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My iPhone home screen apps
June 26th, 2009 | Comments Off
I just (finally) upgraded my iPhone OS to the new 3.0 and thought this might be a good opportunity to go over some of the apps that I keep on my iPhone’s home screen. I won’t deal with the native iPhone apps, just the third-party gems that I can’t function without.
(All application links go to the iTunes store.)
SaiSuke. This is my preferred calendar app because it syncs beautifully with Google Calendars. You can read my full calendar sync setup here. There is a limited free version but I use the paid $9.99 version.- Things. One of the best task management (to-do list) applications around. It also syncs via WiFi with the desktop version. You can read more about my task management setup here. The iPhone app is $9.99 and the desktop app is $49.99.
- Flashlight. Because you never know when you might need a little extra light (or a crazy, rave-ready party light machine). Flashlight is free.
- Facebook. Everyone is on Facebook and the native iPhone app is the best way to access those crucial updates on the go. Facebook is free.
- Tweetie. Tweetie for iPhone and Tweetie for Mac are both beautiful Twitter applications. I’m not saying they are right for everyone, but so far they are both my choice. I can’t wait until they start syncing with each other… please! Tweetie for iPhone is $2.99 and Tweetie for Mac is either free (ad supported) or $19.95. (I use the free version of the desktop app.)
- Byline. For a long time I have been a happy NetNewsWire user. NNW is a free RSS reader for both Mac and iPhone. With a free Newsgator account both versions even stay in sync. However, I recently tried out Byline which is an iPhone app that syncs and caches feeds from a Google Reader account. I think I have officially made the switch. Byline works really well and looks great. Plus, with Fluid I can setup a separate “app” for Google Reader on my Mac. Google Reader is free and Byline is $4.99.
- Instapaper. Instapaper is a free online service that allows you to store the contents of web pages for later reading. You simply click a bookmarklet in any browser and the contents of the current web page gets stored in your Instapaper account. The iPhone app downloads all stored pages in your account so you can read them offline on your iPhone. This is perfect for reading long articles on an airplane. The web service is free and you have a choice between a free version of the iPhone app or a “pro” version which costs $4.99. (I use the free version.)
- The Weather Channel®. I like this app over the native Weather app. Honestly I don’t even remember what features pushed it above the other, but I do like it and it’s free (although there is a “Max” version for $3.99).
- Evernote. I like Evernote a lot! Evernote is a web application that allows a user to import stuff that gets synced to other places. I posted one example of how I used it here. Basically imaging copying stuff from your browser on your Mac (like a recipe) and being able to view it later on your iPhone, or taking a picture on your iPhone and being able to view it later on your friend’s PC, or any number of other things. Evernote works via their web interface but they also have free apps for your desktop or iPhone so you can access your stuff more easily. It is a free service but you can also upgrade to a premium account to gain more bandwidth and other features.
That’s my home screen and a few of the iPhone apps I use on a regular basis. What apps do you keep up front on your iPhone?
TextEdit, Dropbox, and my iPhone
May 13th, 2009 | Comments Off
I love TextEdit. For those who aren’t familiar with TextEdit, it is essentially Apple’s version of Microsoft’s Notepad (or more accurately WordPad). With Quicksilver installed I am only one quick keystroke away from having a new document open and ready to receive whatever information I need to throw at it–a phone number, a quick list, whatever. Combine this with Dropbox and those files are now accessible from anywhere–even my iPhone! Sound too good to be true? It is. Amazingly, the iPhone won’t read TextEdit documents. But don’t fret, this story has a happy ending that is sure to up your productivity and mobility.
Must-have Mac apps pt. 2
May 6th, 2009 | Comments Off
I hope you are enjoying all of the apps that I listed back in part 1 because surely you’ve already read that post and downloaded those life-changing gems. This set of apps is a mixed bag of goodies that I think you will find useful. The theme today is free–something I don’t think anyone will complain about. So get your download button ready. Here we go…
6. Dropbox (free*)
Dropbox is a web service that integrates with your Mac seamlessly. It walks the line between being (1) file sync, (2) file sharing, and (3) cloud storage/backup. Basically, once you sign up for your free account you have 2 GB of space on Dropbox’s servers. Install the Dropbox app on your Mac and you will see a little icon in your menubar and a new folder called “Dropbox” in the sidebar of your Finder windows. All you have to do is drop a file into that Dropbox folder and it will immediately sync up with your online account. Why? Once that file is online you can access it from anywhere through the Dropbox website. Just login and you will see a copy of every file you put in that folder.
But it doesn’t stop there. Dropbox comes with a folder called Public. Just put a file in this Public folder, right-click on it, then choose “Dropbox -> Copy Public Link.” Now paste that link (URL) into an email or chat window and the person at the other end can download that file. This is the super-easy way to share that large Photoshop file, zipped folder of images, or whatever you need to send to someone else.
It also has a Photos folder allowing you to upload pictures that will automatically become a photo album.
If you have someone you always share files with, or if you have two machines (maybe a desktop and a notebook) you can create a shared folder with any other Dropbox user. Anything you put in the folder will automatically appear in their copy of that folder as well.
Dropbox’s web interface shows you every file you (or anyone you are sharing with) have added, deleted, etc. so you can easily keep up with what’s happening to your files. It also works great in Safari on the iPhone. Dropbox is free with 2 GB of storage (*or you can upgrade your account to 50 GB for just $9.99/month or $99/year). It works on Macs, Windows, and Linux.
7. Skype (free*)
We all know iChat has video capabilities. However, iChat is not always smart enough to get through pesky firewalls in places like hotels, schools, or conference centers. So how is a person expected to keep in touch with loved ones at home while out on the road? Why, Skype of course.
Skype is an online communication tool. It allows a user to easily video chat, audio chat, text chat, and even send files to any other Skype user for free. Any user can also purchase Skype Out credits allowing that user to place calls to regular land-line phones. You can even buy a Skype In number allowing other people to call your Skype account using a standard 10-digit phone number (and local phone rates no matter where you are in the world).
While no tool like this is perfect, Skype generally performs well and is most definitely worth setting up on your Mac. You can even communicate with your non-Mac friends via Skype and use it on your iPhone (via WiFi). Make sure to check out the security preferences after you install. Skype gives you control over how public or private your information is, it’s up to you to actually use that power.
Skype is free for computer to computer calls (*Skype Out and Skype In are resonably priced if you need them) and is availabel for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and a handful of other devices.
8.Handbrake (free)
Ever want to rip a copy of that non-commercial DVD you just picked up onto your Mac so you can watch it without having to keep up with the bulky DVD case or risk scratching the disk? That’s exactly what Handbrake was designed to do. Handbrake allows a user to insert a DVD and rip it to the hard disk in a variety of formats and quality levels. It even includes several presets that keep you from having to know the right settings to get that perfect rip for your iPhone, AppleTV, or HDTV.
In the most recent version Handbrake has been expanded to allow conversion of video files. So, if your cousin sends you a video file in some crazy Windows video format you can just load it into Handbrake and make iTunes happy by converting it to the right Quicktime format. (For another video conversion option–it never hurts to have options–try Video Monkey for free.)
Handbrake is free but remember you should only use it for legal purposes. With great power comes great responsibility.
9. The Unarchiver (free)
The Unarchiver is one of those utilities that everyone should have in their arsenal but most people will never even know it’s there. It makes unarchiving any compressed file you find yourself downloading from the internet an automatic process. I like utilities that keep me from having to think and that’s exactly what this is. Trust me, you should download it and forget it. But trust that it’s there making your life a little less stressful.
10. iStat Menus and iStat Nano (both free)
If you like to keep an eye on how your Mac is performing you need an iStat product (or two). I always keep my memory and CPU usage in my menubar with iStat Menus. If I feel my Mac getting a little sluggish I can just glance up at my menubar and see exactly what’s going on. It even provides easy access to Activity Monitor so I can keep an eye on any applications that are hogging more memory or CPU cycles than they should.
But iStat Menus doesn’t stop there. If you want more Date & Time information than Apple allows in the Date & Time Preferences you can have iStat Menus show you that as well. You can set your own date/time format and even show multiple time zones. You can actually see just about any information possible about the state of your Mac such as temperature, fan speed, drives, network traffic, etc.
If you’re not sure you want all of that information taking up precious space in your menubar, then maybe the iStat Nano dashboard widget is for you. In a small footprint on your dashboard, this widget be default shows a brief overview of your system with things like CPU usage, memory usage, hard drive space, temperature, fan speed(s), network traffic, and uptime (time since last restart). However, just hover over the widget and a smorgasboard of information is immediately at your fingertip. You can get detailed information about anything listed above as well as things like battery life and current running processes.
Even if these aren’t things that you want to see now, consider that one day your machine might be running a little slow and you may want to try to figure out why. At any rate, both iStat Menus and iStat Nano are free, functional, and pretty.
Conclusion
Well, that’s it for another round of great, must-have Mac applications. I hope you enjoy each of these as much as I do. If you’ve got other apps that you just can’t live without I would love to hear about them in the comments.
My favorite Twitter clients for Mac
April 29th, 2009 | 1 Comment
It seems today that Twitter has hit the mainstream. This means that there will be a lot more businesses using Twitter as a means to pimp themselves and there will be many more annoying people using Twitter to post every meal they eat and every thought they think.
However, this also means that the Twitter application market is much more attractive to developers. If more people are using the service then more people are interested in using applications to make their Twitter experience better. Let’s face it, Twitter’s web interface isn’t amazing. I’ve taken a few Twitter clients for Mac (and a couple for iPhone) for a spin and here are my favorites.
- Tweetie – Free with ads or $15-20 (also for iPhone)
- Twhirl – Free (requires Adobe AIR)
- Nambu – Free (also for iPhone)
- TweetDeck – Free (required Adobe AIR)
- Twitterific – Free with ads or $15 (also for iPhone)
- EventBox – $15-20
Things I look for:
- Small footprint with a lot of power
- Menubar icon or simple show/hide functionality
- Keep feed window on last read tweet when new tweets arrive
- Free option
- iPhone version
- Choices for URL shortening services and picture attachments
- Be beautiful and functional
What’s your favorite Twitter client?
Exporting your stuff from Evernote
April 22nd, 2009 | 5 Comments
I really like Evernote. I suggest it to a lot of people, especially anyone who owns an iPhone. Evernote makes it so easy to take a picture, write a note, or record some audio on your iPhone and retreive it later on your Mac, PC, or even online. This has so many potential uses from comparison shopping to simple reminders. However, as I was using Evernote the other day I realized one fatal flaw in the system. Evernote only exports “notes” as Evernote-compatible files. Why is this a bad thing? Let me share my experience…
Right now Shaun is in song-writing mode preparing for a new album and a new round of completely free songs. While at a church in Iowa the other day Shaun was messing around on the church’s piano and wrote this beautiful melody. A few hours later before the concert, it was completely gone from his head. In his own word, “I’m not too old to write music, just too old to remember it.” Hoping it would return to him I told him I would record it with my handy-dandy iPhone and then send it to him later. Sure enough, the following morning Shaun woke up and the melody had returned. I immediately opened up Evernote for iPhone, started a new audio note, and within a few seconds the melody was captured and sync’d up Evernote online. So far so good, but that was only the first step.
My menubar apps – Part 2
September 23rd, 2008 | 1 Comment
(Continued from Part 1.)
In the first post I talked about instant messaging, e-mail, information organization, task management and calendar syncing all from within that small white-ish bar across the top of my screen. That covered the first five icons in my menubar. Let’s see what we can accomplish with the rest of the menubar icons.
Mozy (free*)
I try to backup my Macbook on a somewhat regular basis. But I’m a human just like the next guy, and so I often go weeks at a time without even thinking about firing up my backup solution of choice. For those times in between there is Mozy.
Mozy is an automatic, online backup solution for Mac and Windows. Basically, I tell Mozy what I want it to back up and it makes sure that everything lives in two places. I can choose specific folders or even data sets (like “all e-mail” or “my Address Book”). I can then setup how often I want it to backup by giving it a certain time of day and frequency, or having it automatically backup when my computer is not in use.
Any time I need to recover a lost file all I have to do is click the icon and choose “Restore Files…” and Mozy will show me everything that it has backed up to their server. It even keeps multiple copies of each file and it encrypts everything so my data is safe as it travels across the interwebs.
Thankfully I haven’t needed to use Mozy yet, but I definitely sleep a little better each night knowing that it is running.
* Mozy offers any user 2GB of space for free. Unlimited space is available for a modest $4.95 per month. They also offer business-class solutions called “Mozy Pro.”
iStat Menus (free)
A while back my Mac started running a little slower than normal. I often have Firefox open for days along with other apps like Mail, iCal, iTunes, Textmate, Twirl, Things, and others. It is usually at this point that I try to push my luck and open Photoshop and my computer starts running in slow-mo. I decided I wanted to keep an eye on what applications were hogging the most memory and CPU cycles. So, I installed iStat Menus and got so much more than I expected.
iStat Menus installs as a preference pane in System Preferences. This is where I can control how much or how little the app displays in my menubar and what each element looks like. I use vertical graphs for my CPU usage and RAM. Clicking on either gives me a list of the applications that are using the most of each resource. So, if my CPU meter spikes all of a sudden, I can click the icon and see which app I need to quit to regain control of my machine.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. If you look down further on my menubar you will notice my date and time listed. This is also being done by iStat Menus. Why should I let iStat Menus do that instead of just using the standard Apple date/time menubar item? Because I want more control over what it looks like and especially over what I get when I click on it. With iStat Menus I can click the date/time and see a full monthly calendar along with the current time in multiple time-zones. This helps to keep me from calling people on the west coast at 5am. (You’re welcome.)
iStat Menus will also display information about my hard drive, network connection, computer temperature, fan speed, and bluetooth connection.
Sync, Bluetooth, Volume and Battery
The next few icons are boring and I apologize. These are just some of the standard Apple items that live in my menubar. I don’t really have anything interesting to say about any of them.
MenuCalendarClock ($19.95*)
MenuCalendarClock gives me a nice looking display of the day of the month in my menubar. When I click the icon it shows me a small monthly calendar with all of the days that contain iCal events highlighted. At the bottom of that calendar view it lists the events that are scheduled for the currently selected day (color-coded by calendar). This offers me a quick way to view my upcoming schedule and see whether I am free for a meeting on a certain day without having to switch over to the full-blown iCal app.
* MenuCalendarClock can be used for free without extra features like iCal integration.
Spotlight
The last icon is the good old Apple Spotlight (search). While I actually don’t use spotlight much I still keep it in my menubar just in case. I reassigned the default spotlight keyboard shortcut CMD-Space to open Quicksilver instead of Spotlight. So I felt like I needed another easy way to get Spotlight open in case I ever need it.
Conclusion
That finishes our tour of my menubar applications. I hope you found some gems that you can use in your daily workflow. If you have an app that I don’t currently have installed that you think would rock my world, please leave a comment. I am always on the lookout for great Mac applications.
My menubar apps – Part 1
September 18th, 2008 | 4 Comments
The menubar in OSX is a wonderful place for unobtrusive apps that make computing both enjoyable and productive. Today I am going to run through some of the menubar apps that I currently have installed and running in hopes that you will discover new ways to increase your own productivity and possibly even enjoy using your Mac just a little bit more.
Get the scoop on these great apps after the break. Read more »
The Perfect Information Organizer for Mac – Part 1
August 11th, 2008 | Comments Off
I have recently had the need to keep up with documents, notes, links, webpages, and other seemingly random bits of information on my Mac. Thankfully, I am not the first person to have such a need and so there are plenty of solutions that exist in the Mac universe. The problem is finding the perfect solution for my needs. Probably the three most popular applications in this arena are Evernote, Together (by Reinvented Software) and Yojimbo (by Bare Bones Software). However, there are a lot of other solutions with similar features that must also be considered like Journler, SOHO Notes, ShoveBox, and Sidenote. With all of these options the search for the perfect information organizer for Mac is sure to be a journey.
Read the whole story after the break. Read more »
