Start customizing the toolbar and then drag the stand-alone ‘add bookmark’ button to the bar. You’ll see that the location bar attached button disappear in a puff of smoke. Click done and then right click on the stand-alone button. Click ‘remove item’ and you’ll be left with the most minimalistic browser experience you can imagine.

Safari 4 is shockingly fast and hasn’t crashed on me once.

Hide Desktop Files

do shell script "chflags hidden ~/Desktop/*"

Reveal Desktop Files

do shell script "chflags nohidden ~/Desktop/*"

Copy each script into its own Script Editor window and save them to ~/Library/Scripts. I wish I’d known about this trick sooner.

There is only one instance where MarsEdit’s windowy layout truly frustrates me. When I click on MarsEdit’s dock icon, the great majority of the time it’s because I have a flash idea and want to write a post. Instead of a fresh document window, however, I’m greeted with the blog manager window.

Easily managing multiple blogs, saving local drafts and editing already published posts are surely some of the features that make MarsEdit a joy to use, but for me the application is about writing. When I hit the dock icon I want to be articulating my thoughts within seconds. The blog manager, for all its usefulness, pretty much just gets in the way.

Here’s an AppleScript that will open up a new document window and bypass the blog manager altogether:

if appIsRunning("MarsEdit") then
	tell application "MarsEdit"
		set docCount to (count every document)
		if docCount is equal to 0 then
			launch
			close window "MarsEdit"
			make new document
			activate
		else
			tell document 1 to activate
		end if
	end tell
else
	tell application "MarsEdit"
		run
		close window "MarsEdit"
		make new document
		activate
	end tell
end if

on appIsRunning(appName)
	tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains appName
end appIsRunning

I run all my scripts via the excellent script launcher FastScripts, but a QuickSilver trigger would work just as well. If the above script can save just one thought from evaporating into the ether before there’s a medium ready to capture it, I’ll consider it a success.

tell application "Finder" to set windSz to bounds of window of desktop

set w1 to item 1 of windSz
set w2 to item 3 of windSz
set h1 to item 2 of windSz
set h2 to item 4 of windSz

set pg1size to {(w2 - (w2 * 0.95)), (h1 + (h2 - (h2 * 0.9))), (w2 * 0.495), (h2 * 0.9)}

set pg2size to {(w2 * 0.505), (h1 + (h2 - (h2 * 0.9))), (w2 * 0.95), (h2 * 0.9)}

tell application "Safari"
	activate
	set tabNo to index of last tab of front window
	set firstURL to URL of document 1
	close current tab of first item of windows
	set secondURL to URL of document 1
	make new document
	set URL of document 1 to firstURL
	set bounds of window 1 to pg1size
	set bounds of window 2 to pg2size
end tell

One obvious way to improve this script would be to take advantage of Safari’s “Move Tab to New Window” option in the Window menu of the application, since this command separates the the tabs but does not reload the page, making it super fast. As far as I can tell, however, this feature is not currently exposed to AppleScript, and so the script above will reload the page that is separated off from the main window. It works well otherwise.

(Dramatic element added by Blitzen Trapper.)

(By the way, to any French Canadian readers, please don’t take offense to the title of this post. Vive le Québec libre!)

Unlike other free mail services, Gmail doesn’t inject ads into emails that you send. Like the others, however, it does display ads when viewing your mail. And with Gmail it’s a bit unsettling. Gmail effectively reads your incoming mail and pitches you ads based on its contents. The ads are, of course, algorithmically served, so it’s not like a team of Gmail slackers actually access your mail and decides what ads to show, but it’s weird none the less. Fortunately you can turn them off.

Install GreaseKit for Safari and then install the Gmail Without Ads GreaseMonkey script. The ads will vanish and leave you with a clean replacement for Mail.app.

Before:

After:

The frustration of clicking on the Next link increases with how many times you have to do so in order to find what you’re looking for. My sense is that Google doesn’t need increased page views, so let’s turn it off.

Auto-pagination is a concept whereby content spread across multiple pages is dynamically loaded into the current page. In practical terms this means no more clicking the ‘Next’ link if you’re not satisfied with the first 10 search results. Have a look at the video.

(Dramatic element added by The Dodos.)

To enable auto-pagination you’ll need two things.

GreaseKit

A WebKit version of the popular Firefox extension GreaseMonkey, GreaseKit allows you to run alternative rendering javascript scripts for popular web pages. To install it, you’ll also need to install the SIMBL input manager (okay, I lied. You need three things).

oAutoPagerize

oAutoPagerize is the script which works the magic. There are a few auto-pagination scripts available, but this one works. With GreaseKit installed, click on the ‘Install’ button on the script’s page and it should work the next time you search Google.

Unfortunately not every userscript works with GreaseKit, and perhaps even more unfortunately, the ones that do are not well tagged. You might have some luck by adding ‘Safari’ to your search on Userscripts.org. Good luck and enjoy the infinite scroll.

You can even spring load applications. For instance, if you want to drag in some text in TextEdit, just hover over the icon in the Dock and press the spacebar. Once a new window opens, drop in your text.

Nothing new (but much useful) in the rest of the article, but the snippet above surprised me. Why doesn’t text dragged onto a docked TextEdit icon open a new TE window pre-populated with the text? This is an annoying oversight by the OS X team. I’m grateful for this usable alternative method.

Netbooks are simply cheap little laptops.

I’m happy that someone has said it because this surely is the point. A netbook hacked to run OS X runs real Mac software. An iTouch Tablet or whatever it is that Apple fans are positive that the company will soon release will be amazing for movies, maps, games – anything that can take advantage of a larger screen. But a great majority of iPhone software is what one might call ‘list based.’ Expand these apps across a wider screen and what was proportional and focused starts to look ridiculous. Moreover, if your mobile work involves editing or producing a significant quantity of text then a keyboardless tablet will be of no help to you.

A thin, light, aluminum MacBook Mini. I have 750$ for that.

Tweetie is currently my favorite, but it’s not perfect. Here’s a few reasons why.

Essential Omission

No AppleScript Support

This is my biggest complaint. AppleScript lets users add all the features to an app that are either too specialized for the wider audience or just workflow specific. Have a look at Scripts and Tricks for Twitterrific for a few ideas about how AppleScript could extend Tweetie.

Bugs and Annoyances

The Detached Post Box

Writing and reading are different things, and thus Tweetie’s functional separation of the two makes perfect sense, as does separate keyboard shortcuts for bringing the reading and tweeting window forward. About half the time, however – and this is surely a bug – bringing the post box forward via the keyboard also brings with it your followers’ updates. This is an annoyance I was hoping Tweetie 1.1 would fix. It didn’t.

Secondly, the keyboard shortcut should only activate one instance of the post box, even if you already have one open. If I open a post box, begin composing my tweet and then switch to Safari to grab a link, I should be able to call my active post box forward again with the keyboard. Instead, Tweetie creates a new post box which eclipses the first, partially filled in box. It’s possible to use Command + Tab to bring forward the original box, but again this brings with it your followers’ tweets. This needs to be thought out better.

The Nag Screen

Periodically on first launch, Tweetie confronts you with a nag message asking you to register the app. This is a problem for me. Either Tweetie is free, or it isn’t. I’m content to use an ad supported version of Tweetie. I’d also like to post to Twitter guilt free. A solution might be to display the nag message inline the same way as the ads are shown.

‘Go To User’

By default, Command + U should open the user profile of the selected tweeter. Instead, you’re presented with this:

The major problem is that I have my followers’ real name displayed with their tweets. The ‘Go To User’ dialogue box asks for their Twitter name. In many cases, I have no idea what that is. As is, it’s a near useless feature.

Selected Tweet Color

As a new addition to 1.1, the selected tweet no longer displays a subtle glow. Instead it’s a horrible bright blue which retains nothing of the subtlety of the previous display type and eschews consistency with the rest of the UI.

Wouldn’t it be Nice?

Google Maps and Search Nearby

Displaying a user’s profile could also show their world location on a Google Map. I have a feeling that this would look very pretty in Tweetie. From here, the ability to search nearby users would be a bonus.

A Combined Stream

I have two Twitter accounts: @PeterVk and @MacMembrane. I wouldn’t mind having the option to have a combined view.

Some Nifty Sound Effects

Why not make Tweetie sound as good as it looks? Distinct sounds for @replies, DMs and successful posts would make it so.

Advanced Search Controls

I have some ideas about how this could be implemented, and again, I’m sure it’d look very pretty given Atebits design acumen.

Final Thoughts

Tweetie has only been released for a few weeks now and I’ve no doubt that the app will continue to improve with each subsequent release. In its present form it’s the best Twitter app for Mac that I’ve tried. Try it out if you haven’t already and let me know how you think it could be better.

A new, lower-priced, smaller, and more adorable iPhone, with more or less the same technical specs as the original iPhone. Given that those specs include the 320 × 480 display, I wouldn’t expect something tiny, but remember that the original iPod Mini was “just” 35 percent smaller by volume than the then-current full-sized iPod. Shrink the iPhone’s forehead and chin and make it thinner — maybe a lot thinner — is what I’m thinking. Existing iPhone apps would run just fine on the new device, as it’d have similar, if not identical, CPU performance and RAM to previous full-sized iPhones.

Until this post I found it difficult envisioning a lite version of the iPhone, largely because I wasn’t separating form from features in my mind. An iPhone with the same form factor but lesser specs wouldn’t, in my opinion, be flying off the shelves the way that the current model is. If Apple were to differentiate the second model exteriorly the way that it does the iPod Nano, the case may be somewhat different. And much more interesting.