David Herrold

My essential (Mac) software

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Productivity, Software

I am always fascinated by the software that my friends and coworkers use to get things done on a daily basis.  I’m constantly wondering if there is a better tool out there to make my job easier or more efficient.

Below is a list of software I consider my “can’t live without” applications.  In order to qualify for this list, I have to use it routinely every day.

1. Adium (price = free) - http://www.adiumx.com/

Adium is possibly the best chat client around today.  It supports a ridiculous number of services (including AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, etc.), OTR encryption, file transfer, etc.  The UI is extremely intuitive and contact management is a breeze.  I am shocked Adium is free.

2. Adobe Creative Suite (Price = $1,800) - http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

After getting over the fact that CS3 costs twice as much as my first car, it’s simply the best set of tools for design out there.  If you plan on designing websites or working with web designers, you should make the investment.  If you are a student (or know a student) you can purchase CS3 at a significant discount (around $500).

3. Coda (price = $99 [free 30-day trial]) - http://www.panic.com/coda/

Since the release of Coda 1.5 update last week, I can safely say that Coda is my web design tool of choice.  Coda combines several different applications necessary for web design into one user-friendly package.  Coda is a text editor, FTP client, SSH terminal, CSS editor, Subversion client and your new bicycle.  You can even kick the tires for free.

4. CyberDuck (price = free) - http://cyberduck.ch/

Cyberduck is a free open source FTP client that supports FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, remote editing, etc.  When I need to move a lot of files to or from a remote server I use Cyberduck.  It has Quicksilver hooks as well as Growl integration (so I am able to minimize Cyberduck and allow Growl to notify me when my transfers are completed).  Cyberduck also integrates Textmate for remote file editing live on the server (if you enjoy living dangerously).

5. DropBox (price = free for now) - http://www.getdropbox.com/

Dropbox is a remote backup service with version control.  I wrote about DropBox in a previous post and have been using it ever since.  I suspect there will eventually be tiered levels of service, but for now, I am using the free 2GB verion for free to back up this blog (as well as other important files).  Sign up for the beta release here.

6. FireFox (price = free) - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

According to my blog stats, there is a 50% chance that you are using some version of FireFox to read this post right now.  If so, you already know how useful FireFox is.  The latest version of FireFox includes some new functionality for the address bar (dubbed the “awesome bar”) as well as a new user interface.  I would have a very difficult time doing my job without this browser and it’s 3rd party add-ons.  If this list were ordered by importance, FireFox would be very near the top.

7. Growl (price = free) - http://growl.info/

Growl is a notification system that informs you when certain things happen on your computer.  For instance, you can configure Growl to alert you when you finish an upload or download, received mail, downloaded a podcast, etc.  There are numerous applications and system tools supported by Growl.  You’ll want to configure it to fit your needs.  When I first installed it, I got way too many notifications and almost uninstalled it.  However, after a quick configuration (reducing the number of alerts), I now really love it.

8. iStat Menus (price = free) - http://www.islayer.com/

iStat Menus is a monitoring application that lives in the menu bar at the top right corner of my screen. It allows me to monitor things like CPU action, RAM usage, temperature, fan speed, network usage, etc.  Great information at a glance.

9. iTerm (price = free) - http://iterm.sourceforge.net/

My use of he terminal is not nearly as thorough as my colleagues at chron.com.  However, when I need to ping, trace route, perform a “whois” search or a quick MySQL database search, nothing is faster than the terminal.  iTerm adds useful things like a bookmark tray and the ability to use multiple tabs.

10. Mail (price = free [comes standard on all Macs]) - http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail.html

Mail is simple.  Mail works.  Use Mail.  Nuff said.

11. Quicksilver (price = free) - http://www.blacktree.com/

Saying Quicksilver is just an application launcher is like saying a Porsche is just a car.  Quicksilver can access a multitude of applications to perform some amazing feats (if you can remember the key combinations, which I usually don’t).  You can send mail, move files, take notes, delete things, play music, etc.  The list goes on.  By the way, Quicksilver is also a great application launcher.

12. Skitch (price = free) - http://skitch.com/

Skitch is the best screenshot application that I have found for the Mac.  Skitch allows you to capture an image of your screen and then crop, resize, create shapes and draw on top of the screenshot.  The most useful part of Skitch for me is the remote file sharing Skitch provides via your Skitch.com or Flickr account.  Great way to share a screenshot with friends and co-workers.

13. Superduper (price = $27.95) - http://www.shirt-pocket.com

We all know how important backups are, right?  Apple has made good progress with Leopard’s native Time Machine for incremental backups.  However, if something bad happens to your startup disk, Time Machine’s backup won’t save you.  You need a bootable backup.  That’s where SuperDuper steps in and saves the day.  If you ever need it, it will pay for itself many times over.  It’s already saved me once.

14. Textmate - (price = $58) - http://macromates.com/

Textmate is the mother of all text editors that offers some unique tools for people who edit code for a living.  With Textmate, it’s all about the “bundles”.  Bundles are the terminology Textmate uses for small macros that specialize in making tedious jobs a little easier.  I keep all my blog ideas in a Textmate project and edit the posts in Textmate before I post them.

15. Twitterific (price = free w/ads or $14.95 w/o ads) - http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific

Twitterific is a Mac OSX desktop application for Twitter.  It has a very simple user interface and (the free version I use) contains very unobtrusive ads.  I tried Twirl, but found the UI a little cluttered, so now I’m back to Twitterific.

16. iTunes (price = free [comes standard on all Macs]) - http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/

iTunes is a pretty good music player but a lousy pod-catcher.  With the recent upgrade to iTunes 8.0 the Genius sidebar makes suggestions for you based upon music in your library. Very cool.  I still don’t think iTunes is a great podcatcher, but I haven’t found anything better yet.

Honorable mention

(A list of applications I use on a weekly basis, but didn’t make the daily cut).

CocoaMySQL - (price = free) - http://cocoamysql.sourceforge.net/
Colloquy (price = free) - http://colloquy.info/
Flickr Uploader (price = free) - http://www.flickr.com/tools/uploadr/
Google Earth (price = free, plus = $20, Pro = $400) - http://earth.google.com/
iWork (Keynote, Pages, Numbers) - (price = $79) - http://www.apple.com/iwork/
Voodoo Pad (price = $29.95) - http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/
VMWare Fusion (price = $79.99) - http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
Minuteur (price = free) - http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19356
iPhoto (price = free [comes standard on all Macs]) - http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/

What are your software tools of choice?  Let me know in the comments.

Tags: applications, essential, mac, OSX, Software

Dropbox - remote backup with version control

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Productivity, Software, Technology

Dropbox is a remote back-up service that provides a very simple way to store files in a version-controlled environment. I’ve been using Dropbox to synch and provide back-ups for some test files on several computers at home.

How does it work?

Click here to read more…

Tags: Apple, back-up, backup, dropbox, pc, remote, version, versioning

Consumption versus creation

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Productivity

I consume a lot.

On a regular basis I consume podcasts, RSS feeds, emails, phone calls, text messages, books, magazines, TV, movies, radio, social networking noise, music, advertisements and occasionally sky writing.

It’s comforting to know I am not alone in my maddening consumption of information.

The population of th United States consumes an staggering amount of information every day. Luckily our brains are the most sophisticated recorders of video, audio and text known to man. While we’re awake our surroundings are meticulously captured and stored for later recall (although, certainly not perfect recall in my case).

I was half-listening to a podcast the other day while I was doing a little work at home. After typing away, not really paying attention to the podcast, I heard the phrase “I want to create more than I consume.” I must have heard this between mouse clicks or browser refreshes, because I heard it clearly and it stuck in my head for a couple days.

I considered the ramifications of creating more than I consume on a daily basis. The idea was so completely foreign to me I didn’t know where to begin.

As I write this post, I am listening to a podcast, watching my Twitter & FriendFeed streams, answering some emails, and trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. This is ridiculous, now that I think about it.

And probably means several things.

One. I am doing none of these things very well because you can only stretch your attention so far, right?

Two. I have a very short attention span.

Three. My rate of consumption far exceeds my rate of creation.

Is it honestly possible for us to create more than we consume? If you are a painter, is it possible for you to paint more pictures than you are able to see in a lifetime? Not comfortably - without locking yourself in a room with brushes, canvas and a steady supply of coffee.

Regardless of the possibility, the idea is an interesting one.

How much do you create?

(Photo by reflexer on Flickr)

Tags: consumption, creation, Productivity, time management

What is your time worth?

Posted by Dave | Filed under Productivity

Merlin Mann, from 43Folders, presented a thought-provoking talk at the Google campus about time management. The video above is around 36 minutes, but worth watching if you have the time.

I thought his concept of laying departmental ground rules for communication was an excellent one. Does a particular message warrant a phone call, email, AIM, in-person visit, group meeting, etc? This is something I’d like to try at work.

I try to be conscious of my co-workers’ time when I schedule meetings, only inviting someone if it is absolutely necessary for them to be invited. I know how busy our schedules can become, and don’t like sitting in meetings where it’s difficult to determine why I was invited in the first place.

Merlin addresses some of these issues more eloquently than I ever could.

Link to the video if the embedded video doesn’t work for you.

- Dave

Tags: Google, merlin mann, Productivity, techtalk, time management

The walking hazards of text messaging

Posted by Dave | Filed under Communication, Mobile, Productivity

The instances of people doing bodily harm to themselves while walking the streets of London and sending text messages with their phones has increased to the point that the city of London has installed padding around lamp posts in certain parts of town.

The Daily Express says:

Six million Britons were injured last year bumping into lamp posts, bollards and litter bins while trying to walk and text on mobile phones at the same time.

New figures reveal that more than one in ten needed treatment for injuries including broken noses, cheekbones and even in one case a fractured skull.

Research among 1,055 adults discovered that 63 per cent concentrate so hard when they are texting that they become “blind” to objects around them.

Mobile phone users are now being advised to use template messages to speed up texting and look up every five seconds to avoid hazards.

I find this both funny and serious at the same time. This is very thoughtful of London politicians. It is also useful during the weekends for bar patrons who have a few too many to walk straight. I can appreciate that.

I would love to see the statistics for driving accidents caused by text messaging while driving. I suspect it happens more than we’d care to admit (I’m guilty of it, myself).

Isn’t this a bit like padding the highways with giant pillows so drunk drivers don’t hurt themselves?

Can’t we simply invest in hats and t-shirts warning our fellow pedestrians to “Stop texting and just walk!?”

Photo by mindshare

Tags: Mobile, sms, text messaging

No Media Night ™

Posted by Dave | Filed under Personal, Productivity

Justine and I have been doing our best to have at least one night a week that is totally media-free.

No TV. No internet. No movies. No radio. No phone. Just us.

We’ve been doing it on and off for a several months now and it’s been great so far. The first few times were a bit twitchy, but we made it through no worse for the wear.

We are both far too connected; living inside our email, web browsers, AIM, Blackberries, etc far too many hours every day. At some point our brains need to cool down and stare at something that emits zero pixels-per-square-inch.

Like a banana. Or a book. Perhaps meatloaf. Or matching socks.

Merlin Mann, of 43 Folders fame, posted a great article on this topic a few days ago. It reminded me of what Justine and I try to do each week with No Media Night ™.

You can read the article here.

If you haven’t already tried it, you should consider a no-media-night just to see what it feels like to unplug. After the initial twitching and digital withdrawls are over (this takes about an hour or so) it’s actually pretty relaxing.

You should try it sometime.

FireFox user agent switcher

Posted by Dave | Filed under Browsers, Productivity, Software, Usability

I’ve been working on our mobile site a lot lately and found this great FireFox plugin that has helped me a great deal. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at how newspaper sites present their mobile-friendly WAP sites. WAP usability and interface designs are wildly different in comparison to their full-featured main websites.

The tricky thing about investigating mobile sites is that many of them sniff out your user agent and redirect you to the mobile site only if they detect you are using a mobile browser. Several actually filter in the other direction as well.

Try this little test and you will see exactly what I mean. Try going to mobile.nytimes.com (new window) in your browser right now. If you are using a normal browser (IE, FireFox, Safari, Opera, etc) you will be redirected to the New York Times’ main site. This redirect forces you to use an actual wireless device to surf the New York Times’ mobile version.

This, my friends, is a tad annoying when trying to investigate mobile sites.

To get around this I installed a great FireFox addon by Chris Pederick that enables me to set my user agent to any browser I’d like (including mobile browsers like the Blackberry, Iphone, Treo, etc). I found a few user agents for mobile browsers here to configure the addon and I was good to go.

Now I can simply tell FireFox to act like an iPhone and it will render those automatically redirecting sites without any trouble. Fantasitc.

I told a co-worker about this cool addon to FireFox and he responded “Oh yeah, Safari has a user agent switcher built in. Check it out.”

He’s absolutely right.  Looks like Safari includes the ability to render pages as an iPhone if you want. Pretty cool, although I still use the FireFox addon to spoof Blackberries, Treos, and any other mobile browser I can find. Here are the links you’ll need to make this happen:

FireFox user agent switcher addon
Resource for user agents (not just mobile)

Hope you found this useful.

Tags: add-ons, FireFox, Mobile, user agent

David Allen: Getting Things Done

Posted by Dave | Filed under Productivity

This is a great presentation by David Allen at the Google campus. He is speaking about his productivity method called “Getting Things Done.” It runs about 45 minutes, but it’s worth watching if you could use a productivity boost.

Tags: getting things done, Google, GTD, Productivity

How not to lose your luggage

Posted by Dave | Filed under Productivity

Squidoo has an article highlighting some great tips on how not to lose your luggage while flying. I figured this was a pretty topical subject during the holiday season.

Link (Via Lifehacker)

Tags: luggage, Productivity, tips, travel

Quicksilver reference videos

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Productivity, Software

The Apple Blog has a great collection of Quicksilver reference videos that can help you get the most out of the application. Unfortunately, I still use it mainly as an application launcher (when I use it). I haven’t taken the time to really memorize all the key commands to do all of the wonderful things Quicksilver can do.

Speaking of application launchers, if you happen to be a Windows user, I think Launchy is probably one of the better launchers available.

I think as a rule, application launchers are much more useful for Windows than Mac.  I think the Apple Dock makes launching programs much faster on a Mac than the Start Menu on a PC.  There just seems to be more mousing necessary to use the Start Menu.

I suppose you could create a bunch of short cuts (or aliases) for your desktop on a PC if you used certain programs frequently.  But regardless, you don’t need to do that with an application launcher.

For some reason, I still find myself using the Apple Dock more than Quicksilver to launch programs.  It’s hard to beat one-click for speed.  I find myself using Quicksilver most frequently when I need to launch applications that are not in my dock.  I have around 25 apps in my dock and use about 20 of them each week.  I could probably remove 3-4 of them, but I would find myself needing to use a launcher more often if I did that.

And like I said earlier, it’s hard to beat one click for speed.

Regardless of my launcher hang-ups, Quicksilver is still a great application.

Link (via the weblist)

Tags: Apple, application launchers, launchy, quicksilver, Usability, windows