iPhoto '08
Posted on August 10, 2007 at 12:25 PM EST
The new Events feature in iPhoto ‘08 is a great way of organizing photos, but it’s too bad this wasn’t added several versions ago. It’s going to take a long time to go through and reorganize my existing library of 2,641 photos. :(
One feature that I really like is how you can mouse over a photo while in Events view and it will flip through all of the photos in the Event when moving the cursor side-to-side.
Another great addition is the ability to create shortcuts for keywords. As long as the keyword window is open, you just need to click a single letter and that keyword will be assigned to the active photo. It even works while viewing photos in full screen mode.
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Tagged with apple, iphoto, mac, software
My Favorite Apps for OS X
Posted on November 06, 2005 at 10:05 PM EST
Web Browser
Safari is the default web browser that ships with OS X and it is extremely powerful. There are many great browsers to choose from on OS X, but I usually end up going back and forth between this and Camino.
Font Management
My font manager of choice is FontAgent Pro. One feature that not only saves time but helps save some memory on your machine is font auto-activation. If an OS X application asks for a font, such as opening a PSD file, the font will be opened if it hasn’t already been activated. I have tried many different font management programs and this is by far the best. However, I’ve read a lot of good reviews about FontExplorerX and I’d like to try it out sometime.
FTP
Transmit takes FTP to the next level on OS X. It allows you to make server-to-server transfers, upload your files by draffing them to the dock, and allows you to set favorites that are similar to Safari. After I switched to using Macs three years ago, I tried out several different FTP clients. I’ve been very happy with it ever since and haven’t felt the need to try out any others.
News Reader
NewsFire is a nice and simple news reader that has a clean look to it. I previously used NetNewsWire as my default aggregator but I like how NewsFire isn’t as bloated and it also has a couple of nice features that NetNewsWire doesn’t have. It also supports Growl notifications so I can get a brief summary of new stories without having to click on Newsfire to read them.
Text Editor
Textmate is an inexpensive text editor that is packed with many different features that make a web developer happy. It supports many different scripting languages including XHTML, CSS, PHP, and even Ruby on Rails. I especially like the dynamic file outline that appears along the side of the main window.
Icon Customization
I like to change my icons around from time to time and by using CandyBar, it enables me to do this. If you’re tired of seeing the exact same icons on your screen all of the time, be sure to check it out then head on over to Pixelgirl to pick out some cool icon sets.
Screen Captures
If you ever need to take a full screen capture of an entire page Paparazzi! is your answer. Just enter the URL and save the image to a PNG file with the click of a button. It’s too bad the built-in screen capture utility for Mac doesn’t have the ability to do this.
Time Tracking
I keep track of the amount of time that I spend on all of my projects. Khronos is an effective project timer and best of all is free. It even has the ability to print invoices and export to various spreadsheet applications.
Wireframe Creation
A wireframe is a great way to visualize the architecture of a website before it is created to see how it is structured. MyMind is a utility that lets you build graphical representations of your site with ease.
Photo Management
iPhoto is excellent for managing photos that are taken on a digital camera. It automatically loads when a digital camera is plugged in and allows you to create separate libraries. If you have a Flickr account, then you have to be sure to use FlickrExport which enables you to upload your photos directly from iPhoto to Flickr.
Notes
Sidenote is an advanced note taking utility which is designed to be available whenever you need it. Just move your mouse to the side of the screen and it instantly appears. This comes in handy when having to make a quick note about something then you can always read it later by moving your mouse or you can tack it on the screen so it won’t disappear.
Netflix Rentals
Netflix Freak has a very clean look and enables you to completely manage your Netflix account directly through the application. No more having to click on lots of pages the find the movie you want or modify your queue. If you subscribe to Netflix this is a definate must have.
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Tagged with apple, osx, software
Video in iTunes 6
Posted on October 12, 2005 at 04:44 PM EST
Apple released iTunes 6 today, which includes support for videos. Over 2,000 music videos and select TV shows can now be purchased through the iTunes music store. Each video costs $1.99, which is certainly worth the price to be able to download high-quality TV shows that have the commercials edited out. I can see this being useful when my TiVo ends up missing a show that I regularly watch. Usually, I’d end up missing the show since many of them don’t come on again until long after the season has ended.
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Tagged with apple, itunes, music, software
Movable Type 3.2 Beta
Posted on July 14, 2005 at 06:32 PM EST
I upgraded my installation of Movable Type to the 3.2 beta version that was just released today. The upgrade went pretty smooth and I haven’t run into any problems (at least so far). After logging in I could instantly tell that a lot of improvements had been made. There’s over 100 new features and you can read highlights of some of Six Apart’s favorites on their Beta Blog. Here are some of my favorite changes:
- Colorful Icons
- Tons of new icons have been added which are nice and colorful unlike the grayscale images that were used before. The color makes it easier to find a link that I’m looking for instead of having to read all of the text.
- Easier Navigation
- A new sub-navigation menu has been added along the top of each page which greatly improves usability by not having to scroll as much.
- Global Search
- The search feature now enables you to search for any text throughout your entire weblog or if you have more than one blog, it will search through all of them at once for a particular string.
- Improved Listing Pages
- Each listing page (comments, entries, etc.) now have a more consistant display and there’s status indicator icons that clearly show more information about each item that’s listed.
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Tagged with blogging, movabletype, software
Goodbye Panther - Hello Tiger!
Posted on April 29, 2005 at 02:41 PM EST
Tiger just arrived and I am about to begin the upgrade process on both my iMac and PowerBook. Earlier this morning I made some backups of all of my important files as I’m going to select the option to do a clean install to give it a fresh start. I will post an update once everything has been completed and I’ve given it some good tests.
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Tagged with apple, osx, software
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
Posted on April 15, 2005 at 12:39 PM EST
Apple announced the other day that the release date for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger will be on April 29th. They just added a page on their site that lists over 200 new features that are included. WoW! Here’s a couple that I am really looking forward to:
- Spotlight - A new desktop search technology that finds anything (files, emails, contacts, images, movies, songs, calendars and applications, etc.) on your computer as fast as you can type. No more waiting and waiting when performing searches!
- Dashboard - Similar to Konfabulator which enables you to have nifty new mini-applications called widgets so you can quickly view stock prices, local weather, lookup numbers with the phone book, etc.
- Automater - An innovative personal automation assistant that helps you streamline repetitive manual tasks without programming such as renaming files or folders or attach files to multiple emails and automatically send them out.
Even though it isn’t due out for another two weeks, it is already the #1 seller on Amazon.com’s Software Top Seller List. They are currently offering free shipping and a mail-in rebate for the $129.99 Tiger retail box which brings the final cost down to only $94.99. I went ahead and pre-ordered it and cannot wait for it to get here!
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Tagged with apple, osx, software
Finally Upgraded to Movable Type v3
Posted on December 30, 2004 at 01:16 PM EST
After many months, I finally got around to upgrading Movable Type to version 3.x. I had been putting it off because I was using six separate weblogs for various sections of the site and the 3.x version only lets you have three weblogs. In order to have more than three, a license is required which costs $69.95. I’ve been using Movable Type for around nine months and never had to pay for it. It’s one thing to charge a fee for commercial use, but why they decided to charge a fee for personal use is beyond me, especially when there’s many other publishing platforms available that are free.
I developed a standalone content management system using PHP/MySQL where I can easily update various sections (Bookmarklets, Bookmarks, DVDs, Favorite Movies, etc.) of the site. The only weblogs that I am now using is one for posts and another for the Photographs section.
The upgrade surprisingly went very smooth and it only took around 10 minutes. I haven’t come across any problems but if you stumble upon anything that isn’t working properly, please let me know so I can fix it.
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