David Herrold

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

Location-based preferences for Macs

Posted by Dave | Filed under Software, Usability

Dear Steve Jobs,

It would be really cool if I could make certain preferences location-based on my Mac just like my network settings. You see, Mr. Jobs, I use my laptop in two distinctly different ways.

• At home I use an external monitor to give myself a little more space to work.
• At work I do not use an external monitor.

I enjoy using Leopard’s Spaces to give me a bit more room to breath at work with several applications running at the same time. However, when I am at home, I don’t need to use Spaces because I have more screen space to work with.

I find myself changing my Spaces settings nearly every day when I get home. I put my email, iTunes, Adium, etc in my laptop’s screen and use my external window for FireFox, Coda, Photoshop, etc.

It would be fantastic for my Mac to “know” it was home, just like it does with my network settings, and change my Spaces to my preferred setting while at home. For that matter, it would be great if all my applications had location-based preferences.

iTunes at home uses Airtunes and some external speakers. iTunes at work uses the built-in speakers.

Mr. Jobs, you could make the world a better place and save thousands of man-hours by allowing preferences to be location based. Thank you, and good night.

Tags: Apple, mac, network settings, preferences, Spaces

VMWare Fusion upgrade

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Software

I was thinking to myself just the other day “wouldn’t it be great if VMWare were smart enough to keep some key combinations standard across the virtual machine chasm.”

Well, they did it in the latest build of VMWare Fusion.  If you own VMW and got that little “new version available for download” alert window when you started the app, it’s well worth the download just for that fix alone.

Now I can actually copy paste from Mac to Windows by just using the command key + C and the command key + V.  No need to monkey around with that silly Control key when you are in the Windows virtual machine.

You know, it’s the little things in life, really.

-Dave

Tags: Apple, virtual machine, vmware fusion

Leopard help menu purrs

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Software

I just discovered how amazingly intuitive the new help menu is on the Leopard operating system.  I tested it out on FireFox, Mail, and iCal and it works like a charm.  You simply begin typing into the help search box and if the answer to your issue is located in another menu, it will open that menu and place a big blue pointer that moves ever-so-slightly to get your attention (just in case you missed the big blue arrow).

Very slick.

Tags: Apple, help, leopard, mac

Mac owners snobby? Of course not, please pass the brie darling.

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Humor

I found this interesting:

Based on a survey of 7,500 MacWorld attendees it looks like Mac fans tend to be immodest, open minded liberals who are assured of their superiority. To put it bluntly.

I don’t recall taking on an air of superiority when I purchased my Mac. In fact, I was completely lost for a couple months after I “made the switch,” wondering how to adjust preferences, change setting and become more comfortable with the new OS.

Actually, while I was writing a letter to Hillary Clinton regarding my MENSA membership and willingness to proofread all of her speeches while hanging out at a wine bar eating brie - I never once thought I was snobby or liberal.

Full article (via Geeks are Sexy)

Tags: Apple, Humor, mac, surveys

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

Coda now Leopardized*

Posted by Dave | Filed under Software, Usability, Web design

Coda has released an update (v1.1) to further trick-out the Leopardization of the application. I’ve been using Coda for several months now to manage a few blogs and work on minor design projects. To make a long story short, Coda a fantastically intuitive web design & development application that manages to cram several tools (text editor, terminal window, FTP, CSS WYSIWYG) into one easy-to-use package.

I’ve been hesitant to update my Mac to OSX 1.5 (Leopard), until Coda has been updated to work smoothly on Leopard.

It looks like I’m officially cleared for take-off.

You can download Coda for a free 30-day test drive. Right now, it only works on Macs.

(FYI - I am not affiliated with the company in any way, I just think it’s a great product.)

* Yes, I made up this word, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Tags: Apple, coda, leopard, mac, Web design

Top 10 Quicksilver plugins

Posted by Dave | Filed under Apple, Productivity, Software

I’ve been using Quicksilver for a few months now.  It was one of the first applications I loaded onto my laptop when I first bought it.  I use Quicksilver as an application launcher mostly because I can’t remember all the key commands to execute the other amazing things it can do.

Lifehacker put together a list of the Top 10 plugins for Quicksilver.

I’ve started using QS to launch specific bookmarks with FireFox. This basically opens up FireFox and launches a bookmark at the same time.  Not staggeringly productive, but it probably shaves a few keystrokes from the whole mess.

I tried opening music with iTunes this way, but I think I like the process of browsing my playlists for whatever suits my mood.

Tags: Apple, mac, OSX, quicksilver, Software