adam parnes dot com

2560-by-1440 Resolution of Awesomeness

2012-02-24T21:45:00-05:00

Here’s a screen grab of when I connect my Macbook Air to an Apple Thunderbolt Display.

Here’s a link to the 2560-by-1440 size image of my desktop

Writing this post on my iPad

2012-02-17T22:28:00-05:00

I’m writing this post on my iPad.

Nebulous Notes provides the markdown and macros
TextExpander provides the snippets
Dropbox provides the file sync
Octopress provides CMS
Hazel provides the folder automation
OS X provides the terminal to push
Heroku provides the free web hosting

And it just works.

OS X Keyboard Shortcuts

2012-02-16T21:28:00-05:00

I’m always looking for ways to improve how I use my favorite Mac applications and stumbled upon dashkards. It’s a dashboard widget with cheat sheets for your favorite mac apps.

I downloaded and installed the dashkards widget and will use it for the following apps:

As I learn how to get the most of my Mac, I realize how much I wish I could use my Mac at work.

Goodbye Twitter, Hello Tweetbot

2012-02-13T20:50:00-05:00

I’ve given up on Twitter’s iOS applications. They used to be the defacto client for Twitter power users. The last update to the iPhone app refocused the app for general users.

I want to use Twitter to follow several topics, lists and interact with friends. Luckily a developer has bucked the trend and created an iOS Twitter client for power users: Tweetbot.

There’s an iPhone Tweetbot and an iPad Tweetbot.

I’m enjoying Tweetbot for iOS because the developer didn’t compromise their style and added the features I want: multiple timelines, conversations and replies, smart gestures and a customizable tab bar.

The other reason I prefer Tweetbot is the app continues to get better with each update.

Hacking Safari

2012-02-09T23:28:00-05:00

At home I have a Mac and prefer to use Apple’s Safari browser. At work I have to use a PC and prefer to use Google’s Chrome browser. The only feature I wish Safari had was the unified web address and search box. It’s so simple and speeds my web searching and navigation.

Luckily, I found a Safari plugin to give me the best of Chrome in Safari. 512 Pixels provided a great tutorial on installing the Safari Omnibar plugin and making DuckDuckGo the default search engine.

Now I can search and navigate from the same place in my own tricked out browser.

A Few Weeks After Dropping Google Search

2012-02-08T21:45:00-05:00

It’s been two weeks since I decided to stop using Google as my default search engine. I switched to DuckDuckGo on my desktop and to Bing on my iPhone. For the last two weeks I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well both DuckDuckGo and Bing have done replacing Google search.

So far DuckDuckGo is doing everything right that I found wrong with Google search. The results are relevant, not including artificially included Google+ results, and the results are displayed in a simple manner, without sidebars and other distractions. The only downside with DuckDuckGo is that it isn’t as fast as Google. I’m willing to spend an extra second or two for relevant and simple search results.

So far Bing on my iPhone has performed well. The results are relevant and Bing is very easy to use on a touch device.

The bottom line: I’m hardly missing Google search. I thought I would’ve quickly reverted back, but have been pleasantly surprised by the results. I’m glad I made the switch and can’t wait for DuckDuckGo and Bing to get even better. Change is good.

I've Cracked the Mobile Blogging Nut

2012-01-26T21:55:00-05:00

I’ve been struggling to figure out how I can blog on my iPhone or iPad, use Markdown, post my files to dropbox and deploy my Octopress blog.

I think I’ve cracked that nut. Nebulous Notes has everything I’m looking for in an iOS app. It has TextExpander Touch, dropbox and macro support.

Here’s how I use these three services to enable my blogging on iOS devices. I’m using TextExpander Touch to add the Octoporess information I was going to include in a template.

Nebulous Notes has the ability to navigate dropbox and save to specific folders. I couldn’t find any other iOS text editors with Markdown support that allowed you to move around your dropbox folders.

Nebulous Notes also has macros. You can add custom Markdown syntax to a bar above the keyboard. There’s no need to navigate one or two keyboards down to find your special Markdown characters. Just tap them as you write.

I’ve created a writing nirvana.

I Decided to Opt Out of Google, Plus Your World

2012-01-23T20:45:00-05:00

Google search has been my default search engine for years. The results are decent, especially after the last algorithm update.

With Google’s recent “Google, Plus Your World” campaign, my search results no longer included direct links to the results I wanted. Every time I ran a search, Google+ links were at the top of my results. I’d have to go to someone’s Google+ account before I could get to the content I wanted.

Today I took control of how my Google search results are displayed to me. I opted out of personal results.

Now my results are actually what I was looking for and not a link to a Google+ account.

I might also try a new “don’t be evil” bookmarklet. It shows your Google search results if Google+ wasn’t given priority over other social networks and services.

Testing Images in Octopress

2012-01-23T20:31:00-05:00

With this post I’m testing how I can add images to my Octopress posts. Let’s see how this works.

Geeking Out With BBEdit

2012-01-20T21:10:00-05:00

Tonight I edited BBEdit’s preferences with the Terminal app. I changed the default language preference to use Markdown when I create a new document. Now if I can only change the extension preference.

Before I installed and hacked Octopress to host my blog, I probably would’ve never done this hack.

I’m enjoying learning how to hack and roll my own blog and apps.

Facilitator Tip: #2

2012-01-14T21:45:00-05:00

A big thank you to Susan Rink for my facilitator tip #2. She recommended Mr. Sketch Scented Watercolor Markers.

I’ve always been partial to Mr. Sketch’s smelly markers RT @adamparnes Faciliator Tip #1 colored markers bit.ly/A6KP2Q
— Susan Rink (@RinkComms) January 13, 2012

If you’re interested in buying these markers, I’d appreciate it if you used my Amazon affiliate link: Sanford Mr. Sketch Assorted Scent Markers 12 Pack (20072). Thanks!

Facilitator Tip: #1

2012-01-12T22:15:00-05:00

Over the years I’ve been cataloging facilitator tips and tricks. Every time I remember one or learn a new tip I’ll post them here.

Tip #1: Don’t use brown, orange, red or yellow markers when writing on a white board/paper or use text with these colors in a PowerPoint presentation. People with color blindness will have trouble reading the text.

My Mobile Octopress Posting Workflow

2012-01-12T21:43:00-05:00

After my last test, I’m now comfortable sharing how I post to my Octopress blog from my iPhone.

Here’s how I blog on my iPhone:

I fire up Pastebot to copy any links or text I want to use in the post and copy my template post information.
I open Nebulous Notes, create a new .markdown text file in my _drafts folder and paste my template information into the text file.
I then start writing and using Pastebot for my links.
When I’m done I move my file in Nebulous Notes to the _posts Dropbox folder.
The rest is magic.

Posting From an iOS Device Requires Updated Hazel Rules or A Separate Draft Folder

2012-01-12T10:28:00-05:00

I created a post in Nebulous Notes and Hazel automated the deployment process.

I found a big problem with the process. The Hazel action kicked off as soon as the markdown file was created. I wasn’t finished writing and editing the post.

So here’s my solution. I used Nebulous Notes to create a new folder on Dropbox to house draft posts. When I’m done with the post I’ll move it to the _posts folders.

Let’s see how it works.

Using an iOS Device to Post to My Blog

2012-01-11T23:28:00-05:00

Now that my Hazel folder actions are working, I need to find an iOS app to create and edit posts in markdown.

I redownloaded a few apps but I decided to stick with Nebulous Notes to write with the markdown syntax and save the file to my dropbox folder.

I’m actually writing this post on my iPhone. Let’s see what happens when I save… Fingers crossed it deploys my blog.

Rethinking My Hazel Rule to Deploy My Blog

2012-01-09T22:28:00-05:00

What would happen if I created a new post from the terminal? Would my Hazel rule deploy the blog before I finished the post?

Currently I have the Hazel rule to look for any file modified less than 30 minutes ago. So, I’m guessing a new post would trigger this action.

I don’t have much to lose to test my theory. I’m just getting started.

I’m writing this post in BBEdit and plan on saving this file into my _post folder to kick off the rule. This works well when I’m remote too.

I need to figure out how to create a template on my iOS device so I can blog remotely. That’ll be my next blogging/geek project.

It Worked

2012-01-05T13:05:00-05:00

My remote test post worked perfectly.

Here’s how it works: anytime I edit/create a post or change any settings housed in my Dropbox folder, a Hazel folder action on my Mac runs an AppleScript to generate and deploy my blog. It took me a while to figure out how to automate the blog generation and deployment, but I’m happy with the result.

I haven’t geeked out this much in a while. What makes it even sweeter is that it worked on the first try.

I’m now blogging like a hacker. So long WordPress.

Posting Remotely

2012-01-05T12:28:00-05:00

I’m writing this to test my ability to post remotely. I’ve cobbled together a plaintext content management system, Dropbox, and a few Hazel folder actions.

If everything works as planned, when I save this file to my Dropbox folder using Markdown formatting, a script should trigger and generate my blog and deploy it.

Here goes. Fingers crossed.

Watching Station Agent

2012-01-03T21:53:00-05:00

Tonight I’m watching The Station Agent. It’s a pretty good movie.

What’s making me really smile is how well our Apple TV is streaming the movie from our computer. All my hardwork of ripping DVDs, adding DVD thumbnails and sometimes even descriptions has paid off.

I don’t have to worry about the technology that does the work. I can just lie in bed and enjoy watching a good movie. Technology nirvana.

Something Old and Something New

2011-12-31T22:17:00-05:00

You might have noticed something a little different about adamparnes.com. I decided I was bored with WordPress and wanted to try something new.

After a bit of research on using text files to run your blog, I decided to give Octopress a try. It’s a framework based off the content management system used at power github pages.

I really don’t have a good reason to leave WordPress, other than I wanted to try something new. I could argue WordPress’s use of MySQL was way more than I needed. I could lie to myself that I needed to prepare incase I ever got Fireballed.

The truth is I like trying new things and reading the directions later. I’ll probably end up trying a new blogging system in a few months. Until then, I’m enjoying hacking Octopress.