elegant, Apple continues to impress me with their ability to restrain themselves feature-wise.
• Keyboard - I was concerned, I have somewhat ‘sausage’esqe’ fingers but I seem to have no issues whatsoever - for the most part error free.
• Calendar - the little dots to signify events is just weak - ‘Steve’ get the ipod UI team to look at the calendar UI… NO TASKS!, um 2007!
• Maps - Not hugely impressed YET, but as soon as some smart programmer hacks some GPS software to triangulate your position based on overlapping wifi coverage - the map integration could get very nice, very fast.
• Clock - (seriously) very nice UI, Timer has the single most gratuitous UI on the whole iPhone.
• Notes - Did we really need the legal pad metaphor? I’m a tad insulted.
• YouTube - the video looks amazing..simply amazing.
• Edge - Not fast, not slow - when I’m in the middle of nowhere I don’t care that it’s slow.

Like I said it’s a great little toy gadget - am I glad I bought it? Sure, I’m a UI designer and a web developer, and a 19+ year mac user - and buying myself an iphone was a no-brainer, am I going to miss my old cell phone? probably, but only when I’m on the phone.

Tagged: iphone

I know I’m going to get serious flack from my buddy Larry on this… I switched to Apple mail tonight - from Thunderbird, I think that’s officially my 4th email client in 6 years, eat time moving several 100,000 emails each time - it’s been VERY painful, and time consuming, and stressful.

So the question I’m sure your asking is why?, well the answer is pretty simple - Thunderbird is a pig, a slow, quirky and not very enjoyable to use pig - but those aren’t the real reason - more and more of the apps that I use and depend on are natively integrating with mail and ical (and the like) and I finally decided to take the plunge - and really it wasn’t much of a plunge really - on my 24”MacIntel Imac - mail.app screams - smart folders behave just like real folders, last time I tried mail.app those smart folders where anything but snappy. Spotlight support in my email is an interesting experience..not FAST FAST, but easily Thunderbird Fast.
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How insane is it that iTunes can’t watch a folder - it’s such a simple concept, when I add an MP3 to folder X, automatically add it to my music library, and add it to the ‘Recently added’ playlist, I’m sure it’s folder actionable, but please, I know I’m not the only iTunes user scratching his head over this glaring omission. I just realized..iTunes syncs with freeking everything BUT my Mac, ipods, iphones, appleTVs, Motorola cellphones, and a host of other things..

I’m sure it’s a business decision, his royal Steveness thinks the only music on my computer is either purchased or ripped via iTunes, and in the library already as a result.

God forbid you like to rip your music differently. after all it WAS Apple that ncouraged me to ‘Think Differently’

Now if Frank Sinatra had that nickname it’s doubtful he would have gone very far, believe it or not Resene Lochmara is a fancy-pants name for a very specific shade of blue, one of the millions of meaningless names for that specific shade of blue - my industry (the graphics industry) standardized colors years ago, but of course our clients (the unwashed and color loving masses) still refer to colors by their crayola/sherwin williams/glidden/vegetablesque/celebrity eye/M&M colors - and honestly I thought I’d heard them all - I have an endless array of email asking for a certain red to be more ‘Plum’ or for a certain blue to be a bit less ‘Sharky’ (as opposed to a blue being much too ‘Dolphin’) - GOD I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS UP -
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In quest of minimizing our somewhat cluttered lives we did the unspeakable today - we cleaned out the attic. Hard work without a doubt, but the truly intresting part was the Mac boxes, years and years of Mac boxes and various peripherals.

• 7100 (featuring System 7.5)
• Sonnet 7100 upgrade daughter card
• G3 (beige pizza box)
• 22 inch Cinema Display
• G4 Quicksilver
• Apple 17” Studio Display (CRT)
• G4 15” Powerbook
• Mac II (4 bit/40MB/Dual Floppies)
• Mac 9500 Tower
• 2 40MB Syquest Drives
• 4 External SCSI drives
• ADB Wacom Tablet

I’ve recently gotten rid of the 7100 and the beige G3 but the rest of that will be in the trash come trash day, I can only imagine what me neighbors must think about the small mountain of computer boxes in my drive way (since it’s doubtful they’re aware of the chronology of those boxes). So can YOU put those models in chronological order?

So I haven’t mentioned it but my Ipod died, it’s really been bugging me, because I really babied it and the darn thing lives in a waterproof ballistic acrylic case, so I would have though it was somewhat immune to the typical issues that plaque Ipods. Now I know that Ipods are essentially a consumable item that even under ideal conditions would probably only last 2 years or so, but I totally wasn’t done with mine yet, and it appeared to be fixable, and that generally turns my OCD on high - if it WAS fixable - I had to fix it: Read More »

Tagged: Ipod Battery, Ipod Repair, Ipod Repair Success Story