White Collar Apple Tips

Things Cloud Sync + Sync with 2Do

2012-01-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

I've been using Cultured Code's Things for some time now. The two things it's missing are cloud sync and delegation, the first of which they've supposedly been working on for a long time, and the second of which they've apparently put on hold. The iPhone app has never been my favorite, but iOS5's "Reminders" is worthless for anyone with more than a handful of tasks, much less a complicated structure of responsibilities that range over various areas and that need to be completed in different contexts (location-based reminders however, are awesome; frankly it's such an intuitive idea that it seems—in keeping with ideas that come out of Cupertino—like we should all be shocked that nobody else thought about it first). Therefore since Things for iOS was the only app I knew of that synced with Things for Mac, I used it. Rather I frequently manually synced with it, but I rarely used it. I wound up making lists in Evernote of things I knew I would need to look at while on the go.

I recently picked up 2Do and kinda like it. I suspect I will grow to love it. And the best part is that it syncs with iCloud! Since Things can sync with iCal "reminder" calendars hosted on iCloud (it can even sync specific tags and areas of responsibility with specific calendars), that means Things for Mac can sync automagically over-the-air with 2Do, freeing me from manually syncing Things for Mac with Things for iOS. Apple and Guided Ways Technologies solved the Things sync problem that Cultured Code couldn't.

2Do can be controlled using Siri on the iPhone 4S, and it can also handle location-based reminders.

Blogger Dynamic Views

2011-03-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

Click on each link below to see this blog in totally new ways. Supposedly these are available via RSS readers, too. I'll have to fiddle around with it.

Flipcard
Mosaic
Sidebar
Snapshot
Timeslide

Why isn't ______64-bit already?

2011-03-31T23:25:00.000-07:00

DEVONthink sorter
Chrome and all its processes
(The 1Password Chrome extension)
VirusBarrier and ContentBarrier
Mail Unread Menu
Witness
Dropbox
RSS Growler
Microsoft Office
iStat
Things
BusySync
Jumpcut

Shame on you all.

Chrome Complaints

2011-03-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

I am writing this in Chrome, because I recently switched. Not permanently, exactly, but what browser switch is ever permanent for us, right? Chrome is now my default browser, but I still use Firefox for SEO (plus, the new one is just darn cool--if it weren't for having to weigh it down with all my SEO extensions, I just might make it default), and I am guessing I may go back to Safari as my default sooner than later. It's just that Chrome is so pretty, and fast (and capable of running the mozbar from seomoz.org). Why go back to the browser from whence I came?

• Chrome leaves me unable to type a domain name into the URL bar and hit enter to have “.com” automatically appended to it (it will search Google instead). That's FOUR extra characters I have to type EVERY TIME I know I want to go to a .com for which I do not have a bookmark. [UPDATE: Control-Enter automatically prepends "www." and appends ".com" to your omnibar entry. Thanks Elessar for the tip!]

• For whatever reason, a random character, followed by a space, will be prepended to a search done from the omnibar, making it useless. This happens randomly--without apparent pattern--and I can't find anything about it on the interweb. But it renders the behavior that causes my first problem a sacrifice made in vain. [UPDATE: A Chrome update fixed this issue for 9 out of 10 queries.]

• The full title tag of any website can’t ever really be seen, because Chrome displays titles in the tab for each tab, instead of at the top of the window for the active tab.

• There is no visible button that links to the RSS feed for the active page. Which means when I find a feed I want to add to NetNewsWire, I have to hunt it down manually instead of just clicking a button. Safari sometimes replaces the RSS button in the URL bar with a "Reader" button. But still. Actually, I should try to find a hack to disable that in Safari. I bet it's out there [UPDATE: No hack found].

• Safari has far more control over "top sites", which are prettier anyway, than Chrome does over its equivalent. This is huge for me, as I put 1Password bookmarks into Safari's Top Sites for one click logins to social and financial websites.

• The 1Password extension, though more beautiful, still lacks Go & Fill functionality, which sets me back quite a bit in terms of efficiency. Otherwise it is a joy to use in Chrome. [UPDATE: This functionality has recently been added to a beta, but DEVONthink functionality isn't included in the beta, so I'll have to wait to upgrade.]

• A few other extensions that work in Safari do not work in Chrome (DEVONthink and Instapaper being the two biggest ones for me). [NOTE: The Instapaper bookmarklet functions just fine in Chrome, as do most of the DEVONthink bookmarklets--just not the "Clip to DEVONthink" one.][UPDATE: DEVONthink now has a Chrome extension.]

• Some sites, though they work with other WebKit-based browsers such as Safari, do not work with Chrome (like chase.com) [NOTE: This is probably due to poor coding on the part of these websites.].

At the end of the day, whatever efficiency Chrome's speed margin over Safari is, I think I net a loss due to these issues. If you work for Google, fix these and I will be all yours. If you work for Apple, just keep doing what you're doing. But ditch the "Reader" concept, or else at least don't let it eclipse the RSS button.

The Magnate Behind the Pirates of Silicon Valley

2011-03-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

When learning about the Gold Rush as 7-year-old kid I thought about how I would have set up shop selling gold panning and mining equipment to the prospectors instead of becoming one of them myself. Now, a 70-year-old kid who once had the same idea reflects back on the business moves he made concerning a similarly abundant substance, in about the same place. Carl Berg wasn't in the race to create the personal computer, didn't conceive of or program the OS of the future, and isn't into writing client-side programming languages. But he sure loves leasing property to those that do (including Microsoft, Apple, and Google).

Oh yeah, and he lends to them too—to anyone looking to start a business in the silicon industry, really. (He put up venture capital for folks like, oh, you know, Sun Microsystems and other nobodies like IBM). And you know what's cool about him—besides being inducted into the Silicon Valley Hall of Fame last May? (I'll give you a hint, it's not a $1 million.)

$1.4 billion. That's what's cool about him.

But that's not all.

Even though Berg is well-known in commercial real estate circles, he's got something far more important in the works. After long hours at his Cupertino-based company, Mission West Properties, Inc., which specializes in Real Estate Investment Trusts, he's investing time into Cytotech—a company whose been spending a lot of time with the FDA lately.

To get their cancer treatment approved.

Read the rest of the scoop on Carl Berg, the magnate behind the Pirates, here.

Upgrading BusySync & MobileMe Calendars Together

2011-03-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

This upgrade workflow was developed for a Mac user who has been using BusySync and MobileMe for a while, who needs to access new MobileMe-hosted calendars on a Mac and iPhone, needs to access some Google-hosted calendars on the same Mac and iPhone, and who needs to share some Mobile-Me hosted calendars with some non-MobileMe users—but does NOT need to share any Google-hosted calendars with non-Google using MobileMe users (for that you would need BusyCal). Because MobileMe forced you to upgrade your MobileMe calendar, things will get screwed up if you don't go through these steps. I wrote this for my small company because the guide that BusyMac published wasn't very comprehensive. Enjoy.

⚠ Do not upgrade if you aren’t running OS X 10.6.4 or later.

1. MAKE SURE YOUR COMPUTER IS LOGGED INTO MOBILEME
In System Preferences → MobileMe.

2. EXPORT EACH OF YOUR CURRENT CALENDARS
This can be done in iCal by going to File → Export → Export. There is no need to do this for any of the calendars that belong to other Google users and are shared with you. If you botch something, you can restore your data from these backup files. If any of these are Google-hosted calendars, they will be converted into MobileMe-hosted calendars: they will stop syncing down to your iCal in step 3, be deleted from Google in step 6, be reimported into iCal in step 4, and be converted into MobileMe-hosted calendars that sync down to your iCal in steps 7-8.

3. RESET BUSYSYNC
This can be done in System Preferences → BusySync → Reset → Reset BusySync. All calendars that were hosted by Google and synced down to your iCal will disappear from your iCal. Any calendars that were hosted on your computer will remain in iCal.

4. IMPORT MISSING CALENDARS FROM STEP 1.
If you had any calendars that were hosted on your computer, you do not need to import them, as this will result in duplicates. However, any calendars that were hosted by Google and synced down to your iCal have disappeared and you want to import them into iCal so that they will become hosted on your computer (to be converted into MobileMe-hosted calendars in steps 7-8). Anyway, this can be done in iCal by going to File → Import → Import.

5. QUIT ICAL

6. DELETE OBSOLETE CALENDARS FROM GOOGLE
In step 1 you made backups of your calendars. In step 2 you stopped syncing your Google calendars down to iCal so that they disappeared from iCal. In step 3 you imported those calendars back into iCal that were previously hosted by Google. That means that the originals remain in your Google calendar and need to be deleted. Login to http://google.com/calendar to delete the obsolete calendars.

7. UPGRADE YOUR MOBILEME CALENDAR
This can be done at http://me.com/calendar/upgrade/. This imports all of your calendars from iCal to MobileMe, causing them to become hosted by MobileMe. They will automatically sync down to your iCal for you.Wait a while.

8. LAUNCH ICAL
Wait a while.

9. ACCEPT ANY INVITATION TO SHARE MOBILEME CALENDARS
Which may have been emailed to you by MobileMe using friends of yours.

10. DISABLE THE OLD MOBILEME CALENDAR SYNC
This can be done in System Preferences → MobileMe → Sync. Your calendars will be synced independently of the old MobileMe sync engine from here on out.

11. TURN ON BUSYSYNC
This can be done in System Preferences → BusySync. Adjust your Google publishing settings while you’re in the BusySync preference pane. Be sure to uncheck the calendars you don’t want to show up in your iCal, like the Default calendar Google requires you to have. Wait a while.

12. TELL GOOGLE WHICH CALENDARS YOU WANT TO SYNC
Navigate to https://www.google.com/calendar/b/0/iphoneselect and select the Google calendars you want to sync down to your iPhone.

13. TELL YOUR IPHONE WHICH GOOGLE CALENDARS YOU WANT TO SYNC
This can be done in Settings → Mail, Contacts, Calendars → Gmail → Calendars → On.

14. SHARE YOUR CALENDARS WITH OTHER GOOGLE USERS
This can be done in https://www.google.com/calendar/ by going to Settings → Calendar → Sharing. If you have a MobileMe-hosted calendar that you want to share with a non-MobileMe using Google user you can do so. Once it is syncing down from MobileMe to iCal, use BusySync to sync it up to Google. Then find its sharing settings in Google and add the Google user.

Force Microsoft Office Applications to Respect Systemwide Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-11-11T10:48:00.000-08:00

And/or make your own shortcuts in system preferences:

The 6 WordPress Plugins I use

2010-11-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

• Akismet (spam protection for comments)
• All in One SEO Pack (sets up your blog with great SEO settings by default, and gives you control over every factor if you want to tinker)
• Blogger Importer (which works - use it like this)
• Subscribe to Comments (allows people to do so)
• wp-Typography (gives you fine-grain control over how WordPress handles your typography)
• WP Super Cache (speeds up loading time and lightens the load on your server a bit)

Move Blogger to WordPress

2010-11-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Got a blogspot.com blog? Want to move to a WordPress blog, as hosted on your own personal domain? Don't want to lose your link juice?

You need to 301 every post to its corresponding post, and redirect your feed.

Follow this tutorial.

Use your Mac with MULTIPLE Monitors, TV's, etc. in full 1080p HD

2010-10-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

With the Diamond BVU195 HD USB Display Adapter. I've never seen anything come close to this.

Use your Mac Mini as a DVR for under $100

2010-10-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Elgato EyeTV One Computer TV Tuner 10020311 plugs into a USB port, and allows you to plug your antenna into it. It's corresponding software lets you watch TV on your Mac and use it like a DVR.

You can actually get pretty much everything online now, so it's not for everybody. But if you want to catch shows on their actual air date/time, can't find that one show you want to watch online, have cable without a DVR, or might prefer using your Mac as a DVR, then EyeTV seems like a very elegant, functional solution.

One nice thing about it is that you can get DVR functionality for basic programming without having to pay for cable. With a Mac Mini and Boxee, Hulu, Plex, and other software, you can get almost anything in an extremely functional, beautiful interface, and with an EyeTV, you get DVR functionality for live TV, and all you've done is paid for hardware you now own. None of this $30-50/mo businesss (think about it - 2 years of even cheap $30/mo. cable is already over $700, and you don't even own any hardware to resell, and you're stuck having to continue paying monthly).

An Alternative to the Time Capsule

2010-10-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

If you value beauty, simplicity, convenience, customer care, and power, then the Time Capsule is the way to go.

But if you don't mind (or even enjoy) taking some time to configure your hardware, having advanced setup options available to you, and price, you may want to consider something closer to the following:

For about $400, you can get the Cisco-Linksys WRT610N plus a Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB, which would give you all the basic functions of the Time Capsule as well as the aforementioned missing features.

-CNET

A dollar late and one second short on that prized eBay auction? Never get outbid again. At least, not for lack of putting in your max bid at the last second.

2010-10-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

This thing, "Auction Sniper" will automatically put your bid in at the last second. You get some free "snipes" for signing up for free (and I do to if you use my link), but later snipes will cost you a little. Worth it, though, if it wins you auctions and saves you money.

to help you win more items.">
eBay sniping software
to help you win more items.

Free Auction Tools for eBay Sellers">
The Only Free Auction Tools for eBay Sellers

Some Mac-Based Entertainment Center Options I'm Considering

2010-10-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have a pretty nice, fairly big, analog TV with nothing but RCA inputs. We like to watch Hulu using the Hulu app on my computer. But since I am doing a lot of contract SEO work lately, I could be working during these times (she clips coupons, so we don't count it as "quality" time necessarily). The problem is getting Hulu onto our TV. In addition to this consideration, we also want my wife's amazing but technologically inept mother to be able to access whatever entertainment upgrades we make, and when we rent our house out for IronMan, we want our renters to be able to use our cool new toys, too. Sometimes bragging about your entertainment center gets you renters secured for the next year faster, or gets you a higher price for your house.

I thought a lot about the old Apple TV + Boxee, but I can't tell if Netflix and Hulu will actually work on Boxee when it's hacked up onto the Apple TV. The new Apple TV is really cool, but content is still too rich for my blood. I want Hulu. And Netflix instant content too if possible. So if I'm going to run content from an Apple product to my TV it needs to be either my MacBook Pro or a Mac Mini (which, the new ones are really sweet and have HDMI outputs built in).

Here are the scenarios I've cooked up to try and get me Hulu on my TV so I can free up my computer to do SEO work while we watch our shows:

SETUP #1 - The ideal setup for everybody (renters, Mum, Wife, and Me), lots of perks, but expensive.

$199 23” flatscreen (may want to wall mount)

$699 Mac Mini (brand new)

$4.49 HDMI cable

$69 Apple wireless keyboard

$69 Apple wireless trackpad or mouse

=====

$1040.49

SETUP #2 - Same as #1, but an older Mac Mini, sacrificing some performance for savings.

$199 23” flatscreen (may want to wall mount)

$355 Mac Mini (used older model)

$5.23 Mini DVI to HDMI adapter
$4.49 HDMI cable

$69 Apple wireless keyboard

$69 Apple wireless trackpad or mouse

=====

$701.72

SETUP #3 - Just adding an old Mac Mini to our current TV. Still all the functionality, and usable by everybody, but not as elegant, space-saving, or cool. We could add the TV later (effectively upgrading to SETUP #2).

$355 Mac Mini (used older model)

$69 Apple wireless keyboard

$69 Apple wireless trackpad or mouse

=====

$493

SETUP #4 - New TV, but no Mac Mini - just hookups for our laptops. Great for us, and very elegant, but not usable by Margaret or renters. We could add the Mac Mini later (effectively upgrading to SETUP #1 or #2).

$199 23” flatscreen (may want to wall mount)

$7.70 Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter

$4.49 HDMI cable

=====

$208.72

SETUP #5 - No new TV or Mac Mini - just hookups for our laptops to our current TV. Gets us Hulu on our TV, but nothing for Margaret or renters, and not guaranteed to work. Cheapest of the options.

$9.51 Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter

$0.66 VGA to RCA adapter

=====

$10.17 There are more expensive converter boxes that are more likely to work, but for their prices ($200+), SETUP #4 is a better deal by far.

With one of the new TV setups, we could potentially sell our old TV to offset the cost. Which makes #4 very attractive, since it does the trick I was initially looking for, is fairly affordable (especially given the chance to sell our current TV), and is fully upgradable to my ideal (#1), should I ever run into more expendable money.

What do you think? Do you have any advice? Do you need any advice? Do you run a Mac-based entertainment center, and if so, what's your rig?

[iPhone TIP: Mobile Mouse Pro does a bang up job at transforming your iPhone into a mouse and keyboard for your Mac, which is just dang cool.]

Orbicule Incognito

2010-10-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

Adding to my Safari 5 Extension collection: Orbicule's Incognito, a free extension that prevents your browsing information from being collected by Google and Facebook.

The 5 Safari 5 Extensions I Use

2010-09-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

• Shellfish (sends your current page to Delicious)
• Clip to DEVONthink (clips your current page to DEVONthink)
• Add to Amazon Wishlist (adds the feature of your current page to your Amazon Wishlist)
• Shortly (sends your current page through bit.ly)
• Sessions (manages your browsing sessoins)

I found them all on Apple's extension gallery so I know they're safe (right?). Some of them are a little nicer than their bookmarklet predecessors, some of them are exactly the same, and some of them are a little buggier.

What Safari 5 extensions do you use? What would you like to see developed?

iTunes 10 Icon Drama, a personal email from Steve J. and how to change your iTunes 10 icon back

2010-09-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Steve J. defends the new iTunes 10 icon in depth of detail in the body of a personal email to a random critic (you know he gets the email from sjobs@apple.com right?). This article made me erupt in (brief) laughter in the cafe where I do my work.

I have to admit I do skip over the new iTunes icon in my dock every single time I go looking for it, as the old one is so burned into my consciousness.

If you want to change your iTunes 10 icon back, see this.

2010-09-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!

They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

How to Choose an Email Address, Part I: Everything After the "@"

2010-09-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

Cf. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/email_address

Have I ever told you about Mail Unread Menu?

2010-09-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

If not, there is this thing called Mail Unread Menu and it sits in your menu bar and… tells you how many unread messages there are in your Mail. Not much to it. But if you're like me you want every bit of relevant information pushed into your field of vision to minimize switching tasks unnecessarily.

Get Growl Notifications for RSS feeds

2010-09-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

RSS Growler enables you to manage Growl notifications for RSS feed updates. It's just the ticket if you are collaborating on a platform like Base Camp and want Growl notifications of updates so that your subconsciousness is aware of what others are working on (which is one of the great things about using Dropbox for collaboration - Growl updates so you always have an idea of what your teammates are working on).

Multiple Dropbox Accounts

2010-09-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

This works like a charm.

Login to Facebook chat from iChat

2010-08-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

1. Go to your profile on Facebook and copy your username, which looks like this: http://www.facebook.com/your_username (in bold).
2. In iChat -> Preferences -> Accounts, click the plus (+) to add a new account.
3. Use in these settings:

Account Type: Jabber
Account Name: your_username@chat.facebook.com
Password: (your Facebook password)
Server: chat.facebook.com
Port: 5222

You're welcome.

StarCraft II glitch fixed by Apple update

2010-08-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

"Resolves an issue that could cause Aperture 3, or StarCraft II by Blizzard, to unexpectedly quit or become unresponsive."

- http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4286

Flash and Office Security Updates

2010-08-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Flash security update info and download.

Office 2008 security update info and download.

Office 2004 security update info and download.